Life is what you make of it

I have just returned from a refreshing half term break in Portugal with my family. On the way home we booked a taxi to take us the short drive from the resort to the airport, and it is a conversation on this journey that I wanted to share with you. Our driver was a young lady called Marta. She has a really sunny disposition about her and was an easy conversationalist. Being a nosy recruiter I asked for her story, and this is it in a nutshell:

Marta graduated with a degree in sports science and business from Lisbon University, in her home city. Being a keen sportsperson she took her first job in a gym as an assistant manager. After about a year she lost her job. This was in 2012; the economy in Portugal went through a serious, well documented recession and she found herself unemployed, along with a high percentage of fellow recent graduates. It was a really tough time for a lot of people, but Marta dedicated herself to getting a new job and applied for hundreds of roles, in a variety of industries all around Lisbon. After about 9 months, and having hardly had any interviews, she broadened her horizons and sent out hundreds more CVs, but this time to anywhere in Portugal. One day she got a call from a small family-run private hire taxi business in Portimao in the Algarve province in the south of Portugal, inviting her for an interview the next day. She booked her train ticket for the 4 hour journey and had the interview.

I guess it's obvious that she got the job, but this is where the heartwarming part of the story starts. The taxi firm turned out to be a really lovely company with very strong values. They understand that being a taxi driver can lead to antisocial hours so they work really hard to ensure that all of their drivers share the workload of night time journeys wherever possible, including the owners who still drive as well. They try to accommodate individuals' interests wherever possible; for example Marta often gets to go on trips with a sporting theme so she can enjoy her conversations with her passengers. They let their drivers take their (very smart) company cars home so they don't have to go to the office every day, and they try to ensure that the trips they book for them are local to their part of the Algarve. I told Marta that this sounds amazing, and her reply was that she was lucky....

The result of this is that her new employer has doubled in size since she joined them and have now branched out in to travel agency work. I can see why; if all of the employees are as happy as Marta, then they will all want to sell on behalf of the business so everyone gets to benefit. This is in total contrast to Marta's first employer where they seemed to have no interest in their employees' welfare and in fact asked them to do some pretty shady sales tactics to up-sell their clients.

It was a real delight to meet Marta and to hear her story, and it just goes to show that when things are going against you, you have to keep going. And no, Marta was't lucky by landing this amazing job. She made her luck by not giving up. She improved her life by not giving up. And as for the company she works for? They're called ATS travel. They're obviously making their own luck too by employing such lovely people and treating them so well that they become their brand ambassadors. That is something that you cannot buy. I for one will certainly get in touch with them if and when I go back to Portugal.

Does this resonate with you? Have you met someone who has shown great determination that has led to them 'making their own luck?

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