Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to James West. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
James, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
I guess I started chasing balance in my everyday. Working a 9-5 is stressful (although I still work one) I have 5 kids and a grandson, so flexibility is at a premium to me. Scheduling wasn’t the only thing I was looking for though, I saw a need for and rather than saying someone needed to do something I decided I would be the one to do it. I sat down with my wife and we birthed Reach Ministries And Mended Publishing and Production. We decided to make life easier for the people around us and be the vehicle for people who often go unnoticed to contribute their experience and creativity to the world. Being that we own a not-for-profit and a for-profit organization we quickly learned the nature of both industries. We were kind of drinking from a firehose at first but we found our footing in the slow roller approach and are making chess moves every day.
James, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
So, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how far I’ve come on a personal level. I experienced some real challenges in my life and for me to have come to this point is nothing short of an organized or maybe even better planned miracle. Every portion of my business and ministry are things I went through. At Reach Ministries we offer services for the unhoused because I’ve lived through it, we offer domestic violence survivors a scholarship because my mom was murdered as a result of domestic violence, and our mentorship program for young men is a direct result of the fact that I had little access to that type of guidance after my Father died of cancer. I firmly believe that I went through it to prevent someone else from having to take the same path and I hope that comes through in the work that I do.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn doing it alone. After experiencing some success I immediately felt burned out because of my lack of trust in my team. I took on everything, but thankfully an answer to my prayer motivation was “a bullet is nothing without a gun” which may sound confusing to some but gave me the perspective that I can be the bullet and count on my team to get me to the target.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
I think the most important book to my success would be Atomic Habits. Not because of anything practical business but it taught me self mastery and that’s where business success starts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://reachlove.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pastorjameswest/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PastorJawest
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-west-3685605a/
Image Credits
photo credit Gabrielle West