In a challenging and competetive market, with the added hurdle of economic pressure, I took heed of my Uncle Rab’s advice about not putting all one’s eggs in one basket.

Our Neem People business is steady, with new customers replacing those who no longer need our help but, what with money being tight, customers are not ordering as much as before so we had to look at ways to make up the shortfall.

WE have always had an iterest in dowsing and use it extensively in our own lives. We encourage people to dowse before they buy from us so that they are sure they are buying what is right for them. Charlatans beware! Most people have a vague idea of what dowsing is all about and some have not heard about it so sequitur, we set about teaching people to dowse.

Although you can dowse without tools the use of tools gives a tangible response to your quest; this sequence involved making dowsing tools to sell to the new community of dowsers. A local crafstman made wooden pendulums for me inspite of being handicapped with a stroke. Why wooden pendulums? Because the original dowsing tool, a forked twig, was wood. These proved to be very popular and Dennis had to work overtime. Then, sadly, Dennis had another stroke and was unable to use his lathe. There are plenty of woodworkers around, who could turn pendulums, but they were asking silly money which would deter people buying pendulums, so I had to source my pendulums elsewhere and was fortunate in finding a manufacturer in India. I found another manufacturer in India who now makes me very attractive suede pouches for the pendulums.

Dowsing “L” Rods proved a bit of a problem and our early attempts were a tad amateurish until we had an EUREKA! moment. Purists will tell you that you do not need “handles” that allow the rods to swivel but our rods, used corectly, are very sensitive. The look of utter amazement when the rods move in the hands of a novice is one of the satisfactions of teaching.

Bobbers are the ultimate in sensitivity, even though our bobbers are basic as compared with bobbers made by the late Arthur Bebbington.

It is all very well teaching people to dowse at our stand at the exhibitions – even if it detracted  from our main business of promoting and selling products of The Healing Neem Tree : http://www.theneempeople.com – but I felt I had to cast my net wider if I was going to recruit more people into our dowsing fraternity so I spoke with event organisers to ask for a speaking slot, and I was allocated a room and 30 minutes. So much to talk about and so little time. Realising the popularity of my talks I was given an hour to do a workshop; the numbers attending varied from 3, at a local MBS exhibition, to 65 in Dublin. An hour was still too short so some organisers stretched the time to 90 minutes.

My workshops are interactive, with the audience given the opportunity to try dowsing with a forked twig, pendulum, “L” rods and the bobber.

• I start with an introduction when I mention the Special Interest Groups.
• I then demonstrate the method of dowsing with each of the dowsing tools
• The audience try dowsing with the forked twigs I have brought along
• We move on to the bobbers, put these aside and
• I hand out pairs of  “L” rods which the audience seem fascinated by and
• Finally everyone is given a wooden pendulum to dowse with
• Back to their seats and we pore over folders containing dowsing information and charts

I have no idea how many attendees I will have, so it is touch and go as to whether or not I have sufficient material for all. Sadly, I have to race through the whole programme because time flies and the next speaker needs the room.

Our last exhibition was at the truly awesome Monastery in Gorton, Manchester and it was the first time I was allowed to do a 90 minute workshop here. This organiser gets people to pre-book seats for talks and workshops, so was able to advise me that I had a full house of 55 people. I was keen to see the room I was allocated and went cold when I saw that the 2nd floor room was arranged in an “intimate” classroom style with no room to move about. THINK!

“I have become my own version of an optimist. If I can’t make it through one door, I’ll go through another door – or I’ll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.” – Rabindranath Tagore

I explained my predicament to the organiser and suggested that I hold the introduction in the room, then we all move down to the quadrangle – luckily it was a dry, albeit cold, day – for the practical dowsing, returning to the room for the conclusion. I explained this to my audience – the overflow sat on the floor – and they took it in good spirit (Monastery!). A lot of my audience buy my dowsing tools and I encourage them to join their local dowsing group.

Note: Every now and again there will be someone in my audience who cannot use any of the dowsing tools. This puzzled me until I found the reason.

There will be two more firsts for me later this year, as I have been accepted as a workshop presenter at a six day MBS exhibition at Earls Court, London and a three day show at Olympia.

Can I? Yes – May I? Yes – Should I? Most certainly.

It is a long way to Tipperary and to Cork, and to Dublin so you can understand why we are on tenterhooks about the business we will be doing at these venues. The two exhibitions were a week apart

Hi,

I’ve made a few notes about www.theneempeople.com (I spend monday mornings looking around the web and then try and drum up some business in the afternoon). I hope you don’t mind me dropping you a line, but I have some feedback about your site that might be useful to you. 

I work for SiteWizard.co.uk (you might have heard of us, we are a low cost website design and promotion company that’s just had it’s 15th birthday and is probably the most recommended web services company in the UK).

I’ve noted down some important things as I looked at your site. The most glaring, and simple to remedy is that it doesn’t have Google Analytics installed. I don’t know if you know what it is, but it is a completely free and incredibly useful tool to help you make the most out of your website and give you valuable feedback about it’s use. If you are taking the internet seriously as part of your business, your site really shouldn’t be without it. 

If you are interested in hearing how I think you can improve your website to get more out of it for relatively little cost, drop me a line back and I’ll go through the notes I made. The very least I recommend is getting Google Analytics installed, and, if you like, I’ll send you our free google analytics installation and “getting the most out of” guide that we normally only send out to clients. Alternatively do a google search for “installing google analytics” and you’ll find all the details you need. 

I wish you every success in 2012 with your website,

Have a great afternoon, 

Kind Regards, 

Website Consultant

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Hi Anon 

Thank you for taking an interest in my web site.

I already have Google Analytics and Mint, and I use Yoast for SEO.

As an 80 (almost) year beginner I get great pleasure in tweaking pages and watching search engines pick them up a day later.

I like your attitude, but I think I will continue to paddle my own canoe. 

Warm wishes 

Sidney

Metaphors can be used ad nauseam and often get mixed.

“Good wine needs no bough” or “Don’t hide your light under a bushel”

I remember reading about a Coca Cola executive being asked why the company still spent enormous sums on advertising when the brand was well known throughout the world. He gave the example of an aeroplane that had reached supersonic speed. Should they jettison the engines?

Establishing a brand involves hard work, time and money but the work is ongoing, and it is important to keep reminding customers about who you are and what you are all about. Getting Perpetua Herbals – The Neem People on the road did take a lot of time and an awful lot of hard work, but we had no money. You cut your coat according to your cloth.

May 30,31 and June 1,2,3,4 : Earl’s Court

Exhibition Dates 2012

March 17,18,19 : Dublin

Mar 31 and April 1 : Swansea

April 14-15 : The Monastery, Manchester

May 5,6,7 : Brentwood, Essex

May 30,31 and June 1,2,3,4 : MBS London RHS

July 6,7,8 : The Healing Weekend, Somerset

September 8,9 : Bristol (NEW)

September 28,29,30 : MBS Olympia, London

October 6-7 : The Monastery, Manchester

October 12,13,14 : Cork

October 20,21 : Cheltenham

October 27,28,29 : Dublin

November 3,4 : Birmingham

~ ooOoo~

2013 What’s the rush?

It happens every year when people overspend, over eat, drink to excess and suffer. We are not going touch on the delicate subject of finances and the dreaded February statements.

This is the time of the year when caution is thrown to the wind, shopping trollies are filled to the gunnels and bosunder, refrigerators and freezers groan with strain and there is enough food and drink to host a street party. This is the time of the year when tables are laden with food and everyone feels that they have to do justice to the bounty. Breakfast overlaps elevenses overlaps lunch overlaps afternoon tea overlaps dinner overlaps supper and bodies take a bashing. Let’s not forget the nuts and nibbles that accompany the beer, the sherry, the wine, the cognac, the liqueur.

Oops! I feel a bit bloated. Anyone got any selzer, any Fernet Branca, any Underberg. I don’t feel too good. He’s passed out but wakes up fresh the next morning, ready to make inroads into the food and drink that has to be eaten and drunk.

Got to get back to normal; I will start going to gym from next week. I wonder what I can take to detox my liver. Just a mo, didn’t Marjorie say that Neem helps detoxify the liver. What did you say? Neem won’t help an abused liver. I hope I can find something at the pharmacy.  Please don’t preach to me now.

What with last minute shopping, even for our Neem products, we have coped with the flurry of orders we received but cannot guarantee when you will receive your order.

I do feel sorry for the hard working postal staff, and the sheer volume of mail at this time of the year, and yet, they manage to keep cheerful. I am quite impressed with the young lad who sometimes deliver to us; he is always very polite and always ends with the American salutation, “Have a nice day“. This does not seem trite coming from him.

We live in a rural area so the postperson (have to be politically correct) drives around in a van. Pity the poor postman (the heck with correctness) with an urban round. I went to our sub Post Office recently and was amused when I was told that they were running out of stamps and copper coins and air mail stickers. Fortunately, I was able to sub them copper coins and stickers. One of the joys of living in a small community!

Thank you Sidney and Marjorie.

I will take into account that you may be away. Top class service as ever, I am a very satisfied customer and I love the neem products, especially the cream. 

I look forward to my delivery and will endevour to support your business and spread the neem love.

Best wishes

Rebecca – 17 May 2012

Dear the neempeople in the UK!

My friend Graham C…. sent me a month ago Neem leaves and Neem tea and skin care of neem.. I appreciate the product of the Neem tea very very much. I really feel it helps to cleanse my liver and intestines and my stomach… So I would love to order again myself this time… But I saw OUT of Stock! How long is it out of stock? Can you sent me an e-mail when and how I can order it in the future?

Hopefully you can respond. I also use the Neem skin care daily on a place behind my ear what is already itchy for years and it is helping to reduce!!!

I am very content with that too!

Well thanks a lot to have a business in NEEM!

Kind regards,

Veronique

 Found in Brecon

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and thank you so much for such a good product as i can see it’s working! After only one application it stopped itching!!

Best regards

Margaryta – 30 March 2012

Hi Sydney, I received my shampoo and soap today thank you very much.  I look forward to seeing you and Marjorie in Earls Court in May.  Hope you have lots of Neem shampoo and the wonderful soap,

Kind Regards

Pat Dickinson

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Thank you so much Sidney for your reply and time taken to respond to my questions – it’s really appreciated.

I ordered some neem cream a while back for my son and ran out of my regular moisturiser at the time so used the neem – and it was just as good if not better than my ‘expensive’ moisturiser.  I have been meaning to try it again for ages, as I have to be careful what I use on my skin as its really sensitive – hopefully it will suit my skin and I can then stock up!!!

Thanks for your advice on the toothpaste too, and for sending the oil – again much appreciated.

I generally dont like taking tablets, even herbal ones, however was wondering if taking neem internally can help digestive problems?

Many Thanks again,

Best Wishes, Claire   21 Feb 2012
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In addition to my usual dental regime, I’m brushing my teeth with the bark twice a day. How much is helpful to use. I’d say I use about a third of a teaspoon each time. Is this what you would recommend? Im noticing a lot of improvement in my gum health … [Read more...]

You are welcome, Marjorie and Sidney.
It’s warm for me to deal whith you, i feel kindness.
I am glad your quality products are available through the net for me.
Perhaps later i will be able to distibute them as i’m leaving Paris for South of France, at Frontignan…
Anyway, i tell you as soon as i receive your sending.
Best wishes.
Francis. 10 Jan.2012

I am aware that you said you mailed out a third jar – and I will GLADLY pay you for that.  Can not tell you how much I love this cream- I use it for my eczema, and as a night cream for all my wrinkles (which have gotten considerably worse since I ran out of cream.)  I am overjoyed to once again have it and am ever hopeful that we are back on track.  Will let you know when the other jar gets here as I will need you to bill me so I can pay through paypal.  Thank you so much for working so hard to get this to me.  I am ever appreciative.

Dear Mr. Vincent,

I attended your workshop on dowsing at this festival in Cork City Hall on Sunday, 18th September, along with my sister. We both found it enjoyable and very informative, and would like to thank you for being so approachable and helpful.

We look forward to seeing you at this festival again, as we attend it regularly. We hope to attend another of your workshops, as well.

Kind regards,
Andrew O’Mahony

Have a sunny day

Martina -Italy – 6 July 2011