• Your work can be your calling.
• Respect for the other person builds a team.
• Repeat business is the best business.

Key Idea #1 : The Lightbulb. Joseph Johnson is a servant to his customers and he considers that an honor. For example, Johnson's Funeral Home makes house calls; they go to their customers. How insensitive to ask grieving family members to come to the funeral home to make arrangements. These house calls are expensive, and, for that reason, Mr. Johnson has no competitors. If you want the best service, you call Johnson's Funeral Home. And keep in mind service is delivered by people, and the people we met here speak about being called to this work.

My father was a minister and he spoke of being called by God to preach. My brother-in-law is the winningest high school football coach in America, and he feels called to coach young people. Research shows that business owners are more religious than the population as a whole.

Michael Novak, the winner of the 1994 Templeton Prize for Progress and Religion, wrote a book "Business as a Calling." His publisher, the Free Press, says, `This book explains an important part of our lives in a new way. Business is a profession worthy of a person's highest ideals and aspirations fraught with moral possibilities, both of great good and great evil. Our work connects us with one another. It also makes possible the universal advance out of poverty and it is an essential prerequisite of democracy in the institutions of civil society.'

We here at SMALL BUSINESS 2000 couldn't agree more. Find your calling as have Joseph Johnson, Charlie and Joe.

Topic for discussion: What do you think "being called" means?

Possible answers: Typcially a discussion for ministers, this phrase, "I feel called to serve my fellow man" is not thought of in the context of business or secular work in general. In the helping professions such as healthcare and social work we might find plenty of people who say they are "called" to this work.

People who say, "I am called to do this," are most always referring to a spiritual feeling they have about being in the right place at the right time doing the right thing.

Topic for discussion: Is everyone called and if so how does one find his or her calling?

Possible answers: The process may start with basic career counseling or finding one's natural gifts with some scientific testing. My niece went to college to study nursing because her cousin did. My niece hated it and after taking aptitude tests, she went to school to become a hairdresser which was always her first love.

The next step is education to cultivate the gifts, then next comes finding a way to make a living using the gifts.

Topic for discussion: Do you think it is odd that Charles and Joe seem just as spiritual as Mr. Johnson?

Possible answers: No. Like attracts like. Mr. Johnson has attracted to him others who feel about the funeral business as he does. Yes, it is a business but it is more than that. It is about serving people in a time when they are vunerable. For more on this, go to Meetings America.

Topic for discussion: How does Mr. Johnson's feeling that he is "called" to this work affect how he does the work?

Possible answers: One of the most recent decisions he has made is not to sell his business to a big corporation. This is because he feels a commitment to continue serving customers as they have been served in the past. His goal is not to make a big pile of money here at the end of his life. In fact, his goal is to give his money away.

We've talking here in the past about personal and business life being seamless. This is a perfect case. Mr. Johnson's personal goals are better served from his position as owner of this business than as a wealthy retired person. For more about living your work, see
Jim Morris Environmental T-Shirts.

Topic for discussion: Why do you think that business owners are more religious than the general population?

Possible answers: Business owners come in all shapes, sizes, colors and ages. The only common quality they all have is courage. I think courage comes from faith and faith is believing in what you can't see. People of faith tend to believe there is something bigger than themselves guiding them and it is this feeling that undergirds them in the tough times. Owning a business means no automatic paycheck. The entire weight of the business rests on the owner's shoulders.

Another question comes to mind: was the business owner a person of faith when they started the business or did they become one when faced with difficulties?

Key Idea #2: Respect for the other person builds a team.

Mr. Johnson says, "You're miserable if you don't respect people." This is a philosophy that permeates his whole life, not just a strategy for building employees.

Topic for discussion: How can you tell Mr. Johson has respect for his employees?

Possible answer: First of all, he doesn't call Mr. Beaumont by his first name. He refers to Charles as Mr. Beaumont. Also, he admits he is a figurehead and everyone there is quite capable of handling the business without him.

Topic for discussion: When the owner treats the employee with respect, what can happen?

Possible answer: Worst case is the employee will take advantage of the owners' good will. Best case, the employee is extremely loyal. Most business owners who want to build a sustainable company are willing to be taken advantage of by some employees in the short run and not sacrafice their overarching belief that most people are good.

It's been said, "there are no inferior people, only inferior environments." If you give an employee the working ground rules, teach them how to do the work , then trust and respect them, you have a better chance of building a business than you would if you showed no respect. There are many small business owners here at SMALL BUSINESS 2000 who speak about this idea. Visit Boardroom, TiresPlus, Hartford Communications, Madison Park Greeting, and Jackalope.

Topic for discussion: Does "doing your homework" have to take as long for everyone as it took for Bill?

Possible answer: No. You can do speed homework on the web. You can focus yourself entirely on the idea of owning your own business earlier than he did, you can read, you can interview other business owners. But you still have to prepare. Proverbs 16:18 warns us, "pride goeth before the fall." Bill's first attempt at being a developer has been a total success because he was prepared.

Key Idea #3: Repeat business is the best business.

Most businesses spend huge dollars marketing and selling products. With extraordinary service as the priority for over 60 years, there are no employees at Johnson Funeral Home dedicated to sales. This means all his business is either repeat or gained by word of mouth from happy customers.

Topic for discussion: What is Mr. Johnson's service philosophy?

Possible answers: He said, "I provide sympathetic, courteous and efficient service. I give it and I don't cut corners on it. And that has been my philosophy."

Topic for discussion: Do Mr. Johnson and Mr. Beaumont pretend they are sad that the family has experienced the death of a loved one?

Possible answers: No. As Mr. Johnson said, they are glad someone is dead, it means business for him. However, they can be sympathetic, courteous and efficient without being gushy. They must have the perfect demeanor when dealing with people who are suffering to have such great success.

Topic for discussion: What do you think he means when he says he doesn't "put a pencil" to some of the service he provides?

Possible answers: He offers service for a set price. When customers need more, he doesn't charge more. And, he does some things that are not standard pactice.

Topic for discussion: What servcie does Mr. Johnson give away that others are making big bucks doing?

Possible answers: He pre-arranges funerals fixing the price. The customer sets up a savings account dedicated to the funeral costs. Rather than earning interest himself on that savings account, he gives the interest to the customer. He wants his customers to make the money from the wise decision they make to take care of the funeral expenses in advance.

Topic for discussion: What service did the young woman comment on?

Possible answers: She said her family never has to go down to the funeral home to make the arrangements, Mr. Johnson comes to them. This means Mr. Johnson can invest in the limosines and nice cars for Mr. Beaumont to go to the homes rather than investing in a public space in his offices. Even though it probably costs him less the way he is doing it, the customer perceives a higher quality of service.

Also, his downtown location has parking difficulties except on funeral days when the police are involved with traffic control. So, families don't hassle with parking at his funeral home because they only come for the service.

On the day of the funeral, Mr. Johnson sends a limosine to bring the family to the service which happens to be standard practice in the industry.

Topic for discussion: What service goal did Mr. Beaumont stress?

Possible answers: The preparation of the body. He teased that people talk about, "how Aunt Bessie looked." It is clear that word of mouth about how the person looks in the casket is very powerful.

Topic for discussion: Why was what Joe, the embalmer, said about his work insightful?

Possible answers: He said he understands the purpose of a funeral. It is to allow the family and friends of the deceased to reflect on the life of this person and to grieve the loss. This insight came when he said,
" what I do is I help the survivors to get over the loss of their loved one by presenting a memory picture, to help them get over their burden in the loss of their loved ones. I am doing something for mankind."

Joe is not embalming a person, he is presenting a memory picture for the family. Does this attitude affect the results he achieves? Yes. Remember in Oregon Log Homes when the sales person said, "We're not selling logs; we're making someone's dream come true?"

When we see our work as service to a Key Idea, we are inspired and motivated to do extraordinary things.

Topic for discussion: Can a business owner who wants to grow rapidly and expand depend upon word of mouth?

Possible answers: No. Mr. Johnson has been in the same neighborhood for over 60 years and has no plans to expand or move. If this type local community orientation appeals to you, you should make service your number one priority.