So we met the owner of the business Frank who was delighted, and who also engaged Alf to be the accountant. There was one thing that Frank insisted on - that I completely run the business and he remain the owner and figurehead only. This was a challenge which I felt I would enjoy so all the jewellery was moved into our very large basement. Business improved and more staff was needed. Eventually we found that the basement was not large enough so Frank moved us to premises that he owned in Auckland. I enjoyed the busy lifestyle as Alf and I travelled all over New Zealand interviewing for new sellers and showing the jewellery. There were many times when I found it hard to believe that we were having such a good time visiting new places, staying in top-market hotels at no cost to ourselves - and were being paid for it! Sometimes we flew to Sydney to view and buy new pieces of jewellery for our range. This was most enjoyable, particularly as we again stayed in comfortable hotels and met so many interesting people. After a number of years I decided that as I was almost seventy years old, it was time for me to retire and relax. Frank didn’t like this idea and said that he was sure I had many, many more years to live so why not stay on a little longer?! Then when I was adamant about leaving, he said that I should phone some of the Employment Agencies in Auckland and ask them to send applicants for me to interview. This I did and I was asked what the job entailed. I said, “Running the office, interviewing, attending to jewellery plating, sometimes going to Australia to select new lines, travelling around New Zealand to talk and train new salespeople.” “And that’s one job?” they asked. “We could never find anyone to do all that!” “How strange,” I thought, “why couldn’t anyone enjoy it like I did? It’s interesting and well paid!” So Frank asked me to go to Sydney to talk to a man who ran another large Party Plan jewellery firm there and in the United States, to try and interest him in buying our company. This I did, but the man said he wasn’t interested in expanding to New Zealand. We talked at length and at last he said, “I’m not really interested but I will come to New Zealand to see your company and maybe I can give you some ideas of how to sell the business.” So far so good I thought. He came to Auckland and seemed ageeably surprised. “Were you trained in the United States?” he asked. “Oh no,” I said, “I just grew with the business.” He found that hard to believe - I could not see why, because company growth had been a gentle process and extremely interesting. After a few days he agreed to share the business with Frank for a while with a view to taking over at a later date. Some of his Melbourne staff came to Auckland and in a short time I was free. The company now runs under the Australian company name of ‘Emma Page.’ “How did you arrive at the name Emma Page?” I asked. “Well, we put several names together and then rang a few people from the telephone directory. We said we were running a survey and would they kindly tell us whether they had purchased from any of the following names recently. Of course, they mainly said ‘no’ but some said Emma Page, that sounds familiar but I’m not sure.” This told us that the name Emma Page would be accepted and remembered. |
|