I don’t know about you – but I really enjoyed the overnight shift from Fall to Winter this year. I usually go into full hermit mode as soon as the first snow flake hits the ground – but I felt like I was ready for change and in fact was looking forward to it!
A lot has happened in the last couple months – but one of the highlights was definitely my daughter’s “take your kid to work day”. I’ve always looked forward to the opportunity of showing off what I do to my kids, so I circled the event in my calendar and counted down the days. It was nearly the big day when my daughter ripped my heart out and told me she was going to ask her friend’s mom if she could tag along with them instead since she’s an RCMP officer and my job is boring. Ouch.
Apparently sitting behind a computer in my home office all day meeting with clients, prospects or chatting with my team online is not her version of an exciting day! I’ll be honest – it hurt a little, but I convinced her that my job was fun and she agreed to hang out with me anyway…
So since hanging out in the home office was out – I figured we would have fun with this. Instead of spending the day behind a screen, we visited some of our clients to learn more about their business and what they do – and what an eye opening experience that was for both of us!
Sure – I have my plans as to what I would like my kids to be when they grow up. I would definitely like to have at least one take an interest in owning a business so that I can share what I’ve learnt in the last decade and a half with them. So far, my daughter has zero interest in entrepreneurship and has a ridiculously huge interest in “arts” – more specifically film acting.
Ever since seeing Millie Bobby Brown in Stranger Things – she’s been passionate on building a career in film. She’s taken a few theatre classes, but has found her true love in film acting. She’s auditioned for a few parts, and has us nearly convinced to get her an agent. This is more than a phase as she has a plan of moving to the city, finding a job and working at building out her acting career.
So what does this have to do with spending the day meeting our clients? Well, it turns out – arts is everywhere. And while I was hoping to encourage her to think about a different career path, she was instead encouraged to keep working hard at her dreams, and truth be told, I was encouraged to help her follow that dream! While the highlight of her day was getting to see how things worked backstage at Rainbow Stage – we also had a few eye opening conversations with some of our other clients.
One stop included a tour of a facility where arts plays a prominent role not only in attracting young visitors – but also in their programs. In fact one of their employees was a past theatre teacher! Learning what she does now and how she’s applied her experience was truly amazing.
We also met the CEO of a larger insurance brokerage that used to dance and was an extra in a feature film. She used to run a dance studio and strongly believes that this shaped her to become who she is today.
Another meeting included an employee in the economic development sector who used to be a movie director and how this helped her transition to her career in attracting and building the industry in Winnipeg. Her knowledge and experience in that field has allowed her to do what she loves.
So yeah – this day was very eye opening for me as well as my daughter. And come to think of it – I should have known! I also grew up with arts being a prominent part of my life. I used to be a tap dancer for 14 years and did theatre growing up. I like to think that my parents signed me up to dance since they couldn’t afford a third kid in hockey – but looking back, I am confident that performing on stage hundreds of times in front of live audiences and sacrificing hundreds of hours rehearsing made me who I am today. In fact – my best memories growing up include representing Canada in dance festivals.
This day with my daughter left me realizing just how important “art” truly is – and how it has shaped thousands of people become who they are today.
She still thinks my job is boring and that I just sit behind the computer “fixing computer stuff”, and I suppose that’s OK. As for her friend’s cool mom? She did a webinar on fingerprinting or something like that, behind a screen. 😉
