From Wikipedia:

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa (Asian rice) or Oryza glaberrima (African rice). As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world’s human population, especially in Asia and the West Indies. It is the grain with the second-highest worldwide production, after maize (corn), according to data for 2010.^[1]

Since a large portion of maize crops are grown for purposes other than human consumption, rice is the most important grain with regard to human nutrition and caloric intake, providing more than one fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by the human species.^[2]

There are many varieties of rice and culinary preferences tend to vary regionally. For example in India, there is a saying that “grains of rice should be like two brothers, close but not stuck together”^{[citation needed]}, while in the Far East there is a preference for softer, stickier varieties. Because of its importance as a staple food, rice has considerable cultural importance. For example, rice is first mentioned in the Yajur Veda and then is frequently referred to in Sanskrit texts.^{[citation needed]} Rice is often directly associated with prosperity and fertility, therefore there is the custom of throwing rice at weddings.^[3]

Okay, you ask, what does this have to do with my business or ministry?  Fair question.  The key phrase is the excerpt is “associated with prosperity and fertility.”

All businesses and ministries want to be prosperous and fertile.  In order to fulfill your vision and mission, you must have both finances and resources and these will only come through how well you interact with your marketplace.

Assuming you have a  product or service that is needed and wanted by your marketplace, here is how RICE can help you:

R is for Relationships – you must plant, cultivate, maintain and harvest as many influential relationships as possible.  Everything you want or desire will come through relationships with other people.  You must reach out, travel out into your marketplace to build these relationships.   You may first have to go to them before they will come to you.

I is for Information – you must get the information out.  Don’t hide your light under a basket.   You may be the very best at what you do but if no one knows, no one benefits. Don’t be afraid to tell people what you do and how you can help.  Always have a card and a brief “elevator pitch” ready.   You never know when someone will need what you offer.

C is for Communications – you must communicate your message over and over again.  You can’t tell your marketplace just once and expect them to remember you.   McDonald’s is recognized all over the world and yet they still are the “egg mcmuffin” of marketing.  Tell your story and how you can help again and again in different ways and means and in different places.

E is for Education – you must educate your market on why your service or product is different or better and how they will benefit from its use.    We all learn differently.  You must educate through sight, sound, touch, taste and smell in order to reach as many people as possible to tell your story.   Education is an ongoing process and you must become a great teacher.

So to keep your own “rice bowl” full, give RICE to your marketplace and they and you will both be  prosperous and fertile.

Hopefully, you find this helpful and useful.  Feel free to comment and share.

If you’d like to contact me regarding this or other tax planning or business ideas, please give me a call at 240-356-5050.

To Your Financial Health.