The Winner Is…

On Friday, I held a small contest. I was looking for a test subject, writing…

I want to test a theory, and I need one company interested in helping me test it. I promise you nothing except that it might help you, and it might not.

We were humbled and excited to immediately receive giant gobs of replies and entries, but believe it or not, our decision was easy. That’s no reflection on the companies that weren’t selected. It’s simply a reflection of the profound impact one entry immediately had on us. Let’s see if it doesn’t have the same effect on you:

On May 16, 2014, at 7:23 AM, Sue Takamoto wrote:

You probably already have many many offers. We are called the Nozomi Project. Here is what makes us unique from the other offers you get, and why you should pick our company:

• We are in Japan – this may be a first for you! 
• We are operating in Ishinomaki, one of the areas worst-hit by the 2011 tsunami.
• We are seeking to be a team-run business. (There are two different teams I’m talking about- one that is overseeing general operations consisting of a team of missionaries and Japanese Christians; the other overseeing day-to-day operations is a team that is a combo of the above and our local Japanese staff.)
• We have eighteen local staff – all are women who are recovering from the terrors of the tsunami.
• Our business? We are making beauty out of brokenness – on many levels. We are taking the broken shards of ceramic pottery left in the wake of the tsunami and our staff are crafting them into beautiful, high quality jewelry. We are also seeking to provide a place for holistic community. Continuing to wrestle through challenges of bring a business and a community….

Your blog has helped us at key times in navigating uncharted waters. Thank you. We still have much to learn- I’m always looking for ways to grow us and develop.

Please check us out!

[Tweet “”We are making beauty out of brokenness – on many levels.””]

We reached out to Sue…

On May 16, 2014, at 10:53 AM, Tim Miles wrote:

It doesn’t matter who else enters, you win. We love your story, your mission and everything about this. We’ll be in touch soon and will do everything we can to help. Thank you so much for sharing. Do we have permission to share your story with our readers next week?

t

P.S. How in the heck did you hear about our little blog?

Susan replied… by this time, it was about 1 AM Saturday morning in Japan.

Your email just made my night! Woohoo.

Thank you for your enthusiasm. We are also really excited about what is happening at the Nozomi Project.  

You are welcome to share our story – whatever parts of it – thank you! 

I don’t know how I found you – perhaps someone’s Facebook referral ? About 9 months ago— subscribed then for the Daily Blur – and I started stalking all that you and your team have written for small businesses and seeking to apply it. I had my leadership team go through a number of your exercises, including writing our obituary and what became the most helpful I think – coming up with our three words. Our team did that and then we had our staff work on it together. The overall consensus for us is:

1. Community
2. Hope
3. Restoration

Tonight three of us were debriefing our hard day and we were reflecting on how living here is so unique from other places we have lived in Japan. Even pre-tsunami, this area was breaking records — for highest school drop-out rate, highest divorce, etc. We have just hired our first staff with a college education. Some of the women never completed high school. The challenges abound but so do the joys. 

We recently met with a business friend who asked what we want to become. This is what we are sitting and praying about right now. 

There’s much we are still trying to figure out. It will be great to do your experiment. Every new thing we can learn to help us grow in terms of business and community are awesome steps in the right direction.

Thanks Tim and Lynn- have a good Friday.

Sue

No, Sue. Thank you. It will be our pleasure and privilege to figure out ways to help you. Thank you for being awesome.