The Most Diverting Direct Mail Letter Ever Written

Diverting, sure.... But entertaining as heck!

click here to read


To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

Jackson & Associates Unveils New Web Site!

Jackson & Associates (Property Appraisers) in Courtenay has just unveiled its slick new web site. Architexture did the design and I wrote the content.

Check it out at www.ComoxValleyAppraisers.com!




To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

Mad Chef Café Serves Up ‘Insane Food With Attitude!’

If you’re crazy about great food, then the new Mad Chef Café, which opened November 30 in downtown Courtenay, will make you absolutely insane!

Owner Kevin Munroe, the Mad Chef himself, wants to shake up the Comox Valley’s dining scene, and the Mad Chef Café’s eclectic menu and feisty attitude is already off to a good start.

Munroe’s lunch and dinner menu features original creations like “Tongue Tantalizing Tiny Tuna Tacos,” a hearty soup known as “Sweet Curry Meets Fruit Fury” and a massive meat-lover’s clubwich appropriately named “Animals Taste Good.”

Munroe is especially proud of his selection of 10 different burgers – er, I mean “Crazy Mental Psychotic Insane Mad Chef Burgers” – which include chicken, duck, lamb, seafood and vegetarian varieties. Then there are the seven ciabatta-bread pizzas, including the “Hawaiian Hammer,” the “Double Ducker” and the “Chicken Chicka Wow Wow.” And you can’t leave without trying the Mad Chef’s “kick-ass beer cheese.”

“It’s insane food with attitude,” says Munroe, a red seal chef who’s worked the kitchens of Valley hot spots like Atlas Café, the Kingfisher Resort and the Pier Bistro. “It’s not your ordinary menu. It’s not Italian, it’s not Mexican, it’s just awesome food with no pretension.”

Breakfast offerings include a selection of puff pastry-wrapped “Boom Boom Bennies” and freshly baked treats like espresso cinnamon buns with caramel macchiato icing. The Mad Chef has even prepared a special menu for the young’uns, and every kid gets a special chef’s hat to colour and wear at home.

Even the drink selection goes beyond the ordinary. A full espresso bar serves up hot drinks like Mad Mists and Mad Mochas and, in addition to beers, wines and coolers, the Mad Chef has pioneered the Cotton Candy Martini, which is actually made with real cotton candy. Just rip it, dip it and sip it.

“We believe in fun dining,” says co-owner Shelley Bouchard. “There’s nothing worse than going out to a restaurant where you just don’t feel comfortable, where you have to watch how you sit and which fork you use. This isn’t that kind of place. It’s a place where you can relax, be yourself and just enjoy great food with great friends.”

Other ways the Mad Chef Café is shaking things up is by offering free downtown delivery and pioneering a slightly eccentric “Mad Chef Wear” clothing line.

Chef Munroe’s unique line of “clothing with attitude,” available exclusively at the Mad Chef Café, features such memorable captions as “Tofu Ninjas Kick Ass.” The graphic depicts three SpongeBob-esque tofu nuggets kicking, punching and hurling carrot nunchuks at a defenseless donkey.

Let the insanity begin.

The Mad Chef Café is located at 492 Fitzgerald Avenue, just off Fifth. Hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 to late on Friday and Saturday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 250-871-7622 or visit www.MadChefCafe.net.





To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

Subscribe for FREE to my new Marketing Newsletter!

I've been busy this week preparing content for my brand new Marketing Newsletter. The first issue is going to be released right after the holidays, and it's going to be great!

The focus of issue #1 will be how to boost your profits using direct mail. Why would I be writing about direct mail in the middle of the wet, cold winter? I have a very good reason....which I'll explain in the newsletter!

Simply click here to sign up for free!



To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

Executive Coaching Gaining Popularity in Comox Valley

Local professionals are starting to discover what the world’s top executives already know – that they can achieve their goals faster, raise their profits higher and take their careers further through executive coaching.

It wasn’t long ago that hiring a coach to improve business performance was regarded as a sign of failure – if you needed a coach, you must be in some sort of trouble. Today, however, executive coaching is a billion dollar industry, and corporations are increasingly making routine coaching a core component of executive development.

“Large corporations have realized that working with an executive coach is one of the simplest ways to improve productivity from their key personnel and achieve their organizational goals,” says Lori Hurst, a Certified Executive Coach based in the Comox Valley. “IBM had more than 60 coaches on staff as far back as 2005, and they’re not a company known for throwing away their money!”

Here in the Comox Valley and throughout Vancouver Island, says Hurst, more and more professionals are starting to use coaching to find creative solutions to new challenges, more effectively manage their time and increase their profits.

“Coaching is all about overcoming obstacles and achieving your goals while maintaining a healthy life/work balance,” says Hurst. “If you feel like you’ve reached a plateau, or you’re already successful but want to take that success to the next level, then an executive coach can help you get there.”

Lynne Brown, Chief Operating Officer of the United Way’s Central and Northern Vancouver Island division, hired Hurst last spring to help her through a turbulent transition period, and she’s been working with the Valley-based coach ever since.

“Our agency was in the process of expanding and it was difficult to focus our priorities and figure out where to put our energies,” says Brown. “There was so much coming at us from so many different directions that I was just a little bit frantic! The time with Lori really made me focus and forced me to think about my goals and priorities, and that was incredibly useful.

“Sometimes you need that outside person to hold you accountable,” says Brown. “Personally, I think it’s an excellent process that most people could benefit from. It’s a way of bringing yourself to where you want to be, and it’s worth every penny!”

To learn more about executive coaching and how it may benefit you or your company, call 250-898-5674 or visit www.LoriHurstCoaching.com.



To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

This Vancouver Island-born product will make our oceans greener!

I recently had the pleasure of working with Bob Elliott, co-creator of the FORS Bilge Oil Collector. This device is going to keep thousands of gallons of oil out of our oceans. Very cool stuff, and if you're a boat operator, you need to check this out.

By the way, I also wrote the copy for their new web site (designed by Havers Design). Check it out at www.ForsOilRecovery.com.


Island company launches world’s first eco-friendly bilge oil collector


A small Vancouver Island company has pioneered an innovative device that proponents say could prevent millions of litres of oil from entering the world’s oceans.

Fast Oil Recovery Systems (FORS), based in Qualicum Beach, will officially launch sales of its Bilge Oil Collector at this month’s Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle. The unassuming device, which is no larger than a box of mandarin oranges, is being hailed as the first truly eco-friendly solution to one of the world’s most damaging marine pollutants.

“Bilge oil has been killing marine wildlife and polluting our oceans for far too long,” says Bob Elliott, vice-president of FORS and the visionary behind the Bilge Oil Collector. “Our goal is to stop bilge oil pollution entirely by making it more convenient and cost effective for boat operators to protect the environment than to damage it.”

Bilge oil is generally a mixture of heavy fuel and lubricant oil that leaks out of a ship’s inboard engine and collects in the bilge, where it mixes with run-off water that must be somehow decontaminated before being pumped overboard.

Regulations have long been in place to prevent the discharge of oily water into the environment, including strict new U.S. Coast Guard standards for bilge oil/water separators that take effect November 12. Still, illegally dumped bilge oil accounts for four times the pollution of all the world’s oil spills and kills an estimated 300,000 seabirds every year off the eastern coast of Canada alone, according to the World Wildlife Federation.

“If one single drop of bilge oil enters our oceans, that’s too much,” says Elliott, noting that a spill the size of a quarter is enough to kill a bird.

Traditional methods for removing oil from bilge water, including absorbent pads and special filters, can cost boat operators more than $2,000 every year. While these systems do remove oil effectively, says Elliott, they’re expensive, and the oil-soaked pads and filters generally end up in a landfill where they continue to degrade the environment for years.

The FORS Bilge Oil Collector removes 99.9 per cent of the oil in a ship’s bilge and is the first system that actually collects the oil for recycling as a valuable resource. The device, which runs on solar power, can be programmed to automatically remove up to about eight litres of oil a day and requires no maintenance other than periodically emptying the reservoir.

“What’s unbelievable is that no one thought of this sooner,” says Elliott. “The Bilge Oil Collector generally pays for itself in just six months, and each unit is going to keep thousands of litres of oil out of our oceans and landfills over the course of its lifetime.

“The Coast Guard continually upgrades its environmental regulations to reflect advances in technology,” he adds. “I wouldn’t be surprised if, a few years from now, it’s illegal to throw oil-soaked pads into a landfill rather than recycle them.”

To learn more about the FORS Bilge Oil Collector, visit www.ForsOilRecovery.com or call 250-616-7817.




To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

Check Out My Latest Web Sites

Check out the latest web sites I built, one for Lori Hurst Professional Coaching and the other for Cumberland Veterinary Clinic.

I started offering "SEO Web Design" as a value-added service a couple of months ago and so far it's been going really well. My goal isn't to compete with professional web developers and designers, but to give my clients a more affordable option if they don't have a large budget for a web site and they just need something simple that works.

Basically what I tell them is that if they want a fancy, beautiful web site then I'd be happy to recommend a designer. But if they just need something that looks professional, is user-friendly, speaks directly to their target market and will get good results from the search engines, then I can help them out. By bundling professional writing, Search Engine Optimization and site design, they're able to get a good deal on a web site that works!

Anyways, check out Cumberland Veterinary Clinic and Lori Hurst Professional Coaching.
I wrote all of the copy and designed and built the sites themselves:

www.LoriHurstCoaching.com

www.cumberlandvet.ca



To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

This is one enthusiastic copywriter!

Here's a brief video of a young copywriter from Colorado talking about what you need to be a good writer. You're not going to learn all the ins and outs, or even just the ins, but this guy's entertaining and you might pick something up.

If nothing else, his enthusiasm might help you through your Monday.





To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

Zen Health Haven Offers Healing for Mind, Body & Soul

Zen Health Haven, Courtenay’s first and only fully integrated holistic wellness centre, celebrated its grand opening on Saturday, introducing Valley residents to a wealth of holistic health practitioners under one roof.

Visitors met the centre’s six holistic healthcare providers, who offer more than 12 different therapies within the 280-square metre centre. They also got the chance to tour the facility, which includes a central meeting and meditation room – The Haven – complete with skylight and ideal for workshops, yoga classes and quiet reflection.

The new owners of Zen Zero Juice Fountain, just next door, offered special discounts and free shots of wheatgrass juice during the event.

“What we’ve created is a welcoming space where people can find a complementary approach to solving health issues or simply maintaining wellness,” explains Peter Morrow, who co-founded the centre this summer with his wife Christine Ringer-Morrow. “What makes us unique is that we’re offering an integrated format, incorporating several different treatment options to better meet the needs of each individual.”

The therapies offered at the Zen Health Haven are wide-ranging, but they all have one thing in common – they take a holistic approach to optimal health and well-being.

Morrow, a health practitioner for more than 10 years, offers both live cell microscopy, where he identifies health issues by analyzing a single drop of blood, as well as an innovative new therapy called psychosomatic energetics (PSE). Pioneered in Austria by medical and naturopathic doctors, PSE finds and treats energy blocks in the autonomic nervous system that cause physical and emotional disharmony. Morrow is one of only 35 practitioners in North America trained in PSE at the certification level.

Christine Ringer-Morrow provides raw lifestyle nutritional consultations under the name Raw Blessings, and Julie Canning offers a number of preventative treatments including colon hydrotherapy, ionizing foot detoxification, pH analysis and iridology (analysis of the iris). Advanced computerized chiropractic technology, unique to Vancouver Island, is available from Dr. Gregory O. Eisert, and Linda Parker’s Good Vibrations fitness and healing studio features whole-body vibration technology, aromatherapy and infrared massage and sauna treatments.

The Centre even features the Comox Valley’s first “holistic financial planner,” Curtis Scoville, who takes his clients’ values and lifestyle goals into account before coming up with a plan to get them there.

“We’re all working toward giving the people of the Comox Valley the tools to obtain and maintain a healthy lifestyle,” says Morrow. “It’s all about balance. We empower people by giving them individualized treatment programs tailored to their specific needs and the current state of their health. What we offer acknowledges the importance of true health, or healing for the body, mind and soul.”

The Zen Health Haven is located at 407 Fifth Street, beside Zen Zero Juice Fountain, in downtown Courtenay. For more information, to book an appointment or to enquire about joining its team of practitioners, call 250-334-9363.

To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

Why does this interest you?

I need your help everybody: Here's your backgrounder:

Boats have a bilge that collects water that needs to be pumped out (or else the boat sinks). Usually there is wasted oil mixed with this water that needs to be separated before dumping the water. Traditionally, boat operators have used absorbent pads or filters, which are then sent to a landfill where they continue to degrade the environment.

Now, let's say there's a new product (developed on Vancouver Island) that collects the oil and then stores it so that the oil can be recycled instead of tossed in a landfill. It's a bit more expensive upfront but it saves money in about 6 months by eliminating the need for pads and filters.

Now your questions: Especially if you're not a boat operator, does this interest you? If so, what part of the story interests you? If you were to read about it in a newspaper or magazine, what angle would you like to see taken?


To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

Are You Green?

If not, here's a link to some useful tips on reducing your environmental footprint. If you're not already doing at least a few of them, give your head a shake.

http://technorati.com/lifestyle/green/article/ten-steps-closer-to-complete-green/



To learn about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

From Farm to Feast – Local Thanksgiving Turkeys Still Available

Looking for a succulent local touch to your Thanksgiving feast this weekend?

Tannadice Farms, in Courtenay, still has a few Thanksgiving turkeys available for pre-order. The turkeys, ranging in size from 12 to 25 pounds, are to be processed this weekend and will be ready for pick-up on Saturday, October 10.

Tannadice Farms has long been recognized for its ethical, healthful and sustainable farming methods. Its turkeys, like all of its animals, are ethically raised in the Comox Valley and fed the highest quality grains with no growth hormones, antibiotics or animal by-products.

To order your Tannadice Farms Thanksgiving turkey, or to learn more about Tannadice Farms, call Heather or Allen McWilliam at 250-338-8239.


To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

Do You Accept the New Comox Valley Currency? You Should!

I've recently joined up with a local group called Community Way that has developed a local currency. This is a terrific initiative that I think everybody in the Comox Valley should learn about. Not only does it strengthen the local economy by encouraging consumers to buy locally, but it helps raise real Canadian cash for local non-profits.

If you're a business, I strongly encourage you to sign up. (I should add here that I have no affiliation with Community Way other than as a participating business)

When you sign up, a donation of Community Way dollars is made to a local charity, and then they can take the initiative to get individuals to make Canadian dollar donations in return for Community Way dollars. So the charity ends up with Canadian dollars for their works, the individual gets great value back in return for a donation, and business owners get more business because they participate in the program.

Sooner or later our fossil-fuel lifestyle bubble is going to burst, and when it does we're going to be thankful that we encouraged our local producers and businesses. Driving down to Wal Mart to buy cheap goods shipped from China simply won't be an option.


What do you think of all this?


To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at http://www.ryanparton.ca/.

BodyNetix Brings Hot Yoga, Pilates to Comox Valley

BodyNetix, one of the ComoxValley’s hottest new businesses, is about to get even hotter.

The Valley’s 2008 New Business of the Year is renovating its Courtenay fitness studio to make room for, among other things, a brand new 93-square metre hot yoga studio.

The new addition will be only the second hot yoga studio in the Comox Valley and will be home to a unique new style of hot yoga classes starting in November.

“Our classes are really going to be tailored to men and women who don’t have a lot of time but who still want to get the fat-burning benefits of hot yoga,” says Chris Ketch, founder and co-owner of BodyNetix.

“Every athlete knows that peak performance occurs only once the body is completely warmed up,” he explains. “The temperature in a hot yoga studio is similar to our own body temperature, which accelerates many of the benefits of regular yoga, like fat loss and increased flexibility. With hot yoga, it’s not uncommon to lose centimeters of fat in a very short time.”

Below the new yoga studio, the expanded BodyNetix will also feature a new studio for Pilates, a series of gentle exercises that, like yoga, helps improve flexibility, strength and balance.

BodyNetix has recently hired well-known local fitness instructor Glenny Whelan to lead its yoga and Pilates classes, which also include a more traditional Hatha style of yoga. Whelan, who has taught yoga, Pilates and fitness classes for more than 20 years, has also created a combined yoga/Pilates fusion class, believed to be the first of its kind in the Comox Valley.

“The fusion class is going to blend together the best elements of yoga and Pilates,” says Carl Ketch, co-owner and head trainer at BodyNetix. “It will be a great introduction for someone who has never tried either, or maybe has tried one but not the other. It’s also going to be perfect for people looking to increase their core strength, improve their balance or build strong, lean muscles without looking like a weightlifter.”

BodyNetix still has space available in three yoga, Pilates and fusion classes in its current space starting in October. After November 1, BodyNetix expects to offer as many as 12 new classes in addition to its popular FitCamps and personal training options.

To learn more, or to register for classes, visit www.bodynetix.ca, call 250-218-0691 or visit the BodyNetix fitness studio at 2260 Cousins Avenue in Tin Town.

To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

Thunderbird Security First in Canada to Use Silver Trac Technology

Comox Valley, BC – Courtenay-based Thunderbird Security has become the first – and only – company in Canada to use a revolutionary new technology called SilverTrac that could change the way business owners think about commercial security.

The innovative software allows Thunderbird Security to offer its clients what no other security company can – 100 per cent accountability and, if necessary, airtight insurance claims.

“The most common concern that we hear from clients is how can they be sure that security guards actually check their premises when they’re supposed to,” says Liam Stackwood, founder and co-owner of Thunderbird Security. “The traditional ‘proof’ is to show a mountain of paperwork documenting your security patrols. But you can manipulate paperwork to say whatever you want.”

While most security companies themselves are reputable, says Stackwood, human nature dictates that there will be times when individual guards don’t perform the services as promised. With the SilverTrac system, Thunderbird Security can now give its clients irrefutable proof that its guards are actually conducting their required security patrols.

Developed in Orange County and introduced in Canada by Thunderbird Security just this summer, the SilverTrac system is as simple as it is innovative. Using a handheld mobile device, a security guard takes a time-stamped photo of a client’s property or premises. That photo is then automatically transferred to an online database that the client can access at any time.

Because individual guards can’t manipulate the photos or the time stamp in any way, the photos serve as an irrefutable record of surveillance to bolster any insurance claim.

“I’ve had clients come to us from other companies with a big stack of paperwork saying that guards had checked their premises, but their alarm system’s log showed that no one had entered the building,” says Stackwood. “It’s a bit of a disgrace, but it’s much more common than most people think. To insurance companies, it’s one big loophole.”

Thunderbird Security is currently in negotiations to become the exclusive SilverTrac licensing agent in Canada. If successful, the company will have exclusive rights to offer the system to other security companies across the country.

In addition to its security applications, the SilverTrac system could bring a number of benefits for other industries as well. In the U.S., for example, property managers use the SilverTrac software to streamline parking and maintenance issues.

For more information on Thunderbird Security or the SilverTrac system, visit www.thunderbirdsecurity.ca or call 250-339-6878.

To learn more about my professional copywriting services, visit my web site at www.ryanparton.ca.

Want to Network with Fellow Professionals and Help Fight Homelessness in the Comox Valley?

After checking out similar networking and referral groups like BNI, I've joined the BBRN group as a means to network with other Comox Valley professionals and give back to the community.

BBRN is an informal group that meets once a month over breakfast to chat about our businesses and discuss how we can use our resources to ease the burden of the homeless in the Comox Valley.

We're looking for more professionals to join the group, so if anyone's interested please send me an email at ryan@ryanparton.ca and I can arrange for you to check out a meeting.

Below is a letter sent out by the group's organizers, Scott and Mia Sutherland, explaining the concept of BBRN:


The Business By Referral Network is a group of likeminded businesses people
spearheaded through Mia Sutherland of Dynamic Body Concepts and Scott Suther-
land of Remax Comox. The mandate of the group is threefold: to create a referral
system between businesses within the group who have proven to provide excellent
service and product; to create new and interesting working relationships with other
service oriented businesses; to raise monies for the Action on Homeless as well as
other facets connected to homelessness within the Valley.

Our BBRN group started in January of 2009 and currently has a membership of 18.
Our goal is to increase the number to 30 by the end of 2009. To date we have donated
over $1300 to the Action on Homelessness, which has gone towards housing
as well as stocking the Medicare Van. The Medicare Van is run through the selfless
donation of time on behalf of one doctor, two nurses and a series of drivers.

Twice per year we use some of the additional monies raised through our monthly
dues, to get together as a group, along with spouses, and relax and enjoy each
other on a more informal basis. In August we had our first social function which was
held at TRIA Culinary Studio at Nature’s Way farm. Kathy Jerritt wined and dined
us with her cooking prowess and Pamela Keld sang and played the guitar. We had
a Bluemoon wine tasting and custom crepes to top things off.

Our monthly dues are $20 and they are payable in 6 month increments half of
which goes to The Action on Homelessness and the other half into our celebration
fund. We meet the first Monday of each month at 7:00am at the Whitespot on
Cliffe Ave.

We hope you will join our creative entrepreneurial group and help us fight homelessness
in the Comox Valley.


Mia and Scott Sutherland on behalf of all the members.



To learn more about my professional copywriting services,
visit www.ryanparton.ca.

Copywriting Success Summit 2009

I'm excited to announce that I've been invited to attend the Copywriters Success Summit 2009. The Summit is a series of live, online forums held throughout the month of October and features some of the greats in the industry, including Michael Slaunwhite, Peter Bowerman and Michael Stelzner.

I'm looking forward to sharing with my colleagues and clients the wealth of information I'm sure to learn at the summit.

You can learn all about at www.copywritingsummit.com.

Hot off the press, I've finally got my first rack card. This card was desgined by my friend Aaron Heppell at Brand and Bridge and printed by Classic Printers in Courtenay. I think it looks amazing. What do you think?