Category: Business/Career

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Mini Cards For Myself

My mini moo cards just arrived a few days ago – and I loved it!

My first box of mini cards by Moo were from Foodbuzz – when i became a featured publisher with them.  And I loved those cards too – they are so unique – being mini and so colorful.  It was easy to make the mini cards and choose the colors – my Moo cards took about a week and a half to arrived and I had free shipping too.   They have pre-made designs are you can upload or design your own mini cards.  The quality is great and I love the pink card holder I had bought along with my new mini cards – only at $4.99 – pretty sleek and handy. I definitely recommend Moo cards to anyone – I’m waiting to be approved to be their affiliate – wish me luck now.

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I’m The Planner

While PB doesn’t like to plan for anything and just go with the flow – I’m the planner, I need everything to be laid out and then I execute it.  I don’t know if you called it meticulous or a bit of OCD in me acting up.  But whether it’s the power bills, internet bills, credit card bills or   our life insurance, car insurance  and rv insurance  – everything is noted in my planner – and I will check it a few times day.

I also plan Chloe’s meals ahead of time – and never let her eat the same thing for dinner and lunch, there is always a variety of food for her to try and I keep them as healthy as possible.  Yes! it irks me so much when PB is late on a bill – not because we cannot afford it but he forgets and don’t like to be reminded constantly.  I really think that my obsession to pay and do everything as planned comes from the fact that I come from a poor family and everything seems to be on dateline – we never had money to spare when I was a kid – but I know that my mom paid for everything on time and never ever borrowed from anyone.  We just don’t have any toys or any new clothes or shoes but that’s alright.  Now that I’m with my own family, I can appreciate my mom and what she does with money – therefore, I never let PB or Chloe spend money that we don’t have and bills has to be paid on time – yes, even the rv insurance.

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Bamboo Capture From Wacom

So PB bought me the Bamboo Capture from Wacom ! woohoo!!! i’m pretty pleased with it – although I haven’t had much time to play with it yet. So why do i need a bamboo capture since I’m not good with drawing – I hear you asking. Well, I can still work on the pictures for my webpages – and re-design templates of my own and when I get the chance I want to learn more about web designing. I have lots of interest in it and I think it’s a great way to make more money online.

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Job Hunting In Canada

I haven’t been job hunting for a long time – but many who are planning to migrate to Canada or even in United States would prefer to secure a job first before migrating. Some looking for Psychiatric Technician Jobs will find that there are plenty of jobs in this field – and even without a head hunter – you can land a job easily. But what about other jobs in the sales department or clerical field ? I get asked these questions very often as an expatriate.

I have friends who’ve migrated here but didn’t stay because they say they can’t find a job here but truth be told I don’t think they got the right job – and most likely feeling a bit homesick and inferior – to the Westerners. So one good advise before migrating is to make sure you know what field you want to be in. I think those who are in the health industry have plenty to offer in the West – whether you are a pharmacist or a health nurse – there are plenty of jobs here for you. As for other industries, if they can find their candidates from within – I think they rather hire their own. So shape up or ship out!

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Dead Zone

Taking a car ride out to Chloe’s grampie’s or anywhere in the country, we’ve noticed that there are quite a number of dead zones – where we cannot call out or receive calls. So whenever we need to leave the store and head out to the country – we sometimes worry about not being able to receive calls from the store. Paranoia I guess – but the store needs to know that they can reach us anytime – so we went out to our favorite store at the mall to get a cellular booster , that is said to be able to improve the signal on any vehicle. We did find one at the mall – and for $39 – I think it’s a good investment – so no more dead zones for us when we are in the car. That should make PB happy and the store happy as well – for I know PB don’t like to be in a dead zone at all.

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I Need Business Cards Too!

12 yrs as a owner by association to the spouse’s business – you would think that he would get the hint and get me some business cards right? well apparently, my hint wasn’t that good – so I am going to get some business cards by postcards and the price is so cheap – the spouse cannot even say I spend too much on it. For as little as $6.99 for 100 business cards – you cannot go wrong with it – i’ll say. One can even upload your own photo if you so desire – for example if you are a realtor or a mortgage consultant and even a banker – like I get all the time when I visit my bank.

1000 of templates to choose from and if you are not internet savvy – no worries – they have a live chat person to help you along the way. But it’s very easy to do – just follow the instructions – and you will receive your business cards from as little as 2 days. I liked that moms like myself can order as little as 20 business cards just to have when we want to give them out to teachers, principal or other parents for play dates.

And since Christmas is just around the corner – I too am looking at making some personalized greeting cards with our family pictures on it – just like the ones I received every year from friends and family. I admired those cards tremendously and since they are so easy and cheap to make online – I’m going to try it out this year. So friends and family look forward to our family picture in our greeting cards for this year.

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Finding Work After Migrating

Most people write and ask me about finding work in Canada after migrating here – and they also want to know how difficult it is to look for the kind of jobs they are trained for back home. There are lots of jobs to be found around Canada – it’s the matter of finding the right one for you – assuming you speak fairly well in English as well as write in English too. Restaurant Manager Jobs may not be as easy to land – but the hospitality industry has plenty one can opt for. Like I tell everyone – as long as you are willing to work hard – and speak fairly well in English and is computer literate – you should have no problems landing a job in Canada. Places like Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver are more likely to have Asian bosses but even the Canadian bosses have no problems hiring an Asian worker here. But of course – you need to have a Permanent Resident status and not a tourist/visitor status.

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Owner By Association

As owner by association to the spouse’s business – I still have to worry about what is going on in the store – and our financial situation and dealing with customers as well as suppliers. Although I tell people that it’s all about PB – it’s not true as we all know it – my ears and eyes are always open and when I am at the store – I play both the good guy and the bad – while PB plays the boss. If you’ve ever run a business – you will know that there is more than meet the eyes – those that think that we are sleeping on money – must be crazy. I wished we had a friend or a business lawyer – like the raleigh business lawyers who handles all aspect of dispute and negotiation for businesses. But in a small town like ours – PB don’t think that there is one that specializes in doing just that. And even though we are a small business – it is always good to have someone who knows all about dealing with irate customers – or what we can do at our store and not do. There are so many little things that I would like to ask our business lawyer if we had one – and since we don’t have one – we are always worrying if we can do certain things or if the cops came for somethings that were sold to us – that were reported stolen – what are our rights as store owners. So yes! being an owner by association – is not as easy as some of you might think – I still worry a lot about the ins and outs of the store.

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12 Yrs In Business

Definitely not an easy feat – but I have to say PB did a pretty good job – from the start – till when we had a tough time some 4 years ago – and now bringing the business back where it should be and even better than I had anticipated. Being in business for this long also means constantly upgrading – and the money that we made – always goes back into the store somehow. Besides the paying of bills – and stocking up inventory – and buying what is necessary to live on – we rarely splurge on ourselves. This year we are looking at getting a barcode scanner for the store – because it would be a lot easier if we were to hire on part-timers. We don’t have to specially train them how to punch in the codes and look out for the price difference – all they need to do is to scan the products and once scanned – the cash would balance and we won’t have to worry about missing money.

We are also constantly looking for ways to make things a lot easier on us – the initial part to put everything into the system using the scanner may be a bit tedious but in the long run – it would be a lot easier – we don’t need to hire a very skill person to man the counter for us – even a monkey can do it – like the sales person said. And yes – as we look forward to celebrating our 12 yrs in business at the end of the month – I hope this year PB would give out some free gifts like pens or memo pads – to our regular customers. What do you think? should we have cakes and coffee too? or get the local radio to come celebrate with us.

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Summer 2011

Every summer since coming to Canada – it doesn’t seems that we’ve done that much at all down at the waterfront. The last few years – I had gone down to the waterfront with Chloe on my own – or with her babysitter – but it’s different without PB. This year – we’ve managed to do a lot together during summer – I guess it’s because we’ve got Gary – a friend to help us in the store – volunteer work. Plus Gary we trust our store in his hands – we don’t worry at all – that money is going to go missing or some hanky panky going in the store. So when Gary is helping out – I just totally relax – no worries whatsoever. I’m just happy that PB is willing to do a lot more with Chloe – because she is growing so fast – and I really don’t want him to miss out on all the fun – watching her grow.