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6 Questions for Those Starting a Business

March 2, 2010

Grand Opening

Photo by whizchickenonabun via flickr (Creative Commons)

The Great Recession of 2009 has created a new breed of entrepreneur– the I-don’t-have-a-job-but-I-was-once-successful-in-business-and I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-my-life-since-I-can’t-find-a-good-paying-job-that-satisfies-me-quite-like-my-old-job-did-entrepreneur.

What’s interesting about this group is that they have great ideas, limited capital, and a mixed bag of preparedness for starting a business. Honestly, that’s a perfect combination!

Tunnel Vision

Photo by rcameraw via flickr (Creative Commons)

The bad part is that since they don’t have jobs, they need this thing to take off instantly and provide for their families before their unemployment benefits run out.

I have a fundamental belief that people are at their best when up against that type of adversity. But while that kind of desperation can create tremendous energy to succeed– I’ve found that it can also lead to dangerous tunnel vision.

So here are my 6 Questions for Those Starting a Business as a result of getting laid off by the Great Recession of 2009.

  1. How little capital will you need to start generating positive revenue initially? In other words, how little can you invest to start making money with your idea now?
  2. What will you do to acquire customers outside of your sphere of influence? Your biggest weakness is thinking you have the contact base to maintain a business beyond 180 days– if you had that strong of a contact base one of them would have hired you by now. How will you grow your sphere beyond yourself in the first 30, 60, 90 days?
  3. Who are the gatekeepers to your success? Who are the power brokers in your niche and what do you need from them in order to succeed in this space?
  4. Have you defined the boundaries of your niche? What safeguards have you put I’m place to keep you in your niche?
  5. Is the product or service dependent or repeat business? If a repeat business, how will you manage customer relationships beyond the transaction?
  6. Is this a product or service that you need? If you don’t need it what makes you think it will keep you up at night making it awesome or that it will motivate others to evangelize your product?

What makes me qualified to ask these questions? In 2005 I started Youth Ministry Exchange with a small group of friends. We turned a profit on the first day and had positive cash flow every quarter until we were acquired by Youth Specialties in June 2008. In other words, I’ve done exactly what this breed of entrepreneur is attempting.

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The Dark Side of Attractional Ministry

August 22, 2009

dark-side-attractional-ministry

The dark side of attractional ministry is that it’s a short term strategy.

True confession–

I was a perveyor of an attractional ministry model. It never permeated any youth group that I’ve been a part of, but the structure of our last ministry was– at it’s very core– an attractional model within our two biggest demographics. (Children and adults 40+) Time and time again here on the blog I’ve made generalizations about attractional ministry, not just as an outside observer, but as someone who has participated and performed within the model. I critique because I know!

Three quick reasons attractional ministry doesn’t work:

1. A life with Christ isn’t entertaining. At the end of the day, a day-to-day walk with Jesus isn’t filled with flash pots, set design, video screens, and compelling skits, and crafted messages for the heart. So the premise itself presents a well-intentioned lie about Jesus.

2. When the lights go out, people feel empty. Whether its an amazing kids program or a great event for adults. The reality is that people leave feeling empty and longing for more. Just like 2 hours of television doesn’t fill the soul quite like an intense conversation with a good friend, an amazing night of Jesus-y entertainment just leaves you tired and empty. The attractional model had the same effect as a visit to a casino. A huge build up and a huge let-down. (With free drinks along the way.)

3. It’s unsustainable. This goes in a few directions. It isn’t sustainable in that a single church cannot entertain all the demographics/age groups you will attract. Also, it isn’t sustainable among volunteer and paid staff. (People don’t volunteer to entertain, they volunteer to minister) Lastly, it isn’t sustainable as it doesn’t prepare people to leave your church and fulfill the Great Commision.

You can’t sustain it as a church

When we first began our attractional ministry to children it seemed so innocent. The idea was if we could make the kids program awesome, kids wouldn’t want to miss church. We’d target kids knowing that parents would follow and support something that was great for their kids. It wasn’t about attracting money, it was about attracting families. Our hearts were in the right place as less than 5% of our communities families were part of a church. It wasn’t a false Gospel, it wasn’t evil or about self, it was just a short-term strategy that worked very well at first.

The dark side of that is that entertaining people is an ever-hungrier dragon. Our initial efforts were simple and fun. But expectations quickly swelled. It didn’t take long for us to rethink our plan… we needed bigger casts, more production money, more planning, and if we just upped our game a little bit we could attract more people. When we got to the next level, people were excited and wanted more. Within a very short time people were expecting an experience we couldn’t create. They’d watch television or go on vacation and their expectations increased as they wanted those experiences with a Jesus-twist. More money, more people, more production… this is not a model for sustainability. I don’t care if your congregation is 200 or 20,000. You simply cannot compete in a sustainable fashion with the entertainment industry.

Your leadership can’t sustain it

The same truism played out among the leadership. The folly of turning one area of the church into mini-Disney quickly caused unintended consequences. Within a few months I went from ministering to the hearts of people to the host of a three ring circus. I had a hard time getting into spiritual conversations. It always came around to “I loved what you guys did, what’s happening next?” It was such a time-sucker that in all reality… I was the host of a three ring circus who did the bare minimum relationally to be called a minister. The community recognition was useful, the day-to-day reality wasn’t useful.

Among the leaders, people turned on one another when one attractional ministry got more attention or funding than another. Remember that dragon? He always needs to be fed and as he grows he gets hungrier and more demanding. And a church only has so much talent that is functional for entertainment. As expectations for better entertainment attracted new and more people– competition for resources began. Feelings were hurt. Rank pulled. Volunteers stolen. Guilt laid. Moral shrank. Frustration set in. We all wondered in our silence, “How can we spend the same amount of time and money and get a bigger and better product?” We had fed a dragon that now spit fire.

That’s right… the church staff began thinking of worship services, kids ministries, and adult outreach as product to be perfected and sold to an audience. Before we could figure out what was happening, it all turned into one tragic game a bigger or better. The problem this model was created to solve really just made the original problem ten times worse.

The whole time I knew we couldn’t sustain it forever. There wasn’t more money. There weren’t more people. The questions went from “what are we looking to do in the next 3-5 years?” To “what are we trying to do this year?” To “what are we doing this quarter?” To “what are we doing this month?” To “what are we doing this week?” In desperation you just get into a survival mode of… how can we get through this week? No one entered into this foreseeing this problem. But that’s how dragons go, I guess.

Ever increasing expectations + lack of resources + staff frustrations = burnout. I wasn’t alone in feeling burnt out. All of our staff and volunteers felt it. But none of us would admit to it because we were all too busy feeding the dragon. He wanted more.

You can’t sustain it as a model for walking with Jesus

The model itself sounds so Christ-like when you start. We justified, “Hey, this is exactly what Jesus did. He drew a crowd, then invited them in to a relationship.” But our theology was short sighted. We forgot John 6, didn’t we? When Jesus confronts those following him with the reality that following him was going to mean they’d have to carry His burden and that in order to follow Him lont-term they’d have to eat his flesh and drink his blood… John writes... “From this time many disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”

Within a year, the most dedicated volunteers were still following us but the majority had pulled a John 6:66 and gone home. Who could blame them? The leaders were defeated, but still had people coming– expecting to be entertained. Pride set in as we doubled down to say, our plan MUST WORK! We couldn’t admit our mistake or tell those people that ultimately our vision failed. We knew a walk with Jesus wassn’t about fun skits, silly songs, games, and great music. Ultimately, our attractional-style of ministry worked in one way and had devastating effects in another. All the staff hated what we had created. All of the staff lied to themselves that it was worth it. All of the staff openly questioned themselves, “Is this what ministry is all about?”

A life with Jesus isn’t about making it from one event to the next. It isn’t about getting inspired by an event. Teaching people that by depending on entertainment to draw people is ultimately not the Gospel. It looks like Jesus. It smells like Jesus. But its just a shadow of the real thing. Luke documented this phenomenon in Acts 8.

Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

I share this story as a warning to my friends in ministry– tough times make us all look for easy solutions. It’s Fall. A lot of churches are in the same position we were in when we started our attractional ministry. They have vision, they have unreached people, but right now money is tight and you think… “If we could only attract 20 more families, we’d be OK. We wouldn’t have to lay off staff.” That’s right where we were when we brought the dragon into our church.

That dragon may be cute and cudely today– but trust me, it will breathe fire soon enough. He will eat you up, spit you out, and leave you quoting Ecclesiastes.

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Is what the new who?

August 16, 2009

who-a-what

The last three or four years has seen a major technological leap that no one can ignore. With the rise of social media (marketing, tools, networking) there are a new set of rules and people who once found it impossible to become known for their competence now have a place to elevate above the people who are known for who they are. All of a sudden Robin Williams has to wonder… “if I’m not on Twitter, do I stop being a celebrity?” The mocking of the nerds on the internet stopped being quite so funny in the last 18 months, didn’t it?

This isn’t the first time that the who apple cart has been upset by the what. The what’s of the industrial revolution become the who’s to take out when the automobile revolution took over. The who’s of the auto age where taken out by the what’s of the technology boom in the 1970’s. The who’s of the technology boom were taken out by the what’s of the software developers. On and on it goes. The what’s replace the who’s to become the who’s that’s taken out by the next round of what’s. The who’s desperately hold on, invest their billions to say “who matters” and “who’s still have it” while the what’s laugh as the transfer of wealth once again takes over.

The obvious example of this is Microsoft’s Bing vs. Google. Microsoft is the who of the software boom. For 20+ years no one could touch Bill Gates. But now, next to the innovators at rivals like Apple, Google, Facebook, and even Twitter… Microsoft looks like the Ford, GM, and Chrysler at a congressional hearing. Microsoft is spending billions of dollars on Bing and all it does is remind people how much they love Google. People used to dream of working at Microsoft. Now if an up-and-coming software engineer, UI developer, or otherwise tech talent announces they are going to Microsoft… there is a certain snicker that goes around. “Couldn’t get a job at Facebook, eh?” Why is that? Unless you are turning Microsoft around, you can’t become a who by being a what at Microsoft.

Being a what gives me hope. Let’s face it, I’m not a who. There aren’t many who’s out there. But I know that if I get really good at being a what, there’s hope. There’s opportunity for what’s. We’re in a transition time that comes around only so often when the apple cart is upset. And if you’re a pretty good what at what is new, you’ll do OK.

Something even more encouraging. There isn’t just one set of who’s vs. what’s anymore. Right now there are so many who’s that the opportunities are unparalleled. You could become the next who of ____ if you make your what better than their what.

More encouraging than that? In a transition time between who and what, money isn’t that important. Innovation is now cheaper than ever before. Becoming a what is easier. Becoming a what takes less time. And the amount of time you need to invest to become known as a what gets shorter every day.

Tired of working for the who? Become a what. Worst case scenario… there’s always good work in convincing a who that they can become a what again.

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When life crushes you

August 6, 2009

Awesome video. When I saw it I laughed and went “hmm” at the same time. Isn’t it ironic that the thing that cleans and refreshes us… in massive quantities crushes and destroys?

As an introvert stuck in an extroverts world I often feel relationally crushed by human interaction. For example, one of my biggest struggles in serving in ministry was the always on nature of events, retreats, and mission trips. I would ache for alone time to reflect on what was happening, but feel crushed by the urgent needs of my students. I’m ashamed that there were moments of imbalance where I would snap at an adult volunteer or student… not because of what they did or said but because they inhabited the space my introverted mind wanted to protect.

What are the types of things that crush you with their goodness?

What are some centering activities you do when you feel crushed by things that are meant to refresh and cleanse?

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