Art of the Start...Right Motives

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
is about.... "cut the crap and tell me what I need to do."

He suggests 5 most important things the entrepreneur must accomplish.
1. Make meaning-- what will make the world better.
2. Make mantra--forget mission statements...too boring...create exciting themes. Take your theme and make a mantra out of it.
3. Get going--start creating and delivering your product or service.
4. Define your business model... how will you make money. Specific, simple, copy someone.
5. Weave a mat (milestones, assumptions, and tasks). Milestones you want to meet, assumptions on your business model and tasks that keep you on track.

Learn how to quickly, clearly, eye-openly pitch your niche.

The reason for a business plan is to get the team working together, considering important issues and finding "holes" before your dollars fall through them.

Get people "infected" like you and find rainmakers who can sell your vision before your product/service can prove itself... who are skilled to find where you will blossom and can sell through "not-proven-yet" resistance.

Provide a safe, easy, first step.

In addition to getting commited partners and finding capital trials, put in place ethics, decency and admiration.

The Art of the Start triggers you to reboot your brain. Thinking for a startup is different than thinking for an existing company. He covers these main start up themes in The Art of the Start. There's a difference for a start up compared to thinking in an existing business.

Positioning: finding a niche and dominating it.
Pitching: ten slides, 20 min. and 30 pt. font.
Writing a Business Plan: 20 pages of wishful thinking.
Bootstrapping: Staying with a college buddy instead of a Motel Six.
Recruiting: Sucking in people who "get it" and are willing to risk their careers for stock options.
Partnering: Piggybacking on others to increase sales.
Branding: Evangelizing in the trenches.
Rainmaking: Sucking up, down, across.
Being a Mensch: Helping people who can't help you.

For starting a business or mission, Kawasaki is interesting and inventive on how to go about it. He's very "real world" insightful. You can tell he's been out there.
http://artofthestart.com/ shares examples, templates and resources you can use.

Start with the right motives, intentions. What you will contribute.
The Prophet Ezekiel talks about the destructive forces of pride, self-centeredness..."I want it all. It's all mine." When this is a person's motives, they are headed for a downfall. ( Note Ezekiel 27-29)

Wealth, money, beauty, possessions, power--are the roots of pride.
History has it when there's pride, self-centeredness a person is building the path to destruction. When you want it all, want it all for yourself, you open the gates to total self-destruction.

This attitude was seen in big business leaders of large corporations that fell. They had it all and wanted more money, beauty, prestige, possessions, power. This led to pride, self-centeredness possessiveness. They admired themselves."I have all this. It is all mine.

"In reality, we do not own anything. It is all God's. We all leave it when we die, our children leave it when they die and it eventually goes back to its original creator.

So why do we exist?
To give what we have to others.
To continually be in a flow of giving and contributing.

It is like rain that comes from the skies, goes into streams, then into lakes, evaporates backup to the sky and it rains again. All we do circulates just like this. If it stays stagnate and is not flowing, it sours and becomes a poison to who drinks it.

Instead of getting and keeping it all, we were designed in the Spiritual system to be giving. It keeps flowing and keeps coming back fresh. Jesus said what you do for the least of these you do to Me.

Your business and possessions are not yours. You own nothing. It is not just for you. It is to be shared with all you know... your associates, employees, vendors, friends, relatives and especially the least of all who have no way of helping you in return.

Make your business this conduit of transition. From you to others in need. Make your business a conduit of transfer. Collect the produce of wealth that is ever expanding...don't hurt your self by trying to keep it all to yourself. Instead, be a Divine Delivery Boy for purposes of Spirit, Love of God to re-supply His Creation.

We all exist as care givers, care sharers with humanity. When we slip into the "this is all mine" syndrome, self destruction can be heard coming around the corner. Don't harden your heart, give, share, build up others.

If you give what you have, share with many and be the Divine Delivery Boy of God's purposes, you build up true riches. Your heart will be filled with love, joy, happiness. You will have many friends and happiness will surround you.

Jesus said to use money to make friends.
“I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves.”
(Luke 16:9)

When we share, we make friends. The more friends we have the more wealth of rich relationships become an ever growing part of our lives.