About Us

IMG 0105 201x300 About UsWho are we? Just regular people who’ve done a few interesting things and had some fun along the way …

For a number of years we were both actors – I worked mainly in the theatre, occasionally venturing into films, TV and the West End stage, Michael had long stints at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. We met doing a show together in 1983 and married the next year.

A daughter and son arrived in quick succession and we moved out of London up to the edge of the Cotswolds. Idyllic, but pursuing my acting career wasn’t easy. After a few happy years as a fulltime mum, I turned to video production – not a deliberate career move, but a door opened and I stepped through it- and over the next few years I wrote and produced hundreds of corporate videos.

Michael gradually became more involved and together we set up a video production company, Illuminated Word. He was behind the camera and in the edit suite (as techno wizard) and I did the ‘people’ stuff, interfacing with clients, writing and producing. We made a great team. Still do!

Increasingly Michael turned to making special interest DVDs for direct sale via the internet – documentaries mostly, including ‘Standing with Stones’ (standingstones.tv). I moved into coaching, starting off with presentation skills and media training (www.sharonbaylis.com) and then (because of my lifelong passion for personal development) life coaching (www.thecoachingpractice.com).

Life was going well. And then at the age of 50 it dawned on us (I know we’re not alone in this) that our finances weren’t really where we’d like them to be. The fame and fortune we’d assumed would come our way had somehow failed to put in an appearance. Our freelance lifestyle hadn’t equipped us with a fat company pension. And unless something changed soon, retirement didn’t ever look like being an option. The future was not particularly rosy.

That’s when I tripped across Forever. I met a Forever distributor at a business networking breakfast and she invited me to take a look at the business. I’m ashamed to say that in my ignorance and scepticism, I declined. I thought this business, assuming that it wasn’t a scam, was about selling soap to strangers (or even worse – to my mates). No way was I interested! But out of politeness I inquired about Aloe Vera. Why would anyone drink a wacky cactus juice?

What I heard about Aloe’s properties convinced me to try it, and I became a customer. Experiencing the benefits made me a convert. A few months later, when I took a proper look at the business opportunity, I realised just what I’d potentially got my hands on:

  • an ethical company, using a sound business model, with products I was happy to endorse and recommend
  • something I could begin with almost no investment, which I could fit around my other commitments
  • a way of achieving a pension style income that would give us security for life, without pouring half a million plus into a pension plan.

I signed up as a distributor, took home my box of goodies and started putting a plan together.

As promised, my hand was held every step of the way but I’ve never felt the slightest pressure from anyone else to achieve. I’ve loved every minute of it, especially helping others to build their own bridge between where they are now and where they want to get to. You can only be successful in this business by helping other people to be successful so the sense of job satisfaction is enormous. So is the personal growth.

And the future is now looking a very comfortable shade of pink.