Starting a Business is Boring
This last Saturday I was sharing how work was going with my dad. He responded with an inquiry that was one of caring for both his son’s fiscal success and his procurement of life giving work. I told him about what my first four weeks of work at this new mission consisted of. Meetings with seemingly too many people around Marian University the institution that was backing the project and signing my paychecks, acquiring market data, and building budgets. Most recently I was pouring hours into spread sheets trying to see what kind of numbers I could reasonably expect to hit with the seed money I had to work with. Which was followed by proposing a 5 and 10 year budget that would be sound enough to make it through six levels of approval: my direct oversight Adam Setmeyer VP for Mission and Ministry, Mary Callahan VP of Grants Management, Mic Mates Assistant Controller, Ken Britt COO, Mike Bedel Assistant VP for Finance and Accounting, and finally the team at Lilly Endowment Inc. who is the granting institution founding the mission.
In my weak moments I have just one word for such extremely layered inefficiency: Bureaucracy. However, when I’m open to the grace that God is actively offering me, I am grateful for the various bodies of expertise I get to engage with and the diversified insights I receive from them. Yes, it can take 21 days to act on a good decision I made three weeks ago. On the other hand, three weeks of refinement on an idea that wasn’t as great as it looked to my young and still inexperienced eyes can be the difference between a successful year or a total failure. Our all good Father has placed me in a leadership position with sound oversight … Truly a gift.
When I completed telling my dad about my first month of work his response was direct.
“When you were at Exodus you said that you didn’t want Jame’s job of running the business. You just wanted to do mission. This sure sounds like you’re running the business.”
My dad’s memory did not fail him. I both said that and believed it wholeheartedly. I had such an awesome job at Exodus. I got to develop content roadmaps, podcast strategies, and video series. I got to work with fantastic theological writers and minds from all over the country. I got to travel the world and meet with Exodus men in person, hear their testimonies, and deliver talks to men of their cities who they wanted to have the freedom they were so graced to have just received. I got to see the numbers we were working with and give my opinion to James as he worked to lead the company. And yet, I didn’t have to spend any time wading chest deep in excel formulas. #DreamJob.
After Exodus I pursued a number of different opportunities that the Lord put before me. I continued fulfilling the speaking engagements I had left. And I offered my experiences to other ministries through my Binversie & Creatives consulting services. As the year progressed the Lord continued to prepare me for the very work he’s now lead me to. He opened my eyes to all that I learned at Exodus, even if it wasn’t my first love nor my primary work. He resurfaced the knowledge I gained from the two years of business school I elected to take before the Lord brought me into seminary. He reminded me of the home I came from and the father I was raised by. He turned my ears to my grandfather who is not only my confirmation sponsor but also the man who raised not only my father but my very successful uncles as well.
And so here I am. Maybe not where I would have chosen. But exactly where the Lord wants me to be. Does that mean I’m having fun. No. Business is totally boring. Numbers, equations, money, data, presentations, approvals, processes …. A complete yawn. However, I leave work each day fulfilled. Why? Two reasons. First, because I know that I’m doing exactly what the Lord wants me to do. And secondly, because proper business strategies free a mission to thrive. And effective mission work fires me up.
