Kyle Thomas

The Website of Kyle Thomas (KyleWith)

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Jul 23 2017

Bigger than myself

I want to continue to discuss that feeling of changing the world. To navigate through my own thoughts and processes for determining what it is I’m aspiring to do.
 
Lately, when I consider what I want to do I keep coming to the idea of concepts that are bigger than myself.
 
And when I say bigger than me I mean who benefits most from the concept and who the concept is for.
 
Be it is food, tourism or small business.
 
When I think about what I want to do my conclusion is often other peoples success.
 
Everything that I want to do I want to directly relate to helping some else succeed in their area of interest.
 
That is what I’m passionate the most about. Helping other succeed.
 
Nothing brings me more joy than seeing someone accomplishing a goal they set out for themselves.
 
Now, I air on the side of wanting to help people that are doing things they are passionate about. As if their passion feeds my passion.
 
Don’t get me wrong, I love being the person who creates a product. Delivers it and sees the customers reaction when receiving it. It is instant gratification for me. It is like a little drug. A kick of endorphins.
 
What I struggle with is seeing longevity in this. I don’t see how I can grow these hobbies so they can continue to gratify me. While also bringing longterm stability and success.
 
Yes, it is possible to grow these gratifying hobbies into sustaining businesses. Expanding space, availability, team, etc. I know that, but that’s, not me.
 
We have to consider the fact that I’m a multipotentialite. I like to do many things. All the time. And, that it isn’t a bad thing if we recognize it and steer it properly.
 
Let’s look at With Bread for a second. My semi-successful artisan bread micro-bakery serving Yellowknife. I’ve grown this little side gig into a one day a week operation. It runs efficiently and brings a decent return while also filling a small gap in the local economy, i.e. no bakery. I’ve invested in some industrial equipment. Created some dedicated space for this operation. And by all accounts, I’m on my way to opening a brick and mortar bakery. Or partnering with a local cafe to provide fresh artisan bread.
 
Do I want to be a bread baker or bakery owner full time?
 
Nope.
 
No.
 
Not at all.
 
I enjoy the one day of instant gratification I get from running the micro-bakery in the summer.
 
What I want to do is use the knowledge I’ve gained to help others with similar passions achieve their goals.
 
I want to use the return I’m getting from With Bread to create a certified space. A space that other vendors could use it to grow their businesses or ideas.
 
Then I want to use my knowledge of workflow development to help those vendors improve workflows. Workflows that make them more efficient and profitable.
 
Then I want to use my ongoing marketing experience to help these vendors grown communities around their brands. Help make them essential in peoples Farmers Market experiences.
 
The same with my endeavour into being a local tourism operator. I hold a license that covers many different products and I do guide tours and love it. I especially love getting to show people Yellowknife. Yellowknife is my favourite.
 
At the same time, I also recognize that there are a lot of people passionate about Yellowknife. Or people who have passions the tourism industry in Yellowknife would benefit from. I want to help those people.
 
Without too much depth or detail I see my own tourism business as a launching point. An opportunity for those who have ideas or don’t even know they have the potential for it to work with me. To develop and test out different products in the market. A way to test before taking the plunge and making a huge investment.
 
In both these concepts, and there are a few more, I’m feeding my own passion and desire. I’m setting myself up to achieve my overarching goal. The goal of helping people succeed at what they are passionate about. I’m also able to feed my desire to do many things. Each person or business I work with will be different but will, for the most part, have a passionate drive.
 
And by writing this down I’m starting to see how these desires here help define how I can change the world. See my last article.
 
My next string of thoughts will be one of two thoughts. How to talk to a Business Coach about business when you want to be a Business Coach yourself. Or, how to define the part of the world you want to change.
 
And, always remember, I’m not an expert. I externalize my thoughts. I’m delusional sometimes. If so, please tell me. Or not.

Written by kylewith · Categorized: Entrepreneurial, Journal · Tagged: desire, goal, life, passion, purpose

Sep 05 2014

Doing it all.

I’ve read many book about the establishment of northern mining towns and I love them. I read the stories of different people who have adapted to their environment and who weren’t afraid to do whatever they needed to to survive.

Many, it seems, ended up doing things they weren’t necessarily educated in doing or had planned to do but did them because either someone asked them to or that particular thing just needed to be done.

I cherish this mentality and it feeds my constant wandering mind of ideas. 

Heck I can go from planning a piece on Yellowknife to baking bread to building a website to planning a content strategy. Why settle for just one thing?

How to do everything

Photo credit: http://howtodoeverything.org/

Written by kylewith · Categorized: Journal · Tagged: business, history, life

Sep 24 2013

I am what I watch on TV

Okay maybe this is a bad thing, but I don’t follow shows, I wait until they are all done and watch them in bulk by season. Watching TV is my mind numbing way of turning off my brain. I actually normally watch TV while baking or while I write blog posts, like right now.

When I watch these shows, in bulk, I tend to absorb them and associate them into my everyday life. Let me give you two examples.

Bakering bad

Mad Men

Well this is an easy one. They ran an advertising agency in the 60’s and 70’s and I work at a marketing agency here in Yellowknife. Despite it being based in the past and, well, a tv show, there were similarities. When I was working on a projects scenes from the show sometimes pop into my head. Things like how to work with clients, manage things, pitch ideas, etc. Now I’m not saying that I use it as a guidebook, but sometime it helps to think about things in a different way. 

Breaking Bad

It took me a long time to get into Breaking Bad, but now I’m hooked. When I started watching the show I was in full force at the Yellowknife Farmers’ Market. I was making the only locally made bread, producing about 100 loaves a week, and I was damn good at it. There was excitement, thrill, long nights and stress to meet quotas. I was known to many as the bread guy. All of which you could say about Walter White and his blue meth. Weird I know, but when I find myself in the kitchen weighing out different measurements that when combined make an unbelievable product.

Dexter

Well I just started Season 8. It has been a while since I watch Season 7 so I don’t recall how I associated this secret serial killer with myself… so we’ll have to see where this goes.

What TV show do you associate with your life?

Image Source: Slate

Written by kylewith · Categorized: Journal · Tagged: breaking bad, dexter, life, mad men, tv show

Jan 01 2012

So this is my 2012 Blog Post

It seems like the traditional thing to do, write a 2012 blog post. I see many other bloggers doing it, like Chris Brogan and his random 3 words of 2012 and Lisa Bettany and her Photographers Resolutions. Figured I could take a stab at it.

What was 2011

Lets reflect, for a second, on what happened in 2011. I think one of the first things I tried doing was the Photo-a-Day project and that didn’t work, so I wont try again.

I was learning lots living in Fort St. John, my role at Motion Media, from what I knew, was going well. After the success of my first big Social Media Workshop I was geared to do more, so off we went to Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson. I wouldn’t say they were huge successes, but successful enough and I was enjoying it. I learned that teaching is one of my strong points, I enjoy it and appreciate the outcome. I was also picking up more photography work and was even taking on more of a project management role. It was good fun.

The biggest thing for me in 2011 was that I lived independently from my parents for an entire year. I lived in 3 different places in Fort St. John before settling into my current tiny apartment. I have come to learn I love my own place, I love my own space and I’m picky about it. I even generally refuse to live with a roommate unless I know them before, I don’t like just roommates, I rather live with friends. I also don’t think I could live with my parents again for very long. I love them, I respect them, but their house is not mine and we do not live the same.

'Happy New Year 2012!' photo (c) 2010, Creativity103 - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Welcome 2012

First and foremost, happy new year. I hope this year, the year of the dragon, brings you joy, prosperity and wealth.

2011 left me with a lot of changes and undecided paths to take. So I foresee 2012, for me, will be the year of change and development. I will continue to do what I love, even if it may become difficult. I will be challenged, in new ways, ways that will better me in the future. I may fail at somethings, but as many have been quoted saying, that is what you’ll encounter on the path to success. Above all I want to have more self-confidence.

And speaking self-confidence, in 2012 I want to put myself out there more socially. Sounds a little awkward, I know, but for me making friends takes a lot and I want to overcome that. I need to have more of a personality in real life, give people a chance and not hide away in my home.

Honestly, going into 2012 has me nervous more than anything else. New things, of any kind have me on edge. And change, however good it is, scares me, I’m much more of a routine guy, that has been stated.

Anyways, whatever path you are on and whatever I take, I hope we cross paths at some point along our way.

Cheers to 2012.

Written by kylewith · Categorized: Journal · Tagged: 2011, 2012, life, new year, new years

Feb 10 2011

Why can’t I work anywhere!

Earlier today a web development company, much like the one I work for here in Fort St. John put it out on twitter, that they were looking for a web manager. Now I have no idea what that includes, but it did bring up some ideas.

House on a Truckphoto © 2008 Dru Bloomfield | more info (via: Wylio)

I re-tweeted it and then a lot of other people in Yellowknife were suggesting that I apply. I’m of course torn, I have such a good job down here in Fort St. John and an awesome friend space, although small. This got me thinking a lot about Yellowknife, and I can say that I do dearly miss it.

I miss my family, I think I have to say that. I miss the rocks and the lakes. I miss the atmosphere, the city in a small town. I miss a lot of things about Yellowknife, I do want to go back someday. I just don’t know when that will be.

This got me thinking though, why can’t I go back. Why can’t I do it I’m doing now and work from wherever I want. I decided to take a look at what I do in a day. I answer e-mails, I talk to clients, I act as technical support, I work with websites and I create content. There are other things that I do, but those of the gist of things. From what I can tell most of those things can be done from anywhere, after all we do work in the world of the Internet. With technologies like Skype and GoToMeeting, it should be perfectly possible for me to work remotely. I should be able to Skype consulting calls with clients as needed.

I’m happy with the position I am in at work and I hope my employer is as well. I hope to develop my position in the future, that will allow me to move around as I need to or as I want to. In my line of business I don’t see why I couldn’t have clients all over the world. I truly believe that’s the way this type of business is going. I don’t want to have to situate myself in one location permanently.

It seems like a lot to ask for a 20-year-old, but if I work towards it I don’t see why wouldn’t be possible. – WMRGUMEAJ3HC –

Written by kylewith · Categorized: Journal · Tagged: life, location, Travels, work

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