I called the Office of the Minister of Finance.“I have a brief. What do I do next? "
I wasn't expecting much.
Out of the blue, I got a call back from the Office of the Minister of Finance.
"Meet with us on Friday!
That Friday afternoon, I was in Ottawa, meeting with the men who ran the office of the Minister of Finance
SEVEN OF THEM! I remember thinking, “Don’t they have something better to do than to meet with somebody whose a sole practitioner? No connections? A "nobody?"
And they held my hand. All seven of them.
“We welcome your brief. We don’t have the money to do the research. So we depend on the people
on the outside to present their briefs. Just make sure your brief is in our hands the first week of August!
Our boys will know what to do with it!”
I was in shock! This is what happens in the movies.
But, in real life?!!!!!!!!!!
That was a big big lesson. A lesson which will stay with me as long as I live.
The government is there to help them who help themselves!
.On the night the budget was announced, my husband and I were watching on TV.
Suddenly my husband jumped up and yelled, “You won. You won!”
It’s a good thing he jumped up and yelled. Otherwise i would never have known I had won.
I can’t understand fancy language! I hadn't understood a word!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Fall-Out. Such nice things....tempered by a touch of reality!
When I came to “my Finance boys” for the second stage, they told me,
“We loved your brief. Out of the 2000 we receive every year, yours was the most highly read.
We are using your brief to teach our boys how to write a brief!”
Aiming for the Headspace will get you…..EVERYWHERE! ...
or at least ....SOMEWHERE!....
or at the very least...............
You'll have an adventure!
(So much for the "proper way of doing things!)
But they wagged a finger at me. “You never thanked us the first time round’'
Another lesson I have never forgotten:
Don’t take it for granted when people are doing their job well and you reap the benefits.
No matter the status. They need to be appreciated face-to-face.
That is their true payment, not their weekly pay cheque!
A year later I sent another brief. This time aiming to get the extra goodies I didn’t get in the first brief.
To my utter surprise, I got a phone call from one of the “Minister’s Boys."
"Hi Claire, A new Deputy Minister has been appointed. I think you should meet him!!!!!!!!!!!"
WOW! Not to be believed!
I was now “one of the boys!”
Postscript
I didn’t make it to the budget the second time round. The tax relief I was asking for would have to be given at the same time to the big boys who manufacture the soft drinks. If successful, my client’s tax relief would have amounted to a few hundred thousand. The tax relief for the soft drink manufacturers would have amounted to hundreds of millions!
Last Words of Advice
If you have an idea, and don't know how to make it happen, dare to cross the line!
What an adventure awaits you! And you won't even have to buy an airline ticket!
I didn't hear further from them....until......
