business – Ocean Delight Cottages

April 20, 2015April 16, 2015

Dad Reads a Book

Who says I can’t read? Here’s the proof! My daughter, Emily (a prolific writer) tells me that in order to write a book (a dream of mine), first I have to read a book.

Well, Emily. I read this book, cover to cover, so I am ready to write my masterpiece. Now I just need to study the best sellers to calculate how many pages my book should be, how many words in the average sentence, and how many of those sentences I need to put into the average paragraph and chapter. I don’t need exact numbers – I am an engineer and approximations are good enough for me!

In all seriousness, Tuesdays with Morrie was a fantastic read, one that The Berry and I both tore through last fall. We’re trying to take the lessons forward with us as our business gets busier with the season. If I manage to get time (not likely!), I might try to give it a second read through, just to keep me on track. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget what truly matters most – and that’s a lesson that I intend to keep top of mind as we go forward.

Have you read Tuesdays with Morrie? Did you like it as much as we did?

August 1, 2013August 1, 2013

Shag It Guests

Please forgive me if my posts are a little Shag It-centric lately – it’s a brand new endeavor we’re excited about, and it’s taking up a lot of our time as we get it running. If this blog is about my daily life in Whiteway, well, this is my daily life in Whiteway! We’re enjoying ourselves, working like dogs, making some mistakes and learning from them. Thankfully, we’ve had lots of happy customers, which inspires us to keep going and growing.

And if you believe it or not, I’ve even donned an apron to pitch in. Above are my first customers. These 4 are from Ontario (have I told you how much I love Ontarians?). Being my first customers, I made some mistakes – and they helped me laugh at myself. They enjoyed themselves so much they all bought our beautiful tee-shirts – how sweet is that?

And below are two sisters, who are repeat customers! They tell us they love everything about the place. We tell them we’re thrilled they came back!

July 31, 2013July 31, 2013

All in the Family

Just like this time two years ago I never thought I’d be in the tourism business, this time a year ago I never thought I’d be in the restaurant one. The Shag It Cafe and Gift Shop is open, with lots of success, but also lots of learning already under our belt. Barely a week in, we’re still working on the ins and outs, but thankfully, our view, our fabulous and tasty menu, and our fun gifts, seem to be doing the trick. We’re grateful to our friends, neighbours, guests and community for supporting us so far.

I’m also very grateful because our opening happened to coincide with a visit from my daughter, Kathryn, who lives in BC. She came with her boyfriend, Victor. Both rolled up their sleeves and pitched in – it’s true what they say, many hands make light work. When your family’s involved, it’s light work indeed. And a pleasure, too.

May 17, 2013May 18, 2013

Business News

This article MOSTLY speaks for itself – but I never miss an opportunity to get a word in! With little more than a year in the tourism industry, we’re not experts – but we’ve been very happy with our progress and have learned a lot. We were thrilled to share some of those lessons with the St. John’s Board of Trade Business News. If you haven’t read it yet, take a look! The Berry knows her stuff and has lots to offer!

November 9, 2012December 4, 2012

Berry Nice

Here’s The Berry, my partner in crime – this blog may seem Jerry-centric, but these cottages certainly aren’t. I’ve never seen anyone work like she does. And there’s been plenty to do around here in our first year.

Anyway, we’re hoping to get to relax a little bit this weekend. Seems like we only get minutes, not even hours, to ourselves these days, so we have to take advantage of every opportunity we get. What are your plans?

And please, if you have a second and you enjoy reading my daily posts, I’d appreciate your vote for the TopBlogs award – just go to this link (no log-in needed), find the Best Professional Life category on the bottom left, and vote away! Thank yoU!

October 24, 2012December 4, 2012

O Danny Boy

While my new life in Whiteway is quite different from that as CEO and businessman, sometimes I still get to bust out the old networking (or is it schmoozing??) skills – like I did this Monday at a St. John’s Board of Trade luncheon.

I was there as Ocean Delight was announced as a new member. We chose yesterday because Danny Williams was the speaker. He gave an excellent presentation where he talked about being the CEO of the St. John’s Ice Caps, Dannyville (the massive $5Billion industrial, commercial, residential complex he is building next to Mount Pearl), and the Lower Churchill Falls project which he started and completely supports.

There were about 400 – 500 people there and I was in networking overdrive. I gave out brochures and business cards like the Tasmanian devil. As you can see I didn’t have time to take many pictures – most were all a blur, much like the 2 1/2 hours I spent there. It was a lot of fun.

I keep saying I’m proof you can teach an old dog new tricks, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the old tricks from time to time!