Many years ago now I needed a mission statement for my first business. I wondered what God’s mission statement would be if He came down from heaven and started His very own business.
Judging from His actions while living on earth I concluded that He would list providing “Outstanding Customer Service” first because He came to earth to serve and insisted that we treat others as we would like to be treated. Second I decided He would provide products that are only of the highest quality. (I would love to own something that he built as a carpenter.) I know that His prices would be fair – (fair to the customer/fair to Him and His employees). And finally He would without a doubt be honest, have integrity and He would take pride in helping others obtain what they want and need (which is what a business does).
So a mission statement modeled after one that I envision Jesus would have created was born. It turned out to be excellent and one that lasted through 19 businesses including Honey Lake Plantation Resort.
- Provide Outstanding Customer Service
- Offer Products That Are Only of the Highest Quality
- Offer Fair Prices
- Work Together in a Spirit of Honesty, Integrity, and Pride
Over the weekend the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper performed a “hatchet job” on Honey Lake and trashed us with a vengeance in printing an article full of untruths about our closing the facility down. The thrust of the article was that we should have and could have kept it open had we wanted to do so, and the brides that were booked should not have to change venues.
When I read the article I was hopping mad. The truth of the matter is that we tried everything within our power to keep it open through the end of the year; however when we announced to our employees that we were putting it up for sale because God had called me into the ministry fulltime, employees almost immediately began a mass exodus which continues through today. I was sickened to see that within a week from the announcement, one of our most trusted employees secured another job leaving us with just one week’s notice after having worked there for years. Others immediately began following this person’s lead.
Today nearly every employee that remains in our employ is looking for another, more stable job and we are losing experienced employee after employee as the weeks pass by. I cannot say that I blame them, but before long we will not have ANY experienced employees left with little hope of recruiting replacements.
We reduced our hours to just being open on weekends and we replaced our banquet operations with an outside catering company which has done a marvelous job, but we still have complicated front desk operations, housekeeping, non-banquet related restaurant operations, wedding setup, wedding coordination, maintenance, activities, and so on. We cannot recruit quality employees because the work pool nearby is very small and no one wants to come from Tallahassee to work for a company that is going out of business.
As a result of not having enough trained and experienced employees our number one tenant in our mission statement, (Provide Outstanding Customer Service) began to slip. It took years to gain a reputation for high quality service and it was being destroyed in weeks. Now I was facing a real dilemma. Stay open and risk demonstrating very poor customer service and not having enough employees to conduct a wedding, or close down early and disappoint those who had their hearts set upon getting married in this gorgeous place.
We were and are still losing employees and we cannot run a business without experienced employees and a lot of them. So there was no choice, we had to make the grim decision to shut down earlier than we wanted.
This decision was grueling for us to make, but equally so for the brides affected by it. Thankfully there were not that many, but even one was more than we wanted. We returned their deposits and gave them open dates of other venues in our area and apologized profusely, but they understandably were distraught.
So apparently someone went to the newspaper and quite naturally they pounced on it and took the defamatory, one-sided, distorted side and wrote it in such a manner as to imply that we were an enemy of the people. Many of our competitors who had lost business to us for years were quoted in the article and they got their piece of flesh when afforded the opportunity. Distraught brides and families affected by it were also quoted adding more fuel to the fire.
We have served the community with distinction since 2009 but all we had done and the good will we had worked hard to attain was forgotten in a single heartbeat when the newspaper trashed our good name with impunity and of course I received hate mail admonishing me and our family for being such jerks. I believe that some of these people would have written if the facility had been hit by a tornado and blamed me for building our facility in its path. I could care less about their remarks but am fully sympathetic of the brides and feel terrible that they cannot get married in the venue of their dreams.
Sometimes in life it seems there simply are no good answers and in business no easy solutions. I asked myself a hundred times, “What would Jesus do?” I believe He would analyze the situation, do the best He knew how, and keep His eye on the Father. That’s what I’ve tried to do. This all started because I want to obey God by entering the ministry fulltime. I’m just trying to accomplish that goal as best I know how. If folks choose to believe otherwise then that is their/your problem.
Onward!
1 Peter 3:16
Having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
May 18, 2015 – Click here to listen