I Spent a Month in Waco, Texas, USA with My Son, an Appliance Repair Technician

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Waco, TX, USA

As a Canadian boutique owner, you may be surprised to learn I spent a month living in a place very different than most Canadian cities, no other than the City of Waco, TX. Why was I visiting Waco of all cities, and why was I there for so long? This is what I’m, excited to share, because it’s very good news!

I wasn’t all that eager to go to Waco, but my son has been living in Texas for several years and he wasn’t doing too well financially. In fact he had been living in his car for two weeks, parking in random streets to sleep at night. So I looked at my savings account and decided to take a plane to Waco to help him. We stayed at a cheap motel while I helped him look for work. He was really ashamed to have a parent come to his aid, all the way from Canada no less, because he’s 34-years-old. But I told him there’s no shame in asking for help. It was actually kind of nice, staying in the motel together and job searching on the laptop. It’s been a while since we’d spent so much time together.

We got rather lucky off the bat, booking several job interviews on the first day of my visit. My son was shocked at how easy it could be if you sat down and focused. But the job interviews didn’t pan out, and he began to lose hope again, saying we were just wasting time. I told him the parable of the gold miner who was an inch away from finding gold before he gave up, and then we renewed our job search with renewed vigor.

Finally, we got him a job interview that panned out, with a company called Appliance Repair Waco. I waited outside in the car while he went in for the job interview, and I’ll never forget the look on his face when he came back to the car with a giant smile. He was smiling like he had just won the lottery. That night we celebrated, for the guys at Appliance Repair Waco told him there was a good chance he’d get the job, but they’d call in the morning to confirm. So we partied in our little motel room with our fingers crossed. I was so proud of my son next morning when we got the call and discovered he’d been accepted for the job!

Now, I’m back in Canada, working at my boutique, glad to know my son has a decent-paying and steady job with one of the top appliance repair companies in Waco. He didn’t have much experience in fixing appliances, but the company was looking for someone they could train and would stick around for a longtime. Now, my son is well trained in the art of repairing broken appliances and says he loves his job and the people he works with.

Reflecting on all this, I’m so glad I took the trip to Waco. It’s a city that you won’t find on any top destination lists for travelers, but it’s a quant city that brought me many nice memories, and I’m already planning to visit again later this year.

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.

Appliance Repair Kitchener Saves The Day

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A dear friend of mine who runs a hotel in Kitchener, Ontario, called in with a legendary tale to tell last night. I was so entertained and grateful to hear it that I thought of ways to relay the story to you dear readers on my blog. If you enjoy cute stories about helpful Canadians and quality services well rendered than this might be the good news you need to make the world seem less bleak in 2020.

appliance repair kitchener super hero
super hero from Appliance Repair Kitchener

Small companies in Canada are still working hard out there to do the best they can and help as many people the best way they can. That’s what this story testifies, as a small company called “Appliance Repair Kitchener” has helped my friend keep her struggling hotel business afloat by giving her free appliance repair services in return for a coupon to her hotel. The appliance repair company is also struggling as Covid has inspired people in their homes to learn how to fix their own appliances in stead of risking exposure to the virus by having a professional visit their home. But instead of being sly and finding ways to keep their business alive unethically, Appliance Repair Kitchener has decided to help as many people as they can so that their company might be remembered by locals in need of their services in the future. They have definitely gained the long-term loyalty of my dear friend who is just as excited as I am about hotels. But I bet you just want to hear the story by now, so let’s get to it.

Here’s what happened in point form.

  1. My friend found out that her kitchen dishwasher and two of her clothes washing machines had broken down in the same day.
  2. With having her handyman unavailable, she felt at loss of what to do because she couldn’t afford a big appliance repair bill right now.
  3. She called several different local appliance repair companies for help, learning that most of them didn’t even have technicians available because they were all on unemployment insurance due to Covid.
  4. She got lucky and called Appliance Repair Kitchener who listened to her story and offered her free services in return for a coupon because the staff might use the coupon in the future when family or friends visit town.
  5. My friend didn’t even have coupons, but she knew she would make them as soon as she said yes to their offer.
  6. All the broken appliances were repaired in the same day and now my friend is celebrating with her family, keeping the hotel business strong in these hard times.
  7. Now I’m here telling you this so that more people can have hope for the economy and friendlies of the businesses in the beloved country of Canada let alone the province of Ontario.

There are a lot of good hotels in Kitchener and a lot of them are struggling, but with more inspiring stories like this we might be able to get out of these hard times a little sooner. After all, hotels will always be a needed service in the future, and so will appliance repair companies.

Once again I hope this story has brightened your day and changed your perspective on the year 2020 for the better. For me I look at these hard times as opportunities to help people, and it feels nice knowing others out there think the same way.

Excited About Staying in Hotels

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This may sound corny, but one of my top four favorite things about traveling is staying in new hotels I’ve never stayed in before. It might be because I’m a hotel owner myself and get to learn or criticize how other hotels are managed but I think it’s more because I just love staying in a fresh room with service, knowing I’ll never stay in that room again.

hotels

I don’t think I’m alone in this because there’re forums online that talk about the same thing, and people travel just to stay in famous hotels. It’s quite cool. In Canada there aren’t that many famous hotels because most of them are in the Middle East, Asia or Europe, which is understandable because most of them are hundreds of years old and Canada itself is only hundreds of years old.

My other three favorite things about traveling though are planning tourist destinations, eating in popular restaurants and visiting the ocean. Whenever I get the chance to get on a boat I do it, especially if the dock is in view of my hotel window because I get to reflect on it after with a glass of wine, which is usually when I’ll be writing. Ah, speaking of writing I hope you’ve been enjoying our blog. If you liked this post, click here to check out this one too because it’s all about the joys of staying in hotels.

In the near future I have some other amazing content for you guys so stay tuned!

Staying Healthy, More Than You Think

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There’s more than you think to staying healthy. If you don’t believe me, keep reading. I won’t be talking about the obvious stuff like eating well and sleeping right, or not smoking and smiling often. I’m talking about the stuff you don’t think about like making sure you rinse all the soap off your dishes and use fluoride-free toothpaste. I’m not a conspiracy theorist or paranoid whatsoever. I’m just aware, and today I’d like to share a list of 8 things you don’t do that could keep your mind and body healthier. And I’m talking about staying healthy at the level of your blood cells and DNA, not just your skin….

So I’m glad you’re here. At my blog we’ll be discussing many different topics like this. Now let’s get to the meat of my argument.

I already touched on two rare factors that most people aren’t aware of, and after I make a list of 8 more I’ll follow up to explain why I think this way.

Eight Ways to Stay Healthy You Probably Never Thought About

tips for staying healthy
  1. Prevent getting bit by bugs at night (having bug screens on windows help).
  2. Have clean floors and wear socks to prevent toenail fungus and other foot diseases.
  3. Try not to use coercive soaps and shampoos every day.
  4. Try not to leave your skin reliant on moisturizers by using them regularly. Only use them when you need to.
  5. Wear a hat in the sun to prevent skin cancer.
  6. Only listen to positive music to prevent negative subconscious thoughts.
  7. Don’t worry about things you can’t control, and always have two assumptions about things you’re not sure of to prevent jumping to wrong conclusions.
  8. Keep your home free of mold and pests.

If I sat here all day I could make this list go on and on for hundreds of points. If you want to read more, here’s a great article. But this should be enough to give you an idea that there’s more to staying healthy than you think. Not doing all of this can add up over time to deplete your mental and physical health. I could also add stuff like don’t wear too much make up and make sure you’re not using too many plastics in the kitchen, but you already get the point (I hope).

Point #8 is my favorite because you’ll be surprised how many people have mold in their home without knowing it. And even many people who know they have black mold growing in the shower or on the window sills don’t seem to care. The truth is, if you have mold in your home, whether its growing behind the walls or in the fridge, it slowly depletes your health. You breathe in the mold spores and your body must continuously fight against them. This concern was originally brought to my attention when I first moved to Canada, because a good friend of mine had to order a mold testing Victoria BC service, and they were spooked and hocked by how much mold was actually in their home. They aptly handled the situation by getting the same company to provide mold removal services and they noticed an increase in their health within a few months.

There’s also more things that are in your home that contribute to good health, like having pets that love you and healthy relationships. being grateful goes miles, and people who complain a lot are often less healthy than people who have a positive outlook on life. These are all things to remember when it’s time to get your health back are to add an extra boost to your life’s longevity.

Stay healthy out there.

The Joys of Staying in Hotels

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What are the joys of staying in hotels? We have a list of some of our favorite joys of staying in hotels that you can read. Here are 8 joys!

  1. You don’t have to make the bed in the morning.
  2. Your sheets are always clean.
  3. You get to meet new people in the lobby, which is great if you’re new to Turkey.
  4. You get room service, in other words get to be treated like an Emperor, at least at the Boutique Hotel.
  5. You get to try different shampoos and soaps in the shower or bath.
  6. You don’t have to worry about being to loud, at least most of the time.
  7. You get a fridge in your room packed with drinks.
  8. You can make as much of a mess as you want before leaving because someone else will have to clean it!

These are our 8 favorite joys of staying in hotels. What are yours?

We’ve come a long way

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We’ve moved to Canada! Welcome back. Or shall we say welcome to our new blog. We’ve come a long way. Here’s our story. Our dream has been to buy a building in Canada where we can have a boutique clothing store downstairs and a small hotel upstairs, a dual business in one. But we just don’t want an ordinary boutique. We have the best clothing designers from India in our roster to give Canada a unique fashion choice that they can’t get elsewhere. So, if you’re wondering why us then now you know. We like to think outside of the box, even adding a splash of North American flavor to our Indian clothing. So unique. It’s the one of a kind boutique!

But we haven’t found the building of our dreams yet. We’re manifesting it with crystals, so to speak. When we find it, you will be the first to know, with a 30% off coupon. Thanks for tagging along with us on this journey. We’ve certainly come a long way!