How would you like to check out the facilities of a popular tourist resort or view a home without having to leave the comfort of your living room?
If the idea of getting around without leaving home appeals to you, perhaps you should be talking to Matt Neilson.
Neilson, 16, has launched a new and somewhat novel business venture and if all goes well, he will soon be marketing his services via his own Web site to buyers and tourists throughout the district and beyond.
The business is called “Circular Solutions” and it offers something no one else in the district is doing in quite the same way.
“It’s a way of advertising a tourist resort or house with a 360-degree presentation,” explained Neilson.
“It allows you to look left or right, up and down. You can look at it on the Web site or on a CD ROM.”
So how exactly does it work? It starts with a conventional digital camera.
“I shoot a series of pictures around a full circle,” Neilson continued. “Then I bring them home and stitch them together so it looks like one, seamless picture.”
It’s not quite that simple, of course. In order to fully utilize the system, one must have either a Java reader or a software program called Quicktime. Many computers are already loaded with one or both of those programs and they are easy enough to find on the ’Net.
But the concept is simple enough to appeal to people who have the tools, but not the time. And that is what gave Neilson the idea.
What began as a project for his Entrepreneurial Studies at Rainy River High School eventually came to the attention of the Business Self-Help office in Kenora. Encouraged by Carmella Lassin in the Kenora office and Nancy Gillon in Fort Frances, he then entered his business plan in a contest for the Summer Company Award. That was in April. In May, learned he had won a $1,500 award, with the possibility of collecting another $1,500 when he submits his final results in September.
Neilson was also given $250 by the Rainy River Future Development Corporation and combined with $500 of his own money, he was in business.
He used the money to purchase a digital camera, a software program and a Web domain (www.circular-solutions.com) and as of yesterday (Tuesday), he had his first paying customer.
Neilson said he intends to keep the project going when he goes back to school in the fall and after that, who knows?
“I’m planning on going into engineering at university – possibly aeronautical engineering,” he said.
Perhaps the sky is indeed the limit.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
