When you are driving, setting goals and always trying to get to the next level, you can be so obsessed with those goals that you miss the opportunity and the preparation that is necessary to get you to that next level.  Step one for me is to be content and slow down, look around at my current circumstances and see what God is doing and teaching me right NOW.  God may allow me to succeed when He has refined me to the point where I do not need to succeed to be happy. I can tell you that the refining process is the tough part.  God also has shown me that even if He did move me to the next step that I would eventually grow discontent there as well.  So, the “a-ha” moment is that my contentment is not in my situation or circumstances, but with Him and in me.

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This is a bit lengthy, however it is well worth the read if you are looking for the differences between selling online students versus traditional campus based students.  This comes from years of experience in both areas and this article helps summarize the differences.  Enjoy!

1. Make-to-order vs. mass production

In the context of education, online learning is a “make-to-order” business whereas instruction through a traditional ground campus falls under the category of mass production. Applying this to business terms, online learning uses a “pull” strategy while traditional (residential) undergraduate education uses a “push” strategy.

With the realization that each unique customer has varying needs and desires for the purchase of a product or service, most businesses today operate under the “pull” strategy such as Dell or McDonalds. However, traditional education still operates under the “push” method. Statistics show that ninety percent of all incoming undergraduate resident students have the same needs, requirements, and educational expectations, lending to an academic institution’s use of systems of mass production to satisfy these similar needs. The familiarity and success with this type of education system has made it difficult for most traditional colleges and universities to successfully enter into the market of online learning.

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Inside HigherEd

Read the Inside Higher Ed article click here  

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an independent corporation and one of two commission members of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), which is one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States. The Higher Learning Commission accredits degree-granting post-secondary educational institutions in the North Central region.

Some of these secular leaders’ principles are in clear contrast to what bible believing churches promote every Sunday.  Wouldn’t it be better to meet people where they’re at and then it wouldn’t be so critical to put people in one of two categories like these leaders promote of a problem or a Superstar?  Jesus met many people where they were at… that by these secular leader’s standards” would not be of any value at all.  In the book of John, would they put a value on the lady at the well or the lame man at the pool…I doubt it, but Jesus saw the value.

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I have learned over the years, that turnover, whether employee related, student related or church related…turnover is usually a result of a multitude of internal variables, so to try and isolate it to one single factor is usually misguided.  True leadership doesn’t focus on the 90% going well in the organization, it starts digging into the 10% that is not going well.  

Managers stay focused on the 90%.

The question is do you want to be known for the easy road of managing what has already been established and working well or do you want to be known as a leader, problem solver, visionary for conquering the 10% that most want to avoid or prentend does not exist?

Click here to read more on my article called 9-1-1 Leadership

or

Poor Communication  in Your Organization

Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the LORD his God.

Support is defines as: supporting structure that holds up or provides a foundation, subscribe: adopt as a belief

Stability is defined as: the quality or attribute of being firm and steadfast, constancy: the quality of being enduring and free from change or variation

It has been a beautiful spring here in Virginia this year.  The weather has been warmer than usual, which has allowed for many spring projects.  This past winter Virginia was hit with three huge snow storms that left anywhere from 9-18” each time.  That usually doesn’t happen, so considering the long cold winter I had an usually high desire to get out this spring and do some projects. 

My list of projects included, building a chicken coop, chicken pen, garden, garden fencing to keep the deer out, add an extension to our screened in porch, take down some trees in the front yard, set up the kids pool and build a deck for the pool.

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When we put up the pool, we had 2 small holes that were already in the liner upon purchase.  I know this because they were right where the liner was folded and creased for packing.  Of course, you don’t know this until you start to fill it up with water.  We called Intex, and the customer service was horrible.  The lady was rude, not helpful and seemed like we were bothering her for calling.  Needless to say, they did absolutely nothing for us, not even a call back from the supervisor who was to respond in 24-48 hours.  We went back to Sam’s Club and they were generous enough to give us $80 off for our troubles and lost money on having to drain the pool to fix the holes.  When you buy a product that was clearly damaged upon purchase and the manufacture, in this case Intex, was willing to do nothing…it will be the last dime I ever spend on an Intex product.  In fact, I won’t even link to their site because I do not recommend them.

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