Ten Years, Wow!

CK Golf Turns 10
On November 1st, 2007 we decided to start CK Golf Solutions Ltd because we thought that we could help golf operators improve their businesses (and also because we wanted to move out of the snow in Whistler) 😉 We had a plan to give working for ourselves a try for one year. If it did not work out, then we would look for ‘real jobs’. At the time we did not know that ‘real jobs’ were those things people hated going to every day. And that once you found your own way of working  – and living – that there was no turning back. Bring on the next 10!

Terrific Clients
We would not have made it the first 10 years without a few lucky breaks and some terrific clients who have supported us and also been great fun to work with. We thank them all!

We also have learned that you don’t have to take (or keep) every job or client. Sometimes it is in both parties best interest to just be honest about it and part ways. We have realized that when we don’t see eye to eye and we don’t feel like we are providing value or being taken seriously then there is really no point. This is a hard lessen to learn. So for any new business out there, the quicker you can learn it the better.

What we do
We still get asked all the time ‘what do you actually do?’. The quick and dirty answer is ‘we help golf courses make more money.’ We have been using this line for years. In operational terms, we improve the financial bottom line of a golf course without the golf product suffering. Since we have been now doing this for 10 years we thought it was time to explain further so we will be writing a blog series with the top 5 things we have learned about each department of a golf operation – golf, grounds and food and beverage. Stay tuned.

Where we do it
Our business began in our home office in downtown Vancouver, which we loved. But in actual fact in the first 8 years we spent a great deal of time visiting golf courses throughout BC. We also learned how to stay productive from just about anywhere. There are always productive things that can be done in a car, airplane, boat, coffee shop, hotel lobby or other random place when waiting for just about anything. And as long as there is wifi at some point during each day the location does not matter – BC, Alberta, Canada, USA, Italy, France, Spain – bring on the world! So when we decided to become officially location independent on July 31st, 2016 it may have seemed like a huge leap for many, but for us it was just the next step. We love it and we are still doing it! 

Where to next
Locationally we are in two different places as this post goes live – Jeff is in Hinton, Alberta and Tara is in Winnipeg Manitoba. We will be driving south again shortly to visit more cities and states we have not seen yet (we are at 26 states and counting).

From a business standpoint, you know the old saying ‘ do what we do and not what we say’? Well, we have not been following our own advice. So this winter we will be focused on getting all of our platforms up to speed. We have recently done a website update (thanks Stacey) and will be re-launching our weekly newsletter series in January. When we write it here – we have to do it!

Thanks for Reading
We also want to thank everyone who reads our blogs, newsletters and social posts. Sometimes we rattle on a bit but hope that every once in a while we put a nugget of wisdom or great info out there!

 

We, Jeff and Tara Ciecko of CK Golf write two blogs, one is our 19th Hole Blog where we share personal experiences and the other an Industry Blog where we comment on general business and internet marketing best practices, sales strategies and give golf industry related opinions. We have owned CK Golf  for 10 years and provide marketing, social media and business services to the golf and other industries. As of August 2016 our life and our business have been ‘location independent’. If you have any questions about what we do or comments/suggestions about where we are, or happen to be in the same location as us please reach out and contact us anytime.