1. Editor's Column
(Column/Editor's Column)

How is the economy affecting you? Have you noticed any changes? Until September I was working on a project for a large company, but when that finished they said there was no new work. I got the same

2. Coffee For Link
(Articles/Business Topics)

I like my coffee, so much so that I buy green beans in bulk and roast them myself. That way I get the freshest coffee, and I can roast it the way I like. I buy green beans in bulk from Green Beane

3. Frequent Buyer Program
(Articles/Business Topics)

Rather than a one off sale, try to make a lifelong customer out of every customer. You spend far less effort to get additional sales from your past customers than you do finding new customers.

4. Letting Money Get In Your Way
(Articles/Personal Development)

There is more than one way to let money block your success. You have to see it for what it is and overcome the roadblock. No Money   The obvious example is that you have a dream to star

5. Kayaking Alouette Lake 2008
(Column/Editor's Column)

...ffort to get the loaded kayaks down to the water to launch. I am hoping on future trips we can reduce the weight of our gear, or find a better place to start off. On some of the peaks you can still se...

6. Targeted Customer Appreciation
(Articles/Business Topics)

We have a small but growing vacation rental business, and we are targeting our customer appreciation on best customers to make them into repeat customers. Focus your customer appreciation on the

7. Super Villans
(Articles/Personal Development)

A few years back, my car got stolen. In the trunk were all sorts of goal setting books and audio programs that I used in my coaching business. I wondered what would happen if the criminal(s) who sto

8. Mind Map Software
(Articles/Personal Development)

Happy 2008! With the new year a lot of people turn to reviewing their goals. I was recently  doing the same, and I like to [[mind map]] mine. I looked at various software to use on my mac to cr

9. Kayaking Video
(Articles/Miscelaneous Articles)

This weekend we were kayaking in Birch Bay, practicing some rescues in the cold water of the bay. Rest assured we were wearing all our warm gear. Anyways, I was doing a paddle float rescue, where yo

10. Kayaking Safety
(Column/Editor's Column)

This last weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving. As planned, we went out for a paddle, although we went on the Monday rather than Saturday because the weather was bad on Saturday. We wore our new wetsui

11. Editor's Column
(Column/Editor's Column)

This weekend I went south of the border to the United States and did some shopping. With the Canadian dollar worth equal or more than the US dollar for the first time in about 30 years it was time t

12. Hybrid Car
(Articles/Miscelaneous Articles)

Until recently I drove a Mazda 626, but it was 10 years old and the costs of maintenance were increasing to the point where it competed with payments on a new car. Things like transmission failures

13. Blame Avoidance & Redirection Techniques
(Articles/Personal Development)

On your way up the ladder of success, you will encounter situations where things don't always go well. Most people think in a cause and effect mindset, which goes along the lines "if something

14. Weight Loss
(Articles/Personal Development)

... a row (which I learned was a new record for this area). I have written before on my efforts to lose some weight. At one point, it was coming down quite steadily. That was a year or two ago. Since the...

15. Clarity
(Articles/Personal Development)

Clarity is important. You can be smart and know so much, but you need to be able to communicate your thoughts and ideas to others. If you don't have clarity, it is like a beautiful picture that noon

16. Every Day
(Articles/Business Topics)

I notice from the logs that a lot of people get here by searching for "customer appreciation day ideas". I imagine all these business owners around the world, deciding to hold a customer a

17. Kayaking To The Twin Islands
(Column/Editor's Column)

I recently got elected club president for the Port Moody Canoe and Kayak Club and so I set about organizing a schedule of interesting paddles. One of the first club events I decided we would go from

18. Be Happy
(Articles/Personal Development)

I was talking with someone on LinkedIn recently, about happiness. He asked what makes you really, truly happy deep down. The question implies my happiness is controlled by external sources. To a

19. Who's On First?
(Articles/Personal Development)

Perhaps you are familiar with a famous baseball comedy act, known as [[Who's On First?]] by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. It highlights what I see as a communication breakdown between the two people

20. Set Clear Goals
(Articles/Personal Development)

Be careful what you wish for, you may get just what you ask... Not too long ago, I was working in a job that was less than desirable. Things were not going my way. So I put a to-do item in my PDA

21. The Modern Manager?
(Articles/Business Topics)

Some years ago I came across a sheet at work, from some communication course. It's title was "Want to show what an up to date modern manager you are?" It had three columns and nine row

22. Burst Pipes And Lights
(Articles/Personal Development)

This weekend we returned to the cabin. There were a couple more burst pipes since last time, due to a second cold spell we had recently. Pat installed some new light fixtures, and I set up something

23. Love Your Job
(Articles/Personal Development)

This was one of those days where things just clicked togther for me, and I had to share it with you. I was just reading a book called Alpha Project Managers, by Andy Crowe. The first thing the autho

24. Flying Bed
(Articles/Personal Development)

This weekend we proved that a bunk bed can fly, and we did it without FAA certification. It also taught me you can have too much confidence in your abilities, to the point that it blinds you to the

25. New Year's Switch
(Articles/Personal Development)

As you try new things and achieve results, the results become a tangible record of your achievements. You learn that you can do more than you thought you could, and it leads to self-confidence a

26. 2006 Photo Review
(Articles/Miscelaneous Articles)

New Year is a good time to look back of the year just passed. I was looking through some of the many photos I took in the last year, and I thought I would share some of them with you here. Janua

27. New Year 2007
(Articles/Personal Development)

...re you going to do differently in 2007? What would you like to change in your life? Are you going to join weight watchers, or sign up for a gym membership, or come up with some new-year's resolutions?...

28. Burst Pipes
(Articles/Personal Development)

Just when things are at their worst, success is just around the corner. The darkest hour is before the dawn. You have to persevere, to persist until you succeed. Last weekend, we went to our ca

29. Editor's Column
(Column/Editor's Column)

Hello again! Winter is upon us. This last two weeks we have had lots of snow. When I was down in Birch Bay, I even saw someone skiing along Birch Bay drive. I normally think of it as a summer resort

30. Stay On Top
(Articles/Business Topics)

Stay on top of your key customers or you'll lose them. Follow up with them regularly. If you don't, you can expect that your competitors will. How do you define "key customers"? Are all

31. Return To Sasamat Lake
(Column/Editor's Column)

October 30, we went back to Sasamat Lake, which is not far from where we live. We went there  for an event organized by the Port Moody Canoe and Kayak Club but it got cancelled due to rain or s

32. Home Improvement
(Articles/Personal Development)

I have been thinking recently along the lines that home improvement leads to personal development. As you fix up your home, you gain benefits along the way which go beyond the four walls of your hom

33. Kayaking Sasamat Lake
(Column/Editor's Column)

This Saturday we went kayaking on Sasamat Lake, here in British Columbia. Sasamat Lake is a very small lake nestled in the mountains between Port Moody and Belcarra. We went there  for an event

34. Editor's Column
(Column/Editor's Column)

Hello again! Did you have a great summer? I hope you enjoyed my recent articles on kayaking.I am really enjoying it myself. I took my test for VHF marine with the local Power and Sail Squadron, wh

35. Kayaking Alouette Lake
(Column/Editor's Column)

It just amazes me just how beautiful British Columbia is. Last week we bought some new kayaks, and on Sunday we went kayaking on Alouette Lake, here in British Columbia. We arrived at the boat launc

36. Kayaking Buntzen Lake
(Column/Editor's Column)

This Saturday we went kayaking on Buntzen Lake , here in British Columbia. We arrived early at the boat launch around 8 am, since I read that the park has limited parking and they close the ent

37. Are You Talking To A 3?
(Articles/Personal Development)

Communication skills are great, but do they always work? Not everyone responds the same way to your fancy techniques. Sometimes you need to take a step back and look at things. "I have comm

38. Do You Realize You Have a Learning Style?
(Articles/Personal Development)

By Charlie Badenhop Like most every human being, I'm guessing you learn some things well while struggling to learn other subjects. If so, join the club! This article will give you some insight int

39. Elastic Band Theory
(Articles/Personal Development)

There is a connection between thought and reality, which is rather like two objects connected by an elastic band. There is  an invisible force that pulls your thoughts and your reality together

40. How To Get Appreciation
(Articles/Personal Development)

I have talked about appreciation, mostly from the giving side. I talked about how it can help in business and personal lives. Customer appreciation is especially important if you want to remain in bus

41. Cascading Opportunities
(Articles/Personal Development)

I see life as a series of opportunities. One thing leads to another, which in turn leads to another. You don't get to the next opportunity unless you take action on the current one. You must seize t

42. Continuous Learning
(Articles/Personal Development)

It is important to keep learning new things. In The Artists Way, the author says to continually re-stock the well of your mind with new ideas. In Darwin theory, the law of requisite variety says t

43. Business Spotlights
(Articles/Business Topics)

A business spotlight is the opportunity to give a presentation about your business at a networking meeting. Most Chamber Of Commerce meetings or networking meetings offer spotlight opportunities to

44. Toast Speech
(Articles/Miscelaneous Articles)

I have been a member of Toastmasters since 1992, and always have lots of fun there. A while ago I decided to present a speech on the topic of toast itself. You can see the mind map of the speech I p

45. We Have Moved
(Column/Editor's Column)

As of today we are now on a separate domain www.bigdreams.ca. Big Dreams has been around for over 12 years now. It started as a print version, published monthly, and soon moved to the web around 1

46. Customer Appreciation
(Articles/Business Topics)

I often say, if you have a finite budget for marketing, you should spend less on advertising and invest it in your customers in some form of customer appreciation. You will get a better return for y

47. Finding Your Dream
(Articles/Personal Development)

Les Brown, an American motivational speaker, says that we are all born on this planet with a purpose. We all have gifts, a responsibility and an obligation to make a positive impact. Unfortunatel

48. Customer Service
(Articles/Business Topics)

How you take care of your customers is a key factor in your business success. If you take good care of your customers, then you get to keep them as customers, plus they will multiply.

49. Worrying
(Articles/Personal Development)

Since I got lots of interest in my last article on worrying, here is some more on the topic. Do you spend too much time worrying about things? Do you feel that it is cutting into your ability to

50. Talking Horse Saves Life
(Articles/Personal Development)

Years ago I was reading C.S. Lewis's enchanting book The Horse and His Boy. A young girl was about to take her own life rather than face a life in an arranged marriage to an old lord. Then her