1.) Life Hacker (lifehacker.com)

Lifehacker is simply awesome. It’s FREE and it gives you some awesome tools and resources on how to develop more productivity in your work life!

2.) Seth Godin’s Blog (www.sethgodin.typepad.com)

Seth Godin is one of the most well-known marketing gurus on this planet. He provides awesome, innovative ways to use new media for your marketing strategies. Also, he’s a huge advocate for new guerrilla marketing tactics for advertising your work. Go subscribe to his blog and be blessed by his wisdom!

3.) Compete (www.compete.com)

Compete is a great tool because it lets you view your competitors site traffic. Yeah, with Compete you can go creep on your competitors and see how many people visit their site, what keywords they are using to attract their visitors, etc. Let the creeping begin!

4.) Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org)

There is almost nothing that beats free books. Seriously. On this website you can have access to over 36,000+ FREE E-book downloads! If you value education, which every single one of us should, then hit this site up!

5.) Google Docs (www.docs.google.com)

Essentially, Google Docs is a free version of Microsoft office. Although you cannot do all of the intricate detailed operations that you could do with the Microsoft product, Google Docs will allow you to create, edit, and share all of your word projects, excel spreadsheets, and powerpoint presentations. Personally, I use it on the daily.

6.) Free Conference Call (www.freeconferencecall.com)

There will be times when you need to have phone meetings with multiple people. Why not have them all on one line so you can conference together? With this FREE resource, you are able to hold phone conferences with people all around the world!

7.) Zoho Invoicing (www.invoice.zoho.com)

Some invoicing software can cost you up to hundreds of dollars! Nonsense. With Zoho Invoicing you can bill your clients and keep track of your invoicing records for FREE. Yes, as you can see in the top left of the picture above, we use Zoho.

So there you have it! These free resources should get you through your work days. Although you may already have some of these things handled, pass the info on to your fellow world-changers and share the wealth!

And everyone knows, when it’s time to build their home, they will remind him, one man cannot lift a
house. And he will come, he will carry mud for them too.

I’ve spent about half my life in Africa, and that’s one of my favorite things Malawians do. They never leave
a man to build his home alone, but together — out of the mire and clay — they lift a house.

On this side of the Atlantic we don’t think much about needing the village, because we try to do it alone.
…

One of my great passions is to see an end to extreme poverty. It sounds audacious, but I think it was
Jeffry Sachs’ writing that first convinced me it can be done.

Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia University (The End of Poverty), says by the
year 2025 we can end extreme poverty. Some call Sachs the smartest man in the world – I think they’re
right. He has used his “shock economics” to turn fledging economies around.1 And he‘s convinced that if
affluent nations and people pool their resources — and it only takes one percent of our wealth — we can
end the plight of the poorest of the poor.

The effort, however, must be massive and concentrated.
…

As we talk about ending extreme poverty, I would advocate that we point our attention toward Africa, and
here’s the reason.

Bono has famously said, “There is a continent—Africa—being consumed by flames. When the history
books are written this generation will be known for the Internet, the war on terror and what we did—or did
not do—to put the fire out in Africa. We must engage as individuals and communities to confront these
issues.”2

Bono is right, the world’s landscape is peppered with dire places and people, but the most desperate are
in Africa.

I was doing an interview with a radio station in Ohio when the host opened it up to callers. As soon as he
did a man phoned in and said, “I’m calling to say I disagree with you Palmer. I don’t think people need to
go to places like Africa to meet the needs of this world, we have enough problems right here in Ohio.”

“Really?” I asked, with skepticisms heavy in my voice. “In Ohio are women chain to trees and sold into
slavery, because that’s what happening in Sudan? In Ohio do starving parents trade their toddlers for a
bag of maize in the dry season, because that’s what’s happening in Malawi? In Ohio are eight-year-old
boys forced to carry guns and kill their own families, because that’s what’s happening in Uganda? In Ohio
do babies die every thirty seconds from malaria, because that’s what happening across the continent of
Africa?

The fires are burning in Africa, that’s the reason our passions, abilities, and resources must be poured out
there.

I believe the reason we have been unable to put out the fires in Africa is because we haven’t fought them
with enough fire hoses. If your house is burning, one hose will not put the fire out. But what if you doused
the flames with a hundred hoses?

That’s why we must collaborate, and make our efforts massive and concentrated.

And we don’t have to give or do enough to make poor countries or poor people rich; we simply have to
do enough to help them get their foot on the first rung of the economic ladder. When countries get their
foot on the ladder of development they generally are able to climb upwards. But if a country or person is
trapped below the ladder and the first rung is too high off the ground, they can’t even get started.
…

And here’s where it begins, with individuals giving their their lives away to change what’s broken in this
world. It starts with one farmer in Ohio show a farmer in Malawi how to irrigate more effectively. It starts
with churches, and circle-of-friends, and communities adopting one village to give them clean water. It
starts with countries caring about other countries and putting medical facilities in every region.

It starts with one person.

That one person is you.

COLLABORATE AND SHARE

My challenge to the church – Christians everywhere – is to collaborate and share. When we begin to pool
our resources, and abilities, and passion we can make right what is wrong in this world.

SHARE EVERYTHING

In Robert Fulghum’s memorable essay, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, he makes

a list of all the life-long lessons he learned in kindergarten. My favorite lesson on his list is, Share

Everything.

In the Bible, Luke writes of a moment when a frustrated man approaches Jesus and pleads, “Jesus,
tell my bother to share with me!” 4 In response Jesus tells this story: A man has a huge harvest, more
than he will ever be able to eat. In fact, he probably has enough to last the rest of his life. But instead of
sharing, he builds bigger barns. He doesn’t need it and still he won’t share it! And then something highly
unexpected happens… he dies.

Jesus’ point is, share! Share everything. It’s just stuff.

I don’t know what it is for you that God is telling you to share, but you know. We all know.

Share What You do Best
God gifts each of us with unique and beautiful passions and abilities. Use them for God.

I was recently in Malawi with Steve, a US Airways pilot from my church. He led our team that spent two
weeks loving orphans of AIDS. Steve brought stacks of Xerox paper. In every village where they cared for
children, Steve spent his time teaching kids how to build and fly paper airplanes. Share what you do best.

Dustin is twenty-four and repairs motorcycles for a living. So when I was recruiting dirt-bikers to ride the
jungle trails of Liberia to give away 2,000 pairs of shoes — that people of The Grove left behind on our
Barefoot Sunday — I called Dustin first. He said yes in a heartbeat. Last summer Dustin and nine others,
spent two weeks sloshing down muddy trails on dirt-bikes, in the middle of rainy season, to give shoes
away to people recovering from a devastating civil war. Share what you do best.

Jack is an architect in Phoenix. Sometimes he draws churches. When I told Jack I was heading to Haiti
with a team to rebuild a pastor’s house and church, after the earthquake, he said, “I’ll draw the building
plans for you.” “Ah, that would be great Jack,” I answered, “but I’m sorry to say we don’t have money to
pay an architect.”

“No Palmer, I’m not asking to be paid, I want to make my drawings a gift to the people of Haiti,” Jack
explained. But Jack didn’t want to draw the buildings in Phoenix, he said he needed to meet the Pastor
and hear from his people. So Jack flew to Haiti with us and sat under tarps on Bellevue de Montagne
listening to the dreams of a people hoping to put their country back together again. Now, with Jack’s
drawings in hand, we start building their dreams this Christmas. Share what you do best.

I think your life shines brightest when you are sharing what you do best.

Share Your Life
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower… take up your cross, and follow
me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.” 5

That’s the really hard one, sharing your life. But that’s the call of the Christ follower. He wants more
than “belief,” more than a “decision.” He wants more than your money – sometimes giving money gets us
off the hook — or your things… He wants your life.

On this side of the Atlantic, we are a blessed people. Like the man who built barns, we have a lot, we
know a lot, we can do a lot. And when that’s the case, the God of the Bible says, Turn your blessing into a
blessing for others. That’s how he said it Abraham, “I will bless you… and you will be a blessing… and all
people on earth will be blessed through you.” 6

God said that to Abraham, now he says that to you… because one man cannot lift a house.

Notes:
1. Jeffery Sachs The End of Poverty. New York. Penguin Press. 2005.

2. Bono, quoted by Scott Morrison (speech, Parliament, London, England, February 14, 2008).
3. Mark 2:1-12
4. Luke 12
5. Matthew 16:24-26
6. Genesis 12:2-3

About the Author:
A rising voice in the missional movement, Palmer Chinchen is a popular speaker and author of True
Religion: Taking pieces of heaven to places of hell on earth (David C. Cook, June 2010) and God Can’t
Sleep (David C. Cook, June 2011).

He grew up in Liberia, West Africa, witnessing firsthand the ravaging pain of the AIDS and malaria
pandemics, the atrocities of civil war, and the daily burden of extreme poverty. For many years Palmer
served as a College Pastor in California and Wheaton, IL. Today he serves as Lead Pastor of The Grove,
in Chandler, Arizona.

Palmer is passionate about the need for people everywhere to respond to the problems of affliction and
injustice. He holds a PhD in Educational Studies from Trinity International University (TEDS) and a BA
and MA in Intercultural Studies from Biola University.

Now, this is a lot for me to digest. I can’t help but to imagine what God is orchestrating in all of your lives! I also can’t help but to lose sleep at night over the idea of those of you who may not be responding to the call that God is placing on you… And that hurts!

So please, if you have attended the 2011 Identity Conference and have received some awesome insight from those speakers, USE IT. Put all of those unrivaled principles into immediate effect and watch how your businesses heart and vision mold into what God wants it to be!

Also, I want to hear what you have received form this event. If you have something that you’d like to share, please post it in a comment below for myself and the entire Identity community to see!

If you’re that person who is weighted down by this type of scenario, this is your call to break lose and take action.

In 2 Timothy 1:7, God says this: “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”

In all humility, we respect and honor those who have gone before us in prior generations to do great things for the Kingdom of God. But now it is our turn.

Rise and take action!

Bobb Biehl said this,

“Maturity is between opportunity and decision.”

If you want to be successful as an entrepreneur, you must choose an idea that matches your identity and your personal profile. Below we have put together a few questions to help you develop your profile. Read through them carefully.

1.) What does your perfected Identity look like? Are you rich or are you comfortable? Are you a missionary or a consultant? Are you stationary or are you traveling? After answering those types of fine detailed questions, check back with your idea to see if you believe five years from now your results will match this identity.

2.) Will you really enjoy doing this? If you’re going into business for yourself, you better love it. In fact, loving it may not be enough; is this business the calling God has placed on your life? You shouldn’t love your idea just because it can make money. Really, money is great, but if you aren’t happy doing it, then you will probably give up before it actually makes some real money. Doing what seems like a hobby is the better route to take.

3.) What experiences have you succeeded in so far? Where did you thrive in school? What position did you do well in at your last job? Do you have any talents or gifts that stand out?

4.) What kind of person are you? Are you an A-type personality or are you reserved? Are you an extrovert or an introvert? Are you social and enjoy attention? Are you a team player or a lone ranger? Are you a manager or CEO?

5.) What business models intrigue you? Do you like business models that intentionally stay small? Do you like large corporations with 100+ employees? Do you like membership models? Web based businesses? Are you a product or service entrepreneur?

If you have written the answers to these questions and organize them in a manner that works for you, it should give you a solid filter for which one of your business ideas is more fitting for your personal profile and identity.

Keep in mind, that as an entrepreneur for Christ, whatever you decide to pursue should be for His glory. Not your own.

A good idea will always cure your own sickness. By this I mean, the best way to create a great product or service is by developing something that you’d actually use yourself. By being inside your own market, you obtain the wonderful opportunity of knowing if your idea is poor-or is a homerun. Here at Identity, we use all of our own information, training resources and tools. We’re young entrepreneurs; therefore, it just fits!

Since the point of business is to cure sickness, you should always start by thinking about what people are sick of. The easiest way to go about this is by brainstorming about the things you think function poorly in this world. For example, do you wish there was an easier way to clean your kitchen? Do you wish you could travel from point A to point B without having to use C? Are the current solutions to these problems horrible in your opinion? You will encounter many things throughout your days that you wish would operate or perform better. Make a long list of these things and tuck them away in a folder in your Email. You will be surprised how many you come across when you have somewhere to stick them.

Below are some frequently avoided questions that inexperienced entrepreneurs forget to ask when coming up with ideas. We recommend you answer these questions with a group (3-4 people) that can maintain an optimistic yet realist perspective. By doing this exercise solo, you can end up with a dump truck of confidence in an idea that only one person on the whole planet likes. And guess who that one person will be?

1.) What sickness do you have? Can you cure it? Keep a pen and paper with you all day for a week and commit to writing down a minimum of 5 ideas a day. This is a great exercise to get the creative juices flowing. If you already have a cure, skip this question and take your group carefully through the following questions.

2.) Can you achieve your purpose with it? It is very important that your idea provides purpose. Can this idea HELP you achieve your purpose? Can you get creative like Sevenly and achieve your purpose through a product? Will this idea make you feel like you’re doing what you were born to do? Or is it only about making money? Remember, consumers don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

3.) How hard is it to get into that business? Does it fit a niche? Moving your market into a niche allows you to go “niche hatching”. This is a process where you can start with, say, graphic designers, photographers, videographers, etc. Hatching each one in a time period then moving to the next market.

4.) Can you avoid reinventing the wheel? The main reason people try and reinvent the way is because they don’t know what has already been done. Ignorance, one way or another, is the leading cause of wasted effort everywhere. people who don’t spend time studying the market they’re trying to join are bound to reinvent something, and likely not as well. There are only so many ways to develop a T-shirt company, an e-commerce website, or even a nightclub. Instead of wasting time in further brainstorming, ask if anyone else has done something similar. Then ask yourself, can I do it better?

5.) Can you develop a perceived need? This will mostly pertain to your marketing efforts. Will your product be easy or hard to explain to the consumer? Start-ups with complex systems or processes have less chance of success. Keep it simple and be sure to you could explain why a customer needs your product or service in less than 5 seconds.

6.) Can this really make money? In reality, how much annually? Many novice entrepreneurs get into the business of being poor. They spend months on business ideas that realistically can never reach the goals they have set for their lives. Keep in mind the astronomical amount of hours that you’ll be investing and be sure that you don’t find yourself making $50K per year but only $3.00 an hour. The best way to avoid this is to be completely real with yourself when answering this question.

7.) How much are the start-up costs? Don’t fall in to the common thought that a hugely profitable business takes massive start-up capital. Some of the largest companies in the world started on less than $50,000.

8.) Does it require manufacturing a physical product? If you’re thinking big, like iPod status, which requires huge over head costs for prototyping and development, that’s just fine. But make sure you have huge capital to back up that start-up cost decision. A great rule of thumb is if you can avoid manufacturing a product, you can avoid huge start-up costs. Then again, where the costs are large that profits tend to be too.

“Any business where the system clocks out at 5pm and goes home for the night is no business at all.” -Rolland P.

Remember, it’s important to identify the “Why” behind your business idea. People don’t buy what you do, but also WHY you are doing it.

Every single one of these business owners thought that they had a “great” idea, which is not to say that their businesses failed entirely because their idea was poor. Statistically, 50% of businesses fail due to their marketing and communications. What about the other 50%? Was their business idea not as good as they thought it was?

This statistic begs the question to be asked: What is a good business idea?

It entirely depends on who the idea belongs to! A Chef who has been cooking food for restaurants for thirty years is not going to be prepared to launch an online subscription-based enterprise like a web-developer would be. Same goes for the web-developer; he’s not going to build websites for thirty years then pick up and step in to the kitchen as a chef and start opening restaurants, right? Although they might have some awesome, innovative ways that could impact the industry, they might not be the right person to implement those ideas.

Personally, our staff is always coming up with new business ideas. Some good, some bad, and some flat out stupid. The scary part is that in the beginning phases of developing that idea, we all thought that the idea was good! Not entirely so.

Half the battle is identifying whether or not your idea fits who you are. In other words, your idea needs to be compatible with you as a person.

Lets get some conversation going: What ideas for business have you had? Did they fit you as a person?

Through these past few years I have stumbled many, many times in my entrepreneurial journey with church plants and organization start-ups. As a young Christian, failure was the last thing I was willing to accept. As the years went on, God began revealing to me that in the light of His grace, failure wasn’t what it seemed; it was just another opportunity to learn another lesson.

As you continue to walk this journey with Christ, remember that there is never a situation in your endeavor that God doesn’t have His hand. He has a plan for everything that you may encounter and He promises that whatever hardships you do come across, He will always provide a source for encouragement, comfort and guidance.

Stay the course, Christian!

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 ]]> http://www.identityconference.com/failure-isnt-always-what-it-seems/feed 0 http://www.identityconference.com/he-who-has-an-ear-to-hear-let-him-listen http://www.identityconference.com/he-who-has-an-ear-to-hear-let-him-listen#comments Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:03:14 +0000 Ryan Wood http://www.identityconference.com/?p=1077 When people speak of the voice of the Spirit of God as “soft and gentle”, they almost talk as if it doesn’t speak in loud volumes. Let me ask you this: With God being the all-sovereign Creator who accomplishes His will through us by His grace, what makes us think that God isn’t standing right in front of us screaming at the top of His lungs for someone to step out and be bold?