How a Nightclub Promoter Found a Godly Path to Entrepreneurship
This post is the 2nd in a series of posts where I've been studying the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey from a Christian entrepreneur’s perspective, and I'm summarizing and Biblically backing up each of the seven habits. Scroll to the end of this article for links to the entire series.
In 2005, a couple of buddies and I started a branding and marketing company exclusively serving the nightlife niche. We were young nightclub promoters that saw that clubs, bars, and lounges needed specialized help to pack their clubs.
Then, in 2008, I had my "come to Jesus" moment and started going back to church. Surrounding myself with good, Godly people, I realized that the nightlife wasn't going to be a good place for me if I really wanted to give myself fully to Christ.
After a few years, I completely disassociated myself and my business from the nightlife industry and began my journey of leading a God-first business life. This new path gave me meaning and purpose, helped me find my calling, and led me to start my blog, Daily Godpreneur.
If I had stayed in the nightlife, that would have led me down a worldly path. However, I had a total shift in mindset, and it took me down a different path - a Godly path.
Entrepreneurship is a journey. And like any journey we set out on, we all could agree that a map is useful, right?
Now then, when we navigate the business world around us, instead of a map with streets and addresses, we use our paradigms to guide us. Paradigms are the subjective ways each of us perceives and understands the world.
A paradigm is not something you actively think about, but a framework for understanding reality. No entrepreneur is an objective operator. Everything we understand and every way we act in the business world is tinted by our own paradigms. For instance, an entrepreneur with a negative paradigm will perceive losing a prospective sale as a frustrating waste of time, while an entrepreneur with a more positive paradigm might see it as an unexpected opportunity to learn, grow, and remain content.
In his best selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Steven Covey teaches that since our paradigms are at the core of our characters, shifting our paradigms is the key to making lasting changes. Only in this way can we change our subjective realities – and, with them, our characters and behaviors. This is why we need to recognize and monitor our own paradigms; if we don’t, we won’t know which ones are holding us back.
In a Christian entrepreneur's case, the paradigm through which we approach business ownership is that our ventures are a unified story that lead us to Christ-likeness. This is the paradigm we should strive for.
My paradigm shift came when I realized that the Bible was one big book on business ownership. Reading the Word consistently is what eventually led me to let go of the nightlife industry. I'm convinced that it's the best self-help book on the planet for entrepreneurs. I'm sure that it contains all of the secrets to entrepreneurial wealth, wisdom, and success - I read it daily like a treasure map. This mindset has helped me see business ownership from a totally different perspective - God's point of view.
The Bible says
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” (1 Corinthians 2:12).
Scripture - the Gospel - is the paradigm shift that unlocks everything. Taking what you think to be the case in business situations, and showing you what you thought was the way things are, is not how they are with God. The gospel is the greatest example of a shift from the world's business model to God’s model.
This means the reason you do business differently is a complete paradigm shift from what you thought. You lead your company differently because the Bible becomes your new map to navigate entrepreneurship. The Gospel gives you a new heart, new desires, and the Holy Spirit who empowers you to do the will of the Father in the marketplace. In short, you do business God's way because you delight in God and God is most glorified when you are most happy in Him.
Imagine a world filled with highly effective entrepreneurs - ones aligned with larger, Christ-like principles, like fairness, honesty and integrity. Since the majority of people (Christian or not) agree that these principles are good, we can see them as permanent, natural laws. Therefore, the more accurately our map of paradigms reflects this landscape of natural principles, the more realistic our view and the better our chances of success in attaining lasting change.
After reading Mr. Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, I've concluded that attaining this kind of Bible-based paradigm is exactly what the seven habits are all about.
A Christian Entrepreneur's Perspective on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Introduction 1 - Why Your Character Defines Your Success in Business
Introduction 2 - How a Nightclub Promoter Found a Godly Path to Entrepreneurship
Habit 1: (coming soon)
Habit 2: (coming soon)
Habit 3: (coming soon)
Habit 4: (coming soon)
Habit 5: (coming soon)
Habit 6: (coming soon)
Habit 7: (coming soon)
I pray you enjoy the series as much as I enjoyed creating it!