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Communicator Academy Podcast # 198

Identifying Your Resource Needs

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Kathi – Well, hey friends. Welcome to Communicator Academy, where our heart is to equip and encourage men and women become the communicators God has created them to be. I am very, very excited. It has taken us a long time to get together, but I want to introduce you to Christa Hutchins. I love the idea of this topic, Christa, because: resources. As I have been talking about pandemics and Ready for Anything, I always talk about “What is your excess? What is it that you have more of?” And you have a really interesting way of talking this through. So, we all have to be mindful of our resources. I feel like a lot of people have been struggling with limited resources during this time of pandemic, so I’m curious to ask you, when it comes to our work projects and our self-employed things, what do you think is the biggest resource people need, right now, that they’re lacking?

Christa – I think the biggest thing they need is a different mindset about their resources. People generally think that money is your only resource, or at least it’s the most important resource, and if you don’t have a whole lot of it, then we get hampered in our progress. We can’t just go out and buy that thing we need, or we can’t pay for that service we need, because we don’t have the money. But if we can shift our mindset a little bit, and understand that our resources are sort of like a triangle. I call it the Resource Triangle. At each corner of the triangle, you have Time, Money, and Knowledge. When you’re able to balance those three, you are able to make progress on your goals and projects. If you’re short on one, you can use your excess, or your abundance, as you call it, to shift the triangle back and make it balanced. You can fill in the gaps of what you don’t have, when you can use the abundance of what you have in other areas.

Kathi – I think that’s so interesting. I know that sometimes I preach to the poor mentality. “You don’t have enough money for this.” By the way, I give away things for free all the time, because I know that the money resource is not as much of a struggle for me right now. It’s not that we have extra money, it’s that, let’s put it this way, I’m not wearing cardboard in my shoes, which is something I did for a couple of years. I know what that is. I’m not that single mom anymore. Here’s the other thing I know from that. When money can fix a problem, I’m so much more likely to fix it with money than I am with creativity, or knowledge, or something like that. I feel it actually hampers me sometimes. Do you ever see that?

Christa – Yeah, I think there’s things that, just because they’re quicker or easier, we may go spend our money to go learn how to do something, when we could figure it out ourselves. There’s a lot of joy, and I think you sometimes know things better when you spend your time to figure something out by yourself, rather than spending your money getting it done by someone else, really quickly. That’s an example of, if you don’t have the money to give someone to do it really quickly, but you had some time, you can use your time resource to balance out your lack of money.

Kathi – This is really interesting. I told you in a different interview, because you just interviewed me on Instagram, and we’ll make sure that everybody has a way to follow you, that we’re planting a garden and an orchard at our mountain house. One of the things that’s so interesting is, right now, time is our most precious resource, but also, I did not have the knowledge of what would grow there, really well. Now, I can do all the research I want to, but I would like to learn from somebody who has actually grown a garden and grown orchards there, so we paid somebody to come out, and socially distance from us, and help us figure it all out. He’s also going to be doing the trees, because that’s not something I want to spend my time doing. I’m like, “Where is my time valuable?” so I decided I want to plant the plants. I want to do all of that. He can get everything set up for me. So, it is a constant battle and realignment of your time, your knowledge, and your money, isn’t it, in different circumstances?

Christa – Yeah. We’re talking today, right in the middle of the pandemic shut down, so I think one of the things that’s been really interesting during this time is, a lot of people have really been able to stretch their money by using what they already have. So, you may have had extra canned goods. I think I had sloppy joe mix in the pantry probably close to its expiration date, but we used that because it was there. I think that applies to our ministries and our businesses. One of the ways we can best use our money resources is, using the things we already have before we buy something new. Have you got everything you can get out of that course that you signed up for? Or did you just do the first two lessons and forgot about it? Are you maximizing the tools that you have? Have you used every feature of your free email marketing software before you have paid for an upgrade to something else? One of the ways I think we really stretch our resources, is making the best use of what we already have, so that we can really do what we love. If what we love is planting the plants, then do that, and let someone else do the other things.

Kathi – Yeah, the back-breaking work? I’m going to let the 20-something year old kid, who basically grew up on the mountain and basically knows which way the wind blows. I’m going to let him do it. Here’s the thing: I still want to save money, because as a solopreneur. Every dollar I save goes into my personal account, or, let’s be super-clear, during the pandemic, every dollar I save goes to pay someone on my team. Right now, my income is zero, but I’m working to pay my contractors, because they still have kids whose mouths still need to be fed. They’re very cute kids, so I want to keep feeding them. So, what happens when you’re short on two sides? Like, right now, maybe somebody in your home has been furloughed and your kids are home and you’re teaching them fulltime? What do you do when both time and money are short? How do you creatively work past that super-scenario?

Christa – I think then, that means the third leg of your triangle is your experience and your knowledge. In that case, you look to be able to use your past experiences, again to stretch the money, or to find creative ways to homeschool your children. All my homeschooling friends are telling me, “What you’re doing now is not homeschooling. It is distance learning.”

Kathi – There is a difference.

Christa – There’s a big difference. When you’re trying to maximize your knowledge, another good way is to learn from a friend. Is there someone else who’s dealing with the same thing with their kids, so you can not have to get up on the learning curve by yourself? Find someone else that you can co-learn with, so that you’re not reinventing the wheel every time.  The other way is to be choosy. Right now, we’re getting advice from so many people. One person is going to tell you to do something. Somebody else is going to tell you to do something else. So, I always tell everybody, be really choosy about who you learn from. Limit your input sources to a few people that you trust. Some of the information is available from a lot of different resources, but find one that you really click with. One or two or three that you really click with, that are consistent with your faith and your values, so that you know the advice they give you is not going to be something that weirds you out. Be really choosy about who you’re trying to learn from. If you try to listen to all the voices, you’re going to get totally overwhelmed. You’re going to get too many things you need to do. So, limit your input, so you’re only focusing on the things you need to focus on in this time.

Kathi – I think that’s such great advice. When people want to start a podcast, there are some people who have the sound experience. They’ve maybe been on radio, or something like that. They have all the knowledge. They actually don’t need a lot of help. Then there are people who have the time. So, if money is a zero sum kind of thing for you, you can learn how to do a podcast super easily by researching. You’re going to find a little information over here, a little information over there. But if money is a resource you have an abundance of, and you want to have a podcast, we have a podcasting course. It’s less than a hundred dollars, but you go through it, and it’s going to save you a ton of time, but it’s going to give you step by step by step, and it’s going to lay it all out for you. You’re just going to have out, what’s the resource you need to preserve right now. For me, it’s time. There are other things I want to learn how to do. I want the short cut, so I’m willing to pay a little bit extra. There are other things that are like, “No, I think I’d actually really enjoy researching this on my own, so I’m going to spend the time.” I think there’s an enjoyment factor there, too, that says, “Would I enjoy going deeper?”

Christa – Especially right now. Right now, you want to do the things that fuel you. Fuel your passion and not get you further into the pit of discouragement, right? You want to do the things that are going to fuel you and make you happy, and that you have joy doing. That’s another piece of it, is understanding which of these areas are going to give you the most joy as you’re trying to still make progress even when it feels like you’re running through quicksand a bit.

Kathi – I love this. Okay, so Christa, if people want to find out a little more about you, and follow some of these philosophies, and follow you, where should they go?

Christa – They can find me at DoANewThing.com, at my website. There, I have a lot of resources for Christian creatives and leaders and business owners, just to help you make the most of your time. Being very biblically aware of the strategies that God has given us, and how we can use them today. I’m also on Instagram and Facebook at Do a New Thing. I would love to connect with your people and try to help them along in those areas.

Kathi – Yeah, if you’re trying to figure out how to manage your resources during this really tough time, I would encourage you to go look at Christa and see what she’s doing over there. Christa, thank you so much for being on Communicator Academy.

Christa – Thank you so much for having me. I’ve totally enjoyed spending time with you today.

Kathi – Friends, thank you for joining us. You’ve been listening to Communicator Academy. I’m Kathi Lipp. You’ve been given the best message in the world. Now, go live it.

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