Living young!

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Wow it's so hot that even if I said "it's hotter than Satan's arse!" most people would nod and say "figures"!  We've been sweltering in the mid 30's to 40 degrees lately.  Putting on make up is pointless, it slides of 15 mins later if you're outside!  

I've been recuperating after having had a bout of Shingles.  Yes, even I was like "wha?!" when the doctor diagnosed me.  What she failed to tell me  after she dispensed the antivirals, pain killers and creams, was how painful it would be!  Geezz at least with child birth, it's over within a few hours.  This goes on and on.  Anyway the reason why I'm telling you all  this is twofold.  The first is a small segue to apologise for no vlogs!  and the second is how I was introduced to yet another product that can help you and those around you as well as  supplement your income. 

It all started this way " hey babe,  shingles,? let me see if there is an oil to help recover faster"  my friend Riz messages me after I've told her about my situation.  Oils?  what on earth is she looking for oils for me?  I'm already taking evening primrose oil, fish oil, avocado oil etc so I was a bit confused.  So I asked her, "errr what oils?"

Young Living Oils

She meant essential oils!  AAAaaaahhhhh , penny finally dropped!  I'm no stranger to essential oils, in fact I usually have lavender in my house, it helps with bruising and tee tree oil which is also used topically as a local antiseptic plus essential oils smell great.... most times!   I'm sure a lot of you would have them in your diffusers as well.  

Riz informes me that they were having an "Oily Party".. ooo eerrr Missus I thought.  No! not that type of party ! It was to meet up with people who had incorporated these products into their lives.  

The one thing I realised when I met up with the "Witches" of Oil as they liked to call themselves, at the Oily Party,  was that they were so warm and welcoming and there was a general atmosphere of support, caring and a lot of sharing. Each person told her story of how she or he had a specific ailment and how they had tried the oils and how the oils worked for them individually, for their children and the entire family. They even celebrate birthdays together!

Azah's surprise birthday cake

The cake was in the shape of
an essential oil bottle!

I love the holistic approach to healing here, I've always preferred to go with alternative methods of medication which is why I use Ayurveda and acupuncture treatments (My Acupuncturist also uses Young Living Oils I found out!) 

I asked a few ladies for their thoughts on Young Living essential oils and Sarini, the lady who led the "Oily Party"  had this to say about the products :

"Young living therapeutic grade essential oils are a wonderful and effective, holistic way to a healthy life full of wellness and abundance. I love that it has enabled my loved ones and I to live a lifestyle where all our body systems are connected to and supported by nature, so we can truly live a life of vigour and vitality! " 

 To know more: +6012 3232 117, sarini.bujang@gmail.com , Young Living member ID: 2923956

"It's been a magical, almost surreal journey for my family and I ever since we started immersing ourselves with the use of YLEOs in our daily lives. Our overall health and immune systems have improved so much in the past year that my kids have less visits to the doctor's now and my special needs child especially benefited from using YLEOs to help support her and improve her condition. I am happy to share my enthusiasm and love of the oils in order to help others gain a healthier and more wholesome lifestyle."

Doing further research, I've found that two huge celebs also use these products as well :

Gwyneth Paltrow

Jessica Alba - here's the LINK

Riz also passed me her mixture of oils for me to use on for my Shingles which I've been using everyday since.  Love the smell and feeling better for it.  For more information on Young Living you can contact Sarini or have a look at this link YOUNG LIVING US

I hope this smells right! heh heh and I'll catch up with you next week,keep the e mails coming in and again, thank you for your subscription. 

Enter the... Monkey!

KUNG HEI FAT CHOY! Happy Chinese New Year of the Fire Monkey!  Wow we've been waiting for this year for a while, it'll bring about many many changes I'm sure.  I'm born in the year of the Dragon, so is my mother as well as my son... can you hear the thunder!?! Heh Heh however the Dragon is great friends with the mischievous monkey so I shall be looking forward to this year.

Well I thought I'd keep this blog short and sweet, as we're all on holiday mode here, again, so after mindlessly watching movie after movie,   of which 'Creed' was included ( and if you ask me, that was a total waste of time I'll never get back, yuck, I could go on but this is not a movie critique blog.) where was I..?? ah yes So whilst everyone has gone away some us continued on with our work, that's the beauty of working from home, you choose your own hours.

The great thing about network marketing is that it doesn't matter what day it is as long as everyone invited can turn up and benefit for the gathering.  What I found most interesting is the cross pollination or cross marketing you can do when you go to your networking get together.  For example when we called on some ladies to come to our  world ventures get together, they brought along their products .  I'd say they range from jewellery to food!

Apart from home made beauty products, which included hand made containers for the jars used, there is also Gelato! My girlfriend Joanna has her own Gelato business, and though she couldn't make our networking meeting, she was prepared to send her products to try, now that's what I call great marketing, about a product that she says and I quote " Best Artisanal Gelato in M'sia guaranteed!"

If you'd like to know more about Jersey Jack here's her link : JERSEY JACK GELATO

Another product shown to me was home made jewellery by Lisa, her brand name is Oxoloco. These beautiful pieces  of jewellery were designed and hand crafted individually and most of them snapped up without any marketing on social platforms at all.  This talented lady also makes beautiful cards , paints fab pictures and stay tuned for an exhibition of her up cycled lamps!

If you'd like to know more about Oxoloc go to OXOLOCO

Which brings me to these glorious hand woven bags, they're absolutely beautiful with eye catching colours, which is why another friend decided to look into importing them after she saw them at a South American event here.

they are called Wayuu bags 

The women of the Wayuu tribe have been hand weaving these bags for generations. Every single bag is different and unique, with intricate tribal designs and colours

How clever of these ladies to have thought of these products.

It's getting clearer still that more people are gravitating towards artisan products, people are becoming more aware of what and where their products come from and how it impacts on the local economy, environment and it's a great way in moving forward by supporting cottage industries. It helps keep the micro economics alive.

Lets pay it forward folks, now is the time to support each other, and grow our business organically.                                                                    Have a great week!

Moving Forward 2016 part 2

Another week, another experience! It's only the second week into the new year and it seems quieter than usual.  Everyone seems to be hitting the grindstone and also looking for greener pastures elsewhere.  The job market seems to opening up so make sure you have your resumes polished up and find yourself a good recruitment agency to help you out with your job search.  I had a look at mine, and giggled, it was a bit like this.. :

blow off the cobwebs and smarten up your CV

Word of mouth from friends and acquaintances are also a gold mine for prospective jobs, but make sure you go through the job spec carefully because sometimes the job description is completely different to what was relayed to you.

It's always important to stay positive, like my gal pal and I say when things come crashing around you, look for the positives in that experience.  Make sure in between the searching and fretting that you exercise, it helps keep those endorphins flowing, when I was feeling a bit low it was exactly what my good friend Riz did, she got me out of the house for a lovely long walk in one of our botanic parks.  It puts reality back into perspective and of course helps burns calories! its a win win situation I tell ya.

So then I walked all the way to Sydney and back  (heh heh) 

Help yourself by feeding your brain, I've been helping myself to a good dose of TedxTalks.  Here are a couple that I enjoyed  : Getting stuck in the negatives (and how to get unstuck!)  and of course there is the very forthright How to stop screwing yourself over  I especially like the part about the internal chatter! Seriously it really never stops!

Last week I was blogging about how to make immediate cash by utilising your cooking skills, or anything you do well from teaching another language to scuba diving lessons while waiting for the job you want or figuring out what you really want to do.    It's funny when people ask me what I do, I never know how to answer them, once I even said "as little as possible"... and the retort was "yes , well we all try to, but apart from that.."  My other girlfriend leans over and whispers "say you're in between jobs".. Uh.. well that seems to imply I'm not working! I do have several jobs actually, four, if you count being a mum!

After coming back from Hong Kong, it seems the universe opened and started showering me with "marketing jobs" ! And you will probably come across them too.  One of them was for real estate bonds,  since it was a good friend who had offered this opportunity,  I heard them out (I'm nice that way :-p ) .  I realised with this type of  investment,  the parties that I would have to approach would be corporate ladder climbers and those with a substantial disposable income.  So I got ahold of someone I thought who filled the criteria and who was savvy with investments.  I  sat  with her through the presentation and had her break it down in layman terms to me and at the same time She felt it was wort her time and effort.   It's quite simple really, it's a bond that will be held for 2 years, it's in pounds, the profits are paid biannually and the interest rate is pretty good.  Here's a link to their website Lifesgood Property Investment .  Just remember, it's all about your comfort zone, if you think you can do it, go for it.

A few days later , in the midst of screaming at the TV monitor during the Rugby World Cup at our regular watering hole, my friend says to me as I'm hyperventilating ,   "how about earning in USD?"  The All Black's score a try and I'm whooping loudly, I look at her and say "hell yeah". "OK" she says, "I came with you to the property investment, come with me to this network marketing launch, lets check it out".    "Fair enough" I say with my eyes glued to Sonny Bill's glutes.. sigh those Kiwis.. uh where was I?

All Blacks all the way!

Life Force

So essentially you have MLM's, Pyramid Schemes, and Network Marketing.  I've tried a few, in between my productions, one of them was Life Force ,  it's health products from power drinks, nutrition and beauty.  I first joined it was via  the New Zealand division, and then they finally brought the products to Singapore.  That was in 2009, and it cost me $440 and I only signed one person on.

 Then  in 2012, I was introduced to another called Exfuze .  This one was yummy, it was a health drink and supposed to do all sorts of beneficial things for you, so much so that my son thought it was a soft drink, and drank most of the bottle in one sitting!! Heh Heh.. and with them as well I only signed on one person. It cost me RM530.

Exfuse

I've been approached by herbalife etc but ( I can feel you all squirming in your seats) I knew I did not have have the type of personality  or interest to pursue it. Both were MLM businesses. So when I went to this networking launch, I was already in defence mode. However, once there , it was made abundantly clear it was not a MLM scheme, it was all about network marketing, it was about travelling and having fun while doing it as well as making money along the way.  Finally a product that I could understand, as I travel a lot.   When I spoke to people about this exciting product, they were so receptive towards it, because everyone travels!   I thought to myself, 'hmmnn this is also a good way to empower loads of women', friends I know who've had to downshift due to the economy, and in such a supportive environment.   Don't get me wrong,every networking program you come across has negative stories about it, and I did my research, I grilled the Regional Director and he answered all my questions and allayed my fears.  It also leaves me with loads of time to work on my production, writing and presentations.  This was a perfect match for me.

My Team!

Not only do we network together we have lunches too!

What I'm saying is, my girlfriends and I try out these different programs, some are a good fit some are not, there are  many more out there.  My aim is to impart as much information as possible about these different ventures should you decide to go for it.  If you have some experience of them, and would like me to publish it on my blog, do drop me a line and tell me about them.  My e mail is daphnenasir@yahoo.co.uk  I'd love to hear from you, we're creating a hub for women by women, I find it so exciting!

I'll cover more possibilities next week, till then remember - a dream is only a dream until you make it a reality.

The Year 2016.. in the beginning

Happy New Year everyone.  I do hope for everyone this is going to be a great year.  2015 had so many bumps in it, it seems like everyone is happy to see the back of it. I for one waved it off with close friends and a few days of recuperation!

In my last blog I was talking about empowering women and what we can do for ourselves financially and spiritually in this economic state of uncertainty. I'm not going to bog you down with figures and tech speak, but have a real heart to heart about what we can do to help ourselves.  We've been informed that there have been so many budget cuts which means a lot of people being made redundant, downsizing of departments, companies going belly up or being bought over or like the radio station I had been working for, shutting down with 2 weeks notice.

Last day at the Station!

Me and my partner in Crime on the Morning Show

Once the initial shock is over, I think the most important thing is to ensure your tribe, and that is your most faithful and most supportive friends and family rally around you.  There will be a lot of ideas being bandied about, but the most important thing I've discovered is to trust your instinct and go with your gut.

Now for some of us , it's the age factor, lets face it, more companies prefer to hire younger people and to also pay less for the inexperienced ones. Plus the younger folk can hop around from one company to another and it's quite the norm, but if you've had an established career and a defined work ethos that you've been following it can be harder.  You will come across a myriad of  work opportunities, from MLM to introductions to investing.  Lets cover them one by one shall we?

My Almond Shortbread

Firstly if you find yourself at home, going through the ads and recruitment agencies without as much luck as you'd hope to have, lets look at what you can do immediately.  Do you cook?  Is there a specialised dish that everyone ooos and ahhs over?  I've spoken to quite a few women and they do a few signature dishes that they advertise online and cater to folk who don't have the time to cook.  All it takes is a little bit of patience and PR.  Make sure you bring you signature dish to the next get together, tell your friends you're available to cater the dish you've brought , make sure you also have a price in mind of how much you will charge.  Post it on your social networks, it's the best way of being visible and word of mouth also works and make sure you take some great shots of the food (not the person holding it or eating it!!)   Also as my girl friends mentioned to me, a lot of restaurants and cafes are accepting home made goods that are up to their standards so look around your neighbourhood to these places where you can possibly promote your dish.  This is immediate cash.
I make about 4 specialised dishes, apart from my Shepard's Pie and Apple Crumble I also do

killer quiches in many flavours

I also make tasty tuna puffs!

Then there's part time work at UBER, why not, if you own your own car, have a few hours to spare and want to earn money, apply, I'm sure your network will tell you where and at what time there's the most need for public transport.

The same can be said for your actual skills, you can always offer your services on a free lance basis whilst looking for the next major job, (anything from teaching yoga, cooking, accounting, language classes etc)   just make sure you know what the going rate is and charge accordingly.  Cash money more money.

my pal Riz does dive classes in her free time

and has some pretty awesome experiences along the way!

There are many MLM, Pyramid and Networking Jobs. out there, ranging from health products to time sharing.  The most important thing about this type of work is to actually believe in the product, believe you can market the product and make the initial payment (yes there is always an initial investment starting from RM 500 upwards.)   I'll cover them all in detail in the next blog, suffice to say this is to just kick start your year with a quick patch up and to let you know that you are not alone, we're all in this boat together, and we believe with more women supporting each other and building a network together or as I love to call it a TRIBE , we can do it and there is light at the end of the tunnel.


I'm in the midst of gathering other blogs for micro financing and also investing.  If you have a topic you'd like to share please don't hesitate to let me know, I'd love to hear from you,