Daily Archives: July 19, 2010

On Personal Limitations

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So the other day, I sat down and redesigned my business cards. People in my program at school are encouraged to use them during networking events/client projects/employer opportunities, and it really is a good way to show people that yes, you are a designer and not just a programmer. Last year I threw together a batch of simple cards in a hurry, trying to get them done and printed before a big networking thing.

*Aside: my friend and I spent too much money at the Algonquin College printers to print them, and we both ended up with a stack of poorly-cut and generally botched up cards. We were told to pay a different price than what we were initially quoted, and the people there just didn’t seem to care. We learned our lesson– we won’t be getting our business cards done at Algonquin College EVER again. Her and I also wasted additional time having to go through all of our cards and weed out the good ones from the rest. We both ended up having to throw out quite a few.

Anyway. My business card from this batch (2009) had my name, year standing, school, email address, and website address on it. Pretty standard stuff. However, it also had the following: “Web designer/developer- (X)HTML, CSS, Javascript, SQL, PHP”. It is true that I do lots of webdesign, in those languages, and that it is a field in which I am looking for work. However, I can also do lots of other things– logo design, print media, software interfaces, flash design/development, photography, and other programming (Java and C++, to name a few).  Not to mention, I also enjoy traditional media like drawing and collage-making. So… why did I limit myself on my own business card to one field?

Because it’s what I know best? That’s not entirely true; I know quite a bit about other media, too. Because it’s what I’m used to? Not necessarily. I think it’s because that’s what I’ve seen myself as for a fairly long time. I got into webdesign 9 years ago, and I’ve been designing (and hopefully improving) ever since. And up until recently I even thought I was going to go into webdesign/development as a career. So I limited myself, albeit unconsciously. It was in my head as “this is the field I want to work in, so this is the only field I’ll ever find work in”. So I didn’t even want to look for other kinds of work (because I thought I’d fail at everything else), and thus my nice, narrow business card description was born.

It is this kind of unconscious conditioned mental limitation which is still following me around as I decide what I want to do as a career. I am toying with the idea of starting my own business, but what would I do? My limitations tell me that pursuing anything other than webdesign will lead to failure, or that I’ll never be good enough at anything else, or that I’ll never find work otherwise. I suspect many people have been plagued with these kinds of thoughts before, including those people who now run successful businesses, and that is a comforting thought. I think that’s the key– to replace the limitations with goals, and the negativity with optimism. One step at a time.

So when I sat down the other day to make my 2010-2011 cards, what did I put on them? “Web + Print + New Media — Designer and Developer”. Much better. The possibilities are endless :) .

*Aside #2: This time around, I wised up and used Moo for my cards. Same price, amazing quality. The only downside is you have to wait for your cards to ship (about two weeks for Canada), but it’s a small price to pay :) .

On The HST

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Happy Monday everyone! So, I realize that there is way too much going on in Canada right now regarding the new HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) which just came into effect in B.C. and Ontario, so I’m not going to get into the political/economical issues at all. I figure you can read the news and find those things out yourselves. However, I myself have recently had a few run-ins with the HST which I thought I’d share.

It’s probably worth mentioning that I live in Alberta at the moment, but I go to school in Ottawa (Ontario), so I knew I’d have to deal with the 13% HST monster eventually, I just didn’t think it would be before September. (Alberta is a great province, tax-wise– we don’t have PST (Provincial Sales Tax), and so we only pay the 5% GST (General Sales Tax) on things which are charged tax :D )

Firstly, I ordered some books from Amazon last month. When they came in, I was astonished to find out that I was charged HST on my order! There were a couple of problems with this– one, the HST hadn’t even officially come into effect yet, and two, the books were shipped to an Albertan in Alberta! I checked both my billing and shipping addresses on Amazon, and they were both Alberta addresses. I later discovered that Amazon had mistakenly applied the HST to ALL Canadian orders, regardless of province… tut tut, Amazon. They did fix this, but only after I’d already been charged $0.90 on my order in HST. Not a big deal for me, but people with bigger orders must have been pretty darn ticked off.

Secondly, I was reading my cell phone bill the other day, and my jaw fell open when I reached the “Taxes” section of the bill– $8.50 in tax! (My phone has an Ontario number and plan, so I knew it was subject to HST… but jeesh!) What’s even more confusing was the fact that some of the components of my plan are apparently subject to GST and not PST, while others are subject to PST and not GST (don’t ask me how this works, I would still like to call them and find out specifically which things are charged which tax), and others are subject to both (HST). So I was charged GST and PST and HST, all seperately! It was definitely a bit crazy.

EDIT: As Grahame (from the Ontario Ministry of Revenue) pointed out in the comments, this is actually due to the fact that my bill spans two months (i.e.: June 15 to July 15), and so I was charged GST and PST for the portion of my bill which occurred before the HST came into effect (on July 1), and HST for the portion after July 1. The total tax I paid was still 13%. Thanks, Grahame!

I’m not looking forwards to the HST when I go back to Ottawa in September. As an Alberta resident, I was already cringing at the “high” taxes I was paying there on food and supplies. Now, even though the total tax has not gone up (it’s still 13%), some things which were not taxed either by PST or GST (or both) before,  are now taxed. Sigh. At least school tuition is not subject to the HST (otherwise I’d be paying an additional $850 (roughly) more in taxes ON TOP OF the already-expensive tuition!). Thank goodness that that is not the case.

So in the meantime, I’ll enjoy my Alberta-ness for another month and a half, and try not to think about my incoming taxes. (As a point of interest– I don’t believe I’m  eligible for the HST refunds, since I’m not a true resident of Ontario. However, I do qualify for the GST refunds, so maybe (hopefully), that money will offset the extra PST I will not be compensated for).