A boxful of love.

I've recently celebrated my birthday, and one of the packages I received was a boxful of assorted gifts. Oooh, happy, happy, joy!

Let me share with you the delightful items in this box.

There are assorted chocolates 

in a ceramic bowl handmade by Francis Dick, of the Indigenous Artists group in Vancouver. Now, I want to eat thick, hearty soup, or piping hot Korean noodles.

There are two kinds of soap. Bliss. These two soap make me think of far away, exotic places, rooms with wide views and soft curtains in Arabian Nights, and roses being flung on stages to the singers, where operas are performed in Milan.

There is a charming notebook with plain paper! Look at this cover!

A delightful pen accompanies the notebook. What should I write? What should I draw? Oohhh, the possibilities are endless. Love letters. Songs. Short stories. Sketches.

With these gifts are three little extras. Two kinds of gift-wrapping paper and pine leaves. My cousin who sent the box suggested that I hang the leaves in the window, and the sun will make the scent stronger.

Now, do you know what all this makes me think about?

Gift boxes.

The different ways they can be created and sold.

There are many ideas here on the Money tab, scroll down to The Gift Giving Business.

But here's something extra. How about having an online shop where customers can pick and choose from the gifts items you offer, to include in the box? 

Boxes can be labelled with different names. Here are a few generic examples:

Congratulations.

I Care. 

Welcome.

Happy Birthday.

Baby Love.

Now, here's something else, rather unusual, you may want to consider giving to someone you seriously want to impress. A box labelled DREAMS.

In this box, you can include a calendar by lisi-tana. I kid you not. This calendar is rather special. The pictures are hand drawn on linen paper, and each month is mounted like a work of art. When the month is done, don't throw it away...the back is blank. Imagine all the plans, ideas, sketches that can be done on this blank "canvas". Years later, this is an excellent way of looking back, of sharing your experiences, thoughts, hopes, with future generations.

With so many people job-hunting, and fewer jobs being available, why not create your own business? Go on, give it a try! The possibilities are....................endless......................

Hurricanes, homes. And fund-raising.

I’ve been looking at the damage that hurricanes and typhoons have wrought in Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba and the Philippines. Horrifying. I’ve run out of adjectives to describe what I’ve seen.

How did we go from few low-speed hurricanes to almost a dangerous one every year now?

How will this type of weather affect farms, the availability of food, tourism in the Caribbean? Will it, in the long run, have any impact on the lives of people in other parts of the world?

These questions and more have been running through my head for days.

I’ve been thinking about small businesses too. How many people, working for themselves from home, will lose income if their homes are destroyed?

How do we build stronger homes? (What if hurricanes grow even fiercer and fly with the strength of an asteroid falling to earth?)

Can we develop building materials and methods that can withstand high speed hurricanes?

I am no expert on any of this but, perhaps, there are readers of this blog, there are scientists, innovators, who may be able to find solutions that can calm the winds, and can develop materials to secure homes and the land and food, in the future.

In the meantime, here’s something we can all do: donate to help those struggling to rebuild. The people in Jamaica, Haiti, the Philippines need our help. 

Please check the MONEY TAB for fund raising (and other) ideas to help.

The healing power of food and plants.

Recently, I’ve been retelling two folktales about food. One story describes the joy of having abundant food. The next story talks about poverty and what food shortage can cause people to do to children.

You can read them here: The joy and tragedy of food.

As usual, This led me down other paths of thoughts, the main one being about the healing power of food and plants.

I’ve known people who have lowered their cholesterol by simply choosing the right food, and exercising. I’ve seen others stay healthy for years by eating the right types of food and herbs.

Speaking of herbs…I’ve solved a problem that’s been troubling my mother. For months, she’d been complaining about itchy scalp. I have no idea what was causing the problem. We consulted her doctor, we tried many solutions. Nothing worked. Finally, out of desperation, I picked up a rosemary and mint serum in the hair products section in the supermarket. I treated her scalp with the serum and, lo and behold, the itching has eased up…in fact, it’s more than eased up, it’s gone for days until she washes her hair.

Thinking further about this, I remember a friend telling me about Ayurvedic healing. And another telling me about the doctor she once worked with…the doctor practised homeopathy. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m very grateful to doctors and modern medicine, but I do believe that nature also offers healing products, and with the right training, a person can guide a patient towards a healthy lifestyle.

Have you ever thought of getting into a business that’s based on healthy food and plants? There’s a huge market for food that’s not only good for us…it’s delicious.

Go on, don’t squash your dreams. Give it a try! The possibilities are endless. Later this week, I will share some ideas in the Money Tab.

Travel!

I’ve recently been writing about a book I enjoyed when an idea struck me. 

First, let me explain a little about the book.

The book is set in Jamaica during World World Two. The story takes you from a plantation home owned by a wealthy white family, through delightful landscape, into a community deep in the mountains. In the story, there are beaches. Old city streets. There’s a verandah. A church. A school. An inn. 

The community in the mountains is made up of descendants of runaway, enslaved people. I have been there!! Spent an evening hiking, eating, sleeping, hiking some more the next day.

Writing about the book I thought: what if someone were to start a book tourism business for book lovers? Take them to places mentioned in the book? Eat the food the people ate?

And for those of us who can’t afford to travel to other countries…wouldn’t it be great if the enterprising person recreated scenes from the book, served the food, drinks, played the music in some book setting? Have characters dressed up like those in the book of the day…or month?

For more ideas starting a book loving business, check the money list.

Ahhhh. The possibilities are endless.

Flowers.

Recently, my mother received bunches of flowers for her birthday. 

This got me thinking about flowers, their importance to us, to earth. 

Would you believe…there are men who think that flowers are a waste of garden space? This, of course, gets me huffed up, jumping on to my soapbox and lecturing them about the importance of flowers to the birds, the bees and all the other insects. 

We two-legged critters need them also. Simply by being around them, they soothe us, help to reduce stress, anxiety, lower blood pressure. Can you imagine our world without the fragrance and beauty of flowers? As John Denver used to sing, their loveliness can cheer a cloudy day.

Flowers heal us physically too. They help us sleep, fight off infection; they’re good for digestion, for soothing away pain and can treat circulation problems. The anti-inflammatory properties of certain flowers are well-known in the herbal healing world. 

Hmm. See where I’m going with flowers and business? The flower industry is massive, yet there can never be enough people in this business, and the potential to earn from one niche only is huge.

Yes! The possibilities are endless! Go on, give it a try.

I’ll be sharing some ideas in the money list soon! Check back later…

SweetBabyTreats.

Imagine this:

The rain’s soaked you to the bone, you’re home now, you’ve had a warm shower, you’re in comfy clothes. It’s Friday evening and you don’t feel like going anywhere. You’ve had some hot soup with sour dough bread. 

Now, you want to curl up with a nice book. Or it’s you and Netflix.

Big happy SIGH!!

You drink hot cocoa or milky tea, or coffee, and you indulge in some sweetbabytreats which you can find on Instagram. You’ve ordered this in advance and you keep it in your fridge for a day just like this!

Baby! This is life!

See? This is what I’m talking about…you can take a skill and turn it into a small business. 

Go for it, the possibilities are endless!

You Don’t Need To Be A Writer To Sell Words!!

Hello!! On Sunday, on Substack, I was writing about the way writers are looked down upon in certain cultures. I still need to think about it, why writers…more specifically, book authors…are seen as time-wasters. Unless, of course, they make it big!!

Humph!! Come to think of it, I’ve seen authors online saying that, despite making a good living thanks to their books, their families have asked them, “When are you going to get a proper job?” This, even though these authors make more money than their families.

Oh well! As one woman told me, “To each his own.”

That said, if you love words but don’t want to actually write, have you ever thought of running a business where you play with words, sell words, invite the crowd in to take part in your passion?

And I don’t mean bookstores. Or songwriting. Or even getting paid to write blogs and emails for others who don’t want generic AI slop.

It involves bringing people together, playing games, helping singles to meet, match-making.

Listen up! There are so many lonely people out there, this can be your chance to help people find new friends, and inspire them to be more active in their community. Also, with the threat of jobs disappearing thanks to AI, this your chance to create something of your own, something AI cannot do…bringing the community together in joy.

The possibilities are endless!

P.S. Have fun thinking up ideas for using this other than for writing with!!