Objectives.
This appendix is intended to guide the in country leaders of this program in their responsibilities in the following areas:
Responsibilities to the LTM.
Responsibilities to candidates before the training starts.
Responsibilities to students during the training.
Responsibilities to business owners after their loans are paid in full.
Responsibilities to the LTM.
1. Select the candidates for the program. You may be his/her pastor, or appointed by their spiritual authority to be their LTM.
2. Certify that he/she is a Psalms One person. Each business candidate must be certified as a Psalms One person by his/her approved spiritual leader. If the leader cannot certify the person, then the leader may recommend him/her for advanced discipleship. The leader needs to discern if the candidate is living their life in this manner. If not, it is recommended the candidate enroll in the discipleship program Grow or Die [1]. To make sure you understand what we mean by a Psalms One person you should study chapters 1 through 7 of the book. You will be held accountable for this certification. While you may not be correct every single time, you need to ask the Lord to help you in making this decision.
3. Determine if each student belongs in group A or B. The program allows for the LTM to divide the students into two types of students. The first type I will refer to as the “A” type. This type will be required to do all assignments in all chapters with your advice and council. Any student requiring $500 or more to start their business will be a type A. The second type I will refer to as the “B” type. The students that are B type want to start a business where their loan will be less than $500. The B students will go through chapters 1 through 7 just as the A students do. Then the B students will meet with you (LTM) and you will ask the students a series of questions that are based on the data needed to fill in the tables in chapters 8 through 13 for their business. You will then fill in the tables for the student, including all of the math. Make sure each student understands which type they are and why.
4. Review the entire program with each candidate. Obtain their agreement that they will follow the program from start to finish. A key element here is to make sure they understand that they will be required to pay back the loan and support others that will follow them in the program. They will be accountable to you and their spiritual leader throughout the entire program.
5. Produce a progress report on each student, while they are taking the course. This report should be at least monthly. It should be submitted to your delegated authority. This report should include your comments on the student's progress. This report should include, but not be limited to.
a. Student's spiritual progress.
b. Student's discipline to seriously study the course.
c. Student's progress in business knowledge.
6. Meet with the business owner after the business is started. Produce a report on each meeting with each business owner.
Including the following:
a. A brief status of where the business stands.
b. List any problems that have been encountered.
c. List any success stories.
d. Report if the business owner following his/her plan. If not, did you approve the changes?
e. Report on the spiritual condition of the business owner.
f. Financial status. Verify that the monthly reports have been sent by the type A business owner to the USA office and/or their designated authority in their region, and if not forward them. For the type B businesses the LTM is responsible for creating and sending the monthly status report while their loan has not been paid back. For "closed nations" there will be special reporting requirements as agreed to in advance. See Monthly LTM Report, included in this Appendix D.
g. Report on the spiritual growth of the business owner and others, and souls won to Christ, as a direct result of the business.
7. Check list for new students:
Please send a copy of the check list to GB when you enter a student into the program.
|
Activity |
Check Done |
|
Name of the Student __________________________________________________ |
|
|
A2. I certify that he/she is a Psalms One Person |
|
|
A3. This student is an A ______ type or B ______ type student |
Check one |
|
A4. I have reviewed the entire program with this person |
|
Responsibilities to candidate before he/she starts the program.
1. Go over with each candidate what it means to be a Psalms One person as explained above.
2. Review the process in going through the program with each candidate, making sure they understand how the process works and what is expected of them, during the course and afterwards.
3. Make sure each student understand whether they are classified as type A or B student.
The student will get the most out of this program by observing the following steps.
The student will be asked to answer many questions during this study. This will take time to answer each question completely. They should take as much time and space as needed to be comfortable that their answer completely answers the question. In terms of managing the time that is spend on this training, they should first spend time with the Lord then spend time on this training. Get their commitment to the program in writing. Obtain a simple statement that they understand the program and commit to work through you and their spiritual leader while completing the material.
The Book you will be using is entitled “The Psalms One Business Owner.” It can be provided in one of two forms. It can be received as a Word document via email or in printed form. In some regions of the world it is easier to provide the book by sending it via e-mail, while other regions can best be served through hard copy. Explain to the student which method they will be using. Explain to the student that he/she will be either filling out the document on a computer or completing the answers on separate sheets of paper and turning them in to you.
Responsibilities to students during the course of study and before funding.
1. Be an encourager. Help the students understand the questions being asked as they relate to their region of the country. Make sure they do not loose sight of God’s plan for their life.
2. Review all of the type A students work before it is turned in to GB and complete chapters 8 through 13 with the help of the type B students.
3. Make sure that answers to questions are reasonable. Some student will be too conservative while others will be way too aggressive.
4. In some cases someone from the GB home office will meet with the students in person when the students business is funded. The LTM must participate in this meeting 100% of the time.
There are two possible ways a student might go through the training.
For email students.
Ask the student to save the email lesson in a special mailbox at his/her email website. Ask the student to print the entire chapter and take it home. As the student studies the assignments and writes in the answers and comments, have the student return to the saved email and type in the comments and answers on the original email. Then have the student copy and paste those comments and email them to you. You will in turn e-mail the document to us when you feel it is ready. This way the student does not need to finish the entire chapter before responding and getting some feedback from you. He/she may respond to a few assignments each week or every day.
For book students.
Give the student a copy of the book. Ask the student to bring you his/her assignments for a few pages at a time instead of finishing the entire chapter without making contact with you, the LTM. After reviewing the students answers encourage him/her in the positive areas of response and provide positive correction/guidance in any areas that need clarification. Contact GB if you are not sure of an answer or just want clarification. When the student is finished with a chapter you will provide that information to GB in your monthly report.
Mark up the document with the student's comments, answers to assignments and questions. Students should make arrangement to review their work with you periodically. Student and/or you should deliver the document to the assigned person, either by email or in person by hard copy.
There will be special provisions agreed to in advance for "closed nations."
Responsibilities to the business owners after funding is approved.
1. Parcel out the funds according to the detailed Business Plan developed during Chapter 15. In most cases the detailed business plan will call for funds to be spent over some time period, not all at once. The leader will be responsible for holding the funds until the time comes to make the purchases.
2. Meet weekly for the first three months and get the answer to the following questions. After three months if the plan is on projection or ahead of projection and the finances are on budget or above budget, these meetings can decrease to once every two or three weeks, or up to once a month.
Here are some sample questions you may ask the businessperson during these visits.
What is the best thing that has happened in the business since we last met?
What has gone wrong (not according to plan), since we last met? This should NEVER be “nothing.” There are always things going wrong in a business, the business owner needs to learn to expect then and learn how to acknowledge them and finally seek God’s help in handling them.
Ask the owner how you can help him/her. If you need help send us an email and we will do what we can. Is the business plan schedule on projection, ahead of projection or behind projection? If it’s behind, what is the plan to fix the problem? Is the financial plan on budget, above track or below budget? If it is below, what can be done to correct the problem?
Be very careful to ask for the Loan payment, and other collectible fees when they are scheduled. It is very important to be on a schedule so that the owner can expect and be prepared for these obligations.
3. Cash flow reports. You must make sure, and insist, that the type A business owner submits a Cash Flow Report in the general form of Appendix E. You are responsible for completing and reviewing with the type B business owners their cash flow report. As we stated in Chapter 12, Assignment 12.4, this is a very important issue. If an owner skips this discipline, he/she will not know the real status of the business. We have seen businesses fail just for the failure to do these reports.
4. Loan payback funds. As you or the designated person collects monthly loan payments, they should be deposited in a safe place. These loan payback funds will stay in your region and will be used to fund new businesses.
5. Fixed Monthly Support Fee. This fee is to go directly to the LTM to help compensate him/her, in a small way, for their expenses and time spent mentoring the business owners.
6. Global Business expenses. The expenses in running the GB training and mentoring should be accounted for and expensed monthly. Where receipts are provided they should accompany the monthly expense report. These expenses are to be paid for out of the Fixed Monthly Support Fee.
7 Escrow savings Account. In order to help the new business owners develop good accounting practices, the LTM will collect each month the escrow money and put it in the bank along with the loan payment. A portion of the escrow savings will be withdrawn and given to the business owners when requested for an escrowed item that is coming due. The control of the escrow money can be turned over to the owner in the form of a personal savings account when their loan has been paid back in full.
Provide the lender, or designated person, a monthly summary report of all activity. The report should include but is not limited to:
Monthly LTM Report.
|
Business Name |
Date-Last Visit to business |
Summarize the business' cash flow for this period. |
Total funds held by leaders from loan repayments |
Fees(F), loan payments(LP), Escrow(ESC) and Other(O) funds collected by leader for period of this report |
Comments Are payments and fees up to date? Is business operated at or above projection? |
|
|
|
|
|
F - LP - ESC- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
F - LP - ESC- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
F - LP - ESC- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
F - LP - ESC- |
|
For businesses that are more than one year old, this report can be made quarterly.
Give the owner a copy of you last meeting's report that you sent to the lender.
3. Monthly Cash Flow Report. The business owner is required to submit a monthly Cash Flow Report to a delegated authority. It should be in the form of Appendix E. This is to be submitted every month, and no later than the 10th day of the following month. Do not settle for less! You must be very diligent in demanding this discipline. The purpose of this report is not only to inform the Lender and/or GB about the operation, but it is a discipline for the owner to face the truth of how his business is doing. It is a discipline, that if not followed can lead to disaster!
Business Owners after their loan is paid in full.
Stay in touch – Although the pressure and hard work of getting a business started is over, there are many reasons to stay in touch with the business owner. You may want them to be a mentor for a new student. They may know of Psalms One people that could benefit from this program.
When loan is paid back in full, the business owner should get his loan agreement, that he signed, back marked “Paid In Full” and signed by the leader.
Fixed Monthly Support Fee.
In addition to paying back the loaned amount, the business owner will be asked to help support the costs of running this program in your region. This includes printing, emailing, Internet expenses and in some cases expenses for the LTM. The business owner will be asked to contribute a Fixed Monthly Support Fee. The fee will be shown in the loan agreement. This fee will be set by the lender and may vary from loan to loan depending on circumstances. This expense can be used to support the micro-business program in your region.
Be positive and godly. Treat your business owners and students with grace and dignity.
[1] http://www.isob-bible.org/openlessons.htm