I woke up around five thirty to slide from bed, shower, and dress quickly for work. The girls looked comfortable, but I could tell they were about to wake up.
As soon as I went out to the patio, Maggie appeared. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down with me at the small table in the lounge area. "Steve, I want to thank you for taking me in and making me a part of your family out here. I just love being around all the people and the little ones. This is a perfect job for me to be here with you everyday. That's what I need to talk to you about. Glenda and Sue kind of made it so that I'm not here everyday and not for the whole day. Steve, I don't have anything else to do and I'd rather be around here than watching soap operas at home. You don't have to pay me to be around. I just want to be here with you guys and enjoy your company."
Glenda had quietly come in the side door and came up behind Maggie. She hugged Maggie, startling her, and they were both overcome with emotion as big tears began running down their faces. Glenda said, "I'm sorry I didn't see what you wanted or needed, Maggie. I know I couldn't stand to not be a part of everything that goes on over here all day, everyday. The only reason Martin and I have our own trailer is because we need a place to sleep and closets for our clothes. This patio and the kids' home are as much our home as that place over there. You come and stay everyday with me and the girls. Just enjoy being here with the kids."
Maggie acted a little embarrassed about what she was going to ask next, "This might be too much to ask, but the next time you go out on your sailboat, could you take me too. I grew up on the water. My dad had a big sailboat that we took all over. We lived on the boat most of the time, so I know how to take care of a boat. I was the oldest, so I took care of my sister and brother when they were young. If you ever have a need, I love the water and can help with the kids when you go somewhere."
A barefoot Sue, in a big fluffy robe, said, "I heard that. You may regret telling us that. We're about to have a bunch of kids added to our three, so we will need some help around here and on the boat if we go sailing. Steve, you should plan on taking the big boat out this evening for a while. Maggie can go with us to see if she still has her sea legs. We'll give those guys from Onan a thrill, and we need to plan on some kind of food while we're out."
Mercy came out, carrying Mike and Liz. She handed me both babies, saying that she would bring me something for them to eat in a minute. The two little ones were happy to sit fairly still on my lap. They were still a little sleepy and not totally awake yet.
Maggie wanted to hold Mike and had him cradled between her big breasts. The kid enjoyed the warmth and almost fell back asleep.
When Mercy came back out with two bowls of Cream of Wheat, she said to Maggie, "I hear you're a sailor. I just love to be out on the water. The trip we made through the canal was the most exciting time of my life. That's not true. Meeting Steve and Sue, and having Mike, were the most exciting times of my life. The trip would be next though."
Mercy turned to me and asked, "Is it true? Are you going to take the boat out this evening? Sue and I can run over and get it ready for company. We could turn on the ice maker and dust."
Maggie perked up, "Can I come along to help you? I'd love to see your boat and help to get it ready to go out for a while."
Folks were streaming into the patio, getting coffee while watching for the bellhop from the hotel who brings the sandwiches. He arrived just as the Onan guys drove up. They were all dressed in jeans and S&S T-shirts so they blended into our group a little better.
Crystal eyed the group and asked, "Can I have one or two of those swingin' dicks to help in the body plant today. We're mounting a couple of bodies and could use the extra hands."
Abe asked, "The superlift shop needs a helper today. Rod is taking his GED today, so we'll be short. Give me two of these guys for out there."
Shawna looked at me, and then at Sandy and Mandy, "Can you two handle at least one of these guys today. We need to teach them how we do perfect work."
It went on this way until all eight men were assigned to work at either the shop, the utility body plant, or out at the park. I told everyone that I wanted the men back here on the patio by three, as I was going to take them out on the sailboat. There was a bunch of hisses and boos along with, "We want to go too, Boss."
"I'll take a bunch of you guys out for a nice cruise on Saturday. This is just a sampler for the visitors."
As the patio group split up to head for work, I asked Sue if she should go to the doc to see if she was pregnant or not. Sue smiled and said, "Juanita and I did the test this morning. You're going to be a daddy again." Sue wrapped her arms around me and said, "This is so special. We are a true family all together. With seven little ones, we will be busy. What are you going to do about flying? We won't fit into the 200 anymore."
"I'm going to look for a Super King Air. It holds thirteen passengers. There is a larger one that holds nineteen but the thirteen passenger model should be just right. We might have to see if Maggie likes to fly as well as sail."
Kate was sitting with Jim before he left to do repairs within the park. She came over and said, "If you guys need someone to come along with you when you sail or fly, have me go. As long as we can bring Carson, Jim will be probably enjoy having us out of his hair sometimes."
Maggie wanted to give Kate some insight, "Will Jim put up with you gone for a month or two? Sailing is different than getting on a plane and coming back in a day or two. It takes days to sail the same distance it takes to fly a couple of hours."
Jim was looking at us expectantly, "If you could use Kate when you take off, she should go. I don't have a problem with them traveling at all. She put up with me while I was in the service, so it would be fine if she needed to travel."
Sue looked at me a little funny and said she would be back. As she got up to go into the house, she motioned for Kate to follow her. They disappeared into the house together.
Maggie was staring as if she were daydreaming. Glenda reached over and patted her arm, "Don't worry, Maggie, the kids meant it when they said they will take you along the next time. They even gave me a pill so I could sail with them. I wonder if I'll need another the next time that we go. I may not, I may have gotten over my motion sickness."
Even though there was plenty of time before we would need the extra space, I called out to the Aero Park to talk to our air charter captain. "John, don't laugh at me, but I want to begin looking for a Super King Air or a similar aircraft that will hold at least twelve to thirteen passengers and is as fast as the 200. It has to be something that's easy to fly like the 200. Think you can find something like that?"
"No problem, Steve. There are dozens of commuter airlines that are going belly up. We can probably steal one by picking up a lease or buying out a contract. It might cost to put the plane into the shape you want, but nothing like a new one or a used one that's in first class shape."
"Well, put your feelers out. I have some time before I'll have to have it, so let my mechanics know so they can put the word out as well."
"I'll do that. You know what though. I do know where there is a nineteen passenger Super King Air 1900D that is a heartbeat away from being repossessed. The bird is in real good shape and is pristine inside. The guy that owns it got sick and hasn't been able to keep up the payments, and of course hasn't been able to fly it to pay for it. He's been too proud to let someone else fly it, and now he has to sell it or have it repossessed. Do you want me to check it out? If you don't want to use it, we could always charter it. The size is great for a pretty big group, and it's just about as fast as the 200. Not quite as efficient, but that's reasonable considering it is bigger."
"See what kind of deal you can make, John. If you need to the complete the payoff, do like always and contact Tiny. He'll figure out how to pay for it. I still want to look for the thirteen passenger model though. In this case, that size should be perfect. I'll tell you about it when I see you."
I told Sue that I was going to make a check on the Onan guys to see if they were doing as instructed or gold bricking. The guys working at the truck body shop were working with the other men, getting the body on the chassis. There was another Onan guy at the cart plant bolting on an engine. It was a little amusing as one of the regular workers was standing over his shoulder directing him. It was Suzie Chang, a four foot seven dynamo Chinese descendant, who ram-rodded the engine group at the cart plant.
At the main shop, the president was sanding, grinding, polishing and weighing engine parts as Roberta was assembling heads. Another guy was looking through a microscope at some oil Sandy had put on a slide.
Two guys were in Abe's shop, one tearing down a rusted generator, and the other was holding up a huge bar while it was being bolted onto the front of a superlift. All eight guys were busy doing something. They wouldn't have time to learn much, but they should get the idea of how we stressed quality at every level.
I went home to have lunch and go to the gym with several of the ladies. After lunch, we walked up to the pool to swim and get a little sun. Glenda and Maggie love to sunbathe up at the pool. On this day, Sue had Kate go with us, as Sue said she should begin to get a base tan. If she were to go sailing with us, she would need to get a tan for some sun protection.
When we got back to the house, Sue, Mercy, Juanita, Maggie, and Kate took off in the Expedition to go shopping and head out to the boat to get it ready. Tiny called to tell me, "I'm sending them to the hotel to clean up, then go over to patio. I'm having Ryan and Michelle drive the big fifteen passenger van so you can all go over together. Phil and I will meet you at the yacht club."
Right at three, Ryan showed up with the big van full of people. I jumped in and we drove to Dunedin. As soon as we were walking to the dock, one of the Onan guys saw several boats with the S&S logo and asked what they were. Tiny was there and said, "It's part of our charter fishing group. We currently have eight offshore boats and eight flats boats. You'll get a taste of deep-sea fishing tomorrow, but if you wish to charter a longer trip, give us a call, our prices are very competitive, and our captains and guides are the best."
When everyone was on board the sailboat, Sue and Mercy gave them a little safety talk and what to watch out for when we change directions. They made sure to have them either keep covered up or to apply lots of sunscreen.
Juanita already had the engine compartment fans running and all of the shore connections disconnected, so I started the engines to let them idle to warm up, and turned on all of the electronics. When it was time to castoff, I was surprised to see Kate hop onto the dock and release the bow line then run back and release the stern line. She climbed back on board to help Maggie coil the stern line. I knew Maggie had boat experience, but it looked like Kate did as well.
We were out in the gulf raising sail by four PM. There was a decent breeze from the northeast, so I let it push us southwest, then due west for about twenty miles. The visitors were able to get the feel of open water sailing and the thrill of the wind lifting the boat to the top of the swells.
About six, the girls began serving some baked mahi-mahi up on deck. They had set the deck table for what looked like a formal dinner. I asked Sue where all this had come from. "I rented it from the yacht club. They have all of this stuff for trips just like this. We might get some for ourselves later, but this works great for little trips. Take down some sail while we eat so it isn't as breezy."
When I joined the group to eat they wanted to know who was manning the helm. "The auto-pilot, my friends. The collision avoidance system is on so if any vessel is within ten miles and on an intersecting course, an alarm sounds to give me plenty of time. I can set it at up to fifty miles out, but for today, ten miles gives me about an hour to react."
After the great supper and cleanup, the men mostly sat on lounge chairs outside or in the lounge. Can you believe that several had the TV on watching a game show?
Mercy had taken her favorite place on the bow, feeling the wind in her face. This time though, she was joined by Kate who was enjoying the wind and sea spray as well. Sue and Maggie stayed with me in the cockpit area, chatting about nothing in particular. Sue asked Maggie, "What do you think about traveling with a couple of pregnant women and three kids?"
Maggie smiled, "The pregnant women shouldn't be a problem, but how do you handle the kids out on deck?"
"Stevie has to wear a life jacket whenever he's on deck, and so far he's minded about not playing next to the rail. He's already found out he can't roll a ball around on deck. He lost one of his favorites the first time he tried to play on deck. Now he saves some of his toys for either the main lounge or the below deck lounge."
Sue continued, "Lizzy and Mike are just starting to walk, so we don't let them walk around out on the deck. We do bring them out and let them sit in the sun. We've even had them crawl around a little on the deck, but we put jackets on them even for that."
Maggie was nodding, "If they're good with that, then you should be fine. Can any of you girls run the boat if something happens to Steve?"
"Steve has taught us all how to operate the boat under sail, as well as using the engines. We still have some learning to do, but both Mercy and I are working toward our captain's licenses."
"Well, you folks seem to know what you're doing," Maggie praised. "This is a very fine boat. You could use another stateroom or two, especially if you want to take both Kate and me with you. The two of us could probably bunk together, but sometimes a younger girl wants to room alone."
"We can have the boat builders remodel if we want. I'm sure they could design the staterooms differently so we could have three or four guest rooms. Right now we keep the three kids in the same room. When the new babies are here, we'll have to have them in the Master suite in the beginning, then in the connecting stateroom where the big kids are now. We should probably have a design where the bigger kids are in the next room down and then have two guest rooms after that."
You could see Maggie suddenly coming to a conclusion, "Juanita sleeps in your bed too?"
Sue smiled, "She does. We're kind of like one big family and our beds are large enough for all of us."
"My, my you are an enlightened group, aren't you? A lot of boat people are different like that. I should have known the way you three ladies are always together. Ah, to be young again."
Maggie looked over at me, smiling, and asked, "Do you have the same problem a lot of sailboat captains have?"
"What kind of problem is that, Maggie," I asked.
"Keeping clothes on your female crew when you're out on the water?"
I laughed, "That does seem to happen often. Are you susceptible to losing your clothes out at sea?"
"Only on warm sunny days, Captain."
Kate and Mercy had returned to the cockpit area in time to hear the conversation. They both laughed along with Sue. Kate said, "My grandfather had a big sailboat that I used to sail on every summer. I learned a lot about how to live aboard a boat and the enjoyment of sailing. I haven't sailed in about four years, so this is a treat. When granddad became ill, my folks sold his boat to put him up in a rest home. The inactivity killed him. Without the sea, he didn't want to live."
This trip had become a good time to get acquainted with Maggie and Kate. I personally didn't know whether I wanted to go on a long trip with five women and a bunch of kids. I guess it won't be my decision, as my two women, especially Mercy, sort of dictated our sailing adventures.
Mercy began talking about a near future trip as I turned to tack back toward Dunedin. "Why don't we sail across the Atlantic now that the summer storms are over? We could stay fairly south to stay warm, then head toward the Mediterranean. I heard Phil talk about Italy, Sicily, and the Greek Isles. We could do that then visit the Spanish and French Riviera. We could leave right after Christmas, sail for a couple of months then be back for the uncomfortable days of carrying the babies. With only the three kids, we wouldn't need Maggie and Kate unless you wanted to bring them along."
Sue said, "If we waited till after Christmas, it would give us a chance to have the boat remodeled for the extra rooms. It would also give Mercy, Juanita, and me time to finish our captain's licenses."
Before I could voice an objection, Mercy said, "I've already talked to Tiny about doing a trip like that, and he's all for it. He said going would be good advertising. He thinks we should go to the United Kingdom, as well. It would be cold, but we could do it as a goodwill venture if we needed to."
"You guys are always way ahead of me in planning things," I said, thinking of how big of a voyage they were planning. "The kids and I are kind of along for the ride. I guess I don't have any objections to the trip but it is a pretty big undertaking. That's a lot of days out on the open water. You know we'll hit some bad weather at least a couple of times, so it won't be all fun and games."
As we neared the yacht basin, we started the engines and dropped the sails. The girls worked together to secure and cover the sails as I guided the boat in, then turned it around to slowly back into the slip.
All of the visitors said how different it was to sail instead of being in a large motor driven boat. The feeling was more relaxed, and you were able to feel the sea differently than in a motor driven craft. They would all have good memories of the short sailing excursion.
We cleaned up the boat and carted off the perishables and trash to take home. The rental equipment was left on deck where the yacht club attendants would pick it up later.
Ryan dropped the men off at the hotel, then we went to the patio to meet the women. Kate was excitedly telling Jim and Carson about the trip. Every time Kate would say, "You should come with me," Jim would cringe and grimace.
Maggie was huddled with Glenda and Martin, talking about how nice it had been to go sailing again.
Our charter manager and chief pilot was having a drink on the patio, waiting for us to return. He waved Tiny and me over to him. Sue knew something was up, so she trailed along.
As soon as Sue had a Diet Coke, and Tiny and I had a drink, John said, "I have that nineteen seat King Air 1900D out at the Aero Park for you to look at. You really need to consider it, as it is a steal. We can buy it for less than half its value right now if we pick up the note. Steve, I want you to come out tomorrow and fly this thing. You can own this bird for less than you paid for the 200."
Sue said, "That's really a big plane. Wow, nineteen people." She thought a minute then said out loud, "There's Mercy, Juanita, Stevie, Mike, and Lizzy, that's only five. Then there will be Mercy's trio and my new one so that would be nine. If Maggie, Kate, and Carson were to both come with us that would be twelve, so we would still have room for seven more people. It may be too big."
She turned to John and asked, "How does it fly. Is it nice?"
"The plane flies exactly like the 200 but it feels a little more sluggish getting off the ground. It takes a little more runway, but you'll like it." Then John added, "I will also have a thirteen passenger Super King out there tomorrow for you to look at. It's another plane waiting for a repo. It's a good deal too, but isn't as good a deal as the big plane. You'll have to pay about sixty percent of value for the thirteen passenger plane ... The bank financing the plane knows what its worth, but is willing to cut me a deal because I've helped them in the past. This plane is almost brand new. It hasn't even had its first annual. Look at it. If it's too much, don't buy it. If you like it, then you would have a decent deal, but you have to take the deal on the bigger plane."
Sue looked at Tiny, "If nothing else we could lease them into our charter fleet. I want to keep one just for our use though, like we did with the 200 before it became popular to charter all the time. Tiny, can we sell the 200 to the charter company so we could buy one of these other planes?"
"Not a problem," Tiny said. "We were going to try to pick up another 200 anyway. It's a very popular charter. We get a lot of five to six people charters in the five to fifteen hundred mile range. The 200 is a very economical way to go. We've been using your plane for charters two to three times a week, anyway. You're actually making money on it. I'm not sure how you would do on the Super King Airs. We would have to see."
John asked, "What time do you want to meet out at the hangar?"
"How about eight to eight-thirty. That way Sue and I can fly both planes to see how they feel. Mercy will probably want to come along, as she needs to see how they ride and feel."
"Can you make it closer to nine? We have a bunch of charters and students leaving the hangars from eight to eight forty-five. You can come out earlier and poke around in the planes, but I need to wait till the other business gets off the ground before we can play with the new stuff."
DeDe came up to us and said, "John checked me out in the 1900D today. Nice plane. It's a real junior airliner. Are you guys adding to the harem or what?"
Sue laughed, "Mercy and I are both pregnant. Mercy's having triplets so with four more kids we'll need at least nine seats. We usually have Juanita with us, so that's ten and we were considering bringing some more help along so that would be eleven or twelve."
DeDe thought for a second. "You know most 200's are 13 passenger. Yours is one of the short ones that has the executive desks and only have seven seats." She turned to John, "Is that 200 that I saw in the other hangar a 13 passenger model?"
"It is," John said. "And yes, it's for Sue and Steve to look at. That 1900 is a good buy though. You can stand up straight in it if you're normal size, not Tiny's size, and it does fly around three hundred miles an hour. Not bad for a prop driven plane that size."
"I'm convinced, John. We'll look at the 1900 very seriously. The thirteen passenger 200 might be just the ticket for us though. We could always swap planes if we needed the extra seating."
The excitement and airplane talk finally died down. Folks left for the evening so we could all go to bed. I did the Dad thing by kissing the three little ones goodnight, and joined the girls in the big bed. Sue and Mercy were both worked up from sailing, so it took a while get them unwound. The activity stimulated Juanita, so they worked as a team to get me interested in loving her up before I crashed. With my ladies, it's easy to get to sleep.
Waking up is funny. Sometimes, you wake up fully aware of where you are and what you're going to do next. At other times, you wake up so groggy that you're out of bed and into the bathroom before you even realize you're up. This morning, it was one of those days when the brain engaged before the eyes opened. Something was running around in my head that was developing into a full-fledged idea.
I sat up in bed, thinking the idea through, then almost zombie like, I slid from the bed to quickly shower and dress. When I was dressed and came out of the closet, Sue and Mercy were looking at me funny. I felt self-conscious so I asked, "What's up?"
Sue said, "I've seen that look before. It usually means you're going to start a new business or buy more land. What are thinking about?"
"That's the way he was the morning he began talking to that trucker down the street," Mercy said. "He gets that far off look, then begins heading straight for something."
"I've just got an idea. I'll work on it this afternoon at the shop. It might work and it could save us a little time with our welding equipment. I don't even know whether it'll work yet. It's just an idea." I smiled at the three beauties and said, "Come on, let's get going. We're going out to look at airplanes this morning, so we need to get going."
"Humpf!" Sue exclaimed. "It's barely six o'clock. We have time for some wakeup fun. Come back to bed and we'll show you a good time, sailor."
"You're very tempting, sweet thing, but I want to jot down some notes real quick and make a drawing so I don't forget my idea."
Mercy laughed, "Can you believe a red-blooded boy like that turned down some morning loving. What has the world come to? Come on Sue, Juanita, let's get a shower before the critters wake up."
I made a pot of coffee in the kitchen and opened the doors to turn on the patio light. I went back to the counter to write some notes on a yellow pad there, then I quickly made a couple of drawings. It looked like it would work so I tore the pages from the tablet, folded them up and put them in my pocket for later."
I heard the screen door slam and looked up to see my morning buddy, Glenda, come in and go to the big coffeepot. The day has now officially begun.
Sue came out of the house as Tiny and Ruth came in. "You better watch him, Tiny. He woke up with an idea and he won't tell me what it's about. You know what that usually means."
"He can't do too much damage if he's planning on taking a cruise after Christmas. He only has a few weeks to do whatever he's going to do. Next week is Thanksgiving, so he's going to lose a couple of days, then there is about a month till Christmas. I'll watch him, but we're all probably safe."
"Not to worry, Tiny. It's just an equipment idea. It might be a way to save some time in the welding shop. It may be patentable if it's a good enough idea, we'll see."
We all ate, then about eight fifteen, Sue, Mercy, Tiny, and I went out to the Aero Park to look at planes. We drove through the gates, across the runway, and parked in front of the charter office. We said hi to Star and her assistant, then walked across the access area to the far hangar.
Looking at the four hangars with their big doors open was impressive. There was a ton of activity. The hangar with the Gulfstream had a tow vehicle pulling the Gulfstream out, while our 200 was obviously being prepped for a charter too. The other hangar over on that side had four 152s and two 172s parked in front, with students and instructors doing preflight inspections. There was also a 210 out front that was getting ready to leave on a charter.
Next to the hangar where the new planes were, was the helicopter hangar with the two companies' and the sheriff's department helicopters all sitting out front. S&S had definitely increased the activity out here. Besides the 1900D and the new looking 200 sitting in this hangar, there was another 200, plus a Lear, in the back where the maintenance techs had their benches. Both planes looked like they were in the middle of an annual teardown.
Sue went straight for the 1900D and climbed the stairs. "Wow, this thing is big. Come look, Steve, we could tear out seats and have room for a play pen."
Mercy beat me to the door, so when I walked into the plane I was able to stand up and look at the seating arrangement. The plane was big enough to even have a small potty room in the back. I would have to look at the baggage storage. With nineteen passengers, there would be a lot of baggage. When I considered that the plane probably normally had a hostess, that meant only eighteen passengers plus the flight crew. Still, this thing was big. I looked into the cockpit area to find it had some instruments I didn't recognize. Oh well, you always have to learn. The plane was clean and in very nice condition on the inside. It had been well kept and had not been used that much.
I got off the 1900 and walked over to the long 200. I looked inside and found six rows of seats and the potty seat behind a partition. The cockpit was familiar but it didn't have all the instruments we were used to having. That would be easy to remedy. I was impressed though, as the plane looked brand new. Even the cockpit didn't look like it had been used.
John and one of the charter jockeys came into the hangar as I was getting out of the 200. "Ready to go flying? I brought Bob along so he can check one of you out in the 1900, while I go with the other in the stretched 200."
Sue said, "Let me fly the 200 first, then the big plane. I haven't flown for a month, so I need to warm up in something more familiar."
Bob said to me, "Come on let me show you around the plane while we wait for the tow motor to take the plane out."
Bob opened an access panel on the outside and pulled out a laminated checklist. We began a step by step preflight inspection. This gave me a chance to look over the plane at the same time we did the check. The nose had a modification. It was an extension that could hold more luggage. Bob showed me the luggage storage in the rear of the plane as well. There was a lot of room.
The tow motor pulled the 1900 and the 200 out of the hangar then parked back by the mechanics. Bob continued to show me about the airplane while Sue was already firing up the big 200.
Tiny joined us and sat in a passenger seat. Mercy had gone with Sue to see how the 200 was.
Once I learned what the extra instruments were, we began the startup procedure. I was just about to pull the start handle when I noticed the red light next to the handle. It took me a second then I called to Tiny. "Pull the door up for me, Tiny, okay?"
As soon as the door was closed and locked, the light went out. We started the engines and let them warm while we checked the dials and gauges. When I engaged the props and released the brakes, I could feel that the plane was a lot larger than I had flown before. Bob was giving me some pointers when we were cleared to take the active runway for takeoff.
I ran the props up then started down the runway. Bob was directing me as I cycled through lifting the nose, then lifting the whole plane off the ground. I automatically retracted the gear and did a quick check of instruments before dialing in the first heading. We were VFR and going to remain that way for the test ride. I could see the 200 at three o'clock, now heading north. We went due west to go out over the gulf.
I told Bob that I wanted to call in to file an IFR plan as I would like to feel the rate of climb, as well see how the plane felt at altitude. I called in then we turned on the cabin air and pressure. We climbed fairly fast and ended up at 23,000 feet on the way to Mobile, Alabama, at about two hundred and ninety knots. The plane was pretty quiet, more so than our 200. The plane felt fine and seemed to handle well.
I altered the flight plan and turned back toward Tampa. Bob suggested that if TIA wasn't jammed up, we might try a touch and go. When we called in the controller said to 'come on down, ' so I cued up on the five mile final.
The plane was heavy, and I set down a little heavy. Not so hard it hurt anything, but harder than I was used to. "Man, Bob, I'll need a little practice with this thing. That was a hard landing."
"The first one in one of these is always a little hard. You're just not used to this much airplane. You'll get used to it. Go around and do it again. The airport isn't very busy right now."
We went around, and this time I consciously let the plane settle on the wheels, before I fired it back up and took off. Much better, I'd have to remember that.
When we got back to the Aero Park, Sue was already down with the extended 200, waiting for her ride in the 1900. As soon as I shutdown and got out of the plane, Sue was bugging Bob to let her begin the preflight. He had to go take a whiz first, so she had to wait. I started the preflight with her and showed her all the exterior features that Bob had shown me. Sue's only comment was, "If we carry a bunch of normal women, there isn't enough luggage space."
Bob came out and led Sue into the plane. Mercy had already seated herself inside. I leaned into the 1900 and told Mercy to shut the door as I had forgotten to do it on the way to the cockpit. Bob was obviously used to flying with a hostess who did it for him.
Once Sue had the plane started and began to pull out, I did the preflight then John and I, with Tiny, got into the 200 to take it for a ride. I commented that I was used to more equipment, or at least a better GPS, and he said the additions would be inexpensive.
The 200 felt similar to our smaller version. It seemed just as fast
and felt good on the climb out. I did a couple tight banks like I did
sometimes when I was by myself and the plane felt the same. It wasn't
sluggish, even with the extra length and weight. When I landed back at
the Aero Park, the plane set down just like our plane. This would work.
When we were down, Tiny said that the acoustics in this plane were better than our 200. John explained that they had some kind of noise masking that went on in the cabin. He said it made it more comfortable for passengers over a long trip.
When we landed, I checked the plane over in detail. It was like brand new. I turned to Tiny and said, "Buy this one for me. This is a nice airplane and will fit everyone that will soon be along."
When Sue got back about a half hour later, Bob said she ended up doing almost exactly what I had done by re-filing to go up high then doing a couple of touch and gos. Sue said, "That's a big airplane. I can see it could be useful, but the long 200 is perfect for what we need. Tiny, buy that 200 for me. You can buy the 1900 for the charter. If you don't want our 200, we'll keep it for Steve and me to take on trips where the whole family doesn't go."
Tiny commented quickly, "I'll take your 200. I can charter another bird like that at least a couple times a week. We're beginning to be out of planes to charter fairly often. You'll have to ask Star about it."
I thanked Bob for checking us out in the 1900D and we now had another plane in our books. Bob said, "You guys could run a charter for us when we're short of pilots. We need some more right now. You need to get your personnel people working on some more crews."
Tiny, Sue, and I all said we would work on it, and took off for the house. Tiny grabbed his car and I drove my truck into the shop. I was anxious to work on my idea.
As soon as I said hi to everyone, I went out to the welding area and pulled a standard wire feed arc welder over to an unused bench. I then brought out a mig and tig unit to do some comparing. I did some measuring and some drawing, then decided to use the cad software to show some exact dimensions.
There was no one at my old desk downstairs, so I sat down and began entering the parameters of the arc head that I wanted to make. This took me a lot longer than I thought it would, and I didn't finish till almost noon. I printed out several copies of the design and went out to the shop to put away the tools I had dragged out.
When Sue answered the phone, I told her I would be about a half-hour late for lunch. I needed to go see Billy, the machinist, at the business park. Sue said, "Come home and eat, then after the gym, skip the pool, and take the cart over there."
I really didn't want to wait to get the thing started, but I knew Billy couldn't really just drop everything else and make this thing for me.
We ate and went to the gym, and I was finally able to go see Billy. I showed him how I wanted the pieces to be and that my drawing wasn't necessarily set in stone as to what it needed to be. He saw what I was trying to do, but didn't understand how it would all work. He said he was free this afternoon so he should have a prototype later today. "We'll work on it and modify it anyway you need."
"Billy, I'll get some equipment and bring it over so we can work on it here. Do you have the design software like I used?"
He answered, "Sure, get a disk of what you have and we can modify it as we go. That way you'll have your pattern complete if you want to file for a patent."
I went home and loaded my gas rig along with my arc equipment into the truck. My first idea had led into a second. After hanging around till three, I went back to Billy's. I brought the heavy wire feed arc welder out and disconnected the head that holds the rod.
When I connected the new head Billy had made for me, I inserted and removed a couple of rods quickly to see if the clamp idea would work. After banging the end of the rod a few times, I felt like the holder would work fine.
Now to test some welds. Billy had some blanks that he made equipment with that I could use. First, we did two pieces of steel. Next, I tacked a couple pieces of aluminum using the modified setting on the arc welder. Then I welded a couple pieces of alloy bike frame that Billy had. All three worked perfect. The quick-change rod holder and the three variable settings on the welder would work fine. Next, I added the second part that I had Billy make. I set up three spools and fed the line into the guides and holder that had just been made. I used my gas rig to separate my welds then went back to the new jury-rigged wire feed and began. This was even faster. I was able to flip through the settings and the appropriate wire in minutes. My fear that the head would be too heavy turned out to not be a problem. The contraption was a little unwieldy, but if I redesigned the wire caddy and the feed guides it would be perfect. Especially for a guy in a little shop that couldn't afford multiple types of welding equipment.
I ordered a dozen more of the heads to be made, and copied the modified design onto a disk. Billy said I could pick them up tomorrow and thanked me for the business. He promised not to tell anyone about my new design until I told him he could.
The welding store that I had gotten started with sold me a new arc welder in the style I needed. They also sold me rolls of three types of wire. Back at the shop, I used all scrap tubing and sheet metal to build a caddy that would open and close to fit right on the arc welder. Next, I put three sets of switches on the welder with the setting hard wired into all three switches. The switches were in series so only one could be on at a time. When it was done, I went to find Bob. He was one of our best welders. I had to grab Tim too, as I still couldn't sign to Bob.
I had set up two pieces of steel, two of aluminum and two of alloy. When I explained through Tim what I wanted, Bob pointed to the three pieces of equipment at his stand. I held my hand up and pulled the modified arc welder to his stall and plugged it in. Each switch was labeled, as was each button on the wire feed head.
Bob pulled the leads around to get comfortable with extra weight of the three wires from the spools. Once he was set, he welded the steel plates. He stopped and threw the switches, then checked his finger position and tacked the aluminum. He repeated the process with the alloy, shut the welder off, and began inspecting the head. He was smiling as he then began checking to see how I had mounted the wire for the feeds.
Bob signed to Tim, who then said, "Bob says he can make the wire spool caddy a little smaller and a lot prettier."
I told him to make one up and see how it fit on the welder. While Bob was over in the sheet metal area, Tim played with the welder. I showed Tim the other head I had that was for rods, instead of wire. He said that would work great as well.
Bob came back with a very professional looking caddy that mounted to the same holes that I had made for my design. Once installed, Bob flipped on some switches and did a few tacks to see if the wire fed cleanly. He turned everything off and was signing to Tim. Tim told me, "Bob wants one of these for himself. He says it's perfect for a guy out on a job site. He wouldn't have to have so much equipment. It would also be good for the little guy or the do-it-yourselfer."
I went into the office and got the camera to take pictures of the caddy Bob had made, and to get ready to take the stuff over to the lawyer for a patent app. I motioned Bob to come with me, and we went inside the office to draw up the caddy housing on the cad equipment. Once I had everything, I printed it out I jumped in my truck and ran it downtown to Ben's office. He wasn't there, but one of his attorneys that had been working with us knew what to do. He said he would have it submitted by tomorrow.
Back at the shop, I took the modified welder to Abe and asked him who I could get to build a welder with the three preset settings, along with a regulator, so they could be varied depending on the type of metal. He thought for a few minutes then made a phone call. When he hung up Abe said, "Hal Jenkins from Lincoln said he could build what you want. He said for you to call him and give him the exact settings and specifications and he would do it."
I didn't know whether to share the idea with Lincoln, but then all I had to do was wait till the patent had been applied for and go from there. The idea should be worth something, as the unit would be perfect for the small guys or the do-it-yourself guy.
Satisfied with my project for the day, I took the modified welding machine, stored it an empty cabinet, and put a padlock on it. The unit needed to stay under wraps for a couple of days.
I went home with a smile. A little dirty, but with a good smile.
Tiny was excited because he had made the deal on the 1900 and already had three charters for the plane. He also had charters for the 200 Sue and I had sold him. As we were talking, Sue came up to me and said, "I had the painters work on the new 200. They put the logos on it and did their thing."
I was confused, so I asked, "How do you mean did their thing? Who did their thing?"
Sue looked innocent and answered, "Hank and Shawna of course. Who else would you have paint one of our vehicles."
"Oh shit," I exclaimed. "You let those two get their colorful little hands on an almost brand new airplane?"
Sue, still trying to act coy, said, "I told them the logos needed to be highlighted, and that anything else they thought would be good to do, to enjoy themselves. I did tell them not to paint where it would distract our view while we were flying."
"After supper, we'll have to go out and see what they've done to that poor airplane. How about we take the kids, Maggie, and Kate out for a quick ride in the new plane? Jim can come along too. What do you think?"
"Good idea," Sue said, then continued, "Maggie was just saying she would like to go up in one of the little planes to look out on the bay. We can make a pass at the beach while we're out."
I figured that I would let Sue do the flying so I could have a beer. I began with a Beefeaters, celebrating my idea creation, then poured a beer about the time Billy came walking into the patio with his wife, Connie. "Hey, Steve, I've got most of your order already. When Connie heard you were at the shop, she insisted we come over to take you up on your invitation of some free drinks."
We sat around enjoying the big group's company and visiting. Jim, Charlie, Shawna, and Hanna joined Connie and Billy, since they were all part of the independent biker group that hung together. The couple stayed for supper, then said they had to take off as their daughter was at Connie's mother's house and needed to be picked up.
Jim, Charlie, Hank, and the Andys were going for a ride, so they took off before the folks going to the Aero Park could get gone.
When we parked at the charter office, the door to the maintenance hangar was still open. I could see a couple of dozen people standing around the new 200 and knew about what I would see.
The aircraft numbers were now on the nose area. On the fuselage, behind the nose, were the S&S logo and the Quality Wear logo. There was the BigGirlsClothes.com logo too. The logos were big and stood out because they were painted with some kind of reflective, glow in the dark, paint. The points of interest after that was there were fairly large cartoons painted all over the airplane, on the top, the bottom, on the bottom of the wings, just everywhere. The top of the wings had the aircraft numbers too. That wasn't necessary, but it couldn't hurt. On the bottom of the fuselage was another big S&S logo that would be easy to see as the plane flew over.
One of the guys checking out the outlandish paint job said to me as I walked up, "Hey, Sharp, I want my A36 painted up like this. Man, this is really cool. You're really smart to advertise like this. It'll put S&S on the map."
Sue and Mercy both elbowed me, snickering, as they both knew I dreaded the attention.
Upon closer inspection there were caricatures of Sue and Mercy chasing kids, me being chased by kids, the sailboat filled with people from the park, and a motor launch like the Hatteras, with a Tiny caricature. They were all cute and all were hilarious. There were some of the cartoons of Sue that were a little risqué, as they depicted exaggerated cleavage. A funny one was me staring at Sue's cleavage, with large drool dripping from my open mouth and tongue.
I hooked up the tow motor and pulled the 200 out of the hangar. Sue began the preflight, while I helped put the kids into car seats on the plane, as well as getting Kate, Jim, Carson, Juanita, Glenda, Martin, and Mercy settled. Tiny told me that I should sit in back to find out how quiet it was. I think he just wanted to sit in the right seat.
We took off and flew over to the beach to look down at all of the rays and an occasional shark, then Sue must have called in a flight plan, as she poured on the power and climbed fast. Sue said we were turning around at Tallahassee to give everyone an idea as to how fast we were going.
I watched Maggie and Kate to see how they rode in the plane. They were fine. Martin and Glenda were a little uneasy at first, then relaxed. Glenda even mentioned that Mercy had cured her motion sickness.
The little ones did what all little ones do. They fell asleep. Carson and Steve didn't fall asleep right away, but the inactivity had them snoozing before we landed. Sue brought the plane in smoothly then taxied to our hangar. I used the tow motor to push the plane back inside.
Everyone had to check out the 1900. Tiny said we should have bought that instead of the 200, since it had so much room. I told everyone that the extra fifty miles an hour the 200 did was reason to stay with it.
Sue and Mercy hugged my arms as we walked back to the cars. Mercy said, "You did that fast. We just told you we were going to have babies and you already have a new airplane. It is so new and quiet, we'll have to take a trip. How about going out to San Francisco for Thanksgiving? I'll bet Mom will go nuts. It would give me a chance to tell Dad about the triplets."
Sue immediately said, "We'll do it. We'll leave early Tuesday morning. Call Missy and ask her about us bringing Juanita and Maggie. Kate would probably rather be home for the holiday."
When we got back to the house, Mercy called her Mom. She had just begun to ask her about us coming for Thanksgiving when she exclaimed, "That will be even better. Yes, you guys come here, that way we can have Thanksgiving dinner with all our friends too."
There were some pauses then she said, "Steve or Sue, or both of them, will come out to get you. If they don't come themselves, they'll send a charter for you. This is great, Mom, we have so much to talk about. I know I've already told you I'm pregnant, but I have a surprise for both you and Dad. No, you can't read my mind, you'll just have to wait till next week. Now when can you come so Steve can plan to go get you?"
When Mercy got off the phone, she asked, "Can you go Monday. That way you could stay overnight then fly back Tuesday. Sunday would be better, but I know you like to hang out here on the weekend."
"I'll go whenever you want, Mercy. For you, anything." I hesitated a second, and added, "Well, just about anything. You can get a little crazy sometimes."
Mercy laughed and gave me a hug and a warm kiss.
Sue came out to where Tiny and I were talking about his fishing charters. She had some fax sheets that had diagrams on them. "This one shows our cabin with an adjoining baby cabin. Or is that a cabin for the babies. Then here would be the cabin for Steve, Mike, and Liz, with a head that can be accessed from the lounge as well. At the other end, we would have a fairly large cabin for couples, if we were to have company like Mom and Dad again. That cabin would have a private head, and there would be two smaller cabins that would share a bathroom or head. All of the facilities, except the head by the kids' room, would be shower only. That one would be a bathtub for the little ones. Anyone could use it if they would rather have a tub bath. What do you think? Would this work?"
I looked at the design and mentioned, "There is very little closet space on this end of the boat. There wouldn't be much room for hanging garments."
Sue pointed to two areas on each side of the bigger cabin, "These are little closets about eighteen inches wide. That, and the regular closet, would give even my Mom enough room. Besides, there are drawers everywhere. Most of what you wear on the boat can be folded and put into drawers. The small cabins have the same thing. On each side of the double bed there is a little closet about eighteen inches wide for clothes. That should be enough. I think this design gives us the most versatile use of the space, without giving up space in the lounge, dining room, or master stateroom."
"Sounds good, make sure we have the CCTV hooked up so we can see all of the areas. I want to be able to see everywhere. We don't have to activate cameras if we don't need them. I just want to be able track down little ones if they are hiding"
"I'll call them in the morning so they can schedule us," Sue said, still studying the plan. "They said they weren't busy so we might get it done pretty quickly."
Mercy, Sue, and Juanita were talking together, looking at the plans. The only thing I heard was, "We'll decorate while they're working on the boat. As soon as they're done with a room, we'll get right in and finish it up. We'll be done in plenty of time."
Folks began migrating to their homes to sleep. I decided to straighten up the patio and head to bed as well. Jim and Kate, with Carson, took Maggie home, so all of our people were safe in bed for the night.
Me, I was unsafe in bed with two pregnant women, and an older woman with designs on feeling how nice it would be to try to get that way. I went to sleep with a smile on my face.
Tuesday I was busy buying another welding machine, then modifying it to use three throw switches and a regulator rheostat for each setting. This time it looked pretty professional. Bob made up the sheet metal for the wire feed caddy and we had Hank shoot it with paint that matched the welder. This would be our prototype.
After lunch and the gym, I went over to Billy's to pick up the parts he had made. He said, "I'm glad you came by. I needed a shot of luck. Every time you guys have me do some work, by the time I'm done with your order, I'm buried. I love it. Thanks for the business and the good luck."
I took the heads to the shop, mounted them, and fed the wires through the guides to each head. The first person I wanted to have try the multi-use welder was Abe. He didn't like to weld, so I figured he would give me the do-it-yourself guy's evaluation. He said it was really neat and that he thought it would be great for the Home Depot crowd or any home auto parts and tool houses.
Next, I took the unit up to Del's for Charlie to try out. When I got there, Charlie said, "Just the man I need. I have a couple of frames that need welding. One is Jan's so it's alloy and a regular frame that's steel. Can you do it for me?"
"I have a new toy I want you to try out, Charlie. I'll help you with the welds, but first I want you to see how you like my toy."
I brought the machine to him and explained how it worked. I cleaned up the areas to be welded for him so he could just begin. Charlie experimented with a couple pieces of metal then welded the steel frame smoothly.
"Feels good," Charlie said nodding. "The wire fed smooth too. Let me try the alloy. That stuff is a bitch."
Charlie pulled his hood down and in a minute, he pulled back and raised the hood exclaiming, "Smooth, nice, where can I get one of these?"
"I'll make you one for Christmas. This is something I'm working on. Hopefully there will be a demand." Charlie said, "There should be. You can call it the S&S three in one. I love the idea of a single unit. You should put it on a cart with a gas rig so you have everything in one place."
"It's too dangerous to mix the arc stuff with the gas. I'd rather just have the three arcs in one unit."
We cleaned up the welds and I drove back to the shop to put the second unit into the cabinet. I was looking at the sheet metal wire caddy and had a thought. I took the sheet metal caddy off the welder, and walked over to see Jeff. I showed him the specs and the prototype. He said he would make me something that would look good and be functional.
I called the guy up at Lincoln and asked if he was available to look at my product Thursday. I told him I would fly up Thursday morning and be there around ten. He might want some of his engineers there, because if he didn't build the unit I would, and use his equipment to do it with. He said he would have people with him.
Wednesday, Jeff had the fiberglass caddy made, complete with paint and hardware to mount it. He had made three of them. I downloaded his drawing on disk and included a printed copy with the other drawings. I went downtown to Ben's to pick up the patent pending papers and headed home. When I called the charter office, I found that the new plane was in use Thursday, but one of the 200s were free. I hope it had good electronics. I brought the prototype home so I could leave early in the morning.
At supper, Abe said he wanted to go along as he felt like the idea was a good one. At seven on Thursday morning, Abe and I were on our way and at Lincoln's front door by nine forty-five.
The guy Abe knew had us take our unit to his R&D shop. I asked for three types of metal and plugged the unit in. I showed the engineers the switches and the safety features where only one switch could be turned on at a time and that only the appropriate wire would feed while the switch was thrown.
I put a bead on all three sets of metal in less than five minutes. I stood back and said to the guy, "You try it. Finish the bead I started on each set. That's harder to do, so you can see how it works."
"Good test. Let me try that thing." I flipped on the steel/iron setting and he finished the bead. He switched to alloy, tried one setting, then turned the dial a little and finished. He flipped on the aluminum setting and welded two small pieces perfectly.
"That's one hell of an idea. Do you have a patent on it?"
I said, "It's pending, including the modifications on your unit. It can be done with anyone's welding equipment, but since I use your stuff almost exclusively, I'd rather work with you."
An engineer said, "The only thing you have is the head. We could duplicate that and everything else. We don't really need you for the idea."
I handed a copy of the diagrams and the patent papers to the lead guy and said, "I patented not just the head, but the idea, the modifications, the use, and the wire feed caddy. What part do you want to license from me?"
While the engineer was sputtering, the lead guy made a call. A couple of minutes later, a suit walked through the door. He was introduced as the head of product development and marketing. Our contact showed him our equipment, turned it on, and added some bead to the steel weld. He switched to alloy, then to aluminum. The suit exclaimed, "That's great, all three units in one."
I said to them, "The good news is that professionals, guys that do this stuff for a living are going to want to use dedicated units for the ability to do quality work. This is for the little guy or the do-it-yourselfer. The product could be sold through hardware stores, welding shops, auto parts and tool stores. It will have as broad a market as your small welding units."
The suit stood back and said, "I like it. Can I have my lawyers talk to your lawyers so we can license the idea?"
"Sure, I'll give you the number. Your engineer has a set of prints. If you guys don't have a fiberglass shop, we can sub the wire caddies for you. We tried a sheet metal caddy, but the fiberglass looks so much better."
The suit said, "We'll do that. We don't have a fiberglass shop, so we will work out a deal on that too. Thanks for letting us get involved with your product. You are S&S Enterprises. I know you from the magazine article about how you've built your business from nothing to a major company. You're one of our largest customers. It's great that you're still developing products. That's what makes America great."
I left the prototype with them, but they replaced it with three units fresh off the production line. I would quickly turn them into gifts for a few friends.
Abe and I flew home, happy that we had started a new source of revenue. I felt it better to let Lincoln handle the product instead of us. We'll sell it and make money. Phil will have a good time with a new product, especially if he knows we are getting paid on both ends. We'll get the licensing, the fiberglass wire caddy sub work, and the profit from selling the units wholesale to our distributors and dealers.
While we were sitting on the patio discussing our day with Tiny and Phil, the thought crossed by mind that perhaps we should concentrate on being innovative. If we could come up with more products and systems our vendor manufacturers could make, we could benefit from the licensing agreements, as well as sale of the products.
"Abe," I said, trying to visualize the idea to put it into words. "Every tradesman and technician make up tools that help them do a particular job. I know you do it, as you have all kinds of little doodads in your tool chests that have special uses."
"What we need to do is to have one of our people, a person who is observant and perceptive, to work with every technician, mechanic, and tradesman in the company. I want to document every personal tool used so we can evaluate whether the idea should be patented and marketed. The creator should get the bulk of the revenue from the item, but the company can benefit by the recognition of being innovative, and from a modest fee from the licensing. We'll have to work out the dollars and cents on this, but I'll bet there are dozens and dozens for marketable tools in our shops that are only used by one individual. Sometimes the guys share ideas and make something up for another, but usually an item is made to cut down time or to make the end product better. The creator doesn't tell anyone, because he's apprehensive that he'll be criticized for cutting corners."
Abe looked at me with an open mouth, "Damn, you're right. I'd bet that I have a couple dozen special tools that I've made over the years that would qualify. Your creation today came from you having to gather a truckload of equipment for a five-minute job that ended up taking an hour."
I was nodding in agreement, "What I want to do is to get across to everyone that their creations, no matter how small or how insignificant they feel the item is, that could have a great value to many other people. We could begin in your department, Abe, and I'll bet by the time we get through all of your people, we have at least a dozen items to patent and market."
"You're probably right, Steve, the other group that will have some awesome homemade tools is the engine shop. That group is a collection of the most talented, detail oriented, mechanics I've ever seen. I've seen dozens of strange tools that they use to make the motor better. It may save time, but those guys are constantly trying to make the one they're working on better than the last."
Planning on a beginning strategy, I said, "Now we need a representative from each group to ferret out the special tools and to document them. We'll photograph them, both idle and in use, and write up detailed instructions on why it is used and how to use it. We'll have the other folks in the department try it and evaluate it. We'll quickly get an honest answer that way."
Tiny was sipping a beer, listening, then commented, "You know, that's my job to look for ways for us to make money. I'm supposed to be coming up with ways to find the change left on the table. I'd be embarrassed, except I do the same thing with numbers. I have so many special macros that I use on my Lotus spreadsheets that I'm resisting changing to Excel. I'm sure I can do the same thing, but I'm too lazy to learn. If someone had that information in plain language in a book or on a disk, I'd buy it. I wonder if some of my macros would be worth something. Individually probably not worth a lot, but collectively, all together, the macros would be very valuable to an accountant or bookkeeper."
Phil said morosely, "I don't have any special tools or anything like that to contribute. We marketing types don't use hardware like you guys do."
Ding!
The bell went off in my head again, "Phil, you just gave me an idea that you'll love. We have one of the most successful and efficient marketing and customer service groups in the country. Many other companies would pay a fortune to learn how to do what we do. How about you and Judy begin putting together the key ingredients to your sales success and the customer service successes? Remember what your field reps do and have Judy document her twenty-four hour a day multi-lingual customer service. Have her tell a story that includes the start up by calling orphaned customers, leading up to what we do now. If we can do it right, we'll hold seminars and workshops that we can charge up the kazoo for. We can do a two day seminar in front of a thousand people at two to five hundred a head. Now that will be a product to sell."
Phil was wide-eyed. He frantically looked around for Judy, then after spotting her he went to get her and brought her back to the group. "Steve had an idea that you and I can do seminars for other companies and bring in some big bucks. Listen to his idea."
After explaining the idea to Judy, she commented, "They have seminars like that all the time, but they're usually so boring half the audience is asleep by nine-thirty. If we presented it with visuals in a very fast, humorous fashion, people would get something from it. We could then sell a seminar video, with documentation and a workbook, so people could reinforce what they learned in the seminar."
Now Phil was excited, "The sales and customer service department can bring in extra money just like the techs and mechanics. We'll sell our special tools too."
Ruth excitedly added, "It will be fun to do something like this. Phil and I both have managers that are now taking over the day to day operation. We just tweak the operation here and there and listen for ways to improve. There's at least one new good idea a week from my people. That needs to be a part of the customer service leadership training."
Phil laughed, "You've just created another seminar. Customer service leadership training. We should copyright that."
We all laughed, and made up some drinks all around, to toast a new venture that will take advantage of the value of the individual parts within the company, that make the whole company jell.
Tiny said, "You need to have a company meeting to advise everyone of what we're doing and how everyone will benefit. They'll know they benefit because the company profits will be up, so their 401K will show an increase. But you do need to figure out a way to talk to everyone in every facility, including out of town. This is a company project, not just yours, or Abe's, or Phil's. Get everyone, everywhere, involved so word will spread and other companies will want a private seminar."
We all sipped drinks, contemplating the endeavor, when Ryan, who had listened to the entire conversation offered, "This is different for you, Steve. This isn't like when you reacted to gut instinct to take advantage of markets and operated by the seat of your pants. You need an organizer. Someone that will put the objectives down on paper, follow up from all of the participants, put the projects together, do the meeting planning, make up schedules, and generally be a pain in the ass. You need a smart, organized, executive secretary type, that enjoys being in a leadership role. Look for that person. You'll know when you find them as the personality will just click. What you're beginning can be a really big revenue generator."
Sue had heard Ryan's description and said, "You have that person, or at least two of those types, working at the same place."
I was confused and I looked questioningly at Sue. "What, Who, Where?"
"You have Star and Paul's niece out at the charter office. Both are overqualified and overachievers doing menial tasks. Pluck one of those babes out of that office and set them up to oversee these ideas you have. The one left at the charter office will flourish because they would be able to institute their own ideas to help the company succeed. You're in a win-win situation."
Ruth, who had been quiet throughout the conversation, began laughing, "Steve is always in a win-win situation when it come to handling women."
Abe was smiling, "Now this is the way we started, and this is the way it should be. We sit around drinking a beer and come up with several more million-dollar ideas. We are one hell of a group."
Glenda hollered from the door, "Okay, all you hotshots, come and get it. You're so wrapped up in business that these other characters are going to eat all the food before you get to the table."
The meeting was adjourned.