From start to finish

In 2008 I left my job. It was the greatest step of faith that I ever took. I knew in my heart that the Lord was calling me to leave. I didn’t trust the Lord but I told Him I would learn to trust Him. When I quit my job I had an idea of the arena He was preparing for me in the realm of media and writing but I didn’t really understand what was happening. But that was the point. Leaving my job with the state of New Jersey was big for me. I was comfortable. I got payed extremely well. Besides student loans I was debt free. I had just finished fixing my credit. I had just produced a successful play and was in the process of launching my first book. I was optimistic about everything. I was on a faith journey. However; I had a few major flaws that I have learned from. After 4 years of being self employed I had to go back to work. Obviously, the Lord had another plan for me and more for me to learn. I had been so broke during those times that I was excited to have a new pay check. It didn’t hurt that I got hired by Apple. I filled out hundreds of applications and Apple was the only company that hired. God definitely had a plan of action for me. We will get to that later in this blog series.

When I left the state of New Jersey I had a car payment and a house. By July of that year I could no longer pay the rent. By August I could no longer pay the car payment. Before I got deep into self employment I had lost it all. But I knew God called me down this road. I didn’t know all the bumps in the road but I was sure He was doing something. As a start up my partner and I went in head first. We took every design, film and photography job that came our way. Years later we discovered this was the wrong thing to do. Here are a few things I would have done different before quitting my job in 2008.

1. SAVE MORE- I would have saved a lot more money than I did. I took all my excess and paid off my debts, purchased equipment and gave abundantly prior to leaving. I would not have changed the giving and equipment piece. The equipment was great collateral, it was how we made a living and the giving was God’s heart. Now the debt on the other hand could have waited and been managed more effectively. I would have saved at least 3-6 months worth of my earnings to give myself a better cushion.
2. LEARN ABOUT BUSINESS – I would have learned more about business and people management. The greatest thing I have learned from working at Apple and running my company is people matter and they pay for what they value. We made way too many deals. We charged too low. We didn’t value our own work. It takes money to run a business and produce great content. Business is business. It seems harsh but you can’t go into McDonald’s and ask for a deal unless they provided the coupon. Learn more about business before you leave. It will help you in the long run.
3. NETWORK – We did a lot of networking. But we did it with people we were similar too. Network with clients and people that are where you are going not just where you are. Advertise to the niche audience you have and desire to have.
4. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING – We should have documented everything from Start to Finish. One day I will go back to my journals and read of my spiritual journey but the first 4 years of my business journey are missing. I am currently using Day One to document my days. We learned so much during those 4 years. We had a lot of failures and accomplishments. If we would have documented those things we could have added value to people on our blog daily and helped them not make the same mistakes we did.
5. MONETIZE PRODUCTS – We were launching a completely service based business. The problem with providing services is you are always waiting for your next check. If we would have had products to offer we would have been receiving passive residual income. We should have had a plan of action to create products along the way that would have benefitted our audience and clients.

These were just some of the things I thought about. Thank you for reading this post. I recently had a conversation with John Saddington over at the Desk App about my entrepreneurial goals as a writer. Through our conversation I was able to better define how I wanted to add value to people. From Start to Finish I desire to add value to people’s lives and help them achieve their goals. All of our post from here on out will surround how to fulfill your God given dreams. We were designed to Start and Finish everything we put our hands to. By finishing we grow (spirit, soul and body). I look forward to growing with you.