TAKING YOUR PASSION TO THE MARKET

Let me introduce you to Karen Butler Curtis!

 Karen is one of the fortunate women who has figured out what she are passionate about and has taken bold steps to incorporate this passion into her life. 
 Karen's passion is cooking, her Happy Place is her kitchen,
the product of choice is KICS Lemonade, based on an old family recipe.

So, what do you do
if you want to sell your lemonade (or any other goodies for this matter),
if you love chatting with people,
 if you want and need to bring your children along for the ride and
if you want to support your local community?
Right, the market is the place to be.

Fourteen years ago Karen started selling lemonade at her local market in Port Coquitlam- all because she wanted to spend more time with her mother.

What started out as one market, turned into 12.

 

 

 

Please find her website, recipes and blog here!

 

 

WALKING down the AISLE...

...at the pharmacy department!

Welcome to my three day stunt as 'Welcome Hostess' to the pharmaceutical department of a massive supermarket chain!

This department has been currently refurbished; what once was the dental aisle is now the feminine hygiene section.
I thought it's quite clever from the management team to hire a hostess to help customers finding their way around.. No supermarket should send their customers on a wild goose chase to find nail clippers and finding arthritis cream instead. (If you want to know, the clippers can now be found on aisle 13, in the BEAUTY section).

Here is a highlight of 3x 7 blissful hours spent among shop happy, pill popping, vitamin crazy Canadians:

On day one, still unfamiliar with the exact product placements, I offered a cheerful "Do you need any help Sir", (bright smile included) to an Asian gentleman looking at yellow boxes. Only to discover he was looking at condoms! (My husband still wants to know WHAT kind of advice I can give HIM?)

I learnt about the different ways to lighten the load if you are clocked up ( i.e. constipated). To keep a straight face was the hardest thing  when I guided various ladies and gentlemen to their laxatives, suppositories or fibre drinks.

A fellow country man, Mario, found himself lost in the aisle, looking for dis solvable vitamin C tablets. We started talking - and  bitch'n about the price  ($ 4.99 vs 0.98 cents in good ol' Germany for double the size. Nothing like a good chat in German in the vitamin aisle in Canada.

Since when are there so many different kinds of adult diapers on the market? Not that I was ever really concerned about this product - it is very comforting to know they exist . And who knows, we all might end up on aisle 8!

The couple I sent to the First Aid aisle; they re - appeared after 25 minutes (I kid you not) Guess what they were looking for? Band aids! Plain simple, waterproof and - tight band aids. Needless to say, this prompted another fun filled conversation about finding the right product for the right price.

And so far the best must have been the 72 year old lady who asked me if she should buy long or short PJ bottoms (?). I told her to get the short ones. Then she started telling  about her impending divorce to her husband of 53 years. Now I know about it- her husband, the poor soul, doesn't - yet!

The pharmacy department -
 being the hostess beats watching TV anytime. Thank God, I can go back next week!

GUTS & GLORY

Play hard, Write even harder! It is done! I just pushed the “enter” button. Which means, Mission accomplished!

My seven months long writing journey has come to an end! At one point I thought it will never end - But it did!

Writing this book has been the most intense, time consuming, detailed thing I have accomplished up to this point in my life! Giving birth to three children? To me that was easy-peasy in comparison. From now on there is no turning back! Very soon readers around the world will be able to read about “A VERY BERRY EXTRA-ORDINARY TALE of ENTREPRENEURIALSHIP” (still tentative title) and I will have to face the music i.e. reviews!

I crammed my writing in during very early mornings, and ridiculously long nights!  Nothing else mattered, but to fill the pages in front of me!  It was actually quite rejuvenating to get the story out of my system while it was still fresh. It was not only “mission accomplished”, I also became quite proficient in the use of this little device in front of me (PC). Dominic  laughed when he read this. He thinks I have slightly exaggerated here...

In approx. three months baby no.5 will be born. Book Baby is in its final trimester. Unlike six and a half years ago when I set up my first commercial business venture, I didn’t have to leave the house to get things done. I did what I never thought possible: I sat on my butt for hours on end! And, I loved every minute of this creative progress! I poured my heart into this project. I bared my soul on every page!  Not in a cheesy kind of way, more in the fun, entertaining kind of way. It’s off my chest and now I can move on to the equally important part: Collecting testimonials and doing the pre-publication promotion! Now it is up to me to show the world and myself what I am made of. I know I can set up and successfully run a coffee lounge against all odds. But can I sell my book? This remains to be seen. All I know, I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to reach the No.1 spot on Amazon! It took a while to get the pages out there, but now, it is a product I am proud of. It is a fun, inspiring, uplifting read with lots of ideas of how to stand out from the crowd.



It was another step into extraordinary territory. Just like the pole dancer I happened to watch at the local strip club (Mothers on a wild night out means we are the first to arrive at the night club and the first to leave when the real partiers come flocking in. In our case we were way too early for the boogie floor and therefore killed some time at the afore mentioned establishment)! –It was a first for me and I couldn’t help but wondering: ’’How long did it take the dancer to make the pole an extension of herself? How many hours of practise did it take to look at ease with every step, every twirl and every suggestive move she made in front of her audience? I am sure it took the lady in question lots of practise, more practise and long hours of rehearsals. She was baring it all, boobs and the rest!  But unlike her, you won’t see my frontal, but you will get a glimpse inside my heart instead.

Oops, did I just compare myself to a pole dancer? If you know me, then you know this is a ridiculous comparison.

No, I actually compared our actions: If you want to deliver a good product, either a book or a smooth pole dancing routine, you need time to produce and to rehearse!

Good things need to be created, nurtured and looked after.

Like the definition on my tummy. My 6-packs won’t re-appear by magic. They need to be shaped. A pole remains a simple pole if nobody makes an effort to practise a routine with it... And a page remains blank if we don’t add our unique expression.

Whatever your next project will be, make it shine, let it become extra-ordinary!

MONEY doesn't buy you HAPPINESS...

but it does buy you bacon!

I saw this on the back of a - you guessed it - bacon truck!

It made me chuckle. I thought it was so witty, funny and innovative!

When I shared my new found nirvana for advertisements ( delivery trucks) with my husband, he felt sorry for me!                                                                                    Okay,to like this slogan says more about my simple taste and the mondane than anything else. It obviously doesn't take much to impress me...

Dominic left his home, the USA, over twenty years ago. He escaped this 'clever play on words' just to be bombarded by it again on his return to North America.                Imagine his surprise when he discovered  NOTHING HAS CHANGED in all the years.  The 'dumbing down of the masses'continued. If that isn't bad enough, his own wife seems to actually be enjoying every single, stupid ad ("Beauty is in the eye of the Beerholder" ) out there.

But come to think of it: If Every business does its own clever, funny and witty advertisment - how can they stand out from the crowd?                                           If every business offers the same e.g. convenient opening hours (even 24/7), easy accessibility and parking, and same kick-ass service- what makes this business so special?                                                                                                                                               WHAT does it take for you and / or a business to become and stay extra-ordinary?

When everything and everybody wants to fit in it comes down to only one item which is truley unique:

You, yourself & you!     Amazing individuals help to make a business stand out from the rest.

On a personal level it amazes me to discover that people are dumb smacked, overjoyed or even surprised whenever I return the promissed phone call or deliver on the promise I made! It is so simple:

Know who you are and be true to yourself! Always do what you say and be true to your word!

Quick change of subject and a follow up on my current mission in life:

My much loved and pride of the stomach, the 6-pack is back in sight! The layer of contentment (fat) is shrinking!  Hurrah!

The weights are doing their trick and difinition of the upper arms is back in sight!

And finally, I am only two days away from pushing the SEND button on the computer to deliver the manuscript to my publisher!

As the final days approach, I am reminded of the universal  rule,                                      if you want to make changes in your life you have to make it happen!

Because they won't happen on its own!                                                                           And on a final note, one thing is for sure:

Money may not buy you happiness, but it does help you to bring home the bacon!