It seems a long time since I have got up in the dark in order to set off for our weekly meeting. Depressingly, that was the case today although the sun was shining by the time I arrived, along with nineteen others to celebrate the first meeting of September. The predictions of hot weather for the next few days saw several of the blokes sporting shorts. Let’s see if we can have at least another meeting this year when shorts can still be regarded as the order of the day.
The Performance League
This month the runaway leader was Terry Maylin with 314 points. Special mention to Stuart Smallcombe for capitalising his returns for the last six months and boosting the money recorded as received for this month to in excess of £60,000.00.
Education Presentation
Paul Booth regaled us with two stories, both of relevance to our group. The first was about a small village, rewards for capturing monkeys and ultimate betrayal. It was a confusing metaphor about crypto money which in itself was illustrative of how confusing crypto money is and a warning to all of those with more money than sense.
The second was a good news story of how a referral over a tenant to Paul has led to a lot of spin-off work. Matt Barry was the introducer and of course, such was the nature of the referral, he had no way of verifying the ongoing benefits of his referral to Paul. He now knows of course and he can make the appropriate returns in order to record accurately business passed. We should all bear this in mind.
The 60 Second Round
Ben Golding was awarding the Oscar and we heard, apparently for the last time, his boasting the bill bursting boost this has become synonymous of late with Utility Warehouse. Benefits and slogans are about to change. I’m sure we will be told about these in the coming weeks.
By way of an homage to Brian Painter, Mike Skinner spent in excess of 90 seconds to read us an extract from somewhere about someone who managed to teach himself to do a passable rendition of ‘Rocket Man’ even though Elton John was never going to hear it. Think ahead and always be ready appeared to be the message. When Brian Painter finally produced his offering it seemed mercifully short although of course it ran over. A 4-day free holiday in the Bahamas at a five-star hotel can be ruined if it involves the making of a speech when you hate doing them. Our Pilgrim managed to turn it into an enjoyable experience.
Matt Barry is preparing for his annual Amsterdam presentation for a client. Closer to home the Mayor of Gants Hill Village illustrated how he could produce stunning images, be that A portrait(wife and beloved dog) or Gants Hill Village at night for hanging on a wall near you.
Howard Bullock was dangling a carrot as well as doubling as masseur on Paul Booth’s neck, he also explained how he can help people with a cash rich business take out money in the most tax efficient way. Pension contributions are apparently the most obvious starting point but having finished his massage he had time to tap the side of his nose to indicate hidden secrets that could be revealed to clients that you refer to him.
Stuart Smallcombe and Mike Hickson had similar themes. Stuart talked of The demise of ISDN lines and that analogue is now old hat, VoIP is now the only way to move forward; Mike warned of care that must be taken in disposing of old IT equipment. You never get rid of the data whatever you do. Return defunct your computers back to the experts for destruction.
Leann Reason wanted to make sure that people were not put off engaging her because they feared that they can’t afford her services. Trade discounts amongst other things will help mitigate and ensure but you can afford to get a good job done; James Humphries warned that you can’t afford to get your property insurance wrong and that he should be consulted to ensure that you do not under insure. Paul Rodgers however made it clear that if you approach him to arrange for finance through a bank he can help you afford the necessary finance and increase the potential borrowing power that you have.
Blake Hammond was this week’s winner of the Oscar however after giving the clear indication of what could be expected from his airsoft product, more of which you will hear about next week when he presents 10 minutes of further elucidation.
Meeting Secretaries Report
On the back of last month’s success this week we had 22 referrals and £6,000.00 worth of business recorded. Onwards and upwards……..
10-minute presentation by Aidan Squire
This week it was my turn and although I have done lots of these, it’s always a challenge of time spent and nervous energy overcome to produce something for the group. This week I went biographical on everyone. I hopefully didn’t reveal anything that could be held against me in weeks to come. Time will tell…..
Referrals and testimonials
I was able to demonstrate how ‘walking. is the new ‘running’ and had the pleasure of handing out a bumper number of referrals.
Whilst we are all pleased for him, we are all in equal measure disappointed at the sale of Mike Hickson’s business as it means that he will now be leaving our ranks. He has been an exemplary member and his seat will be hard to fill. I hope it was not regarded as unseemly haste that I referred to not only the seat that he is vacating but the seat of Mortgage Broker and Estate Agent as something that we should be actively targeting in the next few weeks.
In the meantime please enjoy the autumn heat wave
Really sorry to see Mr Hickson go, didn’t see that coming at all, but fantastic news about the sale and look forward to seeing him on another project.
Also, I’ve now been promoted from Mike-3 to Mike-1 over the past few months!
Great 10 minutes Aiden, and good ed slot Paul.
Good to be back
Sounds like I missed an excellent meeting
Sorry to hear Mike Hickson leaving but good luck to him in his well earned retirement
Looking forward to hearing from Ammo Hive next week
It was a great meeting until Mike Hickson announced he is stepping away from networking, hopefully we will see him again soon with a new venture.
Great ed slot Paul and a really interesting 10 minutes by Aiden. It was great to hear all about how you got to where you are today.
I always come away from this meeting feeling motivated for the rest of the day!
The strangest Ed Slot since the brick in the toilet. Thanks Aiden, great 10 10 minutes. Sorry to see Mike go, but it is with good reason and I wish you all the best.
Sorry I missed the meeting today had no car back in the garage. It looked like a great meeting had by all. Great ed slot and 10 minutes from Aidan, sorry to hear Mike Hickman is leaving us, you will be greatly missed wishing you all the best for the future.
Who’s Mike Hickman? 😊
Fare-thee-well Mike & congrats!
Sorry to see IT Mike depart, IT is a prime position. A fine presentation from Our Chairman, we expect no less from him. Somebody give our timekeeper a new watch, his is clearly running fast.
Maybe people can’t hear my bell? Was it malfunctioning? Rules is rules, and I take my role as the Official Timekeeper seriously. Next week my bell will be louder and points will be docked for those choosing to run over. Yay.
Great meeting . Still trying to get my head around “monkeybits” Great 10 minutes Aidan . I can highly recommend your service. You have sorted for me the company terms and condition , the lease agreement for JMH and also my personnel LPA’s
Sorry to see Mike Hickson go but retirement is a good excuse.Well done to Blake for winning the Oscar
Really enjoyable meeting this week. Sad to see Mike H go, but exciting news about the sale and future prospects. Was a great 10 mins from Aidan it is always fascinating to hear how people have gotten to where they are.
Thank you, BenBen, for the Oscar it is taking pride of place on my desk this week.
See you All Next Week 🙂
It was a really good meeting, with lots for me to still pick up on, from the other longer term members. Sorry to see Mike go – I wish him all the best for the future……
Sorry to see Mike go but glad to have been part of the journey. Great presentation from The Squire. I am off to buy some cryptomonkeys
Well done Adrian for more insights into your extensive legal background and path to ‘now’! Thanks to Paul too for starting off the meeting with food for thought (LOTS of food for thought)! All great stuff and my favourite way to spend an early Thursday morning. Cheers to a great group. However, I’m in official mourning about lovely Mike H. Sigh x x x