Ownership: Angelic Versus Adamic Model

Kyle Toffey
November 4, 2009

Early on in my church life I came up with the theory about businesses or activities within our movement. I noticed that there are basically two types of businesses: Adamic Businesses and Angelic Businesses.

So let me explain what an Angelic Business is. Angels were created and not born, therefore did not need a growth period. Also they are connected with instant results and miracles. Adam on the other hand started as a seed that was fertilized and then had to go through a growth period just like we all do. The way we create things is to start with an idea, invest, develop and nurture that idea, and work at it as the creation takes shape. So in my way of thinking an Angelic Business is an idea that gets instantly created by going to Father and asking for 1.2 million dollars.

An Adamic Business starts as a seed that is nurtured, fed and watered through the blood, sweat and tears of the owner(s) of the idea. It has been my observation that the Adamic Businesses/Activities fair much better. I’d like to give an example of an Adamic activity -- Shehaqua Family Camp. Years ago a few families got together centered on the idea that Family Camp was very important. Actually the church hierarchy did not share our vision for this so we decided we had to do this on our own. So we started by gathering a few families together in tents at a small campground. It was not ideal but boy did we have fun.

As interest grew we sought out better facilities. Eventually we secured an entire state owned campground with 60+ buildings (45 sleeping cabins and various other building including lecture, dining, arts and crafts halls). The cost? $95 a day for the entire facility! The camp was based on volunteerism. Everyone had to pitch in and many hands made light work. The camp grew until about 600+ people were attending each year. How much money did we accept from the church? $0.00. What was the cost for the families? Very little. The end result was a valuable program that was instrumental in the rebirth and inspiration of many families.

Other fine examples of Adamic businesses include, but are not limited to, Original World Products (OWP) and the carpet cleaning companies. The carpet cleaning business in California started with no money and just a mop and bucket. OWP started with a few members learning how to make candles for fundraising product. Both started with much sweat and little funding.

There are many examples of Angelic businesses within our movement. Unfortunately they tend not to pan out as originally planned. Usually they need more money than originally thought. Usually it takes longer that originally thought. Often they tend to not work out and go out of business. These can become successful, however it seems that these ventures have a poor track record.

I recommend a book I read many years ago: Honest Business: A Superior Strategy for Starting and Managing Your Own Business (Paperback) By Salli Rasberry and Michael Phillips ( ISBN-10: 0931425182 ) This book is based on the idea that businesses fail not because they are under capitalized, which is the standard understand, but because they are over capitalized. When projects are under capitalized people tend to use their other resources such as imagination to make things happen. It is a superior strategy.

So instead of expecting others to sponsor the accomplishment of our ideas, we always have a choice of taking ownership to fulfill our dreams and let the strategizing begin!