(an email to my wife while she and the kids are spending a month of summer vacation with her parents in Texas)

One of the books I want to use my “reading coupons” for is “Thou Shall Prosper”. It’s by a Jewish Rabbi who discusses why, based on their world view, the Jewish people have historically done well financially.

A main idea in the book is that money made is a natural result of service to others given, in the idea of “I’ll give you my money if you do something for me that makes me better off.” Consequently, someone who isn’t making much money typically isn’t serving others well, in the sense of “value added”.

A metaphor the author uses is, “A dollar in your pocket is a certificate of appreciation that someone has given you for what you have done for them.”

Of course, there are major exceptions, such as missionaries in other parts of the world who are serving God through trying to serve the people there, and there are non-profits here that try to serve poor local populations, and kids’ allowances are given for other reasons, and governmental assistance, but 90% of the time in a free market economy, people make their money through serving others, either directly (e.g. Quintify and other small businesses) or indirectly (e..g. serving your boss while working for a large company that in turn serves a whole lot of people).

So in a sense, saying “I don’t want to make a lot of money” can mean “I don’t want to work harder or smarter and in so doing serve a lot more people.”

For me, for Quintify, this is a very direct thing. Quintify now is serving x people, and it is bringing in y revenue. But if we can get our systems into the hands of 1000x people, who are happily using it and are being blessed by it in a tangible way, Quintify will make 1000y revenue.  There’s no “corporate greed” in that at all — we have a great product, or rather have the potential to soon have a really great product, and we can offer that product at an extremely reasonable price and still make a good profit. If we can do that, money will flow, money which can then be put into use in generous ways or in creating ways to serve even more people.

And Quintify’s product is unique in that it allows its customers to much better serve their own customers, so there’s a multiplying effect.

There are hundreds of thousands of small businesses in this country which are struggling mightily, frustrated men and women who are trying to provide for their families, who are good at some skill or trade, but due to lack of experience and perspective don’t have a good business sense, and their lack of business sense and a business software system is greatly hampering their business, i.e., their ability to serve more people well. A Quintify database can do wonders in such situations, particularly as we develop our library of “how” and “why” to go along with the software and align ourselves with business coaches.

Of course, service to others in the fullest extent needs to have a spiritual component as well, and I need more spiritual ministry as well as increasing Quintify’s “material ministry”.

One small point in all of this: I’m not asking for your help directly with Quintify, but whenever you do work on stuff with me, such as testing Quintify::Business Coach, you are helping me with one of my major ministries, helping me to serve others better, and indirectly helping others serve their clients better.

Another small point in all of this: I have no desire for our kids to “do well in school and get a good job and make a lot of money.” I do though have a strong interest in them being able to serve a lot of people both spiritually and materially, and in them being able to provide for their families well (better than I’ve done for my own so far), and in them having options, e.g. the ability to live wherever they think God wants them to live and to do whatever God wants them to do. Again, it is God who provides as He guides, but He’s put us in a world where by default our financial means is directly correlated to our service to others.

So one of my pressing questions is, how can Quintify serve many more people? How can we get what is now significantly helping a relative few into the hands of the masses?