Friday, January 27, 2006

Master Business Disciplines

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Michael Gerber identifies 7 business disciplines that when we master them we will have a "world class business." Business is about doing the right things and doing them well.

It is a discipline, a focus, a passion, a commitment. In The E-Myth Mastery, these 7 disciplines are explained with free "worksheets" you can download from
http://www.emythmastery.com/
to help you make them part of your business.

The foundation is the entrepreneur spirit which needs nurtured and kept alive in you. Discover the entrepreneur in you and re-energize your vision, with perpetual passion through a powerful purpose.

Here are the Seven Disciplines for building a business with a few highlights from each one.

1. The enterprise leader. Your plan must be heart-centered as well as head centered. Start with what is most important to you. Create a plan that accommodates change, a living document with room to expand and grow.

2. The marketing leader. Marketing starts with your customer. So know your customer. Learn and understand how your customers think , especially "unconscious" patterns, and make decisions. Create a unique selling position.

3. The financial leader. What is your philosophy of money? This determines how you spend it. Movement of cash is very important in a business and create systems that keep it flowing. Know how money comes into your business and how it goes out... create strategically timed systems of cash in, cash going out.

4. The management leader. Create an environment where people can expand with you and that you all can flex with change. Integrate your vision with their visions and become one thing. Build structures, processes and systems for ease of work, communication flow. Train and provide tools so everyone can do their jobs as well as possible.

5. The fulfillment leader. Remember it is One Thing... everything affects everything else. Integrate all systems. Identify and make clear the processes for all areas. Expand technology and automated systems in your production, delivery, and customer service processes.

6. The lead conversion leader. It's about relationships. Selling is not selling; it is relationship building. Gerber's model is.... engage with your prospective customer, repeat emotional message of "your" promise, determine customer's needs, provide a solution, offer the product. Your existing customer base is the best for building long-term steady revenue with solid relationships.

7. The lead generation leader. As the owner, CEO make a list of 15 lead generation ideas, have each of all your people do the same, meet and discuss them. Then select possible media, content, process to complete. Determine the extensiveness of the reach, the content, costs and effectiveness.

The E-Myth Mastery is designed to take a small business to world class status... to be a thriving, continuously expanding enterprise. It is very comprehensive and a business could easily spend 3-6 months restructuring his business. (By the way, this is what I do; I help business owners facilitate restructuring but going one step beyond world class... to be Powered by the Spirit of the Universe.)

What is most important is the discipline aspect of all this? It will make a business run like a well engineered vehicle. But there is more.

When a business adds ingredients of Spirit it will soar beyond World Class. It will be High-Powered in a Realm of its own. Spirit Power is universe creating Power. As business people, we may over-look this power that is available to us.

Jesus said to focus on the invisible and the power of it. He lived out many examples while here on earth to prove we are made to function Super-Naturally...above world class... Spirit-powered, God-level creating class. All the powers of Jesus on earth have been released for us to use as well. It is most evident when All of Jesus Believers function as One group.
This is where the power is.

It requires personal discipline to have the Jesus-level of Spirit power in our lives. Just two people in a business venture, totally committed to Jesus Spirit and each disciplined in their Spiritual lives, can manifest the same level of power Jesus demonstrated while on earth. If within an organization, just two share the purposes of the Kingdom of Heaven, this power is at their disposal… it’s a matter of choosing to use it. It's a matter of being disciplined in our lives to build it within us.

Jesus Promised it.
God promised it when He said...
No one can defeat or overcome My purposes( Isaiah 14:24).

Building a world class company requires Discipline. When we live in Spirit, daily disciplining our lives to ingredients of Spirit, we will exhibit all the Power of Jesus in our lives. We are negligent to our potential if we think we can see Real Spiritual Power in our lives without daily practicing the disciplines of living in Spirit.

The Discipline requires constant focus in Inspired Scriptures, uninterrupted periods of meditation, dwelling in the Spirit, concentrating on Things of Spirit in and around us.

Jesus went off often alone to pray...to spend time in the Spirit of God... extended times. There He heard from God. He was empowered by Spirit.
What followed these encounters in Spirit?
He healed many, spoke convincingly, walked in Power.

We can do it too, when we DO the same.

Be Disciplined in Spirit. Integrate mind, soul, body as one
(in His Spirit).
and comb relationships with others as One Thing
(in Spirit with each other).

This is where the power is!

Jesus said... "the gate is narrow and few enter through it." (Matt: 7:14.NLT)
“The door to heaven is narrow. Work hard to get in.” (Luke 13:24, NLT)

It is about discipline in Spirit, just like discipline in world class business.
Universe-creating power has a creating power above what world systems are capable.

The Power of Spirit becomes evident…releasing through our lives.
Spirit vision becomes a visible reality. Visions become Realities.
Spirit is Reality... if we go there.

So go There. And Power of Spirit goes with you!

"First I predicted your deliverance; I declared what I would do, and then I did it--I saved you. No foreign god has ever done this before. You are witnesses that I am the only God," says the LORD. "From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can oppose what I do. No one can reverse my actions." (Isaiah 43:12-13, NLT)

Friday, January 20, 2006

Biz Mastery System

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

The E-Myth Mastery by Michael E. Gerber is a comprehensive business development system. Gerber extensively expands his Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company. He has compiled an inspirational and thorough business guiding system from over his 4 decades of working in the real world with small business owners and entrepreneurs.

To be an entrepreneur is the power to create... creation is something done "through" you, says Gerber. Like music you learn to play through practice.... it is through the process you create music. Business is about mastering the business process... then you have the power of creation.

The E-myth is that entrepreneurs are the select few born with this quality. This is a myth according to Gerber. Entrepreneurs are not born into it, they develop into it. Being an entrepreneur is about skill development, mastering the skills of the entrepreneur in business.

Most people go into business with a technical or professional ability. To be effective though, a business person must learn and master the entrepreneur skill, the business skill. Most work "in" the business, whereas the key to building the business is to work "on" the business.

The technician goes to work “in” his business.
The entrepreneur goes to work “on” his business.

It takes "uncommon" skill to develop a business. Purpose must be established from one's vision which is fueled by the passion that emerges from the vision.

Passion drives everything....Passion of the soul, passion of the mind.

It's a growing into "being" while becoming more proficient in "doing." Then the business skill must be understood. This takes time to learn the business skill set. And as Gerber puts it,
you must practice, practice, practice.

Everyday a person must practice these skill areas.
This is the key... practice, practice, practice.
The vision must constantly be revisited.
The purpose refined, the passion fueled.
This drives the skill development.

Gerber goes on to outline the 7 disciplines essential for building a world class business: the enterprise leader, marketing leader, financial leader, management leader, client fulfillment, lead conversion, and lead generation leader. The E-Myth Mastery is very thorough and in-depth resource for small business development. For more note:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060723181/002-3579956-0934469?v=glance&n=283155

Practice, Practice, Practice.
There is great potency in Spirit that enlarges skills.
God wants us to pursue Him... relentlessly.
His Spirit.... His righteousness.
Not your ways of what you think are right,
but His ways that are Right.

Practice, Practice, Practice.
As the Olympian practices early morning, into the evening, when we show the same relentless diligence in pursing Spirit (cultivating Spirit in us), God's Righteousness will envelope us. It will extend out beyond us... like a vapor that moves from its origin out to engulf, as a fragrance, everything surrounding us .
His vapor, fragrance, His Spirit moves you and saturates everyone.

Practice, Practice, Practice.
Study, meditate, pray, have intimate Spiritual intercourse in the Heavenlies... in the deep recesses of your soul.

Practice, Practice, Practice.
Spend uninterrupted time totally saturated in Spirit, the Essence, and Strongholds of the Depths of God's Spirit. There He speaks; there He gives Divine intelligence, Spiritual intelligence that no mind can configure. There Divine strategy emerges.

Practice, Practice, Practice
In the depth of His Spirit, you become united to His arsenal of Spirit.
Power emerges.
Go with Spirit.
His Spirit Goes out like a Power Vapor and saturates all around it.

Spirit transforms,
creates,
brings victory to all who float with it.

Practice, Practice, Practice.
Soaking in His Inner Place totally immersed with your whole being in Him. In this inner sanctuary, your battles are fought, and won!

To get there, be there, live within your life, you must
...practice, practice, practice...
in Spiritually-inspired Scripture, in meditation, in prayer, in intercessions, in contemplating, in worship of the Lord the Most-Powerful God...who continues to create, recreate and transform.

This Spiritual skill, the Superior skill, can be developed too... when you
Practice, Practice, Practice.

All the Power of the Creator of the Universe will be part of you as the Spirit creates through you, recreates and transforms the world around you.

“Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that there is a God. And that He rewards those who sincerely (relentlessly) seek Him. “(Heb. 11:5, NLT)

Jesus said,
Ask... Ask... Ask...
Knock... Knock... Knock...
Seek... Seek... Seek

The power of Spirit will continually go before you.

Knowing this, advance confidently and boldly.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Spiritual Wealth Building

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker has been a best seller on three major business book lists. I was curious as to why. So I took time to read his book. He has some insightful observations.

Eker, who was not at first financially successful, found the biggest reason people fail in business and efforts to make money is based on how they think. We make financial decisions based on what we have learned at a very young age... from parents, teachers, those we hung around with. Most attitudes are self defeating.

We need to change our "poor" thinking thought patterns to "rich" thinking thought patterns. Make a conscious effort to remove old, subconsciously imbedded, poor-minded preconditioned thoughts. Replace them with wealth building thought patterns… create a rich-minded "money blueprint.”

It is the “way” millionaires think which leads them to wealth.

He outlined a formula... T > F > A = results. Our Thinking creates Feelings, from these feelings we take Actions which yield Results. The origin from this is from how we have programmed our mind.
Our past has conditioned it to automatically think a certain way. So to make this work we need to “Program” millionaire thought patterns into our brain. Then adjust the formula to P > T > F > A = wealth results.

Eker went on to identify 17 wealth files that we need to have filed away in our brain. We must, through deliberate mental reprogramming, imprint these files into our subconscious.
For more on this, note:

http://www.millionairemind.com/

Man seeks wealth of the world.
But Jesus said the secret formula is to pursue the principles of His Kingdom first and all these things will be added. He also said it is what is in the heart that defiles the man. Eker points out having the right attitude toward others relates a great deal with how well we do in wealth building. Riches within itself is not bad, but what matters is what we do with them.

Jesus also exhorted us to control our thought life, and how we think of others is what will come back to us. Spirit enhances the "program, thoughts, feelings, action to results" formula. First meditate on The Principles of Spirit in the Bible day and night (Joshua 1)... program your mind into Spirit.

Seek Divine insight, or Spiritual Intelligence, for what you are to do. As God told Joshua, seek direction from Divine Insight first and God's very Spirit went ahead of him. He first had to find out what the Spirit of God's strategy was. Victory was already won when going into battle… following a specific Spiritually-produced plan.

The thoughts (strategies) for the battle reflect Spirit Intelligence which then leads to a Passionate sense of pending victory. This leads to courageous action which gets unprecedented results.

So the Spirit-led formula would be:
Reprogram thinking with Spirit-based thinking.
Seek Spiritual Insight, Intelligence.
Find Divine Purpose.
When we move with Spiritual purpose, perpetual Passion is produced.
Actions are confident and powerful.
the Results are outstanding...

because with a Spirit-inspired formula Super-Natural results are accomplished.

The Apostle said to renew your mind and be transformed by the Power of the Spirit overriding the thoughts we learned through life experiences… which are of a lower level. When operating from a higher level the Most High God, we can expect great victory in our lives.

Riches of a higher level are the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven. Build wealth within the Kingdom of Heaven first, and all these other areas will fall into place.

Think constantly on these things:
“Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8, NLT)

Make this declaration each day recognizing the very Power that goes before you.
“Because the Very Power of Jesus Spirit works in me, the Spirit accomplishes more than I can even think of or hope is even possible.”
(Ephesians 3:20)



Friday, January 06, 2006

Spirit Savvy Tipping Point

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

The Tipping Point has been around for a while and has remained a top selling business book. In the "Afterward" of Gladwell's new reprint is this statement...
"On playing fields and battlegrounds, challenges that would be daunting and impossible, if faced alone, are now suddenly possibly... when tackled in a close-knit group."

This reminded me of what Dr. Ashcroft always emphasized the key to spiritual power, of Supernatural proportions, is accomplished through strong, bonded relationships of people with a common mission or purpose. Spiritual power is released when small groups of people form tight-knit groups. Power is directly linked to the quality of the love relationship between people, not necessarily the number involved.
With increased numbers, it is many times more difficult to create close-knit relationships. This is the significance of Matt. 18:18 (where two or three agree, what you agree on will happen.)

Malcom Gladwell went on to say, "What now is obvious, but not at the time when I wrote the Tipping Point, we are about to enter the age of the word of mouth. With all the wizardry and limitedless access to information of the new economy will lead us to rely more and more on very primitive kinds of social contact."

The Tipping Point identifies key people traits that move any effort, business or mission to its tipping point. They include the connector, the mavens, and the salesman.

He defined the "tipping point" as when something somewhat unnoticed becomes contagious and reaches a critical mass or epidemic levels of advance. He cites three characteristics of Tipping Points…
Contagious,
the fact that little causes have big effects,
and change happens not gradually but at one dramatic moment.

Tipping point is the name to this dramatic moment... When change, a phase, craze rushes through a market like the winds of an approaching torrential storm.

In our culture we have seen this with male earrings, shaved heads, tattoos... a few have them and then overnight everyone has them. In technology, email, cell phones, palm pilots have done that. Blogs, blackberries, laptops are now hitting a tipping point... the majority is moving in quickly and most everyone has one.

According to Gladwell, power erupts when the connectors, mavens, and salespeople collaborate on a common objective.

He defined each.
Connectors: know a lot of different people and love to connect them.
Mavens: learn new things, accumulate knowledge and tell others.
Salesmen: are skilled at persuading others who are not yet convinced.
For more on the Tipping Point note Gladwell's website,
http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/
and an independent outline:
http://radio.weblogs.com/0107127/stories/2003/01/01/tippingPointNetVersion.html

Jesus had a tipping point. He spent 30 years relatively unknown. Created a team of 12 and in three years incited a "Spiritually" contagious, epic phenomenon that moved rapidly across the earth and never stopped.

The select and tightly-knit few, which he gave priority attention in His last year of his life, exploded into a massive move
Revolutionizing Spirituality within a hostile culture.

Like what Gladwell observed, Jesus chose... the connector, James; John, a maven; and Peter the salesman.
James connected those of need with those who could help them.
John became the expert spokesman of Jesus’ love.
Peter's first speech persuaded thousands to adopt Jesus' ways.
These were Jesus' inner circle. He nurtured, loved and molded them to be an influential core of Spiritual warriors.

One lesson from this is...
the secret to utilizing Spiritual Power in your business or biz network is to find the connectors, mavens and salesmen and create a tight- knit team among them. Create unbreakable love and committed relationships within and among your teams.
When love prevails, overwhelming victories are common.
(Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. Romans 8:37, NLT)

Your business will be a power-house entity when love permeates every fiber of its existence, people and processes.
(David’s throne will be established by love. Isaiah 16:5, NLT)

Jesus did a “one-up” on everyone.
In one spectacular moment, He sent the very Spirit of God back to earth, after He left, to live in us as a whole group. Whenever two or more believers engage in a Spiritual Purpose The Actual Presence of God’s Spirit goes with that enterprise. We have the Spirit of Jesus in Us, with Us, working on our behalf for God’s Purpose.
(“Don’t you realize Jesus lives in you, Col. 1:27)

The Spirit of Jesus has had its Tipping Point.
The Spirit of God rests, waits to blossom, in everyone’s soul.

Everyone has IT!
Will you use It, and connect in Spirit love with others?

You will then see the manifestation of power in your efforts above and beyond what commonly accepted biz principles can do. You will then create a Spirit-Powered Tipping Point, an unstoppable tidal wave of Super-Natural proportions.

Where two or more team up,
melted together by sacrificial love for each other,
What was once impossible,
Will now be possible for you!



Note JesusIsUs.blogspot.com by Geffry Fields for more on the power of unity of Spirit, especially the July, 2005 archive titles of July 1, Nucleus of Spiritual Power Rediscovered; July 9, Magnitude of Being One...