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I’ve been networking for more years than I care to remember both off-line and on-line. Currently I belong to around twenty networks, although I have to say I’m not very active in most of them. I probably have around 16,000 contact across the world and my biggest issues is keeping track of them all, hence the reason I ask everyone to sign up here! I'm a family man, married with six great kids, just ONE at home (thank heavens - and she is about to leave - hopefully) and I guess I must have done something right, because some of them still want to work with me! Or perhaps it’s the money? I’m an animal lover, especially dogs, and had the most caring, loving and disobedient Border Collie (Paddy) in the UK who was my best friend and confidant!! Sadly she died recently and I’m still missing her very much. She was my sanity most of the time. My wife Clare is now my very best friend and supports me in all that I do. Can a man ask anymore? She is also my driving force, encouraging, coaxing, demanding and generally pushing me all the time. I really feel for people who have partners who continually questions and pull apart whatever they want to do! I adore my family and enjoy their company (up to 4 hours maximum) most of the time. In addition to my own six, I have seven wonderful grandchildren, plus a handful of adopted family that seems to be growing by the day. I love travelling, eating, drinking and generally having a good time ... but who doesn't! I also enjoy the company of my friends and look forward to moving to a big house again so that I can have more people over, more of the time. I love giving and sharing and there is something wonderfully rewarding about being able to do both. I'm a believer in setting goals, tangible and intangible .... but you must write them down! Also a long term VISION, that is where my goals will take me! I’m also quite spiritual in the sense that I believe that there are things much greater in our lives that we understand. Ancient mystics including Bhavita, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Lao Tzu and many others all fascinate me. Modern research has shown that there are strange connection between things, frequencies, attractions ... most support the things recorded by the prophets. There is a lot to learn from their teachings. Me the Person! I was asked to sum up my character and traits in a few lines. This is difficult to keep to just a few lines but here they are:-
What am I good at? Well I'm good at creating visions for people and their businesses.... a lateral thinker, business ideas generator, motivator, dream setter, creator of new business opportunities as well as helping others to see their own business operations in a new light! Described as a thinker, I have also been know to meditate on a problem and come up with a great answer ... though sometimes wrong! Of course I have also been called some other names ... but I shan't list them here! By long background has been in the area of IT within most of the businesses I have worked for. I started as a computer operator on the first ICL 1903s Dual processor within the MOD. Whilst there I had the opportunity to learn to program using Fortran, Algol, Nemo, Cobol and Coral. I also worked on a much larger DEC System 10 for a year or so. Upon leaving the RAF and MOD, I became a Cobol programmer at Dimplex, the original night storage heater manufacturer in Southampton. Sadly they went bust after about 6 months so I was out of a job for a few minutes. I then joined Wessex Computer Services as a Cobol programmer for their new software arm. Quickly I expanded my knowledge and became a systems analyst and eventually head of software development with a team of 8 to 10 working with me. When the business was sold in 1991 I left and started the exciting part of my life in a series of fast moving entrepreneurial companies. All this featured writing software to solve problems that we had. One of those businesses started out it live with just two of us. One month later we employed over 40 people and had made sales in excess of £1 million (and been paid). That project continued to be successful achieving over £40m of sales in just over 4 years. Over the years my IT skills include operations, software development using technologies such as Cobol, Business Basic (DEC), VB, Access, SQL and many others. Latterly more of my time was spent on system design and management but until 2003 I kept my hand in programming. My passion is to help others to do what they want to do, perhaps those less fortunate than myself. I believe you should give without expecting to receive back. I also believe that our children are the future and that they should be encouraged to have free minds, to make their own decisions in life, and their own mistakes. Today there is too much legislation, control and government influence on the future of our kids. I question whether this determination that our children should all go to Uni, is correct! What has happened to the trades? Where are all the jobs for the graduates to fill? Are we making a rod for our own backs longer term? I'm also very aware that things are changing in the business world, the larger corporate businesses are down sizing, and individuals are breaking out of the big business mould and setting themselves up in business in their own right. The future is changing, not many people see it yet, but we have great challenges ahead that most don't wish to think about! The vast majority of us in the UK, Europe and the US are going to retire with a pension that is much less than we believe it will be! Many of us at retirement will want (and need) to continue working. That means a lot more people in the job market, resulting in more unemployed! With older experienced people still working, probably at a lower rate as they will already have a pension to bolster their income, what will be the situation for younger people? How are the changes in global warming affecting us? Will people in 100 years look back on our generation and blame us for the state of the planet? Will our own children suffer as a result of our behaviour? What will we do to try and rectify these problems now? With the price of fuel over £1 per litre and predicted to continue rising regularly until it has all gone, I’m wondering at what price per litre we will get to before people seriously start cutting back. With the real potential of a £2 per litre price within 12 months and £5 per litre within 5 years what then? I have already implemented plans to reduce my own consumption of fuel. It means I have to walk more, go out less, plan trip better etc., but my consumption in the last 3 months has reduced by a staggering 69% per month on average against the preceding 12 months! If you, or anyone you know feels the same as I do, or if you are really concerned about the future of the community, then please send me a message and let me know about how you feel! My background is software development in marketing environments, especially with entrepreneurial businesses , but I don't do the techie stuff anymore as I'm getting a little too old! So I focus on developing great new ideas, especially in the marketing field. I love working with people of all ages, helping them to achieve what they wish to do. Mentoring is a passion that I have benefited from and now freely use to help others. Who Can You Connect Me With (or Can I Connect You Too) If you think I might be able to help you in any way please just TRY ME! If you'd just want to send me a message ... PLEASE DO! I love to make new connections! Often people ring me up to tell me they have a business idea that I may be able to use or help them with, or a product or service that would be of use to me. If you think I can help please feel free to send me a message with the brief details. If you would like to know more about what I do please click HERE. |
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Copyright 2005 -2008 - Jim Tuffin, 23 The Croft, Calmore, Southampton. SO40 2GN. |
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