Hi, welcome to my Ryze Home Page. Networking via this medium is somewhat different to what I'm used to - I do a lot of networking via chat forums with yahoogroups and other similarly operated systems which doesn't require people to log in to post, but rather just respond to emails. In fact, I've been told that my VA forum is one of the most chattiest online! But I'm getting used to this system also.

I've been on the internet since early 1996 and have seen a lot of growth in that time - on the web, through my business as a Virtual Assistant and through personal experience and knowledge. God gave me the wonderful opportunity to work at home a couple of years earlier prior to the Internet entering the business scene here in Australia, which meant I was well placed to use this technology as it became available. The reason for working at home was so I could be here for our 5 daughters as they went through their teen years which I've achieved and the youngest will soon be 20. I am so grateful to God that I could watch their growing years from my home office and be here as they came home each night. There were times when they really just needed to unload and I could stop my work and listen to them as they shared and poured out to me. I could tell from the way they entered the front door what kind of day they'd had - from their bouncy walk and chirpy greeting, to their stompy walk and silence. If I'd been in a corporate job still I wouldn't have seen any of this and by the time I had come home their day would have moved on and I would have known nothing. If at all possible, mothers do need to be home for their children, particularly since the extended family is almost non-existent. There was a time when grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all used to be on the same land or very close by to assist with growing families - this is very rare in the modern world these days.

As time in my home office and things progressed on the web I would see areas that had holes that needed filling. Consequently my husband and I set up a ChristianMousepad business in Australia and people can place orders online. The designs are our's. I also manage a Christian Speakers listing as there is no Christian Speakers' Bureau in Australia either. This list is slowly growing and many of the speakers and entertainers have received bookings via this site. I've set up a blog connected to this site now to use it as an announcement service as new speakers join the listing or to announce something special that may have happened to one of the people listed on that site.

My latest business venture is setting up a coaching and education program for wannabe and fledgling virtual assistants. This has been coming for some years - I've received lots of requests from women who want to be virtual assistants and are seeking guidance and advice. The result is VATrainer.com which was launched 1st July 2006 and there are a number of students already going through the program. This is an exciting new phase to my business journey and as the network I manage grows, and the training program, I plan to lessen the amount of time I spend with clients and increase the amount of time I spend with assisting other virtual assistants. I also have a regular newsletter that goes out to virtual assistants and clients and usually covers topics of interest for running a business on the web. You can subscribe here.

2006 was a year that re-ignited my passion for writing and during that journey I also discovered a wonderful Christian writer's community at FaithWriters.com. I love sharing with others about what I've learnt through my writing and have heard many stories of how others have been blessed by the same lessons. As a result blogging has become a passion and I now own several blogs - not sure where I find the time for them, but I do! Some of them are listed below. Would love you to come visit them and please leave a comment or two (or more) if you find posts that strike a chord with you.

http://www.god-incidence.com
http://www.proverbs31-woman.com
http://www.shoutlife.com/kathiemt (Christian community)
http://www.soho-life.com
http://www.thomases.org (Family blog)
http://www.vadirectory.net/blog/ (My business blog)
http://www.workplace-ministry.com

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