Pre-Employment Medical? Forget It!

There are time when you just know you made the right decision.

I got personal validation for one of my decisions today. I'd turned down a permanent job offer due to my discomfort over the partial contract details I'd been sent by email. That and the fact it had taken the company 3 weeks to send me a formal offer after the initial verbal confirmation suggested that there was something I wasn't being told about the job.

I got further confirmation today, when I received the actual hard copy, including the medical questionnaire. Not only did HR want my mother's maiden name (?!), but the medical questionnaire wanted to know whether, in the last 5 years, I'd had one of a number of debilitating conditions, not to mention kidney problems, STIs, cystitis or piles! They wanted full details of any eyesight or mobility issues, plus whether my relatives had diabetes or glaucoma (amongst other, more serious conditions).  And that's before I was expected to tell all about my potential tendency to be a Type A workaholic, my mental health or my possible HIV status.

I'm not kidding, the questionnaire ran to 12 pages.

Now, I've no idea who this company's clients are, but this is the most invasive set of pre-employment checks I've ever been asked to consent to, bar none.

It doesn't bode well for anybody working for the company, if your career with them starts off with the understanding that you've given them permission to perform ongoing checks on your suitability to stay employed by them during your career, of the same depth as the pre-screening checks.

I didn't have to do anything except refuse to accept the job offer. I know I can do better for myself than this. You don't get asked to fill in 12 pages on your medical history by Kleeneze. You get told that your income depends on the effort you put into both your business and your personal development. You get told that you're in control of your own life.

I love this business. Kleeneze works!

Persistence Works!

We're told repeatedly that persistence pays, that the successful few win out over the unsuccessful many because of their persistent pursuit of whatever they focus on.

So here's a practical example:

For the past week, I've returned daily, every weekday, to a lady who hadn't had a chance to look properly at the Kleeneze catalogues. I also tried, every weekday, to collect a straggler catalogue from one of her neighbours, who would never answer the door.

Today, I got orders from both of them. I've also made two new friends, not customers. And I got two new friends because I gave them time to trust me; I turned up when I said I would, I gave them the space and honesty they needed.

All I did was be me. It's all I do with any of my customers. It's all I need to do.

And it's proof positive of something I do my best to live by:

Do what you say you'll do, when you say you'll do it; even if you don't want to.

I love this business!

Remembrance...

Today is Remembrance Sunday in the UK. It's also Armistice Day. Normally, I spend my Remembrance Sunday either in a parade or watching one. Today, I honoured the fallen with two minutes silence in an empty street, having started collecting Kleeneze catalogues an hour before.

I was collecting catalogues on this particular Sunday because I'd spent the first 3 days of the previous week dealing with family emergencies, including my daughter's relationship troubles (classic domestic violence; I know from bitter experience how this will end and can only hope that my daughter gets out before too much psychological damage is done) and my mother's health, which is back on a joyous medication-induced roller-coaster ride. As of right now, I am working my Kleeneze business full time, seven days a week if I have to.

In the past week, I've put catalogues into 1000 homes and managed to blanket drop to areas which had already been visited thoroughly the previous week. My first drop netted me 5 orders, my second netted none - a first for me with Kleeneze.

So as far as Going For No is concerned, I was 100 - 0 on the second day and 95 - 5 on the first. Not a great start to an already stressful week.

In typical Kleeneze Dragon style, I redoubled my efforts and around 400 catalogues went out on each of Thursday and Friday. Saturday, I collected 274 out of 396, and got 13 orders. On Sunday, I collected 211 out of 397 (not bad considering it's Remembrance Sunday and many would have been out at services, parades and memorials) and got 17 orders.

Total turnover for the week - just short of £400. Well off my target of £1500, but proof that, even when the area has been blanket dropped by another distributor, you can still get a decent number of orders.

Next week, I'll be putting another 1000+ catalogues out, and working in some personal presenting and product demonstrations too.

The Kleeneze Lady has got her Mojo back!

By the way, if any of you have bookmarked my blog, I've changed the URL to klzlady.blogspot.com, so as not to contravene any company regulations regarding websites. I've also shut down kleenezelady.com, so as not to contravene the new company regulations. I'm hoping this is enough to keep the right side of the new rules, but I've emailed Kleeneze HQ for clarification.

Congratulations, Stanley!

Well done to Stanley Stewart for being a finalist in the Direct Selling Entrepreneur Awards this year. And congratulations on getting his story in his local paper as well.

Stanley went full-time with his Kleeneze business in 1997 after starting part-time in 1995. He obviously puts a lot of work into inspiring and supporting his team and has been rightly rewarded for doing so.

UK Government Wants Employees To Become Entrepreneurs!

That's the only conclusion I can come to after reading today's PR spin and the Telegraph and Independent coverage.

The left-wing press are wrong about one thing, though. Dave's not interested in pushing the employed back to Victorian times. He's not interested in us at all. He doesn't seem to be interested in getting re-elected either, if the 'reforms' of legal aid and employment rights are anything to go by. We're galloping towards the tail-end of the 18th century for anyone who doesn't have the wherewithal to survive life's idiosyncracies, only this time we've got smartphones.

Still, we're stuck in a society where it's obvious that we and our children will need financial independence to do anything more than just exist, so what do we do about it?

Readers of my other blog will know I'm in favour of focused action rather than vague, disorganised tent-ins. In this case, it makes sense for those who are now even more worried about keeping their jobs to start looking at other options.

If you could run your own business in parallel with your current job,  would you be interested?

If you could earn an extra income in exchange for about 10 hours of your time per week, would that be useful?

If you could slowly, but surely, build your business network into a productive team until you matched your current salary, would that help you?

If you want to know more about how I can help you, let me know.