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When companies act like governments

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by Erica Pandey

As Axios has reported, companies are taking ever more daring positions on social and political issues because of intense pressure from the public and their own employees. At a time of rock bottom trust in institutions and leaders, corporations are among the very few remaining bastions of public confidence, says Edelman, the public relations firm.

The latest example is Salesforce, which has recently barred certain gun sellers from using its e-commerce software, per the Washington Post. It follows a trend of companies targeting guns:

  • Amazon and eBay have both banned the sale of firearms on their platforms.
  • Shopify has stopped providing its software to merchants who sell semi-automatic firearms and silencers, among other weapons.
  • Walmart, the country’s biggest gun seller, has stopped selling the weapons to customers under 21. And Dick’s Sporting Goods has pulled all assault-style guns from its shelves.

Firms have waded into other debates, too: In an outcry over abortion rights, Hollywood studios are threatening to stop filming in Georgia. And two years ago, a backlash by PayPal, the NCAA, Bank of America and others forced North Carolina to repeal a “bathroom bill” that discriminated against transgender individuals.

“We are concerned by the rise of boardroom legislation by unelected corporate leaders,” says Lawrence Keane, SVP of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “It’s particularly troubling when the companies making the decisions have tons of market power.”

The big picture: While firms are well within their rights to take a stand, their actions take on new significance when unelected businesses have the same sort of power as government officials, says Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago.

  • In early 2018, Facebook and Google banned ads for cryptocurrency exchanges. That meant 60% of all online ads were off limits to cryptocurrency companies.
  • The combined actions of Amazon, eBay, Shopify and, now, Salesforce, have effectively banned the online sale of certain guns.

The bottom line: Look for continued corporate activism, as socially minded employees and consumers show no sign of wavering in their insistence on their companies taking such positions.

  • “It has a lot to do with the war for talent,” says Louis Hyman, a historian at Cornell. “In an age where the corporate talent is socially liberal, companies that do not take these positions are risking their key assets.”
  • “It’s not really companies who are making this difference. It’s the consumers who support these companies,” says Heather Cox Richardson, a professor at Boston College.

A new vehicle for grassroots politics

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Business

A Cancer Cure Has Gotten Out of Control

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by Bill Sardi

While Wall Street awaits the entry of over 1,813 new cancer drugs into human clinical trials representing billions of dollars of investment capital, the announcement of a bona fide cure for cancer comes from an outsider – patient Joe Tippens.

An astounding report of Mr. Tippens’ cancer cure is circulating the internet now.  First diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in 2016 and with tumors popping up on scans in virtually every organ in his body, in desperation Joe Tippens began using a dog de-worming agent at the suggestion of a veterinarian.

He was told this cancer cure “was batting 1,000 in killing different cancers.”  He heard one of the scientists involved in the research was cured.  He had no time to dither.  He was weeks away from dying.

Treatment began in the third week of January 2017.  Three months later at MD Anderson Cancer Hospital in Houston, Tippens anxiously awaited the report of his oncologist who had no idea Tippens started taking the dog deworming medication.

The doctor is reported to have walked up to Mr. Tippens and said: “I am going to have to ask you to leave this hospital, because we only treat patients with cancer here at MD Anderson.”


Within just 3 months his cancer vanished.  His insurance company spent $1.2 million before Tippens switched to a $5 a week medicine that saved his life.  Daily vitamins and CBD oil were also an essential part of his curative regimen.  Here’s the video report.

Don’t think Big Pharma isn’t involved here.  Merck Animal Health division makes the de-worming drug that has gone up in price since the report of Tippens’ cure spread in the news media.

Joe Tippens now reports at his own “My Cancer Story Rocks” blog site that is bustling with visitors.

He now says around 40 otherwise hopeless cancer patients have reported similar cures.

He continues to take the anti-worming medication and dietary supplements as prevention.

His dietary supplement regimen that he still adheres to is as follows:

  • Vitamin E complex (tocotrienols, tocopherols)
  • Curcumin (turmeric extract 600 mg/day
  • CBD oil

The history of this cure

The anti-tumor therapy involves an anti-worming agent used for horses and dogs. It has been deemed to be safe by the Food & Drug Administration.  Published studies involving this canine drug, fenbendazole, date back a couple of decades.  There has been a lot of foot dragging over fenbendazole since it was unexpectedly reported to exhibit potent anti-cancer properties when combined with a vitamin regimen in laboratory animals in a study published in 2008.

Researchers reported that fenbendazole alone or vitamins alone did not alter the size or growth of implanted tumors in laboratory mice.  But their combination produced a striking increase in activity of one type of white blood cell, neutrophils, resulting in a no-growth effect.  There also was strong inhibition of a protein (hypoxia inducing factor) that induces hypoxia (absence of oxygen) which forces cancer cells to utilize sugar for energy rather than oxygen.

In the laboratory this drug/vitamin combo overcame treatment resistance as well.

Researchers were initially investigating fenbendazole because it was interfering with anti-tumor studies with other drugs.

Given that pinworms are a common problem in laboratories where mice are employed in pre-clinical testing of anti-cancer drugs, use of fenbendazole to clear these animals of parasites is standard practice.

Unexpectedly, fenbendazole halted the growth of implanted human lymphoma cells in rodents.

To prevent animal infection during the testing period the chow fed to these lab animals is sterilized and then vitamins and minerals (vitamin A, D, E, K and B) are added back to eliminate variance in nutrient intake.  But the chow for these lab animals in question was not sterilized and therefore more nutrients were delivered to these animals than normal.

Whereas implanted tumors take hold and grow 80-100% of the time, in this experiment none of the implanted tumors grew among 40 animals over a 30-day period!  This was striking.

In 2011 researchers investigated fenbendazole for its ability to treat a nasty form of brain cancer (glioblastoma multiforme).  Five-year survival with this form of brain cancer is only 10%. Over 600 clinical trials for this form of cancer have been unsuccessful in finding a cure.  These researchers found the addition of an anti-worming (pinworm) agent (fenbendazole) halted the growth of brain tumors whereas among animals that were not de-wormed, there was consistent tumor growth.  The researchers noted the long track record of safety for fenbendazole as well as its low cost and availability.

Contrarily, in 2013 researchers reported they found no evidence that fenbendazole has value in cancer therapy and did not warrant further testing.

Then in 2018 researchers in India reported fenbendazole exerts cancer cell killing activity at very low concentrations and does so partially by its inherent ability to inhibit the uptake of sugar (glucose) into fast-growing tumor cells.  Cancer cells develop an inordinate demand for sugar to feed their growth, switching from oxygen to sugar as a source of energy.  Fenbendazole did this by inhibition of an enzyme called hexokinase.

Fenbendazole’s ability to preferentially kill of malignant cells without harming healthy cells is another of its proposed properties.

The last thing the cancer industry needs is a cure

The last thing the cancer industry needs is a cure.  In fact, it can’t afford a cure.

Financial analysts admit “a cancer cure is not a sustainable business model.”

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The Great Proletarian Revolution
Business

The Nature of Socialism Explained in 5 Short Videos by Milton Friedman

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Socialism is Force

Socialism vs. Capitalism

The Rise of Socialism is Absurd

What is “Democratic” Socialism?

Milton Friedman vs. Socialist Michael Harrington

The Emotional Appeal of Socialism Despite Its Long History of Failure

From Milton Friedman’s Introduction to “The Road to Serfdom” by Frederick Hayek:

Road to Serfdom Cover

To understand why it is that ‘good’ men in positions of power will produce evil, while the ordinary man without power but able to engage in voluntary cooperation with his neighbors will produce good, requires analysis and thought, subordinating the emotions to the rational faculty.

Surely that is one answer to the perennial mystery of why collectivism [and socialism], with its demonstrated record of producing tyranny and misery, is so widely regarded as superior to individualism, with its demonstrated record of producing freedom and plenty. The argument for collectivism is simple if false; it is an immediate emotional argument. The argument for individualism is subtle and sophisticated; it is an indirect rational argument. And the emotional facilities are more highly developed in most men than the rational, paradoxically or especially even in those who regard themselves as intellectuals.

Experience has strongly confirmed Hayek’s central insight—that coordination of men’s activities through central direction and through voluntary cooperation are roads going in very different directions: the first to serfdom, the second to freedom. That experience has also strongly reinforced a secondary theme—central direction is also a road to poverty for the ordinary man; voluntary cooperation, a road to plenty. The battle for freedom must be won over and over again. The socialists in all parties to whom Hayek dedicated his book must once again be persuaded or defeated if they and we are to remain free men.

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Business

13 Tips for the Work-at-Home Author

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by Joel Friedlander

Let’s face it: writing is mostly a solitary business. The picture we have of the writer alone in her room, deep in the writing process, is pretty accurate. Writing takes dedicated hours over a long period of time.

This means that many people who write for a living work at home. I’ve been self-employed for quite a long time, and sometimes I had a space to work that I rented, but mostly I’ve been lucky enough to have room in my home to set up an office.

This scheme is not without risks, however.

Early in my working at home days, it seemed almost impossible to get anything done. Eventually, I gave up and took an office in the city.

But when I began book publishing in earnest in the 1990s, I took an extra bedroom in your home and converted into an office.

Over the years since I’ve worked from home both as a contract worker doing book design and production, as well as an entrepreneur, starting businesses and gathering a team online.

In the course of the thirty-plus years I’ve been doing this, I’ve learned lots of lessons about navigating work at home successfully.

Here are my top tips for authors and publishers who work at home:

13 Tips for the Work-at-Home Author

  1. Get dressed for work—It may seem like fun to spend the day in your pajamas, you’ll be much more productive by dressing for work to trigger yourself to take your home work seriously.
  2. Establish a routine—Routine is part of life when you work in any context, and routines can be used as powerful reinforcements in building successful habits.
  3. Treat your business like a business—Your mindset will communicate itself to others whether you intend it to or not. Act like you’re transacting serious business and people will take you at your word.
  4. Choose a dedicated work space—An absolute necessity for home workers. Having a space that’s optimized for your type of work, where everything you need is readily accessible will help make you so much more productive. Put some time (and some resources) into making your home office an inviting and efficient place to work.
    • Declutter—Keeping order, not surprisingly, helps with focus and concentration
    • Create a pleasing ambiance—Having your own space gives you an opportunity to create an environment that you’ll be happy to work in.
    • Less noise, more light—If you can find a spot that has either quiet or great natural light, take it. If it has both, guard your space jealously.
    • Get a good chair—When you consider your desk chair is your most-used piece of equipment, you’ll realize why it’s a good idea to invest in one that gives you great support. During the dot-com bust, we picked up several pricey Aeron chairs, and they really make a difference especially on those late night launches.
  5. Try to leave the house each day—Getting some air and a chance to walk around for a few minutes will keep your energy up for the long haul.
  6. Restrict your social media use—If this is a problem for you, try logging out of all your accounts during your work day, and/or turning off notifications on all your devices. On iOS devices, the “Do Not Disturb” setting is quite handy.

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Accounting

Netflix paid NO federal or state taxes in 2018 despite record profits

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by Lauren Fruen

Netflix paid NOTHING in federal or state taxes in 2018 despite posting record profits of $845million – and even got a $22million rebate

Netflix didn’t pay a cent in state or federal income taxes last year, despite posting its largest-ever U.S. profit in 2018 of $845million, according to a new report.

In addition, the streaming giant reported a $22 million federal tax rebate, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).

Senior fellow at ITEP Matthew Gardner said corporations like Netflix, which has its headquarters in Los Gatos, California, are still ‘exploiting loopholes’ and called the figures ‘troubling’.

Netflix says they paid $131 million in taxes in 2018 and this is declared in financial documents. But Gardner says this figure relates to taxes paid abroad, according to a separate part of their statements.

He told DailyMail.com: ‘It is pretty clearly true that Netflix’s cash payment of worldwide income taxes in 2018 was $131 million. But that is a worldwide number—the amount Netflix actually paid to national, state and local governments worldwide in 2018. This tells us precisely nothing about the amount Netflix paid to any specific government, including the U.S.’

Gardner added: ‘Fortunately, however, there is another, more complete geographic disclosure of income tax payments.

‘The notes to the financial statements have a detailed section on income taxes. And what this tells us is that all of the income taxes Netflix paid in 2018 were foreign taxes. Zero federal income taxes, zero state income taxes in the US.’

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Taxes Are Getting Weaponized for Partisan Purposes

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by J.D. Tuccille

How willing are you to pay taxes when you know they’re intended to do you harm?

Government agencies and laws have devolved into weapons to be wielded against political opponents in this country. Why wouldn’t taxes follow?

Too many Americans promote taxes as a means of hurting people they dislike, putting the raising of revenue as a secondary consideration—or dropping it entirely.

Given the destructive nature of taxation, it’s a potentially effective strategy, at least for a while. But it may also totally delegitimize the tax system in the eyes of the people who are supposed to pay the bills.

Social Engineering Takes to the Tax Code

With simmering partisan animosity in the U.S. has come a growing willingness to use government to extirpate anything perceived as bad or politically different. Financial regulators, law enforcement, and legislation have already been conscripted to the cause of hurting political enemies. Taxation is the just the latest weapon in the war.

Insisting that “a system that allows billionaires to exist … is wrong,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a self-identified socialist, wants to slap punitive taxes on the prosperous. Yes, Ocasio-Cortez thinks a 70 percent marginal rate will raise some money for her pet projects, but that seems to take a back seat to using taxes to remake the economic system and eliminate a class of people she believes shouldn’t exist.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warned that “a small group of families has raked in a massive amount of the wealth American workers have produced.” Warren wants to confiscate part of their accumulated assets. “My proposal will help address runaway wealth concentration,” said the likely 2020 presidential candidate.

“I can’t wait to tax Howard Schultz back into the middle class,” tweeted progressive columnist Ian Millhiser, after the former Starbucks CEO had the temerity to float a possible independent presidential run. For Millhiser, revenue isn’t even a consideration—it’s all about harming a partisan foe.

Not that Team Blue has a monopoly on valuing taxation for its power to destroy. The current resident of the White House likes that characteristic, too.

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Shana Lebowitz
Business

Don’t bother inviting me to catch up over coffee — I’m done networking and I’m starting to think you should be, too

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by Shana Lebowitz

  • Will networking help you build a successful career? I’ve never been sure.
  • Mostly, traditional networking seems to me like it takes a lot of time and effort.
  • Some experts say building connections is a practical strategy, in case you ever lose your job.
  • Other experts say you’re better off working and developing concrete skills than schmoozing.

A few weeks ago, one of my coworkers at Business Insider created a Slack channel called #lunch-buddy. Anyone who joined the channel would be randomly paired with another BI employee; the two would then meet for lunch, or coffee, or maybe just a walk, and get to know each other.

This initiative seemed to me a brilliant idea. Generally speaking, my coworkers are lovely people, but I know only a sliver personally. And when it comes to employees in other departments — say, product or finance — I’m curious to know what they do all day because, as it stands, I have no clue. (I imagine the feeling is mutual.)

I typed “#lunch-buddy” into the Slack search bar. And then I closed out of it. It was a Monday morning and, already, I was behind on work. I imagined that, by the time my buddy and I arranged to meet up, I’d be even farther behind. Inevitably, I’d wind up nibbling nervously on a sandwich while sneaking glances at my phone to make sure no one was Slacking me. This buddy business was not going to work out, at least not for me.

I should mention that, when the email about the lunch-buddy program went out, I was in the middle of reporting a story about networking. My specific goal was to figure out whether networking was good for your career, as so many influencers would have it, or bad. Good because you meet interesting new people who can introduce you to interesting new job opportunities, clients, and projects. Bad because you spend so much time schmoozing that you forget to, you know, work.

I wasn’t sure where I stood on the subject. As the lunch-buddy incident had made clear, I theoretically supported networking, but wasn’t very adept at practicing it. On LinkedIn, I posed the question to my connections. Unsurprisingly for a networking website, several people who commented said their relationships had always benefited them in their career.

And maybe they’d benefited mine, too. A few years ago, I was looking for a new job and mentioned as much to an old coworker (who’d become a friend) when we got together for drinks. Days later, she emailed me a Business Insider job posting that I’d missed in my search and, well, the rest is history.

Does that count as networking? I’m not sure. I like to think it’s better defined as being a human being with human friends who are willing to help you out.

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Purpose

3 Websites for Life (& Explaining the New Focus of McGillespie.com)

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Over the holidays I moved education-related articles on McGillespie.com to a new website created for that purpose. OutliersAcademy.com is a new full-blown educational website with a tagline of “Inspiring the Next Generation of Outliers.” It’s built for students of any age interested in courses, articles, curriculums, etc. that enable one to thrive in the artificial chaos of today’s world.

The Essence of Education

The essence of education is transformation and learning to live in ways that leverage the power of those transformations. The categories of materials on OutliersAcademy.com are centered around the theme of transformation: Education, Entrepreneurship, History, Creativity, Productivity, Economics, Legal, Alternative News Commentary.

New Focus for McGillespie.com

With OutliersAcademy.com to house educational materials, the focus of McGillespie.com will be shifted to Writing, Technology, Family, Health, Personal Experiences, Politics, and news commentary unrelated to my other sites.

By the way, if you’ve signed up for the McG newsletter for educationally related materials, there’s no need to do anything. I’ll re-tag your email so you’ll have access to the new resource library in OutliersAcademy.com (where I’ll be uploading lots a great new material!)

DivineCouncil.org at the Center

DivineCouncil.org is devoted solely to spiritual matters as I believe the essence of human nature (and the origin of physical reality) is spiritual.

DivineCouncil.org is a fully-featured website with a regularly updated article blog, an infrastructure to distribute theological materials to a large subscriber base, and a private forum that could run a large church.

The private forum on DivineCouncil.org provides extensive resource-sharing capabilities. The forum, alone, could serve a large mega-church with dozens of ministries (in fact, many websites with such a forum devote the entire site to the forum.) However, DivineCouncil.org’s forum is devoted to sharing and distributing theological resources, supporting missionaries, and facilitating conversations searchable by keyword & category.

Private threads are also available on the forum for planning, article critique and collaboration, and for matters not appropriate to the entire forum readership.

In short, DC’s forum is everything Facebook is not.

What They Have in Common

There are three things that all three websites have in common: a course library, a private forum, and a store.

Course Library

Given that all courses, regardless of subject, will be housed on OutliersAcademy.com the categories for McGillespie.com and DivineCouncil.org will inevitably spill over to OutliersAcademy.com when courses become available in their respective areas of focus.

Private Forum

The forum on DivineCouncil.org is expensive and requires considerable administration. For that reason, I’ll be leveraging the forum to support OutliersAcademy.com and McGillespie.com, as well. Please see the bottom of the forum on DivineCouncil.org to discuss articles or courses related to OutliersAcademy.com and McGillespie.com.

Online Store

The “Store” button on the menu of all three websites will take you to the online store for that website.

The store was installed to make it possible to sell digital downloads without having to update expiring links for security. However, there are lots of possibilities I’m looking forward to exploring.

Life Admin & Web Cockpit

I have two large computer screens in my office formed into a kind of life-administering cockpit. Between logos, writing tools, and all sorts of apps and gizmos that make it easier (read possible) to administer life and three fully-blown websites there’s usually something interesting on the screen.

Every once in a while a friend is in my office to discuss something in private, and they see something on the screen that prompts them to ask what I’m working on. While answering their questions I become aware, again, how extensive is the infrastructure that keeps my life on track, websites administered, and materials published for their respective purposes.

Everything is Easy?

Far from complaining, I find my work to be thrilling and a joy. However, I also know something about websites that most people don’t: the “cockpit” and tools on my screen are similar or identical to those on the desks of thousands of other website administrators. There are many great choices for tools “out there”, but the best of the breed are usually obvious. Equally well-known is how many tools (dozens or more) are necessary to accomplish the work and still carry on something of a normal life. And those knee-deep in using them know something else that need rarely be mentioned or discussed: The oft-heard advice that “having a website is easy” or “just throw it up online” or “my friend makes $10k a month on his blog and does almost nothing” is worse than bad; it’s defeating and destructive.

Just recently, I learned of a good man who was lured into a one SAS-(software as service)-does-all program for administering the totality of his business website needs. As of 2019, no such automated service can fulfill this promise. Such a promise can only be made (let alone fulfilled) by an actual person (or persons) doing the work. Yes–even in 2019– actual people still have to do the grunt work to keep a good website going; piece-by-piece, update-by-update, integration-by-integration, codemod-by-codemod, glitch-by-glitch, support-call-by-support call.

Automations like drip marketing are awesome, spreadsheets can do wonders, google drive is cool as long as it’s free, and there are lots of great courses out there to help. My new favorite beast(s) are Zapier integrations to take the drudgery out of inter-app coordination!  But, don’t be fooled: there’s still a SWAMP of technology to wade through to keep everything in place for a functional website that fulfills its purpose well.

Pro Tip: Before you start a website for your business (or pay for an automated do-all-service) ask, beg, or purchase the advice on everything it really takes from someone already doing it. . . .successfully.

Library on McG Will Remain

The free-resource Library on McGillespie.com will remain and another one created on OutliersAcademy.com for resources related to the OA categories listed, above.

3 Websites for Life!

In retrospect, the unfolding of these three websites (over ten years) was natural and inevitable. Now with the “birth” of OutliersAcademy.com, I have the same feeling with regards to websites as when our second child was born. There is an indescribable feeling of “completeness of platform.”

In 2019, I’m more committed than ever to nourishing my family … and these three websites … for life!

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Mental Dimensions
Business

Father to Son: ‘The Jurisdiction of Reasonableness’

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In a world of information overload, whoever appears to be the most reasonable can influence or control the overloaded.

There’s no historical precedent for the amount of information the average person has at their fingertips, today. Anyone with a phone can bring libraries of information to bear on each and every decision.

But information is not knowledge. And knowledge is not wisdom. Without wisdom, it’s hard to tell what information applies to which decision.

This challenge, to the average person, is an opportunity for:

  1. Those who would seek to influence.
  2. Those who would seek to control.

Influence vs. Control

Whether influence is good or bad can only be determined by context and discernment. For now, I’ll confine “influence” to that with no destructive intent.

Control, on the other hand, is the desire to obtain consent for the purpose of domination. I’ll explain why consent is necessary, later in this article.

How can you tell whether someone is seeking benevolent influence or destructive control?

Those Seeking Influence …

… behave like vendors in a marketplace. They present the pros and cons of an idea or product and leave you to decide for yourself.

Those Seeking Control …

… bully, rather than inform or persuade. For example, any one of Schopenhauer’s 38 stratagems might be used to give the appearance of being right; with little or no interest in actually being right:

  1. The Extension (Dana’s Law)
  2. The Homonymy
  3. Generalize Your Opponent’s Specific Statements
  4. Conceal Your Game
  5. False Propositions
  6. Postulate What Has to Be Proved
  7. Yield Admissions Through Questions
  8. Make Your Opponent Angry
  9. Questions in Detouring Order
  10. Take Advantage of the Nay-Sayer
  11. Generalize Admissions of Specific Cases
  12. Choose Metaphors Favourable to Your Proposition
  13. Agree to Reject the Counter-Proposition
  14. Claim Victory Despite Defeat
  15. Use Seemingly Absurd Propositions
  16. Arguments Ad Hominem
  17. Defense Through Subtle Distinction
  18. Interrupt, Break, Divert the Dispute
  19. Generalize the Matter, Then Argue Against it
  20. Draw Conclusions Yourself
  21. Meet Him With a Counter-Argument as Bad as His
  22. Petitio principii
  23. Make Him Exaggerate His Statement
  24. State a False Syllogism
  25. Find One Instance to the Contrary
  26. Turn the Tables
  27. Anger Indicates a Weak Point
  28. Persuade the Audience, Not the Opponent
  29. Diversion
  30. Appeal to Authority Rather Than Reason
  31. This Is Beyond Me
  32. Put His Thesis into Some Odious Category
  33. It Applies in Theory, but Not in Practice
  34. Don’t Let Him Off the Hook
  35. Will Is More Effective Than Insight
  36. Bewilder Your opponent by Mere Bombast
  37. A Faulty Proof Refutes His Whole Position
  38. Become Personal, Insulting, Rude (argumentum ad personam)

Personal Favorites

  1. Declaring as “over”, debates that have hardly begun.
  2. Declaring as “debunked”, valid concerns yet to be addressed.
  3. Declaring as “discredited”, persons of integrity.
  4. Declaring as “concluded”, discussions that have hardly begun.
  5. Threats in lieu of persuasion.
  6. Imposing artificial deadlines for a decision.
  7. Declaring that “everybody does it” while providing no specific examples.

All of the above are attempts to deceive, rather than inform or persuade.

The Debate is Over!

Whenever I hear someone say, “The debate is over”, I know an end has been pronounced by someone desperate to avoid a beginning. I also know that the one making the pronouncement has made an investment, either monetary or emotional, that debate would put in jeopardy.

Global/Climate (Cooling | Warming | Change)

The first time I heard the phrase “Global Cooling” was in a sentence declaring the debate about it to be over. The phrase was then changed to “Global Warming” in the  same sentence declaring that debate to be over, as well.

Finally, the phrase was changed to something for which no debate is necessary: “Climate Change”. Indeed, climate is 100% guaranteed to change, forever!

The debate is over on a lot of things: ocean waves, morning dew, childish innocence. If the debate about something is declared to be over before it’s even begun, the one making the declaration has something to hide.

The Information Advantage

Due to the amount of information available, those who seek control must compete in the “marketplace” of ideas. They must not only to appear reasonable, but the most reasonable among competing alternatives. This “most reasonable” appearance must persist for as long as it takes to obtain a lasting form of control. The best of these is a binding contract, either signed or opted into.

Consent is Required for Lasting Control

Without consent, control is temporary. It lasts only as long as you remain fooled.

With consent, however, control lasts for the length of the contract.

The Jurisdiction of Reasonableness

Mere opinions, and the bullying tactics used to get them accepted, don’t matter unless there’s a valuable jurisdiction to be gained, and a judge to decide who gains them.

Those who don’t seek control rarely think about things like jurisdictions and judges. Those who do seek control, however, think about little else. They spend most of their time campaigning for appointment, by you, to be a judge in one of the most important jurisdictions of all: your mind.

Your mind is not only a jurisdiction, but the deciding jurisdiction of all others.

Agreement Types

Contractual opt-ins are becoming more and more subtle. For example, the mere breaking of a plastic seal on the box for a TV or appliance, is the opt-in for many EULAs (End-User License Agreements).

Still, an actual signature “on the dotted line” of a contract is the best legal mechanism of control.

The Debt-Contract Example

Only a handful of contracts, spread across the 7 Matters of Life, are needed to control most aspects of life. Three debt-contracts illustrate the point:

  1. Student loans — 10 Years.
  2. Car Loan — 5 Years.
  3. Mortgage — 30 Years.

One of these three contracts enslaves a large percentage of the world. To avoid that fate, consider two questions, before signing one of them:

  1. Are you fully aware of the educational, transportation, or housing alternatives that would fill these needs without going into debt?
  2. Do you not know that, if you present yourselves to anyone as an obedient slave, you are a slave of the one whom you obey? (Romans 6:16)

Some Legal Terms

Contracts are as good, or bad, as the words they contain.

Most liberties are not “lost” or “stolen”. They are surrendered, voluntarily, through legal contracts. It’s worth understanding some legal terms around such contracts.

To bear witness v. — To solemnly assert something, offering firsthand authentication of the fact; often concerning grave or important matters.

Truth (quality) n. — Conformity to reality or actuality; often with the implication of dependability.

Message — truth n. — A message that conforms to reality or actuality; whether historical (in space and time) or supernatural.

The Usual Campaign Sequence

The campaign to become an appointed judge in the jurisdiction of your mind follows a usual sequence. Think of it as a sales pitch, because that’s what it is.

  1. I am the most reasonable and provide the best options.
  2. You are less reasonable with limited options.
  3. “Those who love the truth hear my voice”1, and sign my contract.

Conclusion

Your mind is the deciding jurisdiction of all others, and you are its primary judge. The cost of retaining this position is choosing the highest source of truth, exploring all options available, and solving problems with a commitment to remain debt-free.

Pay whatever cost necessary to remain the primary judge of the jurisdiction of your mind. If you forfeit that position, all that isn’t immediately lost, is exposed to loss.

In a world of information overload, whoever appears to be the most reasonable can influence or control the overloaded.

  1. John 18:37 (ESV) ↩
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Virtual Community
Admin

12 Things to Consider Before Starting a Virtual Community

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If you want to start a virtual community, don’t. If you have to start a virtual community then what I’ve discovered, after three weeks of exhaustive research, may help you create a good one, and realize the benefits.

#1 Facebook for the Masses

Facebook is the best and worst of the social media community platforms. They all have one thing in common: you are the product. You are the value they “provide”. Your data, your community, and anything Facebook can gather through your interactions, is the product they sell back to … You.

In return for the value you provide, you’ll be constantly reminded that your presence on Facebook is a privilege. In return for that privilege, you agree to:

  • Lose control over your data.
  • Forfeit exclusive copyrights of your data.
  • Be unable to locate threads, links, or documents of interest after they’ve scrolled off the main screen.
  • Put up with the ebbs & flows of FB’s politically correct censorship.
  • Be subject to the collapse of your community at their whim.

If need compels you to “go where the people are” then start a FB group (Not a personal or business page, but a group). Don’t get too attached to your “likes”. What may take you years to build, Facebook can, has, and will, collapse overnight. And just like that, thousands of conversations, links, documents, and stories disappear down the memory hole.

#2 A Forum for Serious Matters

If you’ve decided to run a virtual community on a serious subject, with people that matter, then skip Facebook and start interacting with the actual people. If you can’t do that in person, install a private forum on a private server and encourage people to join.

Facebook, and most other social media outlets, are best used as a supplement to a garden that already feeds your community. That primary garden is either personal “real life” interaction, or, a private online virtual community. Both are under the stewardship and control of the community, itself.

#3 Forum Software

The time, people, and data involved in maintaining and participating in a forum is so precious, it’s foolish to compromise on platform or functionality, if you don’t have to. Happily, the costs and capabilities of the software and servers that host it are such that compromise is unnecessary.

I recommend myBB as a “free” starting point, and XenForo as your final platform. If cost isn’t a factor, skip myBB and start your forum on Xenforo. Otherwise, there’s an import function built-in to Xenforo, enabling the import of your myBB forum data, later. There’s also a professional service that will perform the migration for you, cms2cms.

My research on forum platforms was comprehensive and inspired by my own desire to start an online community. I have no skin in the forum software game, other than that. However, if you want to do your own research, here’s a good starting point comparing the features of 67 forum platforms: forummatrix.org.

Click here to subscribe

#4 Why Not vBulletin?

With it’s large installed user base and functionality, I thought vBulletin was a slam dunk as the optimal platform. I was wrong.

Four leading developers of vBulletin split from gelsoft because they wanted to re-write the code from scratch rather that keep adding patches (per vB mgmt.) Sure enough, after the lawsuit was settled vB has had difficulties keeping pace with bugs and new developments. The latest V5 version has a terrible reputation and they stopped supporting version 4.3, which is what most of their large installed user base is using.

On the other hand, XenForo (which has all of vB’s functionality and the benefit of having been re-written on a new platform) is sailing smoothly due to their re-write. The developers “won” the lawsuit because they re-wrote new code from scratch during their 365-day non-compete clause.

If you go with vBulletin, I think it will lead to a boxed canyon in the mid-term. New plug-ins, and integrations with new internet functionalities, will be slow in coming, if they come, at all. If some functionality comes along that’s crucial to your business, you’ll have to migrate to Xenforo to get it. Therefore, why not just start with Xenforo from the beginning?

Surprisingly, myBB is has almost every feature vBulletin has. It’s also free, open-source, and well-designed. Still, if you have the money, skip myBB and start building from the start on Xenforo.

#5 Scalability

Here’s a Xenforo forum with 56 million posts.

Enough said on scalability.

#6 Time

20 hours per week in administration and board moderation is a good rule-of-thumb for a forum that has enough visitors to pay for itself. The maximum amount of time I could spend is between 3 and 10 hours per week. Therefore, if the forum I’m considering ever “took off” I’d need immediate help so it would not detract from larger purposes.

Including this article, I’ve put 20 hours of research into vetting platforms, and the possibility of starting, a virtual community. That’s time well spent in avoiding getting stuck on the wrong platform. It might turn out to be time well spent in deciding not to start a virtual community, at all. If I do move forward, it will be with the experiences of others informing the implementation so the whole enterprise doesn’t become unwieldy or detract from larger purposes.

#7 Money

Between the cost of the software and the cost of the servers, the monetary cost of putting on a sustainable private forum is $460 per year.

If you install myBB on a server you’re currently using for another website, the additional monetary cost of your forum will be ZERO. That is, until your forum starts to attract users, or you post things on the forum that require disk space and network bandwidth to downloaded by many simultaneous users. To account for that growth — which you, presumably, are trying to make happen — I estimate a mid-term monetary costs of $460 per year.

Xenforo is $140 – $290 for the initial purchase (varies with plug-ins needed) and perhaps 1/3 of that for upgrade privileges per year, thereafter. Since forums tend to eat server resources, I estimate a cost of $20 to $30 per month for server hosting for a moderately busy forum. Your other websites (with moderate to large traffic) could be hosted on the same dedicated server. Therefore, you could consolidate them onto the same dedicated server making the effective increase in server fees be less.

#8 The Hassles of an Online Community

For a birds-eye-view of the kinds of hassles a popular online forum can present, read Steve Pavlina article explaining why he shut his forum down. This article is a MUST-READ for anyone seriously considering the start of a virtual community.

#9 Monetization

All forums are monetized. Here’s my proof: All existing forums cost money and someone is paying for them. The only question is: who pays?

If a forum is paid for, directly, by one person or entity, the forum is sponsored. Sponsorship is a form of monetization.

Forum participants only view a forum as being monetized if they see ads or have to pay an entrance fee of some kind. There are many more ways than that to monetize a forum:

  • Sponsorship
  • Display ads
  • CPM – Cost per Impression
  • CPA – Cost per Action
  • CPC – Cost per Click
  • Classified ads
  • Affiliates
  • Premium Memberships

That’s not to say that a forum will ever become profitable. Most of the forums I’ve read about are considered to be doing well if they break even.

My view on monetizing a forum is that a community worth having is a one worth paying for. What I’m not sure about (that Steve Pavlina’s article has me contemplating) is whether a community that doesn’t pay for itself is worth having.

#10 One Forum, Multiple Communities?

Could one forum handle multiple communities?

Yes, but the communities that work best in that scenario are sub-communities of a larger purpose. A good example of this is a corporate forum handling company-wide categories and topics. Employees would log-in to keep abreast of the two or three categories of their interest. The remaining categories would be unread, or specifically reserved, for groups with other interests or responsibilities.

Another example of one forum serving multiple communities is a forum for a church. Only one forum need be created, and maintained, to accommodate a large church. Still, very few members would be interested in every category on the forum. A hundred or so ministries, and all activities, within one church could be easily handled by one forum.

The limit to the number of sub-communities a single forum can accommodate is a function of the coherence of governance between sub-communities.

#11 Customer Service Platform?

This is an interesting use of a private forum: For each product you sell start a new support thread on a forum. This enables all your customers to see the latest status of the product. Theoretically, it could save a busy retailer, or consultant, from being overwhelmed by individual customers asking the same questions. It could also be a great place to put FAQ’s for your company, service, or product.

The comment section of your product page could function in the same way. However, as most product pages are now designated landing pages, they no longer include comment sections. Starting a forum around your products might be a great way to serve that need.

#12 Should I Start a Forum, or Not?

With all the costs, time, and hassles involved in running a private forum, why have one, at all? This is a question I’ve not yet answered, for myself.

SM Comparison Table
 Service Capability
1 to 1 1 to Many Many to 1 Many to Many
E-mail Y Y Firehose N
Twitter N  Y Clumsy N
FaceBook Y  Y Confusing Share Rules
Forum Y  Y Y Y

 

There are four things a private forum does, extremely well. They:

  1. Provide a means for communicating with people you want to talk to, or have to talk to, for which the conversations are most beneficially conducted in a group setting.
  2. Serve as a rare, nearly optimal, vehicle for all four types of interactions with people: 1 to 1, 1 to many, many to 1, many to many.
  3. Function as online knowledge and resource repositories. I’ve greatly benefitted from forums around subjects I didn’t become interested in until the most active phase of the forum had already passed. Such forums, to me, were like floating spaceship libraries I was very thankful to find in “outer space”.
  4. Facilitate group conversations with people that matter.
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Business

Vetting the Business Idea of a Martial Arts Studio

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Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.1

A recent conversation with a friend (who wants to start a Martial Arts studio) inspired me to revisit the topic of business vetting. The questions in this article were inspired by our conversation. What better place for a “victorious warrior to win first and then go to war…” than in vetting the business of a martial arts studio?!

The High-Paying Activities of Business Vetting & Negotiation

Negotiating is one of the highest paying activities if the return is measured by the time spent negotiating. Higher still is the activity of business vetting. The stakes are, by definition, higher than any deal the business will ever do. After all, no money can be made (or lost) in a business that doesn’t exist.

What’s at stake when vetting a business, however, is far more than money. People invest a large portion of their lives into a business to make it successful. If the time & money invested doesn’t lead to a return, or leaves them in debt, then it would have been far better to have not started the business, at all.

I’m big fan of acquiring the skill of business vetting.

Shark Tank

One of my wife’s favorite shows is “Shark Tank”. We often get drawn into vetting business ideas when watching that show. I wrote How to Vet a Business Idea in 10 Minutes to express my thoughts on the subject and make a reference  that might help others.

Business Vetting is Space-Time Travel

Do you think I’m exaggerating by saying business vetting is a form of space-time travel? If so, I beg to differ. If you don’t take it that seriously then you’re in danger of losing large chucks of time and money. The stakes of either a “Go” or “No-Go” decision are immense. The mission, if you choose to accept it, involves:

  1. Deep consideration of the experiences of others.
  2. Knowledge of location and service.
  3. Intimate knowledge of self.

Keeping all these factors, and more, in mind, around a business that doesn’t yet exist, is serious mind-work. Li Ch`uan sums it up, as follows:

Given a knowledge of three things—the affairs of men, the seasons of heaven and the natural advantages of earth—, victory will invariably crown your battles.1

Martial Arts Studio – Questions, Factors, Mentors & Ideas

Subject expertise is only a starting point in creating and running a business around that expertise. I have no expertise in the Martial Arts or the studios in which they’re taught. Someone with expertise could make a better list. But, they wouldn’t make a better list without placing a high value on business vetting and letting go of their fears of exploring the unknowns.

Pedigree

Dojo’s seriously value their pedigree. Who started the art? What inspired them? What problem were they trying to solve? What is their philosophy? Who were their first students? Then the same questions start over, again, with the first students and the next.

Certifications & Organizations

  • Organizations to become member of?
  • Do members typically make a profit?
  • Mentor sign-off/Certification?
  • Entity Choice?

Tools: Studio equipment, posters, mats, props, safety, uniform suggestions, patch design, belt systems, belt requirements, rate of progress?, web site formats/info, accounting programs, taxe, entity choice?

Location

  • What factors do successful studios consider before choosing a location?
  • What factors would successful studios have considered if they could relocate?

Students

  • What is the expected # of students per population size of the city?
  • What is the needed # of students needed to pay for average expenses?
  • What is the average age range of students that make a long-term commitment to the art?

Mentor Modeling of …

When vetting a business, the ideal is to find a real-life mentor who’s “been there before”. If you find one, do whatever it takes to spend time with them. Take your potential business out for a virtual walk by asking them about theirs. Every word out of their mouths is pure gold. The mission is to Simulate Virtual Failure (To avoid actual failure).

  • Fees?
  • Schedules?
  • Number of Instructors needed per students served by studio?
  • Do you pay advanced students to handle instructor overflow?
    • How Much?
  • Seasonal Considerations?
  • Private Lessons
    • Offered?
    • Price?
    • Schedule?
  • What’s your day/week/month/year like?
  • What do you wish you had done (that I could do, now)?
  • What are you about to try (that I could also try)?
  • Profit expectations per location?
  • What obstacles were crucial to overcome to breakthrough to success or smooth operations?
  • What are common obstacles that have taken down other MA operations (That I could start planning to overcome, now)?

The Ideal Time to Fail, and to Succeed

The ideal time for a business to fail is before it starts. That is, before time and money (or fortunes) have been invested that may never be recouped. Ironically, as captured in the Sun Tzu quote at the beginning of this article, the ideal time for a business to succeed is also before it has started.

The “enemy”, for business vetting purposes, is any factor, external or internal, that would cause the business to fail, or become unsustainable. Would you prefer to subdue your enemies after they surprise you or before they even know there’s a war?

For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.1

There’s so much to running a business that owners must subdue most “enemies” without fighting. Otherwise, they’ll be fighting all day. A Martial Arts studio, especially, ought to save the fighting for the mats.

Try to Talk Yourself Out of It

Entrepreneurs are naturally optimistic. To counterbalance this natural demeanor, try talking yourself out of the business you’re vetting, instead of into it.

If you can talk yourself out of a business idea, then you should. Doing that, gracefully and thoroughly, is what How to Vet a Business Idea in 10 Minutes is meant to accomplish. As my friend, David, used to say:

If you want to be a writer, then don’t. If you have to be a writer, then good luck to you.

Successful Vetting ‘Failures’

I have no idea if a Martial Arts studio is a good business or not. In this section, I’m not speculating, either way. I’m merely offering an example of what a successful vetting “failure” might look like.

What if my friend gets to the end (or middle) of vetting her business and realizes that running her own studio is not going to work? Maybe it won’t pay for itself, won’t make enough of a profit, would require 70-hours-a-week, or that she’s got the right idea for the wrong location, etc. Would that mean she’s, somehow, failed?

Not, at all! She could then redirect maximum effort and resources back into her passion for the Martial Arts. She’d only be able to do that with resources that weren’t lost (on a business that wouldn’t have succeeded, anyway). One of the worst possible outcomes of a failed business is to leave the owner, not only drained of money and energy, but drained of passion for the service, or product, that made them want to start a business in the first place!

If a Martial Arts studio is a “No-Go” for her location then perhaps her “Go” would be to switch gears to offering private lessons, only. Perhaps those private lessons could be made available only to exclusive clients who would pay more for her time. Maybe there’s a resort in her area that would love to have a Martial Arts teacher on tap to teach high-paying classes to guests. If a studio-sized operation won’t break-even, or make a profit, then she’ll be making more profit on her first private lesson than she would have made by running an entire studio!

Passion vs. Business Forms of Expression

I believe all non-destructive passions are good. And yet, where the application of our passions may fit into a business is not always obvious, or conventional. One of the best payoffs of good business vetting is the preservation of our passions so they may be optimally applied, later. The conventional application of well-known passions or talents, may have little or nothing to do with what makes money. It may also have little or nothing to do with their optimal deployment. We should indulge our passions, anyway. Develop them, and enjoy them, while vetting business ideas that may lead to their optimal deployment.

100 to 1

Be willing to get to the end of a hundred business ideas that never start because they can’t succeed. Only then will you have the full confidence and resources to fully engage in a business, around your passion, that will.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.”1

Yep, that Sun Tzu dude knew what he was talking about!

  1. “The Art of War.”, Sun Tzu ↩
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I Love Job vs. I love Job
Belief

7 Ways to Integrate Your Job & Spiritual Calling

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The expectation that your job & spiritual calling must be identical is false. Fortunately, the mysteries of the relationship between the two are revealed with delightful clarity through a careful reading of the Bible. Even non-Christians can gain insights into their own work and aspirations by considering what the Bible has to say about them.

After clarifying the biblical meanings of words like talents, spiritual gifts, natural abilities, job, and spiritual calling, this article will describe 7 ways to integrate your job and spiritual calling.

Total Integration in Perspective

Large overlaps between job and spiritual calling have been more the exception, than the rule, throughout church history. Typically, those who’ve found their calling (At last!) are already making a living with natural abilities. Current jobs then become a platform from which to direct that calling.

However improbable, total integration is a possibility. Apart from traditional clergy and dedicated pastors and worship leaders, the luxuries of a sophisticated division of labor and access to investment capital have made the total integration of job and spiritual calling more possible than ever. However, utmost care must be taken so that believer’s expectations are set with respect to all the factors involved. Where your job and spiritual calling fit on the continuum between “Total Integration” and “No overlap” is a reflection of divine design.

Talents vs. Spiritual Gifts

Talents are the natural abilities you have prior to conversion.

“Talents have to do with techniques and methods; gifts have to do with spiritual abilities. Talents depend on natural power, gifts on spiritual endowment.1

A spiritual gift is …

… a God-given special ability, given to every believer at conversion by the Holy Spirit, to share his love and strengthen the body of Christ.2

Believers Have Both

A believer has both the natural talents they were born with and the spiritual gifts received at conversion. Both are at their disposal in everything they do. The spiritual gifts, however, are a special empowerment for the fulfillment of your calling.

Job vs. Spiritual Calling

A job is whatever you do to make a living. Prior to conversion, you have only your natural talents to perform this work. A job may provide the platform from which to direct your calling. However, it does not define your calling nor is it the same as your calling.3

A spiritual calling is a …

… commissioning from God to make a significant difference on this earth. It’s the banner of your life that you carry and wave for God’s glory.3

Spiritual gifts empower the fulfillment of this calling. What God has called you to do, he has empowered you to do.

7 Ways to Integrate Your Job & Spiritual Calling

The relationship between your job and spiritual calling will fall on a continuum between “no overlap” and “identical”.

Working out this relationship can only begin when you …

1 — Answer the Call, Obedience Precedes Results

The first way to integrate your job and spiritual calling is to answer the call. Obedience precedes, and is more important than, results (which are for God to judge). Feelings about not being ready are irrelevant. If you’ve been called, you’re ready to start.

The way to answer the call is probably the same way you found your calling in the first place:

Move forward with confirmation and stay with your holy passion.4

Let external circumstances sharpen, but never stop, the answer to your calling. A sobering view on one consequence of this obedience comes from John Bevere in “Driven by Eternity”:

One believer’s effectiveness may be limited by another’s obedience.

We’re all parts of the body. When one part is not working, the whole body is affected.

Deployable vs. Employable

All gifts and callings are deployable. Not all are employable. Deploy anyway. Even the Apostle Paul continued his trade of tent-making while pursuing his calling of preaching the Gospel.5
Deployment, with no expectation of remuneration or employment, is the best way to discover what the relationship between your job and calling is meant to be.

2 — Connect with an Existing Ministry of Your Church

If your calling fits naturally into an existing ministry of your church then BINGO! Figure out where best to plug in and you’re off to the races!

  • Do you have a list of all the ministries of your church?
  • Does your calling fit naturally into one of them?
  • Are you the missing piece to helping that ministry to continue, grow or thrive?
  • Are they stuck, or not exploring the possibilities, in the area of your spiritual gifts because someone just like you hasn’t shown up, yet?
  • Could your calling be part of a ministry your church has been wanting to move forward on but nobody like you has showed up?

The only way to get these answers is to ask. Depending on the size of your church you might have to ask leaders at multiple levels. Even the lead pastor may not be the person with the answer. Keep asking until you know for sure.

Your church is the ideal platform from which to answer your spiritual calling. So ideal, in fact, that it’s best not to move on to other ways until you’ve thoroughly explored this option.

3— Partnering

… when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.
— Philippians 4:14–17 (ESV)

The Philippians partnered with Paul sending help for his needs. In return, Paul “seeks the fruit that increases to their credit”.

Working with another church is the next best thing to working from within your church. The relationship between the churches will be naturally strengthened through your work. It may even inspire your church to join in. That shouldn’t be your motivation, of course; just a possible outcome to keep in mind.

4 — Donations

Many callings, and the goals of some large charities and non-profits, are fueled largely (or solely) through donations. This could be as simple as putting a donate button on a website or just saying, “Yes”, when asked if you could use some funding.

Don’t be afraid to ask. Be a squeaky wheel for a divine purpose!

5 — Attract (And ask for) Sponsorships

Think of getting sponsorships as making sales for God. You must become lucid on your goals and mission. You’ll also need to list the benefits of success to your sponsor.

  1. What is the specific mission you’re asking to be sponsored?
  2. Who are you going to help?
  3. How are you going to help them?
  4. What will helping them look like? What impact will it have on them and the community where you live?
  5. What will be the benefits to the sponsor if you succeed in your mission?
  6. Is anyone else partnering with you, already? Who else are you working with?

Don’t underestimate the value of your sponsor’s logo on the T-shirts or hats of people performing excellent work in the local community. Seen from your sponsors point of view, your work may be the best representation of their core values apart from the product or service they provide.

6 — Start a Non-Profit

I’ve been watching this process unfold with Dr. Michael Heiser. After many years, and with great  reluctance, Mike’s enlisted help from readers to form a non-profit named after a retreat as named in one of his books. It’s called Miqlat. They’re already doing great work that wouldn’t be as effective, or possible, if performed through a different entity.

Even with all the material and talents available to Mike starting your own non-profit is a daunting prospect. As you’d see from following Miqlat’s’ journey, nobody has all the skills necessary to accomplish all the many tasks and projects required to get one of these off the ground. If this option is for you, let providence enable it to unfold as it should.

7 — Identical or Bust!

The total integration of your job & spiritual calling is the exception, rather than the rule. Still, I can’t leave this option out because it is possible. It’s the defining relationship for traditional clergy, some pastors, some worship and ministry leaders, and many who are called as missionaries.

Now that you understand the difference between jobs and spiritual callings you know that one of them may suffer terribly if the roles are forced, in any way. You are seeking to discover the divine design of the relationship rather than imposing it.

Non-Clergy Example

A better example for those reading this article, however, is probably the example of Dr. Michael Heiser described in the previous way. He has kept his income going through teaching, being a “scholar in residence” at Logos Software (FaithLife Corp.) and is now, slowly, trying to get donations to his new Miqlat non-profit to cover his expenses. This may, at last, free him up to work solely on creating the content that he’s been called to create.

Another example are the many individual employees of FaithLife Corp. I’m sure many of their jobs and spiritual callings are exactly in line with each other.

That’s not to say that one must be as prepared as Mike, or a happy employee of FaithLife, to achieve total integration of job and spiritual calling. In fact, such integration may not be possible or meant to happen, at all. And, if it doesn’t, it’s by no means an indication of failure. It’s more likely an indication of divine design.

This total integration option is best taken to prayer and balanced with the providence of where you live, what your talents and gifts are, and the particulars of your calling.

If You Insist …

The reason for this stubborn belief is the sophisticated division of labor and availability of capital often present in developed countries. For those who absolutely insist that their job and spiritual calling can be identical you’ll need to take on the burdens of understanding all the factors involved. You’ll also need to read up, or take some courses, on entrepreneurship.

More is Expected and Required

Though beyond the scope of this article here’s some great advice from Gary North on taking a run at the possibility of total integration between your job and spiritual calling.

Gary starts with an expanded definition of calling. He defines it as whatever your answer is to this question …

What is the most important thing you can do in which you would be most difficult to replace?

With your answer to that question firmly in mind, Gary recommends asking yourself these followup questions with respect to the marketplace in which you’ll be working:

  1. Where do you have a clear-cut advantage over your competitors?
  2. Is this advantage visible to others?
  3. Can you leverage this outside your present job?
  4. Can this leverage extend beyond your retirement?
  5. Can this leverage extend beyond your death?
  6. What are the technical tools of your leverage?
  7. Are you skilled in the use of these tools?
  8. Are your competitors equally skilled?

As you can see by the questions, you’re now faced with, not only the work of your calling, but interfacing directly with all the forces of the marketplace. Unless entrepreneurship is part of your calling these requirements will degrade your effectiveness.

In good faith, I can only recommend this option for believer’s whose gifts are designed for it. Frankly, any option that would completely stop you subverts Way #1: “Answer the Call, Obedience Precedes Results”.

Conclusion

Large overlaps between your job and spiritual calling are the exception, not the rule. The expectation that they must be identical (Or forced to be identical) is a myth. If that prevents you from answering your calling then myth has spawned tragedy.

In partial summary:

  • Let nothing discourage you (Including this article)!
  • What you’ve been called to do, you’ve been empowered to do.
  • Obedience is more important than results.
  • Every calling is deployable. Not every calling is employable.
  • The relationship between a deployable and employable is not completely in your control.
  • Even the Apostle Paul continued his trade of tent-making while engaged in his calling of preaching the Gospel.5
  • Your calling will almost certainly involve the participation of others in order to be brought to fruition.
  • Your calling will present different challenges depending on the economic realities of where you live.
  • The relationship between deployable and employable will be greatly affected by the location in which you pursue your calling.

Like a brilliant diamond, your calling will need the 5 C’s applied to be made into the masterpiece it was intended to be. It will need to be expertly cut, clarified, colored, carat weighted, and confidence added.

What you’ve been called to do, you’ve been empowered to do!

Check Out My Online Course, “Your Life, On Purpose”

In my upcoming course, “Your Life, on Purpose” I explore and remove the biggest obstacles to discovering and living on purpose. The most prevalent worldviews are compared, word puzzles resolved, and terms further clarified and integrated into a coherent understanding. Upon completing the course terms like purpose, career, meaning, vocation, avocation, success, mission, goal, values, worldview, destiny, gifts, spiritual gifts, spiritual calling, etc. will inform, rather than confuse.

For a free sample module of “Your Life, On Purpose“, and to stay updated on the release of the full course, please sign up for e-mail updates, below. As an added bonus you’ll receive the password for McGillespie’s Free-Resource Library.

  1. Leslie B. Flynn, 19 Gifts of the Spirit. Colorado Springs: Cook Communications, 1974, 1994, 17 – 18. ↩
  2. Rees, Erik; Rees, Erik. S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life (p. 34). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. ↩
  3. Rees, Erik; Rees, Erik. S.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life (p. 22). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. ↩
  4. Dave Patterson, Sermon #3 of “The Big 4” at The Father’s House, January 29, 2017 ↩
  5. “…and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. Acts 18:3 (ESV). ↩
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