Laugh a lot !!!

         

 

 

                                                                                       Edition 275 Monday March 30th 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi,what an amazing few weeks as the Cricket World Cup knock out stages gripped us all.The mighty Black Caps thrilled us with their daring quarter final and semi final wins. New heros emerged from amongst the team every match as we progressed to the final in Melbourne. At home and at work we were captivated,we embraced our team and celebrated their success.Nothing galvanises a nation like sporting success.You couldnt help but get swept up by the wave of excitement and anticipation!.We were deserving finalists and we fought hard but were not good enough on the day.Sure it was a disappointing end to a brave campaign that fell just short of its ultimate goal.You cant and don’t win them all,its how you play the game that counts.We aimed for the moon and definitely finished amongst the stars!!!The performance of our team has motivated another generation of kiwi kids to want to emulate them!Thankyou Black Caps for an amazing ride, be proud,stand tall New Zealand!!!

Fletcher says; Thanks Dad for digging out your old willow cricket bat for me.I promise to do my best to be there for Cricket World Cup 2035(no pressure).Yay, Easter (only 6 more days to behave!!).

Funny thing happened to me the other day, I was sitting in a meeting flexing my stomach muscles quietly when they cramped and I doubled up in pain and let out a yelp of pain much to my colleagues amusement!....good excuse to laugh out loud for all meeting attendees…except me !!!Thats what you call making your own fun, sort of LIt certainly proved to be the highlight of the meeting!!

Thanks for your continued support and feedback,have a fun week,Happy Easter….Cheers Jonesey!

 

Harry and the Hendersons reckon fun and party are a dogs middle names!(see attached)

 

“A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company ” Marty Neumeier

There are a couple of things I notice when I visit existing or prospective customers premises;

1. The greeting I receive from reception.
   I reckon a business that has  friendly helpful staff on reception is likely to be a positive and productive one. The person on the front desk is the ‘director of first impressions’ and these are important.Grumpy,unhelpful people are not a good look and the increasingly popular automated ‘sign in’ system is a backward step,what does that say about your business?
    
2. The state of the toilets.
   Often I will ask to use the toilet when I visit a business and whilst I genuinely need to go there, it can also tell you a lot about a business. If the toilet is in a poor state then the business obviously doesn’t care enough about its staff or its image to keep them clean. If the toilet is spotless then so too will be  its attitude toward its staff and customers.
    
   My new local café pays attention to both these critical factors and as a result there are queues of customers out the door. Owner Stephen and his expert barista’s David and Caitlin make an effort to greet all customers by name and because this means so much customers,they,like me, make the effort back in return!....its a unique, cool feeling and creates a surreal, friendly,happy atmosphere.
   The toilets are pristine and cleaned several times a day this is also refreshingly different and says everything about the importance this business places on its customers. A couple of small things that make a huge difference compared to others…and isnt that what customer service is all about!
    
   “ We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”
   Jeff Bezos CEO Amazon.com

Hardcore

 

 

 

                                                                                       Edition 274 Monday March 23rd 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi,every club I have ever belonged to has a hard core. They are the members who volunteer for stuff like working bees and committees and without whom, most clubs would cease to exist.Members outside the hardcore often take this for granted. The hardcore and the committee of most clubs I know tend to shrug their shoulders and just get on with it in typical ‘sheel be right’ kiwi fashion……but is this doing the club any good….no way.

Any club membership is about a give and take combo and not all give or all take in my humble view.

So after saying ‘sheel be right’ one time too often I let my club know my views on this subject! Like anything in life you get out what you put in and club membership is no different!

Fletcher says; Kelly Tarltons Sea World (see attached) is the coolest place and says he cant wait to swim with the sharks and feed the sting rays!!……yeah right mate,guess who will be watching that through the safety glass!!

How about the World Cup Cricket? Even if you would normally prefer to watch paint drying you have to be enthused by the way the Black Caps are feeling the fear of playing in their ownback yard and doing it anyway.Speaking of backyards I can remember playing ‘test’ cricket in backyards around our neighbourhood as a kid. I bet most if not all the current NZ team started their careers the same way. We were down the beach this weekend and there were games going on up and down the beach.The country is gripped in much the same way it was for the Rugby World Cup in 2011 so put the paint brush down and get yourself in front of a telly or to Eden Park on Tuesday and scream for the boys against South Africa!!!.....GO THE MIGHTY BLACK CAPS!!!!!!!!!

I hope you are all spending time with the people who are important in your lives….Cheers Jonesey!

 

Harry and the Hendersons reckon dogs are good cricketers,if they ever gave the ball back!

 

 

“Courage – it’s the most important of all the virtues because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently, you can’t be consistently kind, or fair, or human, or generous not without courage because if you don’t have it you’ll stop and say - "The threat is too much the difficulty is too high the challenge is too great". To live one’s life with courage is really the greatest virtue as it’s the one from which all the others arise.”          ‘Dr Maya Angelou’

 

What is courage? We tend to think it is a virtue only displayed by legendary or famous people recognized and reported for having it in truckloads on the sports or battle field yet nothing could be further from reality.

We are surrounded by courageous people and we are called on to show courage daily.

For some it takes courage to get out of bed in the morning,for others it takes courage to deal with family members or work collaegues. Some face the daily dilemma of dealing with injury, disease or disability and need courage to deal with these things or to assist others who face these challenges.

Someone I know has depression, I have witnessed the effect this has had on them and their family.

The list of reasons we need to show courage daily is endless and no matter how bad we may think things are from time to time in our world there is always someone who is worse off.

Courage is about accepting action is required about something and then actually stepping up and acting on it. I bet you have examples at home,at work or amongst friends daily that you can draw courage and inspiration from. The secret is to be aware of these and to ensure we are grateful daily for the cards we have been dealt and to always look for opportunities to  help others!!

 

“Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway.” John Wayne

Yeah right

         

 

 

                                                                                       Edition 273 Monday March 16th 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi,like any big event it is normally the build up or the excitement and anticipation that turns out to be as,if not more, exciting than the event itself. In fact in some cases the event actually turns out to be a disappointment and often does’nt deliver after all the hype and build up!

At this point in time after nearly a week of build up I am starting to feel that way about Cyclone Pam!I guess we are lucky living on the West Coast as the storm is apparently coming from the East so we are relatively sheltered. All the same I have been busy preparing for the worst clearing gutters,checking windows and roof etc.All emergency equipment like torches, candles,water bottles and cell phones are charged and ready. We have supplies to last weeks and our resident volunteer fire fighter is primed ready to jump to the aid of our remote community….talk about high alert….all I can say is after all this something better bloomin well happen(in a nice non injury/threatening way J)

Fletcher says; having to behave for over a month in advanced anticipation of the ‘Easter Bunny’ visit to 48 is a bit rough……better be worth its weight in chocolate that’s all he reckonsJ.

I found a new and very cool café close to work last week. I sort of got forced to really when my regular decided they knew best and changed their loyalty card to a plastic swipe card that confused everyone and rewarded you less often.To me this was not user friendly having to check card loyalty balances on line etc…..too hard bro!!So I found a new café less that 50m away that is funkier,friendlier and an oasis of old school loyalty card simplicity!Oh and did I mention they have a coffee special between 7-9am every week day where my beloved coffee will only cost me $3…..crikey I am hooked. My message to all the cafes I have axed over the years,if it isnt broken don’t fix it!!!

I hope you are all happy, safe from Pam and looking forward to the week ahead……Cheers Jonesey!

 

Harry and the Hendersons reckon watching dogs be dogs should fill one with happiness?

Yeah right!!!!

 

“Being slightly paranoid is like being slightly pregnant - it tends to get worse.”Molly Ivins

 

If someone called me paranoid I would normally disagree however last week I was consumed with paranoia and it wasn’t pretty, in fact it was scary for me and others!

The story goes like this…..I am working with a prospective customer and have been assisting him to analyse his current providers services.I have been careful to ensure that my input has been on an as requested and totally unbias basis(yeah right)!

Anyway things had been going along famously and we had been in regular contact until the communication from my prospects side ceased for no particular reason? I didn’t think too much of it initially however after a week of silence from him I began to get a bit paranoid about what may have happened.The silence gnawed away at me and I found I was driving myself and those around me nuts by speculating on a multitude of possible scenarios running rampant through my mind.

Finally after 10 days I could bear it no more and I decided to make a concentrated effort to touch base to put me and everyone I was driving insane out of our misery.

I eventually got hold of him to find that he had been away for a week and was slowly catching up with emails and phone calls!! Crikey what a relief,so I acted cool and tried to imply that I was concerned about him and maybe their incumbant provider getting upset with my efforts to assist him to analyse their substandard service(oooops did I say that??!!). Turns out they had learned of our involvment and had addressed this with him in a bitchy sort of way which was even better for us!

 So what were my learnings from this bout of histeria?To back myself no matter what, to calm down and above all to return the phone calls and emails of everyone chasing me for answers or decisions!!

 

“It's amazing where the paranoid mind can take you.” Bill Ayers

No Dickheads

 

 

 

                                                                                       Edition 272 Monday March 9th 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, “Marriage is about realizing you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody,and wanting the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

 

 I love that we have so much in common and often think about things at the same time .I love that we text each other simultaneously.I love that you make being me so easy even if it is the ‘occasionally grumpy’ me.I love that you get ‘that look’ when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that we produced a beautiful son and that he has you as his Mother.

 “I guarantee that we’ll have tough times. And I guarantee that at some point, one or both of us will get more than a little annoyed with the other. But I also guarantee that if I didn’t ask you to be mine, I would regret it for the rest of my life. Because I know in my heart you are the only one for me.”

 

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live a day without you”.(Some of my reading from our wedding 08/03/14).

 

Fletcher says; Happy first wedding anniversary Mummy and Daddy…..do I get a present too??

 

I consider myself a lucky person to have found my soulmate and to be blessed with the family I have.They will always be more important to me than anything else in the world.The vital thing for me is to always make sure they are never in any doubt that is the case no matter how busy I think I am.

My wife, life and family inspire me to fight off the ‘work life balance’ goblins!!!

Hey, how about those Breakers, NBL Champions 4^th year out of 5!!! Obviously their ‘No Dickheads’ policy is a winner…..the Auckland Blues would do well to adopt it as soon as possible !!!

Have an awesome week ahead, take care……Cheers Jonesey!

 

Harry and the Hendersons reckon dogs have a simple life compared to anyone they know!!!

 

 

“Aim high,at least you wont shoot yourself in the foot”.Josh James

 

Josh James is an interesting character,his own answer to Bear Grylls he has been posting videos to youtube of his hunting, shooting, fishing trips on NZs West Coast for a couple of years.

This down to earth kiwi joker out of the Bazza Crump mold having a crack at wild do it yourself sustainability and self sufficiency has just landed a huge Discovery Channel contract to do a series!!!!

Crikey Josh is now off to the US to start filming in a week or two and feeling pretty good about cracking the big time wide open.

Yes Kiwis punch above their weight on the world stage but getting on to that stage is the challenge.

I found Josh’s story incredibly inspiring and motivational and something I wanted to share with you in case you hadnt heard about it. A great example to us all of what is possible if you back yourself.

On another positive note we won an extension and expansion of an existing retirement village contract last week due to the strength of the relationship we have built with our customer.

In a review meeting my contact said one of the things he remembered was my simple gift of some chocolates as a ‘get well’ gesture to a resident who had sustained a bump from a bin lid!

He said it was little things like that which made the difference between our company and others when they came to award the renewal and the extra work recently.

Those sorts of things don’t cost a lot of money or time but certainly pay huge dividends in time !!

Always look for ways to add value and enhance what you are doing by being different and caring.

 

“Life is like a box of chocolates,you never know what your going to get”. Forrest Gump