Entries from March 2008 ↓

Thank you very much!

Compared to last week, this one’s been fairly slow and relaxing– or at least theoretically it was supposed to be. I found Andrew Gaucher’s talk very interesting; I found myself too bad he wasn’t able to join ACE in time before he graduated (?). The green movement within the Okanagan is becoming more and more important as our beautiful region’s being paved over and built up.

Sustainability is essential to a socially responsible business; because without that, what’s the point? If everything in Kelowna’s going to be constructionized then the whole allure–or draw– of the environment is gone. In a business sense it makes sense to protect our investments.

Unfortunately more mentors have been having trouble getting in contact with their teams. I’ve been trying a few different methods of helping them making up the hours, like giving them contact info for the schools and teacher sponsors, and getting their cell phone numbers so that the students could have an alternate method of contacting them. Email doesn’t seem to be working the way it should: easy, instant, and reliable.

This week’s class was pretty amazing. I learned quite a bit from both of the speakers: Randy and Angie. It was interesting to get perspective on two different companies along the continuum. I’d seen YellowBrick before–in Orchard Plaza I think–and never realized that it was so organically inclined. The fact that she’s been doing this since before it was popular is something to be lauded. Randy pointing out the limitations of his business was enlightening. and demonstrated the need for specialized businesses.

Because some mentors are having difficulty filling their hours Kyleen offered them an opportunity to help out Goshop.gs‘ owner. He had an interesting Web site, but I was not especially impressed with his presentation. The three videos weren’t that inspiring and his concept didn’t quite mesh.

1. The advertising scheme isn’t flexible for the variety of small businesses.
2. It makes brick and mortar stores’ compete with the lower online prices.
3. The fact that they force visitors to register to take advantage of their features is a mistake. It’s just an extra hassle that will turn off a large segment of the target market.