I’ve worked from home since 1995, when I gave up my job as Editorial Director of a nationwide children’s book club. The company had moved most of its operation to Uxbridge, keeping a satellite office in Gloucestershire, where I lived. Suddenly, I was required to travel to Uxbridge at least twice a week, not a journey I would recommend in rush-hour traffic. I was a single mother to three small boys, and though I had a degree of flexibility in my work, I was still at the beck and call of others, and I was often torn between the demands of the job and the desire to be with my children. I was already an established author by 1995, so when it became clear that it was in nobody’s interest – neither the company’s, nor those of us manning the engine room in Gloucestershire – to continue a fragmented and impractical relationship, I seized the opportunity to accept a substantial payoff and work from home as a full-time author. The freedom! Wow! No more travelling up and down the M4! Suddenly it was up to me to decide when and how I worked. Suddenly I could take the boys to and from school every day of the week. I could play tennis when I wanted, and discovered art classes. I could have coffee with friends and even go out for lunch. I had so much more time, and I wondered why on earth I hadn’t become self-employed several years before, though I had always loved my job.   Of course, the bills still had to be met, and my severance pay wasn’t going to last for ever. It was important for me to establish some sort of discipline in my life now that it wasn’t being defined by a job. That’s not something that came easily to me (it still doesn’t!) because I’m a bit of a free spirit, but I discovered enough self-motivation to overcome even the occasional crippling fear of the blank page that writers are prone to, and produced a steady stream of successful manuscripts. When I took on a new challenge in 2002 – to come away from picture books and write my first children’s novel - I floundered badly at first. It’s a completely different discipline. Writing picture books is a lot to do with bouncing an idea around in your head – sometimes for weeks and months - then molding it, shaping it, paring it down, until it is ready to spill onto the page, almost fully formed, where it is shaped some more, given colour and pace, before heading off in search of an illustrator. Where novels are concerned, there’s a lot more hard graft. I’m not good with synopses, planning and plotting, so I literally have to sit down with a thread of an idea, start writing and see where it takes me. That’s where the real self-discipline comes in, because writing is not an easy profession, and the temptation to go off and do something else – anything else! – is massive, especially when you haven’t a clue what is going to happen next in your story. In general, self-motivation, planning and persistence are far more important when you are self-employed than when someone else calls the tune. There’s nobody there to backstop you when you’re having an off day and, quite simply, if you don’t work you don’t get paid. That’s never truer than where holidays are concerned: if you take a holiday, it comes out of your own income. If you’re ill, there’s no sick-pay buffer, so you’re more inclined to keep going, unless that’s just not possible. And there can be major swings in turnover/profit/income from one year to the next. Many people who start their own business are run ragged until such time as the business has become established well enough that they can begin to reap the rewards – if they haven’t fallen by the wayside before that day. A few years back, and much to my surprise, I became involved in a network marketing company. I had no idea there was such a thing, but I was looking for a second income around my writing in order to solve a cash-flow problem, and it offered the flexibility I needed, not to mention the possibility of a royalty-style income if I wanted more than just a bit of extra cash – which, in the event, I did.  One of the things I hadn’t expected was the degree to which emphasis would be laid by top trainers in the company on self-motivation and planning and, above all, persistence and goal setting. I thought, rather arrogantly in retrospect, that it was simply a question of finding a few customers and a few team members, and that once I had done that the money would roll in. How wrong could I be! Network marketing is a phenomenal opportunity for people from all walks of life to have their own home-based business, without the investment needed in traditional business. A good company will provide ongoing training and support and will work hard to help its distributors to be successful. But you will nevertheless be found out if you lack discipline and self-motivation, which no external agency can supply. And that’s where many people fail – they just don’t have the dogged determination that it takes to pick yourself up and dust yourself down whenever the going gets tough, which it does, regularly, for anyone who works for themselves. Which means that they never benefit from the positives of being self-employed: the freedom, the ability to do what you like when you like and fine-tune your work/life balance, the joy of having more time, the satisfaction of being able to look in the mirror at the end of the day and say, ‘I did a good job today and I would employ me again tomorrow’. I could never return to being employed. No, thank you. I don’t want someone to decide for me how much I can earn. I don’t want to have to wait to be patted on the back for a job well done by a boss who may never think it’s necessary. Ultimately, being self-employed is about taking control of your own life rather than putting that control into the hands of others. That suits me fine, and I’ll happily take the rough with the smooth, because if you work hard enough for it, the smooth far outweighs the rough.   ON BEING SELF-EMPLOYED

I confess I’m habitually sceptical about products that profess to be anti-ageing, much as I would love to hit upon something that would knock 20 years off me! It’s all too easy for suppliers to prey on the insecurities of women – and men – who look in the mirror and concentrate on lines that are appearing, chins that are doubling or wrinkling, and hair that is greying. We gleefully – or is it desperately? - buy into the promises that accompany the most recent ‘elixir of life’ to emerge on the market, but disappointment before long follows and we watch and wait in anxious anticipation for the next wonder product, medication or remedy to feed our need for eternal youth.



For my part, I would not put myself under the knife, even although there are areas of my face and body that could do with a bit of ironing out. Apart from anything else, I’d be too troubled I might make things worse! I’ve observed the stretched and swollen features of stars who have taken anti-ageing remedies a step too far. In spite of this, that doesn’t mean I’m indisposed to trying non-invasive, natural products to help improve my overall wellbeing and to keep my complexion and hair in the best condition possible.



I’ve used scores of top-of-the-range skin care applications, as well as cheap high street brands, but hadn’t consciously used anything containing aloe vera, apart from as an after-sun. Then I happened upon a booth advertising nothing but aloe vera products and was encouraged to sample them. The saleswoman waffled on somewhat about aloe being the same PH as our skin, with the ability to seep in deep down to the dermis layer, but at the time I was only really interested in whether or not it would make my skin feel nice. It did. Not only that, but after numerous weeks of using the product I purchased, I observed my skin was a good deal clearer and healthier-looking.



I did a bit of investigation and was intrigued to discover that aloe vera has been well renowned by a lot of different cultures over thousands of years for its healing properties: from the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, to the Chinese and Indian peoples. Cleopatra evidently used it as part of her beauty regime, and Gandhi drank it during his fasts, claiming it was one of three reasons he remained so healthy – the others being his faith and his frugal life.



The components of aloe vera have led to its being labeled as the Burn Plant, Remedies Plant, Plant of Life and Wand of Heaven. Together with those properties are that it is anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-septic, anti-pyretic (burns) and anti-pruritic (itching). It also has some 75 significant nutrients, including nutritional vitamin supplements, minerals and amino acids.



Going back to anti-ageing, I learned that aloe vera has been added to many cosmetic products over the years because of its proven rejuvenating action. The saleswoman who sold me my cream had mentioned anti-ageing and I’d given her my ‘Oh yeah’ grin, but now I was reading how manufacturers would give their back teeth to come up with a synthetic substitute for aloe that would create the same pros - the reason being that they can’t supply enough aloe itself.



Aloe vera works in a number of various ways, and I might lose you at this point because it’s a bit complicated. Bear with me though, for the reason that this will help you appreciate how aloe vera is anti-ageing – and yes, I’m won over. To begin with, it contains polysaccharides (carbohydrate molecules), which act as moisturisers to hydrate the skin. Secondly, aloe vera is simply carried into the skin, right down to the dermis layer, where it activates fibroblasts (cells) to duplicate themselves more rapidly. It’s the fibroblasts that produce collagen and elastin (naturally occurring in younger skins), so older skin becomes significantly less wrinkled and regains some elasticity.



Aloe gel soothes and minimizes irritation – Aloe vera has a promotional growth dynamic, which speeds up the curative process and supports the operations connected with immune response. Aloe inhibits the inhibitory effect of specific antiseptics (drugs), and helps to heal wounds much faster. Aloe inhibits the release of bradykinin and histamine – tissue hormones, released in response to the effects of tissue damage. These two hormones activate an acute redness in a small time after injuries or bites. And saponins contained in Aloe work as an astringent and reduce swelling, redness, and bruising.



I’m still typically sceptical where anti-ageing products are concerned, but I’m a convert in the case of aloe vera. I’ve been using it now for seven years and my skin has unquestionably improved in touch and depth. What’s more, I’m at that age when those dreaded liver spots threaten to become visible, but I’ve observed that they never really come to anything on my face. Dr Peter Atherton, a foremost world authority on aloe vera says in his commentary Aloe Vera – Myth or Medicine: ‘The best demonstration of this effect that I have ever seen, was shown by Dr. Ivan Danhof, an United states physician who has worked with topical aloe products in the cosmetics business for 30 years. When testing new creams and lotions, being right-handed, he always applied the material with the fingers of his right hand to the back of his left hand in order to assess its texture, smell and penetrability. He now declares that he has one older hand and one young hand and indeed the comparison when he places his palms together to show the backs, side by side, is pretty amazing. One hand is the characteristic hand of a seventy-year- old with thinning, wrinkled skin covered in a mixture of spots, whilst the other, his left hand, is clear and smooth and looks 30 years younger.’



I’ve been much less thorough where my hands are concerned, but now I’m going to plaster them with aloe, day in, day out, so that they too look 30 years younger. Well, wouldn’t you?

I confess I’m typically sceptical about products that claim to be anti-ageing, much as I would love to unearth something that would knock 20 years off me! It’s all too easy for manufacturers to prey on the insecurities of women – and men – who look in the mirror and target on lines that are appearing, chins that are doubling or wrinkling, and hair that is going grey. We gleefully – or is it desperately? - are allured into the claims that accompany the most recent ‘elixir of life’ to appear on the market, but disappointment in next to no time follows and we watch and wait in anxious anticipation for the next wonder product, medication or cure to supply our aspiration for eternal youth.



For my part, I would not put myself under the knife, even although there are areas of my face and body that could do with a bit of ironing out. Apart from anything else, I’d be too nervous I might make things worse! I’ve witnessed the stretched and distended features of celebrities who have taken anti-ageing therapies a step too far. In spite of this, that doesn’t suggest I’m reluctant to trying non-invasive, natural products to help increase my overall health and to keep my body and hair in the best condition possible.



I’ve used many top-of-the-range skin care products, as well as inexpensive high street brands, but hadn’t deliberately used anything containing aloe vera, apart from as an after-sun. Then I happened upon a booth advertising nothing but aloe vera products and was encouraged to appraise them. The saleswoman waffled on somewhat about aloe being the same PH as our skin, with the capacity to seep in deep down to the dermis layer, but at the time I was only really interested in whether or not it would make my skin feel nice. It did. Not only that, but after several weeks of using the product I bought, I noticed my skin was a good deal clearer and healthier-looking.



Without a doubt, Queen Cleopatra is remembered to this day, more than 2,000 years after her demise, as the most good-looking female of all time. Women still learn and chase her skin care formulas. While it is likely she almost certainly did bathe in beer and milk, Aloe Vera, was undoubtedly indispensable to her day by day regimen for soft, glowing skin.



The properties of aloe vera have led to its being called the Burn Plant, Remedies Plant, Plant of Life and Wand of Heaven. Together with those properties are that it is anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-septic, anti-pyretic (burns) and anti-pruritic (itching). It also includes some 75 essential nutrients, including nutritional vitamins, minerals and amino acids.



Going back to anti-ageing, I learned that aloe vera has been added to numerous cosmetic products over the years because of its recognized rejuvenating action. The sales person who sold me my cream had talked about anti-ageing and I’d given her my ‘Oh yeah’ smirk, but now I was reading how manufacturers would give their back teeth to come up with a synthetic substitute for aloe that would provide the equivalent advantages - the reason being that they can’t supply enough aloe itself.



Aloe vera works in a number of various ways, and I might lose you at this stage because it’s a bit complex. Endure with me though, because this will help you understand how aloe vera is anti-ageing – and yes, I’m won over. To start with, it contains polysaccharides (carbohydrate molecules), which act as moisturisers to hydrate the skin. Secondly, aloe vera is easily absorbed into the skin, right down to the dermis layer, where it stimulates fibroblasts (cells) to reproduce themselves quicker. It’s the fibroblasts that produce collagen and elastin (naturally occurring in youthful skins), so older skin becomes less wrinkled and regains some elasticity.



Aloe gel heals and reduces swelling – Aloe vera contains a promotional growth dynamic, which accelerates the curative process and sustains the processes associated with immune response. Aloe inhibits the inhibitory result of certain antiseptics (drugs), and can help to cure wounds much quicker. Aloe inhibits the release of bradykinin and histamine – tissue hormones, unrestricted in response to the shock of tissue injury. These two hormones activate an acute redness in a small time after accidents or bites. And saponins contained in Aloe work as an astringent and decrease swelling, redness, and bruising.



I’m still mostly sceptical where anti-ageing products are concerned, but I’m a convert in the case of aloe vera. I’ve been using it now for seven years and my skin has definitely improved in feel and depth. What’s more, I’m at that age when those dreaded liver spots threaten to appear, but I’ve observed that they never really come to anything on my face. Dr Peter Atherton, a foremost world authority on aloe vera says in his editorial Aloe Vera – Myth or Medicine: ‘The best exhibition of this effect that I have ever witnessed, was shown by Dr. Ivan Danhof, an United states surgeon who has worked with topical aloe applications in the makeup business for 30 years. When testing new creams and lotions, being right-handed, he always applied the material with the fingers of his right hand to the back of his left hand in order to test its consistency, scent and penetrability. He now declares that he has one aged hand and one young hand and in actual fact the contrast when he puts his hands together to show the backs, side by side, is pretty remarkable. One hand is the standard hand of a seventy-year- old with thinning, wrinkled skin covered in a selection of spots, whilst the other, his left hand, is clear and soft and looks 30 years younger.’



I’ve been much less meticulous where my hands are concerned, but now I’m going to plaster them with aloe, day in, day out, so that they too look 30 years younger. Well, wouldn’t you?

I’ve worked from home since 1995, when I gave up my job as Editorial Director of a nationwide children’s book club. The company had moved most of its operation to Uxbridge, keeping a satellite office in Gloucestershire, where I lived. Suddenly, I was required to travel to Uxbridge at least twice a week, not a journey I would recommend in rush-hour traffic. I was a single mother to three small boys, and though I had a degree of flexibility in my work, I was still at the beck and call of others, and I was often torn between the demands of the job and the desire to be with my children. I was already an established author by 1995, so when it became clear that it was in nobody’s interest – neither the company’s, nor those of us manning the engine room in Gloucestershire – to continue a fragmented and impractical relationship, I seized the opportunity to accept a substantial payoff and work from home as a full-time author. The freedom! Wow! No more travelling up and down the M4! Suddenly it was up to me to decide when and how I worked. Suddenly I could take the boys to and from school every day of the week. I could play tennis when I wanted, and discovered art classes. I could have coffee with friends and even go out for lunch. I had so much more time, and I wondered why on earth I hadn’t become self-employed several years before, though I had always loved my job.   Of course, the bills still had to be met, and my severance pay wasn’t going to last for ever. It was important for me to establish some sort of discipline in my life now that it wasn’t being defined by a job. That’s not something that came easily to me (it still doesn’t!) because I’m a bit of a free spirit, but I discovered enough self-motivation to overcome even the occasional crippling fear of the blank page that writers are prone to, and produced a steady stream of successful manuscripts. When I took on a new challenge in 2002 – to come away from picture books and write my first children’s novel - I floundered badly at first. It’s a completely different discipline. Writing picture books is a lot to do with bouncing an idea around in your head – sometimes for weeks and months - then molding it, shaping it, paring it down, until it is ready to spill onto the page, almost fully formed, where it is shaped some more, given colour and pace, before heading off in search of an illustrator. Where novels are concerned, there’s a lot more hard graft. I’m not good with synopses, planning and plotting, so I literally have to sit down with a thread of an idea, start writing and see where it takes me. That’s where the real self-discipline comes in, because writing is not an easy profession, and the temptation to go off and do something else – anything else! – is massive, especially when you haven’t a clue what is going to happen next in your story. In general, self-motivation, planning and persistence are far more important when you are self-employed than when someone else calls the tune. There’s nobody there to backstop you when you’re having an off day and, quite simply, if you don’t work you don’t get paid. That’s never truer than where holidays are concerned: if you take a holiday, it comes out of your own income. If you’re ill, there’s no sick-pay buffer, so you’re more inclined to keep going, unless that’s just not possible. And there can be major swings in turnover/profit/income from one year to the next. Many people who start their own business are run ragged until such time as the business has become established well enough that they can begin to reap the rewards – if they haven’t fallen by the wayside before that day. A few years back, and much to my surprise, I became involved in a network marketing company. I had no idea there was such a thing, but I was looking for a second income around my writing in order to solve a cash-flow problem, and it offered the flexibility I needed, not to mention the possibility of a royalty-style income if I wanted more than just a bit of extra cash – which, in the event, I did.  One of the things I hadn’t expected was the degree to which emphasis would be laid by top trainers in the company on self-motivation and planning and, above all, persistence and goal setting. I thought, rather arrogantly in retrospect, that it was simply a question of finding a few customers and a few team members, and that once I had done that the money would roll in. How wrong could I be! Network marketing is a phenomenal opportunity for people from all walks of life to have their own home-based business, without the investment needed in traditional business. A good company will provide ongoing training and support and will work hard to help its distributors to be successful. But you will nevertheless be found out if you lack discipline and self-motivation, which no external agency can supply. And that’s where many people fail – they just don’t have the dogged determination that it takes to pick yourself up and dust yourself down whenever the going gets tough, which it does, regularly, for anyone who works for themselves. Which means that they never benefit from the positives of being self-employed: the freedom, the ability to do what you like when you like and fine-tune your work/life balance, the joy of having more time, the satisfaction of being able to look in the mirror at the end of the day and say, ‘I did a good job today and I would employ me again tomorrow’. I could never return to being employed. No, thank you. I don’t want someone to decide for me how much I can earn. I don’t want to have to wait to be patted on the back for a job well done by a boss who may never think it’s necessary. Ultimately, being self-employed is about taking control of your own life rather than putting that control into the hands of others. That suits me fine, and I’ll happily take the rough with the smooth, because if you work hard enough for it, the smooth far outweighs the rough.   ON BEING SELF-EMPLOYED

I’ve worked from home since 1995, when I gave up my job as Editorial Director of a nationwide children’s book club. The company had moved most of its operation to Uxbridge, keeping a satellite office in Gloucestershire, where I lived. Suddenly, I was required to travel to Uxbridge at least twice a week, not a journey I would recommend in rush-hour traffic. I was a single mother to three small boys, and though I had a degree of flexibility in my work, I was still at the beck and call of others, and I was often torn between the demands of the job and the desire to be with my children. I was already an established author by 1995, so when it became clear that it was in nobody’s interest – neither the company’s, nor those of us manning the engine room in Gloucestershire – to continue a fragmented and impractical relationship, I seized the opportunity to accept a substantial payoff and work from home as a full-time author. The freedom! Wow! No more travelling up and down the M4! Suddenly it was up to me to decide when and how I worked. Suddenly I could take the boys to and from school every day of the week. I could play tennis when I wanted, and discovered art classes. I could have coffee with friends and even go out for lunch. I had so much more time, and I wondered why on earth I hadn’t become self-employed several years before, though I had always loved my job.   Of course, the bills still had to be met, and my severance pay wasn’t going to last for ever. It was important for me to establish some sort of discipline in my life now that it wasn’t being defined by a job. That’s not something that came easily to me (it still doesn’t!) because I’m a bit of a free spirit, but I discovered enough self-motivation to overcome even the occasional crippling fear of the blank page that writers are prone to, and produced a steady stream of successful manuscripts. When I took on a new challenge in 2002 – to come away from picture books and write my first children’s novel - I floundered badly at first. It’s a completely different discipline. Writing picture books is a lot to do with bouncing an idea around in your head – sometimes for weeks and months - then molding it, shaping it, paring it down, until it is ready to spill onto the page, almost fully formed, where it is shaped some more, given colour and pace, before heading off in search of an illustrator. Where novels are concerned, there’s a lot more hard graft. I’m not good with synopses, planning and plotting, so I literally have to sit down with a thread of an idea, start writing and see where it takes me. That’s where the real self-discipline comes in, because writing is not an easy profession, and the temptation to go off and do something else – anything else! – is massive, especially when you haven’t a clue what is going to happen next in your story. In general, self-motivation, planning and persistence are far more important when you are self-employed than when someone else calls the tune. There’s nobody there to backstop you when you’re having an off day and, quite simply, if you don’t work you don’t get paid. That’s never truer than where holidays are concerned: if you take a holiday, it comes out of your own income. If you’re ill, there’s no sick-pay buffer, so you’re more inclined to keep going, unless that’s just not possible. And there can be major swings in turnover/profit/income from one year to the next. Many people who start their own business are run ragged until such time as the business has become established well enough that they can begin to reap the rewards – if they haven’t fallen by the wayside before that day. A few years back, and much to my surprise, I became involved in a network marketing company. I had no idea there was such a thing, but I was looking for a second income around my writing in order to solve a cash-flow problem, and it offered the flexibility I needed, not to mention the possibility of a royalty-style income if I wanted more than just a bit of extra cash – which, in the event, I did.  One of the things I hadn’t expected was the degree to which emphasis would be laid by top trainers in the company on self-motivation and planning and, above all, persistence and goal setting. I thought, rather arrogantly in retrospect, that it was simply a question of finding a few customers and a few team members, and that once I had done that the money would roll in. How wrong could I be! Network marketing is a phenomenal opportunity for people from all walks of life to have their own home-based business, without the investment needed in traditional business. A good company will provide ongoing training and support and will work hard to help its distributors to be successful. But you will nevertheless be found out if you lack discipline and self-motivation, which no external agency can supply. And that’s where many people fail – they just don’t have the dogged determination that it takes to pick yourself up and dust yourself down whenever the going gets tough, which it does, regularly, for anyone who works for themselves. Which means that they never benefit from the positives of being self-employed: the freedom, the ability to do what you like when you like and fine-tune your work/life balance, the joy of having more time, the satisfaction of being able to look in the mirror at the end of the day and say, ‘I did a good job today and I would employ me again tomorrow’. I could never return to being employed. No, thank you. I don’t want someone to decide for me how much I can earn. I don’t want to have to wait to be patted on the back for a job well done by a boss who may never think it’s necessary. Ultimately, being self-employed is about taking control of your own life rather than putting that control into the hands of others. That suits me fine, and I’ll happily take the rough with the smooth, because if you work hard enough for it, the smooth far outweighs the rough.   ON BEING SELF-EMPLOYED

I confess I’m typically sceptical about products that assert to be anti-ageing, much as I would love to come across something that would knock 20 years off me! It’s all too easy for manufacturers to prey on the insecurities of women – and men – who look in the mirror and concentrate on lines that are showing, chins that are doubling or wrinkling, and hair that is going grey. We gladly – or is it desperately? - are allured into the guarantees that accompany the newest ‘elixir of life’ to emerge on the market, but disappointment soon follows and we watch and wait in anxious anticipation for the next wonder product, drug or treatment to feed our craving for eternal youth.



For myself, I would not put myself under the knife, even despite the fact that there are parts of my face and body that could do with a bit of ironing out. Apart from anything else, I’d be too worried I might make things worse! I’ve witnessed the stretched and distended features of celebs who have taken anti-ageing sessions a step too far. In spite of this, that doesn’t mean I’m disinclined to trying non-invasive, natural products to help improve my overall wellbeing and to keep my body and hair in the best condition possible.



I’ve used numerous top-of-the-range skin care products, as well as low-priced high street brands, but hadn’t deliberately used anything containing aloe vera, apart from as an after-sun. Then I happened upon a booth selling nothing but aloe vera products and was encouraged to appraise them. The saleswoman waffled on to some extent about aloe being the same PH as our skin, with the ability to penetrate deep down to the dermis layer, but at the time I was only really interested in whether or not it would make my skin feel nice. It did. Not only that, but after several weeks of using the product I purchased, I observed my skin was a good deal clearer and healthier-looking.



I did a bit of investigation and was intrigued to discover that aloe vera has been well renowned by a lot of different cultures over thousands of years for its medicinal properties: from the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, to the Chinese and Indian peoples. Cleopatra apparently utilised it as part of her beauty regime, and Gandhi drank it during his fasts, claiming it was one of three reasons he remained so vigorous – the others being his belief and his frugal life.



Chances are you’ve slathered a cooling aloe vera gel over a sweltering suntan. Possibly you’ve even cracked open an aloe plant leaf and drizzled its cloudy juice directly onto reddened or dried out, itchy skin. Topically applied, aloe’s soothing advantages are generally known—and have been celebrated by nurturing grandmothers for decades. But the plant harnesses a multitude of other prospective applications for physical condition and wellness. Although individual studies on aloe’s effectiveness have yielded mixed and even conflicting results, naturopaths and herbalists have long espoused its facility to ease constipation, flush toxins from the body, sort out gastric problems and even help lessen blood sugar when taken orally as a supplement or a juice.



Going back to anti-ageing, I learned that aloe vera has been added to several cosmetic products over the years because of its celebrated rejuvenating action. The saleswoman who sold me my lotion had mentioned anti-ageing and I’d given her my ‘Oh yeah’ grin, but now I was reading how manufacturers would give their back teeth to come up with a synthetic substitute for aloe that would create the equivalent advantages - the reason being that they can’t source enough aloe itself.



The majority of the properties of Aloe examined by dermatologists have been before now employed in cosmetology. Aloe vera with healing properties works as a regenerator, and renews the skin: Aloe vera penetrates the epidermis four times faster than water – and bear in mind that human skin is protected against water by a “hydro-coat”. Organically active elements of Aloe pass through this layer quite liberally, so the next layers of skin retain certain substances, and some absorb even deeper. Aloe vera gel and the healthy human skin share the same pH (5.2-5.6). It has antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal components – thanks to the appropriate pH of Aloe vera, no microbe or viruses can grow, and friendly to us saprophytes (natural bacterial flora) feel great in the pH that Aloe vera supplies. Healthy pH of Aloe will help treat wounds, and may well heal spots and other skin issues. Aloe helps the long-term treatment of fungal infections of the skin, including dandruff. Bacteriostatic effects of Aloe are not just to keep up the pH. The constitution of the pulp also contains antibacterial ingredients. Mucopolysaccharides also have antibacterial properties (sealing of cell walls).



Aloe gel heals and minimizes inflammation – Aloe vera has a promotional growth factor, which accelerates the remedial process and sustains the operations connected with immune response. Aloe inhibits the inhibitory effect of specific antiseptics (drugs), and will help to heal wounds much earlier. Aloe prevents the discharge of bradykinin and histamine – tissue hormones, released in response to the effects of tissue injury. These two hormones set off an acute redness in a short time after injuries or bites. And saponins contained in Aloe work as an astringent and lower swelling, redness, and bruising.



I’m still generally sceptical where anti-ageing products are concerned, but I’m a convert in the case of aloe vera. I’ve been using it now for seven years and my skin has without doubt improved in texture and depth. What’s more, I’m at that age when those dreaded liver spots threaten to come out, but I’ve noticed that they never really come to anything on my face. Dr Peter Atherton, a foremost world authority on aloe vera says in his commentary Aloe Vera – Myth or Medicine: ‘The best exhibition of this effect that I have ever seen, was shown by Dr. Ivan Danhof, an American physician who has worked with topical aloe applications in the makeup business for 30 years. When testing new creams and lotions, being right-handed, he always applied the material with the fingers of his right hand to the back of his left hand in order to assess its quality, scent and penetrability. He now declares that he has one older hand and one young hand and if truth be told the difference when he puts his palms together to show the backs, side by side, is quite amazing. One hand is the classic hand of a seventy-year- old with thinning, wrinkled skin covered in a mixture of spots, whilst the other, his left hand, is clear and smooth and looks 30 years younger.’



I’ve been much less attentive where my hands are concerned, but now I’m going to plaster them with aloe, day in, day out, so that they too look 30 years younger. Well, wouldn’t you?

I’ve worked from home since 1995, when I gave up my job as Editorial Director of a nationwide children’s book club. The company had moved most of its operation to Uxbridge, keeping a satellite office in Gloucestershire, where I lived. Suddenly, I was required to travel to Uxbridge at least twice a week, not a journey I would recommend in rush-hour traffic. I was a single mother to three small boys, and though I had a degree of flexibility in my work, I was still at the beck and call of others, and I was often torn between the demands of the job and the desire to be with my children. I was already an established author by 1995, so when it became clear that it was in nobody’s interest – neither the company’s, nor those of us manning the engine room in Gloucestershire – to continue a fragmented and impractical relationship, I seized the opportunity to accept a substantial payoff and work from home as a full-time author. The freedom! Wow! No more travelling up and down the M4! Suddenly it was up to me to decide when and how I worked. Suddenly I could take the boys to and from school every day of the week. I could play tennis when I wanted, and discovered art classes. I could have coffee with friends and even go out for lunch. I had so much more time, and I wondered why on earth I hadn’t become self-employed several years before, though I had always loved my job.   Of course, the bills still had to be met, and my severance pay wasn’t going to last for ever. It was important for me to establish some sort of discipline in my life now that it wasn’t being defined by a job. That’s not something that came easily to me (it still doesn’t!) because I’m a bit of a free spirit, but I discovered enough self-motivation to overcome even the occasional crippling fear of the blank page that writers are prone to, and produced a steady stream of successful manuscripts. When I took on a new challenge in 2002 – to come away from picture books and write my first children’s novel - I floundered badly at first. It’s a completely different discipline. Writing picture books is a lot to do with bouncing an idea around in your head – sometimes for weeks and months - then molding it, shaping it, paring it down, until it is ready to spill onto the page, almost fully formed, where it is shaped some more, given colour and pace, before heading off in search of an illustrator. Where novels are concerned, there’s a lot more hard graft. I’m not good with synopses, planning and plotting, so I literally have to sit down with a thread of an idea, start writing and see where it takes me. That’s where the real self-discipline comes in, because writing is not an easy profession, and the temptation to go off and do something else – anything else! – is massive, especially when you haven’t a clue what is going to happen next in your story. In general, self-motivation, planning and persistence are far more important when you are self-employed than when someone else calls the tune. There’s nobody there to backstop you when you’re having an off day and, quite simply, if you don’t work you don’t get paid. That’s never truer than where holidays are concerned: if you take a holiday, it comes out of your own income. If you’re ill, there’s no sick-pay buffer, so you’re more inclined to keep going, unless that’s just not possible. And there can be major swings in turnover/profit/income from one year to the next. Many people who start their own business are run ragged until such time as the business has become established well enough that they can begin to reap the rewards – if they haven’t fallen by the wayside before that day. A few years back, and much to my surprise, I became involved in a network marketing company. I had no idea there was such a thing, but I was looking for a second income around my writing in order to solve a cash-flow problem, and it offered the flexibility I needed, not to mention the possibility of a royalty-style income if I wanted more than just a bit of extra cash – which, in the event, I did.  One of the things I hadn’t expected was the degree to which emphasis would be laid by top trainers in the company on self-motivation and planning and, above all, persistence and goal setting. I thought, rather arrogantly in retrospect, that it was simply a question of finding a few customers and a few team members, and that once I had done that the money would roll in. How wrong could I be! Network marketing is a phenomenal opportunity for people from all walks of life to have their own home-based business, without the investment needed in traditional business. A good company will provide ongoing training and support and will work hard to help its distributors to be successful. But you will nevertheless be found out if you lack discipline and self-motivation, which no external agency can supply. And that’s where many people fail – they just don’t have the dogged determination that it takes to pick yourself up and dust yourself down whenever the going gets tough, which it does, regularly, for anyone who works for themselves. Which means that they never benefit from the positives of being self-employed: the freedom, the ability to do what you like when you like and fine-tune your work/life balance, the joy of having more time, the satisfaction of being able to look in the mirror at the end of the day and say, ‘I did a good job today and I would employ me again tomorrow’. I could never return to being employed. No, thank you. I don’t want someone to decide for me how much I can earn. I don’t want to have to wait to be patted on the back for a job well done by a boss who may never think it’s necessary. Ultimately, being self-employed is about taking control of your own life rather than putting that control into the hands of others. That suits me fine, and I’ll happily take the rough with the smooth, because if you work hard enough for it, the smooth far outweighs the rough.   ON BEING SELF-EMPLOYED

By no stretch of the imagination am I a natural networker. Nor indeed am I a salesperson. In fact, I’ve worked with children’s books for my entire adult life, first as Editorial Director of a nationwide children’s book club, then as a full-time author – a reclusive profession if ever there was one. I fell into network marketing by accident, and had no idea what I had got my hands on. I earned a pretty healthy income from my books (some 140 published to date), but gradually the wheels were beginning to wobble. I was a single parent to three very talented sportsmen, and spent significant amounts of time and money trekking up and down the country to squash and tennis tournaments, in which they played at county, regional and national level. There were also school fees to be found for the twins, who were highly prized for their prowess in all disciplines, and copious amounts of money for the associated kit. Cash flow became a recurring problem. As an author you are effectively paid twice a year, when your royalties come out (apart from mostly insignificant advances on new projects). With increasing outgoings as university loomed for all three boys at the same time, most of my royalties had been spent by the time I received them! So when I found a card on my car inviting me to look at an opportunity to earn an extra income, I rang the number on it – something I would never normally have done. I met up with the owner of the card, who explained the business opportunity to me, I didn’t understand it, but the products sounded good, and given that the start-up cost was small, I thought I had nothing to lose. I managed to sell quite a few products, in spite of myself, by talking to people about their undoubted health benefits, and earned myself a small amount of extra income each month. But, frankly, that wasn’t going to cut it long-term. I had begun to look at my overall financial situation, realised that the pension fund I had built from my days at the book club wouldn’t provide me with much of a lifestyle, knew that the publishing industry was being hit like everything else by the economic downturn, and worried that my future income would become less and less reliable and could, potentially, dry up. I started to take my network marketing business more seriously and to shift my main focus from the products to the networking part of it. I could see that people around me were moving up the undeniably attractive marketing plan – some of them at a rate of knots – and understood that if I applied what I was told, there was no reason why it couldn’t work for me too. What it boils down to is talking to people, lots of people, about the business opportunity and the products.  It’s nothing to do with trying to persuade people to come on board, it’s about being a messenger and allowing people to decide for themselves whether or not they would like to become involved. One of the biggest problems is that network marketing (team marketing, multi-level marketing – call it what you will) has had a bad name in the past because of some similarity to illegal pyramid schemes.  There are, in fact, major differences, and network marketing is very highly regulated by its governing body, the Direct Selling Association, and the Office of Fair Trading, both of which report directly to the government.  Unfortunately, many people persist in linking the two, but what I’ve found is that the company I’m involved in operates in a far more ethical way than most traditional companies, and is resolutely determined to help all of its nine million or so distributors worldwide to be successful.  That many fall by the wayside is because there is work involved, lots of it, and because not everyone is suited to such a business in the first place.  It is by no means easy, and it requires dogged persistence to keep pressing forward against a tide of negativity.  The rewards, however, in terms of recognition, self-development, friendships gained, helping people with their health, and, of course, significant incomes, are worth the time, effort and sacrifices. On a day-to-day basis, what’s involved is marketing the products, talking to people who might be interested about the extra income/global business opportunity, and working closely with team members – coaching and mentoring them to success.  The latter is of huge importance, and good leaders will work tirelessly for their teams.  As a leader myself, nothing gives me greater delight than seeing members of my team move up the marketing plan.  I don’t deny that I benefit myself from bonuses paid direct to me by the company on my team turnover, but I earn that money many times over through the efforts I make on my team members’ behalf, and I don’t take anything away from them: they are paid directly by the company themselves.  We’re a close-knit group, who are all thrilled by each other’s achievements, and always happy to share successes, however big or small. As I said at the beginning, I am not a natural networker, and here are some of the challenges I’ve encountered: it’s hard work – not in terms of long hours, since I work when I choose – but this is a business like any other, not a get-rich-quick scheme, and it takes time, effort and commitment; there is a steep learning curve and I had eat humble pie and be coachable, read a lot and attend the relevant trainings; there may be little financial gain in the first few months, but most people vastly underestimate what they can achieve in a three-to-five year period – I did. I wasn’t lacking in self-motivation, but many people are, more so than they think.  In this arena, you are the boss and you alone decide when (and whether) you are going to work.  Persistence and consistency are crucial keys to success, and not to be under-estimated. Notwithstanding the challenges, I have built a good, solid business around my work as a children’s author.  As I continue to grow it, it will provide for me in the future in a way that my pension certainly won’t.  More than that, I’m on a journey of self-discovery, one without borders: that’s something I didn’t expect, and it’s really exciting. Network marketing has been called ‘The Business of the 21st Century’ (Robert Kyosaki), and figures show that it turns over well in excess of >00 billion worldwide and involves over 50 million distributors.  It offers a realistic, part-time, low-cost means of running your own business, initially alongside a current job – so no leap of financial faith is required. It can then be developed, at whatever pace an individual chooses, into a full-time, lucrative career. There are many benefits to developing your own network marketing business, but here are just a few:     * You work from home, with minimal overheads     * No product development or research costs     * Superior products to those found in the high street     * People to ‘hold your hand’ and help you get established     * Company trainings, plus books, DVDs, web sites etc to tap in to.  The company I work with has the top level Investor in People accreditation for its superb training and support     * No previous experience or qualifications required – a complete level playing field     * You choose the income you want – if you want more, you work more     * Completely flexible hours to fit around other commitments     * Low start-up cost (max £200) – try setting up as a window cleaner for that!     * Real tax advantages  Could network marketing be the future for you too? If so, be careful when choosing a network marketing company to make sure of the following: that the company has been operational for at least five years (95% of NM companies do not survive beyond their fifth year; that it is a member of the Direct Selling Association; that its products have a good reputation and you’re able to feel passionate about them; and that the products are, preferably, consumable – repeat sales are far easier than finding new customers. Network marketing draws people from all walks of life, from all age groups and from all ethnicities. In the company I work with, we have vets, doctors, lawyers, teachers, salespeople, carers, caterers, tradesmen, long-distance lorry-drivers, engineers, and so on. Our youngest distributors are 18, our oldest, 94! It’s an opportunity open to all, but to survive you need to be a people person, to be positive, to change, to develop a rhino skin and be willing to come out of your comfort zone, to be persistent and consistent, to like a challenge, to think big and dream big - and you must make a decision not to quit. If you can embrace the opportunity and run with it, the world really will be your oyster.   Sally Grindley       NETWORK MARKETING – A PERSONAL VIEW

I confess I’m typically sceptical about products that profess to be anti-ageing, much as I would love to come across something that would knock 20 years off me! It’s all too easy for companies to prey on the insecurities of women – and men – who look in the mirror and focus on lines that are showing, chins that are doubling or wrinkling, and hair that is going grey. We happily – or is it desperately? - are allured into the guarantees that accompany the latest ‘elixir of life’ to appear on the market, but disappointment before long follows and we watch and wait in anxious anticipation for the next wonder lotion, drug or cure to supply our need for eternal youth.



For myself, I would not put myself under the knife, even although there are parts of my face and body that could do with a bit of ironing out. Apart from anything else, I’d be too concerned I might make things worse! I’ve observed the stretched and bloated features of superstars who have taken anti-ageing therapies a step too far. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean I’m reluctant to trying non-invasive, natural applications to help improve my overall wellbeing and to keep my complexion and hair in the best condition possible.



I’ve used countless top-of-the-range skin care applications, as well as reduced high street brands, but hadn’t intentionally used anything containing aloe vera, apart from as an after-sun. Then I happened upon a stall promoting nothing but aloe vera products and was encouraged to consider them. The saleswoman waffled on somewhat about aloe being the same PH as our skin, with the capacity to seep in deep down to the dermis layer, but at the time I was only really interested in whether or not it would make my skin feel nice. It did. Not only that, but after several weeks of using the product I bought, I observed my skin was a good deal clearer and healthier-looking.



I did a bit of investigation and was intrigued to discover that aloe vera has been well documented by a lot of different cultures over thousands of years for its remedial properties: from the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, to the Chinese and Indian peoples. Cleopatra apparently utilised it as part of her beauty regime, and Gandhi drank it during his fasts, claiming it was one of three reasons he remained so healthy – the others being his faith and his frugal life.



Odds are you’ve slapped a cooling aloe vera gel over a searing suntan. Perhaps you’ve even cracked open an aloe plant leaf and drizzled its milky juice directly onto tender or dried out, itchy skin. Topically applied, aloe’s soothing benefits are widely known—and have been celebrated by nurturing grandmothers for decades. But the plant harnesses a horde of other prospective applications for health and wellness. Although individual data compilations on aloe’s effectiveness have yielded mixed and even conflicting results, naturopaths and herbalists have long touted its capability to ease constipation, flush toxins from the body, deal with gastric problems and even help lower blood sugar when taken orally as a supplement or a juice.



Going back to anti-ageing, I learned that aloe vera has been added to numerous cosmetic products over the years because of its known rejuvenating action. The sales person who sold me my cream had mentioned anti-ageing and I’d given her my ‘Oh yeah’ smirk, but now I was reading how companies would give their back teeth to come up with a synthetic substitute for aloe that would create the same benefits - the reason being that they can’t supply enough aloe itself.



Most of the components of Aloe examined by dermatologists have been before now used in cosmetology. Aloe vera with healing properties works as a regenerator, and rejuvenates the skin: Aloe vera penetrates the pores and skin four times quicker than water – and remember that human skin is protected against water by a “hydro-coat”. Biologically active ingredients of Aloe pass through this layer quite freely, so the next layers of skin maintain certain ingredients, and some absorb even deeper. Aloe vera lotion and the healthy human skin share the same pH (5.2-5.6). It has antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal properties – thanks to the correct pH of Aloe vera, no germs or viruses can grow, and friendly to us saprophytes (natural bacterial flora) feel great in the pH that Aloe vera supplies. Healthy pH of Aloe can help treat wounds, and could heal bad skin and other skin problems. Aloe helps the long-term management of fungal infections of the skin, including dandruff. Bacteriostatic effects of Aloe are not just to sustain the pH. The constitution of the pulp also includes antibacterial substances. Mucopolysaccharides also have antibacterial properties (sealing of cell walls).



Aloe gel soothes and reduces inflammation – Aloe vera contains a promotional growth factor, which speeds up the curative process and sustains the operations associated with immune response. Aloe inhibits the inhibitory result of specific antiseptics (drugs), and helps to cure wounds much quicker. Aloe prevents the release of bradykinin and histamine – tissue hormones, unrestricted in response to the effects of tissue injury. These two hormones trigger an acute redness in a short time after accidents or bites. And saponins contained in Aloe work as an astringent and ease swelling, redness, and bruising.



I’m still mostly sceptical where anti-ageing products are concerned, but I’m a convert in the case of aloe vera. I’ve been using it now for seven years and my skin has without doubt improved in touch and depth. What’s more, I’m at that age when those dreaded liver spots threaten to materialize, but I’ve noticed that they never really come to anything on my face. Dr Peter Atherton, a primary world authority on aloe vera says in his article Aloe Vera – Myth or Medicine: ‘The best demonstration of this effect that I have ever seen, was shown by Dr. Ivan Danhof, an American surgeon who has worked with topical aloe applications in the makeup business for 30 years. When testing new creams and lotions, being right-handed, he always applied the material with the fingers of his right hand to the back of his left hand in order to assess its texture, aroma and penetrability. He now affirms that he has one older hand and one young hand and in actual fact the contrast when he places his palms together to show the backs, side by side, is pretty amazing. One hand is the normal hand of a seventy-year- old with thinning, wrinkled skin covered in a selection of blemishes, whilst the other, his left hand, is clear and even and looks 30 years younger.’



I’ve been much less thorough where my hands are concerned, but now I’m going to plaster them with aloe, day in, day out, so that they too look 30 years younger. Well, wouldn’t you?

Hope you enjoyed reading our article. If you would like to know more about our business ##AUTOLINK1## or would like to get in https://forever-first.com/join-us


Hope you enjoyed reading our article. If you would like to know more about our https://forever-first.com/company would like to get in https://forever-first.com/join-us