Should I go or stay?
Fri Jul 23 2021 22:49:00 GMT+0800 (Malaysia Time)
Greetings from Slovakia
Yes it's great to be travelling again, this time last week I was just leaving Spain and telling you about how the team there knows how to have a party.. you can read about it here.
This week I have been visiting the team in Slovakia at our AWGifts distribution centre in the town of Trnava.
It has been a little more than two years since I was last here, and things have changed a lot.. not least the size of the team. There were 6 people, now there are 26.
I arrived last Friday at 9.30am Tomas collected me from the airport and we drove to Trnava past vast fields of brilliant yellow sunflowers, open roads and blue sky. Arriving at the office slightly bedraggled from the early morning flight I plunged into meeting all the new people, all looking keen and nervous and smartly dressed. It was slightly emotional to see Erika & Matej, the original team members.. What have you been up to? I asked them as I met the people who now work at AWGifts.
I really like Slovakia, the serious, gentle people, the neat tidy towns, the good food and the culture. I had forgotten how much I like it.
We went to see several potential new warehouses and met possible new landlords. All super polite, super keen and very open and easy to do business with.
It seems because of Brexit quite a few developers built distribution warehouses in the area, a little more than needed so there are amazing deals to be done.
You remember whilst in Spain I took the team for dinner on the beach. In Slovakia there is no beach and the managers have families so dinner was tricky. So instead we took the management team out for breakfast at my hotel. Which was great, and we did some serious brainstorming over cappuccinos. Then we outlined our plan to move to a new warehouse in a few months enabling us to keep growing at pace. I gave them a little speech and asked if they were up for the challenge? In Spain there would be whoops and cheers.. here some serious nodding and scratching of heads.. so serious..
Tomas on the left with our management team.. Juraj, Matej and Erika.
It has to be said - they might be just a touch serious, but when you get to know them they are all delightful. But not just delightful but under Tomas's leadership - mostly from a distance - this team has worked miracles, growth rates of 200% plus.. opening up new websites and markets like crazy and not least organising a warehouse so well it is a dream. And doing all this in a pandemic. I'm so proud of them. They are a top team at AW!!
Global warming is affecting us.
We expected a container from Indonesia this week, but it seems to be lost in transit delayed by the flooding in Germany. I spoke to Coco in China yesterday and she told me there was a severe weather warning.. tornadoes no less and had been told to stay indoors.
In Slovakia this week it's been damned hot,viewing one of the warehouses with a mask on I almost passed out with the heat. On Wednesday we had to go to Bratislava, the normally languid Danube was rushing and almost bursting its banks. Boats moving upstream could barely fight the current. In Spain forest fires. Now I hear the UK is in a heatwave.
In Slovakia this week it's been damned hot,viewing one of the warehouses with a mask on I almost passed out with the heat. On Wednesday we had to go to Bratislava, the normally languid Danube was rushing and almost bursting its banks. Boats moving upstream could barely fight the current. In Spain forest fires. Now I hear the UK is in a heatwave.
By the time you read this I will be back in Spain, in a few days I'm due to travel to Jakarta, Indonesia where I will quarantine for 7 days before transiting to Bali.
But Indonesia is in covid meltdown, on an epic Indian type scale, it seems almost madness to go. I had a long chat with Ringo (our man in Indonesia) yesterday he assured me that Bali is not so bad, although there is a strict lockdown right now. By the time I get there after quarantine things could change. But which way?
Tomas tried to persuade me to delay, Coco (my wife) thinks I should stay in Spain.
But I so want to see the suppliers in Bali, we have lots of projects in the pipeline.. Also there is a chance that Thailand might open for vaccinated people including from China, so then I could see Coco again.
Should I go or should I stay?
Next week I will update you..
Take care, stay safe.
David
But Indonesia is in covid meltdown, on an epic Indian type scale, it seems almost madness to go. I had a long chat with Ringo (our man in Indonesia) yesterday he assured me that Bali is not so bad, although there is a strict lockdown right now. By the time I get there after quarantine things could change. But which way?
Tomas tried to persuade me to delay, Coco (my wife) thinks I should stay in Spain.
But I so want to see the suppliers in Bali, we have lots of projects in the pipeline.. Also there is a chance that Thailand might open for vaccinated people including from China, so then I could see Coco again.
Should I go or should I stay?
Next week I will update you..
Take care, stay safe.
David
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