Small Town Kid

I was at a conference on Monday put on by Harvard Business school, and the Tech Coast Angels (an investment company that as invested like 100 million dollars in new business startups). Some of the content was really interesting and I got to watch a business pitch competition where potential businesses pitch their plans to the investors in an effort to get money.
At times during this conference I really felt out of my element, not so much that I didn't belong, but moreso that I didn't want to be involved with the people there and the type of business they were all in. Ultimately these people are looking to start or fund businesses that are going to operate on a national level and generally the criteria is that within 5 years the business will be reporting like 25 million dollars in revenue. Basically I felt like I really couldn't envision myself pitching my business ideas to these people and operating a business on that scale.
I started thinking about why and I basically concluded that I am a small town person. I grew up in Boulder Creek California and lived there for 18 years. Boulder Creek has maybe 5,000 people living there but you'd never see half of them because their houses are hidden off in the forest. There is one main road that runs through town and there is not a single stoplight there (we had one once but everyone complained so they took it down). There's one elementary school, no high school, the only fast food place is an old old Foster's Freeze. The grocery store is a little place called Johnny's Super. All this to say that I am from a tiny town that is surrounded by other tiny town's, outside the tiny city of Santa Cruz. When I moved to Riverside I felt like I was moving to a huge city, but when I tell people that they all seem to think I'm a little bit crazy, (LA and San Diego are big cities, Riverside is apparently a small city by comparison).
All this to say it is really quite reasonable that I would be used to a small town feel which doesn't breed thoughts of doing business all over the country and even around the world.
This would explain my firm set beliefs in customer service and personalized service in business. I come from a place where you know people that live in your town and where small service oriented businesses are all there is. While being rooted in this may effect my ability to be wealthy I would rather be in a business I enjoy and am proud of than in one that gets me 5 million dollars in private funding from the Tech Coast Angels.

I'm not sure if all this makes sense, I was kind of rambling but hopefully a point about me was conveyed.

I forgot the Jesus Part

Ok so here's the part about Jesus and customer service. Jesus's life was based on doing something out of love for people. He had no other motive than a love for us to come to earth and die on the cross. Similarly the way he treated people was rooted in a love for them. Even in dealing with people he probably got frustrated with like the pharisees (angry customers) he didn't lash out and kill them all, he was firm and truthful with them and sometimes he had to tell it how it was, but he loved them all the time. So I like to think that if Jesus were running a business he would treat all of his customers with love regardless of how much money they were spending or if they were spending any money at all. He said that the second greatest command is to love our neighbor as our self. If that were the basis for customer service things would be significantly different. Doing business with people would be a chance to not only supply them with products and services they need or want, but it would also be an opportunity to show them that you care about them how Jesus wants you to. Unfortunately this is basically a Christian principle so it is hard to expect it of a non-christian business world. But I am still convinced that serving customers out of love is the absolute best way to run a business.

Hope everyone's doing well, I'll probably have another post up by the end of the week, I've had something on my mind that I'd like to share with everyone.