ASI 2018: Business Unusual

Young Professionals

Sean Wycliffe

Learn and Share

Joel Moutray

Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

01 - How to Bridge Business with Ministry

Ever wondered what God can do with a humble green smoothie?

Hi, I'm Joel Moutry, and you're listening to the Learn and Share podcast.

In today's episode, I sit down with Sean Wycliffe to discuss exactly that.

And we're excited to have you on because we're gonna talk about Christian entrepreneurship, specifically Seventh-day Adventist entrepreneurship, because God has called people to full-time ministry, pastors and teachers and missionaries, doctors, et cetera.

People has also called people to work for other companies, you know working for a bank or working at a hospital as a nurse, etc But God has also called people to start businesses to be a witness in the marketplace and that's what God has called you to do and it's very inspiring and so tell us about the fruit tree and how God led you there and what God is doing from a business perspective.

So there's a couple things that have happened in the past with the fruit tree.

It really started with my dad having a heart attack about 18 years ago.

He's a doctor in Loma Linda and after that he started reading books about health And he ended up becoming a raw vegan mostly and started making these green smoothies, and they're extremely healthy They still are extremely healthy, but they taste really bad And so my dad would would eat these and he would try to get me to eat them, and I would have a hard time doing it.

So a few years later, my wife actually took that concept and tried to make it taste good so that I would actually get my greens, because I came from a background of never eating greens.

And so she came up with a great recipe, and so I started drinking that, and we started sharing with friends and at our church and things like that and that was all it was.

Well about a year and a half ago or so 1 of my really good friends, Dilan, he had come back to the Berkeley area to to do some campus ministry with us and things like that.

But we were also praying and looking at different businesses and ministries that we could start that could help him be supported financially and maybe something beyond that.

So we looked at a lot of different things.

We looked at Maybe setting up a concert tour set up and different things and so 1 day we we were talking and he said hey What if we start selling green smoothies around our church?

And so I thought about it for a little bit initially didn't make much sense He said let's do a door-to-door, you know, Let's see how that goes and so I was thinking I don't know and I started thinking about it more and and God put it In my mind, you know that could actually be a good idea What if we actually did that and and got subscribers?

We could kind of be like a modern-day milkman but with green smoothies instead of milk And so all these things started to turn in my mind.

And so I went back in the room and talked to DeLon and said, hey, I think that's a good idea, let's start.

And so he kind of looks at me dumbfounded now, like what, that's a good idea?

And so in any case, we started talking about it and going through the motions.

And a week later, we had blended some green smoothies, we had them in some coolers, and we started going door to door next to our church in Alameda, California.

I mean, you're like, hey, I'm here, do you wanna buy some green juices?

Yeah, we tried that, and we had a couple different canvases that we were trying and attempting.

I think 1 of them was something like, hey we're the neighborhood juicery and we want to help you get greens to your door and that's why we're here.

There's just a couple different things that we tried.

Some of them were off the top of our head literally as we went to the door, whatever came to our mind.

And that went on for the day, and I think nobody bought, a few people sampled, and we just decided we're gonna keep doing it.

So over the course of a few days, some people started buying it, and then over the course of a few days, people started subscribing.

And I'll never forget, there was 1 story that happened.

DeLon was knocking on doors and basically what happened was it was at 8 o'clock at night or something it was really late all right and it was dark and he's knocking on the door And this lady comes to the door and kind of cracks it open, as he told me it, and he gives her a sample.

And without even doing anything other than tasting the sample, the lady said, sign me up, sign me up for a subscription.

And so we just run her credit card right there for 150 bucks or whatever it was, and you know, that was when it really dawned in my mind that, okay, we really have something that could be really big here that God has given us.

And so we continue to grow the home delivery subscription business from there.

Before we go into the successes that the Lord has brought you to.

Let's talk a little bit about actually what it is.

Do they come in, you know, how do you guys produce it?

So we sell organic green smoothies, non-GMO.

Everything's local, everything's seasonal.

And so that's the trick is to make it taste great and also be extremely healthy.

We actually have a kitchen now, commercial kitchen in Alameda where we blend the smoothies every night before we go out and sell them the next day.

And it's just all organic, blended, really good.

We put them in glass jars and we seal them and we basically sell them to people.

And so when people bring us the jar back, We'll actually give them a refund for the jar.

We do a jar deposit and so that way we can eliminate using plastic bottles And so we compost everything that we don't use although we do smoothies So we use most everything and so yeah So we're trying to make the healthiest thing also tastes great and also be great for the environment.

When you say blend, do you use a blender or do you use a juicer?

So we actually use a commercial Vitamix blender.

Now let's talk about what God has done for the success of the business.

So, so we started in August, 2017, and it's been almost a year and a half now.

It started as door to door as we were talking about.

Now we're in 26 farmers markets every week.

We also started selling them in PUC as well at the Grind convenience store that they have up there.

And then we're also in a local grocery store now in California.

And we're just expanding more farmers markets, more retail outlets, and we also still do home deliveries.

And so God has really blessed this quite a bit.

We're selling maybe about a thousand or so bottles per week at this point.

And so this has went from a little let's try this and see if this will help, you know, with the little local church ministry too.

There's about 6 of us doing it full-time now, about 4 part-time people.

We're recruiting to try to get another 4 or 5 missionaries to come with us, either full-time, part-time, long-term, seasonal, just to help expand more farmers markets and more retail outlets.

So since we're already talking about that, you are looking for people to come work.

Where can they find out information about that?

Yes, so if you go to thefruittree.co, you'll see our website, and we don't have too much information in there about the job opportunities, So if you email us at help at the fruit tree dot co, or you can call or text us at 5108336085.

We're at the underscore fruit underscore tree.

Anyway, just contact us and we can let you know about our current opportunities.

Developing a Level 7 Evangelistic Business

My name is Sean Wycliffe and I am excited to be here today.

And I wanted to tell you a little bit about my story before I talk about the fruit tree, which is mostly what I'm going to be sharing today.

And so, this is what we're going to go through.

And from there, we're going to talk about something called the level 7 business.

And we're going to talk about some of the evangelism that we're doing.

But first, I know I know some of you, but I don't think I know most of you.

And so I want to tell you a little bit about myself.

I actually went to school at UC Berkeley a few years ago.

And when I was a student there, I started this business, Mike was talking about it, selling long distance phone service.

And so most of you don't even know what that is, and I understand that.

And I barely knew what that was at that time.

And so it started going really well, and I got really involved and really into it.

And so when I was 19, I ended up buying a Porsche and dropping out of school and moving down to Southern California.

And so as Mike mentioned, we were growing this business.

Now at this time, I was actually an evangelical Christian.

We could kind of do whatever we felt like of course and so I'm just working just doing whatever and Just getting really into money making money by the time.

We ended up buying this mill into our house I end up getting this Ferrari as well and all I cared about was money.

That was my goal I was basically just dedicated to that and just money.

And so God actually had a different plan for me though.

So around this time too, my dad, he actually was a physician at the Loma Linda University.

And so he went to this thing called restoration.

I don't know if anyone's ever been to that before.

So he went in 2003, Randy Skeet, some of you maybe have heard him, he was preaching.

So my dad gave his life back to the Lord and then after that he started praying for me.

Now the business I had shortly thereafter, there's a long story here, the business actually went bankrupt, and I had to pretty much move in with my dad.

I don't know if anyone's ever had to move in with their parents before.

OK, maybe, you're all young professionals, right?

But The reality is I had to do that and I was broke.

And so through that experience, my dad was praying for me, working on me, and then I eventually went to a GYC, and that's where I was really convicted on my life.

And I became an Adventist, rededicated my life to God, and from there, that's when I met Michael Tuazon.

And for the next 2 years, we started just doing a lot of ministry.

He was discipling me studying the Bible the whole 9 yards and This was down at the Fontana Seventh-day Adventist Church.

I don't know if anyone's ever been to the Fontana Okay, if you I hear a few yes, okay good.

So anyways, we were down there for about 2 years.

Now after that, I wasn't really sure what God had for me.

And so my parents said, why don't you go back to school?

You should have never dropped out in the first place.

So I actually ended up going back to school at UC Berkeley.

And this is when my life changed in another direction.

At this time, I actually was continuing running a different business now, selling cell phones.

So it was a similar network marketing business, but now we're selling cell phones.

Oh, she's over there in the back next to the water.

So I met her, and she was working with us.

And I didn't think too much of it, because she was Buddhist at the time.

But in any case, we became friends and then I said, Oh, hey, who knows what, you know, 1 backslide, why not, you know, data Buddhist and have fun, let's see what happens.

And we moved in together about a week after we started dating.

And so, you know, I was really excited about it at that point.

And so, you know, I'll leave that as it is and I'll move forward to the next slide.

But the reality is, is through this experience now, she was starting to wonder, okay, where is this guy going on Friday nights?

And so I said, well I go to this Bible study thing, I don't know, it's whatever, why don't you come with me if you want?

So she starts having questions, what do you believe?

And so I started doing Bible studies with her every night, you know, when we're together, I guess.

And so the reality is this through that she actually ended up becoming a Christian, then she became an Adventist, and then she started, she kind of passed me up spiritually very quickly.

She started doing ministry, she started realizing, well, hey, there's this commandment that says, you know, you shouldn't live together.

And so, the reality is, from there, we started to get convicted, so we tried to move out, move back in, move out.

Well, that kept going on, and eventually it led to the point where I went to a GYC, and she went to a GYC, and eventually we were able to separate.

Now, during this period, I'm also trying to figure out other businesses that I can start, what I can do.

My parents were so happy I finally did something with my life.

And so after that, they're hoping I'm gonna get a job, I don't, and instead I watch this movie, and I think, wow, there's all these empty movie theater seats, why not sell discounted movie tickets?

And so I started this thing called deal flicks, which is kind of like a price line, but for movie tickets we sell discount movie tickets and That's how that is and I'll leave it at that But this was started back in 2012 and so it started as this thing that I was doing part-time And then we had some co-founders join and then it started to really grow.

We ended up getting on NBC, and the New York Times, and CNBC, and all sorts of things.

And over the next few years, we ended up raising 4.2 million dollars from investors, and we got up to 400, 000 a month in revenue.

And so I'm thinking, this is a great thing, you know, here we go.

And the nice thing with this is I was actually able to keep the Sabbath as well.

And so I was keeping the Sabbath and all my team was keeping the Sabbath and all these things and I'm thinking this is really good.

You know, again, as I mentioned at this time too, we had gone to the GYC, and my wife said, hey, we should separate before we get married.

And so, by God's grace, we were able to separate, and then 6 months later, we got married, amen.

And from there, we actually started to do a lot of ministry at our campus at UC Berkeley.

And so for the next couple of years, we did ministry.

And from there, we started to do how to get A's seminars on campus.

And this is how we eventually got into ASI, how we started getting involved through this campus ministry called Christ's Method Alone.

And so a few years ago, my wife actually, through another testimony, was able to get a thousand-square-foot office right next to the UC Berkeley campus, where they have all the riots and the free speech and everything.

We started doing Bible studies there, And God really blessed this ministry.

Jason Churchwell

Jesus’ first miracle was making juice!

As Kyle said, I work for ADRA now, the Advanced Development and Relief Agency, and I help them with their marketing and development.

And then I'm also on a small team that investigates social enterprise opportunities, business opportunities around the world, places where We can start businesses that generate more private funding.

So we don't have to be so reliant on government funding, cuz we don't know when those streams of income will dry up.

But we wanna continue serving people, the most vulnerable people around the world.

And so if that's your interest and your passion too, come talk to me afterward and we can sit down and discuss those ideas, but that's really what we're interested in at Adra, getting into that space.

But today I've been asked to talk about a venture that I worked on before this in Atlanta, Georgia, which is where I'm from, called Press Together.

And we were brainstorming ideas to reach the city.

There was a big push from the General Conference a few years ago to reach the cities, and it's still going on.

Often in our evangelistic efforts, we go after poor people.

They have an obvious need and we can meet that need.

We thought, well, how can we get into the lives of wealthy and influential people who aren't in our sphere of influence?

I didn't really want to start a restaurant.

That's really expensive, but I can make some killer juice And so we developed some juice flavors in my house and we said hey, we're gonna do a juice bar But before we get into that You guys are all here to talk about business and religion and is that Venice at the end of time?

Are we all going to be unemployed shortly?

You know, should we even be talking about this?

There's a super interesting quote I want to read to you guys in last day events.

And do you remember that parable Jesus tells in Matthew 24, Luke 17?

2 will be sowing in the field, 1 shall be taken to the other left.

2 women will be grinding at the mill, 1 shall be taken to the other left.

And oftentimes we talk, and the disciples are like, where Lord?

And we're like, Is it where are they taken or is it where are they left?

Well, there's a super interesting quote in Last Day Events.

This is what it says, Christ declared that when He comes, some of His waiting people will be engaged in business transactions.

Some people are going to be doing business who are looking for Jesus coming when he comes.

It says some will be sowing in the field, others reaping and gathering in the harvest, and others grinding at the mill.

So I'd encourage you, now is a great time to start a business Some of God's people will be doing business at that time So we decided we're gonna open a juice bar in Atlanta.

So we looked everywhere And it's like thousand square feet in Atlanta 5000 bucks a month and they want you to sign a 3 to 5 month lease.

Kind of expensive to start out of the gate, and we're trying to operate on this lean startup model, right?

Friends and family financing, the best kind.

And so we find this little store, it was a coffee shop, in a high-rise that's just off the strip, Peachtree, if any of you are from Atlanta, Peachtree Street is kind of like the main street, and Buckhead, and Buckhead is like the premier part of Atlanta.

And so we find this high rise that's kind of just off the strip, But there's tenants there like Salesforce, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fannie Mae, Wells Fargo.

But the building is only like half full, there's no street parking, it's terrible.

I had to be convinced to go into this spot.

They said, hey, we'll let you come in here for $350 a month, And we'll only make you sign a 6 month lease and you can just go month to month afterward.

So I'm like, we can at least figure out the business model, refine it, start doing some deliveries and things like that.

So I developed 5 flavors of juice just 5.

That's all we had in my kitchen And we we have this grand open we had kind of a soft opening where we started selling it and learning the system of making Juice we have this grand opening and my friend Jared Thurman.

He had a panel yesterday He and I opened this juice bar, So we're there making juice all night.

I think even Jared's mom was there, his wife was there.

And it's kind of slow and we start getting a little bored.

And he and I are back there and we're like, well, we wanna start expanding our line, so maybe we should try some almond milks.

A press is like 2 and a half tons of pressure.

And so we fill this press bag with this almond mush, and we filled the bag wrong.

We filled it from the bottom, and you're supposed to fill it from the middle and fold the ends in and Literally like I'm in my soup bag.

They were trying to make this almond milk So we put it in the press and it starts pressing and because we filled the bag wrong.

It starts shooting out the front Now when I say shooting I'm standing in front of the machine and Brian's right here, it starts spraying us in the face.

Jared's behind me, ringing up a customer right here.

The almond milk hits him in the back of the head and he turns around to see What's going on and it sprays into his eyes and so Jared's like down out of commission like going to the sink to wipe his eyes Well, there's a lady buying juice at the register I'm like 6263.

This was this was a large African-American lady taller than me, standing at the register, and almond milk is just showering down on her.

And she stands there, and she just freezes, and she starts screaming.

So everyone starts grabbing towels and running everywhere, trying to wipe it all up.

And I run around the counter, and I'm giving her towels to wipe herself up, and she's wiping her face, and she stops, and she looks at me, and she says, Do I look like you?

She puts the towels down and goes straight up to the women's restroom.

And this is how it got started, our grand opening at Press Together.

Now I wish I could tell you that was the last bad thing that happened.

Our best-selling juice was this juice it was called gringo.

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Presenter

Sean Wycliffe

3 Teachings

Recent

01 - How to Bridge Business with Ministry

29m

Developing a Level 7 Evangelistic Business

16m

Jesus’ first miracle was making juice!

14m

Most Listened

01 - How to Bridge Business with Ministry

29m

Developing a Level 7 Evangelistic Business

16m

Jesus’ first miracle was making juice!

14m

Series

Series

Learn and Share

8 more

15 parts

Series

Young Professionals

8 more

10 parts

Also Appears In

Conference

Aug 1 – 4, 2018

ASI 2018: Business Unusual

6 series

Sound Doctrine