Veteran's Day came and went yesterday. It was good to see a lot of Vets posting their military service pictures on facebook. Better yet was the support they were getting from their family and friends. That was awesome. It felt really good to see that.
The day before, I had made plans of Veteran's Day. Where I was going to eat breakfast. Going to a funeral. Attend the Veteran's Day Ceremony at Adelupe. Going to Applebee's for lunch. Watch a movie. Dinner at Capricciosa. It was to be an eventful day. It has been years since I've been to the Veteran's Day Ceremony.
Veteran's Day, I got up early. Checked my email and messages. Checked and fed the animals. Got my haircut. Then got ready to head out. It wasn't until I saw that familiar chocolate chip desert BDU in my closet. Out of curiosity, I pulled it out to look at it again. Looking at the familiar hand sewn Sergeant rank insignia on the collar. No unit insignia. This was the uniform that I had worn on the flight to Saudi Arabia. We didn't know what we were getting into or where we were actually going. So our uniforms were sterile except for rank, that we hand sewn on the flight from Ft. Bragg to Germany. Inspecting the uniform slowly, first the shirt, then the trousers. seeing T4983 on the inside. It's amazing how a set of clothing brings back so much memories from the sandbox.
Unfortunately, after reliving the memories, I just stayed home.
I'm okay...just needed time.
ESTA
Keep Smiling
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Matua Consultants...Moving Forward.
It's been awhile since I've blogged on this site. Normally, I'm blogging at the Matua Ranch Blog Page. I'm trying to keep each site unique to it's topic. Sometimes it is not easy. Since ranching is my passion when I'm not doing Safety. I'm usually posting blogs about the ranch and our animals there. But now that I've started focusing more on Matua Consultants, my safety company. I'll be posting those adventures here, on the Matua Warrior Post.
I'm currently working on getting Matua Consultants incorporated. It's been a dream of mine for a long time. And soon, that dream will come to pass. I've been working on the Articles and By laws at the moment. Once I'm done with that. I'll get my company incorporated.
It surprises me when I run into a colleague or a former student every now and then. Who were trying to get a hold of me at the company who I used to work for. I am no longer with P&S Construction due to professional differences. I'll leave it at that. I have left and moved on.
Since leaving P&S Construction, I have been focusing majority of my energy with Matua Consultants and our clientele. I've been picking up new clients who were my former subcontractors on the various projects with the military. Now they're asking me to provide consultations to them and training for their employees.
The other day, I ran into a former subcontractor employee, at a store. He's no longer with the subcontractor who worked on one of my former projects. He's now with another company, whose owner I know. He asked me to meet with them regarding Safety Consultations and training. I asked him, why me. I was pretty hard on this guy because his Activity Hazard Analysis (AHA) for their job task was all jacked up. I wasn't going to let them work until they fixed it. His boss confessed to what they did and apologized for it. I then helped them with their AHA, that day, to help them start work the next day. And, people say, I'm the meanest safety on Andersen Air Force Base.
I guess this guy was trying to find me for awhile since he joined his new company. I'll call him up after Veteran's Day to make an appointment to talk with him and his new boss regarding Safety Consultations and Training. We'll see where this leads me.
I've also been asked to provide consultations to a much bigger company. I'm still thinking about it. This company's new safety manager really wants me to help him. He just got promoted to that position and needs all the advice to help him make his job easier to do. I'll call him up too, after Veteran's Day. I'll ask for a meeting with him and his boss.
Writing up safety technical papers for a bid is really challenging. But I enjoy it. The process brings me to another higher level of my safety career. I'm no longer just a Site Safety & Health Officer or Safety Trainer. I'm now writing safety policy for bid proposals to be submitted. Each one is different and has me thinking outside the box on what the intent of the federal government wants from us, the contractor. What's great. I'm working with an aggressive team that is focused on their tasks.
I've never been on the ground floor of a bid proposal. Normally, I come in after the contractor gets the award. Now, I'm working with an experienced proposal team, writing the safety technical write up, and helping with the numbers for the bid proposal. It is exciting.
I know what it feels like not winning the bid. One of the bids we were working on and had submitted, all 3 bids--that includes us, was turned down. This wasn't thousands or hundreds of thousand dollar bids. This was millions of dollars bid. So now it's get back up and moving on, keep looking for new proposals and bring it to the attention of the team to see if we can do it. If we can, we hit it again. The cycle starts over.
Working with this team the last two months has me thinking about my own company, Matua Consultants. I've learned so much from the leadership and seeing the Vision and the Opportunities that are out there. From what I've learned and absorbed, the best thing for my company is to incorporate and start submitting bid proposals on what I know we can do. Partnering up...helps.
I'm going for it!
ESTA!
Keep Smiling.
I'm currently working on getting Matua Consultants incorporated. It's been a dream of mine for a long time. And soon, that dream will come to pass. I've been working on the Articles and By laws at the moment. Once I'm done with that. I'll get my company incorporated.
It surprises me when I run into a colleague or a former student every now and then. Who were trying to get a hold of me at the company who I used to work for. I am no longer with P&S Construction due to professional differences. I'll leave it at that. I have left and moved on.
Since leaving P&S Construction, I have been focusing majority of my energy with Matua Consultants and our clientele. I've been picking up new clients who were my former subcontractors on the various projects with the military. Now they're asking me to provide consultations to them and training for their employees.
The other day, I ran into a former subcontractor employee, at a store. He's no longer with the subcontractor who worked on one of my former projects. He's now with another company, whose owner I know. He asked me to meet with them regarding Safety Consultations and training. I asked him, why me. I was pretty hard on this guy because his Activity Hazard Analysis (AHA) for their job task was all jacked up. I wasn't going to let them work until they fixed it. His boss confessed to what they did and apologized for it. I then helped them with their AHA, that day, to help them start work the next day. And, people say, I'm the meanest safety on Andersen Air Force Base.
I guess this guy was trying to find me for awhile since he joined his new company. I'll call him up after Veteran's Day to make an appointment to talk with him and his new boss regarding Safety Consultations and Training. We'll see where this leads me.
I've also been asked to provide consultations to a much bigger company. I'm still thinking about it. This company's new safety manager really wants me to help him. He just got promoted to that position and needs all the advice to help him make his job easier to do. I'll call him up too, after Veteran's Day. I'll ask for a meeting with him and his boss.
Writing up safety technical papers for a bid is really challenging. But I enjoy it. The process brings me to another higher level of my safety career. I'm no longer just a Site Safety & Health Officer or Safety Trainer. I'm now writing safety policy for bid proposals to be submitted. Each one is different and has me thinking outside the box on what the intent of the federal government wants from us, the contractor. What's great. I'm working with an aggressive team that is focused on their tasks.
I've never been on the ground floor of a bid proposal. Normally, I come in after the contractor gets the award. Now, I'm working with an experienced proposal team, writing the safety technical write up, and helping with the numbers for the bid proposal. It is exciting.
I know what it feels like not winning the bid. One of the bids we were working on and had submitted, all 3 bids--that includes us, was turned down. This wasn't thousands or hundreds of thousand dollar bids. This was millions of dollars bid. So now it's get back up and moving on, keep looking for new proposals and bring it to the attention of the team to see if we can do it. If we can, we hit it again. The cycle starts over.
Working with this team the last two months has me thinking about my own company, Matua Consultants. I've learned so much from the leadership and seeing the Vision and the Opportunities that are out there. From what I've learned and absorbed, the best thing for my company is to incorporate and start submitting bid proposals on what I know we can do. Partnering up...helps.
I'm going for it!
ESTA!
Keep Smiling.
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