If You Want to Walk On Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat

Note: The title of this post was taken directly from John Ortberg’s book.

I live a comparably safe life. I crave comfort and consistency in the flesh, yet my spirit yearns to be stretched and made stronger and more resilient.

My job is not much different. As an internet marketing consultant, I’ve stuck to what I know and what I’m comfortable with, which is managing paid search campaigns and website conversion. I’ve been successful at this, but part of me has been looking for ways to stretch beyond my comfort zone. I’ve made various attempts, but always retreated back to my safe place when I lost sight of the shore.

Then, a year ago a series of events happened which started me on a journey, professionally and spiritually, which I would like to share with you. I stepped out of the boat.

JUNE 2009

A marketing friend of mine who I had helped with a few projects called me. I hadn’t heard from her in a year or two. She asked if I would assess one of her client’s internet marketing strategy.

The client was a medical practice right down the street from my house. I had worked with doctors before, and wasn’t very enthusiastic – their market was small, they typically had small or no advertising budgets, and medical is very competitive online. However this friend had always been very sweet and supportive of me, and I wanted to help her however I could.

JULY 2009

When I met with the marketing director for lunch, I was surprised by what I discovered. Turns out this local medical office offers a unique treatment for prostate cancer which has a very well documented success rate of curing men of the disease. It is so good in fact that people from every state in the U.S. and over 40 countries have come to Atlanta for treatment over the last two decades.

What really surprised me though, was the amount of money that this client had been spending advertising online, nationally. It was multiples greater than any client I had worked with previously.

Suddenly I was scared. I wasn’t expecting this. I confided in my friend that I thought the size of the account was over my head and skill level. Sure I knew the basic things that needed to be done, but executing them at that level and size, that was another story.

I started making excuses and coming up with reasons in my head to justify not writing the proposal. But I knew deep down that this was an opportunity for growth that God had put directly in front of me. I knew that even if I failed miserably it would be better than the consequences of not taking a small step of faith.

I presented a very simple proposal to senior management which they quickly accepted. This was actually much simpler than I had dreaded it would be. The basic principles of paid search management and website conversion are in play whether you have a very small budget or a very large one; however, the large budget made my risk of failure much greater. My lack of confidence was rocking the boat.

AUGUST 2009

I was very happy and grateful to my friend who brought me into this story. As a small thank you I arranged for us to adopt a girl from Uganda named Ritah through Compassion International. This allowed me to recognize God’s hand in getting me through this point with the client, and provided an excuse for my friend and I to join together in fellowship as we got to know Ritah better.

MAY 2010

For six months I continued to serve the client in this capacity, working diligently to bring their cost per inquiry was way down, and the number of total inquiries way up. By most measures, they were very happy and I was as well.

Then something started stirring inside of me. I was getting diminishing returns on the time and effort I was spending. To continue the growth, we needed to branch out and do more things.  I started battling myself in my mind. Beating myself up because I wasn’t willing to believe that doing something new would have nearly the impact that my initial work had delivered.

It was about this time that a simple idea entered into my mind (actually I believe it was put on my heart but I can’t really articulate or understand the subtle difference in words).

Get actual patient survivors to put on boxing gloves and videotape them saying “I Beat Prostate Cancer”

I really felt that I was supposed to not only present this idea to management, but make it happen as well. The problem though, was that I had no professional experience in video.

Many times in my life I’ve had feelings like this one that I felt were such good ideas, only to do little or nothing with them. But this time was different, for I only had to look from where I started with this client to know that it would be foolish to second guess.

I boldly presented the idea to the CEO, like I was pitching a movie script to a Hollywood producer. Unfortunately, his response was not very encouraging.

I didn’t take no for an answer though. I said, “We’ve got a patient alumni reunion coming up right? Let me get a couple of guys together and we’ll go down there and just get some test footage. I won’t charge you anything just let me test the concept and see if the alumni like the idea and if we can get them on camera in an authentic way.” For this, he agreed.

My plan was to setup a camera in the corner of the banquet room where the reunion was being held, and then hope that a few men would be nice enough to put on a t-shirt that I had printed up that said “Beat Prostate Cancer”, and boxing gloves and basically ham it up for the camera and deliver the money line “I Beat Prostate Cancer”.

The night before the shoot I was a nervous wreck. Thoughts of failure and embarrassment filled my mind. My biggest fear was none of the men would agree to participate. I dreamed up this incentive where we would give the person with the most energy on camera a $250 gift certificate to a fancy restaurant. I didn’t know at the time why I was so nervous and scared, or maybe I knew but didn’t want to admit, it was all pride and ego. What if the idea wasn’t good? Then the client would think less of me and begin to question my other ideas.

The night of the event I shyly began to approach the first few men who were enjoying their dinners and conversation. A few were reluctant but agreed to participate. Some of the men’s wives insisted they participate saying things like “God brought you through this, the least you can do is help by giving back a little”.

Three things happened that night. First, the shoot went very well for being a screen test, I had worried for nothing. Second, I heard several times about the role that God had played in many of these families’ journeys. Third, for the first time I began to see these men as real people and not as marketing data points.

We took the test footage back to the house to see what we had. We made all sorts of mistakes in terms of audio, how we coached the talent, and how we filmed the shots, but it was just a screen test. What we really wanted to come away with was proof that the alumni would participate, and that their enthusiasm and authenticity could potentially have an impact on other men who see the video. I felt that we had accomplished both.

JUNE 2010

We put together a rough edit of the footage and showed it to the client. They liked it and admitted that they didn’t think originally it was a good idea but got the concept after having seen it. They liked it so much in fact that they wanted to air it on cable television as a 30-second commercial.

I was frankly shocked. In my mind the footage was raw, unpolished, and not anywhere near the big vision I had in my mind for the real production. I told them there was no way they could air the footage, but they disagreed. They thought it had merit and was worthy of a test.

Since I had done all the shooting and editing on my own dime and time, and they really wanted to air the footage, I told them that I would give them the commercial on the condition that they approve a project that would allow me to do it the way I really wanted to do it, and that they buy the work I had done so I could compensate the people who had help me for their hard work and time.  Here’s the spot that was ran on television:

I took the money they had given me for the test shoot and television spot, and paid the people who had helped me for their time. I purposely left 20% of that money available because I knew I had to give thanks to God for getting me through the project, but more importantly and probably selfishly, I wanted to use that money to ‘sow a seed’ into what was yet to come.

A friend of mine introduced me to a pastor in India who runs an orphanage. I didn’t feel compelled to respond to the pastor’s frequent emails for donations and prayers but he’s pretty relentless and my friend has spoken very highly of the work the pastor was doing. So against logic and my normal behavior, I sent the money over there. My friend ended up matching it, and a few months later learned the pastor had used the funds to build church in a nearby village. What a humbling gift to see what a little money can do in the hands of resourceful and ambitious people.

The commercial aired on cable a couple of dozen times but unfortunately, it didn’t deliver much traffic to the website. I also didn’t hear anyone in the public talk about it anecdotally or even mention it. I had secretly hoped it would have created at least a little buzz, but I had done everything I could with what I had.

JULY 2010

When I presented the vision and budget for the bigger project, as expected it wasn’t really well received, especially given the lackluster performance of the TV spot. But I was pretty relentless, “Guys, we need to do this, I said.” I adjusted the proposal so they only had to pay 50% of the proposed fee and the other 50% would be paid only if, and when, they felt it was a worthwhile project and they had benefited from the results of it.

I was fine with this. By this time I had completely surrendered the project and outcome to God anyway in my mind. I hadn’t taken any compensation for the first video project, and I wasn’t planning on taking any for this one. I was just humbled and blessed to have a chance to do something different that stretched me both vocationally and spiritually.

My first mission was to find someone to direct and shoot the video. I had been attending Buckhead Church off and on for about two years and had always been amazed by the consistent and compelling videos they crank out week after week.

During Good Friday I saw an incredible set of videos at the service. I assumed they must have been a nationally syndicated production because it was so well done. I learned that it was done by Josh Peters here in Atlanta. That following week I reached out to Josh and laid my project before him. I wasn’t very smooth or savvy. I said, “Josh I’ll just lay this down for you, I’ve got this video project that I’ve completely surrendered over to God, here’s the budget I have to shoot all the videos and I was hoping you’d be interested in taking on the project.” The budget was all of the first 50%, or in other words, every penny I was guaranteed by the client. As the words came out of my mouth I didn’t believe for a minute that he would say yes, or even consider it. Not because it wasn’t good money, I don’t know if it was or not, but because I was nobody. A newly appointed first time ‘executive producer’ (and I use the term loosely) of some half baked concept that may or may not be a good idea.

Our plan was simple, find a boxing gym, rent it for a full day, get somewhere between 8 and 10 cancer survivors to come in, do boxing related activities and be interviewed.

I googled “Atlanta boxing gyms” and the first place I found was Decatur Boxing Club about 10 minutes from my house. I called the boxing gym and said we didn’t have a whole lot of money and we were doing a video about prostate cancer and would greatly appreciate if they’d let us use the facility for a day. It turns out the owner of the gym’s brother has prostate cancer, and I think he knew I was in over my head and took a little mercy on me. He agreed to let us use the gym so we set a date for August 20th.  It was actually Terri Moss, a long time friend of the owner that convinced him to let us use it.  She was absolutely incredible in her flexibility in working with us.  I’m convinced she was a guardian angel on this project.

So now I had a director, and a location, I just needed the men to agree to participate.

JULY 15, 2010

I then worked with the company’s alumni coordinator to call up the alumni and convince them to show up at the gym and share their stories. She was a critical part of the project because without the patients, I had no project!  Most of the men were happy and eager to participate. They are always gracious and want to give back for things like this. So now I had a unforeseen challenge, I only have enough budget for one day of shooting, and I need to make sure I have enough men to get enough usable, but not so many men that we can’t spend the necessary time with each man to get a good story on tape.

I also realized that the gym had no air conditioning and the days were regularly reaching the high 90′s in Atlanta. The gym owner told me over the phone that there was no way we could use their electrical panel to plug in portable fans or air conditioning units because it was old and the utility bills would be too high.

So now I’m faced with the knowledge that I’ve got 10 cancer survivors probably in their 60′s who are agreeing to volunteer and I’m going to have them boxing in a 100+ degree gym. The complexities of the project were starting to overwhelm me and I began telling myself it would be easier just to cancel this shoot and do it when it was cooler. I wanted to get out of it. I knew it would be safer. It would have been the easiest thing to do and the client probably would have been happy for me to let it go.

Against my instinct and natural tendencies, I pushed forward, scrambling to try and get portable air conditioners, and the generators needed to power them. I remember thinking, I’m spending a lot of money and effort to try and shoot these 10 guys. I hope their stories are compelling and extraordinary or I’m done!

As we approached the shooting day of August 20th, I was gaining a little faith and confidence each day as the logistics and details were beginning to all come together. The day or so before the shoot I was very anxious. What if the air conditioning doesn’t work? What if some of the men don’t show up? What if the footage is boring? Thankfully I’d been digging in the Word and various verses to know how to combat these thoughts.

AUGUST 20, 2010

So the day of the shoot was here, and while it was one of the longest, hottest, and hardest working days of my life, it went off about as smoothly as it possibly could. Everyone that was supposed to show up did, we even had a couple of survivors who we didn’t expect. Despite having both the generators and air conditioners on hand it was still well over 100 degrees in the gym. The men were awesome sports and didn’t complain at all. We started at 7:30 AM and wrapped up close to midnight. I was exhausted but so thankful and grateful that everything had worked out. I knew we got some great shots and the stories were good.

We were very careful and intentional about not scripting the men but rather let them say what was on their hearts and minds. This was not going to be a commercial for the client. It was never intended to be. I insisted on having complete creative control. They had produced commercials and videos before and didn’t need another one. This was decidedly different. We would capture and release the men’s stories in their own words delivered in their own way. I secretly had hoped that some of the men would thank God on camera for the work that He had done in their lives. I had selfishly hoped those types of statements would make their way into the videos and the client would have to decide whether to allow such statements to be shared or if they would insist they be edited out. At the time of this writing, I still don’t know if it will be an issue or how that will turn out. What an awesome gift that I would be put in a position to give a business the challenge or opportunity to let their own customers give testimony to the way God and their faith helped them through the very success that makes my client look good. This position was both empowering and humbling at the same time.

SEPTEMBER 2010

When Josh sent me the rough cut of the first interview I was blown away. The production quality was every bit as good as I had hoped, and the story of Bob Anderson was just really authentic and special. I was blown away because I had so little to do with it, and because of how far we had come since that first little test shoot. I was on a spiritual and vocational ‘high’. Then a funny thing happened. The second interview that Josh sent wasn’t as good as the first one. The production was, but the story wasn’t. The more I watched it, the more deflated my enthusiasm was. I had gotten so greedy, my expectations had gotten so high, that this particular interview had me down, even scared. What if the rest of the interviews aren’t better than this one? All this money, time and effort wasted? Even mishandled? I took that feeling into the weekend and just went on binge of negative thinking. It was all about me, how I was going to look if this project didn’t come off. How I was going to put my core service agreement with my client at risk if this out-of-scope crazy idea didn’t produce fantastic results.

Early the next week, Josh sent me the rough cut for the montage of all of the interviews. This was to be the primary video and focus of the new website. While watching it was I was torn in half. One side of me was watching it with pessimism, doubt, and even anger at myself for forcing this project on myself. But as I watched the video unfold before my eyes, I began to see the spirit of these men shine through. I saw something that I couldn’t have envisioned, scripted, or pulled off on my own. I saw emotion and courage captured on tape, beautifully and masterfully shot. I began to lighten up on myself though not completely. I shared the video with some select friends and people that I work with, but not the client. Everyone that saw it seemed really impressed and said it was great. Part of me wanted to agree with them, the other part was convinced they were just being nice.

There was no point or reason to turn back now, the budget was spent, the videos produced, now it was time to show it to the client. I sent them the link to the videos via email and anxiously awaited their feedback and response. Everyone in the company that saw it absolutely loved it, expect the the two people who really mattered, the CEO and the VP of Marketing. They liked the videos, and thought the quality was fantastic but weren’t really sure how and if the videos would do anything to help the business. I applaud their skepticism and pragmatism. They work extremely hard for the best interest of the company. The CEO even went as far as to say he didn’t want to put a whole lot more time or money into the project after seeing the video. I was a little surprised but not shocked, but I knew better than to put too much stock in any one person’s opinion, even if it was the opinion of the CEO.

OCTOBER 2010

Now it is October 2010, the website is built, and the videos are up for the world to see. Here’s the final video.

I never in a million years thought this project would get to this point. We launch this week but have little budget to promote it. If the site doesn’t deliver than we won’t get the 2nd half of the project budget and we will be unable to make the sizable donation that we had hoped for. I’m not worried about this. I’ve surrendered myself to God for the entire project and have done the best I could do. His will be done.

I’ve reached out to friends who have experience with social marketing and shared my story with them. Several people have been willing to help out. One of those people is my new friend Carlos Carrillo, whom I met at Buckhead Church.  He just happened to be starting a social marketing consultancy with an emphasis on non-profits and cancer.  He lost both of his grandfathers to prostate cancer.

Another friend, Mark Schaefer, suggested I ask the social marketing world at large for advice and help in getting this project promoted. That inspired me to launch a site called www.SocialCo-Op.com, which I hope will become a source to share success stories and learnings.

This experience has been a wonderful gift in growth and stretching of my faith and my own abilities.  It has also been hard not to see and acknowledge God at work in this thing from day one.  What makes this extra special is my decision to get baptized at Buckhead Church on October 31st.  To walk on this journey with Him in the same season as I prepare my heart for baptism has been more special than words can describe.

I will update this story as it unfolds.  I’m hoping come at least one step closer towards walking on water, but regardless of how it turns out, I will use this experience to become more in tune with the ways I can grow and serve.

Thank you to my cousin and friend Tim Gildner who cared enough to polish and edit this story.

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