Guerrilla From The Bush | Simple Solutions For Difficult Problems

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Greetings from The Guerrilla From The Bush.

I'm Carol Jones and these are my stories about starting again from scratch when my partner, Victor Pleshev, and I exchange the city lights for the rural life. It's not only a new life on a remote rural property. But a troublesome new business to come to grips with. As well as local and national issues to contend with that affect life in the bush. There are so many challenges and problems to solve, I quickly morph into a can do, trouble shooting Guerrilla From The Bush.

Guerrilla From The Bush Woolshed 000_1684 425w 2010 July 01

The Guerrilla From The Bush Shows Off Her Woolshed

Meet Bear Naked®

Greetings from rural Australia. If you love ‘can do’ stories, this one ranks up there with the best. It’s a heart warming story of a young woman, Kelly Flatley, and young man, Brendan Synnott – both Gen Y – who have no plan other than to follow a dream. And succeed beyond their wildest expectations. [...]

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Life In The Bush – What A Day

We’ve been in severe, close to dire drought, for a few years. We’ve not had one drop of rain for two months. The land is the colour of straw. Stock trucks are taking stock off the farms to other parts because dams are dry and feed is non-existent. Our house water supplies are dwindling. And [...]

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The Psychology Of Failure

I was listening to a friend lamenting to me how much his grown up son is, in his eyes, a failure. And an embarrassment to his mother. The word ‘embarrassment’ perked my ears up. Because I think this is the deep, underlying reason why failure isn’t tolerated in our society. Failure = embarrassment and shame. [...]

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Friendships Are Enduring And Endearing

Edgar Vance and I met in February 2005. At the Denison Dog Training Club at the Eglinton Showground in Eglinton NSW, just outside Bathurst. My 8 month old Tri-Coloured Rough Collie, Daisy Mae, nipped his dog, Taz, a fluffy miniature everything, on the nose, while standing in line, at supposedly full attention, at the roll [...]

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The Money Tree – The Cheque Is In The Mail

That’s the subject title for the emails I send to The Money Tree participants. And I love sending it because it’s the best Win/Win situation my business encounters. If you’re a geometry enthusiast, it’s the perfect equilateral triangle. Everyone wins in the same proportion. The customer who has just purchased a product wins, because I [...]

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Leon Saves Our Lives

Leon To The Rescue In my part of the Central Tablelands of NSW, it snows a few times every year between June and August. Not the seriously deep snow that falls in the Snowy Mountains and stays around all winter. But light snow that when falling, has the unmistakable stillness, calmness and magical qualities that [...]

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The Wee Willie Wagtails

The Willie Wagtails. A Birds Eye View. Saturday, 10th October 2009 Noon. I’m working in the kitchen. Preparing my usual Saturday food extravaganza. Cakes, muffins, bread. A delicious roast for dinner. It’s my way of relaxing. I switch off one switch and turn on another. Honeysuckle has been draping our house since 1992. Its intoxicating [...]

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Twitter

My Twist On Twitter 10th October 2009 I first discovered Twitter in 2007, not long after Twitter was launched. I signed up because it was highly recommended. But after looking at Twitter more closely, I decided it just wasn’t for me. For several reasons. I’m a very private person and have never been compelled to [...]

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It’s So Easy To Create Your Own Bad Publicity

How To Create Your Own Bad Publicity 15th September 2009 Creating your own bad publicity is very simple. Just don’t keep your word. Nothing infuriates people more than being let down. And the chatter and prattle that passes from mouth to mouth once someone starts to poison you because of your bad manners, is like [...]

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Are You Weary Of The Doom And Gloom?

Doom And Gloom Is A Mindset, Not Reality 2nd September 2009 For more than 12 months the doomsayers have been in their element. There’s hardly a positive word spinning around in all the doom and gloom we’re reading. Perhaps it’s true that most people love hearing bad news. It sells more papers and keeps more [...]

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Good Manners Revisited

A Tale Of Three Encounters 31st August 2009 My post, Good Manners in Business. Where Are They? . . . hit a nerve with quite a few people. A subject that I thought was a sleeper, turns out to be quite important to people. I was surprised by the emails and phone calls I received. [...]

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What Is The Secret?

The Secret Is This 20 August 2009 Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! And nothing again! Ever happens until you get off your derriere and take action. What’s The Secret I’m referring to? It’s the concept and book and DVD The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. The synopsis is this. Think positive thoughts, send those thoughts out into the [...]

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Political Correctness. Bah!!

Don’t Fence Me In 2nd July 2009 It was the email from my friend and publicist, Penny Stevens of Awarehouse Communications, that began a train of exchanges between me and a number of business friends about the nanny state. Penny lit the spark with her comment that she was rapidly becoming a very grumpy old [...]

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Everyone Complains About Bad Manners

Good Manners. Where Are They? 10th June 2009 Good manners in business appears to be an oxymoron. Like business ethics. The lack of manners in business is not only annoying to me, but to many others as well. The reason I was motivated to write this chapter is because readers of my blog asked me [...]

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Attitude Is Everything

What An Attitude! 10th June 2009 I received the following email from Lyn Palmen AM, Founder and Managing Director of the Women’s Network Australia. This was her opening statement in that email newsletter. Dear Carol, Re: The Business of Fun Sometimes I just have to delight in the diversity of my life and the contrast [...]

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I'm Carol Jones . . .

The 'Ironing Diva'.

And thank you so much for stopping by!

In the early days of establishing my business, I was known as the 'Ironing Board Cover Lady'.

And definitely as 'The Guerrilla From The Bush' as I come to grips with the intricacies of adapting to rural life after a lifetime as a city girl living in New York City, Washington DC and Sydney Australia.

I'm now in the best position ever. My small business has a big heart and loves helping others.

Simple Solutions For Difficult Problems showcases my Joint Venture Program, The Money Tree.

Because the most rewarding way for me to run my business is to help others. And to work with business men and women who appreciate and value loyalty.

And that's what The Money Tree does. Helps add much needed funds to coffers.

Life has a habit of repeating itself.

Taking into account luck, good and bad fortune, serendipity, changing circumstances, the influence of people I meet, the community in which I live, there's a constant throughout my life.

I simply love helping other people.

I was the eleven year old school girl who excelled at being a School Safety Patrol Officer, guiding a band of younger children to school.

Making sure they crossed streets safely, didn't start fights with each other and arrived at school the way their parents expected.

Safely and intact.

I happily ran errands for an elderly neighbour and loved the cups of hot chocolate we shared together when I delivered her groceries to her.

And yes. I've done my share of helping senior citizens up and down stairs, to cross streets and carry their shopping for them if I thought they needed help.

Add to that mothers with prams struggling with stairs, and getting into and out of trains and buses.

And lost children. I suffer too when I see those big wide eyes longing to be helped to find their mum and dad.

Even my pets are rescues.

My desire to help others is my strongest emotional pull. A freight train at full speed couldn't stand in my way of offering a helping hand.

Helping others is not only a recurring theme in my life, it's a natural extension of who I am. That's why I find it the most rewarding way to run my business.

And this is how all the pieces in the jigsaw puzzle of my life fit together for me.

My signature product, The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, was designed in 1994 by my partner, Victor Pleshev, an architect, to help his mother, Margarita, recover from a stroke.

It was never meant to be a business. Just a gift to Margarita. A helping hand.

But 250,000 customers worldwide makes this is a significant business.

Albeit an accidental business.

To stay true to my helping hand focus, I knew exactly what type of men and women I would choose to sew for me. And what kind of company to form a long term sewing partnership with.

It's very rewarding to have my products made to perfection while giving back to the community at the same time.

Which is why all my products are made with love and care in rural Australia by men and women who have a disability.

They put their heart and soul into everything they do.

And it shows.

And I know that you love being part of this community that gives back every time you make a purchase.

This same philosophy applies to how I acquire a new customer.

Many of my worldwide customers find me on a Google search at my main website www.InterfaceAustralia.com

That's how my online business began in 2001.

But there's a given in business.

There's no such thing as a free customer. Every one comes at a cost. Advertising is a cost. Wholesaling to retailers is a cost.

But I can decide whose pocket I put money into when a new customer arrives on my doorstep.

I choose not to put it into the hands of retailers who care more about making maximum profits, than they care about me.

Or you.

As often as I can, I do choose to funnel it back into the pockets of organisations who give something back to the community.

As well as those small boutique businesses who form personal relationships with their customers and who want to offer them additional choices without having to invest in additional stock.

Which is what The Money Tree is all about.

Forming strategic alliances with non-profit organisations and small businesses who care enough to give back to their community and/or offer something extra special to their treasured customers.

So far, my product range has raised in excess of $1 Million for worthy causes.

With your help, I'm working towards $2 Million.

If you've been directed here because you've followed a link from the website of a participant in The Money Tree . . . Welcome! and rest assured you're in the right place.

If you're here because you did a Google search and landed on my website and would love to purchase any of these products independent of forming a strategic alliance, Welcome! and please stay to browse or shop to your heart's content.

I hope you like what you see.

I also hope you'll tell your friends.

Because this is how you help to grow The Money Tree.

All the best,

Carol