Being a Servant: The Essence of Success

Jesus got them together to settle things down. “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around,” he said, “and when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage.” [Mark 10:43-45, MSG]

I had this verse in the notes of my iPhone since the beginning of summer. We were talking about serving others in Sunday school and the verse was so appropriate for Bell Investments that I kept it in my phone. Recently, I lived this verse with several other servant-minded people in Memphis.

Bell Investments participated in Project Homeless Connect, an event designed to assist homeless individuals with their basic needs. Every vendor you could think of was there, including medical services, legal services, food, clothing, employment, and housing! What a privilege and an honor to be a part of such an outstanding project. Our mayor, A.C. Wharton, has set a plan to end homelessness in the next 10 years and this event was the kickoff to this effort.

I arrived at the Pipkin Building at 7:40 a.m. Friday morning to setup our information and I was in awe of all the volunteers that arrived. We worked non-stop until 11;45 a.m.; I had to return to work. Bell Investments was the only housing vendor that offered permanent housing. After only four hours, we had over 30 individuals with completed applications and about 40 people on our waiting list.

What is the lesson here? It’s simple….whether you’re serving the middle class tenant or the low-income tenant, God has blessed you with the gift of offering people housing. It’s a service!  And if you don’t have any housing to offer, be a blessing to another landlord.

Note to Self… successful businesses are all about sowing seeds. Even if you don’t have the business volume that you want right now, keep networking, keep advertising, keep speaking excitedly about your vision, and most importantly, keep providing excellent service!