Why This

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Jun 172010
 

You want to start a business? Alright, so what is your business plan?

If you’re opening a restaurant- why am I going to come?
If it’s a clothing store- why do I want to buy from you?
If it’s a carpentry business- why do I want to hire you?

“Well, I want to open a restaurant with comfortable chairs and tables, and serve good food”

Oh WOW! That should be neat and BORING! Hey everyone let’s go eat at that place that’s like everywhere else!

Blah Blah Blah! People don’t eat at places just because you’re there… well maybe a handful of people who are lazy and hope your place is good enough so they don’t have to drive far. But you need more than a handful! You need people who will become regulars and will share with others who will become regulars- so what’s going to get them to come to your place?

You can’t afford to fit in with everyone else. You can’t afford to fit the standard mould. If you do, you’re just increasing your risk. That’s right it’s too risky to be normal. You’re not going to discover something new by fitting in, you cannot discover- or be innovative by trying to be like what you think people will expect. People don’t go to places because it’s what they would expect- absolutely not- it’s quite the opposite. They want to see something new, something exciting, something they’ve been searching for!

So why do so many businesses open up- and they’re just like the last one that closed down?

There’s a building on a very busy strip of road that I go down quite a bit. Several years ago it was a bar. I would see at the most 5-6 cars in the parking lot when I drove by. After a while it closed down and someone else rented it- and you know what they opened up? …ANOTHER BAR! This one stayed open for about the same amount of time before it closed. Then another tenant moved in and opened …yep, a bar- but this guy was smart, he put a sign up that said “Under New Management” …wow. Again it closed and the lease sign was back up. I have seen it reopen at least two more times since- once as another bar, and then again when someone got creative and made it a bar and grill. Why?

Why do we waste so much energy doing the same thing as everyone else? What’s our reasoning? What’s our logic? If we see someone doing it and they’re not getting the results they expected- why do we want to do what they’re doing? We seem so eager sometimes to fail in the same ways as others have, by choosing to replicate what didn’t work for them.

See if you do the same thing as everyone else and you fail like everyone else than you don’t stand out and you don’t get ridiculed. BUT, if you dare to be different, challenge yourself to discover what works, follow your passion, your vision of the result you want regardless of it not being what’s the norm- then you will get laughed at… at first. But when it takes off, you buy the property, and then open a second one- everyone says “Why didn’t I think of that?”

God has designed us and put something in us to be great at! We must discover it- and then ACT! Being afraid to fail is not the kingdom way. If you’re going to do something- you need to be passionate about it! If your restaurant is going to look like other restaurants, you better have a passion for service like no where else.

If you’re going to open a clothing store- pull out your passion while doing it- do something unexpected! Offer hemming in your store, without having to send it off. Offer custom designs to be embroidered on the clothes they buy while they shop. What if you put a runway right down the middle of the store with strobe lights that you could turn on when someone walked down it- offer 10% off for those who do! Give the sales associates cameras to flash when a customer does it- How fun an exciting would that be? What a fun place to go!

You might be laughing, but it’s the birth of new ideas that someone implements- that leads to success.

Whatever business you start- bring out your passion in your work, have fun with it. Think about what everyone would expect to see then make sure to stay away from that, and bring out the unexpected.

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Apr 212010
 

This sounds horrible doesn’t it? …Why?

“BECAUSE YOU SHOULD NEVER QUIT!” – That’s what most say right?

Well that’s absolutely not true. The obvious thoughts about good things to quit would be to quit smoking, using drugs, drinking, unhealthy eating habits, etc. Right?

But what else? Think of one of the most valuable resources we have… “time”. You cannot get time back. You can lose money on some stupid deals, or blow it on ridiculous stuff- but you can always get more money. We sometimes become “cost conscious” but we can easily fall back into excessive spending if we are not responsible. However, we spend one of our most valuable resources so loosely. If I could sell time back to peoples lives- I would be the richest man on earth. The most wealthiest of people would give me everything they had earned in a lifetime for another year of time on their death bed. So why do we waste this valuable resource? Well I have several truths on this subject, but I’m only going to cover this one thing for now. QUIT WASTING TIME!
Life is too short to waste time. Do you realize you have something you were born to do? A true purpose in life. It’s true! God makes nothing without a purpose. But we are easily distracted. Well- it’s time to Quit! That’s right Quit!

You should quit something if it is not your calling. You should quit things that are keeping you from your purpose. You should quit things that are not profitable in your life. (This is not referring to just money)
You should quit things that are pointless.

So should you quit a job? How about a profession? How about a ministry?
Hmmmm. These can be tough questions to deal with. But the answer is within you. You have to analyze where you are in life and realize or not if you are fulfilling God’s call in your life; If you are fulfilling God’s purpose that he put in you, by bringing out the potential that is waiting to come out.

It can be hard to deal with, but think about this. What if Billy Graham had decided to be a physician instead, …or a basketball coach. I know you may be thinking… pfffttt.
It’s easy to see where someone is or what they have become but what you don’t see is all the things they went through to get there. The night’s of praying for purpose. The constant seeking for purpose. The rough roads on the way. You will never be happy unless you find and fulfill your purpose. Billy Graham may have been able to be an awesome physician or even a champion basketball coach- but look what potential he would have given up. What true purpose would have never been seen.

Oh yeah! This works both ways too. Let’s go ahead and get it out of our minds the incorrect and dangerous separation we have with people. We sometimes put people in two groups. People in ministry and everyone else. There are nurses, athletes, and artists that are fulfilling God’s purpose in their lives and successful in ministry far more than some of those that label themselves as “IN” the ministry. The thing is God doesn’t see people this way. How do I know? Well He is the creator; He designed you, molded you, and made you. He knows exactly what He put in you to come out in life. He put potential in you to be birthed for the kingdom in this world. He wants to see it come out. That’s why God is so patient with us. He wants to see you reach your full potential. He will clean you up along the way- He just wants you to turn to Him, acknowledge Him, accept Him and return back to His kingdom and He will restore you and bring you into the full glory of His nature.

The thing is God knows what he is doing. He wants what is best for us and knows what will give us joy. It’s in our purpose. He is more pleased with one of His kids who is a firefighter (because he called them to this area of occupation), then if “THEY” decided they want to be a pastor. Ouch! Does that hurt? It hurt’s if you are in something that you have no business being in. That is God did not design you for it.

What’s better? An “OK” surgeon- or an “AWESOME” family counselor. In the book 48 DAYS TO THE WORK YOU LOVE, by Dan Miller, he tells a story of a struggling pastor. After several unfulfilled years as a pastor he was struggling with where he was in life. I mean he loved the Lord, but the thing was he was never called to be a pastor. After talking with Dan Miller they discovered he was an artist and had a ‘passion’ for it. The man went on to paint in people’s homes some of the most beautiful artwork, borders, and amazing pieces you’ve ever seen. He makes a ton of money, does what he loves to do, and has touched more people’s lives with his ministry now then ever before. This has become a gateway into people’s hearts. They have him come in and do his work, which he loves to do, and it opens up communication with this individual that he may have never had the chance to deliver had he been behind the pulpit. What is your calling? passion? purpose? If you don’t know- you need to find it!

That is when it is GREAT to quit! Make a commitment to quit doing things that lead to dead ends. Quit doing things that are not what God made you for. Quit strategies that are not working. Quit doing the things you were not called to do. I want to fulfill purpose in my life. I want to fulfill the things that I was born to do. I don’t ever want to be caught in the cycle of the daily grind that I cannot fulfill my work. I refuse to do it. I’m too busy about kingdom business to be bothered. See, you may not be in your final place of employment, but it’s just your current assignment. There is a reason God has you there. Something you are there to do. So be an example for the kingdom while you are there- and fulfill your duties and be about your work. But if you are in a position that has no purpose, no growth, no potential… If you are in a position at an assignment that ended years ago- You are wasting valuable precious time. It’s time to realize how important you are, and how much more needs to come out of you and “Quit” wasting time!

If you don’t chase after what you love to do- you will always have a JOB- but you will have never found your WORK… and you will leave this world with something that God put you here for. The bible says before you were formed in the belly He knew you. Who better to bring out your potential, then the creator.

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