QC Gifts blog

At the ripe age of fifteen, I put on a visor and apron, beginning a twenty-year-long stint of working for the man. My journey went from fast food to retail, to corporate. With many ice cream cones, burgers, and film rolls (before the days of digital pictures) under my belt, I stumbled upon my first corporate job.

When I think of corporate jobs, my guess is most think of “office jobs” where you sit in a cubical, working in front of a screen all day. For me, that was how it started, but it certainly doesn’t have to be just on a computer.  

I started working my first corporate job at age of 20, it was 2001. I landed a job as a data entry clerk at Canada Life. I was one of a handful of university kids who entered data into a computer program for others to review.  It was a glorious undisturbed time when I could zone out, listening to music and typing away on a  computer.  My day-to-day life was hectic jumping between university, work, and friends, but they all seemed to work together really well.

Fast forward to university being over, and this is when I started a decade-long career at a university. The beauty of working at a large, unionized organization was the variety of work options available. During my time there, I spent the majority of it managing teams who had various roles and responsibilities. I found managing people was great because it gave me a balance between staring at a computer screen and interacting with people at work.

Working in an office is awesome for bouncing ideas off people- it’s simple when you can walk from one office to the next. Your teammates understand the terms, the acronyms, and the tone to address problem-solving with.  The feeling of a community of like-minded individuals was ever-present. Everyone works towards a common goal.

Corporate jobs in my experience have provided me with education experiences such as classes and conferences, as well as a pension, dental care, insurance, and a ton of other financial perks that I will be forever grateful for. Why would anyone want to move away from this? If I am honest, there are some not-so-ideal things about corporate life.

The cost of working corporate is your most valuable resource- time. In the news this past week, Elon Musk has been publicly sharing his expectations for staff to work long work days, in other words- commit their life to Twitter. This is an extreme example, but I too found that when I worked there was never enough time. We never stopped; the tires were constantly spinning to get MORE MORE MORE.

If you really want to test your limits for how much you can manage in a day, have kids. Before having children, a busy day was when I had to text and drink coffee at the same time (JJ). Throw a 6 and 9-year-old into the mix, and shit gets real fast.

Where I live, there is a disconnect between the education system and corporate life, and there is also a disconnect between corporate life and family life. School in Saskatchewan runs daily 9-3:30 pm Monday through Friday. Classes are held 200 days a year with over 50 days off for holidays, parent-teacher conferences, and what have you.  

Having so many days off school is one of the reasons why we decided to try a family home business. After being home with our kids during COVID it shed some light on some not-ideal routines at our home. For example, we had to start our days incredibly early to get the girls to before and after daycare.  It was so nice to let the kids sleep in an extra hour. PLUS, all those random days off, we didn’t have to use up all our banked holiday days on.

December 1 will be our first birthday at QCGifts.ca, over this short amount of time I have seen many differences. I am looking forward to seeing how this comparison evolves as we commit more time to our home business. I hope the positives out way the negatives!

We experienced the evolution of technology, as our trips to the library, changed to going online, to now, a dependency on YouTube tutorials.

 “I started woodworking partly because of economics and I also enjoy working with my hands designing things.”

This year has been a huge growth year for my home business QCGifts, as well as for myself personally, which I am extremely thankful for. Humor me as I reflect on this monumental year over this Thanksgiving break.

QCGifts opened its virtual doors in December 2021. With less than a year under our belt, the service and products have been an evolution as we navigate the market. It has been an informative year, to say the least.

Personally, my family is made up of two ferocious young girls ages 6 and 9, my hubby Gus and my loyal "prince" Vedder, the family dog. Thankfully Gus loves his job, he feels challenged and his work gives him a sense of purpose. My family is the most precious thing in my life that I feel extreme gratitude for.

For a time, having both Gus and I working full-time office jobs was manageable.  But then it wasn’t- and it was not fun. So, life has a way of pushing you in the direction you are meant to be in. Having to simplify our life, we sold our passion project - a 1929 home, we renovated top to bottom, in the heart of Lakeview. Being free of this financial responsibility, started my wheels turning. Fast forward to last fall, I found myself without a job and a gut feeling that now was the time to jump into self-employment.

So looking back at this year, there has been so much more to be thankful for, more than I could ever imagine. I am so thankful that my hubby- has supported this vision and helped every step of the way. Listening to me as I non-stop talk about ideas and all the details popping into my mind. He might have the nickname "Saint Gus," - my girls and I are really lucky.

A community of support has huddled around this vision. I am incredibly grateful to all the local merchants, artists, and artisans that took a chance on letting QCGifts represent them. Here is a list of all the small businesses in our community that helped us this year- forgive me if I forgot anyone! It's incredible all the local talent we have here!

• Val Moker - local artist
• Gord Moker - TEC Canada
• CJ Katz of Momentum Coffee
• Dale Lowe - wood carver extraordinaire
• Jay Wednesday - artist
• Lauren at Lovey + Sweets 
• Carin at the Ukrainian Coop
• Stephanie at Simpson Snacks
• Laura Steadman - artist
• Rebellion Breweries 
• Jerky Boyz
• Kait from The Fat Plant Farm 
• Melanie at SkinWishes
• Macarons by Mallory
• Diane Germann- cross-stitching guru
• Jules of Cuppa T
• Eric 33 1/3 Coffee Roasters
• Aimee of Aware House Books 
• Kyle at Sticks and Doodles
• Amber of Oxygen Yoga South Regina
• Candyce Bakke - The Style Academy and My Life Planner 
• Local artist Rhea Leibel 
• Kirk at Kitchen Gear
• Crystal of Olive's Branch Art Studio
• Elita Paterson- Awakening Practitioner
• Rod Nernberg - Wood Craftsman
• Judd of Paperback Beverage Company
• Kyla Clincke of Reloved Jewellery with a Past

We will be forever grateful for the support and collaboration over this first year. Without your incredible talent and passions, QCGifts is nothing.

Our mission is to create happiness in a box while supporting our local community. I am extremely thankful for the support we have received - it is what is keeping us going. We give huge thanks to those who have come out to events, purchased gift boxes, told friends and colleagues, shared posts, and so much more.

With QCGifts, when you buy a gift box, you are making each local merchant, artist, and artisan happy. The lucky person who receives this gift box will be super happy, and as the gift giver, I bet you will feel pretty happy too. Which then in turn makes me happy, which makes Gus happy.  And so on. I am pretty happy and thankful for that!  

Esther Hicks says it best - “The greatest gift you can ever give another person is your own happiness.”