Written by Cheryl Wells
John Maxwell said in his book No Limits, “your best days are before you.” This has become my truth through the years. It didn’t use to be, believe me. There are so many places in the word of God that we can learn this and claim it. It’s where John got it from too.
But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13,14)
Your future will be brighter by far than your past. (Job 8:7)
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! (Isaiah 43:18)
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. (Isaiah 41:10a)
Sorry, I got a little carried away! But I could go on…
In the chapter Abundance Capacity, he talks about the fact that it is our choice to believe there is more than enough for us every day, no matter what our experience is. It’s really a mind-set and an attitude that I have learned over the years of asking and trusting God, even when it looked and felt impossible.
I have a little story from my own experience about this very thing. I opened Habitué Coffeehouse & Bakery and my intentions from before we even built it was for me to hire a General Manager who would run it and I would be the owner. Not long into the first year I realized that this was not going to work and that I needed to know everything and build systems. It was a long and arduous task and so many times I would think that I was never going to get done. I will just say that it is a really big deal to own a business and food service is a lot of work. Running a successful business is tough and the odds are against you from the beginning, I wasn’t young, and I had no experience. I worked 7 days a week and 12 to 14-hour days.
Along the way I had so many conversations with God about what I should do. I am grateful that I had a positive attitude and I have always said that the glass is half full, not half empty. I had been in ministry at Side by Side for 10 years and I was all about investing in people and doing things for the right reason, regardless of the cost. I didn’t see Habitué any differently and it was an extension of the ministry to our community.
Over the years we have added things to the business and changed things up and a common phrase that God would bring me is that “I have everything I need.” I remind people of that often and we recall stories of how God provided, and we have always had just what we needed and when we needed it.
Sometimes it was that we needed people – staff at a certain time. Someone would put in their notice to leave and then at the right time God would bring just the right person. I see a lot of businesses that don’t have enough staff and they must close on certain days because of it. We have never had to do that in almost 14 years. We are looking for a person right now and so we are reminded that we live in abundance and that God is bringing who we need. I have refused to live with a scarcity mindset because it is crippling. We try to be grateful and wait and watch for what we need.
The timing of this article is so interesting for me. Over the 14 years we have been open and served our guests with the mindset that we wouldn’t give up and that it wasn’t about money. Mike and I had made a commitment that the coffeehouse was a gift to Le Mars and to those that come in our door. It has been costly in many ways, but so worth it. I have been looking at the finances a little different since Mike’s retirement and selling the business almost a year ago, on December 7.
I knew that I needed to take my leadership to a new level and that in doing that I could lead Habitué with fresh eyes and a vision of making it sustainable for the generations to come. About 8-9 months ago I started with retraining the whole staff and I began to look at labor differently than I ever did. Next, I began to work with my Kitchen Manager and gave her a new plan about baking schedules and inventory and that for now she would be the only one in the kitchen, thinking about quality control. We worked on new protocols for task sheets and looking at inventory control and cost of goods was crucial as well as food purchasing.
I started looking at all purchases and adjusted pars and even how many things that we sell in the store. I used all the data from over the past 14 years and numbers don’t lie. If we don’t sell a lot of an item, then we aren’t going to make them anymore. Simplify was my word. It has worked. I have been looking for proof of how this could help, and the results are in! It has made a big difference in our financials, and everything just runs more smoothly. I really do believe that our best days are ahead of us!
I really could have looked at this situation and thought that it was impossible and that maybe I wouldn’t know what to do. But I just started doing things that I knew should make a difference and I was curious as to how it would all turn out. It took me about 6 months to start to see the results. Once again, God has been so faithful to lead me and I am so grateful. I know that our best days are ahead!
