I’ve had times of major disagreements with business partners, employees, vendors, and yes… CLIENTS! That’s never going to go away. We live in an imperfect world. Interacting with each other will naturally produce conflict. The only person that can change is ME. I’ve learned that if I seek peace by biting my tongue, showing reservation, and walking away, I can defuse any situation. But this MINDSET is difficult to achieve without a few key ingredients. First, the greatest book ever written on the subject of peace is the bible. It’s the book I wake up to almost every morning. Although the first half is almost all war, the second half is all peace. And that’s my second key the equation of peace: Jesus. Peace will always be an elusive dream in our businesses unless we first meet the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ Himself. It is Christ who can give us the serenity to be kind in the face of adversity with Business partners; it is Christ who gives us the ability to remain silent in response to angry words spewed in our face by a client; and it is Christ alone who will someday bring peace to the turbulent marketplace when He establishes His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. The Bible says: Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil; joy fills hearts that are planning peace! Proverbs 12:20 NLT If you’re really deep in anger and it’s even difficult for you to open a bible every morning, then at least set a daily reminder on your phone to repeat these statements to yourself while in the car or before work: I must choose to submit to the peace of Christ. My morning time in the word calms my inner person. I am a calming influence on others. I am filled with inner peace. Peace flows from my heart. I tune in to the peace of heaven. Christ said to the Samaritan woman at the well, “Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life” (John 4:13). Godpreneurs, as much as is within you, be at peace with all men. #SharpenLeadership #NewEntrepreneurs

In high school I was part of different cliques.  Since I played multiple sports, I had the Hispanic soccer players, the black football players and the nerdy chess players in my circles.  Because I had awesome grades, I had the smart, top of the class kids on my side.  I also associated with the rockers and punks because thats the music I identified with. So when it came time to run for President of the Student Council, it was a landslide victory.  I won, not because I had the best marketing plan or campaign slogan, but because I had deep relationships amongst almost every demographic in my school.  I became ‘one of them’ in every clique. We entrepreneurs have the ability to become one of our customers.  But it’s not enough to just pick one demographic or niche area.  Even within one group, there are different personality types and ways they like to be communicated with. It’s important that we have a desire to want to speak our customer’s language, walk in their shoes, and find out what keeps them up at night. Our customers want to feel like we know what they are talking about, what they go through.  But that can be so hard for us if we’re not truly looking to serve their needs over our own. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul describes his method of ‘winning souls’ as he’s on his missionary journeys.  He says in verses 19-23, "Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!" You and I are on a mission of our own.  God’s using you and me within our own markets, our own niches, to show others what being a Godpreneur is all about. We’re providing our service or product to a group of people that need to be able to relate to us so they can like, know and trust us. You can know your customers better by doing more surveys, asking them what they would like to see you provide.  You can also do quizzes and assessments to get to know their personality or buying behaviors to better speak their language. We, like Paul, would have much more success in the spreading of our company’s mission if we made it a point to become like our clients, think like they think, so we can serve them better. Godpreneur Rule #142: Godpreneurs are devoted to thinking like their clients so they can serve them better. #MakingMoreSales #TargetMarket&Niche

A few years ago I received a letter in the mail from a law firm. The firm was representing Getty Images, a website that sells stock photography asking us to prove that we purchased a certain image that was on our website. But we couldn’t provide the proof because, as the law firm suspected, we had used the image without purchasing it. We had to pay a hefty fine. From that day forward, we became extremely cautious with the imagery we use on our website and our clients as well. Now we follow the rules and pay for our stock photography. The fear of having to pay another fine keeps me on the straight path, even though there have been plenty of other opportunities to save money and just grab a free image I find on Google. We all have opportunities in our businesses to lie, cheat and steal.  We have ways to twist the truth, while covering it by making others think we are angelic. How can we CHANGE our ways? For me, a letter in the mail threatening a lawsuit if I didn’t pay fines helped me to change. But do we need a lawsuit, bankruptcy or a breakup to reach us a lesson? Well, actually, God will use whatever He can to get your attention and change your ways. In the book of Acts, we come across an event that makes my point. A husband and wife sold their land and donated the proceeds to the early church.  They told everyone that they gave ALL of the proceeds, but they lied, and only gave a portion. "Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” (Acts 5:4 NIV) That same day, they both died. The amazing part of this incident is that everyone else who heard about this stopped cheating. They saw that God doesn’t play. You can be told that downloading pirated movies is illigal. You can be warned by your accountant that using your company credit card for personal expenses is cheating on your taxes. You can cut corners on delivering the service or product that your customers purchased. But you can’t stop God from knowing your ways, and doing something to correct it. Knowing God is there to love us so much to want us to be better, we have two choices: 1) we can know that God expects more from us, and stop our ways, or 2) we can accept the consequences when the lawyer sends the letter and let it be a lesson for the future. We should be so lucky that God loves us so much to send us a lawsuit so that we can grow to be the best representative of Him in this world. Godpreneur Rules #74: Godpreneurs have a healthy fear of God that helps us grow. #StrengthenIntegrity #WorkLifeBalance

In my company Creative Complex, we’re united to help entrepreneurs find their God-given identity…what they were born to do!  We do this by, first, making it very clear that to have a calling on your life, there must be a ‘caller’.  We’re not ashamed to talk about Jesus and share our testimonies of how the way our business USED TO BE, to how it is now.  In fact, for us to do the best possible work for our clients, we MUST tap into the spirit of our clients. We’re not crazy….OK, maybe we are!  We’re nuts about our clients understanding that in order to create a great brand, we must get to the core of why the company and entrepreneur exist!  Every person on my team, from my executive assistant to my graphic designer overseas, knows the plans we have as a company to reach over 10,000 entrepreneurs with our message. THIS IS NOT A PLUG FOR MY COMPANY. I tell you this to say that we are all united under one message and one cause: spread our message. When we entrepreneurs can find a message and a cause, we have the opportunity to unite people in our cause and create a movement. Some of us think that people are motivated by money.  We think that people are moved by bonuses, perks, or cool products to sell. And if we are motivated by these things ourselves, our workforce will be too. But God left a blueprint for uniting a workforce and creating a movement. In the second chapter of the book of Acts, God sends down the holy spirit into all the believers, uniting them under ONE CAUSE: Jesus, and spreading that love. The uniting work of the Spirit of God through the preaching of the gospel to the nations, in turn, brought about the knitting together of a new community of believers. Those who believed the gospel were all together and had everything in common. These new converts sat at the feet of those who had been taught by Jesus (Acts 2:40-47). The secret to a united workforce is that everyone must be preaching the same message.  What’s your company’s message?  Usually this is called your mission, vision or purpose statements.  All together, these form the key message you’re putting out. In my business, we’ve been able to tie our message into the same message of the gospel!  Heck, I feel like I’m killing two birds with one stone: I’m giving them a brand AND spreading the gospel!  When people do business with me, I want them to feel like they are doing business with Jesus, with a company that brings light and love.  I want my clients to have purpose! There is only ONE SPIRIT.  The closer we can tie our company mission to this one spirit, the closer we come to the one-ness we Godpreneurs are seeking in our lives. Godpreneur Rule #37: we seek for our businesses to be one spirit with God, and go out and spread that message to the world. #BusinessBibleStudy #SharpenLeadership #FindMyCalling

I have to admit that I let my business be guided by market trends, what my competitors are doing and, sadly, chasing after profits. I let outside factors determine the direction of my company sometimes. Other times, I’m guided by an internal compass and a desire to please God. It’s a constant battle. Whenever we entrepreneurs talk about our business plans and activities, we use terms like “my aims, my ambitions, my goals, my desires.” Some of us do things purely for ourselves, but most of us, unconsciously, perform with an eye of approval of some audience or other; Our parents, our staff, our competitors, our clients. The question is not whether or not we have an audience, but which audience we have. Only one audience matters:  God. An entrepreneurial career lived listening to the decisive call of God is a life lived before one audience that trumps all others – the Audience of One. Imagine running your business to only please one person.  Imagine doing everything with such perfection because you work for God, for His purpose and calling in your life. Imagine a world where every entrepreneur lived to please God.  I’m not saying everyone drops what they are doing to become a pastor.  No.  Right where you are, in your current industry, what if you worked to only please God. That’s my mission in life… showing entrepreneurs what it’s like to run a business for an Audience of One. I’m trying daily. #SharpenLeadership

The other day I heard great preaching! In summary, the pastor said that the same anointing that’s on a preacher is the same anointing on me and you. He referenced a part of the Bible where both the King and the Prophet were anointed. What I realized was that a prophet has a vision, but can’t do anything without the King going out and making the money necessary to bring the Prophet's visions to life. Follow me here, or you’ll miss something very important: in order for the church to do ANYTHING, they need money…like any other business in the world. So God not only anoints the pastor of your church, but He anoints YOU (the King) to go out and conquer markets, win the battles of business, and bring back the spoils (money) so that…the mission of the church can spread. We think, as entrepreneurs, that in order to give ourselves completely to God and to follow Jesus, we have to let go of our businesses and become preachers and go to seminary school. WRONG. That’s for a select group that has been CALLED to that. You….the entrepreneurs…the Godpreneurs….have been anointed as KINGS and QUEENS of your markets, and it’s your calling to go out and WIN so you can help build your church, so in turn, they can accomplish their mission of spreading the Gospel, which now just became your mission! If we focus on the gospel and the mission of our local church, and less on our success or influence in business, God will do all of the work in bringing you the monies necessary to accomplish that. We see this in the book of Acts. Peter is walking into the temple and comes in contact with a lame (paralyzed) man from birth. This was the exchange: “Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.” (Acts 3:6‭-‬8) It’s easy to think here that Peter healed this man. But the healing came from the power of Christ. Peter’s identity in Christ, and his conviction to spread that word, did all the healing. Peter was being obedient. To have the most meaningful impact, we have to worry about our success and influence less and less, and the gospel more and more. This is why it’s necessary for us Godpreneurs to make big goals that are beyond our own wants and desires. It’s OK to have a goal to buy a home.  But above that, you should be having a goal to contributing at least 10% of your company income to the church. If that goal isn’t present, then we’re robbing OURSELVES of the opportunity to remove layers of selfishness, pride, and vanity that can so easily entangle the entrepreneurs.  Including me. Imagine if we can get to a point in our businesses where we die to ourselves, our desires, and our need to make our own kingdom great. For Christ to increase, we must decrease (John 3:30). Godpreneur Rule #90: We have been anointed to be great businessmen and women who contribute to their local church’s mission. #BusinessBibleStudy #SharpenLeadership

Today I want to talk to you about clients confirming your plans. All entrepreneurs have these grand visions of seeing our products and services succeed.  We would buy our own services, and we’re 100% sure everyone in the market will buy it too! If you were in corporate America, you’d have to go through months, sometimes years of product development and testing to come out with a new service offering. But if we just do a little listening to our clients and some basic planning, God will use our clients to confirm our plans. In 2015 I made some major shifts in the direction of my business.  Towards the end of that year, I started to let God control more and more of my business.  I was so focused on doing everything myself, I wasn’t letting God into the entire process, even service development and prospecting. One day I woke up and said, God, I want to serve the people you want me to serve. I want to bring identity to those entrepreneurs that YOU’RE trying to save, that you’re trying to be a part of their business more. You see, God evangelizes wherever we’ll let him.  He’ll use you, the entrepreneur, to get to other entrepreneurs who he wants to be involved with. That very same day, after declaring that morning that I wanted to be used by God, 3 POTENTIAL clients called me back-to-back-to-back.  I spoke with each one, and each one was in the same place:  they each wanted a higher meaning and purpose for their entrepreneurial lives. I hung up the phone so happy after the 3rd person, I just thanked God for using me to reach entrepreneurs. What am I saying? If you align yourself with the plans that God has for you, God will use your clients to confirm the service offering that you should be focusing in on fully. When the children of Isreal were at the point before crossing the River Jordan into the promised land, they sent out two spies to check out the city of Jericho.  While they were there, they came across an inn keeper by the name of Rahab.  She was an entrepreneur, a hotel owner.  She wasn’t Israeli, she was actually the enemy. But she was different than the rest of the people of that city, and God was going to use her in a major way. Rahab spilled the beans to the two Israeli spies.  She said to them in Joshua 2:8-14 “I know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you.” Imagine you’re on the phone with a client and they tell you “I just know that you were placed here to help me, I felt it.” This surprising outburst of faith shows how God had a plan in bringing Rahab and the spies together. And see, it is the same kind of thing we see when God supernaturally brings us to clients who are open to our products and services.  God will use seemingly unimportant clients at the right time to confirm your business growth plans, your products and your services. But how do we know that the next 3 phone calls are going to be the ones?  How can we tell if it’s from God? That day I spoke with the 3 clients that confirmed my direction, all 3 of them dropped clues of their faith in a higher power.  This is when I knew God was at work. Rahab continues in Joshua 2 to confess to the spies “And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.” Rahab’s declaration “He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” is proof of her faith. It is not strong faith and it is not perfect faith, but her faith is there.  In the same way, we’re not looking for clients to know their bible cover to cover, but just for a glimmer of faith.  We may not like the business that client is currently in, or we may have an impression of them as too small or even too big of a client,  but the fact is that God doesn’t see clients (and everyone for that matter) for their works, he sees them for their faith. Like Rahab, my clients knew who God was, knew who they were in themselves, and trusted God. You may be an accountant or a physical therapist.  You may feel strongly about a certain philosophy in your business style or your practice.  The clients that are for you are clients that will also show signs that they agree with your train of thought. For me, it’s important that my clients understand and know God, because, I do identity branding for their businesses from God’s perspective. #WhatBusinessIShouldStart

In Joshua 4:1-9, under the guidance of God and the leadership of Joshua, Israel was now on the other

I go through seasons in my entrepreneurial career. There’s a season where I expand on my ideas and bring them to life. Then there’s a season where I’ve pulled back on the expansion to hunker down on what I have in front of me and I'm waiting on the next move. But I get frustrated in the season of waiting. I’m not done with all the ideas I want to bring to life. I have the plans all written out, the right people to call, and the enthusiasm and determination to get them done, but something is saying “wait”. (And one time I ignored the call to wait and lost a whole lot of money.  That’s a different story for another blog post.) We entrepreneurs are visionary, which makes us impulsive at times.  We’re very connected to the spirit, that inner ‘feeling’ or gut instinct that guides us. Sometimes our own desires get in the mix of the gut feeling and we rush into things prematurely. But what if this waiting period was actually meant to be a period of growth….inner growth. Maybe this is a time that God is calling you to be much closer to Him than ever before! I learned something profound while participating in a Bible study of the book of Acts. God had the apostles wait 10 days in Jerusalem after Jesus’s death before sending them out to spread the gospel. Acts 1:4‭-‬5 in the Bible reads: On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with  water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” The apostles knew the plan, knew what they had to do, but were commanded to wait. You may have these amazing plans of reaching so many new customers with your amazing product or service. Your offering might even be something ministry-related that will help the church so much! But God sometimes asks us to wait….to build us up, make us stronger, bless us with an anointing that we needed to receive or a lesson we needed to learn. We Godpreneurs can think that it’s all GO, GO, GO all the time, that there’s no time to waste, that we must ACT NOW! Can I share with you that the most growth I have done spiritually is in the season of waiting, hunkering down, stacking chips, refining my process, calling my customers more, providing more value, but most importantly, gaining more insight into the person of God…while I wait on His next move for me. Godpreneur Rule #16: We regard every day as a precious gift of time to spend in preparation for what He will do through us. #BusinessBibleStudy #SharpenLeadership

I used to think it was my lack of leadership skills.