Succeed
without
University Degrees,
Mentors or Money
LUCILLE
ORR
Shares her personal power with YOU!
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my consulting editor Nancy Robinson Flannery who gave me the confidence to write my first six, successful books.
She died in October 2011and will be sadly missed in our world.
I know Heaven has a special place for Nancy.
Succeed without University Degrees, Mentors or Money
ISBN 978-0-9871598-2-3
Published in eBook format by Lucille Orr
Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com
First published in January 2012
Copyright c Lucille Orr – 2012
Edited by Jackie Davies
Designed and Produced by Steven Orr
Photography and Cover Designed by Steven Orr
Lucille Orr is a best-selling author, professional speaker/trainer
and radio broadcaster.
Contact:
DISCLAIMER
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior consent in writing, of the author.
All the stories in this book are true. The names have been changed to protect their confidentiality.
Quotes throughout this book are written by Lucille Orr.
MY INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS
I was born on 31st August 1945 straight after World War II ended so I’m almost too old to call myself a Baby Boomer because most Boomers were born in 1946 after their fathers came back from fighting overseas.
My father, a carpenter was sent to Darwin to build hospitals when the Japanese invaded Australia. As a child I heard many horrifying stories about the Great World Depression and both the first and second world wars.
During the Depression my father had to go to work as a young teenager to financially support his family so he expected me to leave school as soon as I turned 14 so I could do the same.
My mother begged him to let me stay on to complete my third year at high school so I could gain my Intermediate Certificate. Dad only agreed to let me stay in school as long as I had a permanent job to go to the day my exams ended.
I walked the streets of Adelaide in the first term school holidays that year asking for a job at every office in the city. I was lucky when I walked into the offices of the Electricity Trust of South Australia (ETSA) they said they were aptitude testing school leavers. They were looking to train key punch operators for the new IBM 360 computer being installed in their new office building in Eastwood on the edge of the city the following year.
After explaining my situation they let me sit for the IBM aptitude test and a typing test the same day. I passed the IBM test with a B+ pass. My father had told me all my life only an A or 100% pass in an exam was acceptable in his eyes, so I felt I had let him down by not getting an A that day.
But to my surprise because of my accurate typing speed on the keyboard they told me I had a permanent position with ETSA as a typist/clerk and I could start work that December. It was in 1961.
I gained my Intermediate Certificate and started working at ETSA in the city offices in North Terrace, Adelaide. The following year the new Eastwood building was completed and the IBM 360 (one of only six computers in SA) was installed.
I remember the day a memo from Mr. Hamilton the big boss of the computer department went out to all typists who had passed the IBM aptitude test offering them the opportunity to apply for a position as a Key Punch operator. I didn’t apply because I only had a B+ pass on the test and knew I wasn’t good enough.
Within a week I was told to report to Mr. Hamilton’s office and he asked me why I hadn’t filled in the application to work in his department. When I told him why, he was surprised because the B+ pass was excellent according to him.
Ten years later when I owned one of the largest computer training businesses in Australia and I had personally called in to see Mr. Hamilton while picking up a data processing consignment from ETSA, he reminded me of this initial conversation in his office.
“Remember that young sixteen year old girl who thought she wasn’t good enough to apply for the computer department. Look at you today with businesses in three states and over 100 permanent staff, congratulations.” he said proudly like a father praising his own child.
I’m sure you must be thinking “How did Lucille do it?” I’ll do my best in this FREE e-book to give you my energy, inspiration and self-belief. This has driven me all my life to achieve my goals, regardless of the distractions and disappointments along the way.
MARRIAGE BUSINESS & DIVORCE
After five years working at ETSA the very computer I was working on replaced five departments and they had to get rid of a lot of staff, so we were told all married women would be retrenched. It was 1966 and I was suddenly out of a job for the first time, when I thought I had a career for life at ETSA.
This was a huge shock but unknown to me at the time it proved to be a blessing. My new husband and I had an extended honeymoon in the Gold Coast, Queensland and while I was there I secured a job as night manager of a take-away chicken shop.
My husband was a chef and worked in one of the many restaurants in this popular holiday destination in the north of Australia. After a few months he came home really upset one night complaining about his boss and said we were driving back to Adelaide the next morning.
I was a work-a-holic and always had several jobs, even while at ETSA I worked at IBM some evenings and had plenty of overtime offered to me at ETSA. On the Saturday nights I had a casual position as a waitress at a hotel that had fabulous entertainment so I didn’t miss out on listening to great bands and singers.
I liked to save money so when I married at 21 I had enough money in the bank for a good deposit on a home. The first thing I did was to go to the bank and organize a mortgage on a new home I wanted to purchase. But my chef had other ideas. He wanted me to buy a business. I had enough cash to pay for the goodwill for a city restaurant opposite the south parklands in Adelaide. There was a two bedroom unit at the back of the restaurant so we moved in and I started working 7 days and 7 nights every week.
My husband only worked for half of the first day and then disappeared and never worked again in the business. He was a gambler and spent a lot of time gambling on horse races, poker and worked in a bakery sometimes when he needed money. Some times he didn’t come home for a week or more at a time, it was a terrible life for me.
I couldn’t give up I had to keep the business going and I was