[00:00:00] Speaker A: What I found out was when I started chasing the passion that God put in me, I got into even more places that I never thought I'd get into. And I made more money than I ever thought I would ever make.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Hello and welcome to this week's Wealth Builders podcast. I am so grateful that you joined us and we have got a great program for you today because I have none other than Ray Patterson with me today. Ray, thanks for joining us.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Thank you, Karen. I really appreciate the opportunity. Glad to be here anytime.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: It's so good to have you. And we were just in class earlier today together, and Ray is the coordinator for Charis Business School. So he takes care of everything pretty much there, works with the students, and he is also one of our business coaches at wealth builders, and he's got a wealth of knowledge, experience. And today, Ray, we're going to talk about vision.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Vision. One of my favorite topics.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Absolutely. And last time you were on, we were talking about the BMGC, which is the business model generation canvas. So if you all didn't see that, you want to go back and watch it. And Ray, I would love for you to share just a little bit about how the vision part of things ties into the business model canvas and just how important it is for businesses to really get that vision statement right.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: That is, it is so important to get the vision right, to work on one and have one that details what your business is about.
I think it's extremely important to have that vision cast into the future.
Habakkuk. Two. Two says, write the vision. Make it plain so that he who readeth it can run with it. But he goes on to say, the vision is for an appointed time, meaning it's not for today.
We are to write that vision of what we see in the future and foretell that future.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: What we want in the business and even in our personal lives.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: So, Ray, when you say out to the future, is there a timeframe that we should be looking at? You know, I was going to ask that, didn't you? So because I get a question, tell me the details.
Is it 20 years down the road? Is it more five years? What do you recommend?
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Well, typically, other countries look at visions in terms of five generations.
[00:03:05] Speaker B: Five generations.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: Now, that causes you to really think differently about the decisions you make in the short term. Right here in the US, we have gotten to be such an instant society that we have trouble thinking five years ahead. But for a business vision, it should be placed at the five to ten year out. When you're writing what I like to refer to as the vision story.
So that's not necessarily what you see on the typical business advertising as a vision.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: Right.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: Because many people will say, well, the vision should be only one sentence or only eight words, because that's all we have time for, unfortunately. But the real value of writing a vision story for what we see, our business or our life five or ten years from now, then we can see how what we need to do today begins to get us there. And we can take the essence of that vision and boil it down to that eight or ten words or one sentence that can go on the marketing material that really succinctly communicates. But what that should do is draw people in to be curious about more of the vision story.
And I contend the vision story is really an internal document that you want to make sure your employees or those who are coming to work with, you know about, because then they can see exactly how what they do when they come to work every day contributes to that five or ten year out vision.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: So the vision story, that is something that a lot of people, it's a new term. They're not used to that. So I don't know if that's something that you read about in applied or if that's a ray thing. It might be just a ray like.
[00:05:17] Speaker A: Inspiration, or I will tell you, as far as I know, it is a bit of a raism.
But I. But I developed that, and it got the revelation of that because I have heard so many very successful senior leadership people, folks like Paul Milligan and Billy Eberhardt, and the folks that we all know very well say that, no, your vision can't be more than eight words, and I see the value in that. But I also know what it means to an organization in terms of setting culture.
Where in the vision, if I can describe what the business is going to be in five, seven, or ten years, and I can describe not only what we provide in service, but then I can describe in that vision story, what is my relationship? What's the business's relationship with its employees, what's its relationship with its suppliers, what's the relationship with the customers, and what's the relationship with the community?
And when we dig to that level in writing a story of what we want to see five to seven years in the future, then we can see how we engage with each of those groups. And I believe it really helps employees and helps our recruiting, because then people are drawn to say, I want to help make that happen.
[00:06:57] Speaker B: Yeah, that's really good. And the vision statement is that eight to ten words? Because it needs to be concise, that everybody can follow it. But the vision story is something that maybe explains how you unfold that vision on a day to day basis.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Absolutely. And another way to tie that. Another way that ties in with the BMGC.
When we describe in that vision story what we want our relationship with our customers to be, that helps to bond us with our customers.
It also helps us understand what key activities we need to do in order to create those products or services that we're delivering to those customers. It really helps to set a tone for so much of the business model canvas and helps to prompt the right questions for us to go deeper.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: Yeah. So I would almost describe it as you have the vision statement, which we know we need to have that to run and read and measure everything we talked about that. That everything we do, all our activities needs to flow through that vision statement. Otherwise we could end up getting off track and just doing activities. But it almost sounds to me like you're taking the. You've got your customer segments. And we define the customer relationships. And in that, that's how we connect with those customer segments. And then you're bringing the value proposition in because you want to make sure. It's almost like you're taking that part of the business model canvas. And in sort of creating, like you say, that story or description that takes what's on the BMGC and puts it into something that is in paragraph form.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: Is that it?
[00:08:52] Speaker A: That's it. And here's what I've discovered in doing this.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: As you know, we use many different assessments just to understand people and interactions.
Well, some people will start out with the BMGC and then they'll be able to write the story that gives more detail.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: Other people can start with the story and that helps them see all of the elements that need to be tied together. And the BMGC helps to make that tie. So it's.
Which one comes first? Depends on who you are and how you typically work best.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Yeah, that's really good. And sometimes people, they know, they can articulate it. So even if they recorded it and just told this story, you know, we were talking about AI. Run that through AI. And that could really help to bring the conciseness to it.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: Yes.
Let me just. It's a very good point. Let me just say that when I encourage people to write the vision story, I'm not talking about a long document. I'm talking about a full page.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: That's helpful.
[00:10:06] Speaker A: Really. No, more than that.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Like three or four paragraphs.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: Absolutely. Because you want to get it still concise.
And it can be the kind of thing, and I've seen this in a lot of organizations where, organizations I've worked with in particular, but a lot of others where you will take that vision story and print it on a large format document and have that in the hallways and in the workspace so that people are reminded, well, this is what we're about, and this is how my contribution helps to contribute to our success.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: It connects the, each individual employee or.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: Department volunteer, whatever that might be, to the vision.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: Okay, so we know that a vision is really important, and we know that our vision, what God puts on our heart, it comes from the Lord. But tell us how, if someone just has a heart for something, how do they actually begin to formulate that into the vision or vision statement or vision story? Because sometimes people see, they might just know a problem they want to solve, or they might be in a conversation. You've probably been in conversations like this, and they are so passionate about something, and everybody else is like, that's like, I'm not passionate about that. But help us to know how we can unlock that God given vision from the inside and actually birth it into what you're describing.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: What I, it was kind of the way I learned it and the way I deploy it is I ask people to take a mental journey to go five years into the future or ten years into the future, and just, you know, let your mind go.
Close your eyes, do like an internal meditation.
Put yourself in a physical, high place, or not a physical one, but a mental one, where you're up on a high peak. You could look around, you can see things that are going on, and then say to yourself, okay, it's ten years into the future. I'm up here. I've got a view of everything around me, and now I'm thinking about what do I want?
What do I want for my business? And just begin to jot down the things that come into your mind.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: That's really good.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: Not even complete sentences, just snippets of thoughts and fill up a page, open up a new word doc, or whatever, and just jot those down and think through, what are my customers? What products or services am I delivering?
What do I want in relationship with them? Who's going to help me do that, you know, and focus on the what, not the how.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: That's good.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: And just jot down those snippets and then come back when you feel like you've run out of ideas come back and take those snippets and begin to organize them, and then begin to build the sentences in the story, and then with the sentences, build the paragraphs, and then look at the order of the paragraphs. And when you approach it from this way, a story emerges.
[00:13:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: And it may not emerge all at once. It may be the kind of thing that you work on for a few hours and see what develops and then lay it down and then come back to it later. Get into a comfortable place where you're just thinking and letting your mind go and letting the revelations come to you.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: That's good. You know, as you were talking, I was thinking about people or entrepreneurs that they started their business.
You know, maybe they decided they wanted to be a doctor. Let's just use that as an example. And then they start in the business, and they start to feel burned out, tired.
And I just wonder if something like this would work for people that need to reconnect with the purpose of why I they started out doing what they're doing.
[00:14:26] Speaker A: I'm chuckling because my first experience with this, and people who know me have heard this story, I was 43 years old and I had gotten fired.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: You?
[00:14:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it was.
That's a whole different story.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: That's a whole story, isn't it?
[00:14:45] Speaker A: It was through no cause or fault of my own. We did manage. We got that all squared away, but it was.
It was actually a leadership conflict, but. And I was number two, not number one, but on the. During that time is when I actually took the time to understand what God really put into me and what was he calling out of me and what was my personal vision for ten years into the future. And prior to that, I was chasing money. I had a spirit of mammon on me, and I was chasing money, and I wasn't getting where I wanted to be.
And so it was the best thing that happened for me when I went through that process. In one day, I figured out exactly who I was, what God had put in me, and then put together a plan for bringing that out and going into my own consulting business.
[00:15:45] Speaker B: That is really cool. I just feel like there's some people that you're watching this and you got into, I don't know, just some, like banking or. I'm just thinking that because I wasn't banking 25 years, or you just got into an industry because it was kind of all you knew to do, or maybe your parents were encouraging you to do that, and you found yourself like, wow, I just feel like I'm going to work every day. And I just think there's some of you that are thinking that. And, Rae, I think you're giving them a. A tool to kind of reassess, because we do. We have to provide for our families. It's good to work. It might have started out even with something that we are called to do and passionate about it, but I think God really wants us to love our work, believe in it and have passion.
And we here. I remember working at the phone center. We hear this all the time. You know, when people, they say, I don't know what God wants me to do, how can I find out what God has actually called me to do? Is this something that could help with that?
[00:16:47] Speaker A: Well, absolutely. Absolutely. That was. I mean, you just described a part of my life I'd never had to look for a job. They always found me. I went to college, came into the military, then one job after another, and I was in a rut, and I felt like I was in a deep rut.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:17:07] Speaker A: And. And what really gave me opportunity were good mentors.
But then when this life changing event happened, that was when I really understood that God had called me to be a builder of organizations and of people. And that's how my vision starts out. And once I latched onto that, the timeframe became irrelevant. But what my calling is became very clear. And now I tell people I have to do that because I can't help myself.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: That's what God made me for, you know, and sometimes the setbacks, like, I'm sure at the time, it just felt a little bit like, oh, my goodness, what happened? I have a similar experience where I went into a job, and then I just. I just hated the job. It was the weirdest thing. But looking back on it, I realized that those, that was a time where God was shifting a season in my life. And I think we can get really comfortable with what we're doing. And when you're making good money, you know, you have a secure job. Those are all good things. Those are God things. But those are also the toughest times for us to actually, you know, hear that, receive that invitation, you might say. We call it that, that God is moving us into another season. So I love how you're sharing that, that potential setback and how you used it to actually dig in deep and direct your life in the direction that God was guiding you.
[00:18:44] Speaker A: And what I found out was when I started chasing the passion that God put in me, I got into even more places that I never thought I'd get into. And I made more money than I ever thought I would ever make. So good just being into your calling. And it, for me, it all started with actually figuring out my personal life vision.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: Interesting.
[00:19:12] Speaker A: Which then dovetailed very easily because I could see how what I was called to do really helped other people.
They saw that passion in me and that sparked passion in them for themselves, not for me, but for them. And that's.
[00:19:35] Speaker B: Really good. You know, we didn't plan this, but that's actually a perfect lead in, too. We've got a free giveaway for you today. Billy wrote this book. It is a mini book and it is called the Leader manager. And the subtitle here is how to guide your organization to success. And we want to offer this download to you completely free.
This is a great book. We're actually teaching this morning. This was our topic, but it talks about the leader, the manager, the technician, and really understanding how God designed you and how to fit in an organization or even in your own organization to really perform at a high level and have that passion and the things that you enjoy. So you can get this free
[email protected].
leader manager again, that is wealthbuilders.org leadermanager. And you'll get this download, which will really help you with a lot of what Rae is sharing today. So what advice would you have for people, Ray? That, that maybe they're in a position where they feel stuck or they're just not. They feel like there's more, you know what I'm saying, that there's more to life. What are some practical things that you would encourage people to do?
[00:20:58] Speaker A: Well, as Billy always says, if you're going to make an investment, the first investment you make is in yourself.
[00:21:06] Speaker B: So good.
[00:21:07] Speaker A: And I believe taking time out and really just getting in an environment where you're totally relaxed, you can be physically relaxed and then just go into meditating on the goodness of the Lord and what he's put in you.
Because I always tell the students at school, you know, the scripture tells us, stay in his word and meditate on it. And whatever you desire in your heart, ask and it will be given to you. And I follow that with, and the Lord doesn't have a choice. And he knows that because he put those desires in your heart when he knitted you together in your mother's womb.
[00:21:57] Speaker B: So good.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: And so if you stay in that, get into that, if things aren't working for you, if you just feel like the whole world's a mess and you don't know where to go, or what to do, just get connected back to the spirit and then take time with the Lord and just look for all the goodness that he has. You know, today we're such a, there's such a propensity to be negative about everything that's going on.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: Yeah, well, the news and everywhere you look, it's sort of coming at us everywhere.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: But there is also so much that is so good, so true if we look for it.
[00:22:38] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: And that's the point of creating your vision for yourself and your company is you're foretelling the goodness that you want to see manifest.
[00:22:49] Speaker B: So good.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: And that, you know, the Lord has for you. And there are many days that I just start out in the morning and say, lord, show me the best you got for me today.
[00:23:00] Speaker B: That's so great.
[00:23:01] Speaker A: And those are always the best days.
[00:23:03] Speaker B: That's really good. Ray. I think, too, sometimes when we have life coming at us, we can feel a little out of control, like we're not the one driving our life circumstances or someone else's. I really think this is a tool as well to say, you know what, I am actually going to be the driver of my life, of course, under Jesus. Right, exactly. But that we don't have to just be stuck in circumstances. And so I really feel like this is going to really empower people to say I'm going to go for God's best here.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Good. Well, I hope so, Karen.
That's part of what I believe God's created me to do. And I had thought at this stage in my life I wasn't sure what I'd be doing. But what I realized is God spent 50 years preparing me to do the coordinating of the business school and feeding into the students there and then coming alongside and being a part of wealth builders to help organizations make the move into the future. And the future is really ours to create.
[00:24:12] Speaker B: It is.
That's so good, Rae. That's awesome. Wow, this has been so fun to visit with you and thanks all of you for joining us. I want to tell you about an opportunity that is coming up. Actually. It is starting the day that this is airing. It is starting tomorrow. You can still get into our October real estate workshop. This is a great time to look at real estate. We're in this little window of opportunity and we'd love to have you join us. To learn more about that, you can go to wealthbuilders.org events. So, Ray, thank you so much again for joining us. Thanks to all of you. God bless you and make it a great rest of the day.
