Make money with your gardening hobby

How would you like to make money growing plants?

As the year comes to an end, you might be thinking how you can make some extra money in 2011. I happened to stumble upon a wonderful product that teaches you how to monetize your gardening hobby. If you are a gardening enthusiast, you might want to check this out.

Probably one of the most enjoyable thing for gardeners is watching new plants grow. Well, I guess there's no reason why your joy wouldn't double if you can make some extra money while enjoying your gardening hobby at the same time.

A friend of mine who is a gardening enthusiast once told me that the problem with growing new plants is that her garden gets crowded and she ended up throwing some out. That's quite a waste, isn't it? One solution to tackle this 'good problem' is to sell some of the plants. Not only does it provide us with some space in our greenhouse, it also allows us to finance our gardening hobby, for free.

So, if you're wondering "where do I start from?", the first thing you need to do is to start growing some plants. The best way to do this is to either, sow some seeds, take some cuttings or divide some perennials. Or, if you already have spare plants ready for sale, you should quickly check out Richard Allen's ebook "How to Create a Business Growing & Selling Plants".

When you make some extra pocket money from selling plants, just don't forget to buy me a treat or drop me an email to let me know ;)


*Image - courtesy of Graur Razvan Ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I became a hero today

It was a rainy, sleepy afternoon until I saw this video......oh my, I became a hero without me knowing :P

PS: Tried to have the video here but it doesn't display properly.

Exactly What

Once you know exactly what you desire, you have a way to get there. Once you define the objective clearly and with precision, the path begins to appear.

Then it's just a matter of taking the necessary actions. And you're fully capable of that.

The big question is, are you willing? When the purpose has real meaning to you, then you are indeed willing to do what must be done to reach it.

Dig deep, past the things you don't know why you want. Be brutally honest with yourself, and find what it is that you truly desire.

Allow your authentic purpose to be your source of energy. It's a source that will never run dry.

Yes you can, when you know what it is. Yes you can, when you truly know why.

-- Ralph Marston

A good quote

Heard a good quote this evening and I'd like to share it with you:

"Material wealth becomes immaterial when there is abundance in your inner wealth."

The last lesson

I closed two chapters in my life today. First, I finally used up the last session of the facial package which I signed up in 2008. They must be so relieved that they don't have to chase me anymore. I am also happy that I can finally discard the invoice/card and have more space in my drawer. I bet they must be disappointed that I did not continue with them. Well, they did offer me an irresistable 50% off the Gold facial treatment package but I'm just not swayed no matter what they say. Try drugging me and maybe I'll say yes ;p

Next, I delivered my last lesson today. Henceforth, no more listening to CDs, preparation of materials and stressing over if I had prepared sufficient materials for each lesson etc. Frankly, I was relieved. Even as I prepared materials for the last lesson, I couldn't wait to stash away the reference books and dictionaries that have been gracing my desk for the past several months. It reminds me of those days when I took joy in clearing my desk and shelves of books I no longer need when I've finished an exam paper. It also brings back memories of the corporate days where I'll be so glad to file away papers once a project is closed.

This day has finally come. As I concluded my last sentence this evening, the sense of relief and prior joy transcend into a sudden sense of loss. It's the same kind of feeling I get on my last day on the job. From Media to IT days, it has been the same. That strange, unexplainable feeling that I get on the last day at work. It's as if reality has finally sunk in that hey, it's for real, I'm really leaving here and I won't see this for the rest of my life. Humans are so weird. When you're 'in it', you can't wait to get out. When you finally got out, you have that strange feeling of loss and solitary.

There's a season for everything. A new chapter begins when the old one is closed. I know this odd feeling of mine will probably dissipate when I wake up tomorrow morning. A new day begins and perhaps, a pleasant surprise is just round the corner waiting for me:)

The Rule of 72

During my late night reading yesterday, I was reminded of something which I learnt from another book some time ago. I'd like to share it here as I find this pretty useful. Developed by mathematicians, The Rule of 72 illustrates the power of compounding.

Divide 72 by the rate of return of any investment and the answer you get is the approximate number of years it takes for that investment to double in value.

For instance, if you invest $50,000 at a return of 2%, it will take 36 years before it grows to $100,000. But if the same $50,000 is invested at a higher yield of 6%, it will take just 12 years to multiply your money to $100,000. With this formula, at least I'll know how many % yield I should be looking at when I invest :)

Hope you find this info useful too.

The Rule of 70

Suaku me just learnt something new late last night - The Rule of 70. The Rule of 70 calculates the impact of inflation on your savings, specifically, it tells you the number of years it takes to shrink your savings by half. Assuming the inflation rate is 3.5%, dividing 70 by 3.5 gives you 20 - the number of years it takes to reduce your $100 to just $50. Scary, isn't it?

Just one goal

Why do we need so many goals? Often at the end or start of a new year, people will start making goals for the new year. I often hear people saying goals must cover various aspects of your life - career, financial, relationship, spiritual, health etc. I used to set my goals that way too but I have never been able to achieve all of them in the same year.

I've come to the realisation that very often, there is only one key goal that we truly need to achieve. It is often the one which will solve all other issues when we achieved it. You may not agree with me, but I think financial goal is 'the one'. Though money is not everything, yet without money, one becomes nothing. Don't bother to talk about upgrading one's skills or knowledge, starting a small little business or going on holidays. Even healthy living requires certain level of financial capability. How else can you go organic, eat wholesome, unprocessed food if you can't even afford them?

Whoever says money is not important surely has been living in delusion. How else can you help others if you don't have the financial means? Building homes and orphanages, feeding the poor, going on mission trips - all these require money. Unless you have powerful persuasion skills to make others part with their money, you better be rich if you want to help others.

You probably guessed it. Yes, I shall not be so ambitious in goal setting this year. Just one key goal and when I achieve it, the rest will gradually fall in place :) Sure, I'll still do my best to live a healthy lifestyle and strike a balance in life. I guess the biggest challenge for me is to stay focused. There are so many things that I'd like to do but for now, I must focus, focus, focus.

God is good, all the time

I've been experiencing so much of God's goodness lately that I just want to share them here. I went for my regular doctor appointment at SGH yesterday morning. It is a well known fact that parking is quite a nightmare over there. Many times, I will pray for a parking lot when I reach there and God answered my prayer most of the time. It happened again yesterday. What amazes me was that I did not wait at the usual section of the carpark after praying. I can't explain why but I just decided to stay put at another section. In my heart, I was wondering if I can get a lot here as past experience tells me that there's a higher chance in the other section. Nonetheless, I stayed put. True enough, I had hardly waited and a car was preparing to drive off. PTL!

Next, seeing this regular doctor of mine often takes hours of waiting due to the long queue and his dedicated examination. Yet, I managed to see my doctor and cleared the pharmacy all within an hour. As far as I can recall, this has never happen before. The best thing is, when I picked up a queue number at the pharmacy, there were 10 people before me. I took the time to run some errands and when I came back, the digital display was flashing my queue number. Talk about God's perfect timing! :)

Now, the next blessing happened just this afternoon. I came face to face with a peeping lizard when I took down my room's curtain for laundry. I was so shocked and thought if it's dead or alive. I got my answer in less than 5 seconds. It disappeared under my nose! It wasn't under the bed or anywhere so I reckon it must be in the pile of curtain. I was thinking "God, what's the best way to deal with it?". I decided that my room space is too tight for a battle ground. I dragged the pile of curtain to my main door. I was thinking of flinging the curtain at the corridor to get the lizard out of my house. Lo and behold, the lizard crawled out of the curtain and was at the entrance of my door! I spoke to the lizard "go out, get out now" and it crawled out. OMG, tell me about the power of our tongue :P

I know I will not have peace until I know the lizard is gone forever, so I continued to pursue it with all my might. At one point, it almost went into the rooster nb's house. An 'evil' thought came to my mind but my logical mind tells me that if it can migrate to my nb's place, it can also visit me again. No way man! I pursued it relentlessly until it finally migrated to another world. What a great sense of victory and relief! *phew*

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

Another book I'd like to recommend is T. Harv Eker's "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the inner game of wealth". The author believes that there is a money blueprint in our mind, and how we think, feel about money will determine our financial status. Thoughts lead to feelings, which lead to actions, which lead to results - the key to attaining wealth begins with thinking. Not just any thinking, but think like the rich do. T. Harv Eker encourages readers that we can all re-program our thinking and that successis a learnable skill.

There are 17 principles mentioned in this book that compares the differences in thinking between the rich and the poor/middle class. Behind each of these principles, the author has interesting stories to illustrate the point. Although it may not go down well with some people, it is nonetheless an interesting and thought-provoking read.

If you are 'Z-type reader', aka either busy or lazy, you can simply zoom in to the 17 principles. However, if you have time to spare, it would be more beneficial to read the book.

1. Rich people believe "I create my life." Poor people believe, "Life happens to me."
2. Rich people play the money game to win. Poor people play the money game to not lose.
3. Rich people are committed to being rich. Poor people want to be rich.
4. Rich people think big. Poor people think small.
5. Rich people focus on opportunities. Poor people focus on obstacles.
6. Rich people admire other rich and successful people. Poor people resent rich and successful people.
7. Rich people associate with positive, successful people. Poor people associate with negative or unsuccessful people.
8. Rich people are willing to promote themselves and their value. Poor people think negatively about selling and promotion.
9. Rich people are bigger than their problems. Poor people are smaller than their problems.
10. Rich people are excellent receivers. Poor people are poor receivers.
11. Rich people choose to get paid based on results. Poor people choose to get paid based on time.
12. Rich people think "both." Poor people think "either/or."
13. Rich people focus on their net worth. Poor people focus on their working income.
14. Rich people manage their money well. Poor people mismanage their money well.
15. Rich people have their money work hard for them. Poor people work hard for their money.
16. Rich people act in spite of fear. Poor people let fear stop them.
17. Rich people constantly learn and grow. Poor people think they already know.

An additional note: If you believe in the existence of an Almighty God, Heavenly Father, you may find that much of the contents are quite similar to bibical principles. Then again, most self-enrichment books, theories, tactics are based on biblical teachings. However, you may not agree with some parts of the book. In those instances, just take the meat and throw out the bones, ok? ;)

Hello 2010

It's been a long time since I last blogged. I had wanted to have a 'Farewell 2009' post but somehow, I just didn't manage to get down to it. I read a few good books in the last 2 months of 2009. It got me inspired and motivated to begin a new year :) If you are interested in killing procrastination, goal-setting and time management, do check out:

1. Eat that Frog! - 21 great ways to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time
2. Goals!: How to get everything faster you want - faster than you ever thought possible

Both books were written by Brian Tracy. You can either borrow them from the library or download free ebook version. I've even come across audio MP3 version for 'Eat that frog'. Just google and you'll find them all.