Mark and Andrea- A welcome...and a warning!

2013 brings a year of change for HHL. Mike and Debby vandenHof have joined forces with new partners Mark and Andrea VanZoost, and since January 1^st they have been working hard at learning the ins and outs of the business. Not only are they learning product knowledge and chemistry, they are learning about how things run on a daily basis.

I wanted to take this opportunity to warn them for what they are in for… and wish them luck for the busy season which is coming soon!

1.       Beware of the Victoria Day Weekend Sale! Yes, we’ve told you it will be busy, but you will not understand HOW busy until you have experienced it first hand. This weekend can be fun, overwhelming, and a great way to get to meet our awesome customers  so wear comfortable shoes, bring food you can eat on the run, and don’t drink too much water as your bathroom breaks will be limited. (P.S. If you make it through these 3 days…you can make it through anything.)

2.       Products: Everywhere you look in HHL is a product (big or small), 1000’s of products that at some point you will know something about. All of that product information will most likely take over your brain, and don’t be surprised if it may push out some of the old (possibly useful) information you once have had. Your dreams will now be taken over by plumbing pieces, water tests, chemicals, and furniture sets.

3.       The Staff: You are joining a team, a family even… and with that comes many years of experience and opinions. We are happy to help you learn about o-rings, chemistry and the endless fabric choices for furniture, but we may take some encouraging and reassuring when you decide to change how our world works! We like to have fun, laugh, and remember…. we can easily be bribed with food.

 

“Andrea and Mark, I am so excited for the opportunity to learn from both of you! Your enthusiasm is contagious and I see myself benefiting greatly from your arrival. Welcome to the HHL family, and I look forward to all that is to come in 2013!”- Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer, Manager, Hot Tub and Furniture Divisions

“Andrea and Mark, welcome to the HHL Team, it’s going to be an awesome summer. Your enthusiasm is exciting and as Liana said ‘contagious’.” –Anne Hale, General Manager, Lifestyles Plaza

“I am very excited to have fresh faces in the Holland Home Leisure family! Welcome to the team Andrea and Mark. Your eagerness and approach to learning is encouraging us to ‘move our cheese’.”- Jennifer Kendall McGrath, Chemistry Manager

Talk soon,

Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer

Your new home away from home :)

I'm Back!

Do you know that feeling when you see someone you are close with, but don’t have the opportunity to see often,  and it feels like you just saw them yesterday?

That is how I feel! Wow, I was gone for 14 months on maternity leave, where did that time go? Strangely, I still remember how to do a water test with out even really thinking about it, I remember the code for a Beachcomber filter with out looking, and my office still feels like home!

I was interested to see how things had changed while I was gone. I was worried that I would feel like the odd one out since so much time has passed. There are new products, new management (since I’ve been gone), new partners, and the clock is in a new place. Guess what I’m having the hardest time adjusting to? You guessed it, the clock!

I am excited to work along side some wonderful people who welcomed me back with open arms, and I have been having a blast getting to know the new members of the HHL team. The HHL family has grown, and with that comes fresh new ideas on how to serve you better.

We are in the process of planning a great spring/summer season so keep an eye out for fun updates on our Facebook page, charity events, and our blog! If you are unfamiliar with the blog please take a few minutes to read through some posts from the past years.

I am looking forward to seeing some familiar faces in the upcoming season, and I am excited to welcoming you back into the store sometime soon.

-Liana vandenHof-Rhodenizer

Manager, Hot Tub & Outdoor Furniture Divisions

 

Having fun at work :)

Welcome Mark & Andrea

As I mentioned in my last Blog, the start of 2013 will bring some changes to our ownership team here at Holland Home Leisure.  Brad Sweet our business partner for the past 7 years will be moving on, while Mark & Andrea VanZoost will be joining our team.

We are excited at the potential as we look forward, and add youth and enthusiasm to our ownership team.  Both Mark and Andrea have a passion for backyard living, live by our concept of Vacation at Home, and have been customers of the Company for years.  Andrea has owned and operated her own business for a number of years, and has truly remarkable people skills, and will be missed in her prior profession.  Mark comes to us from the world of finance and has been a recognized performer in his peer group.  Mark has spent his entire career with the same institution, having spent time on Bay Street, but returning to his roots here in the valley seven years ago.  They were both seeking a new challenge in their career paths, and we feel that they will be a great fit here at Holland Home Leisure. 

As many of you know one of my favorite business books is “Who Moved my Cheese” by Spencer Johnson.  While it is true that change can provide challenges, I believe that change also provides opportunity.  As with all change this will provide us with some challenges, but there will also be a lot of new opportunities.  I am sure that in the next year our “cheese” will be moved often.  While I have always enjoyed moving other people’s cheese, I am not so fond of having my own cheese moved.  Mark & Andrea will bring new ideas into our business, and some of these ideas will be out of my own comfort zone, but I am looking forward to these challenges and opportunities as we build toward the future.

As we look forward to the future, Debby and I would like to welcome Mark & Andrea to the Holland Home leisure team.  We look forward to a great future together as we all help our friends and neighbours get the most out of their backyard leisure activities.  We invite you to stop by during the next few months to wish Brad well, and also to meet our new partners, Mark and Andrea.  Thank you all for your business, and for your continued support.

Mike

Saying Goodbye

As 2012 comes to a close, Holland Home Leisure will be experiencing some changes in our ownership team.  Our Business Partner Brad Sweet has decided to “Move On” and we will be welcoming Mark & Andrea Van Zoost as our new Business Partners.

It is hard to believe that it was 7 years ago that Brad decided that he wanted to make a career change and we welcomed him as our Business Partner.   Brad came to us with a marketing background, so he naturally led our marketing team.  Brad was the visionary behind our “Backyard Escapes” magazine, which we first produced for our 30^th anniversary in 2010.  The “Backyard Escapes” magazine is now being published by 20 dealers across the country, with a circulation of over 300,000 copies, making it the most widely distributed magazine in the Backyard Leisure Industry in Canada. 

Internally Brad led both our Hot Tub Division, and our Above Ground Pool Division.  Brad continued to push our belief in expanding the knowledge of our staff members in these divisions, helping to develop training days and seminars devoted to improving the overall sales experience, for our customers.  Brad was also instrumental in the planning and building stages of our new location here in New Minas.

Brad has been our voice at the table, at the local chapter of the “Pool & Hot Tub Council of Canada”.  Brad has served as Vice President of the Atlantic Chapter, and has been instrumental in developing industry training seminars, which have been hugely successful.  Brad was also an active participant in the growth of the LeisureScapes’ Group, Canada’s leading group of pool and backyard living professionals.   He understood the importance of “peer networking” and that the sharing of knowledge with your peers, helped strengthen the industry, plus also our own company.

Brad will be staying active in the company until the end of February to help make sure the transition will go as smoothly as possible.  We would like to say a huge “Thank You” for the past 7 years, and we will miss your involvement in the company.  We would like to wish you, Patricia and the Kids all the best as you look forward to the next stages of life.

Mike and Debby vandenHof

A New Addition

Yesterday Debby and I welcomed a new grandson into our family. Our youngest daughter Liana and her husband Sebastian are now proud parents, of a healthy baby boy, Hudson Diesel Rhodenizer.  Within an hour of his birth, we were able to announce his arrival to all our friends and most of our family.  Pictures were taken using our phone cameras and posted to social media sites, proudly introducing Hudson (or Baby H as he has been known to many in the months leading up to his birth) to the world.  We were also able to email announcements to friends around the world, with picture attachments, in a matter of minutes.  Soon congratulations were being posted on Facebook, or arriving by email.  Having said that when I got up yesterday morning I did still have to make a few phone calls, and the first one was to my father, who does not have a cell phone or computer, so the only way I could let him know about Hudson's birth was to use the old fashion land line, and he in turn congratulated all of us the old fashioned way, verbally. 

Today I started to wonder if in fact there were others that I should call, maybe those who are not friends on Facebook, or if they are friends they may not check Facebook daily, or even those who I just forgot to email or call; assuming they knew through social media.  Maybe that is one of the problems with society today, we are starting to relay more and more on newer technology  that we forget how to actually interact personally with our friends and family.  Oddly as I was writing this my brother Ralph called to congratulate me the old fashioned way, verbally and I must say I appreciated it.   I wonder what the world will be like when Baby H or I guess I should start calling him Hudson welcomes his first born into the world.  Will he relay on even newer technology that we cannot even begin to imagine, and then days later realize that his grumpy old Papa may not even know because he has not yet embraced this new technology.  I can only hope that this new unimagined technology does not farther remove us from interacting personally with those we love. 

As I have mentioned before in one of my blogs one of my favourite books is "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson, and in business I realise that for us to stay current we constantly need to Move Our Cheese around.  We need to embrace change, but I also realise that change is not always good, or should I say better.  There have been times that we tried something new only to find out that the old fashioned way was a better way to do it, somewhat like verbal communication for those really important moments in life. 

For now though I would like to welcome Hudson into our family, knowing that he will be loved by many people.  I would like to congratulate his parents Liana (who many of you know as she has written many of our blogs) and Sebastian, and also his Big Sister Kalana or fondly known as Lil K, as I know you will be the best big sister ever.  I would also like to congratulate his other grandparents Heather and Brian Rhodenizer.  Hudson we are thrilled to have you as part of our family.

- Mike

New Beginnings

As some of you may have heard, we are very pleased to have a new member of the Holland Home Leisure team. Anne Hale has joined us this month, taking on the position of New Minas location General Manager. She has only been with us a couple of weeks now, and it is easy to see that Anne’s fresh ideas will be a great asset to the company.

“I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself in the leisure industry. My name is Anne Hale, the newest member of the Holland Home Leisure team. I’ve been living in the Annapolis Valley my entire life, and it’s a wonderful place to reside in.

I am very excited to be starting my new position at Holland Home Leisure. I have worked in retail my entire career thus far, and look forward to making new acquaintances as well as meeting others in the leisure industry.

Although I have only been working at Holland Home Leisure for a short time, I believe their focus and commitment to their customers, staff, and business is truly inspirational. I look forward to being a member of this amazing team and getting to know our customers and helping them in their pursuit of creating a paradise in their own back yard.”  - Anne

Things are certainly changing here at HHL (or as Mike would say “our cheese is moving”) and we couldn’t be more excited for the upcoming season!

Welcome to the Holland Home Leisure team Anne!

2012 a New Beginning!

January is the month of new beginnings. Everyone is making attempts to change something about themselves in the start of the new year,  such as quitting smoking, spending less, and enjoying life more! While I never make an official New Year's resolution, it is still a time of year that I reflect on the things I could improve in.

My personal goal this year is to spend less on groceries per week, while still eating the same things. Don't worry you won't see me on Extreme Couponing anytime soon, but I am amazed what you can save with a little effort, and extra time on your hands! (Some may say I have too much time on my hands!) Did you know that companies send you coupons for free? Just saying!

I was so happy to read online that one of the most made resolutions for 2012 was to spend more time with your families. Coming from someone who barely leaves her house (my family may wish to spend less time with me?), I think it should be not just the time spent but the quality of the time.

Recently, it has become my pet peeve (8 months preggo hormone induced I'm sure) to look around my living room after dinner and to see the TV on, the lap top on, and a mobile device on (most likely checking FaceBook). Yes, here we are spending "time" together, and yes we are even in the same room, but are we spending quality time? No! Since December we have decided that after supper we will all do something together. We have quite the Sequence tournament set up in our kitchen! We laugh, we joke and we communicate in a way we wouldn't with technology surrounding us. It has improved the quality of our relationships to even just spend an hour of uninterrupted time as a group.

This year families should invest in quality time together. Imagine Sunday afternoons around the pool. peaceful snowy evenings in the hot tub, and conversations around the outdoor fire pit. It isn't the amount of minutes you spend under the same roof, it is the quality of those minutes. Holland Home Leisure can help you achieve  your own family getaway so everyday can feel like a holiday.
Stop into either location and check out the available options for 2012, plan ahead and make this the best year yet!!

Talk soon,
Liana Rhodenizer