Creative Connections
January 1st, 2023
As a writer and editor, I prefer to do most of my work alone in the quiet of my home office. But during the dark days of a Minnesota winter, working alone gets lonely and my ideas feel thin and uninspired. That’s why I attend literary conferences and classes each winter. The creative spark that […]
Success at every age
September 1st, 2022
There is a ritual (some would say a bad habit) where each generation complains about the generation that comes after it. “Young people today are (lazy, selfish, self-involved, distracted, demanding, impatient…fill in the blank).” Some young people are sometimes those things. And some older folks are sometimes those things too. But young or old, the […]
Adaptation
July 1st, 2022
If we humans are good at anything, it’s adapting to change. You might think I’m talking about pandemics, but I’m actually talking about business in general. Running a business means continuously adapting to forces both within and outside of your control. It’s about remaining flexible while having a strategic vision of your goals and constantly […]
Spreading the word
May 1st, 2022
Are your marketing efforts attracting the types of clients and projects you’re interested in? If not, how should you go about it? The first step, obviously, is creating quality projects. And then you need to get the word out to your desired clients. For Midwesterners like myself, tooting our own horns can feel uncomfortable, but […]
Success: Despite and because of
March 1st, 2022
The marine fabrication business often seems like a business of nothing but problems. Supply chain bottlenecks, a lack of employees, demanding customers and too little time to address the ever-growing waitlist. But it’s also a business filled with problem solvers. That’s the beauty of working with marine fabricators: they find ways to excel despite, and […]
Creative Problem Solvers
January 1st, 2018
Derek Steere and Lauren Cohen are the owners of San Juan Canvas Co., located in Friday Harbor, Wash. They have been in business for nine years and design and fabricate many custom marine canvas products including dodgers, hatch covers and enclosures. They also repair sails, fabricate a variety of canvas tote bags and build custom […]