WomanzWorld Founders

It’s ironic that my personal blog for friends and family is called Global Adventures, particularly as right now I’m confined to National travel only. Yep I’m treading a fine immigration line. It dawned on me 2 weeks ago when I was going to book my flights to NYC to hang with great friends and capitalize on 5 days worth of US Open Tennis tickets (including the finals!) that it may not be a smart idea. My work permit expires on the 9/9/09  – right when I was going to be away.

The immigration lady basically told me to avoid any travel outside of Canada or risk not let being back in.

This was a big wake up call, since when has this nomad ever been stopped from travelling? I felt a little trapped. Unless my work permit extension letter came through in the next few weeks (unlikely) or my Permanent Resident application was suddenly approved (very unlikely) I was going nowhere!

For once in my life, I had to make a sensible decision:

1. Spend close to $2K on 8 days in NYC watching a sport I love and catching up with friends I love too.OR
2. Stay put, save money and get on with launching two businesses…..

So this spur of the moment adventurer made a very adult decision to not go. I know, what’s become of me? This has allowed me instead to enjoy the joys of true Canadian life. A trip to Vancouver Island and Sproat Lake was a

Sproat Lake

truly relaxing weekend thanks to Drew and allowed Liz & I to work on our new online business – WomanzWorld and get super excited about it. It also saw me become so focused (reading `The Power of Focus’ can do that to you) that I set not just 1 but 3,5 and 10 year goals in the space of a weekend and detailed out the 1 and 3. I was pretty exhausted after that but also very…focused.

I also got to enjoy the beauty and culture of `The Peg’ as Winnipeg is fondly known where our women’s ultimate Frisbee team Zephyr had an amazing time at Canadian Nationals just last weekend. Ok so truthfully Winnipeg was a scary city – especially downtown and not a place I’d revisit. But we came home with a bronze medal after 4 days, hopefully a spot at World Clubs in Prague next year and having won the party as true cowgirls. I can’t describe how awesome it was to play with the ladies of Zephyr and I’m looking forward to more shenanigans with them as head to Sectionals in September. I was super proud to be awarded `Miss D’ for defence over the tourney, that meant a lot, and the hand made and embroidered sash was so pretty – thanks Kiwi.

I’m really hoping my visa comes through as I don’t want to miss launching FundRazr in San Francisco in September with Daryl –  can’t say why we’re launching as it’s part of the terms of the competition we entered and made the top 100 who get to present on the day to PR, investors and the tech world so will be really big for us. Big for me if I can be part of it by actually being there! Same with sectionals just over the border 5 days after.

The great thing is that I have had time to really reflect and out of that great things have happened. First off I’d like to thank you all for being a big part of my life, wherever you are in the world, and for making me believe in myself and to go after my dreams. I’m proud to start my own business WomanzWorld.

It’s come about from my 10 months as an `Entrepreneur’ and co-founder of ConnectionPoint Systems Inc with Daryl. On the rollercoaster ride of developing FundRazr – our awesome application for Facebook that helps you collect fees and donations and manage members (had to plug that and thank all our friends who became our fans recently), I was really surprised to see so few female CEOs at business and networking events. I recently found out 35% of all businesses in BC are owned by women. So where are they all?

There have been many times when I’ve wanted to chat with women in business to get their take on how they’ve coped with the challenges, what they’ve learned and more importantly their perspective, as a woman. From my constant discussions with everyone I met I started getting really positive feedback on my idea and that made me more passionate to get women into business. That perhaps I could help drive women to do that, to motivate, inspire and advise. At the same time I could learn from those succeeding right now and pass that on to others aspiring to become entrepreneurs. A win win situation for everyone.

So hence the idea to start a blog and recount my journey right here, right now, interview amazing women, review great resources for females in business and build a community of great women. That journey has already begun. Wish my good friend and talented business partner Elizabeth and me luck and please tell anyone you think who could benefit from WomanzWorld to visit our site www.womanzworld.com – as Tessa my good friend and the talented designer of our site noted, it was an apt domain name as I’m an NZ Woman.

Keep living life to the full

Brin D'Amor crew

When my alarm went off at 4:30am on Friday 22 May I knew I was about to embark on adventure that would have a profound and lasting impact on my life. Was I right? Absolutely!

10 days in Costa Rica in the province of Guanacaste with 14 entrepreneurs from all over North America, brought together for a Livin’ Large vacation in the magical setting of the private property of Brin D’Amor (translated means `Share the love’).

Thanks to an invite from my good friend and talented CEO, Mike Tan, I somehow managed to join this incredible crew who between them have challenged conventional education, run one or several successful businesses, are published authors, professional speakers, real estate gurus, investment experts and more – and all while in their 20s!

The days were filled with intelligent and stimulating conversation, visionary discussions, mind expanding conversation, lofty ideals, spiritual awakenings, mastermind group discussions, the Pachamama Alliance Symposium and naturally a whole heap of fun.

When we weren’t discussing how to change the world for the better by inviting the leaders of tomorrow to the Brin D’Amor Academy of the future we were undertaking a variety of activities.

What could be better than jumping from the natural waterfalls, practicing yoga poolside with the talented Jessica, riding horses all over the 160+ acres of land, enduring 2 hours of intense heat in a sweat lodge that bonded us all together, surfing in the warm waters at sunset, flying down a waterslide set in the jungle, covering ourselves in thermal mud at a spa and geting caught in a torrential downpour and thunderstorm whilst out on a boat.

Boat trip around peninsula

Key highlights were definitely:

• Mike getting bitten by a Boa snake hiding in our room on the first night and his super calm response, getting shat on by a bird, and having his horse’s bridle come off as it ran off with him atop into the trees!
• Several of us getting stung by wasps when we disturbed their nest by jumping off the waterfall and side of the cliff including a sting to Darren’s eyelid!
• Adil flying off his horse rodeo style as it ran out of control into the pack, coupled with galloping sessions with saddles coming loose and riders hanging on for dear life
• Smashing my shin up on submerged rocks when running into the sea followed by catching managing to catch my first ever wave and standing up
• A hilarious and intense game of Beach ultimate with the boys who couldn’t necessarily throw or catch but were super competitive
• Salsa dancing with Micah and Aaron who enlisted any local lady who could shake her booty and poolside dancing lessons for the boys
• Falling through a yoga platform to add to my war wounds
• Everyone getting great feedback from their rocks during our rock reading….
• The various jungle life that kept us on our feet including monkeys, snakes, lizards, biting fish, wasps, nasty red ants, butterflies, giant moths and huge toads
• The incredible fresh and sumptuous feasts from breakfast through to dinner provided by the awesome caterers

I can’t really do this trip justice here, or just how lucky I feel to have been art of this journey and make connections with these extraordinary souls. All I know is this was a trip of a lifetime and one that shall never be forgotten.