In this series we’re discussing seven keys to successful startup businesses. The second key to success is deciding how you will set yourself apart from any competition. Years ago, I helped launch a coffeehouse. We could have competed by having better or cheaper coffee, but we set ourselves apart by focusing on building community and being a convenient location for ...
Seven Keys to Successful Startups: part I
I’ve personally been involved in at least seven business startups. In this series, let me share seven keys to success for aspiring entrepreneurs. Legendary consultant, Peter Drucker, wrote, “There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all.” In my opinion, the first key to success is producing a product or ...
Fear of Success
Years ago, Dean purchased his father’s company and took over the day-to-day leadership. Dean shared with me his fears about whether he would be able to lead his father’s company as successfully as his father. He also expressed fear that the wealth he was coming into might tempt him into actions he would later regret. Fortunately, Dean overcame his fear ...
Fear of Failure
When I was twenty-five, I started my first business. One year later I liquidated the business and felt like a failure. That led to a fear of ever starting another business. Yet, in 1995, God called me to start a new business. My fear of failure caused me to wrestle with God, doubting that I could do what God was ...
Fear of Rejection
A common fear in business is the fear of rejection. Many people avoid making sales calls out of a fear of rejection. Avoidance seems to be a common approach to addressing possible rejection. Author and speaker, Jia Jiang, however, took a different approach. Jia performed a 100-day rejection experiment where he sought out rejection each day for 100 days. He ...
Complex Decisions
Imagine the complexity of decisions that the Tik Tok CEO had to make the weekend of January 18th. Congress and the Supreme Court ruled that Tik Tok had to sell or close its operations in the United States. Risking thousands of jobs and businesses, Tik Tok closed. But then President Trump claimed he would find a way to keep Tik ...
Broader Benefits
In the book, Every Good Endeavor, authors Timothy Keller and Katherine Alsdorf paint a picture of work as multi-beneficial. Work allows us to use our God-given talents to serve God, our employers and our customers. We also honor God by doing our work in a way that serves our professions and our communities. Psalm 90:17 says, “May the favor of ...
Grow Through It
On any given workday, you will experience moments when reality conflicts with your expectations of how the world should be. Someone will give you “counsel” that you don’t want to hear (or believe is true). Someone will not perform his or her job the way you want. Someone will selfishly advance his or her own agenda instead of the ...
New Leader
After many years working in the communications department, I was promoted to lead the team. I was ecstatic. Finally, I could pursue the projects I wanted in the way that I wanted. But my immaturity quickly tripped me up. I launched changes that confused and upset team members and did little more than advance my own ego. It took ...
Strange Lands
As a member of my church denomination’s outreach committee, I was expected to take a mission trip to see our contributions at work. Although I had asked to visit a project in Europe, a late change redirected me to Venezuela, a country for which I had no interest or understanding. Praying furiously to God for strength and assurance the ...
