Paint me Ecstatic

So, I'm sitting in my room but this time, not with my thumb where the sun doesn't shine. I moved past that stage in my life years ago and can't believe how many opportunities I let slip pass...

But now, I'm ready to do this! I'm ready to see if I, me, the one and only, can pull this off...

***

Creating goals is a motivational condition of the mind, brought on by the existence of time. I have all this time, what do I plan to do with it? What can I do with all this creative energy flowing consistently?

Let's start at the beginning. How do specific goals come about? Are they from your expertise in a certain field telling you it will be a piece of cake? Is it because you were inspired by other's success stories and feel you can do it the same or better? Maybe it's because you feel you have something to prove to yourself. Or maybe your idea is so unique, you would be a fool not to go forward with it. All of the above are true. Ultimately, we create goals because we can. We should. Time is the only thing you have, so take advantage of it and do something amazing.

Keeping track of goals on the other hand is a tedious job within itself. Just like the responsibilities of librarian, yet the books you are in charge of are all unfinished, waiting for you to write the next chapter. Each one, contains the meat and potatoes of your original thought, caught on virtual pages in your mind. Or written down because you start out with a serious aim.

Some books become dusty. Unrecognizable. Ideas trapped in an afterthought. It's the one's I'm currently working on that are the most important. They have my undivided attention and are praying I don't get distracted this time. They believe in me. All I have to do is believe in them.

I'm still figuring out the story that began one, brisk evening in October of 2022. I didn't even know it would blossom into a goal. That was until the feedback began to roll in. No, I'm not talking about writing a novel or climbing Mt. Everest. I'm talking about a different goal I recently decided to see through to the other side.

Coincidentally, this challenge comes around after I hinted at projects I currently find myself knee-deep in during the soundtrack challenge. So, I guess this is an elaboration on one of those projects.

Let's go back to October of 2022 for a moment...

I had the idea to do something different for Christmas other than sending out custom greeting cards. Brainstorming the idea was still on the back burner and hadn't thought about it for a few days. Not until I overheard an employee talking with a customer about one of their purchases.

It's funny how selective hearing works. Almost like peripheral vision, only with the ears. I wasn't really paying attention to the words I was hearing. As soon as I heard her say, "That would make a great barbeque sauce!" My mind tuned out of what whatever I was thinking to rewind what I just heard. Of course, I thought. A sauce! I can make a sauce, bottle it and send instead of cards. It was all I could think of for the rest of the day.

And so, I began to envision different flavor combinations with the intention of making a barbeque sauce. I'm no stranger in the kitchen and felt this would be easy. Boy, was I ever wrong...

Like a mad scientist, I walked into my lab with all the ingredients and utensils laid out before me. The measuring and mixing began. Messy splatter covered the marble island, the floor and all over my new apron. A beautiful sight in retrospect.

It was time to ignite the blue flames of the burner.

Carefully stirring on low heat for a dozen minutes, the first bubble surfaced, releasing a pocket of steam that drifted into the air. Others joined in, creating a percolating sound. All that steam was headed straight for my nose, greeting it with a wall of spice. Ahhh, smells good. But how will the final product taste after the work of a culinary alchemists and the power of heat transformed simple ingredients into something new? I would let it cool for an hour before finding that out.

Upon returning, the steam was barely escaping anymore. Staring at the stainless-steel pot, my eyes began to smile at the creation. The suspense was as thick as the sauce itself. I had to taste it.

My right index finger was the first to dive in... Then a spoon. After the second and third taste, the excitement fizzled. It wasn't that great, not what I was looking for. An epic fail!

It reminded me of an Arrabbiata sauce for pasta. And that's exactly what I used it for, pasta.

Round two took days of thinking of a new base for the sauce. I realized there's more than just barbeque flavored condiments. Out the corner of my eye, in aisle 14 of the grocery store, I saw it. In my mind, I quickly paired it with a popular tropical fruit. Pineapple. This was going to be the next experiment.

The mad scientist returned, but this time he had a solid plan with a completely different set of ingredients. It worked! I had several taste testers, and they all agreed the sauce was good. Delicious even.

I must have sent out 25 bottles that Christmas and kept a jar of it in the fridge for use.

Not thinking much about it after the holidays, I got a call one day. It was a friend of a friend inquiring about more. I never really thought about someone wanting more. Over the next few weeks, other requests came in. Out of the 25 I sent out, at least 8 people wanted more. It was utterly shocking but very encouraging. I sent them more. Out of those, several of them wanted more to send to others. This was turning out to be something I didn't expect.

Before the end of last year, I told myself it was time to do something great. And out of the two ideas following me wherever I go, the sauce was the most obvious to concentrate on. Time to take it to the next level.

Yes, I've run into costly issues in the past and the project stalled for many months. So this year, my resolution is to stay on top of it, pay for the nutrition information and begin selling it online. The product is vinegar based which is a natural preservative, so bypassing the FDA is allowed. I read it with my own eyes.

With all of my connections and friend's connections on social media, what the hell am I waiting for? It may take a few months for the nutrition information to be official which cost upwards of 1200.00 but you have to spend money to make it, right? The label needs a complete overhaul, as well as the name. The original name is Scorched. But it has more of a slightly sweet tang than it is hot. It does have heat, but the name doesn't fit. Moving past that name, I thought about calling it Crazy Pineapple and giving it a mascot, but I didn't really like the word pineapple in the title. Tropical Craze is the current working title, but I decided to keep the mascot. I'm also keeping my BFF and our dog on the label. For reasons not mentioned here, it's an additional selling point.

Where will I be in the next 3, 4, 5 months of working on this? Hopefully having a meeting with someone who is willing to sale it in their store(s). Competition is stiff. There are thousands of sauces out there so what makes me think this will stand out? I have no idea. I just know I can literally taste the potential success. Fingers crossed.