Desperately seeking work in the Four Corners! (Durango, Cortez: ski resort, section 8)

[Idunn]

With over 3,000,000 visitors annually to RMNP, Estes Park sees its share of tourists. Per usual, there are bound to be many arriving by mid-May, with commensurate need of seasonal restaurant and retail help, etc., before then.

In just that seasonal, this surely applies to all other resort areas in Colorado. Cortez will see some, but isn't exactly ground zero.

Would add that I understand how difficult this can be. No one wants to leave home. On a limited budget moving elsewhere also entails leaving whatever shelter one presently has, and quite likely camping out until a job is secured elsewhere (and even beyond, if building up a reserve towards the up front costs in two months rent, deposit, etc.). Not an easy thing, and probably most easily advocated by those never having to try it.

As said, best of wishes and luck.

[rushhournewb]

"Not an easy thing, and probably most easily advocated by those never having to try it."

Or advocated by those who have tried it and succeeded.

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Okay, hold your nose and read these, esp the one out in Peyton, on the prairie. I know it's not you cup of tea, but they are hiring here.

A belated thanks, Mike. Have been off the board for a while. I would love, love, love going back to a professional library job - even in the Peyton Greater Metro Area. Don't think I can do it anymore, tho. My stupid synapses now crackle instead of snap and my neurons have become oldwrongs. Whine, whine, whine, etc. I HAVE been thinking of trying for the "reasonable accomodation" route for my disability thing, but I just don't like the thought that I'd end up not pullling my fair share, and I hate playing the card (of any kind) game.

That said, it might at least be worth putting out some feelers and checking out if the library world could now accomodate someone like me more than I currently think it could. I know the profession's gone through some pretty incredible changes since I last worked in it.

As I posted before, I'm trying to remain open.

[BCG8]

Is Durango too far for you to drive? I know a lot of people on here say there's no jobs in Durango, but I see a lot of positions for the hotels. And there is a new one opening up sometime this year-Homewood Suites. Just an idea.

[Colorado Rambler]

Depends on what they'd pay me per hour and how many hours of work/wk they'd give me. As a rough rule of thumb, I figure a round trip to Durango at the moment will cost me @3.66 (+ or - a few cents)/gal. It's a 100 mile round trip each day, and I pretend that my truck gets 20 mpg. That's $18.00 (at the VERY least) for each time I drive over there. Desk Clerk jobs in both towns average about $8.00/hr with night auditors getting a little more. However you crunch the numbers, it's not the best deal to commute to Durango - unless I was offered night auditor at some posh place for $20/hr; 8 hrs/night and 4 or 5 nights a week. Unfortunately, they STILL haven't advertized that one!

Another idea I've been kicking around is starting an interiorscape service geared to the snappy private condos and expensive places of business in Telluride, but I'd base out of either Montrose or Ridgway, so I could get clients in those places too, along with Ouray. I actually used to do this in Colorado Springs and made an OK living - especially because I offered holiday floral services and decorations in addition to ny regular stock.

As far as I'm aware, I'd have little to no competition in the region. BUT (there's always a "but"), I'd need a tidy sum of money to buy my plants, containers, etc. and get the idea off the ground. And there's no guarantee I could make the biz work under the very different conditions that the West Slope offers vs what the Front Range did. What I need is an unexpected inheritance from some distant relative I've forgotten about somewhere. A head-on with a Halliburten energy exploration crew that no way is my fault and leaves me with rehab bills that Halliburten has to pay until I'm 90? Powerball? Catching a carp
at McPhee that has swallowed a diamond necklace that no one comes forth to claim? Going to sleep for now and quit worring about it until I come to 20 years from now after the stroke I'm going to have puts me into a deep coma? Quit with the giddy ideas, already?

[brightdoglover]

There are certainly florists for those towns- maybe they have additional capacity for what you're talking about? Seems it's always best to learn the deal on someone else's nickel before opening one's own shop.
What do I know. I'm a classic go-to-work every day drone (or, in my case, every night). Haven't had an entrepeneurial thought in my life.

[BCG8]

Yes, I agree, 50 miles each way isn't worth it. I commute half of that! BTW, I lost some jewelry in McPhee a little while back...

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

There are certainly florists for those towns- maybe they have additional capacity for what you're talking about? Seems it's always best to learn the deal on someone else's nickel before opening one's own shop.
What do I know. I'm a classic go-to-work every day drone (or, in my case, every night). Haven't had an entrepeneurial thought in my life.

Somehow or other, even Cortez manages to support one independently owned florist. Maybe he's really a front for the Navajo Drug Cartel, because I don't see how he can possibly compete with the huge floral department featured at our local City Market.

What ever is going on with all those roses (imported from COLUMBIA, I'll have you know), they really don't compete with interior landscaping outfits. If you've ever noticed a really nice atrium complete with a mock water fall and a host of glossy green tropical plants and even trees, that setting was created and now cared for by an interior landscaper.



The front offices of any number of businesses from banks to legal firms, as well as other snappy establishments like upscale restaurants use interior landscaping to give the business a more "green" and welcoming feel. A corner office with 3 or 4 well cared for, large, and unsual looking tropical plants can be a more desirable setting for an up and coming executive than the same office but without the greenery.

It is my feeling that Colorado's over priced ski resorts with their upper class business establishments (condo's and their rental offices, fancy restaurants, lawyers looking to making a killing off rich Texans, etc.) would be receptive to the idea of their public areas being filled with exotic green plants year round. Sure, every month a company can pay a florist to deliver its receptionist a dozen cut roses that will be dead in a week. At the end of a year the company will have nothing to show for the expense except a dozen empty cheap vases stuffed under the sink in the break room.

For the same investment they could lease to own an eye catching 6 foot fig tree or a ficus, etc., etc. The plant maintenance outfit guarantees that the plants will always be in good condition and they can always be exchanged for different varieties if the customer desires.

I loved doing that kind of work with plants, and I'm reasonably confident I could make a go of it if I selected the right town(s) to set up shop. It wouldn't even feel like work most of the time. If only I could catch that damn carp and sell off those emeralds he swallowed, so I'd have start-up money...

stoymonkey wrote: BTW, I lost some jewelry in McPhee a little while back...

Remind me to ignore your phone calls after I post that jewelry find in the Dolores Star "lost and found" section.

[Idunn]

Lovely picture. Reminds me of the interior landscaping routinely found in Earthship homes. An ideal setting there that welcomes such things, and their inhabitants so attuned.

Really adds something to any abode, commercial or residential. I'm reminded as well of an interior design shop that is ever so inviting with any number of plants and water features. In no more than walking through their door on a cold winter day one is suddenly enveloped in a slightly humid near jungle that is ever so pleasant.

Such features can be had with a small budget and creativity, mostly in insuring the plants have their preferred environment in proper light, warmth and so forth. But to make a business of it will require customers with slightly higher aspirations—and budget.

Cortez may not be the place for that. Durango could well be. You've mentioned Telluride, and there is certainly disposable money in that town. So part of this equation is surely in aiming for the market that can and will support this, even as anyone might enjoy it.

Florists can be found in many towns. Although the expertise of many is likely limited to cut flowers and what is found in their catalog. What you describe here goes well beyond that. Which is as well, in limiting the competition, and raising the potential of what is possible.

Love is the key. With that and a viable direction in mind you've but begun down a quite promising path.

[delta07]

I love the look of indoor landscaping, and when added to the right establishment, I do believe it can really enhance it. However, I'm thinking that one of the main reasons you don't see this in the ski resort areas of Colorado is because they are just that. To me, walking into a ski resort town should feel like such. I think warm, cozy lodges and big fireplaces. I don't think tropical plants. They would seem out of place. Now, if you could somehow create the lodge feeling with your indoor landscaping, then I think you might have a niche market. I'm thinking evergreen trees and plants. Ones you would find in the natural landscapes outside, buried in the snow. It might be more of a challenge, but it might be what you need to think about.