Hats

Hi, my name is Holly.  I have been working as a full-time employee since August of 2024.  I have been involved with My Father’s World before my full-time role.  I currently wear numerous hats (have many different responsibilities), as do many here at My Father’s World. 

One of my hats most recently added is the title of Assistant General Manager of My Father’s World Books.  I assist the General Manager as well as work alongside our management team to guide the business.  We have a great leadership team at the book company that cares for our employees and our customers.  We want to create a strong business that serves both, but also provides funding for Kingdom work around the globe.  I am personally trying to find ways to make sure our employees are valued and appreciated.  We spend many hours at work and all of our employees play a vital part in our company and, most importantly, they are also part of the Kingdom of God.

Another hat I wear, though the title is unofficial, is Purchasing Manager.  I am responsible for making sure we purchase the items we do not produce ourselves, i.e. all of the books and items we do not print or publish.  I work with a team to order sufficient quantities based on predictions of what we will need, while taking into consideration the following:

• cash flow - we have to be able to pay for the materials
• space - I don’t want to have to store them at my house
• timing – both to arrive in time for our use, but keeping in mind our vendors’ busy seasons.  For example, we do not want to try to buy recorders in the middle of summer.  They will be out of stock, as they will have just supplied public schools.
• prebuilds – products we pre-package to help us move orders out faster during our busiest times.  We take our most popular packages and break them into small sets and package these ahead of time (in our slower time of year).  Then, instead of picking 15 items to put in a box, we can pick the preassembled box and add the remaining items necessary.  This results in faster picking, so we can get orders out the door during our busiest season, and at our best efficiency. 
• lead times from our vendors – it won’t help me to order two weeks before I need something, if it typically takes a month to receive it from a vendor.  Some of our vendors don’t make the product until we order it.  
• changes – our vendors occasionally update their products, and we like to make those changes as seamless as possible.  We need to run out of the previous version and be prepared with our updated materials.  Sometimes, the changes require us to update our Teacher’s Manuals, and/or Student Sheets.

My hope is to keep us well stocked within these parameters so we do not have to tell our customers we have to backorder their item/package.

Serving on our Change Team, is yet another hat I wear.  This team is responsible for all the details that need to be taken care of when a change is going to happen.  This could be a new edition of a book or packaging change from a vendor, an internal improvement, or a new product we want to offer to better serve the customer.  We are working and perfecting our system to making sure we dot all our i’s and cross all our t’s.  We want to be efficient and effective with our changes. 

One of our most recent changes was offering the DIVE math program for streaming or download.  We made this change because many of our customers don’t have a way to use the DIVE CD since most computers no longer have CD-ROM drives installed.  This required plenty of background work including working with the vendor, creating new part numbers, updating the website with both a picture and description change, as well as changing our Daily Lesson Plans.  Our goal is to make these changes at the opportune time with as few issues and as little confusion as possible to best serve our customers’ needs.

Did I say we wear many hats here?

Hat number…I didn’t keep count…IT Systems.  I facilitate from a management level our IT Systems here at My Father’s World.  We have a wonderful on-site IT guy, Scott, who amazes me at his thought process and what all he can accomplish.  We also have an outside team that assists us with different projects and regular tasks.  I’ve been learning how to be a simple level backup for Scott. I am also trying to understand, at least on a high-level, what systems we have and why, be involved in future planning, and help represent this department to the leadership team. 

There are a few more minor, I’d almost say, “hair clips” instead of hats, that I won’t bore you with. I’ll only cover this one last hat:  I also serve as our Owner’s Executive Assistant.  This entails managing his email, calendar, researching information, having brainstorm discussions, etc. to help him with the managing the business for the Kingdom of God. 

I look forward to sharing more of my story with you in the future.
Holly S.