Duff, Donn, And Dot-com

In April 2006, I was on my way back from Florida visiting my friend, and I met a professional volleyball player (Ty Loomis), who was sitting next to me on the plane. He asked me why I was pulling out papers to work, "it's Sunday night...take the day off" — so I did.

I feel it was fate that put us next to each other on that plane. I talked to him about the first season of Real Housewives and my intention to build a new website, my dreams of building an online insurance agent agency across the US.

He told me the company he works for is VPI.net, a high end web design company. He said they were the best in the industry and could build exactly was I was talking about. He gave me his card and I contacted them the week after I got home. This is how the making of and design of vickigunvalson.com started...with a vision, on a plane, meeting the right people at the right time. Nothing is by accident!

After meeting and talking with their design team, I wanted my website to be user friendly, be interactive as well as somewhat calming — hence the rocks and ocean image. In this world of "insurance" sometimes websites can be too overwhelming, where even the highly computer literate user can't navigate through it.

I spent over seven months working on the site, building the back end systems as well, and am very proud of VPI.net for all of their assistance in helping me fulfill my dreams. Thank you Visual Perspectives Internet for making my dream come true! You're the best!

I say in this episode that Duff has really helped me get my business to the next level. He has really helped me to remain focused on each individual task in the office that needs to be completed. I have a tendency to multi-task too much, and sometimes don't finish each project completely before moving to the next.

Duff was an intricate part of the building of the website and attended weekly meetings with the design team and myself. At this time, Duff is not licensed to sell insurance, but if I'm persuasive enough...he'll get it! I think he'd be great in this industry!

I know I say (and I've said in the past) that if something happened to Donn, I know I would be fine. But I hate the perception to be as if I don't need a husband, because I do. Donn is a great husband and I am very blessed to have him. What I mean when I say I'd be able to provide for myself if something happened, is I don't ever want to be "blindsided" again!

When I divorced Mike Sr., Michael and Briana were only five and six years old. I did not have a four-year college education, didn't have a career and I was SCARED! What I found out is once I realized I could support myself and my children without the aid of another person or "man," I felt empowered. I didn't feel like I "had" to get remarried to survive and be OK. I was able to marry Donn without feeling dependent on him, and it was the greatest feeling you can imagine. I think I was more of a "catch" than I would have been if I didn't work, because I was not "needing" to be with him for financial stability. We were able to marry on equal playing fields.

Oh, and you also get to see Jeana and I in the cooking class this episode! I have known Domenico, the owner of Valentina's, for over seven years now. He is not only a client of mine, but he is my personal chef, my business manager, and my close friend. Jeana and I love going to Valentina's for his once a month cooking class and for dinner when we don't feel like cooking. Domenico's cooking class is so much fun! It's definitely not your "traditional" cooking class! See you next time!