Meet the Writer

After writing theses blog entries for about one year, I thought I would introduce myself officially and tell you a little bit about who I am. My name is Meagan Stansfield, I am Wayne and Karla Clark's daughter and big sister to Davis. I am 24 years old and I live in Dryden, Ontario with my wonderful husband, Devin. We bought our house in 2011 and got married in 2012 after dating for 6 years - high school sweethearts. We have a cat name Cash, a dog named Charlie, and a baby on the way due to arrive in February. I have always known that I wanted to live close to my family, marry my best friend, settle down, and start a family at a young age. Luckily, this all came together for me just as I had dreamed it would. One thing that has always been a big unknown for me is "what I want to do when I grow up" as far as a career. I've always been envious of my husband. He has always wanted to be a teacher so he went away, got his education and is now a kindergarten teacher here in Dryden. He loves his job and is incredible at what he does. Choosing my own career path was not quite that easy.

Charlie the Pug                                           My Husband, Devin                                          and Cash Cat

I loved school because I loved the challenge and loved to learn. I was an honour roll student in high school and couldn't wait to get to University to keep learning more. I decided to pick up and move all the way across the province to Canada's Capital City, Ottawa the first fall after graduating high school. Ottawa is about a 23 hour drive from home. I had no idea what I wanted to study, but I thought maybe I could see myself working in the healthcare field so I applied and got accepted into health sciences. About one week in, I realized I couldn't see myself in the health care field at all and thought I could see myself doing something more business-oriented. I changed all of my classes over to business studies and after the first year, I realized that not one of my classes were grabbing my attention, I wasn't grasping the material, and I had no sort of career goal in mind. The next fall, I went back to my original plan and picked up health science courses again, thinking maybe I could see myself as a nurse. It only took a month or two to realize I was completely lost. I chose to quit school and move back home with the support of my parents and Devin and I worked at a local restaurant for the next 8 months. Devin continued with his schooling and I stayed home trying to find some direction.

My Awesome & Supportive Family

The next fall I moved back to Ottawa. Devin still had one year left of school and I needed to get away and do something. I wanted to complete some type of degree, get a career, and be done with it. I went to hair school for the year. Devin and I moved home when I was finished in 2011, bought our house, and I started working as a hairdresser in Dryden. Unfortunately, hairdressing didn't come to me naturally, I lacked in the creative department and the nerves never went away. I gave it a fair try, stuck it out for one year, but then started looking for other options. My next opportunity came along when I was doing a lady's hair at the salon. Her and her husband ran a very reputable investing firm in town and her son worked with them as a consultant. They were in desperate need of an office assistant. I mentioned that I had been thinking about getting back into the business field and the assisting job seemed to be a perfect fit; I started the next day. That job was exactly the change and challenge I had been looking for and I didn't look back to hairstyling, not even once.

I worked in that office for just over a year. It was an extremely busy and challenging job, but I really enjoyed it. I became very good friends with their son and to this day he and his wife are very close friends to Devin and I. I really liked my job and wanted to take it further. I took the Canadian Investment Funds Course, wrote my exam and passed. Next, I was going to take the LLQP to become licensed to sell insurance. While taking the mutual funds course, I had a nagging feeling that this career path wasn't for me either. The course didn't interest me and my job was starting to lose it's "magic". I finally had to admit to myself that selling mutual funds wasn't for me and I knew I didn't want to stay in an assisting position forever. It was time to start exploring yet more options.

I've always been very open with my parents. They've always been a great sounding board and they always give the best advice. They told me that I never had to be "stuck" doing something that I didn't enjoy and offered to employ me while I figured out what I wanted. Working for my parents was a thought that had never really crossed my mind. I guess it was something I had always overlooked as a career option. I had always just seen it as a lifestyle, not a job, and it wasn't really the type of lifestyle I could see for my husband and I. While we love to fish and hunt and love to be outdoors, we have other interests too.

I decided it couldn't hurt to learn a little more about my parents business and help them out where I could. My parents had always been asking me for help with social media. They wanted to promote their business on Facebook, but weren't quite sure how. In the evenings after coming home from the office I would poke away at their Facebook page making improvements and in turn I started generating more interest. I started exploring other avenues of marketing for their Resorts & Outposts and the next thing you knew, I was completely consumed in trying to market their businesses. I started learning more about the business-side of what they do. It was something that I had never taken an interest in before and all of a sudden it was all I wanted to learn about. I was working part time for them while keeping my job at the investing firm, but I was finding myself being drawn so much to my parents business that I ended up quitting my job and starting full-time for Mom and Dad in December of 2013.

I did lots of research and taught myself about blogging, advertising on Facebook, using Google Adwords, and other types of online marketing tools. I also did some work on their website and helped design some print ads and online ads. I also went to sports shows with them and had the busiest and most fun-filled winter that I've ever had. When I wasn't working on marketing their businesses, I was helping my Dad in the workshop or flying North to Kapikik Lake with him to work on the new outpost cabin. I learned so many hands-on skills, it was incredible. We also had some incredible adventures that I will remember forever. I realized that working for my parents in the tourism industry came to me very naturally. It was fulfilling and exciting and I wanted it as a long-term career option, not just something to get me by for now.

Adventures to Kapikik, Sports Shows, and Wood-Working in the Shop

Spring and summer brought on a huge change of pace and scenery to the day-to-day routine. My job description went from "marketeer" to minnow counter/sorter/deliverer, cabin cleaner,  flight organizer, bookkeeper, dock hand, and anything else that needed to be done between the minnow business, drive-in camps, stores, and outposts. My job changed every day and the summer FLEW by. I met so many great people and got to experience so much that I wouldn't have normally had the opportunity to. I did lots of flying with my Dad, stayed at lots of outposts, did more fishing than I ever had, and now I'm getting into hunting this fall. I've learned to appreciate not only my parent's businesses, but the lifestyle that they live. I've always loved spending time at the lake and to fish and hunt, so getting back into it felt so natural. My husband was able to join in lots too as he had the summer off. Despite the extremely busy summer, we were still able to do some camping with our friends, do some work on our house, and play on sports teams in town. Wintertime will allow us to spend even more quality time at home, time with our friends, and of course time to prepare for the little one! I have found a healthy balance between the "camp life" and the life that my husband and I imagined for ourselves and for our family.

Summer Adventures at Clark's Resorts & Outposts

Quitting school and changing jobs so many times were some of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. I am a very organized and goal-oriented type of person and I like to get things accomplished. The fact that I didn't finish my schooling is something that still bothers me, but it was hard to do without a career path in mind. One of my biggest goals was to earn a degree and land the perfect job. I cannot look back and say that anything about my journey has made much sense and did not go as planned, but somehow it led me to where I am today. I am realizing that it is so important to just be happy and not worry so much about what the future might hold.

I will continue to share my adventures on this blog and keep everyone updated on upgrades, changes, and fishing and hunting news at Clark's Resorts and Outposts. I hope you enjoy my stories and pictures as much as I enjoy sharing them.

Thank you for taking the time to get to know me better and my role with Clark's Resorts & Outposts.

Meagan Stansfield