Post Ranch Inn to Marriott Wardman Park... reality set's in

lobby

Post Vineman John and I spent 2 glorious nights at Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur.  All I can say is it was stunningly beautiful, relaxing and amazing.    We rolled  in around 6pm and immediately  were offered wine or champagne and I said yes.  Attendant says to both, yes.  Another long day in the car AND post race, yes.

amazing inside and out 

my kind of tree house

Simple check in they load you into the car and drove us to our tree house.

  The driver did a 2nd glance when we loaded in the Battlestar  ( we had recovery rolling to do)

battlestar

We changed and headed to a delicious dinner with more amazing views .... truly stunning and promptly went to bed.

Our Tuesday was so productive....

slept in, went for a "run", breakfast, nap, walk, nap, massage, dinner... it was about as ideal as we could hope for.  I had enough sun at Vineman  and John was engrossed in a book so we did not partake in much.

Truly it was a 100% vacation day.

We rolled out in the dark, so sad to miss breakfast and a few more hours of doing nothing adventure, for the last 7 hours in the car.

Reality hit about LA when my email was blowing up and I knew it was all coming to end.

After the homecoming of the century from Roo and Mako and a few tail wags from Zen it was game on. Unpack, walk dogs, shower and put on real clothes for a 4pm meeting and dinner with a client.

My real other job, from coaching, is working for HPN Global.  For those that have no idea what I do when I am not coaching, swimming, biking, running or walking the dogs... here it goes.   HPN Global is a global meeting services company.  We offer an solution to companies and associations who plan meetings and events.   Offering a streamlined process in securing a venue while saving your organization time and money, leveraging the business we do.  Still confused...X company needs to find a hotel for X meeting in 2016 and they want to check New Orleans, SF, Chicago and Orlando.  How does X person do that...

Option is a laborious process on their own by sending out the RFP (request for proposal) to each hotel, following up for a reply, compiling responses, setting up visits to the hotel and then negotiating the contract.   This process is time consuming and the only leverage they have to negotiate is X companies business.

Working with me at HPN Global.  1 phone call and I send out the RFP electronically via our proprietary web based  RFP sysetm to 1,5 or 20 hotels.  I collect the replies in 24-48 hours, compile in an  excel spread sheet that gives details on rates/dates/addional costs for each hotel.  Wait it gets better....if you need sites set up  - I set up the entire trip once you give me your dates-- including transfers,meals etc.  Post sites we work together to negotiate the contract.  Using pre- negotiated contracts we save time and money and I leverage the $100+ miillion HPN Global does in revenue to save the client money.   I work on behalf of the client.  Its a great parnership and a win-win for all.  Payment? Hotels pay a commission on room revenue so not cost to my clients. And a question I frequently get is "don't the hotels raise room rates to  cover commission?"  Absolutely not.  We represent too much business for them to risk alienating a company like ours.  I can guarantee you 90% of the time I can negotiate a better rate than my clients can on their own.  And for the other 10% I will guarantee the same rate they can get on their, but they still have save 10X hours in the process. And generally I can get more concessions.  It really is a win- win !  

So with that.... you know what I do with my other time.

Wednesday night was back to reality and Thursday was more time with my client.

Friday I jumped on a red-eye ( bad decision) to DC to help another client.   Oh boy..... 5 hour flight means 3 hours sleep and arrived in DC and ready to work at 7am.  It was a 12 + hour day on my feet helping with a clients meeting- working registration, running errands etc.  The highlight of the trip was escorting one of the key note speakers- George Takei over from his hotel.  He was so friendly and chatty.

I collapsed at 7:30 and woke up still exhausted at 6am for another 12 hour day.   But my clients were putting in 15+ hour days for 5 days running.   I don't know how they do it  and I have the utmost respect for their efforts.   While tiring it was extremely productive. Seeing the meeting in action allows me to do more pre-screening for the next one!  It's all good.

I did not train 1 minute over the weekend, my feet are swollen and I am tired...

Life happens, as I tell my athletes.  Today is a wash as well- up at 4:30, delayed flight that is now being diverted to LA due to fog, so no idea when we will land in SD.

I truly enjoy my job....just sometimes it is overwhelming!