In late 1985 I invented an underwater sonar data processing and image display system. It was very popular with Oil companies and Navy’s. In July of 1986 I formed Info Express Inc. to expand the products. We had up to 6-10 engineers and 4 staff. In late 1987 we were invited by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) to show our wares. In 1988 we were awarded a major contract to supply systems and training for the Navy. The Navy contracts kept us busy up entail 1993. When the Berlin wall came down, the outlook for Navy contracts dried up world wide. In 1994 I had to make a decision to find new markets. We went to the Oceanology Conference in Brighton, UK. It is the largest show of its kind for our industry. We made many contacts. As most of the Oil companies and support companies have their main world headquarters ringed around the North Sea. So we decided to take a marketing tour through the UK.
I first came to the UK in the spring of 1994 for a marketing trip. One employee and myself toured the UK for a couple months. After which we returned to the USA. We made good progress with new business contacts, but with our industry turning contacts into contracts is a long process. Things were getting desperate. I had to layoff (make redundant) all my employees. So after 8 years of business, I was on my own. I also followed up leads all around the world. From 1994-1997 I traveled like a one-man-band show. As you build up business contacts, they lead to others, so I visited many countries multiple times. The following is a list of country’s I traveled.
USA, UK, Australia, Philippines, Singapore, Holland, France, Belgium Istanbul, Baku Azerbaijan, Capetown SA, Japan, Hong Kong, Russia.
I was in and out of the UK marketing and trying to drum up business. I have only had Business Visitors VISA’s on entry to the UK. I am not aloud to do work in the UK with that VISA and so I have not.
As I was marketing around the world, I did get the odd job. But that was more survival money not a real job. All jobs are onboard ships at sea or in client overseas offices. No jobs were in the UK. All work income came from overseas and outside the UK. The UK has the clients, but the jobs are overseas. Most jobs were 2-3 weeks, but several were over 2 months. Azerbaijan was over 2 months. The Philippine job in 1997, I went twice, first for 5 months and then again for 3 months.
From 1994-1997 I had no home to go to. When I was in the USA I stayed with my parents. If I was on a job, the client paid for my hotels. If I was marketing I had to pay myself. In the UK I stayed in many B&B’s. I lived out of my suitcase.
I did not think of living in the UK. But the more I visited the UK the more I liked it. I did not have a permanent place to stay. I stayed in B&B’s and had to take all my goods with me when I left. As I started to like the UK more and more, I decided to buy a house. So on May 29 1997 I bought a house as an investment. I thought it was a good way of not paying the B&B’s.
I had a very fast and intense pace of work from 1985 up tell 1997. The icing on the cake was my trip to the Philippines. I was totally worn out. It was only after my last return from the Philippines in November, that I decided to go into Semi-retirement just to de-stress myself. Only then did I think of staying in the UK on a more permanent bases. I had made an agreement with Sage Engineering now Thales GeoSolutions, to do all the marketing and support for my products and services world wide. That made Semi-retirement a reality. From November 1997 I have done very little work on my underwater sonar products. I started researching and investigating the Stock Market and how I might model it on a computer. In the future I hope I can make some products to track the Stock Market. And that has occupied most of my time up to the present.
Other then a medium job in Belgium in November-December of 1999 and again in April 2000. I have settled into my house and have stopped most of my travels. I went to a few Stock Market conferences and I took two Holidays for the first time in 25 years. It was great to let the Tour Operators do all the work.
Scott S. Lafferty