Palmer Blog
December 5, 2014
I’ve been going to the TTC Annual Dinners for as long as I’ve had my business, 27 years. I enjoy seeing the people in the industry, many I’ve known for decades. The Annual Gala is steeped with tradition and it was a record attendance for the Royal York last night. The club attendance was about 50% more than the population of my home town of Hartland, NB. Ben Mulroney was the guest speaker, about a […]
November 7, 2014
On my way in to work each morning, I typically start my day with a drive thru coffee at Tim Hortons. I have 2 potential spots on my drive from the Kipling Queensway area in Toronto to the airport area. The first is on the south side of Queensway, just a few minutes down the road. I can see the drive thru lane as I approach the entrance and if it’s good, I pull into […]
June 9, 2014
I recently watched an old Pacino movie “Any Given Sunday”. Somewhere in the body of the film, there’s a motivational speech about how the game (in this case football) is won an inch at a time. It really stuck with me. After thinking more about it and relating it to my own experiences, I broke down life’s problem solving situations to 3 approaches: Door #1: We come up against an obstacle and by hanging with it, work our […]
February 14, 2013
At this stage of the game, I’m a better guitar player than a golfer. But, there are similarities in the two activities. What do improving your golf game and getting better at guitar have in common? Here are my thoughts: 1/ You’ve got to practice. Playing a lot certainly helps. But, without practise, you’re going to get stuck at a certain level and not advance…which might lead you to my next point… 2/ Stop trying […]
January 31, 2013
I’ve mentioned in previous blogs that I’m in the middle of a house renovation. One of the elements involved is replacing the 30 year old siding. There were two ugly old phone lines sweeping in over our newly constructed deck to an even uglier receptacle at the back of our house and I called Bell to see about moving them before installing the new siding. When I called, I got their automated attendant. No problem. […]
January 4, 2013
I asked a good friend and very successful one, what New Year’s resolutions she had made for 2013. Her answer: “None, why do it if you’re not going to make them happen and I never do”. That’s one approach that certainly protects your confidence and why set yourself up for failure? Because the holiday season is the one time of year that we can all take a break, I do tend to reflect and set […]
November 28, 2012
I am currently involved in an extensive home renovation. Because our condo sold in a matter of days, with a quick closing, we are now living mid-renovation and about a month behind schedule in our new home. For those of you who have gone through the process and like me, are about as handy as a fencepost, your fate rests in someone else’s hands. I have done the renovation thing several times before and I’m […]
I started Palmer Marketing at age 34 in January of 1988. I had 2 kids in diapers and a crazy idea about running my own company. I came from an entrepreneurial family and had no good reason to believe it wasn’t possible and as it happens, it was.
I’m definitely a country girl. I didn’t grow up in an actual town, village or hamlet. It was more like the middle of somewhere along Highway 28, surrounded by trees. Many thanks goes to my high school art teacher, Mr. Edwards, for inspiring me to choose this career path. With the realization that I actually could create art for a living, college lured me away from country life to the big city. Kitchener, to be exact, to study Graphic Design & Advertising at Conestoga College. Talk about beginning an adventure and a culture shock! Not staring at people with purple, green or some other wildly coloured hair was a bit of a challenge. City buses (lol thinking back), who knew they only stopped on the same side of the street as the bus stop sign!? Lesson learnt.
I love my work like I love summer. Why not? Summer is when I get to play my favorite sport—golf! Playing artist is a lot like playing golf. You need to be calm and cool under pressure if you ever hope to keep the ball in play; that’s rare for an artist. My best shots happen when I talk less and concentrate more; that’s not so rare for an artist.
I am the 8th of 9 children raised in Essex County outside of Windsor, Ontario. We lived on a gravel road, no sidewalks and our greatest adventures were in our own backyard. I still have friends I made in grade 1 and continue to stay in touch today. After graduating from the University of Windsor with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, I moved to the big city of Toronto and have worked most of my career in the printing industry. I got to know the folks at Palmer Marketing as a key supplier to them for over a decade.
To say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree would be an understatement in my family; at least when it comes to picking a career path. There isn’t a person in my immediate family that hasn’t at some point or another worked in the IT field. I guess there’s something in our DNA that pulls us towards computers.
