It’s hard to believe it has been three years since I left a promising career as the leader of Salem Communication’s national sales division for a start-up dot-com company. At the time, it seemed like a really good idea.
     I was leaving to be a part of the “New Economy.” After all, nothing smells quite like a new car. Especially if the new car has stock options attached.
     It’s a long story, but I was wooed back to Salem six months later to work on the new media side. It was July 1999, back when it was still fashionable to be working on the Internet. The last three years have been the most demanding yet rewarding of my career. I must admit though, it feels like 10 years’ worth of challenges and experience crammed into three.
     At a recent management meeting we were reflecting on the last three years and why we have survived in this volatile industry. Our hope was to learn from our successes and failures, as well as those of our unfortunate colleagues that somehow did not make the cut.
     As I reviewed the list, I realized that what came out of that meeting was not just a list of how to survive on the Internet, but how to survive in any business. Allow me to share with you the list we developed:

1. God’s Divine favor
     In His infinite mercy and wisdom, God saw fit to allow us to continue this effort. Does that mean that Ibelieve, IChristian, Christianity.com and others did not have God’s favor? I know most of the people who led those organizations. They are good people whose motives seemed pure. I also assume they have God’s favor on their lives.
     So why are these companies, at least as we once knew them, no longer a part of the landscape? I am not an expert in theology, so I have come up with this very practical answer, “I have no idea.” That’s the Divine part.
     It is possible they were pursuing a flawed idea, were under-funded, had bad timing, executed poorly, or simply weren’t good managers. Then again, it could be none of the above. I just know my company wouldn’t be where it is today without His hand on our efforts.

2. Forget the exit strategy
     Many companies in the dot-com world focused solely on an exit strategy. They were so busy looking for “the IPO story” that it was difficult to execute “today’s deliverables.” We decided very early that we were going to be in this space for the long haul. The Internet is a logical extension of Salem’s commitment to Christian communications, so the notion of “cashing out” didn’t cloud our judgment.

3. Put every idea through the grinder
     I learned this from the book, It’s Not the Big That Eat the Small, but the Fast That Eat the Slow (Jennings & Haughton, Harperbusiness, 2001). It is one of the best practices that I believe kept us in the game. Lots of good ideas have come across my desk in the last three years. We put every new idea through the grinder and then focus all of our effort and attention on the very few ideas that make it through the process. Here is a partial list for evaluating new ideas:

• Does success rely on the greater fool theory? If your strategy depends on someone else’s stupidity to succeed, it’s a bad idea. Even if you could succeed, why would you want to?
• Will you be swimming upstream? Because of your core competencies, your calling, gifts, or talents, certain ideas will feel like you are swimming downstream. It takes some effort, but at least you are working with the current. Pursue those ideas. You might say, “But Rick, salmon successfully swim upstream to lay their eggs!” Yes, and they also die shortly thereafter. I am not saying you can’t be successful with an idea that is upstream. I am simply suggesting that you pursue the ones that are downstream first, and don’t bet the farm on the others.
• Has someone proven the math? Is your success based on Chinese math that explains that success is inevitable because there are 1.4 billion people in China, and all we need is 1 percent of the population to use our product. Surely we should be able to get 1 percent of the population on board, right? Wrong. You would need one incredible marketing strategy and budget to get 14 million people to do anything. If it looks too good to be true on paper, it probably is.
• Will it be a good thing even if ...? What if your closing rate is 10 percent instead of 15? What if the economy goes into a recession? What if some terrorists decide to fly airplanes into buildings? Figure out the “what ifs” that could affect your model and then see if there is a plan to survive them. Hopefully, you will never have to implement Plan B, but if you are going to succeed, you should develop one before you need it.
• Will it sidetrack you? This was a big one for us. We are not retailers. We are not a software company. We determined, long before it was popular, to focus on our niche and stick to what we’re good at.

4. Radical cost-cutting often leads to surprising innovation
     We have been forced to do a lot more work with a lot less people. We have a little game we play in our company. I love it; the employees hate it. It’s called “could you get this done by the end of the week if you knew you would lose your job if you didn’t?” It is not nearly as harsh as it sounds. There is not a person in our company that doesn’t understand it is just an exercise. It is, however, an exercise that forces us to focus on execution above activity. If your job is on the line, it is amazing how creative and productive you can be. At Oneplace, we function as though our jobs are on the line every day, because … they are.

5. Focus on the customer
     Every decision we make is held to the standard of, “Is this good for our customers?” If not, we don’t pursue the idea. When forced to cut the technology budget or the customer service budget, there is no choice. Without customers you don’t need technology.

6. Constantly reassess strategy without abandoning mission and values
     Early in my career I hated change. Four years ago I tolerated it. Now, I thrive on it. I come to work every day prepared for nothing or everything to change completely.
     I hope you find some of these ideas helpful. To my colleagues who have pioneered this difficult market space with us, I offer a sincere thank you. Even the lessons learned from the casualties help pave the road for those that will come after you. You made a difference not only in our company, but also ¾ and more importantly ¾ in the lives of believers and non-believers around the world. The torch we share with other Internet companies burns brighter because of your efforts. Pray for us to have the wisdom to carry it in a worthy manner for as long as He sees fit.

Rick Killingsworth leads Salem Communication Corporation’s Internet division, Oneplace.com.