An Intriguing Tale Of Being An Owner

They say health care if great in Canada – and I’ll have to say that the less fortunate are usually the ones that gets coverage for all sorts of medications and disability insurance provided by the government here.  But what if you own a business like us and is self employed – can we still get disability insurance?  I know that for the longest time – when you are making some money and is self-employed – you don’t really get a rebate or assistance from the government – unlike the many customers that we see in our store that gets all sorts of free medication just because they don’t make enough money.  But those who does make enough money and are paying taxes – should they be penalized and not get assistance?  doesn’t make sense right that those who makes more money pay taxes have to pay for their own medication and any kind of extra treatment while those who don’t work – gets everything free.  Well, don’t get me wrong – there are some who really needs it – and I’m all happy for them forgetting the disability insurance – but for someone who can go out and work – who refuses to make themselves worthy – now those are the ones who makes me angry that they are getting so much help.   Yes! health care and disability insurance are great in Canada – but only for some “preferred” people.

There isn’t any no smoking sign at our store – because no one smokes inside the store – but when Grammie comes for a visit – she does smoke outside.  For the longest time – my kid had been telling grammie to stop smoking but of course, grammie having smoke for years now – finds it really hard to smoke.   So the little brat of mine – one day had nothing to do – decided to draw a sign up for Grammie – pasting it inside the back down and outside the back door of the store.  No really only for Grammie – but we’ve caught some old lady smoking behind our store’s door because it gets windy out in the car park.  Very inconsiderate if you asked me – because the smoke does get into the store.  Grammie doesn’t smoke at the top of the staircase but down – so to me – it’s actually good sign for the inconsiderate.

Spring is almost here and the last few days – the sun had been shining from the back of the store and it’s time for our landlord to get some  custom plantation shutters for us. The glass panes behind the store are rather huge – so the normal shutters isn’t going to work so well for us.   I figured with us renting from him for closed to 5 yrs now – he would give us some new shutters eh.  So lets see if we can negotiate some outta him after all, I rather pay a little bit more for the good stuff than to buy something on the shelves since we are going to be in this location for a long time.

I am really happy to see the sun come out but the back of the store is where the kid spends her time there and the tv as well as the couch becomes way too hot for her to sit and watch tv or do her homework during Spring and summer.  So if the landlord doesn’t want to give us some custom shutters, I am going to get them myself – shouldn’t make the kid suffer because the landlord might be cheap eh.

Power meetings is what they used to be called.  The company that I used to work for  would do it every year – they would bring in a motivational speaker/s and then bring those of us in Management positions along for these power retreats.  The goal was that when we get back to work we can go motivate our co-workers from our various departments.  Smaller companies have a harder time having such retreats but this year, several of us small business owners are putting together a smaller scale retreat and it is possible.

Our company’s retreat is merged with several other companies because we are just small business owners and I suggested villa rentals to the committee instead of just staying in a hotel in Florida.  Why?  It’s pretty easy to see the reason, for  it is way cheaper to rent Florida villas by the week than to rent a hotel and it’s also more private.  You can plan your company’s retreat the way you like it instead of waiting for a banquet room or conference room to be available.  Expenses are kept to a minimum and since every individual will pay for their own expenses and lodging – it’s the way to go.

One can find these villas  by the beach with private docks and with enough bedrooms for everyone.  You can plan to  have BBQs  (my favorite), swim in the ocean or sun tan on the beach during your free time after those power talks and meetings with suppliers.   These villas have restaurants and shops nearby – if  the group decides to eat out or hit the local bar for a drink they can do just that.  There are many advantages to using a villa for your company’s retreat – they are definitely cost effective for one thing, and it’s so convenient where everything is just minutes away. Plus being by the beach and having lots of sun will definitely rejuvenate one’s body and mind. A place to unwind, have fun, and be affordable  with lots of food/drinks  – now that’s what I like about a company’s retreat.

The Zhu’s from the Chinese restaurant just celebrated the newborn’s one month birthday – and like everyone who have a newborn son – they give out cigar to everyone.  I don’t mind the smell of cigar at all – as compared to cigarette – he said the camacho triple maduro buy online was found on the net – and he got the website address for me – so that I can get some for my customers on special occasions too.  So this Christmas, we can give out cigars to our male customers – but what about the ladies?  The spouse said to me – that some ladies smoke cigars too – haha!!  I know some do – but not many – definitely easier to shop for the male customers that’s for sure.  Maybe a potpourri candle or something along those lines.

Did I tell you we have great customers?  one just came back from a vacation from Portland and brought back a box of assorted mixed donuts for us at the store – luckily I know all about thermogenic fat burners – so that I won’t feel guilty eating them.  How can one resist these colorful looking sweets right?  Our customers constantly brings us food – and of course – the folks at the restaurant feeds us good too.  I’m truly grateful – about having all these good people around us – but you can imagine – I looked quite the rolly polly these days – but you can’t say no – to the kindness right?

Teenagers and young adults love coogi clothing and I fully understand it – it’s the “in” thing in this town  – but unless you are working in a casual environment or a sport store, shoes store – then you probably should leave those clothing and shoes when you are going out for the night with the girlfriend or boy’s night out.   If you were working at our store – for sure coogi clothing would be a great match – because we are on a casual environment type -  we ourselves wear jeans and sneakers to work – so we won’t expect our employees to be putting on a tie and suit to work.  But if you are working for a law firm or an accounting  firm – then probably  not.  So yes – you want to be dressing appropriately for work – and if you are not sure – ask ! and I’m sure someone will let you know.  Good luck all!

I have to say that we have a darn good repertoire with our customers – so much so, that we’ve come to know them personally, their children, their parents and friends as well.  Yes – we are that good, we talk about anything under the sun – from having babies to beauty products to eye check ups, food reviews and even going to the gynecologist for thrush treatments.  Yes! you get the idea – we do compare – talk and learn from each other – we do pride ourselves for being so good with people and most customers actually turned into friends.   And I like the fact that there is nothing we can’t talk about – even personal stuff, it’s great to have customers like that eh.  I really love what we do at our store, many are such good people.

We used to travel to the city a lot for work – like visiting suppliers and looking at new products to bring into the store – many years ago.  And because of the traveling on the road so much – we also have roadside assistance that we had paid for – on  a yearly basis.  But when we got busy and had less employees – we were no longer able to go up to the city as often as we want to.  But since last year – we have been making more trips to the city for work – since the store is more stable now – and this year – we anticipate at least 6 trips to the city for work – within the next few months – plus we also have 2 trips to make to Moncton and Toronto for a family vacation and weddings – I’m glad that our roadside assistance covers both our RV and car  – and that really helps – because we don’t have to worry if we do get start in the middle of nowhere.   So yes – we are saving money big time on the road – and have a peace of mind – wherever we go.

When you work for a huge company – you get all sorts of benefits – from a blackberry to medical health insurance and even dental insurance – some gets travel plans depending on their designation and what their jobs entailed.  The benefit of working for a huge and reputable company is definitely different when you work for a small business like us.  Even though we can’t pay you as much as they do – our work is a lot easier – and we don’t demand as much as the big company does.  Having said all that – I do miss working for a big firm and enjoying all the benefits – but for now – I have no choice but to stay back and help the spouse with his – and take care of our kid.

So we have a truck that we use for the store – and the car insurance was very reasonable – which makes us want to get another bigger truck in the near future.  We are watching places like Kijiji – and the local yardsale – that was where we bought our present truck – for some good deals.  Contrary to what most people think – we do not sleep on money – and whenever we do buy anything for the store or ourselves – we always buy what is the cheapest or the best price.  We don’t splurge on anything – we are thrifty and we always pay our bills on time.   So yes, whether we are getting another company’s car or a truck – insurance for the car need to be very good price too.  What about you ?  do you just go out and buy a car without doing some calculations?  I had a customer told me that they had to stop using their car because they got charged for services – I know that cannot be true – because we’ve had our car new too at one point and we were never charge for any nonsense  – except for the usual up keeping.   I figured they didn’t do their math well.

We do have a bridal store in town – and our store is like an information counter in the evenings – when the rest of the stores are not opened for business.  People come in to ask for bridesmaid dresses and what time the stores are opened – we even had a guy asked where the pet funeral store is – because his cat of 12 yrs just passed away.  But yes – we do have a bridal store in town – that not only do wedding dresses and accessories – they also do prom dresses as well.  Get your shoes, your necklaces, your tiara – lock, stock and barrel from them  – I don’t think they do rental though – only for sale.

We can never keep any of our 2nd hand  notebook computer for long – they sell like hotcakes.  Whether they are netbooks or notebooks or laptop – customers just buys them whenever we do get any in.  Usually, when we do sell them for a great price – it’s when someone brings them in – the ones we get from our suppliers are usually a lot more expensive therefore, we are not able to offer such great prices.  I wished I can find a supplier that can sell us good used notebooks but I’ve yet to find a reasonably priced ones.  New notebooks are cheaper online than what we can buy for it and resell – so if we can’t offer them at a good price to our customers – we redirect them to where we would get them online or offline.

I do like this country a lot – in fact – I like living here – besides the fact that there is no food like home – and the weather – other than that – I do like it here.  The cost of living isn’t too high and most people are pretty decent – well the ones that we call friends.  But the situation with the Ferry – sorta paralyzed this town – and everyone is getting more and more antsy.  This town needs more jobs like power engineer jobs or jobs like a call center or even a car manufacturing.  Just depending on tourism is not enough as we all can see.  Unlike Singapore – where the government focus only on doing one thing – and that is to bring the tourist in – here in Y-Town I can’t say that much.  More and more I’m seeing people without jobs – the ministers and the town councils needs to really work a lot harder – if they want to bring the town back to live.

dumping day 2010

Nova Scotia is a fishing community – that means – not only do we have fishermen – we also have lots of truckers around our community.  And of course, we have those that we know that have moved to Alberta to join the oil rigs – and construction work.  But we don’t have any Maritime Injury Lawyer around this area like they do in the States.   A few years ago – when the ferry terminal had an accident and caused some workers to stay in the hospital for weeks, I don’t think they were represented properly.  The took the Worker’s compensation and therefore – didn’t get the full compensation that they were supposed to get – due to the negligence of the ferry service.  It is quite sad – because one such worker – we know him personally – and today – he still walks with a limp and when the weather turned cold – he is in great pain.  Just not fair you would think – but if only he was giving the right advice then – he would not be in this position.  Sad!

dumping day 2010

Many teenagers of our town – actually grew up with our store.  In business for 12 years this August – we’ve seen many young boys – turned into fine young man – we can no longer call them boys anymore – for they have all grown up.  One particular customer – is turning 18 this week – and he is a very special boy to us – you see – when we first met him – he was only 6  – 7 yrs old and when he was 10 yrs old – he told his mom, he wanted to work in a store like ours – so cute right?  Anyhow, we are searching for an 18th birthday gift for boy to find a gift appropriate for him – after all he is in college now and coming home during March break.  Not easy buying for an 18 yrs old boy eh?   But i did get some ideas from a site online – what do you think? A gadget car charger for his “new” car – that his parents are gonna surprised him with.  We are pretty cool shop owners eh?  but yes! i think we might just get this – I bet all 18 yrs old would love this.

The YMCA is just right across our store – and this year – i intend to lose some weight instead of just sitting around all day.  And no excuse for not having time – because the spouse and I should seriously take an hour lunch each every day – to do whatever we want.  So I’m choosing to skip lunch and head for the YMCA and do some swimming or aerobics since we are members of the YMCA.  Plus I know they also have  weight loss supplements that they recommend which are also safe – I have to check with my family doctor first though to see what she has to say about it – so it doesn’t have any conflict with the medication i am taking for diabetes and high cholesterol.  Losing weight shouldn’t be this hard – if I can only motivate myself to go to the Y – maybe i should find a friend from the store and get her to kick my butt if i start to slack off.

I love my Wii Fit and we do sell them at the store – but some people think that the Wii fit and the board can do miracles – and I hate to burst their bubbles – because even though it does help with losing weight – you have to work at it – 5 times a week – 30 mins a day – and eat proper.   If you don’t eat proper – even the the best weight loss pills cannot help you.  Whenever I sell the Wii Fit  & the board – i remind the buyer to make sure that they take the right supplement to burn their fats and if they are using weight loss pills – they should see results quicker – but to remember to eat proper and stop drinking pop ( pepsi, coke & orange)

Ever since I became a diabetic – I not only learned how to read labels for the sugar content – I also learn to read labels for how many calories are there in the things we eat.   The problem with being diabetic is – when the calories is high – some food does not have sugar.  But those with low calories have more sugar – how ironic isn’t it.   So if you are buying a Wii Fit and the Board – trying to lose weight – yes it can help for sure – but make sure you eat proper  – fish 3 times a week – baked or steam and never fried would be the best.   Definitely make you lose some weight there – easy on the potatoes please.

So more snow came down today – and we could go sledding if we chose too – but of course shoveling was in store for us at the store.  Did you know that we have to shovel our own building when the snow falls?  the town don’t take care of it – so everytime we have snow coming down last night – i wished the spouse could send me to work earlier – so that I can shovel earlier – instead of 11am when we open our store.  This has gotta be the best fat burning exercises during the winter – don’t you think?  I read somewhere that 30 mins of shoveling – you lose like 150 calories or is it 250 – well – no matter how many – it is definitely good exercise i find.

On the same note – about exercises during Winter – last year – I had bought a Wii Fit – to do step aerobics with – so i have no excuses to not keep fit.  So I better get moving – and doing something for the festive season was over about a month ago.   Burn the Fat!!  Burn The Fat !!  I taught my kid to chant this every morning when we wake up to remind me to do my exercises.  What about  you ?  how do you burn fats and keep fit?

Like I tell all our customer/s – not to be shy and ask for help because we love for them to spend some money.  So recently a few new places just opened their business in town and we were asked if we can help them set up their website.  Certain websites we can definitely do – but if it was for a more professional business that requires certain information and data to be kept confidential – then we usually suggest that look for  pci hosting .  As much as we love the money – the right thing to do is to point these businesses to the right direction – where all their customer/s information will be safe.   Plus if your website – need Visa/Mastercard or Paypal transactions – more so – it is in our customer/s best interest to look for a professional hosting company.   We are thankful that because of our honesty, we still gained a new customer this week – for working on designing their website.  Can’t complain – when the business comes eh.