In the last 12 months we’ve quit our corporate jobs, bought a ski chalet business in Meribel, learned how to run our own business, recruited staff and successfully run two chalets. We’re both about to turn 30 and neither of us have a job (as such). What do we do now?
That is the question we have been asking ourselves since the end of the last season and our return to the UK. So far we have caught up with friends and family, hit the mountain biking trails of the Kielder Forest and the 7 Stanes and relaxed a little but the nagging question has been how we drive our business forward and really make it our own.
Amongst our ideas so far was a decision to put pen to paper (well, fingers to keyboard) and write about some of our activities, concerns, ponderings, successes and challenges as we run the business. Alpine Ethos 2.0 is the result, a weekly blog about what we’re up to, information about the chalet and travel industry and snow business in general, cookery, economic and environmental issues and more. If all goes to plan the blog should be as informative as much as it is an outlet for our weekly travails.
This week has seen us knuckle down and spend a good proportion of our time in research mode. A new website has been on our radar since buying the business and having discovered the cost (ballpark £4k) of a shiny new one Andy has been geeking away. HTML and CSS have become his new specialist subject (previously pub quiz trivia) and he seems to be making some progress. Heather is writing copy for the site and reading ‘Anyone Can Do It’, the story of the founders of the Coffee Republic chain of coffee houses. It’s a story and entrepreneur’s handbook and judging by the amount of time spent scribbling down notes while she reads it is proving useful.
The next blog is due this time next Friday by which point England will be safely on their way to qualifying for the next round of the WC, we’ll be back at Alpine Ethos HQ in Leeds and a week closer to the big 30. Two of those are definitely going to happen anyway.
Andy, Heather and Benny.
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