Tory Farina

The Ikea Experience

I have a love/Hate relationship with Ikea.

We are moving offices next week. Praise the Lord I get windows! I am kinda tired of having an office in a basement with no windows. Tory needs creative nature to stimulate his mind. The new place has that. We are getting a good deal it will actually save us a few bucks a month to move... the church also received a donation for office expenses! Thus the Trip to Ikea.

High Point believes in using money wisely. We are a pretty lean operation that makes a point to live within our means. I do not believe that the church should operate out of a debt first principle. God gives resource for the challenge at hand. I don't read the bible and see the Israelites traveling through the desert with a ton of stuff they had what they needed and God supplied them when it mattered.

God will supply you based on where you are at on the journey. He rarely gives churches millions of dolor's to work with unless they are ready for millions. I remember the first $100 check, then the first $1,000 gift to the church, Elizabeth and I took a picture of our first over $10,000 gift and we have yet to receive a $100,000 gift but I know one is coming. It is our next barrier. AS WE ARE FAITHFUL IN THE LITTLE GOD TRUSTS US WITH MORE!

Every Dolor God gives us he expects us to double in the weight of souls. Think about the story of the talents. The good servants were those that when God left them with money doubled them. How are you working on doubling the few talents God has given you? If you are not working on doubling your talents it is clear that God is not pleased. So we want to use every dolor to advance the ball down the field. I am excited as we grow in our operations this summer. Hire an admin and expand our effectiveness. Now The admin and I can be in the office together without Elizabeth or another person because there are two offices and there are always people around in the building. We are sharing the building with three other lawyers. More opportunity for ministry. More opportunity for multiplying talents.


So when I got the donation for furniture and other equipment I know we had to shop around. I did my home work... looked on-line and found that the nice looking and least expensive option was at Ikea.

This is Why I love Ikea:

• We had a huge breakfast for a grand total of $5.00. It wasn't the best food but it was cheap and had funny names so that made it fun.  I kept looking for the Swedish chef but couldn't find him :(
• The place was totally family friendly! High Chairs, bottle warmers, and more! I love when places think about Olive.
• I carried a coffee cup around the store and every few desks there was a nice Swedish cookie.
• The furniture is cool! Everything says I was designed by an artist not a widget maker.
• It is inexpensive.
• WOW are the Organized! they can tell you day of arrival of merchandise and they know exactly where things are and if they have it in stock. Nice Job. That is a mad house and massive and some one knows how to keep it all running well.

Why I Hate Ikea:

• I get lost every time I go in there. It is like the coat closet in Marnia you time warp and everything. It feels like minuets and on the outside it is really hours you are in there... very tripy
• I get disorientated... there are short cuts sand you can double back and they put some stuff in home storage and some in office and some in bedroom and if you don't have the GPS tracker out you wind up circling the same yellow shirted Ikea rep. I sat down and wondered why there is no window or light to chart your course with.
• You have to pick up and load your own 400lb desk into your own cart and hall it around. I think I took a lady out with my cart but couldn't tell if it was me our her own cart that had backed over her.
• Not enough help... When you do finally find someone they are helpful but it could be days between sections to get to a person. and don't forget to write down the isle and row or your screwed.
• People in Sweden must be elfin sized... Everything is smaller... I don't know why but the tables and chairs and couches and beds are all lower to the ground and smaller. I am 6'2" and I feel like the Jolly Green Giant.

We found the stuff we needed and hauled 3 heavy carts out the door and will now begin the assembly process. Pray for ME! Pictures to fallow over the next week!

Mailers at the Printers... Here is a preview!

                                 

Comcastic!

I need you to pray!

A few weeks ago we got a call from Comcast asking us if we like to use there products. I said yes and gave a few reasons why we liked what they offer. They then asked if we could meet. At the meeting they wanted to know if we would be willing to be in a commercial representing our church and letting the world know we use comcast.

They called last week to schedule the video shoot. We will be talking about High Point Church for Comcast and our add will be put on cable TV's around the city, for free! WOW! God is good. I have wanted and been praying about ways we can cross market and get our name out without costing us big dollars.

Pray that...

• people will see this and the Holy Spirit will draw them to the theatre on Sunday.
• I will look and speak well. I need the Lord to help me with what to say.
• the camera crew, that they would capture us well and come away with a positive impression of Christ and his church.

We are passionate about making Christ known in this community. It is amazing that Comcast is going to help us do that for free.

Evangalism ideas...

I am inspired by this guy! High Point Church is always trying to think outside of the box or in this case the milk carton in an effort to change this city for Christ. Seth Godin has got the market corned on hustling a product. I want to spend my life hustling Jesus. I think the dividends are far more valuable. Here is his story...

Purple Cow Redux

Roger Anderson wrote in with some questions about the original Purple Cow promotional strategy. Since it's been so long, I thought I'd quickly recount it here, because there are some useful lessons for all products.

I self-published the book in paperback. I did this because few publishers were interested in a short book on the topic, and were dubious about the future of the web as a promotional tool.

I printed 10,000 copies of the book. I also contacted International Paper to have them print me 10,000 milk cartons. This turned out to be more difficult than I imagined. They print almost all the milk cartons in the United States and weren't particularly motivated by a $2,300 order. I paid in advance, though, and submitted all my materials on time.

The night before the print job went to press, the phone rang. It was my sales rep, informing me that they, "weren't going to be able to print my job." Uh oh. The problem? Someone high up had read some of the copy on the carton and didn't like it.

"I didn't realize that International Paper was in the censorship business," I said. He replied that they weren't censoring the carton, merely refusing to print it.

The offending paragraph: "If this were actually milk, it would be pasteurized and homogenized. Pasteurized involves heating it up to kill any new organisms inside, while homogenization involves mixing it to make it all the same. If this sounds like your organization, perhaps you need this book." They also didn't like the line, "Please don't drink from the carton!"

Instead of calling the ACLU, I just deleted the paragraph and knew I'd have a story for the ages.

Then, Fast Company was kind enough to run an excerpt from the book in the magazine. This is an important part of the story, because this is where the permission marketing part kicks in. Fast Company's 100,000 loyal readers had already given me permission to talk to them. They were listening. If I were doing this today, I'd use my blog, just like you could use yours...

At the end of the article, it said something like, "If you want a copy of Seth's new book for free, send $5 to cover shipping and handling and if there's any left, he'll send you one."

Meanwhile, I had found an Epsom salt packaging facility in New Jersey to turn the printed cartons into folded cartons and to stuff the books inside. (Don't try this at home! The factory was a godsend and very hard to find.)

If you sent in your money, we made a mailing label, slapped it on the carton, put on a stamp and mailed it to you. No other packaging.

So the carton arrived, and already the mailman is talking about it. The folks in the next cube notice it. Many people opened the carton from the bottom and left the carton on their desk. It led to conversations. Which was the point.

THEN, the last step: On the side of the carton, it gave a web address where you could buy more. But since we sold the first 5,000 in just a week or two, the website only offered one option: if you wanted more, you had to buy a dozen for $60. Why a dozen? So you'd give them away. More conversation.

At the end of the process, I had moved 10,000 books to just the right people, created 10,000 conversations (or more) and broken even. I didn't need anyone's permission (except maybe International Paper) and got exactly one great break (Fast Company, now replaced by blogs).

[My publisher wants me to mention that they were then insightful enough to buy the hardcover rights and that so far they've sold (if I count Taiwan) more than a quarter of a million copies.]

I think this process scales (not the milk carton part, the remarkable part) and works for things other than books. There are two steps that are difficult but not impossible. First, build an audience that wants to hear from you. Second, create something they want to talk about and make it easy for them to do so.

Roger Anderson wrote in with some questions about the original Purple Cow promotional strategy. Since it's been so long, I thought I'd quickly recount it here, because there are some useful lessons for all products.

I self-published the book in paperback. I did this because few publishers were interested in a short book on the topic, and were dubious about the future of the web as a promotional tool.

I printed 10,000 copies of the book. I also contacted International Paper to have them print me 10,000 milk cartons. This turned out to be more difficult than I imagined. They print almost all the milk cartons in the United States and weren't particularly motivated by a $2,300 order. I paid in advance, though, and submitted all my materials on time.

The night before the print job went to press, the phone rang. It was my sales rep, informing me that they, "weren't going to be able to print my job." Uh oh. The problem? Someone high up had read some of the copy on the carton and didn't like it.

"I didn't realize that International Paper was in the censorship business," I said. He replied that they weren't censoring the carton, merely refusing to print it.

The offending paragraph: "If this were actually milk, it would be pasteurized and homogenized. Pasteurized involves heating it up to kill any new organisms inside, while homogenization involves mixing it to make it all the same. If this sounds like your organization, perhaps you need this book." They also didn't like the line, "Please don't drink from the carton!"

Instead of calling the ACLU, I just deleted the paragraph and knew I'd have a story for the ages.

Then, Fast Company was kind enough to run an excerpt from the book in the magazine. This is an important part of the story, because this is where the permission marketing part kicks in. Fast Company's 100,000 loyal readers had already given me permission to talk to them. They were listening. If I were doing this today, I'd use my blog, just like you could use yours...

At the end of the article, it said something like, "If you want a copy of Seth's new book for free, send $5 to cover shipping and handling and if there's any left, he'll send you one."

Meanwhile, I had found an Epsom salt packaging facility in New Jersey to turn the printed cartons into folded cartons and to stuff the books inside. (Don't try this at home! The factory was a godsend and very hard to find.)

If you sent in your money, we made a mailing label, slapped it on the carton, put on a stamp and mailed it to you. No other packaging.

So the carton arrived, and already the mailman is talking about it. The folks in the next cube notice it. Many people opened the carton from the bottom and left the carton on their desk. It led to conversations. Which was the point.

THEN, the last step: On the side of the carton, it gave a web address where you could buy more. But since we sold the first 5,000 in just a week or two, the website only offered one option: if you wanted more, you had to buy a dozen for $60. Why a dozen? So you'd give them away. More conversation.

At the end of the process, I had moved 10,000 books to just the right people, created 10,000 conversations (or more) and broken even. I didn't need anyone's permission (except maybe International Paper) and got exactly one great break (Fast Company, now replaced by blogs).

[My publisher wants me to mention that they were then insightful enough to buy the hardcover rights and that so far they've sold (if I count Taiwan) more than a quarter of a million copies.]

I think this process scales (not the milk carton part, the remarkable part) and works for things other than books. There are two steps that are difficult but not impossible. First, build an audience that wants to hear from you. Second, create something they want to talk about and make it easy for them to do so.