Business Owners life group

Preparation

 

 

 

  1. The heart of preparation. The discipline of study or research or investigate

 

    1. Prepare for prosperity or prepare for adversity
    2. What can you study/research? What is your background? How can you apply your background to a business mindset?

 

                                                               i.            Mechanic

                                                             ii.            Secretary

                                                            iii.            Nurse

                                                           iv.            Most inventions come from people that need them or people that see a need.

1.      Pioneering the idea of interchangeable sockets and wrench handles, Joseph Johnson together with William Seidemann, formed the Snap-on Wrench Company in 1920. The company manufactured and marketed ten sockets that would "snap on" to fiveinterchangeable handles, a concept that revolutionized the tool industry. Snap-on has continued its innovative leadership across an ever-expanding line of products to this day.[1]

2.      The Gerber story, by most accounts, began in 1928 on the production lines of the Fremont Canning Company. But according to Daniel Gerber, it all started in his kitchen the summer of 1927. Following the advice of a pediatrician, Dorothy Gerber had been hand-straining solid food for her seven-month-old daughter Sally. After many evenings of repeating this chore, Mrs. Gerber suggested that her husband try it. After watching him make several attempts, she pointed out that the work could be easily done at the Fremont Canning Company, where the Gerber family produced a line of canned fruits and vegetables. Daniel Gerber, covered in strained peas, thought his wife had a good point[2]

 

    1. So can practical needs and the spiritual be combined?

 

    1. Can my purpose and the purposes of God be combined?

 

    1. Creative ideas. God has all the ideas known to man

 

                                                               i.            Let’s go back to God the designer. There is nothing new under the sun. God has created all things necessary for mankind. Our job is to find out how to use his creation. So who better to ask for the next, best invention?

 

1.      The sun always was the center of our universe but Galileo was the one to figure it out. (at least in modern times) Galileo Galilei, though famous for his scientific achievements in astronomy, mathematics, and physics and infamous for his controversy with the church was, in fact, a devout Christian who saw not a divorce of religion and science but only a healthy marriage: "God is known by nature in his works, and by doctrine in his revealed word."

2.      Pasteur, known for pasteurization, the start of microbiology, and vaccination work, saw no conflict between science and Christianity. In fact, he believed that ‘science brings men nearer to God’.6 In his work as a scientist, he perceived evidence of wisdom and design, not randomness and chaos. Pasteur stated that: ‘The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator’.

3.      Sir Isaac Newton was also a devout believer in Christ and a Bible scholar, fluent in ancient languages, and who translated directly from the Hebrew. He was unusually drawn to the prophet Daniel, which he began studying at age 12 and continued until he died at age 85. In fact, The Columbia History of the World, a secular history book, remarks, "At the end of his days he spent more time studying and writing about the prophecies in the Book of Daniel than he did in charting the heavens."

 

    1. Ideas that create wealth and sustenance

 

1.      Sam Walton is an example of someone who saw potential when most could see none. He wrote "Our key strategy . . . was simply to put . . . discount stores into little one horse towns which everybody else was ignoring . . . In those days K-Mart wasn't going to towns below 50,000, and even Gibson's wouldn't go to towns much smaller than 10,000 - 20,000. We knew our formula was working even in towns smaller than 5,000 people, and there were plenty of those towns out there for us to expand into. When people want to simplify the Wal-Mart story, that's usually how they sum up the secret of our success; 'Oh, they went into small towns when nobody else would' . . . While the big guys were leapfrogging from large city to large city . . . they left huge pockets of business out there for us."[3]

 

 

How can I allow God to help me design a strategy for business?

 

  1. Passion

 

    1. What is your passion? What do you like to do?

 

  1. Purpose

 

    1. What is your purpose? Does you business plan take your purpose and destiny into consideration?

 

  1. What is your education? Are you qualified? Do you need to go back to school to prepare? Do you need to study more?

 

  1. What is your product or service?

 

    1. Product based

                                                               i.      Do you have the product?

                                                             ii.      Do you build the product?

1.      i.e. sandwiches, furniture, carpet

                                                            iii.      Do you need to look for the product?

1.      Who is the local distributor?

2.      It is imported from another country?

    1. Retail Shop – Books, food, clothes. Do you want to have a retail store?

                                                               i.      Local.

                                                             ii.      Finite customer base

                                                            iii.      Location, Location, Location.

                                                           iv.      Original Business Type. (butcher, baker, etc.)

                                                             v.      Costs related to operating daily.

                                                           vi.      Are you required to be open on Sundays? (the mall)

    1. Wholesale (B to B) - Food products, Insurance, Fasteners,

                                                               i.      Not Necessarily local

                                                             ii.      Finite Customer base because of the unique or special product

                                                            iii.      Sales Reps

                                                           iv.      Account based. Need to manage your customers well because they need to become regular buyers.

                                                             v.      Cash Flow management because of terms

    1. Manufacturing – Parts, Autos, lamps, calculators, phones

                                                               i.      Service based or Product based

1.      Serviced based require the ability to uniquely manufacture per customer’s specifications. (Smith Machining. Johnson Anodizing. Robert’s fabricating.

2.      Product based manufacturing is when you dictate the specification of the product and sell it as is. For example Mag light flashlights. Pre-fab swimming pools. General Motors.

                                                             ii.      Infinite customer base. This product can be sold anywhere in the world depending on your clientele.

                                                            iii.      Account based. Need to manage your customers.

                                                           iv.      Cash flow

    1. Catalog or Internet – Anything can be sold, invitations, pictures, credit reports, software, music, beanie babies

                                                               i.      Infinite customer base 300 million in the U.S. alone

                                                             ii.      Lower overhead. Home based?

                                                            iii.      Automated with shopping carts. The orders just show up.

    1. Service based – Lawn mowing, Drill Wells, Home Building

                                                               i.      Local or Regional

                                                             ii.      Finite customer base

    1. Do you have the skill?

                                                               i.      Plumber

                                                             ii.      Carpenter

                                                            iii.      Machinist

    1. Do you have the skill and the license?

                                                               i.      Doctor

                                                             ii.      Lawyer

 

There is no limit to the amount of ideas that one may have to build a business. Anything is possible especially where free trade and democratic ideas flourish. The difficult part is taking a five cent idea and turning it into a million dollar plan.

 

Pods storage

Baby sitting at tradeshows

Online traveling with baby magazine

Tanning beds

Selling baby formula in coke machines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



[1] http://www1.snapon.com/display/router.asp?docid=2607

[2] http://www.gerber.com/history

[3] Sam Walton, Sam Walton: Made in America - My Story (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 109-110.