Sunday, February 17, 2013

Now What Do I Do? 5 Steps Toward Sowing for Growing

Speaking to groups, over the past several years, I found there is one recurring question that inevitably comes up when people discover their passion; "How do I grow my passion?"  I think it takes just a bit of "sowing seeds" no different than if you were trying to grow a vegetable or flower garden. 

If you begin to see your ideas as seeds and think of your desination as a garden, you can begin to take the steps to having a green thumb or in this case a successful product. We will look at how this applies to three different ideas: opening a cupcake bakery, writing a book or becoming a golfer just as examples.


#1 GATHER YOUR RESOURCES
 Before you plant, you might look at where you want to plant your garden and determine if the area will get enough or too much sun, if the soil needs to be conditioned first or if you need additional nutrients. You look at the seed packet to see what the directions say for best results and you look at your idea and determine what the ideal situation would be for best results.

 If you are planning on baking cupcakes that means looking at your ingredients and bakeware and determining if you have the right equipment, for someone who wants to write a book, that might mean making sure you have a journal, computer, even a pad and pencil handy when you think of ideas and making a list of all the things you would enjoy writing about and for the aspiring golfer, that might mean buying some used clubs and getting some golf balls.
A tray used in horticulture (for sowing and ta...
A tray used in horticulture (for sowing and taking plant cuttings) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

#2 PLANT
You can't grow seeds without putting them into some ground. You might want to start small and grow them indoors or take your chances on just digging outside. But you will have to plant the seeds somewhere to ever have anything that resembles a garden. So, you will have to start your ideas, either on a small scale or perhaps just digging into the idea and beginning to work at growing it to get it off the ground.


For the person who wants to run a cupcake bakery that means BAKING.
For the person who wants to write a book that means WRITING
For the person who wants to become better at golfing, that means HITTING SOME BALLS.

REMEMBER...NO SOW, NO GROW



#3 WATER 
Great gardens require a little extra effort to continue to produce blooms. What nature doesn't naturally provide you will have to! You need to make the situation as ideal as possible for the best results.

If you have been getting some positive responses from family and friends, consider looking into other venues to spread your goodies around. Look at the local ordinances that govern selling food products and see if you can begin to offer your cupcakes to bed and breakfasts, specialty shops, caterers etc. If you have started writing think about sharing your thoughts with a blog, or even submitting articles to magazines or periodicals. If you have been going to the driving range and hitting some golf balls, start to think about playing nine holes on a beginner's course.


#4 WEED and FEED
Even the most abundant garden must be weeded, protected from insects that sabotage growth and fertilized to be stronger. Maybe this means, taking some classes in baking or business at the local community college or learning more about preservatives, cooking for special needs, presentation of foods. Like the weeds in the garden, the weak spots in writing can be eliminated by taking some classes or even joining writer's groups and having your writing critiqued and learning about character development, editing and publishing. By now, it might be time to take a few golfing lessons to work on a technique that helps "weed out" the problem areas so you can become a more consistent golfer and you may want to start thinking about getting some clubs specialized for you!

#5 SHARE YOUR ABUNDANCE
Think about how special offering someone without a garden a basket full of fresh vegetables or a vase full of beautiful blooms would be. Same with your products. Think about who might be wanting to receive your baked goods as a monthly treat. Perhaps you can become the official cupcake baker for a once monthly office luncheon, or nursing home treat or you can affiliate with someone to take treats into a local shelter regularly. Affiliate with a cause you are passionate about and write an article for their blog or website to help further their mission or consider offering to help mentor some students become better writers. Maybe you could participate in a charity golf event where how you golf isn't as important as raising money and you could enjoy the day while contributing to a great cause. What about organizing a golf event to help someone who could use the proceeds to defray a personal expense?


                       
                     ENJOY THE FRUITS OF YOUR LABOR.
When the price of fresh fruits and vegetables is skyrocketing, you can enjoy an array of goodies from your own back yard or sit and enjoy the beautiful flowers you helped grow. Now you can do the same with the "idea" seeds you planted.
It's time to open that cupcake bakery, write that book or join that golf team and see how your seeds have managed to grow. You will still need to continue to plant, water, weed and feed and share but you will also be able to enjoy knowing you CAN GROW SOMETHING SPECIAL.


www.freshcupcakes.com

So, what do you do next after you have an idea?
Investigate Your Resources
Plant
Water
Weed and Feed
Share Your Abundance 

And repeat, and repeat and repeat for amazing growth.
Yes, sometimes there are disasters that wipe out gardens and you have to start over.
Guess what? Once you have succeeded, you can always plant again.
So get sowing!!

So how is YOUR garden growing? What do you need to do to make it more productive?


I'd love to help you or your group get your ideas off the ground. Check out my  speaking topics 
and let me know how I can help you ignite your idea and please sign up for my  newsletter  


Want to join others who are trying to launch their ideas?
Register for CALLED WOMAN 2013...I'll see you there and help you get started!!



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2 comments:

  1. What a great analogy! It is so important to continue planting new ventures and tending the crop in order to grow in all areas of our lives. Thanks Kathy for the reminder.

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    1. Thanks for the comment, Lynne. I hardly have a green thumb for anything, yet I try to remember how I have to be diligent about every aspect of my garden if I want it to look nice and it does help me realize we should treat all of our ventures the same.

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