Sliding Doors
“It’s a fantastic opportunity, it only costs £200,000.”
I didn’t like to say “Well mine only costs £2oo and I bet it makes you more money.”
After all, we’d only just met – he had pulled up to ask for directions when I was walking the dog. Isn’t it funny how you can get into conversation with people?
You can guess what happened: He wanted directions to the local care home, I told him and then said: “I always give one of these to people who ask directions.”
And he said: “What is it?”
And I said: “It’s about money – are you interested in money?”
“I’m always interested in money.”
“Well, if you like, I’ll tell you about it. It takes me 35 seconds. Would you like to hear it?”
And off we went. He got the DVD and I got his phone number and then he asked me if I knew anyone who wanted to buy his company. It makes makes air mattresses for the bedridden. I promised to look at it – after all it makes me appreciate what I’ve got!
For instance I don’t have to drive all over the country selling mattresses. I can fit my business around popping into town to pay in the B&B cheques which had been piling up in the kitchen. But as soon as I put my foot on the bicycle pedal the back wheel locked and I ended up with a huge gouge out of the gravel drive. In fact I nearly fell off. The entire gear assembly was sticking out at right angles.
This was infuriating because I’m not getting a new bike until I make it to Marketing Director and I hope that’s close enough to make it pointless to repair the old one.
So instead I took the car. Personally I get quite excited about this sort of change in plan. Every time it happens, I wonder if this is a “sliding doors moment” – one of those random changes of course which can have massive consequences.
And guess what happened:
Walking back to the car park (which I would not have done on the bike) I handed a card to a young woman who said she was interested both in saving money and making money.
“OK, if you’ve got a minute, I’ll buy you a cup of coffee and show you how the money works.”
She said she was meeting her mother and so five minutes later, the three of us were sitting outside the cafe doing the Martini and they were saying things like: “Dad would be great at this… and Becky, don’t forget Becky…”
As far as I can see they plan to bring half a dozen people to the Career Opportunity Presentation on Wednesday.
And here’s an interesting thing: Until yesterday, I might have considered that a good day. I might have thought I could shift the rest of the cards tomorrow and I might not have popped into the garden centre on the way home to give out the rest of my daily quota of 50 – or after giving out another two dozen, I might have gone home with the last three or four, thinking they would hardly make a difference
But after yesterday, I knew that I had to give out every last one.
Well, actually it was the last two which seemed to hit the jackpot: A couple of plumbers who had been fixing a gas leak in the showroom got really quite excited: “We could do this easy…”
“Yeah, your Dad would go for it. It’s just his kind of thing.”
I just stood there at the van window agreeing with them.
So guess how many cards I’m giving out today?