Alrighty then, now that the ice has been broken let’s get down to business.
My name is Jamie, that is my fro. It does not have a name yet… suggestions? Sorry folks, but bozo has been reserved for someone special. Now, everyone has a story, as scary as it may be to share sometimes. So I figured if I am going to ask for a buck from total strangers across the internet until the end of time (yikes), you might want to know what this joker is all about. If not, there are donate links everywhere! #buckup
I can honestly say I am now in my happy place in life. Woot! However, like most stories there are a few twists and turns along a sometimes very bumpy path. So hopefully you’re along for the ride, even though I have already spoiled the ending. Ha!
Good things come from out of the blue. This is a saying you might have heard before, but I was lucky… no, fortunate enough to experience first hand when I aligned with Sue Larson, owner of Out of the Blue Seafood Market in Bayfield, Ontario 2 years ago. I was unhappy in my current job, which was coming to end after almost 15 years working from junior web developer to general manager of the company I was working for. I was making decent money, but felt I had hit my ceiling there and didn’t know where to turn next.
Good ol’ Mr. Ego was constantly repeating negative thoughts like, this is all you know, you don’t have the skills to succeed anywhere else, what will you do, blah… blah… blah. But I stomached up the courage to update my resume in preparation for the grueling process of “looking for a job”.
My boss at the time was trying to find employment for staff members before the eventual end, which I am forever grateful for. He said one day, why don’t you drive to Bayfield and hang out for 2 days and meet Sue. He knew she needed some help, and he knew my skill set, and thought it could be a good fit. I had just purchased a house and moved in a few months prior, so the commute went from 1 hour and 15 minutes to 35 minutes. Boom.
So, I met Sue and 2 days turned into 2 years and I never looked back!
I cut my income in half to learn how to monger those fish with one of the most incredible, loving, patient, supportive teachers out there. I was scared crapless not knowing how I was going to pay the bills, but just kept saying, the money will come, the money will come. Not that I care about the money at all, but you need it to pay for stuff.
My entire focus was now on Sue, and how I could help. After 2 days, Sue trusted me with the keys to her kingdom. So I scrubbed toilets, floors, sinks, cleaned fryers, and soooo much more! Sue has very high standards when it comes to everything she does and I definitely wanted to make her proud. She taught me how to work the seafood market, how to handle fresh fish, cook fish, smoke fish, and everything in between.
Now, you know those toys that you pull back and let zoom across the floor? That was now me, but I couldn’t be stopped.
Now it was time to introduce my skill set to the mix. So I started by rebranding the company, new design, print material, signage, pos system, marketing, website, more social media and then eventually took on accounting, bookkeeping, scheduling, payroll, costing, ordering, and more.
And then COVID hit.
Who would have thought we were deemed essential and crap would hit the fan, but in the best way possible. We got busy. Fast. Sue had created this perfect niche of fresh, quality, home cooked take out food and a grocery style seafood market that people started flocking too.
Now, Sue and I are business partners, friends and family for life. So we are using this momentum to expand the business into a fish empire, create more jobs, and eventually take over Lake Huron one fish at a time. We don’t pay ourselves much, but we enjoy what we do and have fun every day working like cats and dogs… but we eat like kings and queens!
A year ago I wanted to start focusing on mental health, which is when grothefro was born, but now I am back on course and more determined than ever. After a year of this madness, mental health has never been more important and my goal is to try and get people talking… using a giant head of hair as my springboard. This is just one way I want to give back to a life that has given me so much since I took this leap of faith.
Buuuuut…. it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Before I aligned with Sue from Out of the Blue she likes to put it, I was not in a good place. Unhappy in my long term marriage, unhappy in my long term job, and all around a negative Nancy. So stay tuned if you want definitive proof, it CAN get better. In my next post I peel off another layer of… emotional trauma… what were you thinking?