Trying something bold and new…
Cross Create is an answer to a lofty, unrealistic, seemingly-naive question:
“Can unconditional love truly exist (even thrive) in the modern for-profit business world?”
My name is Travis Mitchell, a young entrepreneur in the Washington, D.C. area. I founded Cross Create as a result of wrestling with this question. This question actually came to me as I was thinking about my faith in Jesus Christ.
But first, let me quickly explain what “faith in Jesus Christ” even means…
I believe that Jesus was a man, God-incarnate, here to live perfectly and make a way for any flawed human (literally everyone else) to no longer be guilty in the sight of God. For those who repent and fully believe in Jesus, the one whom God sent, two incredible things (and more) happen:
- Jesus “picks up the tab” when it comes time for God to bring justice for every wrong-doing we’ve ever done. So we end up getting treated as if we were utterly perfect after we die.
- God’s spirit comes and lives within us, giving us the ability to actually start living more like Jesus now. So we start wanting to obey him more and he gives us strength to do so with selfless motives before we die.
What does this have to do with Cross Create? Well, here’s the short and sweet version:
- Jesus showed me truly unconditional love.
- He wants me to do the same for others.
- I wanted to know if I can do that through the business world.
- Cross Create is my experiment to find out.
Why not nonprofit?
There are countless nonprofits out there doing amazing work. And just by becoming a nonprofit they don’t have to pay taxes, often get free money, and many other benefits.
But my goal is not to save money, avoid taxes, or even to simply help people.
My chief goal is to bring Jesus’ unconditional love to the modern business world.
Right now, there is a divide between businesses and nonprofits. Nonprofits are often seen as the “selfless” organizations, freely giving without scheming to get something in return. While on the other hand, business give so that they can get something in return.
Social enterprises are beginning to close this gap, yet almost all of them are businesses that help nonprofit causes, without fully helping like nonprofits.
It can seem like a hard balance to strike… But I wanted to see if a balance needed to be struck at all. Can I create a business that helps unconditionally like a nonprofit, yet thrives in the business world.
“Is this even possible?” I faced the question without the slightest clue of how I’d make this work.
To find the answer, I had to think outside the box a bit. And almost 2 years of experimenting and just trying stuff resulted in Cross Create as you see it today…
Introducing Cross Create
Cross Create is a social project studio. That means that we are a business that creates social projects that help under-served markets.
We approach problem-solving from a different angle. Many businesses solve problems for people that can give them something in return (whether money or something else). We use modern tools and innovation to solve problems for those who get overlooked as a result (schools in developing countries, homeless shelters, young and everyday artists, and more).
How it Works:
- We find an under-served market
- We discover a new product we can build to help them.
- We build the product and set a goal for distributing it to new organizations each month.
- People who want to give freely with us can contribute monthly to supporting (and increasing) our monthly goal.
Our mission is to bring the best business help to the worst business customers (those who don’t have much to give in return). Our vision is to see truly unconditional love thrive in a for-profit business world.
This blog showcases the impact that we’re making each month with each of our projects. You’ll find descriptions, narration, pictures, and background info that will hopefully give you a front row seat to how this experiment is turning out.
If you’re inspired and want to join us in showing unconditional love, you can join the Cross Create Club to contribute to your favorite social project.
