Are ministry leaders pivoting to virtual work? Today I'm going to share some thoughts on the evolving growth of ministry and entrepreneurship in the online space here on the Resilient Faith Online Show. Welcome, I'm Marissa Shadrick, host of the Resilient Faith Online Show. I'm an online marketing coach and certified copywriter. In this podcast, you'll find a different perspective on the external and internal challenges we face as online creators. Join me for some inspiration and practical tips to create positive influence in the world. To continue the conversation, learn about my private resilient creator community. Go to MarissaShatter.com forward slash community. Hello, hello everyone. How are you doing today? Yes, today we're going to talk about ministry and entrepreneurship. I recently attended a wonderful conference, Influence and Impact, last week in Nashville, Tennessee. And it was wonderful. The weather was great. Fall weather, of course, is gorgeous. This was hosted by one of my mentors, Mike Kim. I am a certified You Are the Brand Coach, and he holds these events periodically for some of his mastermind people. And it was wonderful. It was three days packed with great speakers, great opportunities to network. We had a wonderful time. And I got a chance to connect with some old friends like Paul Klein from Visible TV. And I talked with people in the field of SEO like Nick Jung, and he's going to be on the podcast coming in November and December. I'm going to have some guests. And also Steve Ryder, who is known for his work with Focus on the Family, and Robert and Kaylee Fukui, who just published a book, Tandem, and they're going to be on my podcast as well. But one of the things that I noticed as I was sitting there and I was talking to another entrepreneur, and we were chatting and realizing that many of the speakers mentioned that they had a ministry background. And I see this often. I see it in clients, I've seen it in the past. As I begin to follow certain entrepreneurs and I hear their origin story, they were in full-time ministry at one point and then they pivoted to do virtual work. Now the reasons can vary. In episode 10, way back in the beginning, when I first launched the podcast last year, and I talked about the great resignation, that perhaps that was more of a spiritual shift where people were beginning to realize there is more to life than clocking in and clocking out of a corporate job. And people wanted a little bit more than what they were getting. They realized after the pandemic and all the things that were going on that family was important, health was important, and people were beginning to do a shift. And perhaps that is continuing. And that is also affecting some of the people that have been in leadership in ministry and thinking maybe they can reach more people through the online space. Or maybe it was time to see that work is ministry. It's not a separate thing. And I know I struggle with this. Years ago, I thought ministry and work were separate. I kept things in silos and I never mixed the two. And then years later, I realized that I didn't have to separate work and ministry. In fact, work is sacred because it is what God has called us to do. And so when we do it and we use the resources God has given us and we use the gifts and the talents, we're honoring God, it is sacred work because our work is an extension of our heart and who we are. And I also noticed that in the entrepreneurial space, when we talk about mindset, many of the principles people share and things that I share are an extension of our faith. There's some great truths, great proverbs, great verses that talk about mindset. The renewing of the mind is one when people talk about reframing. So mindset is really an extension of our faith. And coaching is an extension of love and service. In ministry, we serve, and when we're in the online space, we serve as well. And when we coach, it's a great opportunity, whether it's one-on-one or in a group setting, to really pour into people and help people achieve some of the goals, some of those things that they're trying to accomplish. And marketing is simply an extension of gifts and skills, the gifts and skills that God has given us. As an online marketing coach and a certified copywriter, my business means I bring all of myself to the table to help others succeed. I can't divide up who I am. It's all of it. It's my faith, it's the skills, it's the gifts, it's the spiritual gifts. And so I'm seeing more and more people begin to openly talk about their background, their ministry background. I almost feel that there's a movement of emerging online leaders that are kingdom-minded serving people through their work, through their business. And that simply means where God has planted you, you are leveraging your gifts, you're expanding your reach, and you're making a difference. People say, Well, what kind of difference? Every time you're in contact with a person, the words you use, the encouragement you give, the counsel or the advice that you give, that helps that person grow. That helps that person take that next step. That makes a difference. And if we can multiply that and do that through coaching and not just work one-on-one, but work one-to-many and begin to do more speaking, imagine what could happen. So here's why I think ministry can translate really well with online work. The skills that I learned myself while working in ministry have been invaluable for my online career. I want to share five key lessons that I learned in ministry that translated well in business. Number one, learning how to communicate and connect with people is essential. We all know that, right? We have to have a connection with people. It's about people. It's not about the products and services, it's about people and what those products and services can do for that person. Number two, challenging your leadership skills and committing to personal development are necessary steps. When we're in ministry, we are developing our leadership skills, and personal development is really important. We listen to podcasts, we use other means to grow and to be able to challenge our leadership skills and also continue to learn and develop ourselves as a person, as a business person as well. Number three is seize opportunities to cultivate a team culture aligned with vision and mission. This is important, and this is what we did in ministry. We seized opportunities to cultivate a team culture. Team culture was so important that aligned with the vision and mission of the church. And it's the same thing with business. We want to seize opportunity to cultivate a team culture, maybe within our business, but also the culture of your community that aligns with your vision and mission. Number four, teaching and public speaking opportunities are great ways to develop your storytelling skills. Now in ministry, you have lots of opportunity, whether it's in small groups or whether it's a talk that you're giving from stage in a ministry setting. Teaching and public speaking opportunities are ways that you develop your storytelling skills because you're always giving examples or applications through story so people can understand, especially when people are explaining a passage or a verse. We do the same thing online when we're explaining something, when we're explaining a blueprint or a process or why we write copy the way we do. We give examples and we storytell so people can understand. These are all skills that I learned in ministry that translated in an online business. The fifth key lesson is remember it's not about you. I think of Rick Warren's book, right? We have to remember it's not about you. Nothing is more rewarding than being part of someone's transformation. It's not about us. It was never about us in ministry, right? And it's not about us in business either. Nothing is more rewarding than being part of transformation. And that's why I loved ministry because I would be able to see transformation in the lives of many people. And it's the same way online, when I'm helping people online with my business, I get to see transformation in the lives of people. If you invest your time to make a difference, what could be more rewarding? Every opportunity you have, you can encourage someone, speak life into someone, explain something that is complex, or even create opportunities for someone that would help them. That's huge. And so when you invest your time and give and you serve, that is ministry. Because you're helping someone else, you're thinking about that person. Yes, granted, we benefit as well, but the intent is to serve. And when we serve, I believe in reciprocity. When we serve, it comes back to us. All of these skills that we've cultivated and developed after years, maybe even decades in ministry give us an unfair advantage because we understand about personal development and growth and how important it is, and we work at it when we're in ministry. And this is going to serve us well in business, especially when we face what I call the reality of execution. And those are the things that are unexpected. We begin a process or we we start some project, and all of a sudden we're not even halfway in, we're maybe a third in, and the reality of execution hits. And we realize this is going to take more time. We realize that it's going to take more tools, it's going to take maybe more writing, more thought, more clarity. It's similar to consider a book. When people write a book, they're excited about it. But when they begin the process, they realize there's all these components into writing a book. Not only do you have to write it, you have to get it edited, you have to have the front and back cover, the marketing for it, you have to be able to get maybe a launch team, you have to see how to promote it, how to create bulk sales, how to get on podcast interviews. So all of a sudden, this dream of just writing this book, all of a sudden the reality of execution hits, and there's all these other components to it that by the time most people finish a book, they are relieved that it's all done, right? So I realize that the skills that I learned in ministry help me in those times when I'm face to face with the reality of execution, depending on what the project is. Oftentimes people say, Well, you got to build this funnel, you got to build this sales page, you got to build a website, you got to build, build, build, build, right? But I realized in the development that I was going through and really sharpening my leadership skills and really focusing on personal development, it wasn't so much about building, it was also about tearing down. So what do we tear down? Well, in order to build and face the reality of execution, we need to tear down the things that will take you down. And it's usually between your ears in your mind. Here's a few of the subtleties that can take you out of the game: self-reliance, pride, entitlement. These are things we need to tear down and almost on a daily basis, right? We're a work in progress. We need to tear down frustration and the anger that can come with frustration. We need to tear down insecurities, we need to tear down imposter syndrome, we need to tear down so many things in order to build our business. So if we focus just on building, we're gonna hit that reality of execution and fear is gonna try to creep in. We need to tear down fear as well. All of the things that will not serve us well, we need to tear those things down. So can ministry leaders or people in ministry pivot to the online space? Absolutely. Without a doubt, I think you're probably more prepared for the online space than anyone else because of the things that you've learned in ministry and you have a heart to serve, and you've had to develop those leadership skills and really focus on personal development and be able to grow, you know, a volunteer group, right? You're not paying them, you're growing a volunteer group. So culture has been important, vision is important, communication is important, all those skills you can translate into an online business. So let me just remind you if you're facing the reality of execution right now, you started a project and you're overwhelmed, and maybe fear is trying to creep in. Remember that there is another side to this, right? You begin to tear down those things that can take you out, like self-reliance and pride and entitlement, frustration, all of those things I mentioned, imposter syndrome, fear, insecurity, anger, you begin to tear it down and you feel this sense of relief because those things do not serve you well. Those things shouldn't be there in the first place. They only surface because we were faced with the reality of execution. So we reframe the thinking, which will help us with our emotions, and we make sure whatever it is that we're believing about ourselves, we question and we say, is it true? And it will help us navigate through entrepreneurship. But when it gets challenging, let me leave you with this. Don't stop dreaming, don't stop serving, don't stop creating, don't stop believing, and just don't stop doing the next right thing. So I hope that was an encouragement for you today. And if you're someone that's thinking about pivoting to the entrepreneurial space, and you're perhaps in ministry or maybe part-time ministry or full-time ministry, and you're thinking about this, I would love to have a conversation with you. I am going to be opening up 10 SOT for January through March. There's a 90-day intensive I'm offering. And when people sign up now, we're doing some one-on-one coaching in November and December. So this is a phenomenal opportunity. It is at a founder's price. All of my courses are included, including Copy Connection, which is an annual membership where you get modules every month. I'm including everything in this because I want people to have all the tools to succeed. So if that's something of interest to you, I would highly encourage you to get a hold of me right away because there's only 10 spots available. So you can contact me at Marissa at marissashadrick.com and we'll have a conversation and we'll see if it's a good fit for you. It's very, very affordable, and you get it all. You get it all. Alrighty. I hope you have a wonderful fall season. I hope you're enjoying the colors of the leaves and taking time to spend with your family. And until next time, take care. Bye bye.