Victor Richards

My current role at Kaitiaki is as a full-time field worker. I am a part of a small team that systematically searches remote areas of bush for invasive plants. We kill plants that are the most detrimental to the environment of each area. We also record how many of these high-priority plants we found, where they were, what stage of life they were in, and how big they were to give back to our contractors.

Kaitiaki specializes in rugged remote terrain. This means I have to prepare to work in a hazardous outdoor environment every day. We have to make sure we have all the correct equipment for any situation (work, personal, or accident-related) we have to constantly keep each other's safety in mind as we work on and near very steep (frequently vertical), unstable, and unpredictable terrain.

• Owning a business taught me many important skills, like how to juggle an intensive workload and meet deadlines
• I also developed marketing skills
• I created a unique aesthetic that set my brand out from the rest
• I then made interactive content that directed my viewers from our social media to my website, converting as many viewers into sales as possible
• This included interactive promotional videos on TikTok and Instagram
• I know my marketing plan worked extremely well as we sold out every release

I worked in Traffic Management for 6 months as a temp for AWF. Over the three months, I worked for a handful of companies, Fulton Hogan, Downer, Titan Traffic Management, and Isaacs I set up various sites including contraflows, stop/go's, and closures on a range of different types of roads, i.e state highways, inner city roads, and suburban back roads I became extremely confident in myself very quickly and gained a great understanding of the traffic management processes.

At Cheapskates I was required to assist every customer that came in, whether it was informing them on our products or casual small talk, I was fully running the shop floor on my days in.
When business was slow I would create interactive videos that streamlined our viewers on social media to our website or Instagram page filled with products, along with other types of advertisements and graphic designs. i.e. posters for events, business cards, and photo shoots for new items.

Working as a Skate instructor I would teach a range of students every week. My boss Leon set up a skate lesson at every skate park in the Tasman region over the school holidays. We promoted it through local news vendors and at the local skate shop. We set dates for each class at each skate park and welcomed all ages and abilities. When it was time for the classes we would come and supply a range of skateboards and protective wear. My role was to approach "students" I would have to analyse what level of skating they were at and what they wanted to learn. Weather it was teaching them about the skateboard and how it works, dropping in, or landing a kickflip etc. I would break down what they wanted to learn into steps and encourage/teach them their task/trick as best as I could while keeping them safe.