This Christmas Eve day we invite you to join us by the virtual fireside and listen to the harrowing tale of a phone and advice on virtual assistants. Settle in with your vegnog and enjoy Joel’s description of Canadian winter. Only one more episode until the new year!

Quotes

• “When it comes to Christmas you can’t celebrate enough!”
• “What tangled globalist webs we weave.”
• “You’re virtual Liam Neeson.”
• “There are no rules in Canada.”

Talking Points

• Fancy Hands
• WP Curve
• 99designs
• Staying productive and efficient in a growing team
• Scolding the Winds by Joel Kelly

Gear Picks

• Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky
• Marpac DOHM Natural White Noise Machine

We finally got some questions! This week Chris and Joel talked about how they handle communications with their clients. Working in different environments means they both have different ways of handling their communications. This episode is packed full of great advice about client and contractor relations!

Quotes

• “Part of client relations is education.”
• “Clients communicate the way I want to communicate.”
• “There’s no such thing as a marketing emergency.”

Talking Points

• Mimosa (Wikipedia)

Gear Picks

• Tri-blade Spiralizer
• Swissmar Mandoline
• Balsam Pine Scented Candle

We’re helping you turn your hobbies and skills into things that pay the bills! One day we’ll settle on one new catch-phrase.

This week’s main talking point is team communication – Chris really loves email and asynchronous communication whereas Joel argues for the use of chat apps to eliminate internal emails. Chris also talks a bit about his troubles with taking a break from working, namely that he can’t seem to stop.

Quotes

• “Vegnog sounds like an alien from a bad movie.”
• “It’s French. Do you have that up in Canada?”
• “I look really good in 128KB per second.”

Talking Points

• Slack
• 15five

Gear Picks

• Fujitsu ScanSnap 1100
• Winsome Wood Bar Cart

This episode is all over the place. But you really only have yourself to blame for that, listener. This is what happens when you don’t send in any questions or discussion topics! The lesson to be learned from this episode is that we really do rely on listener input and alcohol to keep the show running smoothly.

Quotes

• “I think rebrands are good when the direction has changed but the logo and look haven’t caught up with that.”
• “Branding’s not just making your company pretty… it’s about the values.”
• “Help turn your hobbies into jobbies!”

Talking Points

• Soups of the Day in Halifax

Gear Picks

• Myths to Live By by Joseph Campbell
• Monster High “Abbey Bominable” Doll
• Amazon Fire TV Stick

We know you love when we talk about Apple stuff, so we did more of that this week. Chris also,surprisingly, finally got his Coin! We got a question from our audio editor, Steve, about the best ways to compile your online portfolio so we discussed site-builders like Squarespace and WordPress.

Quotes

• “If you want to go from idea to testing it out in less than an hour, Squarespace is perfect.”
• “Don’t necessarily feel like you have to do everything in one place.”

Talking Points

• Squarespace
• WordPress
• Coin

Gear Picks

• Yaktrax Walker Traction Cleats
• Miles Ahead by Miles Davis