Option 1 or Option 2

A couple of days ago I had the privilege of meeting with Curtis Templeton and Jon Michell from First Christian Church of Huntington Beach. Their church is in the process of building a new cafe & bookstore inside one of their buildings. They were seeking help & advice about things that work and things that don’t. I was more than happy to help answer some of their questions. Over the past two years I have partnered with about a dozen churches to help them get a bookstore opened in their church as well as a a couple coffee shops. *(side note: see below)

One of the things that I was reminded during my meeting with these great guys was some of the simple truths of making a business work. I have always felt like our business model was built on an old platform. After this week I am pretty confident I am right. I love reading Seth Godin and I just started his newest book Linchpin and it is phenomenal. In the book he basically gets to a place in the opening chapter where he says business (and individuals) have two choices:

“Win by being more ordinary, more standard and cheaper. Or win by being faster, more remarkable, and more human.”pg. 13

Option #1 become Wal-Mart (A cheap and easily reproduced model). Option #2 become Trader Joe’s (More expensive than other competitors, but human, engaged and memorable).  Which of the two defines your church? Your NPO? Your workplace?

I know that Central Christian Church is living out option #2 but the two42 cafe & bookstore is practicing option #1. That frustrates me. One of the great things about Jon and Curtis visiting this week was the questions they asked. Being a learner is a tremendous upside to being option #2. These guys will win and be a huge success in their church and in their community because they want to learn. You can tell how much they want to learn by the questions they ask. Some of the things they said triggered some questions I wanted to get back to asking:

• Who is our target audience? How are really trying to help them?
• Where can we cut things out and become more unique?
• Are we reproducible? If so, we are going to be under bid by Amazon and others.
• Are we cheaper or human?
• Are we standard or faster?
• Are we ordinary or remarkable?
• What am I offering that no one else offers? How are we different?

When you think about it, these are some easy questions to ask, but some hard ones to really be honest about. Over the next few weeks I am going to be digging deeper into how the two42 cafe & bookstore as well as Central Resources can make some changes to become more strategic, more unique. In the meantime what are some of the questions you ask about your own business, NPO or Church?

*I am secretly hoping that someday Michael Trent, aka, The Church Bartender will put me on his payroll, then again I am making the assumption that I have something to offer his creative genius. But if you need professional help starting a store, he is the guy! Okay that is enough plugging and ego stroking for the day.

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