Wondering what we’ve been up to this year? Staff adventures and cat pictures are detailed below, in this edition of What's Up On The Hill!

Stunning Scotland

Caitlin finally moved to Edinburgh! After talking about it for years, she got on a plane and arrived in beautiful Edinburgh this September. It is a wonderful city that she visited for the first time almost 5 years ago, and hasn’t stopped thinking about since. She is not abandoning Radar Hill, rest assured that blog posts detailing Radar Hill services and website tips will still be written. However instead of her working in the Pyramid, she will now be working near a Castle! The old buildings, history, accents, and stunning views were just too irresistible to stay away from. “I have my own flat in a great area of the city, and things are going great!”

Happy Hires

This summer welcomed Helena and Ramneet to our team, and we are glad that they are enjoying their time so far. Helena answered our call for an Administrative Assistant, and quickly learned that not only does Radar Hill create websites, but also delivers on making our clients a success. She helps keep the office running smoothly, whether it’s adding content, troubleshooting email issues, or arranging Dan and Shawn’s schedule. The first point of contact when you call the office, if she can make your day easier, she’d love to help.

Ramneet came to us as a programming co-op student from Camosun, and has been a great addition. She appreciates the friendly atmosphere and is an eager learner.

Exceptional Eclipse

In August a total solar eclipse occurred in a small geographical strip in the USA, and Shawn brought 3 of his daughters on a road trip to experience this majestic natural phenomenon. It turned into a three-week trip, because driving to Idaho isn’t so far from Utah, which isn’t too far from Las Vegas, which is close to California. It was a fantastic trip, and probably the longest that he has gone without doing work in 20 years, so a well-deserved vacation! The eclipse itself was absolutely stunning; the hours and hours of driving was definitely worth the 2 minutes of totality. Such a beautiful sight to behold that pictures cannot do it justice. Other highlights include the red Zion National Park in Utah, Disneyland, and Universal Studios. Over a year of planning went into this trip, and although arguments were had, it was a wonderful trip that they are so glad they took.

Kendra and Kittens

Kendra had a busy year, although it started painfully with a popped shoulder. A personal highlight was winning tickets from the Zone 91.3 for a Hollerado concert which included a meet & greet. She also has been volunteering with GVAC to help socialize the kittens they have up for adoption at the PetSmart at Uptown by cuddling and playing with them. From orange to red to purple, if you came into the office often you might have noticed her hair changing colours – unless you’re Dan in which case it took him 2 weeks to notice the bright red was gone.

Hot-Off-The-Press Helena

Just before starting at Radar Hill, Helena got to enjoy Las Vegas for the first time – although she doesn’t recommend going in June, unless you like 40+ degrees heat. A couple highlights were the thrill ride at the top of the Stratosphere, and the New York New York Rollercoaster. She also took advantage of the lovely West Coast summer weather and headed up to Lake Cowichan for weekend camping, with her favourite spots being Pine Point Campsite, and Nixon Creek.

Wonderful Workshops

We hosted 11 Google Partners Connect workshops this year, with subjects including the real estate, health services, and home services industries, which were a big success! These monthly events detailed what businesses could do to get ahead with their online advertising by targeting prospective clients. Stay tuned for more workshops in 2018!

Loreto Living

In April the Whitson family visited Loreto, Mexico, a beautiful little town on the Baja California Peninsula. Nathan was finishing high school and looking for work so Tracy and Roger thought they had better take a nice family vacation before he’s too busy. They stayed in a fantastic vacation home – see here to rent your own piece of paradise – for 10 fantastic days. While walking or biking around the developments it seemed like Disneyland sometimes being so clean and friendly, although the one complaint by Nathan and Sydney was that “there’s nowhere to spend money” which makes it a wonderful ‘fault’ when compared to actual Disneyland. With so much to do, from the beaches, eating, golfing, hiking, scuba diving and snorkeling, it was a great vacation and they can’t wait to go back.

Talented Toastmasters

Toastmasters runs the largest communications and leadership training program in the world. This year, Shawn made it through three levels to win the District 21, Division A Table Topics Contest. At these contests, each participant is brought on stage, given a surprise question or statement, and must speak on it for a timed two minutes. Table Topics as they are known, are great at improving one’s ability to think on the spot and to think extemporaneously in front of an audience.

Kendra participated in the 71st annual local Golden Gavel Novice Speakers competition, for people with less than one year of formal speaking practice. It was her first time participating, and she placed second!

Feel free to visit Kendra and Shawn’s Toastmaster Club at Uptown every second Wednesday if you’re interested in finding out more.

Irresistible Island

Andrea celebrated 14 years at Radar Hill in March, and with Helena concentrating on client contact, Andrea can focus on the accounting which makes everything run smoothly and efficiently for our clients. A personal highlight of the year was travelling with Garrett and Brielle up island to Nanaimo, Parksville, and Cathedral Grove where the trees are around 800 years old. They spent time visiting family, enjoying the beautiful beaches of Vancouver Island, and Christmas toy shopping in Coombs. Yes it was August when they went, but it’s always a good time to do some Christmas shopping!

Birthday and Beer

Dan turned 50, and to celebrate this milestone birthday he and his family went on a short trip down to the Oregon Coast. There were stunning views of the ocean, sand dunes, steam trains, and beer to keep the grownups happy!

Shawn’s Success

Shawn is a member of BNI, the world’s largest referral organisation. Every week his chapter, known as Valley Voices and comprised of local business owners, trades people, and professionals, get together to generate referrals. At the beginning of this year the members of Valley Voices considered him to be one of the most valuable players in the group and voted to award him the Master Networker of the Year, which he humbly received. A well deserved award, if there is a service you require, Shawn can readily refer you to the relevant person.

Networking is more than just shaking hands and passing out business cards.

The key is to build mutually beneficial business relationships, and to not make it all about yourself. Being a BNI member has given Shawn a platform to actively share ideas, contacts and, most importantly, business referrals with the world’s largest business networking organization.

On The Hill: Radar Hill Blog

What’s Up On The Hill: 2017 Recap