Three things I wish I knew before

Three things I wish I knew before starting my Women’s Ministry

Grace Gladys Famoriyo

Author, Speaker and Founder, Multiple Income Women

Recently, I received a phone call from a dynamic young lady (let’s call her Esther), who had seen me speak and wanted to invite me to her first women’s ministry event. By the end of what quickly evolved into a coaching/ mentoring session, Esther reminded me of where I was twenty-five years ago, when I launched my women’s ministry: enthusiastic, passionate… but naïve.

Like Esther, I felt a strong call to serve women. But looking back, I wish I had the much-needed support at the start, in the form of coaching/mentoring, as I have now. As a result, although there were many highs, there were also times of feeling clueless, frustrated and isolated. I even wanted to quit. Thankfully,

I held on but I have learnt many lessons along the way.

During my discussion with Esther, it became apparent she needed direction about her new ministry/event. Whilst we covered several topics, the subject of money came up repeatedly. So I will share some insights

I gave her. If you want to discover The Top

Five Things Every Ministry Leader Must

Know When Starting A Ministry, download my FREE eBook at gracethespeaker.com/ starting-ministry.

The Funding Challenge

Funding your new ministry is one of the major hurdles. In the early stages, finding monthly partners, sponsorships, etc. can prove challenging.

I would admit to dipping into savings and using my credit card to fund projects or events. However, this is not a sustainable solution. And so, in the case of Esther, I coached her into finding innovative yet sustainable income sources to fund her ‘passion project’, ie. ministry, that did not rely on her salary, savings, etc.

SOLUTION: Funding a ministry has similarities with generating income for your business. I believe God has given us gifts and abilities that I call our ‘Jar of Oil’ (2 Kings 4:1-7). So your goal is to find ways of generating additional income sources, pretty much like the servant who doubled his five talents (Matthew 25:14-30). For you, this might mean having profitable ‘side hustles’ alongside your 9-5 job. And if you are already in business, you want to ensure you are effectively monetising your gifts or expertise. After coaching Esther, she will be creating two new income sources, using her vast professional experience and unique mix of gifts.

The Honorarium Challenge

Like Esther, many ministries don’t have the budget to ‘bless’ their speakers. I can relate to this, although I strongly believe if someone is sharing their intellectual property, effort and time, they should be paid along with reasonable expenses. So what happens if you genuinely cannot afford this?

SOLUTION: I suggested Esther should explore various win-win approaches. One includes using digital marketing strategies to promote the speaker whilst promoting the event. This can be done before, during and after the event, to promote attendee engagement, ticket sales (if applicable) and the speaker’s resources. With a well-thought-out marketing plan and little or zero marketing budget (in some cases), such strategies can benefit the speaker in many ways (eg. sales of relevant books, resources, training/coaching programmes, etc.). From personal experience, this approach can be more beneficial to the speaker than the honorarium you may/may not be able to give.

The FREE Versus PAID Event Challenge

Very early in our chat, Esther asked the question: “Should I charge my attendees?” Having done both paid and free events, both have their pros and cons. If you are planning to generate income from ticket sales to pay for the event (suppliers, venue, yourself, etc.), the ‘free’ model will not work. However, if you are starting out, and want to build your brand/following, this may be the way to start while keeping a tight rein on your budget.

SOLUTION: If adopting the free model, you need to build in a mechanism to generate funds, like offerings, product sales, food stands, an exhibition area, media sponsorship, etc. Keep in mind that where there is no cost to attend, there may be a high number of no-shows, owing to no financial commitment or little value placed on what is offered. However, when there is a fee, you tend to get higher attendance and more engaged attendees, so you may want to charge a small fee or have stricter terms and conditions - especially if you have limited capacity and/or waiting lists.

In Closing…

Starting a ministry can be exciting and rewarding, but I would encourage you to get support (eg. mentoring/coaching) at every stage of the journey (Proverbs 11:14 and 15:22). If you want to discover the other winning strategies I shared with Esther, download my FREE eBook, The Top Five

Things Every Ministry Leader Must

Know When Starting A Ministry, at gracethespeaker.com/starting-ministry.

celebrity hair stylist, professional wig technician, hair coach and CEO of Afro Hair Growth Challenge

Have you ever wondered why, after regular treatments, shampoos and doing all the great things to your hair, it still isn’t reacting the way you want it to? It may just need a deep clean, which is a detox. Just like the rest of the body, when you detox it will reset your curls and restore the colour and strength.

The Science It doesn’t matter what type of hair you have; all your strands have three layers. Unlike straight hair, curly afro hair needs to be kept moist, to keep the bonds between each curl springy enough so that the hair does not become brittle and break. The hair can only take in so much product, but sometimes it gets overloaded with different products and environmental toxins. Some of those products stick onto the hair and not even shampoo can remove it. Over time, if this product is left on the hair, the curl will not be as soft and your scalp will have a build-up of ingredients left on, even after a shampoo.

How do you know you need a detox? You know when a detox is needed if your hair is not responding to a product, or if your curls are not bouncing back even after you have moisturised it. You may find your scalp begins to itch more than normal.

Moisturising shampoos deposit oils and add to the hair strand to keep it soft, so the detox will basically take all this away and somehow make your curls pop again.

Another thing that can happen is temporary hair loss and slight shedding. When the follicles, which are the pores in the scalp, are blocked it is basically blocking the hair from growing as freely as it wants to. This is what will lead to weaker strands.

One of the other reasons why it is particularly important to get rid of all the toxins from our hair and scalp is because when we exercise and then sweat, the toxins don’t disappear; they have to be taken away from the scalp. We wash our bodies every day, so bacteria and toxins do not build up on the skin as often as on our scalp. All the toxins from our body are expelled through the pores.

A detox will re-balance your hair and scalp; it will get rid of the build-up, which is suffocating your follicles. The more products you use, the more often you will need a detox, although it is better to do it once every six weeks or it can dry out your hair.

There are different ways to detox your hair and scalp, and they can start with gently detoxing, which you can do more often, or a very deep cleanse.

The different organic ingredients that you can use on your hair to gently remove all the necessary toxins are: • Clays • Aloe vera • Charcoal • Apple cider vinegar or clays

All these ingredients will detoxify all the toxins away from your hair and scalp, and will leave your hair in an exceptionally soft state. You will see your curls bouncing again.

Aloe vera is the mildest detox, but it does the job of clearing the toxins.

Charcoal is remarkably effective; it can be mixed with water or aloe vera for best results.

Apple cider vinegar has many uses, but it will also pull the toxins from the scalp area. It is also great if it is used for a final rinse, if diluted with water.

If it is the first time, then you will have to leave whatever detox method in for at least 30 minutes. You may also need to gently massage the treatment in - especially if you have a dry scalp, or if you have a gentle form of psoriasis.

Keep away from non-natural cleansers, because the whole point of detoxing is to take the impurities away from your hair and scalp.

You will find a great scalp detox clay on www.afrohairgrowthchallenge. It comes with pumpkin and horsetail powder, which can be used in your conditioner or in your clay mix to strengthen your hair at the same time.

After doing all of this it is especially important that you rebalance the hair’s pH by applying a deep conditioner. If you can avoid putting conditioner on the scalp, then this will be great, as the conditioner will leave an invisible film on your scalp and all that effort you put into cleaning your hair will be pointless.

THE POWER OF HAIR & SCALP DETOX

Full details of the different detox mixtures can be found in the easy-to-read book or Kindle version of 20 DIY Recipes for Curly Afro Hair on Amazon, or visit www.afrohairgrowthchallenge.com and register for the newsletter to get bonus tips.