Guy Richards / Ordinary Life with a Brand Strategist

Trendsetters cause market reactions

Every market has a group of trendsetters.

Trendsetters cause market reactions. Good and bad.

Good market reactions cause market share growth.

Market share growth creates opportunities.

 

…as a brand leader you can use opportunities to influence those around you. Employees, vendors, competitors and those who pay for what you do.

Life 1, life 2, drugs and Jesus

Sorry I missed yesterday. I meant to breakaway to write this but I decided I would rather spend the time with my wife. So although Monday is scheduled to be a business insight, this is about drugs, a young man’s death and an on time Jesus.

I live it two totally different worlds. One with family, friends and the people I went to school with, in the same town I grew up in. I’m usually at the skatepark weekly, try to snowboard all winter with my friends, head out on redneck adventures in my brother Stephen’s backyard and maybe pick up an occasional game of horseshoes at the neighborhood BBQs. I see most of all my old bosses (bus boy, painting, mechanic, landscape, ice cream cart seller and once I was a chipper boy for a tree cutting service) in the super market, on the beach and sometimes at the local Boston Market. I may even come across one of my grade school teachers at WaWa (It’s our version of 7-Eleven).

On the other hand being the CEO of Abiah, an avid speaker and now an author, I travel to a lot of nice places where people wear suits, have stylish houses, fancy cars and extra letters after their last name. My two worlds almost never meet. In my closet I have two sets of clothes. The few hoodies and jeans I wear every day and the suites and business dress I only pull out if I’m traveling.

Mainly the people who subscribe to this blog are those who know me from business. Today I want to pull back the curtain of my life for you to see that I’m a regular person that was highly written off growing up. I sold crack all through high school, never placed well in academics, in fact I never have taken the SAT test and still don’t have a bachelors degree. But God…gave me an opportunity when I was 21. By that time I had enough of the drugs, people dieing around me, fake friends and the emptiness that filled my soul. The first book I ever read was the Bible. Which helped me realize I was loved because God made me, not as a condition of the things I do. As my behavior changed it shook my town up…”Guy?...Jesus? Yea, he’ll be back selling dope.”

No, that person was an old person. I was given a new life, not a borrowed, reconditioned or improved life, a new life.

In the last 3 months a saw God do it again. Last week I received a call from a friend who gave his life to Jesus in February. This guy is very rare. He grew up in the professional motocross party scene, has started smoking marijuana with is parents at 13 and like me was labeled with big red letters…FAILURE!

 

But then God…came and changed his life during that huge snowstorm back in February. As he started reading the Bible his world collided with the reality of right and wrong, promise and consequence, but more importantly the security of being loved by the God who paints the sky and keeps air in our lungs. His eyes started smiling and his motives changed.

People around the town are talking as if it was a front-page headline, little to my friend’s knowledge. My friend’s passion and realness to speak Jesus’ name is evident which fuels the critics.

Before my friend ever came to church with me he tracked down one of his old friends who was addicted to heroin, struggling for help and led him to Jesus.

Last week I received a call that my friends, friend died. But not before he gave his life to Jesus.

I know it’s sometimes hard to feel comfortable when you think those around you in “life 2” could not even begin to understand what you have going on in “life 1.” Chances are that we all have something going on, a person we love that is caught on drugs or stuck in some problem or a challenge that seems no one would understand.

I’m not sure this helps, but this morning I received a text that was very timely. “Our faith should not be based on what we know God has done for others, but on who we know He is – The God without limits.” David Jeremiah

I feel this is for someone out there. You know who you are. Don’t give up on that person you were about to write off, God hasn’t.

God Given Vision / Rick Warren

I’m sorry everyone. I know I should be writing on brand strategy more but it seems so much easier to talk about what the Lord is doing. Anyway, here is a blend of both. Jerry and I were running an executive brand strategy session this last weekend. After the first day Jerry told me he couldn’t sleep that good and that God was redirecting him.

 

Not sure were God was leading we started talking. Out of the blue I mentioned Rick Warren’s vision statement that he launched during his first sermon.

 

His eyes widened and lit up. He said “you have to say that to the team." So I read it. Here it is.

 

The Saddleback Vision

From Pastor Rick’s first sermon, March 30,1980

  

It is the dream of a place where the hurting, the depressed, the frustrated, and the confused can find love, acceptance, help, hope, forgiveness, guidance, and encouragement.

It is the dream of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with the hundreds of thousands of residents in south Orange County.

It is the dream of welcoming 20,000 members into the fellowship of our church family-loving, learning, laughing, and living in harmony together.

It is the dream of developing people to spiritual maturity through Bible studies, small groups, seminars, retreats, and a Bible school for our members.

It is the dream of equipping every believer for a significant ministry by helping them discover the gifts and talents God gave them.

It is the dream of sending out hundreds of career missionaries and church workers all around the world, and empowering every member for a personal life mission in the world. It is the dream of sending our members by the thousands on short-term mission projects to every continent. It is the dream of starting at least one new daughter church every year.

It is the dream of at least fifty acres of land, on which will be built a regional church for south Orange County-with beautiful, yet simple, facilities including a worship center seating thousands, a counseling and prayer center, classrooms for Bible studies and training lay ministers, and a recreation area. All of this will be designed to minister to the local person-spiritually, emotionally physically, and socially-and set in a peaceful, inspiring garden landscape.

I stand before you today and state in confident assurance that these dreams will become reality. Why? Because they are inspired by God.

After using this to encourage their God given vision, I found out that four people in the room were apart of Saddleback Church that Rick Warren was talking about in the vision. The church was actually only 2-3 miles away.

Later that night they Keri and Steve took us to the Saddleback campus.

I touch the sanctuary, read the verses on the glass that towered the height of the building. I crossed their bridge saw the unbelievable landscape.

This was so unexpected that I even would have been their let alone spoke on his vision earlier in the day.

This campus, more importantly their community was birth and transformed out of  this vision.

Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no vision, the people perish…

PS. The session went great. You will hear someone talking about it in some sort a way in the future. “It will be the most unique Christian 9-12 School in the world and set the standard for private school in general.” Tell you more as it develops. 

Anniversary of the opening of PATMOS PARK

Yesterday was the year anniversary of the opening of PATMOS PARK. I wish I had more to explain but I have to run out to make it home for dinner.

Relational Influence

Time has been blowing by. In the last three weeks I have been hanging out with my daughter Brighton a lot, because my wife Heidi has been taking care of our newborn Canyon. I have watched how the dynamic of my relationship with my daughter has grown. Before this she seems to favor my wife. I can even remember days when I came home that she would say hi and then continue playing. I would have to run over and tackler her with kisses just to get my fix. But now it has been much the opposite.

This is the same with people at church, our brothers and sisters. What if we loved on them, talked to them on a deeper level, spent time with them? We would grow and share memories together that would be ingrained around a positive view of Christ’s love for us.

Have you ever noticed how Jesus sent his disciples out two by two. If they went along they would never had anyone to share their experiences with. Or how the Israelite army was afraid to fight until the borrowed David’s confidence in God.

If you want to engage and affect the world, start to share life with those around you. 

Who is Hope and Direction?

Hi everyone,
God has really been showing me how short time is. As most of you know we recently opened up our ministry division of abiah. This division helps ministries build their brand through visual identities and communication strategies around outreach and discipleship.

We have been working hard for the last 3 months on "Ministry Brand Alignment," a toolkit that outlines this complete process. One part of this is defining your community and uncovering the commonalities. When I was showing someone this today it hit me how short life is.

Read these profiles and tell me what you feel:

Raymond Rumondo

Demographic:
Economics:
Pyscographics:
Transportation:
Background:
Family:
Job:

Issue:
Ray is struggling with trying to live up to the Jones’. He is in debt up to his eyeballs and his kids are getting in trouble in school. He blames this on his wife that she is not doing her job as a stay at home mom but deep inside he blames himself and questions if he married the right woman. He has pressure to get a second job and has thought of leaving the family.

He needs hope and direction

Diamond Dana

Demographic:
Economics:
Pyscographics:
Transportation:
Background:
Family:
Job:


Issue:
Dana use to be out going but now she forgets who she is. She is a
college graduate and works as a teacher. All her friends are now married,
she is still single and is wondering why. She drowns the pain with the pursuit
of alcaldes and accomplishments. She is almost finished her masters.
She comes from a divorced family that wasn’t around and blames her
situations on her parents. She has a lot of bitterness. Although she doesn't like
the drinking lifestyle, she finds her self in clubs looking for “the guy.”

She needs hope and direction

Ramona Rumondo

Demographic:
Economics:
Pyscographics:
Transportation:
Background:
Family:
Job:

Issue:
Ramona is Raymonds wife, she comes from a divorced childhood and a
blending of family from her moms previous relationships. Her mom wasn’t a good mother. Ramona is determined to be a better mom then her mother was but doesn’t know how because she doesn't have an example. She is also bad with the finances usually overspending on her kids because she wants to give the things she didn’t. Her kids are now spoiled and don’t listen to her when she disciples because she doesn't follow through.

She needs hope and direction

Casual Casey

Demographic:
Economics:
Pyscographics:
Transportation:
Background:
Family:
Job:

Issue:
Casey is a smart kid and lives at home with his parents and just graduated highschool. He doesn’t know what to do for a career, but has a lot of pressure from his parents to make something of his life. He attends a community college part time but does it just to satisfy those around him. He feels lost and like this world is too big. He believes he’s in a story that doesn’t end well.

He needs hope and direction

WHO IS HOPE AND DIRECTION?

Please post a comment on this, I would love to hear your thoughts.