Why I use worldbuilding as a Christian small business owner

I’d like to tell you a story today about a time when I had to “let go and let God” as many of us like to call it. This is just one of many stories in my life where God called me to release control and put my trust 100% in Him.

All of these moments in my life have compounded to bring me to where I am in my business, daily seeking to open my hands and let God take control.

I started thinking about this a few weeks ago after my small group leader at church asked us all one simple question:

How would you describe the theme of your relationship with God over the last few years of your life? In as simple terms as you can, share with us what has been the biggest theme or lesson you feel He has been trying to teach you.

Before he could even finish asking us the question, immediately one word popped into my brain:

Trust.

The last 10 years of my life have been one long, turbulent exercise in trusting God. It’s been really difficult at times, and exhilarating & exciting at other times.

If I’m being honest, I have a little bit of a history of keeping a tight grip on things in my life.

(While I wouldn’t label myself a control freak, my mom and my husband might beg to differ 😆)

I selected my future career path (food chemist, if you’re wondering…😝) at the ripe age of 7, and followed through on that decision for a decade, from chemistry themed birthday parties all the way to a high school internship at one of the biggest food brands in the world.

But 10 years after my nerdy 7 year old self proclaimed my career intentions, I found myself staring off the edge of a boat on the Amazon River contemplating everything I’d ever envisioned for my life.

I was 17, a senior in high school, and about to graduate in 2 months.

I had already applied and been accepted to college for my selected major (Food Science), had my roommates lined up and was a couple months away from my new student orientation.

But here I was at the end of a one week trip to Brazil, and God had turned my world upside down.

The summer before, I had gone on a mission trip, and felt an un-ignorable message from the Holy Spirit that I was supposed to move abroad to support the mission field at some point in my life.

The entire reason I was on this boat in the Amazon was because I needed to dig deeper and explore this pull that I couldn’t ignore.

So there I was, staring off the edge of the boat at the stars that form the Southern Cross (a constellation in the southern hemisphere that is literally a giant cross in the sky).

I heard, so clearly, the words “this is home.”

And I knew that not only was I supposed to move abroad to support the mission field, as I had felt the year before, but I knew that God was calling me specifically to the Amazon River.

No idea when, and no idea how, but I knew that He would bring me back to the Amazon for something big and long-term.

A few months later, during the first week of my freshman year of college, I walked into the advisor’s office to change my major to International Relations. After 10+ years of complete certainty in my career path, I was taking a terrifying leap of faith because of the conviction I felt from the Holy Spirit.

I had no idea where God would take me or how I would get there, but I knew what He was calling me to and I wanted to do my part in making it happen.

I don’t have time to get into all the details, but two years later I met my (future) husband. Guess where he is from?

A small town on the Amazon River.

Two years after that, right after I graduated college, I moved to the Amazon so we could get married and work as translators on the mission field.

Which means that almost exactly 4 years after my existential crisis (dramatic? maybe haha) on the boat where I felt God call me to the Amazon, I ended up exactly where He said I would.

All because little 17 year old Addy decided that the tight grip she had held on her career & future for her entire life was worth releasing control of if it meant she could go where God was leading her.

I did my part, and I let Him handle the rest.

Sometimes, the plan we have so carefully mapped out for ourselves is the very thing standing between us and the future God has planned for us.

The reason I tell you this story is because I want to share how fruitful and abundant our lives can become when we fully surrender to God and trust that He will make a way.

When we release control and loosen our grip on the things we hold dear, He is able to take it from us and shape it into something better than we ever imagined.

I believe the same to be true of our businesses.

For years, I clung tightly to my business, thinking that making calculated, strategic moves and closely monitoring every little thing is how I would find success.

I don’t blame myself, honestly, because that’s what everyone I looked up to told me to do with my business.

Make your content more strategic.

Optimize your email subject lines to find the perfect angle.

Obsessively measure your metrics, your opt-in rates, your engagement rates, and your KPIs.

For someone with a natural tendency to strategize every area of my life, all of this advice only made it harder to trust God with my business.

Even worse, the more I learned about the popular marketing strategies, the more I felt like the only way to grow my business was to abandon the things that felt the most important and intuitive to me.

Things like empathy, peace, slow living, relationships. Most people I look up to in business (even the ones who say they value the same things as me) are living a lifestyle that, while honorable, is not one I personally desire for myself.

I wanted nothing more than to trust God with my business, but I had no idea how to actually do it.

How could I let go and trust God to take the lead when the only way I knew how to run a business was by analyzing and strategizing every tiny thing that I did?

I couldn’t find an answer, until one day an email landed in my inbox that made everything fall into place.

In the email was a link to this article: Transactional vs. Relationship Marketing in Retail and Ecommerce​

One line in particular in this article jumped out at me. “Building long-term, meaningful connections with customers”

I highly recommend you read the article, as it impacted me so much that “Relationships Over Transactions” has become one of my core business values.

Here is another brief excerpt from the article that I think sums up the concept pretty well:

“Short-Term vs. Long-Term Benefits Transactional marketing emphasizes the short-term benefits of its strategy, like increased sales and greater profitability. In comparison, relationship marketing builds on the long-term benefits of nurturing customer relationships to directly or indirectly grow your business.”

Most people online are buying or selling short-term benefits. Why? Because it’s easy to sell and enticing to buy.

Who doesn’t want quick, profitable growth?

I’d be lying if I said I don’t also want that. But I will happily sacrifice flash-in-the-pan success if it means I can create a business that aligns with my values, honors God, and grants me long-term peace.

The idea of relational marketing felt like a breath of fresh air, and it sent me on a path of researching how I could make this work for my business.

Enter worldbuilding.

An approach to marketing that prioritizes creating an environment where people can enter & explore at their own pace, make decisions on their own time, and opt to move forward when they feel ready.

It’s narrative-based and highly relational.

I felt that leaning into worldbuilding would allow me to release control of my business and focus primarily on taking the next right action each day without getting lost in the weeds of strategy.

Instead of spending my days mulling over what launch strategy to use or how to optimize my landing pages, I desire to spend my days brainstorming opportunities to serve people, connect with them and point them to Jesus.

Obviously, there is room for both. We are capable of so much, and we must give at least part of our attention to strategy and tactics. But if it’s possible to use most of my brain energy to do kingdom-minded, relational, people-first work, that’s where I want to be.

Worldbuilding has given me the freedom to open my hands and release control over the end result, trusting that God will do His part if I do mine.

I show up each day asking “how can I honor God with my business today? Who can I serve or what message can I provide that will encourage someone that needs it?”

Unsurprisingly, my business is thriving and growing more than ever before.

It no longer feels like the success of my business is up to me or my strategies.

(Obviously the success of my business has always been up to God alone, but oh how easy it is to lose sight of that when it feels like success only comes through perfect strategizing and impeccable precision with our actions & messaging.)

Building a business through relational worldbuilding provides me an opportunity to exercise trust and truly lean on God each day with my business.

This approach is not for everyone, but for those of us wanting to do business that feels softer, stronger, and more empathetic than most of what we see online, worldbuilding is a breath of fresh air.

That’s all for today. As always, I appreciate you guys and I hope this story & message of encouragement point you to Jesus!

If you’ve made it the end of this post and would like to learn more about worldbuilding and relationship-based, people-first marketing, you can join my email list here! Upon subscribing, you’ll receive a 7-day series called Build Your Brand World that covers the primary principles of worldbuilding.