Skip to main content

What To Do First to Make a Profit

The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat  ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're  not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director.  Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year.  God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started inve

5 Things to Do After a Big Event


THRIVE 2016 is now over and what a time it was! I am trying to be a better leader in the area of what to do AFTER an event that I lead.  For most of my years in leadership and ministry, I would scarcely celebrate or focus at all on what just happened and would go bolting head first into the next event at 500 miles an hour. A few years ago I asked myself why. There was an urgency to get things done and get busy on the next thing. BUT, I realized I was doing myself and my team a disservice by racing into the next thing without celebrating the last thing.




This season is particularly challenging because I am leaving in two weeks with members of our team for Africa for 16 days. I feel an urgency to race ahead but I am holding myself back from doing that.

Here are five things I've found it's important to do:

1) Celebrate

I have observed that Pentecostals in particular seem to be not-so-good at this. I think part of it is the admonition that is banged into all of our heads to "give all the glory to God." Do we need to give God all the glory? Yes. We do. At the same time, God's people need to celebrate what He has done. And that includes celebrating what He has done through His people. We need to say, "Yay God!" and "Yay team!" and revel in the amazingness of what just happened. Don't rush the celebration. We were meant to enjoy God. To enjoy leading. To enjoy our team. To enjoy the results.  It's okay to get excited and go a little crazy.

2) Take time to thank people

The larger the event the more time it will take. You won't thank everyone appropriately on the last day of the event or even the day after. Take time to write notes over the week or two following the event. Post on some Facebook walls and give kudos. Text and make phone calls. Nothing outstanding happens without teamwork, so appreciate your team.



3) Rest

In years past, I got up at the crack of dawn the day after and showed up to church or the office the next day at regular time. It's getting harder and harder to do that at the speed I'm running and quite frankly it's a bad idea. So this time I made a change. Aside from two debriefings, I slept most of the time for the next 48 hours.  That was necessary to gear up for the season I'm getting ready to walk through. If you want your leadership to be for the long haul and not a sprint, this is essential.

4) Solicit feedback 

You won't sort through it all right away but start asking for it and prepare to listen and make appropriate changes. People who are afraid of feedback won’t reach their destiny. Can they be successful? Yes. But they will not reach the potential for which they were destined. If you aren't afraid of feedback and you will take it seriously, you are unstoppable. 

5) Know what's normal for this time

Do you feel a little depressed? That's normal.

Do you feel like you want to get away from people for a while? That's normal.

Do you feel a little "snappy" or irritated when people ask you for things before you've had rest? That's normal.

Take care of you, so you can gear up for the next big thing.

Comments

Unknown said…
Thank you��

Popular posts from this blog

What Verbal Abuse is Really Like, and Why We Must Care
Guest Post: Terri von Wood

In my speaking travels, I meet the most amazing people. Some are connections that go beyond just a night or a weekend of preac hing. One day on my journey, I met Terri von Wood, and we immediately clicked and have been friends ever since.  Just a reminder that all of our guest bloggers this week are available to chat with you in the comment section here on the blog or on my facebook page where the blog is also published.   *** People who have never suffered through or witnessed abuse (including pastors) often don't know how to help women in abusive situations. Knowledge is power and it is my belief that if the church understood the prevalence of abuse, help would be made available.  First, we must acknowledge that the divorce rate is the same  in the church as in the world.  Second, we must understand that the 50% divorce rate does not include all the women who are abused but stay because they do not know what else to do or do not have anyone to turn to.  If those women we

Relevant Church doing something...

incredibly RELEVANT!

I just heard some news today that really inspired me. A church here in Tampa, Relevant Church is doing a new thing this month called the "30 Days Sex Challenge." (I've never visited the church but Pastor Trinity - our children's pastor - has visited or has met some people from this church and he was very impressed.) Realizing that this is a major element missing from some marriages (the frequency factor) their lead pastor, Paul Wirth, has issued a challenge for all the married couples to have sex for 30 days in a row. At the same time he has issued a challenge for all unmarrieds to completely abstain from sex. Of course we know the Bible says that those who are unmarried should not have sex in the first place but the point is, a lot of unmarried's aren't obeying the Lord's command to abstain and this is just one pastor's way of trying to get them to see that indeed, there is a better way! (God's way!) At the same time, many married couples are not

Stuff I Adore That Costs Little to Nothing...

Okay...taking a break today from writing about heavy things...like grief, loss, and bawling. Time to write about random stuff today that nobody may be interested in reading. Nevertheless here it is... Stuff I adore that costs little to nothing... Listening to playlists I make on (free) Spotify Drinking out of canning jars Reading books again that I already have on my shelf. Walking and riding my bike. Admiring crepe myrtle trees. Taking a bath in the daytime with the lights off in the room. (Natural light.) Naps. Snuggling with my husband or one of the kids and watching a movie at home. Having all noise turned off when no one is home. (No TV, no music, just silence.) Prayer.