As we travel down the pathway of life there are both good things and bad things that happen to us. While preparing to write this book I wrote down a list of all the bad things that have happened to me. Then I wrote down a list of all the good things that have happened to me and the good things far outweighed the bad things. I also noticed that if some of the bad things had not occurred then many of the good things would not of followed. Hence that saying out of everything bad comes something good.

I worked as a shepherd and tractor driver on the sheep station that my father managed for a year after I left school. My Mother did not like me working on the farm she wanted me to have a career so she got me a job in Hamilton as a stock clerk for a Stock & Station Agency. I worked there for 2 years and I can honestly say learnt more there in those 2 years than I ever did at in my 3 years at secondary school. I worked in the office doing administration work and also went out to the stock sales with the auctioneers to pen up the stock and record the sales. It was great work and I loved it.

Facing our fears
We are told that one of our biggest fears in life is public speaking. The only way to overcome any fear is to face it head on.

My boss called me into his office and told me the time had come for me to take some more responsibility and would I take a company car and go to the Pirongia sale which is a small rural settlement near Te Awamutu in the Waikato. I was over the moon driving this new car and I even got shouted lunch in the Hotel.

The Auctioneer and I climbed up on the rail to sell the cattle and he said to me. I will swap your books Ron. You do the auctioning and I will record the sale. What he was asking me to do was to talk in front of a group of people for the first time of my life. I looked down and the buyers were looking up at me waiting for me to start. I looked down at the cows and they looked back up at me waiting for me to start. I was in the deep end and I had the choice to either swim or drown.
I took a deep breath and I started to auction the cattle. I knew the cattle were worth at least 20 pounds but I not could not get a bid. One buyer yelled out 10 pounds. I took the bid and asked for a dollar bid. One buyer offered half which was 50 shillings then other buyer offered half again which was 2 shillings and sixpence.

The buyers had obviously been wised up to fact that this was my first effort at as an auctioneer and they were making me work for it. For those of you who remember the pounds shillings and pence days can imagine how hard it would have been for me to go from 10 pounds to 20 pounds in two and six penny bids. I call this experience my first maiden speech and I was so proud of myself that I had overcome my fear and had a go.  My boss trained me and I went on to be a very good auctioneer.

The only trouble with my job at the stock firm was that it did not pay much and living away from home was not cheap. I had to get part time jobs. After work I would clean offices and windows and in the weekends I would shear sheep for dairy farmers in Hamilton who owned just a few sheep. One day I shore my first 100 sheep and the farmer gave me a 5 pound note. I could not believe that I could earn that much money in a day considering the stock firm was only paying me 7 pounds ten shillings for a weeks work. I was also paying out half my wages in board & lodgings.

I loved the sale yards and the life of an auctioneer but I looked at some of the men who had been with the company for several years and they were driving company cars and living in a rented houses. They all seemed to have a wallet full of money but no assets to show for it. I wanted more than that so I left the stock firm and became a full time sheep shearer. It was not long before I was earning more money in a day than my father was earning in a week.
I spent 10 years of my working life a shearer and I enjoyed every year of it and I will share some of those years with you in later chapter.
The day I left the stock firm I was presented with an alarm clock and my boss said to me. Always go to bed early and get up early. You have a good loud voice make sure you make use of it again some day.

More wise words came from my mother who had a major influence on my life and I’m going tell you about this wonderful lady in my next chapter