... But here I am...!

So this weekend has been slow on the social side but dedicated to getting real work done. Which is definately something I need to be doing right now. As we speak I'm actually just taking a break from working on a very small business plan, a summary if you will, on the NHL Tackle Hunger event that Purolator hosted several weeks ago. I would have finished it sooner but with working full-time and being tied up in every which way, it's been hard to sit down and find the time. But here I am.

It's really great that Purolator has chosen one main charitable cause to align themselves with, as it provides both parties with the credibility they need to succeed in their respective worlds. If you live in Canada you may see the Purolator commercials on air sometimes... for some reason I think they've used the "leaving you hanging" strategy... because I recall watching one and after it was done I was like, "wtf!?" But even if that isn't the strategy it's still great whatever they're doing because I remembered it!

Updates soon.

Drink Up Baby...

I just started listening Elliot Smith and I'm really liking his style. He passed a few years ago, but he left behind some golden nuggets of oral art.

Especially "Say Yes" and "Behind the Bars". But I've yet to listen to everything. "Say Yes" is from one of my favourite movies, Good Will Hunting.

This is the kind of music that helps me concentrate on work. Which is a great thing.

"Building Our Future" in Halifax

Rebecca Ryan, a phenomenal speaker on the topics of young professionals and the workforce and the author of “Live First, Work Second”, held a seminar on Thursday morning at Peir 23 to inform all interested parties (businesses, human resource people, young professionals, and even city planners) about the importance of attracting and retaining young professionals in Halifax. She specializes in understanding the “next generation”. Besides being an astounding and captivating speaker, the information and the way in which she presented it was so useful and stimulating. She really planted the seed for change in that room of about 500 people.

She spoke of the changing motives, expectations, and lifestyles of today’s young professionals. Being one myself, it was awesome hearing about how different my generation really is compared to prior generations. Rebecca uncovered seven important components besides money and cost of living young professionals consider when deciding a place to work and live. They include:

1. Around Town – The transportation system in their community.
2. Vitality – The history of a place, the shopping, the city parks, and anything else contributing to the excitement and activity of a city. This also applies to the company itself.
3. Earnings – Promotion opportunities, cost of living, compensation and benefits, flexibility in their role.
4. Learning – Young professionals consider themselves “lifetime learners” and need education facilities to better their skills and knowledge for themselves and their careers.
5. Social Capital – The amount/quality of activities to do in a city.
6. Cost of Lifestyle – Lifestyle cost to live comfortably in a place should match earnings.
7. After hours – Young professionals want to get out and about after sitting in the office all day. They don’t go home to get off their feet like prior generations.

Just this excerpt serves useful for so many components of our local economy and business community. For example, at our lunch (networking) table, a guy from Downtown Halifax Business Commission explained that from his perspective, this seminar could give him ideas on what rural design components appeal to young professionals in order to make Halifax an attractive city to live. And here I thought this lucheon would be packed with strictly human resource directors looking to revamp their dusty operations.

More important than all of this though, is the fact that there was a seminar on how to attract young professionals in Halifax in the first place! A city with the most post-secondary institutions in Canada! I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that there were 500 people who saw a problem with employing decent young talent in a city largely comprised of students. I told about ten people at this seminar that there had to be some kind of mistake. So many of my own friends are moving west-ward because of the scarcity of professional jobs in Halifax… I was thinking about moving myself for god sakes! So why is there such a disconnect between these great employers with great jobs to offer, and the people I graduated with who are starving to work and live in Halifax, but simply can’t because there’s “nothing here”? How can there be such a need and such a want simultaneously? I don’t get it. There has to be a better way to connect the two in a productive way.

Now, the entrepreneur in me couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything I could do to rectify this problem. Next Generation Consulting is absolutely taking it into their own hands by introducing Fusion Halifax (http://www.fusionhalifax.ca/), “a networking group for young Halifax residents who are inspired to make their city a better place to live, work and play”. However, I still don’t see much in the way of connecting local companies to local young and aspiring professionals.

I’m not completely surprised, however. Even if these companies and places of interest were to hold networking events of some kind for young professionals to meet them, I can only imagine the turn-out would be slim. When it comes to preparation and looking ahead, there seems to be a sense of apathy – on both sides of the spectrum. With so much going on in day to day life, both young professionals and businesses probably find it hard to dedicate time now for benefits later. The desire is there but the motivation and execution part seem to drag their heels. I’m not sure if there ever will be an easy way to meet prospective employers, or prospective employees for that matter. The goods will come to those that do their homework, plan, and execute in order to get what they want.

To take a closer look at Next Generation Consulting, including the executive summary and handprint for Halifax, visit http://www.nextgenerationconsulting.com/halifax.

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"THE BEST career advice given to the young is: Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it."

Katherine Whitehorn

Over The Bend...

This past Thursday was such an amazing day at work – it really lit a fire under my ass. Like I’ve explained, my job consists of mostly being on the phone – maintaining customers and offering services to fit their particular businesses and needs. A really amazing aspect of my particular role, as I’ve also explained, is that it incorporates marketing activities and such. As an FISP, I am sometimes able to go on the road with our Field Sales Representatives, who handle larger accounts and are on the road meeting with clients face to face and creating custom contracts for businesses. On Thursday, I had my very first opportunity to accompany both of our Field Reps on the road to visit clients – new business and maintenance clients. It was exactly what I’d eventually like to do. Many of the businesses we visited are medium sized or at least have a SME mentality – which is what I really appreciate. Even some companies who are relatively large still seem like small operations in their isolated locations. I love hearing about the inner-workings of different types of businesses, especially if it’s coming from the mouth of the proprietor.

Being a Field Rep, you're able to have a face to face relationship with so many people in each company – everyone from the receptionist to the owner. Something that is kind of weird, but that I’ve always gravitated towards is industrial parks. They seriously fascinate me. It has something to do with it being business to business, and providing such basic and raw materials and items to retailers. I almost think of it as being more business-y than a shopping mall – because it’s where everything is born and controlled. It’s such raw business activity. And I’m sorry, but it’s definitely cool how a business can survive so successfully by just selling nylon straps (… so many businesses use nylon, right?) It’s neat how one small component of a larger final product can be so imperative and successful.

From the look of it, being a Feild Rep is a lot of work. It’s satisfying and really fun, but balancing client visits and the work that comes out of those visits (new contracts, contract changes, expanding businesses) is a job within itself. You may do client visits for half a day but have to work until midnight making changes in contracts for the next few days. It’s something your heart has to be totally into and you have to do for personal fulfillment, otherwise it could get stressful in a negative way.

After Thursday, I took the Thanksgiving weekend off and relaxed. It was a full long weekend – full of going out with friends, football, food, and Peggy’s Cove. Like I often say, working is rewarding, and it makes the weekends that much sweeter.

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"I tell you that as long as I can conceive something better than myself I cannot be easy unless I am striving to bring it in to existence or clearing the way for it"

George Bernard Shaw

Small Business Brewing

I’m starting to feel my hermit self return after quite a long hibernation. When I say “hermit self” I mean the part of me that has a long list of things I’d like to accomplish, and therefore, I feel as though I need to turn inward and complete them. It’s more a frame of mind than changing anything else – I don’t lock myself in my bedroom for months at a time or anything, it’s just a more focused way of thinking, and it’s the way I lived during my university days. I find this part of me is always brought out when my external environment is calm and organized (which maybe explains why I need my house to be clean before I can do anything functional after work…). The hibernation of my hermit can be attributed to the changes I’ve been going through with my career and my life. As much as I’d like to think of myself as someone who’s extremely adaptable to change – I’m really not and I hate admitting it. Change is always great, but I have to do it in bite size pieces so everything doesn’t turn into chaos. I’m in a mood to get things done – small and big.

Sad for me, my dad’s new business in which I have been involved with for the past three years seems to be taking off. I’m really excited for him, but it’s unfortunate that I am getting out of it just as it’s starting to grow.I’ve been helping him tie up some loose ends from the work I put in – contract and warranty documents that I’ve written and such. Besides that, I’ll be working on the write up for Purolator’s NHL Tackle Hunger event that I attended a couple weeks ago. It’s not a full out business plan, but important for volunteers in subsequent years to know how it all operates. It’s really neat because the plans I am responsible for writing are contributing to Purolator’s branding penetration in Atlantic Canada. We want customers to know that we are near-by and concerned about our local community by supporting causes and events like the Feed Nova Scotia initiative.

On a more personal level, I’ve been brainstorming business ideas with my good friend who owns a martial arts business here in Nova Scotia, http://www.ckdhalifax.com/. We’re set on writing a business plan for now, and then seeing how it evolves. The stipulation is that it has to be environmentally driven with the potential to expand into other environmentally friendly areas. I’m looking online for ideas as I’m writing this. Albeit, I don’t have a ton of time to nurture a new business, but seeing as we both work full time, if we come up with an idea that can fit into our schedules and that is exciting enough, time will be made.

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"Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have."

Emile Chartier