Category: Uncategorized

I thoroughly enjoyed my year in Comm 299. Both terms I found extremely helpful. Not only did Comm 299 introduce us to some of the skills we will be working on and building on throughout our commerce degree here at UBC, but are skills that everyone needs to work on and have in general!

Public speaking

– I throughly enjoyed this class because I have not had a class before that was just dedicated to practicing my public speaking. It was a small class with a really easy going environment. The class dynamics made it really comfortable for everyone, and we had a lot of fun. I throughly enjoyed my TA. He was very nice and gave positive criticism. There are many things that I had never considered before when public speaking. Things like speed, hand gestures, posture, and  a format of content were never things I really considered, but am now more aware of when I speak.

Resume & Cover letter, Interviewing

– I enjoyed this part of the course because I was quite honestly embarrassed to show anyone at Sauder my previous resume. Although a few times in lecture the terms “a group of robots,” and, “same,” came up when discussing how we were taught do our Resume and Cover letter, and Interview, I can honestly say I was happy in how we were instructed to do these. I now have the basic foundation for these skills, and we can now tweak and build onto these skills. This class also made me aware of how serious employers take this, and the importance of conducting myself in more of a business manner.

Things I generally liked about this course:

– Homework amount

-Time commitment

-Class format

As energy consumption and demand are going up, people need to find new means of becoming economically friendly. The Global demand for energy is said to increase by almost 36% between 2008-2035. As developing countries such as China and India are rising, these emerging economies are the reason for this increase. This is a drastic difference, as our resources are already depleting as it is. As we try to become more efficient, I really wonder if we are moving fast enough. As we can see from an Economist chart, it is just a progression of the same means of energy that we already use. Time and money needs to be spent on ways of finding new energy sources that aren’t damaging and detrimental as the ones we have used the last century. As we have seen from previous century’s, humans can live without all these extra powers, while I am not saying lets go back to the stone age, just that each one of us needs to be extremely mindful of what we use, so that we can use the least amount as possible.

“To bring something to the market to shed a little joy.” – David Fenn

The Howe Sound Brewery, located in Squamish British Columbia, brought out the ‘bailout bitter’ to the market during the economic downturn in 2008. Playing on worlds, saying things such as ‘recession fighting properties,’ the Bailout Bitter became an unique product that soon attracted media attention across the world. They have been written up in many news papers and were reviewed on t.v. on stations such as Global B.C. (See bellow for video). Customers ate up the slogans, and enjoyed the unique tastes of many of the Howe Sound Brewery products.

The Howe Sound Brewery is a small business with entrepreneurship qualities.They used such innovation to create a unique product by “finding a little niche” – Leslie Fenn, and used catchy slogans to expand their market and increase their demand . They had earned more awards than any other Canadian brewing company from the North American Brewers’ Association, and only five American Breweries out of 150 that competed in this competition in Idaho had walked away with more medals. They are a good example of a company that excelled in a short period of time, getting attention and demand for their products, and undertaking many risks of producing a product out of a family run business.

http://www.squamishchief.com/article/20100611/SQUAMISH0604/306119974/howe-sound-brewing-company-nabs-six-medals

I will forever be intrigued by this!

Having customers be able to watch the candy be actually made is an intriguing way to attract peoples attention and potential buyers. This is an excellent marketing strategy. It is a fun and creative way to showcase your product. The process of making the candy is nothing like I’ve seen before. It is interesting substitute for your traditional candies and lollypops. We need to have this in Canada, and if we already do.. please let me know where I can get this!

After our discussion on what motivates us, I wanted to take an opportunity to reflect on what motivates me to succeed.

The question asked was: What is a bigger motivator for you, power or money? I would have to say money, for reasons as followed.

Becoming financially stable is extremely important to me. I am looking forward to the stage of my life where I am financially comfortable, and and able to enjoy life independently.

Having that sense of achievement.

Being able to travel around the world with friends, and see the places I’ve always dreamt of.

Not having stability in your life will effect your well being and contributes to your overall health

I am not searching or seeking high profile power and will love the to have referent power that comes with experience. I do not have the personality for coercive power and therefore money is the more important tender in my life.

With and successful job comes experience… and with experience comes money… with money comes stability…. and with stability comes the real motivation for many in life and myself… true happiness.

After reading an article on how bike lanes are becoming the rage in America, I would like to address the comment made that was ” But I am concerned about safety.” -John Shields, Minneapolis MN. Bike lanes are a developing work in progress in many cities at the moment, but bike lanes are a huge opportunity for individuals and communities as a whole. Bike lanes are a more sustainable means of travel with future benefits in the long run.This is also the direction that is taking place in Canada. Addressing this comment, I have come up with and found some signs of how biking is working and why he should consider it.

Bike lanes are good for individuals because:

Real estate values increase with the proximity of bike lanes ( quoted from the League of American Bicyclists )

Decreases obesity

Reduces pollution, and creates cleaner air that we breath

Bike lanes are making communities:

More noticable as ‘environmentally friendly cities’

Remove traffic and shorten budgets

Causing city management to cities create new infrastructure to comply to this growing travel alternative as well as enticing more citizens to travel by bike

Set up bike routes and bike maps which can attract tourists to their community

Bike Lanes and Paths Are the Rage Across America