The Positive Road to Change

Hi, I’m James David Campbell, 28 year old. Previously, as a very young lad, my life was sort of “unsettled”, to put it mildly.  You ken how it is when being young: you think of yourself as the king of the pack, but unfortunately “being the king of the pack” seems to overpower any trace of common sense.

 I would engage into a few relationships, but they would eventually fail: I was full of good intentions but I had not acquired any wisdom or maturity, I was not an adult quite yet. When I was young I thought I could get away with anything but I realised that wasn’t the case any longer. Fortunately it dawned on me that I had to put some work and effort into becoming the person I wanted to be, not the thug I was becoming so far. So it took hard work for me to go from being a thug, to grow up into an adult.

I’ve always liked buses and dreamed about taking my professional licence. To achieve this I thought it would help try and find a job within the industry, and luckily enough, a few years ago I took on a job in the garage with A1 Coaches assisting the mechanics in their tasks and carrying out general duty jobs. It was a good start; I liked my new job and was happy enough to be earning money.  And I was lucky in the sense the story didn’t end there:  Before I messed it all up again, I was accumulating good work experience, training, and I was encouraged to improve and achieve my goals.  Very much thank to the encouragement I felt from my fellow mechanics and the management, namely Transport Manager of the company David Goodsir,  I took on the college apprenticeship programme, that would “round off” my experience working for the company, getting valuable training along the way.

 “But”...And here comes the “but”: After several months I got used to my surroundings, started getting comfortable (in the bad sense) and started pushing my luck, namely, arriving to work late, going home early, sometimes even not turning up at all for work. I was easily distracted, and started treating the place like a playground I didn’t care much about teamwork or even had a clue there was a team. There I was: the king of the pack again!  I realised I was going to lose the job, so I quitted before I had to go through the shame of being fired.

I then took other different jobs, and all the while I was missing the buses and the job I had with A1. My experience with them had been a good one; it had been me to muck up with them.
At that time I started going out with my current partner. My new partner had everything going for her: she had a job, she liked going on holidays, going out with friends and enjoying herself.  If I wanted to keep her and also keep up with her, I had to grow up once and for all and man up. Get a job. Make money. Get settled. Start a future.

When I saw an ad on Facebook that A1 Coaches was looking for drivers, I didn’t think it twice:  I went to see David Goodsir and asked him for a job. After a brief, ‘man to man’ type of conversation with David, I started my probationary period and since then I can proudly say my life has changed for the better. I really enjoy my work around the garage fixing and maintaining the fleet and working with great people, so it was only the natural thing to do if I took my professional driving licence. I threw myself into it and got my licence on December 2016.

I think any young lad or lassie, or anybody of any age for that matter, wanting to find out about job opportunities with A1 Coaches, should get in touch and find out how working on the A1 Team can advance their careers.

As for me... this St Valentine’s Day we will celebrate two years together (I have planned for a wee surprise already). So, fingers crossed, I’ve managed to keep both my partner and my job for the last two years and I intend to keep things going that way.  

I love working with the A1 Coaches Team, my experience and life lessons I have gained are priceless! 

Jack of all Trades - Andy Edgar's Journey with A1 Coaches

I’ve always worked as a joiner, having worked for big companies, I’ve been never out of work. My long term collaboration with A1 Coaches started by coincidence:  My brother asked me whether I could check out some repairs needing done at his boss’ kitchen.  At that time, I had been self employed carrying out assignments for a big kitchen fitting company, and I was enjoying some time off, so I just cut short my holiday to see my brother’s boss about these repairs. 

It turned out there were not repairs to be done, rather the upgrading a kitchen.

I immediately felt at ease when talking to my brother’s boss, Colleen. I thought my brother was lucky to have such a nice and young person as a boss, and it soon became apparent that it was awfy easy to work with her when I had to explain the difficult parts of the job and why there would be bits and pieces that had to be changed; she fully trusted my assessment and gave the green light to start the works.

Fitting/upgrading a kitchen is a very straight forward thing, although there’s always the troublesome hidden old pipe or faulty wiring that can hold back the schedule.  Here, however, I never felt any pressure to “hasten up things”, but was encouraged to take the necessary time to achieve the desired results. 

As the works progressed, Colleen seemed satisfied with the results and in the most casual manner we were already talking about future jobs she would like me to have a look at.

Looking back, I was very lucky to have met Colleen as a customer: I easily transitioned from being the-man-in-the-van all over the place from Kilmarnock to Aberdeen, hastily fitting kitchens on schedule, to having a “local customer” who would trust me all kinds of fitting jobs and above all, would allow me to work favouring the quality of the results rather than how long would I take.

And there I was, I was getting jobs locally, no crazy mileages on the van to fit some faraway kitchen, and enjoying a better quality of life, so it landed on me that I could be readily available and keep close contact with this new commercial collaboration if I took my professional driving test. And so I did. Before I knew I was driving for A1 Coaches, enjoying very much the job, with the added advantage of still working on my original trade: I continue to be a joiner.

One of my first projects I am very pleased with was the VIP Bus. Fitting a mobile party bus was a lot of fun!

      

The project I am developing now is the complete renewal of the A1 Coaches offices. We are building a full office block, complete with two floors which will consist of 7 Offices, 2 Training schools, Staff Gym, Toilets, Rest room, Bothie and Locker area.

     

I also obtained my hackney license to allow me to carry out school contracts, as and when required. I find it very rewarding transporting the children back and forward to school.

I am well chuffed with my collaboration with A1 Coaches!

Difficult Journeys often lead to beautiful Destinations!

Outdoors, impressive landscapes, open road, visiting new places, always on the move...  These were the things that made me want to work as a professional driver, and that for years kept me happy in my job.   But life awaits with unexpected twists that put us to the test: health issues started claiming my attention and I had to face a difficult moment in my life:  I had to find another job.

At this moment in time, many thoughts occupied my mind; feeling that this was part of growing old was one of them thoughts.  You still feel very young inside, and you hope for your body to keep up with the enthusiasm of your young spirit.  In the middle of this crisis of mine, this became a big issue, and at this point in my life I became very depressed.

Me (Tony) trying to look happy at work!

They say with age comes wisdom... Well, it’s difficult to be wise when everything seems to be spiralling down...  Wisdom... or resignation? It seemed to me it was “resignation” to living a “limited version” of myself, and hey, this is not “special edition” I’m talking about.
And while I was waiting for “wisdom” to pay me a visit, I was very depressed. I was becoming increasingly stressed and grumpy, health issues pressing on me, and feeling powerless and run down by the “old age” looming ahead.

Obviously, with this frame of mind, things started spiralling downwards until I reached the end of my rope, and found myself seating at my boss’ office ready to resign my job. Needless to say, quitting my job would have had dramatic consequences, but what else could I do? I always used to give the best of me, and now I felt totally inadequate, to me it was not just a mid-life crisis, it was a total disaster. And I was striving for a way out of my misery.

I had then a conversation with my boss that meant a turning point. I learnt from her two things: 1) Being a professional goes beyond the mere performing of the immediate tasks at hand and it includes social and human abilities. 2) I could bring forward these abilities and put them to work.
The first part of the conversation consisted of my moaning about my life situation and I already felt relief being able to put it all into words and have somebody listening to what I had to say. This made a big difference.


Think about how many times you feel somebody is really listening to you in your everyday life?  Sometimes when talking to people you have the feeling that they are just waiting for you to finish talking so they can put across their point. On the other hand, when somebody is listening to you he or she won’t judge you, he or she will ask you about your feelings, will ask you to explain your points: This is called “active listening”. And you can tell the difference when somebody is really listening to you, as opposed to just being quiet when you are talking but not really “sinking in" what you are saying. When you are being listened to, something happens during that conversation by which everybody makes progress.

My boss reminded me of all other things I was good at. Things I even had forgotten and that had been a part of my previous professional experience.
Then my boss prescribed the recipe for my “problems”, a plan of action. She hinted that there was a job position she thought I could fit in. She first invited me to “pull myself together” and reflect upon the things we had spoken about.

Therefore, I had some time to do an overhaul of my approach to life, time to reflect on the things that really matter in life. And it worked.
Upon my return to work, I was presented with my new job position: I would be working in the office, in collaboration and close contact with the Sales Team and my boss. This exceeded by far my expectations, I felt immensely grateful for having received such a positive way to resolve my conflicts.

Note : Fortunately “wisdom” exists.
A profound change had taken place within me: I felt like brand new. I feel empowered to be the new version of me, and leave aside the worries that brought me up to this point.  I had a renewed zest for life: My new job was very fulfilling, so much that all my stress and worries dissolved and I started to search for solutions instead of succumb to problems.

Me (Tony) Looking naturally very happy at work!

I want to thank Colleen Goodsir, my boss and Director of the company. She has played a brilliant role in appreciating value in me and highlighting my potentiality. Managing a company requires talent to know your staff and acknowledge their contribution. Possessing this talent is something extraordinary in this vertiginous world of ferocious competition. Deeply grateful for that.

On the other hand I believe it is an outstanding example of corporate values: The real life evidence that my boss puts into action that what she believes, not just big words for the show, but a genuine interest in the people that work alongside with her. Now, when she says things like “I believe in people” or “people is the most valued asset in this company” I believe her. A real leader has the responsibility to bring into life the company values.

I am happy to say this is a real story. And the satisfaction to say this is part of a story, my story, and part of a path that starts here. That’s why I I am enormously grateful to this organisation and its spirit. Spirit, the driving force of this company, alive in the hearts of people like the Goodsir family, with so much knowledge and experience, people that put their heart into everything they do.
Thank you A1 Coaches!

Written by Tony Cordova.