Category Archives: Boutique Talk

What We’ve Learned from Mold Removal and Appliance Repair

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Our business model of having a boutique hotel is a lot different than many of the business models we’ve already discussed, those being: mold removal and appliance repair. By not only discussing them but buy working with them as well, ordering their services for our business, we’ve learned a lot about them and today it’s time to appreciate all we have learned so far.

We’ve learned that although tow business models can be extremely different, the foundation remains the same: serve your customer. For mold removal, they serve us by remediating mold. For appliance repair, they serve us by fixing appliances. Both of these are very different then letting a guest stay in a hotel room. But we still serve our customer.

In other cases, a business model might not be to serve a customer outright, but rather to provide a product. If this product is of value, however, like selling a domestic dishwasher, then it’s still serving the customer. Providing a great product, like used clothing in our boutique, is still serving the custoemr and has the same busienss foundation as mold removal or appliance repair.

We will continue t keep learning as we expand our business in Canada, and we hope you learned something too!

Applying Business Skills in the Home

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Being a hotel and boutique owner in Canada means I’m not home that often. Grandkids run around all day and I come home to the mess. But I make the best of my time at home, because I have the skills to use my time wisely. And that brings us to today’s topic: How to apply your business skills in the home, and what this means for the whole family!

First we want to ask “why do we want to apply our business skills at home?” Firstly, my skills in cooking, cleaning and being patient with customers transmit nicely into household settings. Over the years I’ve learned from experts in various fields on how to do skillful things, all of which I can do at home, like learning how to repair an oven thanks to Appliance Repair Victoria on the west coast. Or, even better, my skill at cleaning the carpets thanks to years working in other hotels from Kitchener to my home country.

But there are also business skills that you should NEVER use against your own family in the home. An example of this is using sales techniques to manipulate people. If you love your family you should have an honest discussion to get to the bottom of things, not trick them with deception and sales strategies. At first, when my kids misbehaved, I would use certain sales strategies against them, managing my micro expressions to seem more intimidating, but soon I felt bad for doing this and resorted to honest conversations instead.

With that said, here are a bunch more business skills that I do use at home:

  • Organization
  • Accounting
  • Laundry
  • Cooking
  • Decorating
  • Designing

Over time this list will continue to grow as I get better at managing my business and spending more time at home.

Get Rid of Your Old Clothes This January!

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If you are in a position to get some new clothes in January 2021 or have a lot of old clothes in the closet or kids’ closets that you know no one in the house is going to wear anymore, then now is the time to help others in need and give the clothes away to your local charities and thrift stores.

Running a boutique of used clothing is hard when no one donates clothing, and with social distancing rampant in urban populations around the world right now I bet a lot of struggling thrift stores are getting way less inventory.

Also, random objects in your home can be donated, so people in houses without those objects can easily afford them. I remember when I found a blender in a thrift store for $15 and I was so happy because I needed one really badly. It was an older blender that would have sold for maybe $60 brand new but I was able to use it in my apartment and saved a lot of money at the time when I needed to.

So think about it. After all, you have to let go of the old to let the new come in, and I find that every time I give a lot of stuff away blessings come into my life.

Shopping for Used Clothes in Thrift Stores

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Depending on where you live in the world, stores may be opening back up as usual after the Covid lockdown. That means shopping is back! Especially shopping for pleasure. Do you know what can be the most pleasurable form of shopping? Believe it or not, but searching through local thrift stores is a past time of many collectors.

used clothing for sale

What can you shop for in thrift stores? You can shop for cool decorative art pieces, used books, but most interestingly, clothes! If you either want to save money or find cool old clothes that you can’t find elsewhere, thrift stores can be the best boutiques.

If you know us, you’ll know enough about us that we love the idea of combining hotels with boutiques, to give tourists a better experience when visiting. But, I wonder if anyone’s thought of combining a hotel with a thrift store. Most people think of thrift stores as places where poor people might go. But that’s because they’ve never been there. Sure, people who need to save money might be forced to buy used items, but in my local thrift stores I mostly see collectors browsing. If you collect anything, a thrift store might have it, and that’s why I think a hotel for collectors with a thrift store full of rarities might be a great place for collectors to visit around the world.

But what about clothes? Sure, some of the used clothes found in thrift stores might have holes or stains. But that’s why you take your time shopping. Always wash the clothes at home before wearing them, and be careful to search them for wear and tear before buying them. Those are some tips. Now, if you’re excited to get back out there to support local business and want some new clothes, check out your nearest thrift store and see what you can find.