NZ businessman Sir Bob Jones commented in his book Jones on Property that ‘hotels and motels are like farms; they are no bloody good – offering a life-style, lots of hard work and a rotten return.’ This little remark made me chuckle as I couldn’t agree with him more.
Author: Richard Christie
Richard Christie runs a small motel on the Kapiti Coast and also writes the Balance Transfers blog. He is interested in how businesses can play a role in improving environmental outcomes, and the challenges associated with doing so. Although this is a blog nominally about the topic of inflation, one of the key recurring questions this blog covers is 'what will be the financial cost and financial impact of climate change?' The blog covers micro economic and business-specific topics relating to the business landscape in New Zealand.
Decline in Wellington Rugby Sevens Tickets Leads to an 88% Drop in Revenue From Costume Hires – Interview with a Local Business
Over the seasons since 2014, the Costume Company has seen an overall drop of 88% revenue during the week leading up to the Rugby Sevens in Wellington.
Things to Consider Before Joining a BNI Chapter
So, you’ve been along to your first BNI meeting and seen how it works. A few days later someone from the chapter calls you up to ask if you’re interested in joining. What do you say?
You’ve asked around your business network but you can’t seem to get a clear fix on whether it has worked for others, and most importantly, whether it will work for you.
Continue reading “Things to Consider Before Joining a BNI Chapter”
Double the Productive Hours In Your Working Week Using the Prep System
I had the good fortune of going to boarding school and the discipline I learned there helped to instill some lifelong habits vis a vis time management.
Continue reading “Double the Productive Hours In Your Working Week Using the Prep System”
Why Even Write About Inflation, Anyhow?
When I was living in Australia I witnessed a discussion between two professionals about how much money they thought they should accumulate before entering permanent retirement.
Grow enough vegetables to feed your family every day of the growing season
When planning this article, I started by asking myself such questions as “how many onions does a typical adult eat each season” and “how much margin do I need to allow for yield problems such as pest control, weeds, poor watering etc” and finally “what percentage of adults actually eat onions”. Needless to say it was a very calculator-heavy method of divining the required yield for a standard household garden, and at the end of the day totally unreliable because the vegetable needs would vary heavily depending on the individual dietary preferences of each member of the household.
Continue reading “Grow enough vegetables to feed your family every day of the growing season”
Make your groceries go 20% further using a home made stock recipe
Stock is one of the cornerstones of our civilisation, yet few households actually regularly make it part of their routine to create the stuff, preferring instead to harvest the supermarket shelves and pay up to $4 a litre for the privilege. Little attention has in fact been paid to the how much a regular stock habit can save you, as well as nourishing yourself and your family and making your grocery budget stretch further.
Continue reading “Make your groceries go 20% further using a home made stock recipe”
Why let a spare window go to waste?
One thing I love about living in Otaki is that the town has a unique micro climate that is very conducive to growing a range of slightly unusual plants. This is part of the code behind the slightly ridiculous slogan ‘Welcome to Sunny Otaki’: the promise never seems to hold up when you’re actually physically present, but the region is nonetheless overall very conducive to gardening and growth.