Risking It: An Intersection of Faith & Work

by Tim Hoerr, Alyssa Kolb (With)

How does one integrate faith, personal purpose, work and risk taking? This highly personal memoir explores these powerful, spiritual themes through engaging storytelling based on the author's 30 years in business. Reaching back to his roots, the author reflects on growing up in a lay minister's family and the family landscaping business, both of which had a considerable shaping influence on the author's subsequent entrepreneurial experiences. Through a series of progressively risky moves -- relocating from Illinois to California, leaving the comfortable position of an accounting firm partner, launching his own business and failing - the author takes the reader on a journey of wrestling with some of life's most profound questions: "How does one discover God's calling and then implement it?" "How is faith expressed through taking measured risks?" "What happens when we fail?" With humor and transparency, the author shares over 40 stories that illustrate powerful spiritual and everyday life themes such as overcoming failure, building meaningful relationships, passionately pursuing purpose and aligning one's story with God's bigger story.

236 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2014

About the author

Tim is the CEO of Serra Ventures, a professional services firm offering assistance with business strategy, capital formation, and organization development. He serves as the Managing Partner of Serra Capital, the division of the company providing funding to seed and emerging stage high tech companies. Tim is also the Managing Member of a Jimmy John’s franchise operating in central Texas. A partner and consultant for 15 years with RSM McGladrey, an international accounting and consulting firm (both in Illinois and San Diego), Tim subsequently served as president of SourceGear (a software firm), and then as Co-Founder and CEO of iCyt, a bioscience instrument firm which garnered numerous technology and business awards for their innovations. The company was acquired by Sony Corporation in 2009, the same year Tim won the Entrepreneurial Excellence in Management Award at the Innovation Celebration -- an honor recognizing exceptional entrepreneurial talent bestowed by the University of Illinois. Having previously authored "Thank God It’s Monday! A Toolkit for Aligning Your Lifevision and Your Work" (Everywhere Press, 1998), Tim is keenly dedicated to sharing his career-related insights with the goal of encouraging and equipping fellow Christians who are similarly seeking to integrate their faith into their own work life. Over his three decades in the business arena, Tim has actively sought to boldly implement this key principle into every aspect of his business endeavors, and candidly shares his failures as well as his successes with businesspeople and entrepreneurs who are building today’s high performance organizations.

Reviews

[John Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started it a week ago and couldn't put it down. Appreciate how candidly he reflects on his life experiences with family, friends, business and God. My biggest take-away was that even people who are ostensibly "successful" in life have their fair share of challenges and failures. Moving forward, I think I'll be more willing to take risks, trusting that God has my back no matter what happens.

[Steve Wegman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a memoir, mostly of Tim's career, but with several interesting life stories that help explain how his faith and various events shaped his life. Anyone interested in tips on a successful entreprenuerial career will probably enjoy this book. I know Tim, so was interested in his personal stories, but I'm not entreprenuerial, so I was not so interested in his work.