My Wealth Creation Journey

Day 865 - Sunday 12th September 2010

The day dawns clear and bright, the sun is shining... today I am off out to the seaside... the forecasters have predicted the temperature will be around the 21-22c mark today, so very pleasant!

Breakfast cooked and heartily eaten, the destination for todays trip is Bournemouth, on the south coast near the new forest! Check out the pictures of Bornemouth below which I have to admit are really nice... the town impresses me although it has been a while since I was there it really is a cut above some of the other seaside towns I have visited of late :-

One of the Two piers in Bournemouth!

Really nice sandy beaches here

Very picturesque Bournemouth

On top of the Cliff... the beaches go on for miles!

On the ZigZag stairway on the East Cliff

The Mirarmar Hotel, what an amazing flower garden!

Bournemouth Town centre.. very quaint!

Bournemouth Park near the Pavillion... huge Balloon that you can take a ride in!

Really well kept Gardens a pleaure to walk through!

And still so much colour in Autumn... 1810-2010 bi-centennial gardens

Next to the Pavillion and exit from the Park...

Having finished the tour of the town centre, now off to meet my cousin who lives in Bournemouth... my cousin is an avid Facebook user and during the day I have been using foursquare and facebook to record pictures online... so I wondered how long it would take before she discovered I was in town... she got me about 3pm... and issued a threat for me to get myself over there or else....

Popped in to see her around 5pm, after a bite to eat and a pint... she is well, first time I had seen this house, she moved there some three years ago... she was pleased to see me and we had a good chat for an hour or so and then it was time to leave! The journey home was an absolute nightmare, the M27 busy and the M3 nose to tail the whole journey home. Reason? probably people travelling back to London for the week ahead and also a sunny day so more people than usual on the south coast... anyhow a right nause...

Back at base further Pork dish tonight with Beer, Honey and Mustard... again with a nice Side Salad... the obligatory beer or two and some wine... very nice... now all set for the week ahead... bring it on!

Day 864 - Saturday 11th September 2010

Nice cooked breakfast this morning, something nice about Saturday mornings, no phone ringing... no major demands on me.... not that I needed another cooked breakfast after having 3 during the week at #4N meetings, anyhow....

Breakfast out of the way and now onto the major activity of the day which is sorting out the spreadsheets for data import that I need to get over to Sorsky. I am preparing all these spreadsheets with the specific intention of using Sorsky as an example upon which I can build a course in Jigsawbox for others to learn the process and to collate the type of information that we need when we are planning out an implementation for i-Trader... although to be honest this is relevant for any cloud based business application. The Mind Maps are good because they visually allow people to see the way the process flows... even Morris when I showed them to him on Thursday liked those and wondered how they would be built into the information engine we are building...

I've also registered two further domains today, these are to host a couple of associated business ideas that will help to promote and lead business to us... not necessarily big money ideas in their own right but definately facilitators... I really do like how things are developing right now... getting a great team around me slowly slowly, but everything is starting to take shape... actually sidetracked for a whilst  I document some of these ideas pouring into my head.... done...

Now another brief interruption to call my Surrogate grandparents over in Hungary... I was supposed to call them last week but time didn't permit and so I am calling this afternoon, they are both in their 80's... both are well and we spend 20 minutes or so shatting away, all in Hungarian which is great fun and good practice for me!!

Back to the work now... completed about 11 spreadsheets already, there are still more, however these are not necessary for Sorsky to get cracking on the data tomorrow, so the spreadsheets all emailed over... I send them via the system and so when they are opened I will know it... which is great feedback.

I'm cooking tonight, Pork medallions stoganoff type meal... sour creame, button mushrooms, parsley all with Roast Potatoes and salad, going to be nice... and indeed it is... a few beers before, some nice wine with the meal and then a movie... good times!! In bed around midnight... I need some rest!

Day 863 - Friday 10th September 2010

Well up at 6am, few bits and pieces to clear out of the way and then off around 7am to Hemel via the Petrol station.  At the Jarvis hotel in Hemel bang on 7:30am... Paula Hine regional #4N leader is getting let in, however there is no one else there... Area Leader Katie Millman has a birthday today, and she was out with a chap Mike Mimo from Newcastle last night, so I suspect a few sore heads today!

Katie Millman sporting the PinkHat who is 31 today! (or was it 27?)

The team arrive a little later 7:40am and the place is soon buzzing with people... there is a good crowd today somewhere in the region of about 30 people. Two people who I want to meet today, Neil Pie and also Mike Mimo and Matt Purser my business colleague is also there, so looks like a great meeting coming up!

The 40 second round is astounding today, so many unusual ones... today I talked about Joint Ventures (JV's) having set up effectively 4 over the past 3 weeks, and now getting those businesses formed and actually off the ground is quite a buzz and now working with some great people, in fact the ideas and opportunities are coming so thick and fast I am having to keep control of myself... never enough time... so must outsource and manage my time better!!

After the meeting everyone hangs around for a coffee, although I must make my excuses, so much to do today and I have to get back to the ranch as Livia has a doctors appointment... actually she is well gone by the time I get back and there is a message from sorsky on the answerphone. Not that urgent just needed to talk about the data they are collating for me... the spreadsheets will be with them on Monday, this is one of my tasks to sort out over the weekend... I have to catch up with some of the jobs I have been working on.

I have to sort out some issues for Deliver Net today as well, the person at the office is out of the office until Tuesday and Ruth is out as well and this needs sorting pronto, so I sort that for them and then set about putting up my video onto the Squeeze page... having done this I realise that some of the words on that page also need amending... That is now done, and then the last thing is get the Sales Page words also changed... right that is one big job out of the way... a few emails sent out to those I am working with on this for feed forward (feedback) and also update them that these are now available if they want to share with others.

Table Tennis tonight with Roger, he is picking me up at 6:30pm tonight, we want to get our practice in early tonight as I have a friend coming over later to enjoy a fish and chip supper and a glass of wine or two...

Not too late in bed tonight, I have loads of work to attend to tomorrow and I'll be going out on Sunday as the weather looks quite promising for the back end of the week end!

Day 862 - Thursday 9th September 2010

I'm up a little later this morning still catching my breath from what has been an exceptionally busy and yet fun week so far. But loads to do today. The first task this morning is to sort out the Bank Reconciliation video for James... Livia is not about today and so I can use the laptop that she normally sits at to get this knocked out.... a few trials and tribulations later but finally there is a recording that we can use albeit it needs some editing... Load the video onto a memory stick and over to you Otis.

Right next task is to get to grips with the images for the book... the book needs to be completed and to be honest I have left this bit drift a bit, now is the moment to sort it out... however I am no sooner starting this then Matt is on his way... we are off down to the bank to get the bank account set up for 'WeDoWebStuff'. Matt is a bit late and we head of close to 2:30pm when we are supposed to be at the bank at this time...

Anyhow a quick walk down there and we announce we are there... the lady from the bank who is taking us through all of this apologises for not going through the whole of the information pack, but we assure her that what she is doing fine, literally we want to go in, open the account, sign what we have to and get out again... we have all the business systems set up, there is no need for any insurance, advance, overdraft or anything... we just want to go in and then get out... The whole thing is done in about 15 minutes and then we're on our way back to Ogle Towers.

A quick review, Matt is away, then Morris is coming over. I just get time to check out where we are with the sales pages and the squeeze with Otis (he is off tomorrow) before Morris arrives... we show him through what we are doing and Morris has a couple of requests from the Rugby Club for Otis and then I spend some time updating Morris with what is going on with all these JV opportunities. There is so much going on and Morris exercises some concern over percentages and whether the businesses will be treated as a subsidiary of IPS or not... I have heard something about this, but I think that is when you have a controlling majority, but worth checking out I guess.

This evening I am home and so will be working on getting the Video done for the Squeeze and also the Sales Page amended. I need to start promoting these pages and consequently they need to be finished off now. The video recording goes well after about 6 takes, but finally I have something that I think I can use, the sales page is also amended to be less biased on pure coaches and include Business Development people as well.

Well today has been a long day as well, but more productive as I have been able to just crack on... tomorrow morning my 3rd #4N meeting of the week over at Hemel Hempstead, Otis is not here and they need the Group Leaders bag to set things up, so I have to be there at 7:30am tomorrow... another early start then!

Day 861 - Wednesday 8th September 2010

Another early start up at 6am today, trying to get a few tasks out of the way before I head off into London for the Angel Islington #4N meeting. This has moved from Kings Cross down Pentonville road to this Jury's Inn hotel venue... which is by all accounts a pretty nice place. Using 4Square as I go today to keep tabs on where I am going.

Down at Watford Junction there is a 7:05am train which is direct to Euston, so I arrive down there bang on time... interesting there is a woman on the train who looks almost identical to an ex girlfriend, perhaps 8 years older than she would be now, but very high resemblance, physique, posture and movement all very similar as well as the face... quite remarkable...

Anyhow a quick trip down the Northern line (Bank Branch) and I'm at the venue around 7:45am... quite early as the place is just getting set up... Marie is there and also John Cory who is a really nice guy... used to work with Steve Jobs (Apple) and his friend helped to start up linkedIn! So he has a few contacts!

The meeting is very good, some great new contacts there including people from Sheffield believe it or not... 1-2-1's were very interesting and my 4Sight went down really well... I have plenty of time and there were some geat questions too! Following on from the meeting I went to meet my customer in Great Portland street... the Circle Metro line had some issues so once I got back to Euston I walked along the Marylebone road to go meet my client... the weather is very muggy today and by the time I get there my shirt is wet with perspiration, lovely! Check out the picture of Great Portland street below!

Great Portland Street London 8th September 2010

The meeting scheduled for 11am, goes on till 1:00pm... we haven't met up with each other for almost 6 or 7 years I think and we almost can't remember what each other look like! They have some political challenges in their business and being government related you can imagine how everything is complicated and confused... never simple education and politics... I am pleased the SME marketplace is not like this!

Back at the ranch around 3pm... all is well a few messages and things to attend to but nothing major. The sales page is almost done, just a few tweaks now... and I have to turn my attention to promoting the Video Conferences that I must start to run! The rest of the day disappears really quickly and tomorrow we have to make the most of because Otis is away on Friday to a wedding, and therefore I need to have made sure the Squeeze and Sales pages are totally complete or at least in a state where I can finish them off...

Now getting ready for Table Tennis practice tonight... Roger picks me up... and a good hard session down at the club... my bat is falling apart, I need to order some more rubbers, I have been playing with these all through the off season and they really are quite dead now, I will definately need to get used to them before I play some serious matches, like in the county competition in the middle of October!

At least tomorrow will be an opportunity to catch up a little!

Day 860 - Tuesday 7th September 2010

Up early again today, 5:30am and getting prepared for the trip to Peterborough! Otis arrives just before 6am and then we are off... Peterborough seems a long way but actually it is not really that far... once at Hatfield which is 20 minutes from there it is only around 55 miles of so... anyhow after a slight wrong turn... we arrive at the meeting 7:50 or so.

We are the first there apart from those organising the meeting... we meet Chris Matthews again whom we met at Oakham, he is a nice guy and also Gemma Turton from Maples Solicitors and Natasha Morgan from Morgan Language Solutions. Kevin Mann and IFA with a bit of a difference though he has a business background is also and interesting character both Otis and I had a 1-2-1 with him.

So a good meeting although not so many people there, about 16 or so, but I quite like these smaller meetings because you can get to know the people quite well, and that makes for a more productive event in my opinion. I did the 4Sight at this meeting which also went down quite well, and as the meeting was a little smaller it means there is more time and space for questions which there were quite a few of! The meetings where both I and Otis attend are quite good as we have a young view of business and a more experienced view, in short something for everyone... people look at Otis for the Social Media and online networking, and at me for the Business knowledge and Cloud computing side.

Back in the car and the journey back to the ranch, we arrive back around 1pm... Livia has been manning the office, nothing too much to report... Otis is onto setting up one of our clients today Chris Bown and also still working on the Sales Page although now it is starting to look much better.

Further to the meeting yesterday with Sorsky, today I am chatting through things with Ian my colleague about what we might need... there are some issues and I need to just document them so that we can have a proper planning meeting and set the agenda for delivery... Sent off all the mindmaps today to Stephen, so he now has those...

Table tennis tonight over at Ravenscroft, the lighting is not that great over there, but at least I am playing a bit better this week. Urfi (my business partner with the Table Tennis thing) is back from being away for what seems like an age, and he has a good squad up there for practice this week... back home at about 10:15pm tonight as I have to pop into Asda's and also drop Csaba (Hungarian TT player) back to where he is staying...

Not too late to bed tonight, I'm off to London tomorrow 4Sighting at the 'Angel Islington 4N' meeting!

Day 859 - Monday 6th September 2010

Up early this morning, and off to Widnes to see my new client Sorsky. Well on the road nice and early, full tank of fuel and so quickly on my way. The trip to Sorsky is unbelievably the roads are amazing except for the rubbish road works on the M1 from J10 to J14... no idea why they have got the whole 10 miles or so down to 50 mph they are only working on a couple of sections... painful!

Up at Sorsky 10:15am 185 miles and just over 3.25 hours... nice to have a large saloon car as I get out feeling refreshed and quite relaxed even after driving a long way. Into the main meat of the day... start of with an hour or two with Stephen White the Financial director, we are going through the mind maps that I have prepared for each if the key process areas. In each mindmap I have identified the areas where there may be differences between current processes and future processes, or where some changes might be needed to the system. This is the most critical part of the implementation to be honest. All other parts of the process can be augmented with spreadsheets and proceses, this part requires an understanding of the clients business type, a great understanding of the capabilities of the software and then an appreciation of where the differences are... now this can be broken down into a number of questions and then answers and it might be that I will be able to build this so that the client can go through this in detail with their consultant.... mmm more thought here required but I will look into this.

The rest of the day is spent working with the key staff in the organisation... there is a person who I didn't meet last time he was on holiday and is very key to the operation, I spend a good amount of time with him to get a handle on things perhaps I might have missed on my last trip.

Interesting while I am writing this, I am beginning to think that much of my experience could be broken down into a modular approach to systems implementation... I am liking these thought processes... exciting to build this...

Right the day is done, I finish off with a session with the CEO and FD and we agree a plan of action and several other actions... I will send the mind maps odd tomorrow and get the data import sheets across to them by the end of the week, so we can start the data collection exercise... time is getting tight and I now also understand what modifications are essential to the project to enable us to go live.

Back at base at 7:20pm... a quick check on emails and stuff and then off to a Table Tennis committee meeting. I am the new chairman of the Watford & District Table tennis league... so I am chairing tonights meeting. The old chairman is also there and the meeting goes fine, it actually goes on much longer than expected and we do the draw for the cups as well... finished around 9:50pm... a long day indeed and not finished yet as I have to pop into Asda's pick up some money and get some more fuel ready for the trip to Peterborough tomorrow!

Back at base, something to eat and then off to bed... I am whacked although it is 12:30pm before I hit the sack... Otis is around at 6:00am... going to be a challenging week!

Day 858 - Sunday 5th September 2010

No daytripping today... too much work to complete and I also need to go and visit my mother, haven't been around there for over a week now and she is going away next weekend.

A great cooked breakfast (not until lunchtime though), as I was a little late getting up this morning a nice long lay in... which was great. some thinking today about the SME7 programme... as well as tidying up the details for the important meeting at Sorsky tomorrow. They have a great deal of data to prepare for me and so, I will need to pass over to them a list of what I need... it is likely that this will take the form of spreadsheets but I must get an agreed list and the timings of receiving the data, so that I can start to populate the system with it.

While I am working on the Sorsky project I will be able to prepare all the supporting implementation documents that are necessary to deploy the system and i am thinking that this could also all be delivered through the Jigsawbox method.... also we could load up all the i-Trader modules as individual packages that clients could buy and work through themselves this would provide a cost effective training programme for the clients plus it would enable me to deliver training without being there... sounds good to me!

Right over to my mothers now... via Asda... my sister is there with her daughter as well. Mum is having a new Greenhouse erected at the moment, although there has been some problems with the supply of the rubber to seat the glass and so she has to wait for the manufacturers to send over the remainder before it can be finished.

Mums new greenhouse in a state of partial completion

Back to the ranch after seeing my mother, finish of a couple of bits and pieces and then tonight going to cook one of my favourite Hungarian dishes, Lecho... which is essentially made up of Peppers, tomotoe, onion and some Szalami... ok it is my recipe, but based on a Hungarian theme!

My own take on one of my favourite Hungarian dishes

Right... not late to bed tonight as i have a long drive tomorrow all the way up to Widnes and I will be dead if I don't get a good night's sleep and when I get back I will have a Table tennis committee meeting which I am chairing... so busy busy busy!

Day 857 - Saturday 4th September 2010

A working weekend this one, today I have to get on with the completion of some database work for Deliver net, sort out the Sorsky project ready for the meeting on Monday morning and many other small tasks.

I have now got my ticket booked for Budapest which will be the 3rd weekend in October. I am also now way behind with the blogging was well, lots of days to catch up but this week coming looks like I might even slip further behind!

I have now printed out the diary of September and sent that up to Stephen at Sorsk in advance of our sheduled meeting. We haven't also finished yet the Video for the Squeeze page and so I am working on sorting this out. I would like to have this done over the weekend if possible too!

Looking at the Video conferences that we have lined up, we do need to start to publicise them and I do need to work hard at getting these first batch of practitioners to start the programme... the first few will definately be working with us more closely as the programme develops.

The mind maps that I have been developing for Sorsky are coming along, the whole afternoon is spent working through the entire processes for the different departments... Order Processing, Despatching, Purchasing, Stock Management, Invoicing, Cash receiving, Goods receiving etc... and analysing where we may have differences between the way they work now and will be working in the future. There are some subtle differences and additional functionality they will require, but it is not too much and I should be able to confirm everything Monday when I visit them.

Tonight a quiet evening, cooking some curry... which turns out to be excellent all washed down with a few beers and a glass or two of wine! Watched one of the 'Bourne' movies this evening which was excellent, Matt Damon... played the part well and action from start to finish but as it was based on a Robert Ludlum book... an intelligent rollercoaster ride!

Day 856 - Friday 3rd September 2010

End of  short week! Otis reminds me that he has about 7, 4 day weeks and then he is off on a weeks holiday... all right for some! Today is dedicated to finishing off this sales page... I am a little befind on my schedule but hopefully over the weekend I can catch up.... Yesterday I was supposed to be in Widnes but Ian my colleague needed the day off for personal reasons and so I had to reschedule that appointment. It is now Monday, not sure I really like to start the week off with a long trip like that but they couldn't make today as Stephen at Sorsky was aways on holiday today and it is essential that he is there.

Sales page writing is going well, starting to take shape and Otis is putting this into the Sales Page format that we have downloaded from Squeeze Themes and he is getting his head around it. At least we have an example with Nicola Birds Jigsawbox bootcamp which gives us a target look to aim at.

Clive Mulligan (Simply Consulting) is around to discuss the SME7 Practitioner Programme today. Would be interesting if Clive could join us on the programme, he has a great sales background and coupled with his business knowledge I think he could help a lot of companies and certainly contribute to crafting the SME7 programme... Clive stays a couple of hours and we have a great discussion... give Clive some time to chew it over, send him the details of the Squeeze and Sales Pages once they are finished and take it from there.

Right Clive has gone, some lunch and then onto completing this Sales page... the problem with templates is that you have to learn their nuances before you can engineer it to look the way you want and we've had a few false starts here... but we're getting there.... Once we have the right look and feel then we can tinker with the textual content.

The next thing I have to do is craft the script for the Video to introduce the whole SME7 Programme.... working on this during the later part of the afternoon... what I originally had planned was very much to target this at the Coach / Business Development person, and although I am doing that, I don't want to miss out on some of those that are enthusiastic and fit the bill...

Table tennis practice down at the club tonight, I have to be honest I have not really enjoyed Table tennis this week, my head has been much to much into my work, however tonight was better than it has been! Back at base, get a couple if chilled beers down me and then off to bed... a working weekend in front of me!