Of a Good Work Day

I’m a Business Development guy.One of my favourite things to do is to not only chat to prospective and current clients about what they want to achieve, but to actually go visit them. Walk a mile in their shoes. I like to get a real understanding of who they are, what they do, their passions, their dreams. Really understand the things they’re proud of and not so proud of, learn what they find easy and what they find challenging.Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit a new client based on the Coromandel Peninsula. They’re a Mussel Farmer.I had no idea what processes are involved in Mussel aquaculture. I now do.So...Yesterday I left Auckland with a couple of business colleagues for the Field Trip. Of course there was a huge storm on Wednesday and the client rang concerned, that us being Aucklanders and all, that we probably wouldn’t want to get wet and seasick. I assured him that we’d be fine. In part because I thought it would be amusing if my colleagues did get wet and seasick. And I do feel a little guilty about it... but only a little...We arrived at the dock about 6:30am, boarded his boat and went out to the farm where the harvester barge was in place and in action.We live in a glorious country. The water was calm and the rising sun played beautifully on the ripples. It is so therapeutic to get out of the city and just absorb nature.I loved my clients policy: “before I show you around, we fish.” There was a huge burley trail from the sorted and cleaned mussels, so lines went down. It really wasn’t fair on the fish. It was as if they were waiting their turn to jump onto our hooks.We toured the boat to see how mussels are harvested and processed. It is very cool to see that they’re barely touched by human hand and get into our markets very quickly.We returned to shore and waited for the barge to return. Here’s what we were looking at whilst waiting.The barge returned and unloaded.We then got to go to their cafe/kitchen where we were fed and watered.Best client ever? Certainly the Best.Day.Ever.- Simon.