Joseph Carson

SGM 3685

Jane Frankel

April 27, 2015

Project Guidebook – A Joyful Life

My project was the generation of a business model for A Joyful Life. A Joyful

Life started off as an idea by Rabbi Yudy Shemtov, who wanted to create a way to

help remind people of the joy in life. He wanted to focus on the emotional and

spiritual aspects of life and help people refocus themselves on the simple, innate

happiness that is life. His original idea was to develop a brand and make

merchandise, a la “Life Is Good”. Through the course of the semester I took the

original idea of a for-profit clothing brand and transformed A Joyful Life into an

innovative business model for a Philadelphia based non-profit organization, giving A

Joyful Life a completely different look while still providing the same value. The three

major phases, or “milestones” of this project were the ideation and initial research

of A Joyful Life, deciding on a business model and the continued research that

accompanied with that decision, and the completion and generation of A Joyful Life’s

business model.

My first major phase was the ideation of what A Joyful Life could be and the

initial research that went into the ideation process. The major creative thinking tool

I used during the ideation phase was brainstorming. I brainstormed everything from

slogans to industries, business models to revenue streams; anything that would or

could go into A Joyful Life, I brainstormed. The bulk of my research was based off of

what I had already brainstormed during the ideation process. My most valuable

resources during this first phase was my Innovative Business Models class, which

provided a structured 3-hour block to learn about business models; and my

textbook, Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder, which provided me

with organized information about the subject. Google (obviously) was my main

resource for researching and finding information about subjects that were not

covered in Innovative Business Models or Business Model Generation. One question

I had to answer, though, was “What does A Joyful life look like?”

The next major phase involved deciding on what the business would look like

and which business model to pursue, and then focusing my research around those

decisions. My previous research into the clothing industry dissuaded me from

continuing with the Rabbi’s initial idea, as it was too competitive, would take a

substantial amount of time and money to get off the ground, and would not be

attractive enough to lure investors to in invest in this for-profit business. The value

of A Joyful Life is its mission, and that’s what I chose to focus on. The idea to provide

a service came from wanting to allow A Joyful Life’s value to reach the most people

possible. The decision to be a non-profit came from the realization, after much

research, that it would be hard to convince investors of a timely and significant

return on investment. This phase also involved consolidating my past research and

focusing my future research. 3 major questions I had to answer in this phase were:

“Would I be “Joyful”?” (Why would I participate in A Joyful Life?) “How would I feel

if this was recommended to me?” (Is this business model convincing enough to be

different?) And “Would I work for AJL?” (If I were asked to work for A Joyful Life,

would I see it as an opportunity or an obligation?)

My final phase in this project involved the completion and actual generation

of A Joyful Life’s business model. [The business model and business summary are

on the last pages]

During my internship there were several things I needed to learn in order to

be successful. First I needed to learn how to make a schedule and stick to it. One of

the best and worst things about working for Rabbi Shemtov is the degree of

autonomy and freedom I had with my work, as he trusted me completely during this

process and left me to work on my own. 40 hours is not a lot of time spread out but

is A LOT if the work is put off until the last minute. I also learned to be creative and

not to be afraid of trying new ideas (if I were, then I’d be presenting a business

model for a t-shirt company). It is also important to hold yourself accountable to

yourself, not just your supervisor. I was given a lot of autonomy and held myself

accountable to my standards of excellence, refusing to turn in anything that I

wouldn’t be excited to receive (if the positions were reversed).

I created value for Rabbi Shemtov, future workers on A Joyful Life, and

myself through this internship. The value I created for Rabbi Shemtov was that I

gave A Joyful Life a clear vision for the future and an innovative business model

canvass that can serve as the blueprint for a business plan. The value I created for

any future workers is by narrowing down the scope of what needs to be

accomplished by getting the phases of ambiguous research and ideation out of the

way. I also leave a business model canvass to serve as a blueprint for any future

business plan they’d need to make. The value I gained through his process was:

ability to create a new and innovative business model, confidence to recommend my

work to my supervisor, and insight on to how to improve process in the future; and

that experience is truly the most valuable takeaway from this internship.

A Joyful Life:

A Joyful Life is a non-profit, whose mission is to get people to focus on the

joys of life and recognize the important role of spirituality in their happiness. You

notice if you are physically unhealthy (you may feel sick or weak), you notice when

you are emotionally unhealthy (you are depressed, sad, hateful, etc.), you notice

when you are mentally unhealthy (you may feel cluttered, unfocused, etc.) but rarely

do we notice when we, as humans, are spiritually unhealthy, which is just as vital as

our mental, physical, and emotional health. A Joyful Life will host weekly or bi

weekly meetings that are set up in a comfortable, in formal discussion setup (think

coffee shop discussions or support groups). The purpose of the group is to create a

comfortable atmosphere with open-minded individuals in order to get people to talk

about their spirituality, something that is important to everyone but no one likes to

talk about. We also have online discussions called Forums, where people can access

the website and enter reddit-style discussions (with a max size of 20 per group so

everyone can share their thoughts). Discussion leaders lead the physical and digital

meetings; they are people who have some advanced knowledge on the subject of

spirituality (ex. open-minded religious leader, PHD in Philosophy or theology,

spiritual authors, etc.) The in person events will also have food (because what

brings people together more than food?). AJL will also sell merchandise with its

brand and various slogans on it. This serves: to spread awareness of the mission, be

a reminder to the “Joyful” of why they’re involved, and to provide a revenue stream

outside of donations to cover expenses.

- Contact me for any questions regarding the work I’ve done: tue62146@temple.edu