Imaginif

A completed dive on Upollo Cay (Great Barrier Reef) ended in minor surface mishap when my dive jacket failed to stay inflated. The lead belt was too heavy for me to stay above water and, out of strength to continue kicking my legs, I began to sink. It was scary. Two gentleman guests of the Kleinhardt Christmas Party I was a part of, dived overboard, and came to my rescue. Once the dive master realized that I was in trouble, he also was there at my side inflating and dropping belts.

Now really, how many women can truthfully say that they had three handsome gentleman at their beck and call? To Luke Grange of Kleinhardt, Rob McCallister (ex Kleinhardt, not pictured because he had to head home to his children as soon as we docked) and Frankie the Dive Master, thank you for your assistance. The Kleinhardt men in particular are my heroes.

Kleinhardt is a business advisory and economic development consultancy which delivers measurable benefits to clients. Hell, don’t you guys ever knock off work? We were at a Christmas Party on the Great Barrier Reef for goodness sake, you didn’t have to treat me as a client and deliver further measurable benefits! I sure am glad you did though. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I rose from the dive ecstatic and singing out for Paul to come hear what I had seen. The party stood on the side of the boat looking down at us. As I tried to talk with them, I realized I was going down. Not wanting to make a fuss, I didn’t say anything (this, by the way, is against the safety rules), I just tried to swim for the boat. I was never going to make it as the lead weights were more determined than I was. I had already taken my mask off to call out to the party and share my underwater treasures with them. When I put the aspirator back into my mouth to give myself some oxygen, it was to no avail because the stinging salt water went down my nose and throat. I thought I was going to drown in front of my husband and his colleagues and spoil their most excellent office Christmas party. Luke and Rob both realized what was happening; being long time divers, they saw that my jacket was without air (I had pushed the wrong button) and their rescue dive off the boat was one of the most wonderful sights of my day (yep, better even than the turtle and the iridescent green HUGE clam). I was in big trouble, and I needed their help.

The dive master was still in the water and boat lookout called for him. The three men reached me at the same time. Exhausted from kicking against lead weights, I let myself over to them - no feminist resistance, just eternal gratitude that water safety means always, always swimming or diving with other people, including experienced divers.

It took my shaky legs some time to recover from the experience. As I sat on the back bar of the boat, still in the water, taking off fins and peeling down my wet suit, my mind went straight to this child safety blog and the connection between business and what is my serious business - child protection (which includes water safety). Imaginif has long had an affinity with Kleinhardt, Paul is an ex Kleinhardter, the wife of one of the principals married us and the other principal was our photographer. The Kleinhardt family is tight knit, supportive and generous beyond belief. I had recently looked at Kleinhardt’s new web site and was wanting to talk to them about the business benefits of incorporating a blog. I got my chance without even having to book an appointment!!!!!!!!

Luke now knows of the two elite blogging lists in Australia, the top 100 and the top 50 Women bloggers. He now knows of my intimate relationship with technorati, Alexa, Google page ranking, unique hits and indexing. He knows that I use blogging as an alternative social platform to reach a multitude that I otherwise could not do with a website alone. He gets my understanding of the connection between growing business and the interactive social network and viral aspects of blogging. It was an excellent conversation and I am eternally grateful that I was around to have it with the extended Kleinhardt team. If you also are grateful that Kleinhardt Luke and Rob saved me then visit the Kleinhardt site and spread blogging business acumen by way of a unique hit to the new Kleinhardt site.

Do you need a life saver for your business? Kleinhardt delivers their promise of measurable life saving outcomes. Don’t drown in water over your head, call Kleinhardt.

(and this is a special message to Cam Charlton and Jim Bitomsky, principals of Kleinhardt - FANTASTIC Cam and Jim - the best Christmas party yet)