business – Page 2

Nov 08 2010

It all started with a Outfitting Business

When I was 9,10, or 11, I can’t actually remember, my father changed jobs. At the time I didn’t realize how big of change it was, and well I still don’t think I really know how much of a change it was.

My dad was (still is) a fisheries biologist, for a the nation wide company Dillon Consulting. While the first diamond was being developed he did a lot of work with how the fish and water life were adapting to the new ecosystem. The mine was build on a lake, therefor the lake was moved.

His new job was in an entirely different industry. He went from the industrial/consulting industry to the tourism industry. He started managing an up and coming outfitting/ecotourism business. The business at the time owned a couple hunting camps and a ecotourism lodge on the arctic coast as well as doing several other things.

Like I said at the beginning I didn’t know how big this new job would change my growing up. That is why I’m starting with and as this portion of my memory will be the base point for a lot of memory posts to come.

Oh the memories I have.

Mar 12 2010

Hobbies Far Away

There are many things that I currently like. Or hobbies I guess you could say. Writing, Yellowknife, Building WordPress Websites, Camping, Snowmobiling, Photography and Media, are just a few. Which there in lies the problem. It seems, to me anyway, that I’m always complaining there is not enough time in the day to do some of these things. Most of these things, writing (Blogging), wordpress stuff, and photography, are things I want to improve on as they may or may not potentially be careers. I have some skills, but they are limited. So lets break it down.

Writing: I would love to be able to write a good authentic article. I believe I would probably do well writing on something from the north or Yellowknife, because that is where my passion lies. I don’t know why I find writing so enjoyable, maybe it is the false hope that someone is actually reading it. It calms me and allows me to get out what I want to say. Actually it is more of a love-hate relationship. I do enjoy it, but struggle with it immensely. I rarely seem to be able to get a continued flow in my writing. I constantly go back and reread what I have written or forget where I wanted to go with that thought. It is a pain in the ass when you’re trying to get something done. I use to think I was an excellent typist, alas I am far from it. So when my thoughts get ahead of my fingers it all goes downhill. I have contemplated getting MacSpeech (Dragon Dictate), but the cost has always stopped me. The final issue I have with my own writing is, my lack of grammar and spelling skills. Trust me it drives me nuts!

WordPress: I have a fairly strong knowledge base of wordpress and how it works. I actually consider myself pretty smart when it comes to this CMS. The one thing I wish to improve on is my code skills. It would be lovely to properly know how to customize wordpress themes and understand how things work together.

Photography: This is something I picked up 2 years ago and then bought my first DSLR a year and a half or so ago. I always have the best intentions of learning a knew skill and slowly I have. I think photography and writing go hand in hand; I often meet or hear of photographers who are also freelance writers. Writing about Yellowknife all the time I often need photos to go with it. So learning how to take a beautiful photo of something happening around town is something I am really wanting to do. I try to keep my camera on a manual mode, but often get over whelmed with the little time I have to take the photo and put it onto a preset setting. I can’t seem to get it down, how to properly use the camera while out and about.

There you have it, the negatives of the things I want to do better at. The reason I wanted to point these out is so I could see them in writing. The solution to all of these is rather simple, and I even know it. It is time. All I need is time, or at least that’s what I believe. Five days a week I work five hours a day at a coffee shop and for the rest of the day I am responding to e-mails, writing the next days post, working on the back end of the site or dealing with something to do with the business. I end up getting into this routine around 1:30 and then I go until 8pm with a break for supper, it is none stop. My feed reader is constantly packed with over 900 unread blog post, my tweeting has slowed and so have posts on this blog. One solution to gain more time would be to leave the coffee shop but it is currently my only source of income and I depend on it to pay the bills and my school debt. I’m probably over exaggerating things, but I blame that on the lack of income in my business. If only I could start to get a little income to take some of the pressure off, then maybe I would be able to try and learn more about the things mentioned above.

The solution is in sight but far away. AHHHHHHH! Frustrating.

Dec 18 2009

Fed up with these companies

You know, I’m not really one for bashing companies but I can’t stand the lack of reliable service I have been receiving lately. I understand that things go wrong and may break from time to time. I like to think that they are working on the problem and the service will be back quickly. I like to think they actually care and will recognize that they had a problem and admit it. But maybe I have been wrong all this time.

I live in a town that is, literally, in the middle of nowhere but to be honest I have heard that excuse one too many times. I don’t care if we are; stop hiding behind that wall. Come out and face me like a man. All I ask is that you, yes you, explain to us, the customers, why you are having problems constantly. You know what else you could also consider, refunds. I mean it only makes sense; we pay for a full month, do we not? Ha! I doubt you’d do that, how would you make any money then, it is not like there is any competition up here in the north.

I thought I knew how business worked, I pay for a service and in return I get the service. Currently I am paying for the service and sometimes getting it. On the up side the three companies I am referring to are able to keep their service up more then it is down, that is always good.

I wish you’d figure out that opening up to your customers would better our relationship. Talk to us; don’t just push ads at us. Keep us up to date with what is going on, trust me people want to be involved. Then we might be a little more understanding what when your service goes down.

What I have been experiencing lately is not fun, especially considering parts of my job require the use of these services. It seems like these services are caught in the wind, because one second I have it, then I don’t, then I do, then I don’t again. It is frustrating.

Please keep in mind I still have huge amount of respect for these companies, hence I didn’t name names. I would love to find a solution to this little predicament of ours; can you offer one?