“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it:” Gen 1:28

Four things. As Christopher pointed out on yesterday’s blog, the first two should be rendered, Be fruitful, then multiply. It’s a simple principle really… make sure your model works before you begin exporting the concept. In the rush to make a buck, the product is rushed, quality is compromised and the long term damage to the brand you are trying to build – your name (Proverbs 22:1) is not only crippling but has been multiplied. Be fruitful first. Then multiply.

Thirdly, the mandate continues. Fill the earth. In business terms, this is distribution. If you create a good product, have the ability to multiply it, but have poor distribution you will be in a world of hurt. Our first business book, The Bible Incorporated was a great prototype and we ordered 25,000 copies to our basement. The printer pointed out the obvious, that we had no distribution and the average book published in America, even with distribution never sells more than 5,000 copies. What were we to do?

We created our own distribution network and in eight months were sold out of our first print run and that was before the internet. But here’s the deal… once you have a distribution network, you can use it over and over again to distribute other products you have been fruitful with and multiplied. Do you have a good product and lots of inventory, but limited distribution? You need to focus on distribution. It is a marketplace discipline of its own. It requires the same kind of discipline and focus to create distribution as it does to create a good product or service. If you don’t execute this step, you will never get to the fourth part of the mandate which we will discuss next time.

Need help on distribution issues? We will be dealing with those on our coaching program to be introduced in the next few weeks. Watch for it in your inbox.