We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Racael Monroe a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Racael, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
Born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana (a small city), I knew I wanted more than the normal! 13 years ago I literally heard God say go!! I didn’t know anyone in Houston and all of my family were very close and located in Shreveport. Raised with my grandfather the pastor of our home church and I was the musician, moving stung a bit, but I heard God’s voice clearly! Obedience is always better than SACRIFICE! Getting settled into Houston I begin to wear many hats and had to come out of my shell! I was now having to rely on my own Faith and prayers which made my relationship with God more intimate!! I renewed my vows with my husband and had a horrible experience with our wedding planner and photographer, which caused me to want to get involved with doing weddings! I started off making floral arrangements then renting linen to catering, then a freelance photographer! I absolutely loved it all and just the experience of serving others makes me genuinely happy!! I get so warm and tingly inside when I know a person is getting served well and we are going above and beyond with our customer service to make sure everything is perfect for each client.
After being told I couldn’t have kids I found out I was pregnant in 2013 with my second child! And the pregnancy slowed me down with events so I became a teacher! After teaching a few years I wasn’t truly happy doing what I love anymore! When Covid hit, I had just started working as a catering coordinator and absolutely LOVED my job! It was back on track to serving and doing events! Covid laid me off and I literally played around with my cricut machine and began making matching mask and shirts! My parents were both struck with Covid severely so immediately we headed to Louisiana to live for some months temporarily to take care of them! There was no income coming in but I heard God say sow a seed! My seed wasn’t financially because I didn’t have the finances but a friend had blessed me with shirts and materials to learn and practice making shirts and mask! I sown a seed of a t-shirt to one beautiful teacher in Louisiana, she wore that shirt and the entire school wanted it as well as the softball team, the JR ROTC, the staff and more! That one school was my family’s source of income for two years! All from obedience and sowing! It allowed me to take care of my home and my parents as well! God is so faithful! April 2021 I heard God’s voice so clear said start a ministry! I heard that before in 2014, however I never acted on it because I wasn’t yet delivered from PEOPLE! The what will people think, and the FEAR. I had to spiritually mature more and grow tougher skin.
So this time when God spoke again I immediately obeyed! God gave us the name Sacrifice Now Ministries, which the NOW was an acronym for Night Of Worship, so we thought! However. God had more plans! We started worshiping once a month, just pure prophetic worship! Out of that came deliverance and the need to teach spiritual warfare, weekly warfare classes, Bible study, and more. I remember having a meeting with the team telling them how it would be amazing if we had our own private space and we could open it to the community to do whatever! From Events, to baby showers, weddings, quinces, worship services, pop ups, video shoots, fashion shows you name it ! And I literally spoke, how cool it would be if it was on the one year anniversary! Well GOD did just THAT!!!
In April of 2022 God began to speak clear directions! He told me to write my vision and make it plain! I stayed up til 4am for week’s writing everything I desired in a event space! He told me to write it as if I had the money! In April 2 weeks after being laid off, as crazy as it seems I was excited because I was completely trusting God and listening to his voice, we were driving by a space that was a gym (the old spring fitness FM 2920) and we were calling asking about the old gym equipment for our friends and the conversation changed to asking lease information. It happened all so fast, weeks from that moment I was signing a lease to Sacrifice Event Space! And on May 27, we had our worship night in our new space without the team knowing it was ours! We were able to surprise them with Sacrifice Event Space!
I always loved doing events and weddings and now to have a very unique space to offer that to our community was a complete dream! I never complained when I got laid off, in fact Some will tell you I rejoiced because I trusted the God we serve to do exceedingly and in a major way of abundance!
Sacrifice Event Space offers over 3200 of square feet of space with high ceilings for your bouncy houses, tables and chairs included, WiFi, office/private suite, food prep area, (microwave, fridge, and sink) Bluetooth speaker, 65 inch tv, 2 restrooms , plenty parking, amazing customer service, CLEAN RESTROOMS, amazing atmosphere and ridiculously low prices!!!!
Racael, 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?
Sacrifice Event Space offers over 3200 of square feet of space with high ceilings for your bouncy houses, tables and chairs included, WiFi, office/private suite, food prep area, (microwave, fridge, and sink) Bluetooth speaker, 65 inch tv, 2 restrooms , plenty parking, amazing customer service, CLEAN RESTROOMS, amazing atmosphere and ridiculously low prices!!!!
We are a ministry that God blessed to have a business to serve our community and we pour it all back to God through our worship! Just this year January 2023 I accepted a full calling into Pastoring and we worship every Sunday morning at 10am before our public and private events!
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
It HAS DEFINITELY NOT been easy at all! I have no rich parents, no rich uncle, none of which that could have helped with the funding! I literally had to do things on my own!!!! When I got laid off in April 2022, God told me to write the vision and make it plain! He encouraged me to write a business plan for our event space as if we had the money along with the space and I had two Buffalo nickels to rub together!!! But again I obeyed! I stayed up for weeks til 4am writing a business plan and very detailed writing how I wanted high ceilings and surround sound and etc. I HAD FAITH!I applied for several startup funding and kept being denied because a startup grant/loan wants you in business, and filing taxes for two years plus. That to me is NOT a startup. I applied for tons of grants and loans and everything and kept being denied! Then I started studying YouTube and learning different information on building my credit and in those couple of months I personally had raised my own credit score and applied for business credit. It wasn’t much at all, but along with my savings and the small business credit,this started the ball moving.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I honestly believe the power of God first, my testimony (word of mouth) is what truly built and helped market the business and my reputation! I actually did a few free events to build an audience and get the ball rolling!!!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sacrificenowministries.com/#/
- Instagram: Sacrificeeventspace
- Facebook: Sacrifice event space
- Youtube: Sacrifice Event Space
- Yelp: Sacrifice Event Space
Image Credits
Everett Ryan Photography