You Can Do That Here

Content is king! You’ve heard it a million and one times. If you can find a niche that people are keen on, and produce great content you’re well on your way to developing a big audience you can then monetize. Some of the earliest forms of entertaining content were letters sent home from travellers out exploring and enjoying new locations. Yes travel writing has always been popular and remains so in the modern era. Today rather than carrier pigeons, the pony express and snail mail of all sorts, travel media has found a natural home on the web and remains one of the most popular content types.

 In the mid 2000’s a couple of guys in Silicon Valley launched new online travel publication called Matador and a forum for travellers to connect. Carlo Alcos of Nelson, BC who happened to be traveling at the time, joined the forum and began reading articles. Shortly thereafter he thought “Hey I could write better articles than this!” Fast Forward eght years and he is the managing editor for the publication as well as director of an online school, breeding the next generation of content producers.

Maps. They get us where we need to go, help us discover new places and make the journey from where we are to where we want to be safer. From the earliest days of ancient man wandering beyond his cave, camp or tree to find food, fun and fortunes, knowing where you are in relation to where you need to be has been critical to mankind’s survival. If you’re a backcountry skier, maps can be a direct link between car and super sick lines. They can provide routes to good times as well as be a guide through dangerous terrain.

From the earliest days, explorers would set out into unexplored lands, charting their course as they went so that others could safely enjoy those same routes later. While not discovering new colonies, continents or cultures, Trevor Campbell of Nelson, BC has been on a personal lifelong mission to discover new secret stashes of the vertical powder filled variety. What began as collecting data and photos for his own personal backcountry snowboarding bible, eventually morphed into a new business. Now as one of just a handful of backcountry cartographers in the country he’s helping skiers and snowboarders alike access the goods in a safer way with his company Mighty Bighorn Maps.

Wastewater, sewage, bio matter… whatever you call it, there is a massive global need to figure out a better way to handle it. For thousands of years indigenous, sustainable man lived in largely closed loop energy systems much the way nature still does today. In such a loop there is no such thing as waste and energy simply transfers from one form to the next. With the advent of so called modern society’s disposable culture, human animal and agricultural wastewater has become a major environmental concern on a grand scale. Indeed more people die from the effects of untreated wastewater per year than AIDS or malaria. Unfortunately poop just doesn’t get the same headline coverage as the other two blockbuster causes.

Bill Powell of Grand Forks has had a lifelong attachment to the land whether during his early business years as a rancher in Australia, or living a sustainable lifestyle on his 10 acre plot in the Boundary Country. Several years ago he was turned on to a product that had the ability to reduce disease, clean up the environment and generate energy in the process. Indeed he saw an opportunity to both do right by Mother Nature and mankind and make a buck at the same time.

Content marketing. It has been the buzz world of the marketing industry for the last several years. As a strategy it has been around ever since the first person told a story to promote their product, themselves or anything for that matter. Indeed the ability to tell an engaging story to the right people in the right medium at the right time is truly an art unto itself. Mastering it can be the key to unlocking the doors through any wall separating you from your audience.

Tammy Everts has been in the content marketing world for two decades, long before it became the current it thing to do. She began as an avid reader, reading everything she could and reproducing the message in succinct digestible forms. From producing the must-read book as a child for girls who love horses through to content director for a silicon valley based company from her home in Nelson BC, Tammy is as valuable a resource you’ll find when it comes to producing amazingly engaging content.

Hi Podcast listeners, today we have another special 7 quick hits section with Colin Payne of Colin Payne Photography. Today we learn why Bob Marley’s revolution songs get him fired up and how he lives his live in pursuit of trusting “It,” even if he’s not yet entirely sure what “It” is.

Brevity, the sound bite, the easily digestible message. However you describe it, one of the key factors in marketing and selling just about anything, is the ability to quickly, concisely and effectively deliver a critical message about your product. As they say, a picture tells a thousand words, so what better way to sell your business than with a truly captivating photograph that sums up the message you’re trying to send in one stunning picture? Knowing how critical and effective a great photo can be for selling, and how great and inexpensive quality cameras have become we should be surprised that we still see anything less than perfect pictures out there. Whether it be on a Facebook Page, Instagram account, company website, brochure or magazine article, simply taking the time to get the perfect shot often gets lost in a super easy point, shoot and publish world.

Colin Payne of the South Slocan has first got drawn in to the world of photography on a trip through Europe as a way of documenting his adventures. Growing that talent with a journalism degree and photo journalism courses he went on to a career shooting and writing for community newspapers. After finding his way to, and falling in love with the Nelson, BC area, the community paper he worked for quickly closed. What came next was a forced entry into the entrepreneurship world or photography.

Hi Podcast listeners. As you heard in the full episode with Sean Smillie of Planet Fiction studios, chasing after your dream and doing what you love despite what the naysayers may say is critical to success and happiness. In the 7 quick hits section with Sean we explore everything from his favourite video game of all time to how he plans to one day be connected to everyone in the world.

Hi Podcast listeners. As you heard in the full episode with Jenna Raider and Shane Hainsworth from Nelson BC who are in the process of launching their new live broadcast TV show, the lineup, the two have a great energy. IN the 7 quick hits with Jenna and Shane we’ll dive into everything from who motivates them to be awesome, why their parents are their heroes, and how David Letterman, Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres may play a role in the future movie of their lives.

What is it you really love doing? I mean really love doing to the point that you could do it for days on end and not get tired of it? What if you could turn that into your full time job and career? What if you could tell all of the nay-sayers and folks telling you that you can’t do that, you have no training or formal education, “No! This is what I love to do. This is what I am awesome at, and I am going to do what it takes to follow my dreams!”

Sean Smillie grew up in Rossland, letting his imagination run wild, being inspired by the beautiful surroundings and awesome skiing, snowboarding and mountain biking that surrounded him. At an early age he fell in love with comics, books and movies, anything that fit with his imagination, creating new worlds, fantasies and adventure.  When he ran out of things to read he began writing his own stories and continuations of comics and stories he loved. That love of writing, untameable imagination and love for gaming stayed with him into his adult life. With perhaps a stroke of luck or just a recognized opportunity he was introduced to a big time gaming company through a snowboarding buddy and ended up getting hired on as a game tester. It was a unique and bold move thereafter that led to the rise of a prolific writing career, developing and designing big time video game titles. Now coming full circle he has moved back to Rossland and launched his own creative design / writing studio to push out more of his ideas, and is also teaching the next generation of writers from his home in the Kootenays.

 I sat down with Sean in the AZcreative studio in Rossland to hear his amazing tale.

Have you ever wanted to start your own show? Sure at various time throughout our lives whether it was child hood dreaming, sitting back with a beer at the pub or chatting with friends we've all had great ideas for the next TV hit. Of course those dreams were near impossible unless you happened to have your own TV production company and studio, or were able to convince someone who did to make your show. With the advent of high quality inexpensive video and audio recording technology in concert with the proliferation of broadband internet, that dream of making and perhaps starring in your own show is now a reality. Whereas in the past you needed huge resources to back up your big idea, today all it requires is the passion and energy, along with some skill in operating the technology, and you too can be a TV star.

Shane Hainsworth, and Jenna Raider have been dabbling in the arts and tech world their whole life. Three years , and a major evolution in technology after their first attempt at a live broadcast show, it was indeed a beer at the pub that spurred the launch of their new live broadcast show, that is about to hit the airwaves in a big way