Northwest Gold Coast

Cascade e-Commerce Solutions is one of over 100,000 brick and mortar businesses nationwide to have been recognized as a favorite place on Google.   Stop by our office and you’ll see the Google Maps decal in our front window.  Scan the decal with a cell phone (requires a cell phone that can scan a QR code) and you can access our business’ information in Google Maps, read any reviews, write a review or star our business as one of your own favorites in Google.

According to the letter that accompanied the decal, Google’s criterion for choosing our business as one of its favorite places included:

• the number of times Google users found our business listing between July 1 and September 30, 2009 (this number equates to a measurement of the popularity of the business’ Google Local Business Center Listing) and
• the number of times people requested driving directions and other information about our business.

In the future, Google may decide to send out more decals periodically to businesses that meet its criteria.  No purchase is necessary to receive a decal and it’s completely free to sign up for Google’s Local Businesss Center.  You can find out more information online at Google’s Local Business Center or contact us with questions.

Tags: CeSI News by Michelle Leonard
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Sea-Tac Airport takes the  Next Step in Avian Radar Development with Real-Time Bird Tracking System

In partnership with University of Illinois researchers and the Federal Aviation Administration, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is the first airport in the country to begin the use of a new advanced bird tracking system with real-time displays of bird activity on and around the airport. This enhanced technology will allow wildlife management staff to access live data as they patrol the airfield to minimize bird hazards.
 
Sea-Tac Airport has been the demonstration site for avian radar research since 2007. Three avian radars are currently installed at Sea-Tac, two on the top of the airport’s office building and one in the middle of the airfield between two runways.
 
“Sea-Tac is a leader in the evaluation of this technology,” said Dr. Edwin Herricks, the leader of the University of Illinois research program, a professor of civil and environmental engineering. “I don’t know where this program would be without the input and real-life evaluation efforts by the staff and support from the Port of Seattle.”
 
Through the FAA-designated Center of Excellence for Airport Technology (CEAT) at the University of Illinois, the latest milestone in the research program builds on equipment from Accipiter Radar Inc. that provides geographic displays of bird activity on Google Earth ™ maps.
 
“This technology will give us situational awareness of the entire airfield day or night – it will be like wearing a huge pair of binoculars,” said Steve Osmek, Sea-Tac Airport’s wildlife biologist. “Rather than depending only on what we can see from our particular location, we’ll be able to know if there are bird issues anywhere around the airfield so we can respond quickly and appropriately.”
 
For more information on the CEAT research, go to the University of Illinois Avian Radar Assessment Program at http://ceatasmp.cee.illinois.edu/
 
For more information on Sea-Tac Airport’s wildlife management programs, go to http://www.portseattle.org/community/environment/wildlife.shtml

Tags: CeSI News, Travel by admin
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Wesley Redding joined Cascade e-Commerce Solutions Inc. (CeSI) as an intern on October 8, 2009. He is currently a freshman attending Highline Big Picture High School. Wesley and his family reside in Kent, Washington.

States Wesley, “The reason that I am at CeSI is because I have always been interested in technology and I have wanted to learn more about how it works. There are some things that I have wanted to know more about. One is how video games are made. Another is how businesses do things like make websites and how they keep track of the work that has been done. Finally, I am here because I want to learn more about computers.”

Highline Big Picture High School is located in North SeaTac. Big Picture students attend school and study core subjects on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and then go to internships on Tuesdays and Thursdays. To obtain an internship, the student requests informational interviews with businesses in their areas of interest. Each interview lasts about 20-30 minutes. Then if the student likes a business or business person, the student requests a job shadow. Next if the student is still interested in that business, the student requests an internship set-up meeting with the student’s advisor (teacher) and the business. During that meeting the participants discuss whether the work at that business is relevant to the student’s interests and a good learning experience for the student.

Highline Big Picture students are not graded in a traditional way (i.e. A, A+, B, B- etc) instead, throughout the year, they present their work at 2-4 exhibitions. Each exhibition contains detailed documentation and proof of work performed, skills learned, and relationships developed.

If you are interested in learning more about Highline Big Picture High School, visit http://hsd401.org/ourschools/highschools/bigpicture/

Tags: CeSI News by admin
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There are definite advantages to having been a quiet child who preferred the company of senior adults to the company of peers. One of these advantages is having heard first hand the stories of my grandparents.

These stories help me remain hopeful in spite of the facts that:

• In December 2008 the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) announced that the United States has been in recession since December 2007.
• Many economists and financial advisors have stated that this recession could be the worst since the Great Depression (1929-1940).
• Many are saying that we may well be heading for a new depression.

I personally can attest to how the economy is impacting my family, business and many personal friends. Some have lost as much as 60% of their investments and others have lost or are in process of losing their jobs and are struggling to find new work or moving to keep jobs that are relocating.

However, I remain hopeful mainly because of faith in God and also because I remember the stories of my grandparents.

During the Great Depression my mother’s father went door to door and sorted through trash bins for used tin cans to sell back so he could buy evaporated milk for his two infant daughters. At the same time his own Finnish mother crocheted and sewed brightly colored “piece work” (aprons, slips, table cloths and doilies) to make money to help keep the family going. Then later as the family grew to include two boys, all six went each summer to farms around Portland, Oregon. They picked hops, green beans and any other produce that was in season just to make enough money to keep food on the table. The girls would move the plump baby brother along the row as they picked making certain to always keep the happy sun-bonneted child within arms’ reach.

At the same time, my paternal grandparents drove cross country in a Model T Ford with three children from Ithaca, New York to the Oregon Coast where a job was waiting in a lumber camp that was owned by my Irish great-grandfather. (The lumber camp was in an area that just a few years later was consumed by the Tillamook Burn.) Some of the dirt roads on that cross country trip were nothing more than elongated mud pits and so Grandpa and Grandma took turns driving the car and laying out plywood planks in front of the tires to drive over. They would then run back behind the car to pick up the planks and move them again to the front of the car and keep driving in this manner until the muddy stretch was passed. Then when they hit dry road the planks were tied to the top of the vehicle until another muddy stretch required their use again. Once the family arrived at the camp the five of them lived in a cabin tent (like those still sold today at Rainier Tents). Decades later Grandma would still say she was so proud because she had the “best tent in camp”. Afterall, it was “the only cabin that had lineoleum flooring” and she kept it “absolutely spotless”.

I also remember hearing the stories from both families regarding friends they made during those difficult times and how faith, friendship, and family got them through episodes of not even knowing how the next meal would be supplied. Friends like a couple who came from the old country (Italy) and later settled in Yamhill County and remained family friends until they passed in their eighties and nineties.

While I know that the economy is in serious trouble, I take comfort in knowing that plucky Americans before me have weathered even more troubled times and that they later remembered those times fondly. I also am confident that if today we keep faithful and continue to support one another and our community, we can carry on and help make an environment where children feel safe and loved.

I sincerely believe that we can move from a position of believing we are entitled to more than we can afford to being thankful for how God, friends and family help us carry on even through what we feel may be the worst of times.

On a lighter note I hope you enjoy the stories of simple pleasures that follow; as pets, cheese and music are comforts even in the worst of times.

Tags: CeSI News by Elizabeth Paulsen
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As a small business owner I am often asked what I think about the economy and whether our business is experiencing any negative consequences as a result of changes to the economy. I reply by saying, “I am very concerned about what is happening, especially because much of it is happening in Washington State and is and will impact people in my neighborhood especially those involved in banking, real estate and construction” and “No, our business is not experiencing negative consequences at this time – in fact, business has never been better.”

I remind people that our business has had several wonderful mentors (including Highline Small Business Development Center staff) who have encouraged us through other significant events like 9/11 and the resulting loss of travel related income to our airport-based city  as well as  national scandals in which politicians and corporations have failed to act with integrity. Our mentors have repeatedly advised us that when a downturn occurs, that is the time to upgrade equipment, send staff to courses that will advance their skills, hire more staff, get better organized and increase marketing and networking efforts.

In return we have passed this message on to our clients. And, happily, several of those client businesses that have run with this advice (including some of those who were the ones to give us the advice in the first place) are also experiencing their best year ever.

This month marks the 10th year of operation for our business, Cascade e-Commerce Solutions, Inc. And, given that I was once an elementary school teacher, I liken this phase of our development to an eager 5th grader. Like a 5th grader we:

1. have learned many basics,
2. are committed to continuing to learn and
3. are quite optimistic about our ability to help improve circumstances for our clients, staff and vendors.

Our business is experiencing a very positive season. We are very thankful to have found a monthly rhythm that works well for us. We are crazy busy the first week of the month reporting results to clients and performing monthly bookkeeping duties. Then in the next few weeks we are able to build out new websites and complete new projects that are in the works. Then in the last week of the month we are able to be creative and test new strategies.

Through the course of the year several clients were reporting that they were decreasing their print marketing budgets because yellow page books, newspaper, and snail mailings were not producing the new clients and sales that they once produced. These clients reported that most of their growth was a direct result of the Internet marketing we were coordinating. And these clients asked, “Can’t you do more for us if we transfer the savings from print marketing to you for more Internet marketing?”

At first I said, “No”, because I lacked the vision to see just how we could do that. And then one of our clients was so bold as to say, “You don’t want my money?” This prompted me to remember more of what our mentors have said over the years. “Let clients identify their needs and then grow to meet those needs.”

So, we sent staff to Highline Community College Federal Way Campus to improve web coding skills (XHTML, CSS and Dreamweaver classes) and to Google and other pay per click seminars to become more proficient at coordinating pay per click campaigns.

Staff returned pumped and ready to do more. We hired two more part-time staff and increased one part-time to full time and encouraged all staff to do more.

And the result? Clients are reporting even more increases in new business and are bumping up their online marketing through us even more.

It is wonderful to work in a field that is so measurable. We have the data to see the seasons and cycles that we and our clients are experiencing. We can see when an up tick is a typical seasonal up tick or when it is actually an improvement over prior years. We also can see when a downturn has started and so can jump in quickly to make modifications to turn things back around.

This harvest season, we are very thankful to God and to the mentors he has sent our way. We are also very thankful to our wonderful clients for encouraging us to do more. And we pray that God will continue to richly bless our mentors, clients and community even in the midst of a troubled economy.

Tags: CeSI News by Elizabeth Paulsen
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Michelle Leonard joined Cascade e-Commerce Solutions, Inc. (CeSI) as an Account Assistant in  September this year.    Michelle is  a native Western Washingtonian who loves to write and learn new things.    She resides with her husband, Todd, and two children  in Seattle, Washington.  

Michelle  has worked in  childcare, clerical  and retail positions in South King County.   She has also had the opportunity to experience living in other areas of the United States, such as Los Angeles, New York, and North and South Dakota.   Through out all her travels, she has found that the Northwest is where she feels she and her family belong, and will continue to live and make their home.  

Michelle’s passion is communicating effectively through electronic means.

Please join us in welcoming  Michelle to our team!

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Oksu Ellis joined Cascade e-Commerce Solutions, Inc. (CeSI) as an Account Assistant in January this year.   Oksu has a degree in Product Design from Cheoan National Technical Junior College, Cheoan, Korea.   Oksu’s husband, Tom is Chaplain at Federal Detention Center – SeaTac and together they have three daughters and reside in Federal Way, Washington.  

Oksu has worked in electronics and education-related firms and has experience in office administration, accounting and retail.

Oksu’s passion is adding value to every project she undertakes.   Whether she is building a list of phrases to test for a kayak tour company or identifying websites to request incoming links for a multi-location orthodontic practice, Oksu is on the lookout for ways to promote the products and services of CeSI clients.

One of Oksu’s first projects was to introduce CeSI’s staff to authentic Korean cuisine.   We hope you enjoy the article on Kokiri Restaurant.

Please join us in welcoming Oksu to our team!

Tags: CeSI News by admin
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