Boom bang-a-bang

And some days it just falls into your lap…

Actually I’m still haunted by the memory of Wednesday so I must have been making some effort. But it didn’t seem like that.

In the music shop we’d had a long discussion about how to silence the drum kit my 11-year-old just won on eBay. The owner was one of those knowledgeable enthusiasts. So it was easy for me to say: “Can you do me a favour? I’ve got a part-time business and every day I tell six people about it…”

And now I’ve got an appointment with him and his partner on the 19th.

Meanwhile one of his suggestions was putting the drums on an acoustic mat (available from B&Q). I stormed round the aisles leaving a paper trail of piggy cards – always listening out for anyone who took one, peered and it and said: “What’s this.”

“I’ll tell you all about it if you like… takes me precisely one minute and 45 seconds. D’you want to hear it?”

So now a builder called Trevor’s got a DVD – and so has a lovely old boy called Jim who I found heading for the garden section.

In fact I never did get the acoustic mat – neither at B&Q nor at Homebase. But on the way back I did get a call from a nice lady called Julie who rang up saying I had once expressed interest in alternative investments.

Obviously these were such good investments that they didn’t need too many customers. I could tell this because she had plenty of time for me to explain why I didn’t need any alternative investments any more – and now she’s promised to look at my way of making money. I had to extract the promise because she didn’t want to give me her phone number – all I’ve got is her email address. Still, we had such a long talk and she seemed so impressed that I’m going to count her as number four – after all, I make the rules…

Number five was a bit of a surprise: At my networking group, I’d asked if anyone knew the owner of the small hotel on the by-pass and sure enough someone did. I phoned at four O’clock as requested and the power of networking worked like a charm.

“We’ve not met but so-and-so suggested I give you a call…”

“Oh yes, she said you were going to ring. Apparently you’re going to save me some money on my bills, is that right?”

How would you like people to say that to you? Join a networking group…

Anyway we were half-way through making an appointment when she said: “It’s a bit difficult because I’ve got another job.”

“Really? What else do you do?”

“I’m a financial advisor.”

DING! On went the lightbulb : “Ah well now, I have many colleagues who are IFA’s. Would you like me to tell you how the Utility Warehouse can give you another income stream at the same time as benefiting your financial business?

I knew who was going to be the number six – the sixth former who was selling the drum kit. I went to collect it with my excited son reading the map. The drums turned out to be a real eBay bargain – only £130 and as good as new. Best of all, although the vendor was only 17, his big sister was there too and not only did the two of them listen while I told them how they could fund themselves through college but the lad said: “I know I can’t start for another nine months. But I could give out some cards for you…”