Stop/Start

What I learned from the... law: insure to be sure

Robert at Middle Zone Musings has launched his newest Group Writing Project  - every month he does that to us! This month it's about The Law.
Now, me and my partner are fortunate not to have had many encounters with the Law, but there has been one episode in our life that still rattles us.

Some background first: middle of the year 1999 we were 'asked' to team-up with a Dutch company - freshly started with many plans -, to move to the UK and manage a retail shop in Kent. We should have checked their plans better! Anyway, in 2000 we sold up everything we had in The Netherlands, moved to Charing Kent and waited. Waited a while longer and lived of our savings until finally the word go was given to revamp the showroom our 'partners' had selected. Another 4 months later the wooden flooring shop could finally open and hurray - we received our first wages. To cut a very long, frustrating and dreadful story short (why not read my business novel for the whole story?): June 2003 we were made redundant, hadn't received wages for two months and our 'investment' - part of the arrangement with our 'partners' on a 70/30 base - gone with the wind.

Then the real fun started: the one remaining partner - the other one had to pack his bags a year earlier, like the manager of the second retail shop that was launched - thought it would be a good idea to tell everyone we were responsible, we had been the owners of the Ltd. A mounting pile of demand letters from various companies and clients in our letterbox was the result. And that at the time we were trying to go-it-alone as Wood You Like (working from home). The one option we had to stop this barrage of  harassment for once and for all was to venture to The Employment Tribunal.

Now, being a foreigner in a strange land were rules and regulations are quite different than in your 'home' country is nerve wrecking, to say the least. How to go about this in the best way, no time for trial - pun intended ;-) - and error.
Fortunately with our home-content insurance came a Family Legal Insurance (costs per year for this optional insurance - a lousy £ 10.00). All it took to get the ball rolling was 1 phone call to our insurance agent. All of a sudden we had a solicitor who put in the claim for unfair dismissal, redundancy, unpaid wages and unpaid holidays etc for us. A solicitor who put a large volume of documents together to prove we only had ever been employees - and not so well treated employees to that. When the Tribunal date was set, all of a sudden we had a barrister too!

During the Tribunal our 'partner'/employer was accompanied by his accountant - one of those who's 'invoice meter' starts running the minute you think of calling him, let alone of him spending a whole day - silently, never had to say a word - in a court room. When the first nerves for the proceedings were gone we even managed to have fun - well, very quietly and mostly afterwards of course.

At the end of the day - yes, a whole day! - the chairman came back with the verdict: all our claims were honoured - our 'employer' had to pay the wages that were still due, holiday claims and redundancy reward. Of course we never saw one penny of that, no use picking feathers from a bare chicken - our 'partners' had set-up the company structure in such a way this would not costs them personal, but the most important verdict was: we were employees, unfairly dismissed! And that had been our aim all along - this enabled us to start with the cleanest slate of slates with our own juvenile company.

It has been a very wise lesson - lessons in fact:
A) never go into a partnership without knowing and being able to influence major and minor decision and
B) be sure you're insured for legal advice/help. Not only gives it 'peace of mind' but you'll never know when The Law comes knocking - or when you'll have to knock on The Law's gate.

Floral Surprise - no 'boundaries'

We all know the world-wide-web knows no boundaries: where ever we are, we can reach out and 'touch' the whole world. With posts, with comments, with friendly emails.

Or...... as happened today - with a floral surprise delivered to my little showroom (that now has the smell of Spring!).

The accompanying note revealed the reason behind this wonderful and much appreciated gift:

"With many thanks for being my 1,000th comment & daily energizer. Keep it Simple...

Steve Roesler"

Isn't that just World Wide Wonderful?

Thanks Steve!

 

A Birthday party, multiple again! 24.10.07

Liz at Successful and Outstanding blog(gers) is throwing a party!

A Party, Wednesday, October 24th! You’re Invited!!

In honour of various blog birthdays (my own Kiss2 blog too) the celebrations will be plentiful. What will be happening:
It’s an all-day conversation with outstanding gifts for EVERYONE.

    * Open Comments all day.
    * Flash mob commenting.
    * Photographic Party Favours.
    * HUGE SURPRISES!!.
    * Guest posts galore. (My  contribution - The Currency: Talent)

A Party! You’re Invited! C’mon! Let’s Talk and Have Some Fun!

(There’s only one rule . . . be nice.)

The Kiss Biss Crew

Those who've had the pleasure to read my business novel "The Kiss Business, the Keep It Simple Sweetheart Principle in Business" will know what's on page 5. (The real story starts on page 9.)

Page 5 is short, but for me very important. It reads as follows:
Dedicated to:
Ton, my ‘sparring’-partner, for willing to ‘go-it-together’
Mike, the real web-wizard.
Lesley, my confidante.
Pete for changing some of my ‘Double Dutch’ phrases into proper English ones.
Richard, friend and mentor. For giving me confidence, but mostly for keeping me sane during difficult times.

Yesterday, again glorious barbecue weather, my whole Kiss Biss Crew (as I fondly name them) were gathered together in the Garden of the School House

(Funnily enough, they are all bloggers too: The Company Doctor - bizRichard, Healthy Water for Healthy Skin, The Heavy Chef Project and The IT Girl -Ton 'shares' 5 blogs with me ;-))

We had good weather (we always seem to have the best weather when we plan a barbecue!), good food, and most importantly good fun with good company:

In the end it did get a bit chilly. How fortunate then to have a lot of cut-off wooden floorboards:

Aren't we blessed with such good friends?

'Denglish' Breakfast plus Garden Party BBQ

We couldn't have asked for: better weather, better company, better food and drink, better conversations or better fun this weekend!

Our quadruple birthday celebrations started with family breakfast where a typical English breakfast (eggs, beans etc) was mixed with typical Dutch breakfast (coffee and cheese-sandwich):

All preparations complete, including the dance floor and 'band' (because what's a wooden flooring company without a proper wooden dance-floor?) the real birthday boy awaited the arrival of more guests:

Guests aplenty, originating from or living in all corners of the world: The Netherlands, Kent, Paris, South Africa, Indonesia - and all 'getting along' proven by friendly banter:

Languages aplenty too: various Dutch dialects, some French thrown in and some Fries, English, Double Dutch English and some even talked 'hands' - fluently:

My 'big' brother was definitely not the only one mastering that languages:

Yeah, we had the best of times! Definitely wonderful, funny, relaxing, pure enjoyment!

Weather forecast quadruple birthday celebrations

This weekend we are bracing ourselves for a 'Dutch' invasion to The School House Garden in 'honour' of the quadruple birthday celebrations we have planned.

(Well, if you're finally in a position to throw a party you should do it BIG, not?)

Ton turns 50, I turn 45.5 (you can't have garden parties in January, can you now?), Wood You Like turns 4 and our Charing showroom 2. Reasons enough we thought.

And yesterday the weather forecast showed in the sky:

 
So we have very high hopes for a warm and sunny Sunday, just what we've asked for.

Two way 'traffic' - teaching and learning

Last week I had a conversation with Liz. Among other items we touched on my 'dream' project - at that moment not completely finished yet - and a remark Liz made first startled me (as in: what? - hadn't really seen it in that way) and then it left me pondering about it for a few more days.

As Liz (and most of you too) knows my dream project concerns setting up a web-publishing unit (aka blog) for my dear friend and mentor Richard C (I'll write a case-study about the how and the why in the very near future).

Normally Richard advices me on marketing, business concepts, smart ways to work on your business (versus working hard in your business) and much more. And his advice is always sound, always with my 'strengths'/skills and character in mind. I've learned much from him and I'm always eager for him to teach me more. This started roughly 5 years ago and over time you start to know each other better, you start to appreciate acquired knowledge, unconditionally trusting that his advice will be for the better (because he has never let you down during these years).

Now, because I just knew that web-publishing would benefit Richard's own plans and goals in so many ways, because I can safely state that in these 10 months of intensive blogging I know a lot about it - mainly through trial and error ;- - because I knew that I could project manage this for him in such a way it wouldn't take up too much of his valuable time, I 'persuaded' him to 'give it a go'.

The project progressed well, very well indeed - if I say so myself - and within two weeks three pages and three posts were almost 'live', most web-marketing items in place, ready to launch.

Then that remarks of Liz got 'stuck' in my head: doesn't Richard find it strange to be in this changed relationship? Instead of giving me advice, teaching me how to go about things, for two weeks he was (and still is) on the receiving end. My first answer to Liz was a startled: no, he's quite comfortable in this role - I'm the one having to get used to this role reversal. Student becomes 'teacher'? - until then I saw it just as being the project manager.

We launched Richard's blog last Friday. Only this morning (BNI Ashford breakfast meeting) I understood the gentle shift in the relationship when I discussed the way he's going to reply to comment on his blog with him. As I always do with his advice (because I know his knowledge) he accepts my advice (because he knows my knowledge) and grows - as I do. It has become a 'two-way-traffic' relationship.

When I mentioned this to Liz this morning she suggested I wrote a blog-post about it (of course she would ;-)):  When your mentor learns from you

I said I would think about it.

It's life, Jim...

We all have our roll-models, hero's even.
Many years ago these were my hero's:

Although 'fictional', their characters and mentalities taught me some basics about work, teamwork, life and humanity. And it got me interested in IT too (hey, Star Trek already invented a kind of IPhone in 1967! - so who's old-fashioned?)

No more fictional roll-models, hero's for me nowadays, real persons are much more interesting. Specially when it means interactive conversations and teamwork.

After two weeks of proper teamwork - bouncing off ideas, enhancing on ideas, activating each other's strengths - it's with great pleasure (and a bit of pride) I can now announce that the "Company Doctor" Richard Calderwood web-publishing site (aka blog) is live!

I not only hope you pay Richard a visit to say hello, but also that you'll 'hang around' on his site. He taught me most I know about running and growing a profitable business and his blog is on 'how to' - it is pretty easy with the right guidance, right tools and the right attitude to implementation - closing the Knowing-Doing Gap in the most simple and effective way.
Richard C can tell you, show you much more about this.

Give him my regards ;-)

What I Learned from... Travel - diversity

Robert Hruzek is 'at it again': another Group Writing Project. It seems I can't never not join ;-)

So, here goes: What I Learned From... Travel: to watch, to look, to observe

I've travelled by many ways: by train, by bus, by car, by plain, by ferry, on foot, by push-bike, by boot, by horse, by canoe.

I've travelled on country lanes, small provincial roads, fast motorways, through tranquil villages, through quiet towns, through busy world capitals, through forests, along side never ending farm fields, past smoking industries.

I've had smooth travels, set in traffic jams, got trapped in a 10 car pile-up, waited for connections, waited for delayed trains; had sun shine, storm, rain, black-ice, snow, hail, wind in the back, wind full face.

I've travelled alone, with my partner, with family, with friends, with colleagues, with school mates, friends, in groups where you're only a stranger for a short while.

I've travelled for work, for pleasure, to reach a holiday destination, I've travelled as a holiday destination, travelled for get help, travelled to give help.

Short journeys, long journeys.

I've travelled away and I've travelled back home.

And I learned to watch, to look, to see, to observe the diversity.
Because around the next bend, the next corner could be something new. Even on those roads, paths we travel every day, day after day.

Diversity is just around the corner.

Do you have...

Do you have that too? Sometimes?
Those times where you do nothing but smile all day long?

Because you just can't help yourself? You don' really notice it yourself, or hardly at first. But everyone else does. And when they ask, you just shrug your shoulders, but hug yourself too at the same time.

Because you just can't help yourself. Everything seems to go your way; your work, your travels, your ideas, your projects, your goals, your life, just about everything.

You just can't help yourself: you just have to smile, all day long. For days!

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)