Budget Your Money & Your Time

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The year is 2016 and the world is at your fingertips so your extra time should be also.

I remember in grade school learning how to write a letter, address an envelope, put a stamp on it and send it to someone.  Now an email can be sent back and forth, between recipients, multiple times in a day as long as each has internet service.

I remember purchasing a cassette tape and sticking it in the tape deck and listening to my favorite radio channel, pushing the record button and hoping I did not miss the first couple of seconds or have the DJ talk during the end of it.  Now you can find about any song online and either get it free or download it for pennies.

I remember growing up and dial-up was the best form of internet connection.  It would take minutes to download certain websites.  Now kids want their parents to change service providers if the internet is down or their favorite game takes too long to download.

I remember standing in line at a bank when I first joined the workforce.  I had to deposit my check, which was often hand written, and put my name and social security number on the back. Now most companies utilize direct deposit and funds are available at the stroke of midnight on payday.

Recently I started taking a class, sponsored by my employer, discussing proven ways to get out of debt and how to prepare for your financial future.  The reason I mention this is that this course focuses on developing a budget for all the income that comes in to your household.  Each dollar has a place and all remaining money is used to pay off debt.  Once your debt is paid off then the focus is on savings, giving, and living in your means.  Utilizing this method makes sense to me and putting it on paper made me look at finances differently.

When you hear of the word budget, most people think of finances.  What if we took the same approach to time?  In this day and age we have everything at our fingertips to make life easier.  There are certain things that need to happen in order to survive:  working, going to school, taking care of a loved one(s), eating and sleeping.

What if you budgeted for all of these things mentioned and put it into a schedule?

And stuck to it?

What would you do with your extra time?  Similar to the financial budget I would hope you would focus on yourself and your community and find a way to participate.  The next time you budget “YOU” time, search your community and see what peaks your interest.  You may find donating your time is as important as a financial donation.

Charites need money and need volunteers.  Pass the Plate was created to make giving easy, one donation at a time, at the touch of your fingertips.  Use your time wisely and find a way to make a difference.

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Early Stage Growth: Part 1

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Contemplating the “what’s next” is a serious dilemma for any entrepreneur who is starting a company and building it from the ground up.

Gone are the questions like “Is this going to work?” “Am I going to be able to see my product?”

The new questions are:

How am I going to get my product to market?

What is the cost to acquire a customer?

What is the value of each customer?

What is my plan for growth?

Is my plan for growth sustainable?

For Pass the Plate, these questions and several more have become the questions that we need to address and the answers that we must find.

Getting a product out into the marketplace is one of the most difficult hurdles that must be overcome.

What we have found with Pass the Plate is that our early adopters have been important part of the early stage growth.

Why?

Our early adopters have given feedback early in the development process that has allowed our company which operates under Agile principles to make necessary course corrections to help bring the best possible product to market.

For instance, with Pass the Plate, one item of feedback from early adopters was having issues with the search function.

While this is important for us to correct, we have learned that this seemingly simple function is not only important but very expensive when done correctly. Fortunately, for us while at a StartupGrind event in Los Angeles we met an engineer who have a simple solution for our platform.

Another item that early adopters wanted was a method to more closely monitor their donations. From making the donation on the Pass the Plate platform all the way into their chosen charities bank account. Then if possible, the donors wanted to be able to make sure that the charity that they gave them donation too was actually being responsible with that donation.

Wow… thats a lot to say. But it is very enlightening. Donors want transparency. So then, you would think, if we were to build a platform that gave 100% transparency, then the donors would all come running… Not so fast!!!

What donors want and what donors will actually use can be vastly different. This is part of what we have found!

More on user habits and what that story tells us in my next article.

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The Eyes Of A Recipient

Stu-Darfur

There is nothing comparable to seeing the eyes of a recipient of your gifts to truly understand the impact of what giving can have. My name is Stuart Epperson and several years ago I went to the Darfur Region of Sudan with the Persecution Project Foundation (PPF) – and I’ll never be the same!! While in Darfur, I was surrounded by genocide victims in the lowest depth of poverty which certainly left a permanent imprint on my soul. One of the many pervading thoughts that resounded in my heart was ‘They have so little, yet WE have so much.’

While I was with PPF, we had the privilege of giving teddy bears to 200 children, many of whom were orphans, and most had never seen a teddy bear before. At the climax of our trip, as we were boarding the cargo plane to leave something remarkable happened. After our team had just off loaded tons of survival kits, for the refugees, we decided to lighten our loads. One by one we stripped off our extra hats, shirts, and socks to give to these people.  Wanting to give more, one team member even gave his shoes and boarded the plane barefoot. Our supplies were delivered and our personal bags were emptied – as we left our hearts were full and broken as we flew away.

Whether you’re in the middle of Africa as I was, or in your hometown, do not hoard your blessings – find a way to be a giver. Use your God-given time, talent, and treasure to bless others in need. Just ask the Lord to lead you to them and He will. Want to be used by God? Trust in Him completely and not in your own wealth. Realize daily that He gave to you, in order to give through you.

I learned that day in Darfur, and am still learning today, the power of giving to bless others.  After all, aren’t we blessed recipients of grace – because, God so loved the world, He GAVE…(John 3:16)

There are many ways in which you can donate. You can donate through Pass the Plate or directly to countless non-profits that are helping support communities around the world. Remember, donations do not always need to be financial, look around your community and ask yourself – What can I do to help?

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