Capital Markets, Agile Project Management, Marketing, Networking, Caution Cards, Devil Dogs, Strategy Consulting, Financial Services, Hero Sandwiches, Conference Calls and much more. All fixtures of my last 7 weeks and all things I knew little to nothing about 7 weeks and 1 day ago…

Every major, minor and in between sized event which has existed in the last 7 weeks (and which will take place in the next 7 days) are the foundations of my memories of the 2 months the rest of my life will have to live up to. The literary device of starting sentences with “The phrase ‘insert cliché here’ is used too often these days but” is used too often these days. BUT…what all the early morning subway rides, stand up meetings, Devil Dogs, PowerPoint slides, conference calls, blank faces when I speak (sometimes) and discussions about the future add up to is most definitely worthy of the words which follow:

 LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE

And it’s not over yet!

Last Friday the team headed for Chelsea Piers after work to explore its many sporting offerings. Whilst Claire was trapezing, the boys headed for the baseball batting cages to hit some touchdowns past the goaltender. The pitching machines have 2 settings namely Softball (for beginners) and Baseball (for playas). The machines also featured variable speeds so we decided to start off easy with some 50-60mph softballs. I probably hit 8 or 9 homers in my 10 ball allotment so I was clearly a natural ballin’ god and would surely only have to hang around for a matter of minutes until the Yankees scouts who were undoubtedly watching from afar, emerged to offer me a multi-million dollar contract. Or at least this was what I thought when I upgraded the machine to fastballs. I think I hit 1 out of 10. And it hurt. I won’t be giving up the day job just yet…

After watching Gillette Soccer Saturday in the morning with a New York Hero sandwich (possibly the greatest 90 minutes of my life) we headed to Midtown to catch the bus to Atlantic City, New Jersey. AC is like Las Vegas’ little brother and is very different to New York but that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy my time there. Despite the fact that almost anyone I asked before going said it was like a lesser version of Las Vegas, I was bowled over by the ocean of flashing lights which greeted me as I entered one of the many hotel/casino/shopping mall complexes on the AC boardwalk. Any one of these places (and there are many) features everything from slot machines to palatial suites to hairdressers and restaurants. I can only imagine what Vegas must be like if this is how its baby brother looks.

 Fellow Lab49er Ryan has a house in AC so we met up with him and headed for dinner on the Ocean City boardwalk as well as playing some mini golf (which featured a spectacular hole in one on the 18^th by someone with similar initials to Chris Jericho). The eagle eyed reader may have noticed I said Ocean City boardwalk instead of Atlantic City there…if AC is Vegas’ baby brother then OC is it’s surrogate foster grandchild, twice removed on the father’s side. OC is a small town where it is illegal to sell alcohol and life is generally much quieter and laid back than anywhere else in the surrounding area. Charming place to go for a meal though!

Sunday was once again a day of rest which was handy as I had an early morning call to sit in with on Monday morning in order to clarify some of the company’s marketing goals with various different people in the organization.

Things on the Strategy side were quiet this week as Fred was out of the office visiting a client but the marketing plan has really started to take shape in the past few days and it seems that Microsoft Excel and I have put aside our differences, at least for now as my cravings for a MATLAB command window to visualize data with have started to wane. Putting together a marketing plan for an organization which I have only been a part of for a few weeks has certainly been challenging but it has provided a real flavor of what Lab49 is all about, where they are now and where they are headed in the future. I think/hope that the final product will prove useful to the company after our departure!

In the spirit of all things markety and networky Ross was kind enough to set up a meeting with a friend of his named Helen who holds a senior position in a marketing agency in order to give Claire and I the chance to find out more about marketing from someone with significant experience. What followed was an evening I will remember for a long time as we found out about how Ross and Helen’s respective careers had taken shape after university and the decisions, choices and risks which ultimately lead to success. I wish I’d had a tape recorder (does anyone still use those?) on my person as good advice was in such plentiful supply that I worry I may not remember it all! If I find myself welcoming Saltire Foundation interns into my uber successful company in years to come, I will be sure to tell them how much I learned from Ross and Helen that night. If I were to try to put it all into a nutshell I would probably come up with something like the following:

‘Never underestimate the number and variety of options which you have when you graduate’.

This conversation may very well end up being cited as a turning point in Jones-history. Oh and it also helped that Helen was a very energetic and animated speaker indeed and had some hilarious stories to share with us!

Equally as memorable that night was the ensuing trip to Ross’ favourite steakhouse, where I had another 2 epiphanies in quick succession as I ate (and didn’t die from AND dare I say it even enjoyed) a raw salmon dish and a rare steak. I now have an appreciation for fine meats and Ross extended his record of converting Scottish steak eaters. He is now 3 and 0. Win win situation.

Another interesting quirk about working at the Lab is the occurrence of regular workshop sessions. Led by Lab49 employees, these sessions are designed to give others in the organization an introduction to something which the workshop host is passionate about. This month’s session was, rather appropriately for Claire and I, centered on blogging and building one’s personal brand. Thankfully I signed up early as sessions are limited to a small number of people and always fill up quickly. Now I know why! A very interesting presentation by Doug (who was keen to see some of the Saltire blogs so if you’re reading, Hi Doug) was followed with some interesting pointers on personal brand development which seemed particularly relevant to me. There’s no better time to establish your personal brand than right at the start of your career, right?

Staying with interesting quirks, Thursday morning saw the Lab49ers take a guided tour round the Federal Reserve gold vaults. Having an office right next to the world’s financial capital has its advantages. We saw currency dating back to the 7^th century B.C., hundreds of billions of dollars of gold bars (and the security systems which protects it all) and even a single $20 coin which a collector paid over $7 million for. Now I’m no economics expert but that seems like the equivalent of ordering a Big Mac and demanding to be charged for a gourmet (rare) steak. The thing’s only worth 20 bucks you absolute lunatic! And it’s not like I have something against collectors going nuts in order to complete a collection, I vividly remember trading hundreds and hundreds of SFL football stickers including shiny SFL, Celtic and Rangers badges in exchange for the sticker of a short ginger Hearts player named Stephen Frail because he was the last empty space in my book. And it felt great. But 7 million bucks???

Stephen Frail - Worth a shiny Celtic and Rangers badge????

Did you know that The Fed shreds millions of dollars of bank notes which have come to the end of their lifespan every year? During the tour we were shown a massive container which had in it nearly $50 million in shredded $100 bills. Imagine how many $20 coins you could buy with that! No, not 2 and a half million, you can buy 6. At least if you buy 6 you’ll have a couple of million left in change though, more than enough to buy a Stephen Frail sticker, a (rare) steak dinner, an I heart NY T-shirt and a cargo freighter full of Devil Dogs.

Oh and I also forgot to mention another important development this week…Evian were recruiting extras to appear in their latest ad campaign in downtown NY so Matt and I headed over to the event to receive our free t shirts and are now the stars of a genuine TV and Facebook ad campaign. And by that I mean there’s a picture of us in Evian t shirts which might appear in their promo material for a second or 2. The campaign is being fronted by tennis player Maria Sharapova. Can you imagine the excitement on her face when she found out Chris Jones and Matthew Smith had made an appearance at the event…WOW!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to get very excited indeed about the WWE wrestling show I will be attending on Sunday. Anyone who knows me will know the level of hysteria this will induce…