Thinking out of the box (continued).

So what kind of skills are needed for working at home, for people in countries that have work to offer?

First sell something that will be in demand and you have the skill to offer:
...
You know English and our culture - and have a detailed knowledge of what happens locally and nationally.

Tourism immediately springs to mind - when I was at The Falls, here in Ulverston I was able to get articles written (by writing them myself) about my business in the prestigeous papers in other parts of the world. Something even the Tourist Board was not doing at the time. Thus you could represent the interests of a lot of small holiday businesses ( the chain establishments will already be doing some sort of job - but not very well). They will be very appreciative of foreign tourists and there will be many foreigners who want quality accommodation in for instance the Lake District and be ready to pay for it.

What skills do you need ? - the ability to research thoroughly both here and your potential market abroad. You have the Internet at you disposal. Why not pick prestigeous papers in one of your chosen countries and explore the possibility of a regular column in their paper. It could be English speaking but you are most likely to succeed in the future using a foreign language such as Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese . . . spoken in countries with an expanding and thriving economy. You can learn these languages and the culture of your target country all on the Internet. You will no doubt be a person that is used to writing well in an interesting way about your environment, maybe a bit of a story teller. Read the work of travel writers in the National Papers in this country and see how they do it. Now develop your own style with your target country very much in the forefront.

Make sense?

A tribute to Phil Hopwood

who died of cancer at the very beginning of this year.

He was a friend that I greatly valued.

People's personality lives after them when they die and I am very aware of his potential approval at something I've just done.

Phil greatly valued well designed equipment often made at the turn of the century. He regularly obtained and returned to their efficient working condition tools and simple machines that others were throwing out.

Poking around a skip the other day I spotted a simple tree pruner, eight foot long and enabling me to cut branches thirteen feet above ground with out a ladder.

It was totally rusted and seized up.





No longer; it's been back in action minutes after the recovery process was instigated - well sixty of them actually.

Phil would have approved . Tree pruning here I come!

I'm convinced that as the world's resources become used up and sophisticated mechanical equippment becomes unaffordable we'll be reverting to well design and made tools from the 18th century. Hang on to your treddle sowing machine that is moderately easy to repair and doesn't require electricity.

I'd love to promote employment for young people to renovate clapped out machines and furniture. It happens plenty in India and other countries. Let's look forward to it happening here in Ulverston soon!

We can start with bikes; perhaps not that old but fifty years old will be a start!