Category: Meanderings

Playing Through

Carol Roth @ Change This – Sober Entrepreneurship: Why Modern Entrepreneurs Won’t Succeed Under the Influence

According to the Kauffman Foundation, we are seeing approximately 6 million new businesses created every year. Most of those aren’t driven by innovation and if recent history is an indicator, they won’t grow or even exist five years from now.

If we are going to hang our hat on entrepreneurship, we need to ensure more successes, avoid the number of true failures and make sure that we have the right people pursuing the right opportunities at the right time with the right preparation.

Friends don’t let friends start businesses under the influence.

Old Spice revenues up 107%!?! Perhaps the mainline church can spice it up! (via Len Sweet’s Na

Old Spice revenues up 107%!?! Perhaps the mainline church can spice it up! (via Len Sweet’s Na

Old Spice revenues up 107%!?! Perhaps the mainline church can spice it up!

(via Len Sweet’s Napkin Scribbles)

The Old Spice shifted from a company trapped in its past (and my dad’s past) to a completely new demographics while revenues climbed 107% in the past year. The new demographics is reflected by its 1.3 million Facebook fans and 30 million views on YouTube. Leonard Sweet notes that the shift comes without leaving its core product – hairy armpits and facial foliage. So mainline, sidelined, over the line, and offline churches should take note and stay focused on our business … helping people learn how to be fully devoted followers of Jesus!

Spencer Burke wades into the swirl surrounding Rob Bell’s LOVE WINS. 1 Corinthians 13 never sounded so good (via TheOOZE).

If I speak in the tongues of popularity or of authority, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of speaking absolute Truth and can understand every secret God has concealed and conquer every doubt, and if I have a faith that can move trending topics on twitter, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I say I am only looking out for those who cannot look out for themselves and stake my reputation on the line that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are absolute Truths, they will cease; where there are persuasive arguments, they will be stilled; where there is no doubt in any theological position I take, it will pass away. For we know in part and we try our best to make sense of our world, ourselves and God, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away the childish thought that I could know as God. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Or as a friend of mine likes to say “Love Wins,”
Spencer

via theooze.com

 

Ten things Americans waste the most money on (via 24/7 Wall St). Can you add to the list?

24/7 Wall St. reviewed how Americans spend money. One of the conclusions of this analysis is that consumer spending is relatively alive and well, despite the recession. This may mean that Americans continue to be over-leveraged. US citizens have, in general, brought down their indebtedness. However, holiday spending rose substantially from last year, and the extent to which Americans feel poor has declined now that the recession has ended. Americans spend about 15% of their household incomes on things that they do not need to satisfy their vices or to keep themselves amused.

via 247wallst.com

The authors suggest we “waste” money on eating out; gift-giving; television and sound equipment; pets, toys, and hobbies; lodging, vacation homes, and hotels; fees and admission; alcohol; recreational equipment; tobacco; and apparel. Jesus says: “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’” (Matthew 6:31).

Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist – Seth Godi (via Seth’s Blog)

Art is what we call…

the thing an artist does.

It’s not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human.

Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

Seth Godin reminds us to think through what the customer wants before presenting ideas. True for preachers as well (via Seth’s blog)

The most effective way to sell the execution of an idea is to describe the use case first. And before you can do that, you need to have both the trust of your client and enough information to figure out what would delight them.

Then, describe what a great solution would do. “If we could use 10,000 square feet of space to profitably service 100 customers an hour…” or “If we built a website that could convert x percent of …” or “If we could blend a wine that would appeal to this type of diner…”

After the use case is agreed on, then feel free to share your sketches, brainstorms and mockups. At that point, the only question is, “does this execution support the use case we agreed on?”

via sethgodin.typepad.com