Blog
Welcome to the FrankenSTART Blog! We want to share all about the good that’s come out of the experiment, and have done so by breaking things up into several categories for easy searching:
StartStories Guest Posts Wordless Wednesday Thoughtful Thursday
A Heart for Orphans // Sarah Rose Wilson
Sarah Rose Wilson When I first signed up for the experiment, my risks were going back to school, sponsoring a child in Africa, and applying for new jobs. Before we got our first assignment, I had already found a new job. And I had also heard a story of a young woman close to my family who was pregnant. She would not be able to raise the child, but still chose life for the baby. She had no idea what she would do. I suggested taking the child and fostering it until she was able to parent on her own. We contacted DSS and were given a social worker. I had to take classes to become a MD Certified Child Care Provider and a foster parent. I completed those classes and am now just waiting for this baby to be born. I stuck with my first risk of going back to school and will be starting online/night classes in a few weeks. I’m sponsoring a child in Kenya, and will be going on a mission trip there next summer where I will meet this little boy. At the beginning of this I had no true idea of what I wanted to do with my life. The past 24 days my life has been turned upside down. God had a different plan for me in all of this and I love it. The next few months will be an adventure and I look forward to it. And it all started with a creepy blog...
read moreCommunity // Jason Sprague
Jason Sprague Whatever you are expecting to get out of this experiment, you might as well throw it out the window. Because this is infinitely better. You know, it’s funny. In the beginning of all of this I thought I wanted one thing, but I got so much more. The START Experiment let me see myself through the eyes of people who are driving forward in life. I have met people who have helped me better define who I am, and others who have helped me know that I am the perfect version of me. I now have a community of people that believe in me. When I am down, they lift me up. When I am happy, they cheer with me. As I chase my dreams, I know I have people who will help me slay dragons, blaze trails, and celebrate my battles won. If someone asked me if it’s worth your time, the answer is “one bajillion percent yes.” You aren’t going to find a group of people that believe in your dream as much as you do anywhere. There are no haters, no critics, and no honey badgers. (Honey badgers can do a lot of damage. What? The analogy fits.) The things I want out of my future now have an army willing to pray, push, and pull me along the way. Will I chase and catch my dreams? Yes! And I will have a tribe of people there with me to celebrate....
read moreStarting a Relationship // Tara Fox
Tara Fox When this experiment started, I was already into my first week of half-Ironman triathlon training and was ready to hit it full steam ahead. What I was unprepared for was the START that God had in mind. I was completely blindsided when God started to show me that the START he wanted me to begin was one of the heart – a 24-day challenge of opening up my life and my heart to a fellow STARTer. On the verge of entering into a second START challenge my journey of my body is still the same but the one of my heart will be taking bigger leaps and bounds. I will be meeting my fellow STARTer who has came into my life in a way that I could never prepare for or expect. My journey is far from over in regards to both goals and honestly… I can’t wait to see what happens. My experience would not of been the same without my awesome partner Joy and the amazing community of fear punchers that I now call...
read moreFind Believers // Heather Patterson
Heather Patterson When I first sent an email to Jon Acuff over a month ago, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I know for certain that it I wasn’t expecting what happened. I wasn’t expecting that I’d find a community, or a tribe. I wasn’t expecting to find a place where I would openly share my heart. I wasn’t expecting to find a place where I would expose and let go of my biggest fears. I wasn’t expecting the fight that was about to take place. But that is exactly what I found. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Maybe that’s just what dreamers do. Maybe when we find others who have carried and carved out, who’ve harvested and fought back those same feelings, we can’t help but to connect with them on a level that is void of context. A level that disregards things like location and proximity and face to face. There is something that happens when a person leans in close to you and listens to your heart and tells you they believe. They believe in your dreams. They believe in you. It’s like you can’t help but to believe it, too. And what starts as a morning of laying some fears down on paper becomes laying them down for good. And sometimes it’s easy and other times they don’t go down without a fight. But all of a sudden, you aren’t fighting alone. Those same people who leaned in and listened and who started out pushing you towards that fight have stepped up beside you and this time, with them by your side, you can’t lose. And fresh from your own battle and drunk from the power that comes from slaying dragons, you step up beside another, committed to seeing them triumph. Maybe to the rest of the world it sounds absurd, but not to us, because that’s just what dreamers...
read moreHustle // Ryan Eller
Ryan Eller Twenty four days is not that long in the big scheme of things. It’s not even a month for crying out loud! However, doing something challenging for twenty four days is a different story. It feels like twenty four years. That is why the Start Experience was so sweet for me. I challenged myself to do something hard. I went along the strenuous journey and made it out to the other side. I became a better person after 24 days. My goals were to wake up at 5 am to hustle on my dreams every day, and to host a Tulsa 5 Club once a week. Waking up at 5 am was very hard for me. I like to sleep, and I like to sleep a lot. This task forced me to work on my willpower…going to bed early and waking up before dawn. I work up at 5 am twenty two out of the twenty four days. I call that a victory. The Tulsa 5 Club was not as challenging for me…I love to network and meet other dreamers of dreams. We had great attendance at each event and it was loads of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed the Start Experiment journey. I met some wonderful people who are doing amazing things. I challenged myself to grow, even when it was uncomfortable. I am very excited to take the lessons I learned to change my...
read morePodcast Launch Success // Brian Cain
Brian Cain When I decided to join the Start Experiment, I already had an idea that I wanted to do a podcast for Law Enforcement Supervisors. When day one rolled around, I immediately went into high gear and lined up several interviews. Surprisingly, many of the people I called said that they would do an interview. I was simply blown away! I followed the steps that Jon laid out. They were nothing earth shattering. As a matter of fact, some of the steps just didn’t seem to make sense. But at the end of the experiment, I had a podcast with over 1500 downloads in 7 countries in a month. I am building a strong community of cops that are HUNGRY for good leadership. I won’t say that I owe all of my success to the Start Experiment, but I will say that I owe my starting to the Start Experiment. http://millennialcop.com/podcast...
read more100% Increase in Traffic // Danny de Los Reyes
Danny de Los Reyes The Pinterest Start Experiment board has helped my blog tremendously. The week after I joined the board Jon created, I saw more than a 100% overall increase to my blog’s traffic. The big majority of that traffic came from Pinterest. At the beginning of the Start Experiment, I was determined to post 5 times a week on my blog. I’m happy to say that I’ve achieved that for several weeks now. I think both factors combined are helping me increase the amount of page views. I wouldn’t be getting the huge increase in traffic if I didn’t have content to retain...
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