Never give up!

This weekend, I've been chilling out with my family after an eventful trip to the Isle of Man last Thursday and Friday. I paid a visit to John, our AMAZING Isle of Man Partner . John is a great guy who's been with BLAM! for over 18 months. He's the type of guy who isn't technically minded but he's successful because of the way he builds a client database, and he has an incredible work ethic (more on John in future email).

John hosts business and sporting dining events on the island every other month, and has had many successful entrepreneurs and sporting legends attend as speakers. His most recent speaker was a huge hero of mine, Warren Gatland, Wales, British & Irish Lions rugby coach . As a proud Welshman, rugby is in my blood and it was an event I didn't want to miss. However, getting to the Isle of Man wasn't as straight forward as I would have expected! In fact we nearly missed the flight! This is what actually happened...

My colleague Ed (our International Partner Manager and all round top guy) and I, planned to visit John and attend this latest awesome event. John had promised me a seat on the top table, next to Warren Gatland and to say I was excited doesn't really cover it!

I set off at 9:30am from Cardiff on Thursday, heading towards Worcester to pick up Ed. We were aiming for Liverpool Airport and our flight was at 4:30pm. So that meant we had plenty of time...

The weather was horrendous, it just wouldn't stop raining, but I eventually arrived at Ed's at around 12:15pm, a little later than expected. But, we still had plenty of time, as the Sat Nav stated we'd arrive at 2.30pm, no problem.

We set off up the M5 and within 15 mins of driving, Ed realised he'd forgotten his Passport. I immediately called him a WALLY and managed to come off at the next exit to head back to Worcester, picked up his Passport and left his house again at 12:50pm. The Sat Nav said we'd arrive at 3.05pm which still gave us time to get there, fine.

But then something bad happened...

Within 30 minutes of getting back on the motorway, a road sign appeared "INCIDENT LONG DELAYS 30-45 minutes" and the Sat Nav jumped up to 3:30pm! This was the first time we started to become anxious. I made an executive decision to come off at the next junction and by-pass the incident on the motorway detouring through Dudley in the midlands. It wasn't plain sailing driving through Dudley, as we made a wrong turn, the traffic was bad and had further poor driving conditions. We finally managed to get on to the M6 but due to poor weather conditions and heavy traffic our speed didn't exceed 60mph for miles. The Sat Nav was showing 3:45pm, aaaarrgggh!!! We knew the gate closure was 4pm and this was going to be close! If we had one more traffic jam, we wouldn't be making the flight.

Then, what we had feared, happened! Another traffic jam by Stoke. We felt sure we'd been defeated as the Sat Nav was showing 4:00pm. This was the moment when we could have given up , but we still believed we could make the flight. I made the decision to come off the motorway again and head though country lanes, dodging sheep, hitting big puddles and overtaking tractors. Ed contacted Liverpool Airport Customer Service to see if there was anything they could do for us. Deep down we knew they couldn't delay the flight, but we were running out of options.

We managed to get on to the M56 and the Sat Nav was showing 4:05pm, the road was clear and Ed and I were shouting to each other, "WE ARE MAKING THIS FLIGHT! NO WAY ARE WE GOING TO MISS IT" Clearly our determination was all we had left, and we knew that we would be arriving after the gate closure time. Then something incredible happened .

We were approaching Runcorn and out of what seemed like nowhere appeared a new bridge called the Mersey Gateway. We couldn't believe it, this bridge had only been opened a few days and didn't show up on our maps. Ed and I were confused and so was the Sat Nav. After crossing the fantastic Mersey Gateway bridge we joined the A533 and the Sat Nav came back to life and was showing 3:55pm!!!!!

We'd taken a vital 10 minutes off our time. This was a defining moment . Ed and I were shouting with joy but we still only had 5 minutes to park the car, get through security and then get to the gate! This wasn't going to be easy and the odds were still against us.

We arrived at Liverpool Airport at 3:56pm and headed straight for the long stay car park which wasn't too far from the terminal, or so we thought. All we had to do was park the car and get to the airport as quickly as possible, sounds easy right?

This is when the worst happened. Zone A... Full, Zone B... Full, Zone C... Full!!!! We entered Zone D and it turned into a single road. There were no spaces available and it turned into a dead end, grrrrrr! There was no way we were coming this far only to be being defeated by the car park. I reversed all the way out of Zone D and headed for the furthest Zones. Again, Zone E... Full, then eventually arriving at Zone F we found a space, phew. It looked like we were at least a 5 minutes walk/run to the terminal and the time was now 4:05pm!

We knew the gate would be closed but we grabbed our bags and ran as fast as we could to the terminal believing we would still get on the plane. Being younger and fitter than Ed (probably doesn't appreciate me saying that) I ran ahead and entered the terminal building. I saw the Easy Jet customer service booth and shouted " HOLD THE ISLE OF MAN FLIGHT ". The lady radioed through and said "run as fast as you can" .

We got to security and I pushed my way to the front, asking all the passengers to let us through as we had an imminent flight to catch! Every passenger complied and let us through. We could hear over the tannoy "FINAL CALL ISLE OF MAN" . Rushing through security we ran as fast as we could towards Gate 10, the furthest gate away (of course it was). We were like the McAllister family running for their flight in the Home Alone movie!

Again, I ran ahead of Ed until a gentleman shouted in a Liverpool accent "HEY MATE, ARE YOU THE GUYS FOR THE ISLE OF MAN FLIGHT" .... "YES" I shouted being almost gassed out.

We made it!!! I could not describe the elation! The impossible became possible and we boarded the flight high five-ing all the passengers on the plane as we walked to our seats. "WE MADE IT" we shouted, it was a great moment, as if we'd secured the best deal of the year. I had no idea where I'd parked my car but at that moment I didn't even care!

The most important part of this story is that we never gave up! We could have given up in Stoke, but we still believed and kept going! Despite all the odds, and despite the Sat Nav telling us you're not going to make it on time, we both believed we would make the flight!

Having a never give up attitude is the best formula to ensure business success . If you are persistent and consistent with your work ethic and determination, you will succeed . Hard work will always beat talent and add that to following a consistent business plan with defined goals and it is impossible to fail!