Getting to this point was a challenging road for founder Julie Raine, with every turn a new obstacle. She had to learn how to overcome barriers, prejudices and turn a deaf ear to onlookers who shouted that it could never be done. Fuelled with self-sufficiency and determination, Julie defied the odds to rise to the pinnacle of her field. Now, with successes many thought were beyond her reach, Julie stands at the top of this mountain determined to make the journey easier for others and to show them the way.
We believe that for some people and businesses the path to success is easy, with resources to apply to competitive situations that give an advantage. The spiral becomes infinite with success breeding success, and more available resources to put into a competitive field means the odds are stacked in their favour each time.
But for some, the starting point isn’t equal. They may face obstacles and barriers just to get on the pitch and compete with those who know success well. For these people and businesses, the opportunity to even play to win is unfathomable as the starting point is too hard to reach on their own.
We find it frustrating that the gap for smaller businesses to compete is too hard for them to cross, and we are disappointed to see talented individuals passed over for opportunities because they don’t even know how to enter the race.
Therefore: We set up JRT to level the playing field and to give the underdogs their position in the starting line up with as much knowledge and power as the guys in the other lanes. An equal chance at winning the cup.
Now: we have a dream to help any business, person or owner with the ambition to achieve their goals, who just needs a little know-how and a leg-up to get their chance to win.
Julie is recognised as:
Brightstar emerging speaker of the year Professional Speakers NZ, 2019
One of New Zealand’s top 50 women of achievement 2016 and:
Westpac women of Influence finalist for Diversity 2016 & 2020.
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Our Team
We keep our business resources flexible, so that we can scale up and down as required by tapping into our contractor base.
JRT provides professional services and resources for tenders and training. All tenders are fronted and managed by Julie. Her process is methodical and detailed as well as flexible and scaleable. She leads her clients to strategically position themselves for future work and helps them to produce positive and compelling tenders.
Every tender is different and so we have created a tender hub of resources for your convenience and practical use as required. We have additional content writers, research and technical writers, graphic designers and commercial reviewers.
Tender Content Writers
We have access to a variety of independent writers from tender content writers, technical (engineering) writers, marketing, administrative and formatting resources. Having a team of resources in one place, makes it easy to scale up any tender pressures due to large tender size or quick turnarounds of last-minute tender submissions. We can also use our resources if you have a large number of CVs to update and format. Having access to various levels of tender writers means we can build a team to tailor your specific tender requirements.
Designers & Creatives
Our graphic designers are experienced in producing tender documents, covers and infographics. As well as organisation charts and professional images. This means as well as getting an experienced tender designer, we manage the creative designs, so you don’t have to worry about it. We work with the designers to co-ordinate colour schemes and themes throughout the document.
Research & Technical
We have on board technical engineering researchers, who are available on request to pull together industry intelligence and technical information for tender content. Our researches have been working on the Construction Sector Accord and the Value of People and sustainable procurement and can help with aligning your tender with government initiatives. We also have on our team a commercial contract reviewer, who is experienced in NZS 3910: 2013: and NZS 3916:2013 contracts.
Presentation & Interactive Coaching
Julie and her partner David Nottage (World Champion Toastmaster) provide tender presentation coaching. If you need to do a presentation to the client, then we can help you with your team’s presentation skills training and content, to make sure you get your winning message across. As a previous evaluator of tender presentations, Julie has seen initially preferred tenders loose out after a poor presentation. So please don’t underestimate the power of a good presentation!
Memories of Northfield Book
You might be mistaken by looking at my LinkedIn profile that I was naturally a successful engineer. Well, that was certainly not the case.
When I attended Northfield Middle School we were measured on academic ability and our school report determined good or bad by our position in the class. I was what you would call an ‘average’ student. Sir Alec Clegg was a crusader whose ideas tore apart the traditional beliefs of the education system and set out to show that the children of average or below average academic ability could still really achieve. I could definitely relate to Sir Alec Clegg’s theory and his determination to show that it was unfair to gauge a child’s ability only on academic performance, with poor performers being labelled ‘under-achievers’.
When I left Northfield to attend Minsthorpe High School, I continued as ‘average’ and gained two O’ Levels – English and maths, grade D and E respectively. With ‘below average’ grades and no option but to leave school at the age of 16, my future career wasn’t looking promising. I got an opening to work in South Kirkby at a coal mining engineering company, in their drawing office. Soon afterwards, I took the opportunity to attend college on a part time basis to study technical drawing, part of an engineering course, whilst continuing to work full time. What would the chances be of a ‘below average’ achiever ever becoming an engineer?
I worked hard and studied even harder, pushing myself to pass my exams each year. But this was going to be a long road. It would take 6 years of studying engineering at college – just to get enough qualifications to start an engineering degree at university. The degree was a further 6 years part-time study. After 12 years of hard work, I graduated with a BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering degree.
I was definitely the underdog, spoke with a Yorkshire accent, had a working-class upbringing, and was not good at English and maths. But I like to think that I have helped to prove Sir Alec’s theory right: everyone has the ability to really achieve.