MUMS the word

Hi,I have become particularly attached to a fifty dollar note that turned up in my wallet courtesy of a trademe deal and against all prediction and temptation has survived there for nearly two months!! It is now referred to as my ‘lucky fifty’ and for compassion and superstition reasons I am reluctant to part with it ! I have got to know it so well that it has even won me a bet about what well known New Zealander appears on our fifty dollar note? My ill informed colleague was convinced it was Ernest Rutherford,but I knew after having my fifty so close for months that it is in fact Sir Apirana Ngata. Given the irregularity with which I am ever in contact with hundred dollar bills I had no idea who was on that anyway but I knew my stuff when it came to my ‘lucky fifty’. Crikey the things that amuse small minds !! The ‘lucky fitty’ survives, watch this space.

We celebrated Harry’s ninth birthday with the Hendersons and in combo with the Jones clan who dropped in for Mothers Day brunch. We are fortunate that Mum is in good nic and still going strong and that we are able to make a special fuss of her in person. I know a lot of people who sadly no longer have that opportunity but who still make it a special day to remember their Mums every year. I finished Lance Armstrongs book during the week in which coincidentally he talks fondly of his Mother who made heaps of sacrifices as she worked hard to raise him on her own.A timely reminder to us all of how important a role our Mothers have played in all our lives. I hope you all took the opportunity to remember your Mums this weekend…..Love you Mum xxxx…………Cheers Jonesey!

Harry and the Hendersons had a cool time partying and sleeping it off,getting old is a bitch.

“Be like a postage stamp,stick to one thing until you get there” Josh Billings

Business speed dating, what an interesting headline…..so I read on. Turns out it was not a way for crusty businessmen or women to meet the partner of their dreams. It was however a new  concept introduced by the Ministry of Economic Development for the benefit of small businesses like us !

Imagine being in a room full of procurement managers of the biggest government departments. These are the people that are usually protected by vicious PA’s or are invisible and impossible for small business sales people to identify and/or contact.

The business speed dating article was in a weekend paper and it detailed an upcoming event in Wellington where you got the opportunity to book ‘dates’ with 25 National Procurement Managers from big hitting government Departments. There were also presentations from representatives of the government tender website and plenty of other helpful stuff to assist your company to do business with the government…..WOW……where do we sign up !!! what an opportunity.

Unbelieveably the deadline to apply was only days later and we missed out!!, but undeterred by this I called the organiser and insisted we be included. First he ignored my calls and emails but then I managed to get past his vicious PA and talk directly to him. I insisted on being involved but he resisted and said NO, still I pursued him relentlessly until finally he gave in and allowed me to attend. He said I could ‘observe ‘ only and that there may be a chance to meet some of the buyers . No way mate I am going to be in boots and all if I go I decided I am going all guns blazing.

So the day came and I headed off to the Capital armed with cards and order books !!! I was so focused on achieving what I set out to do that I managed to get ‘dates ‘ with all the key decision makers in the government departments we targeted plus I attended all the presentations and met a number of other contacts on the day!!! WOW, what a buzz, it was exciting and fun.

So NO doesn’t mean NO it jusy means you have to try harder to get what you want and not be deterred or give in along the way….this was a great example of how persisting can break down barriers and end in huge success if you hang in there long enough…we can all do it, good luck !!

“ Persistence breaks resistance” Zig Ziglar

Changing times !

                                                      

Edition138 Monday 7th May 2012

Hi,I love it when the seasons change as we roll from the beauty of the autumn into the frosty bite of  winter. Yes it’s a bit chilly but a clear crisp sunny day in winter easily competes with anything summer (what summer?) can offer. Finding a spot in the sun and following it as it moves is the key. Also love chillaxing in front of the trusty log fire of an evening although you have to be quick in the Jones household to beat Harry and the Hendersons to the good spots up front !The family had another beautiful motorbike ride on Saturday in the winter sun. Whilst it is great getting away for weekend breaks, we love where we live and it is great to be home too. There is never any shortage of stuff to do around the whare especially as we prepare for the arrival of another family member. All of a sudden the chore list has a rapidly approaching deadline and the normal excuses for not ticking the boxes don’t cut it ! Time to step up Mr handyman Jones (not), life as you know it is about to change again…..bring it on.

Going forward we are looking forward to Harry Joneses 9^th birthday next week, don’t worry mate 63 is the new 43. We also look forward to seeing Mum on Mothers Day (Sun 13^th don’t forget) and acknowledging the upcoming 3 year anniversary of your very own ‘Upbeat’ blog ! Yes as always heaps of positive stuff to look forward to, I hope the same applies to each of you as well.

I also trust you also had a cool weekend in the sun with family and friends… Cheers Jonesey!

Harry and the Hendersons are looking forward to Harrys 9^th birthday next week..dog party!

“Don’t judge a book by its cover, the world is full of surprises.” Henry Ford

I have a confession to make….I was once a car salesman !!!! Just like Henry Ford ,quoted above, I represented his fine company with its name proudly displayed on their automobiles in the blue oval. Sure their reputation at Bathurst could be better but hey , even the best cant win them all.

There are some who have a poor impression of us automotive consultants due to the odd bad experience or some unfortunate word of mouth bad press. But as I say to all sales people I meet, train or manage, selling is the most exciting thing you can do with your clothes on! Selling is a profession and something that not everyone is cut out for as sales people are skilled highly trained business people there to assist not deceive. If you are in sales no matter what your product or industry then you need to be proud of your profession and not daunted in the slightest by the reputation or performance of a few who have attempted to spoil it for the rest of us…..right!!!

Now that said, one of the most important things we must never do as professionals is judge customers on their appearance , first impressions, or perception of their importance,wealth or IQ.

Working at a car dealership taught me a lot about selling and about life. In particular it demonstrated to me the extreme importance of working as a team and never judging anyone in advance of meeting them or having invested quality time in establishing and understanding their requirements.

 In a classic example a man visited our yard once dressed in shorts,singlet sandals, bad sunglasses and a ridiculous looking hat. Not one of the sales team was interested in meeting, greeting or investing time with him. In fact they all disappeared so fast I was the only one left for him to talk to……little did I realise at the time but it was my lucky day!

Cutting to the chase it turns out the man was in fact a millionaire businessman who owned a number of hospitality businesses in Auckland and he was looking for a top of the range vehicle which he renewed each year! So I sold him a motorcar at full retail for $100k and built a relationship with him that included becoming a personal friend of his family whom he also referred to me when they were looking to upgrade their vehicles! Wow did that teach my team a lesson about how important treating people like we would like to be treated no matter what their nationality or appearance  was. That one experience was better than days of sales training and a lesson I have never forgotten!

“We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” Anais Nin

Time out

                                                      

Edition137 Monday 30th April 2012

Hi,wow its been a great week starting with two full-on days at work closing deals.Then Tuesday night was awesome as we watched the Breakers win back to back NBL titles with a nail biting yet clinical display against Perth, no show ponies just a team working hard together for a common goal….so refreshingly different to you know who! Then up at sparrows on Anzac Day and off to the dawn parade at Browns Bay on the trusty Retro Suzuki 750cc Probably not the best or most responsible mode for Mum and child but exhilirating all the same, lets face it ,soon all three of us will not be able to enjoy the ride. There is something special about attending a dawn parade on a beach, the sound of the waves lapping gently against the shore as the dawn and the sun pierce the sky just like they would have all those years ago as our troops approached the shore at Anzac cove…..freaky. It made us feel grateful and proud of all those returned and present services personnel and the many more who didn’t come home or who have since passed before. The turnout was huge , a cross section of all ages and cool to experience gratitude and thanks expressed on such a wide and human scale.

Then just like in basketball we called a ‘time out’ and headed off to our favourite spot on the Coromandel for a self made long weekend, made even more enjoyable and relaxing because it wasn’t a public long weekend. I have a confession….yes,I took my scooby doo coffee machine, beans, grinder,and milk frothy thingy! Crikey what a JAFA So what? I had a mate who towed his weights and bench away on a trailer on holiday so he could work out(great idea) although I thought I was doing pretty well with the coffee machine and that perhaps hitching the trailer up would be a bridge too far.

Fish and Chips on the wharf at Thames was a definite highlight as was the therapeutic beauty of the picturesque white sand and deep azure blue of the Pacific ocean lapping at our doorstep….life doesn’t get any better…..’time outs’ are essential and thoroughly recommended but up to you to call!

I hope you also had a relaxing weekend with family and friends… Cheers Jonesey!

Harry and the Hendersons are on the mend & happy dad followed a team that won for once

“Its not about the bike” Lance Armstrong

Another great thing about taking ‘time out’ is that you get to do just what I talked to you about in last weeks sizzzzzzle piece. You get to take a step back and to think about where you are at , where you are headed and what you have to do in order to get there…just like in a tight basketball game!

To assist with this process time outs give you plenty of time to think, reflect and rest…….a lot.

Our long weekend spot is a place purposely chosen because we cant get cell phone or internet coverage, there is no TV so it is peacful and a definite ‘time out’ from our normal world. We also left the dogs at home so it was just us, our surrounds and the tranquil seclusion of a special piece of unspoilt New Zealand. Crikey how could we do anything but recharge our batteries with 10-12 hours sleep per night. Perfect as we enjoyed planning the next chapter of what is becoming an intriquing life story for us both ! What will the next chapter hold for us as we plan and prepare for a child !!!

Speaking of intriquing stories I did my bit and read a blokes book on pregnancy (lots of pictures and not many words) and then I picked up the book entitled ‘Its not about the bike’ by Lance Armstrong. I couldn’t put it down as I was taken on a roller coaster ride through the mid nineties where he was diagnosed and treated for testicular cancer!. Just as I alluded to last week in this column if you want to be truly motivated, inspired and stimulated then you need to allow yourself the time to read stuff like this and other books. When someone says life is tough then you need to ask then ‘compared to what?’….reading a book like this sure does make you realise all your so called problems together don’t add up to anything near what some others have to endure,and overcome. This is a book about belief and courage and I am glad I took ‘time out’ and had the privelege to read it, you should too!

“You have all the time there is…no one can give you any more, use it wisely.” Gallileo

Moments of Truth

Edition 135 Monday 16th April 2012

Hi, ‘they’ say life is a series of ‘moments of truth’ and that it is our reaction to these moments that defines us as people. ‘They’ also say these moments act as a catalyst for deciding what path we will take in life and at what point in our lives we will take those paths. All I can say is whoever ‘they’ are ‘they’ certainly seem to know what ‘they’ are talking about.

Our latest ‘moment of truth’ is bigger than Ben Hur, Texas, sliced bread and the All Black Rugby World Cup victories of 1987 and 2011 combined!!!,you see,we are going to be truly blessed with the birth of a wonderful little boy. Our brand new son will be a brother for Matthew (24) and Mark (29) and whilst it has been more than a long time between nappies, sleepless nights, breast feeding and celebratory drinks we are thrilled and both cant wait to get cracking!

Yes this is taking ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ to a whole new level but we don’t want to regret not doing it, or die wondering if we should have done it, so …..we we are doing it !

Never in our wildest dreams did we think there would be a chance to be parents all over again. We consider ourselves extremely lucky to have this opportunity and by crikey we are going to seize our ‘moment of truth’ with both hands as we head off again down the parent path of life. As you can imagine the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of pre baby stuff like scans, tests, amazed relatives and friends so as a result we have been swept along in a surreal vortex of emotions..Crikey!

Anyway that is far too deep for now I agree, lets talk sport……what about those Breakers?!!! jeez I loved the ‘over time’ game#1 of the final last week…….good luck in Perth next week guys.

We had a cool weekend, the highlight for me being a record breaking 8 golfball find dog walk(previous record 5),second hand ball business is good at the course !. I hope you had a fun weekend with your family and friends, have an awesome week ahead and take care,Cheers Jonesey. 

Harry and the Hendersons will take a bit of getting used to the ‘new kid’ on the block’!

Poor old Oscar Henderson was rushed to after hours for stitches…boys will be boys !!

“Assumption is the mother of a screw up”. Angelo Donghia

Crikey…there I was with my memory stick containing my presentation all ready to rock and roll. The seminar was being attended by 50 senior managers and they were a merciless, humourless lot Nothing short of a well prepared professional presentation was going to cut it today.

I felt confident , I had some good slides and I knew my stuff…..I sat at the back as another presenter finished off with some Q&A. Then it was time to get the techo guy to hook me up, I passed the memory stick and headed to the front of the room full of confidence as the audience hummed with anticipation,then it happened!,a presenters worst nightmare! apparently my memory stick was blank for some reason there was no slides, no presentation, no life boat, no security blanket arrrggghhhhh.

I would be lying if I said the thought of running out of the room didn’t occur to me because it did along with a number of other exit, pull the plug, C.Y.A (cover you’re a….) type solutions….BUT NO!!

In true Toastmasters fashion I stood up to the plate without my trusty bat determined to be the first one to hit a home run anyway ! What followed was nothing short of sheer brilliance as I imagined my slides in my mind and brought them to life with words, body language and tone of voice as I put on one hell of a dog and pony show up there. Instead of my audience smelling my blood in the water and tearing me to shreds they interacted with me, laughed and genuinely became part of a presentation that for once lived and breathed rather than being read to them from a screen! Yes against all odds I will forever be remembered as the’Green Gorilla guy’ , the fact that none of attendees will recall anything I said is minor. So ladies and gentlemen, my message this week is….1)never assume anything and 2)always be prepared to step up to the plate just in case.

“Have the daring to see yourself as a bundle of possibilities” Harry Emerson Fosdick

You snooze, you lose !!!

Hi, is there a nicer smell than freshly cut firewood?...the amazing aroma of pine, wattyl, macrocapa and gum all combining to make a fragrance that is hard to beat ! Ok the Breville coffee machine comes close but not as ‘forest and bird’ as the firewood! Yes it is that time of year again as we prepare to hibernate and hunker down out in the wild west! Easter is a good time to get sorted for the coming winter as the ‘man shed’ duly got its annual autumn clean to accomadate the fuel for the recently chimney swept log burner. Cant wait to crank up the fire and sit mesmerised in front of the flames as they dance their merry jig ! We had a relaxing and fine weather weekend (against all prediction!) Admittedly the program had a bit of a ‘fitness camp’ look and feel about it from which ‘Harry and the Hendersons’ profited on many walks! An Easter chore list was prepared well in advance and all items were ticked off by Monday lunchtime resulting in a bonus afternoon of sky movies and trademe.life does’nt get any better. We could get quite fond of four day weekends if they became the norm!We decided a few more each year is a good idea, so we booked two to make sure!

How about those Breakers !!!, huge win during the week at Townsville then backed up two days later in Auckland as they swept into their second consecutive NBL final serie.Clearly ‘no Dickheads’ better than the ‘too many dickheads’ in the Auckland Blues team in Melbourne on Thursday night, jeeez Pat with all your ALL BLACKS sort it out guys ! A team full of Green Gorillas would do better !!!

I hope you all had fun relaxing, eating, exercising and laughing this Easter weekend with your family and friends and that you have another awesome short week, take care,  Cheers Jonesey

 Harry and the Hendersons love the Breakers, Easter, long walks, chocolate and sleeping!

Carpe Diem…..seize the day!.....they who hesitate lose! Jonesey

Carpe Diem , a great saying and one that says a lot about winning and losing. Those of you that saw the movie ‘The Dead Poets Society’ featuring Robin Williams will have been inspired by the way in which Williams motivated those he taught to ‘seize the day’ and not hesitate for a second before grasping life and everything it has to offer.

I was reminded about the importance of doing just that on a number of recent occasions ;

• I dropped on to a tremendous opportunity for our business to introduce itself to a number of influential procurement managers. Instead of seizing the day I procrastinated and missed out on applying by a due date to be included in an introductory event! I learned the valuable lesson  to act immediately on opportunities or regret not doing so forever ! The annoying thing is it is not the first time I have done this, arrggghhhhhhh (I hate it when that happens)
• This instance above reminds me also of the number of times where I have seen cool stuff in a second hand store or on trademe and resisted the urge to buy it (procrastinated) only to decide later how much I wanted the item to go back and find that someone else seized the day and made the purchase ! (I hate it even more when that happens !)
• On a more positive note one of my colleagues took a phone call last week from a person who had rung the wrong number. Instead of hanging up they started talking to the caller and ended up establishing the person was the owner of a large business that had a need for our services. This in turn led to us being invited to quote and now looking good to win the business.(I love it when that happens !!)

These examples reinforce that we are surrounded by opportunities every minute of every day of every week, the difference is the speed with which we react…carpe diem, simple aye,so just do it!!!!

“Person stand for long time waiting for roast duck to fly in.”My favourite Chinese proverb !

"NO DICKHEADS"

Hi, it must be old age , crikey I have been grumpy lately ! As you will know from last week I was more than a little annoyed with the outcome of a recent event. I thought I was getting over it slowly but instead of things calming down they sort of got worse.One phone dies another is born and life continues…right?…..well not quite so I managed to wind myself off the clock until someone finally took the time to figure out a simple solution ! The more I got annoyed the worse it seemed to get and when I eventually calmed down,guess what, things got better….hmmmm I learned something and not for the first time….its not worth the energy loss or the drama!!...when will I get that?

There is always a funny side…just like Clarke Kent I had to find and use a phone box for the first time in over 20 years !!, took a bit of figuring out and cost me ten bucks for a phone card ! Talking about stuff we havent done for a while I sent a card via post last week. I reckon it is exciting sending and receiving mail the old fashioned way. The fun,romance and anticipation is something that will never  be recreated electronically. There is and always will be something special about handwriting a note or card and sending it to someone you know will get a surprise to receive it.It is a cool retro thing to do. Give it a go if you don’t believe me, see how it makes you and the recipient feel. The highlight of the week was undoubtedly half price green lipped mussel night at De Fontein in Mission bay, highly recommend the 1 kg mussel hot pots with your choice of sauce, yum,go on you know you want to !!

I hope you all enjoyed the extra hour of sleep as we said goodbye to daylight saving and look forward to the two short weeks wrapped around the coming Easter weekend,take care, Cheers Jonesey

 Harry and the Hendersons don’t care what time it is, daylight=walk time…NOW!!

We have a simple policy at the ‘Breakers’ it’s the ‘NO DICKHEADS’ policy

I watched a program last week on the Breakers basketballl team where we got a a rare look behind the scenes at the successful franchise. The team policy above I thought said a lot about why this team has been so successful. There are ‘no dickheads’ just a bunch of guys with talent working hard as a team to be the best they can be. From their down to earth owners the Blackwells of Pak n Save fame right through to the local and overseas stars that make up the playing team the ‘winning culture’ we talked about last week is clearly evident.

Unfortunately the winning culture deserted them on Friday night in their first semi final game in Auckland as they went down to Townsville!. The semi final series is the best of three games so the Breakers have now made the job a lot harder. This team is more than capable of winning the semi the hard way just like they did last year and then went on to win the final !!

The Breakers are a classic example of things being harder staying on top than they ever were getting there in the first place, we wish them the best of luck for the coming  week in Townsville.

The ‘no dickheads ‘ policy is a good one we can apply to our own business and personal lives. How many times have we persevered with a difficult or non productive employee instead of dealing firmly but fairly with the situation. Same goes for customers, I know I have resisted the urge to cut difficult,  uncooperative or unrealistic and demanding customers loose. Both have instead tied up valuable company time that could have been more profitably spent developing other staff and customers who wanted to be part of the companies future.

In our personal lives too the ‘no dickhead’ policy would help us to avoid wasting time and energy on people in our lives who are clearly takers not givers….imagine the time we could have saved if we were operating this policy. Good luck out there team and keep a look out for dickheads !!!!!

“If you don’t stand for something, you will stand for anything.” Ginger Rogers

PC Jones !!!

Edition 132 Monday 26th March 2012

Hi, I reckon we are far too PC. It is easy to become that way if you are exposed to it too much or dont give yourself a stiff upper cut occasionally! Failing that there are certain things that happen where you can either be PC or you can tell it like it is. I had one such ‘final straw’ occasion in the last week and I am pleased to say that I chose the ‘tell it like it is’ route. Now it would be fair to say I do like the sound of my own loud voice and that does tend to get up some peoples noses. For every five people that like you there will be five that don’t. As hard as someone like me who loves to be the centre of attention finds this to handle it is accurate in my case. So I happened to find myself exposed to five of the people who clearly have a problem with me and how I do things. This had a profound and deep affect on me but rather than grin and thank them for cutting me down I decided to make my true feelings known instead. This had a liberating affect on me personally as years of grinning and bearing it was released in one foul swoop. I realised that I had been far too accomodating and nice to inferior people that just continued to kick sand in my face. Sadly I had wasted my time towing the line when there are better things to be investing time and energy into. I don’t expect lots of hot air or to be falsly complimented but I do like to have genuine effort fairly acknowledged.

Crikey….that felt good,I think too many of us get treated like we are fools or inferior when we know we are so much better than that and those people who think they can treat us that way. My message to you today fellow ‘upbeat’ tall poppies is “rise up and tell those fools exactly like it is, lead follow or get out of the way because our time is too valuable to have our superior intellect insulted!!!

Dear Pat, running 15^th out of 15 now there is only one way from here bro….we hope!!

I hope you had another cool weekend having time and fun with family and friends, cheers Jonesey!

 Harry and the Hendersons have been a little sensitive around the grumpy man lately especially after the Blues lost in the last minute and after the speech contest meltdown!!

“Whoever said “Its not whether you win or lose that counts, probably lost. M Navratilova

Following on the ‘far too PC’ theme I am not one of those people that say ‘winning isnt everything’ To me winning is everything and I want to do everything in my power to win.

I know you ‘cant win them all’ but if you have the winning attitude towards competing then you will certainly win more than you lose. If however you go into battle or competition without that attitude you will find that more often than not you will be left making up the numbers . The key after losing or failure is to analyse the reasons for the loss and to change the things you have control over so next time you prevent the loss happening again.This applies in business and sport.

I coached a lot of rugby teams from 5 year olds right up to young adults. I placed a huge emphasis on the importance of everyone participating both on and off the field. My philosophy was that we were all an integral part of the team, we played for each other and made sure none of us was a weak link.A team is at all times only as strong as that weakest link. I also instilled the belief that playing the game was supposed to be fun but who ever heard onf anyone enjoying losing !!!

There are similarities between the sporting and business world and they revolve around developing a winning culture. Your success or failure is linked to how badly you want to win and how badly you hate losing. I can remember sitting in a changing room after losing a  championship final and listening to the winning team several rooms away celebrating. Our room was silent and our coach said……listen to this room… the silence of the ‘if onlys’, listen to our opposition that is the sound of success. He then said “ We need to want to win so badly that we never experience the silence of ‘if only’ again.” That my upbeat friends is the difference between success and failure,have a great week!

“Winners expect to win in advance. Life is a self-fulfilling prophecy.” Vince Lombardi