How Pickled Veggie Saved This Family
When crises happen, you basically have two choices - give up and
accept defeat or rise to the challenge. This is a story of one
woman who stared back at the crisis she was facing, and
triumphed. In the process, she became a home based business
owner and saved her family.
Lakshmi was a simple, unassuming Indian woman. She was a
stay-at-home mother with four small children. While her husband
worked as a construction supervisor, she would take care of the
home and her four children. Her life was routinely ordinary and
she had simple dreams for her children - to make sure her
children were educated and got good jobs. Life though had other
plans for Lakshmi and her children.
Tragedy struck one day when Lakshmi's husband was hit by a lorry
on a busy street and died instantly. Lakshmi was in a state of
shock even as she took care of the funeral arrangements. The day
after her husband was cremated, she sat her children down and
told them, "Papa is gone, but I am here. Things will be
difficult for a while, but Mama will take care of everything, I
will always be here for you". She said those words to comfort
her children, but in her heart, Lakshmi was in a state of panic.
The money her husband left her would only last a few months. She
had to find a source of income soon.
A relative suggested that while she looked for some sort of
work, Lakshmi could try and sell her pickled vegetables to earn
some extra money. Lakshmi's delicious pickled veggie was as
popular with her friends and neighbours as it was with her
family. Lakshmi was doubtful, but with little choice left, she
agreed. She asked her neighbours if they would be interested in
buying some of her pickled veggie. They readily agreed, so the
next day, Lakshmi cooked up a batch of her pickled veggie and
sold it to four families. Two of the families asked if she would
cook a batch of pickled veggie for them every week. Lakshmi
agreed even though she wondered if they were doing it out of
pity for her.
As Lakshmi looked for full-time work, she continued to supply
families with her pickled veggie. Word of her delicious pickled
veggie reached the local grocery store and they called her to
ask if she would consider supplying them with her pickled
veggie. This was more than Lakshmi had hoped for. More and more
shops began asking her to supply them with her pickled veggie
and soon, finding a job was no longer on Lakshmi's list of
priorities. She had other problems to deal with - how to
increase production of her now famous pickled veggie and how to
meet supply deadlines!
Five years after Lakshmi was thrown into the sea of crisis, she
had triumphed over adversity and was a genuine successful
home-based business owner. When asked why she chose to remain
home-based and not to expand her business, she answered simply,
"I made a promise to my children that I would always be there
for them". Her home-based business enabled her to fund her
children's university education and to provide them with a
comfortable living.
Like Lakshmi, many people are "accidental" home-based business
owners. When crisis rears it's ugly and frightful head, they are
forced to rely on the one thing that they are naturally good at.
For Lakshmi, it was her pickled veggie, for you it may be
something equally simple and seemingly insignificant. For the
rest of us, there is a lesson to be learnt from Lakshmi - that
success doesn't have to depend on being highly qualified and
skilled. Sometimes, all you need is to do the one thing that you
know, with all your heart, as if your life depended on it!
Here's to finding that one thing that will make you a success.
Cheers!