Aloha - who are jon and belinda smith?

To ensure that we can help you, it is important that you get to know us and how we have arrived at this point in our careers! The following pages cover some background information into our work, rest and play!

In a nutshell - Born - Education - Creatives - Travel - Designers - Teachers - Family - Business - Life begins at 40...  Present Day

Work

Belinda and Jon are secondary school teachers (teaching 11 - 18 year olds) currently living in Ipswich, Suffolk about one hour north-east of London, UK.

We have two young girls Charlotte (Lottie) 6 and Katie Leilani 2.

Originally we both trained as designers, meeting at De Montfort University in the same faculty 19 years ago! Jon graduated as a Product / Industrial Designer and Belinda as a Silversmith.

After some extensive round the world travel (visiting India, Africa, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Pacific Islands and driving across the USA) and working in the Swiss Alps we settled in and around London for a number of years.

Jon worked mainly as Senior Product designer in a number of consultancies creating a diverse range of products from concept through to production for nearly 9 years.

Belinda trained as teacher during this time and started teaching Design at Christ's Hospital School in the South of England. Jon moved to a consultancy in the south and then trained as a design teacher in London, securing his first teaching post in Guildford, Surrey.

After getting married in 2000, we took off again around the world travelling through South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. We then completed a ski season in the French Alps running a chalet for 16 guests and ski guiding.

Once back in the UK we moved to Ipswich for Jon to start teaching again and Belinda to start her first design company, b different design. Belinda also started teaching part time at the school shortly afterwards.

Our two children were born in 2004 and 2008 and we have enjoyed living here during this time making many friends in the area.

How does all this help you?

Well all of these different jobs, travelling and working with a wide range of people has taught us that our skills of presenting, teaching, planning / time management, creativity, problem solving, team work, supporting, coaching and leadership, transfers into running successful network marketing companies and helping others be successful too!

Why network marketing?

Teaching has been great! We educate, train, demonstrate, mark and guide each new generation of pupils through our subject and onto success (hopefully) in their GCSE and A Level exams. We get good holidays and time with the family. However it is hard to do overtime during the holidays! and with rising costs all round we started looking for additional streams of income. Mortgage, childcare costs and an under funded pension pot were our main goals to be addressed and the chance to build an income for our children's future.

We became involved in the network marketing profession after a meeting with a good friend who had popped in to try to 'save us some money'. She could and we also looked at the business. I am the most sceptic person and spent weeks afterwards trying to find flaws in the idea! Plenty of people had opinions, including my own family. Then we just got started. There were so many things that we could have done differently in the early days of the business, but we worked to the following lesson -

"don't get it perfect, just get it going!"

We got going and things happened. We met loads of positive people with great goals and drive, we talked to loads of people and started to help them too and we gained confidence in our own ability and business. Suddenly we had a team that required guidance and mentoring and it was FUN! We were helping people help themselves in all areas of their businesses and enjoying the process.

Our first company is UK based and works very well on a local level, although we do have team members around the country. Belinda has been in demand around the country giving presentations and speaking at conferences. Her enthusiasm and personality has helped build a large team that feel supported in their businesses. Belinda has been an active member of the ladies Athena Networking Group (www.theathenanetwork.com) She has recently become Marketing Assistant for the thriving local 4networking group here in the East of England.

Visit www.4networking.biz for more details.

Jon, on the other hand, was getting more involved in using the Internet within the business and it was then that we decided to take on a second business which was more worldwide. Jon spent a long time researching the right business and along the way learned many things about a wide range of different options. We now run both businesses and have team members around the globe. B runs the UK business and Jon the global one. Both businesses are poles apart in their product ranges and there is no conflict of interest. We are able to give completely impartial advice about either. People have enjoyed being given balanced advice and finding what best suits their own circumstances.

For a more detailed explanation about the network marketing industry

click here - 'network marketing explained'

• Our current school in Ipswich (the day job)
• Examples of award winning pewter and silverware by Belinda www.
• Successful products designed by Jon during the 1990's (including Parker Reflex pen range)

• During our early years in Ipswich we extensively transformed our Victorian house. This kept us busy and provided the opportunity to further develop project management skills!

Attraction Marketing

Over the last few years we have developed both on-line and off-line systems to help our own business and our team members. Recent feedback from the team about providing simple ways to get on-line businesses going prompted us to re-visit our own strategies.

We have built Wordpress blogs, capture pages and auto responder systems and realised that it was all getting confusing for those new to the internet. Duplicated websites for the businesses are available, however building your own web of presence on the internet about your own passion is an excellent way of attracting interest in yourself and building trust.

Know, like and trust!

Ultimately, whatever system you plug into 'content is king'!

A beautiful looking blog is of no value if the content does not provide any value to your visitors.

To this end we have simplified the system and got rid of the need for plug-ins, HTML and different hosting options etc.

Enter Squarespace!

By using this excellent, simple to navigate system combined with the industry leading 'i-contact' it is possible to have your blog and an attraction marketing system up and running quickly, at minimum cost and make it very easy to update and change your site etc. as your skills develop.

This allows you to focus on the really important things about building your new business.

Creating useful, good content, connecting with people and attracting people to you.

Like all other forms of marketing and business, attraction marketing is not easy and requires hard work to build your brand and identity. We just aim to make it easier to get started and simpler to understand as you get going. If you would like further information about how we can help you - CLICK HERE

Have a quick look at what the Smith's do to un-wind when they are not working - Click Here