Julie (my partner) and I rent a delightful cottage with a great outlook to the sea. We can walk down a hill and there's the beach for us to play in. You can see part of the view behind me in my photo (top left) on this newsletter. We found the house through our personal connections - two friends had just bought it for future development and wanted to rent it out for two years. It has been perfect for us. In a few months (July), the two years will be up and we will have to leave our beach haven. That we found such a great place to live in such a sort after area didn't surprise us. Both Julie and I have a habit of finding beautiful places to live and we'll do it again in July (as a stop gap) until we are ready to move into an Eco Village here on the Gold Coast.
On one of our daily walks to the beach we met up with a elderly couple we have known for some time. They had sad news. He had been diagnosed with cancer and it wasn't looking good. Pain control is an issue. A good friend, Justin, came to mind. He uses magnetic therapy and there are options available to help with pain relief. I'll link them together.
On another beach walk, I bumped into an old friend and fellow trainer from 10 years ago. As we chatted we realized we share a passion for organics. Since Julie and I have a business marketing certified organic products, the conversation became very excited and animated.
Over the past few months, I have been wondering what all the fuss has been about blogging. How can I use it? How can I work my way through all the jargon and get my head around the technology? These and more questions have been taking up mental space. A good friend of mine, Des, who is a coach and publisher of several blogs, is streets ahead of me. He started playing with blogging around 18 months ago. So we had a 3 hour chat on Saturday and he showed me the 'dummies guide' to blogging. Look for an announcement soon about my first blog. If you need someone to guide you through the maze of information about blogging, Des is the man.
My point with these stories? It isn't so much what you know (although that will always be useful) - it is who you know and what their friends also know. Who you know can help someone you don't (yet) know. And someone you don't (yet) know can help you. It's all about networks both formal and informal. My informal network is bigger than I thought. These last few weeks has shown me how useful it can be to myself and others. Des and I were discussing formal networks and he mentioned two that he is trying out. I have decided to try them as well. They are LinkedIn and Ryse. Do you know them? I would really appreciate your feedback if you do. You join by invitation. Des has given me invitations to both and I'll pass on the invitation to you if you wish. Just email me and I'll organise it for you. Who knows? A friend of mine could help a friend of yours.
