I’m a big planner.  Heck, I planned my wedding!  My wife would disagree, but I pretty much planned the whole thing out 🙂 When it comes to my business, I’m big on planning as well.  Because of my education at Cornell University and the skills I learned in creating a business plan, I’ve always been one to write out where I want my businesses to go. Creating a plan (not the perfect plan) was essential to my business growth.  The plan didn’t need to be perfect, and things always changed, but there needed to be a vision of the strategic plan. But if we’ll admit it, it’s not our natural inclination to plan.  No, we want to charge forth right ahead into the battle. You and I both know it’s not the right thing to do, but we do it anyway. Some of us have ZERO plans written down for business growth.  We either are too lazy to make a plan, we don’t know how to make a plan because we all didn’t go to Cornell (that’s no excuse), or we have “faith” that God will make a way and we just need to follow it. Some of us have a plan, but we’re the only ones that know it!  The plan can’t come fully from you (the leader) and it can’t be only in your head. Others of us have too many plans!  Or the plans aren’t “perfect” so we never go forward. But God shows us that preparation is key to entering your strategic growth plan that he has for you. Today I’m going to show you 3 reasons why we should be planning our business’s strategic growth. At the beginning of Joshua 2, we find Joshua sending out spies into the land. "Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” (Joshua 2:1) Us entrepreneurs might wonder, why Joshua sent out the spies. If he was really trusting God, was this necessary?  Didn’t God promise success?  Why didn’t he just go in step-by-step slowly and cautiously following God?  After all, God would fight this battle, right? I think we can learn 3 things for Godpreneurs needing to plan. Faith Doesn’t Mean Presumption Faith that God will provide doesn’t mean you don’t plan.  We can’t fully trust our intuitive feelings and wants and desires. Faith in the Lord’s provision should never lead to presuming on God’s decrees or sovereign actions, our intuitive feelings, or on our wants and desires.  Faith wants to look for principles and applications and facts to back up that faith so we can make wise decisions as business owners.  You don’t just have faith.  You get faith, then you seek to back up that faith with fact.  If God wants to intervene in the future and help you grow, awesome!  But you don’t presume, you plan. Believing is Seeing (and Hearing) It’s wise for you to plan because others can read the plans and see things for themselves.  Even having your team do a little research on the market will help encourage them. Evaluate Where You Are Going Where are we? Where are we going?  What are we doing?  Planning makes you like inside and out to discover the calling of our lives, our gifts and talents, our weaknesses, hindrances, and the circumstances of the forces that we’re going after when growing our businesses. Once you and your team have spied out the market you want to conquer, then, based on this information, establish growth plan, goals and objectives along with priorities and attack the market accordingly, all the while resting in God’s intervention and direction.  Start with the things that are the most important and work on them one by one. This just isn’t for business.  If we do this for our personal life (spiritual needs, physical needs, educational needs), our family life (relationships, spiritual needs, etc. as a family), our church life and personal calling and so on, we would all receive God’s blessings and favors more because we put in the time to not go in blindly. #BusinessBibleStudy #WhatBusinessIShouldStart

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 my next series of teachings, I want to talk about overcoming anxiety in business. So many times in our businesses we are faced with an incredible circumstance: a big contract up for negotiation, hiring a key position, pulling the trigger on a big expense, letting someone go. Think back to a day when you were waiting with great anticipation and excitement. Think back when you were waiting anxiously on a decision, nervous. Depending on the nature of that day’s decision, it was either excitement or anxiety. And even when you’re faced with winning a big contract, the anxiety of figuring out how you’re even going to fulfill on that contract starts to eat at you. Business life is like that. Often, with our hopes at their highest, there are accompanying challenges and problems that we face at the very same time. What I’ve come to discover is that this is a great opportunity to come face-to-face with God’s ultimate purpose in our business lives: depending on Him. You see, more often than not, especially for self-made Godpreneurs, is that we are facing problems that we cannot solve: this customer I must sell, that person I must hire, this business debt I must pay, those clients I must endure, that habit I must break out of an employee, this vendor relationship I must salvage. But that is business life we live in today. Along with our hopes and joys in growing our businesses, there are always problems for which we simply have neither the strength nor the wisdom to meet the challenge. We need strength from above. The battle is really God’s and this is what this next series is about for Godpreneurs: Overcoming Business Barriers. This is where the children of Israel find themselves before crossing the River Jordan into the promised land. God told the people of Israel to wait three days at shores of the Jordan River (Joshua 1:11). All that time, the people of Israel saw a rushing river, swollen with spring rains laying in front of them. They must have asked, “How can we ever cross this river?” At a moment like this, all the awesome talk about living in the Promised Land can go out the window. There’s a huge obstacle blocking the way – how will God pull this one off? I have 3 Keys that entrepreneurs need to remember when facing, for example, times of business expansion that can be both exiting and nerve racking. Today I’m going to share Key #1, and in the next 2 posts I’ll share the 2nd and 3rd keys. Key #1: God Leads the Way The first key to overcoming anxiety in business is God leading the way. My business has recently been going through a period of rapid expansion. I feel God leading us across our own River Jordan into the Promised Land. In the agency world, this is called “making an agency run”. Essentially, we’re building big agency. There are many ways to expand your business, but most likely it will come with adding on new people. Hiring and firing are not my favorite friends in business. We’ve had a….rough past. I’ve gotten into IRS problems with not paying employee taxes, I’ve had a series of bad hires, and I’m horrible at letting people go. In fact, one time I had one of my employees let go of another employee because I couldn’t face the music. Yeah, that’s how much I coward away from the subject. But this time I’m doing things differently. I’ve discovered that the key to my business growth is focusing on God’s presence and resting in Him. We entrepreneurs all have times of big decisions, especially when you’re on a mission to grow. And if we would admit, we all have that weak spot that makes us nervous about the growth. Mine was hiring the right talent. We’ve come so far, we feel the time is right, but there’s an obstacle threatening to kill the entire plan. Joshua 3:3-5 says And they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.” If you notice, God didn’t just yell ‘CHARGE’ and everyone rushed over the river. Instead, Joshua send the priests who carried the ark of the covenant, which was the visible representation of God’s presence with the people. Joshua knew that he was facing a spiritual problem. Israel was only going to overcome this great barrier if they set their eyes on God’s presence, and followed only after His presence. You may be trying to overcome barriers on your own. God wants you to know that as you traverse new waters, God wants to lead the way! We entrepreneurs have a natural instinct to do things on our own. But Godpreneurs understand that, like Joshua, we have a God that owns our business and goes before us to overcome barriers so we can enter into our Promised Land of business. #GainConfidence #BusinessBibleStudy #GodpreneurAcademy Overcoming Anxiety in Business A 3-Day Business Bible Study to Throw Off the Shackles of Anxiety and Live in Freedom Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

Hiring new employees in 2016 was a big deal for me and my company. I honestly didn’t have faith in myself to lead a group of people in growing an agency. I had been burnt in the passed, mistakes I made as a young entrepreneur. But I felt God saying “now is the time”. The problem was this: there was no money. “How can you hire people when there is no money?”, my accountant would ask. Let me clarify: there was money, but it was in accounts receivable (in other words, we still had to do work to collect it). Since I had been reading my bible every morning and drawing closer to God, I just felt an overwhelming petition from God to round up new team members and take the step of faith, regardless of what my past fears were or what my bank account said. We entrepreneurs will always run into moments like this. Moments that we need to have tremendous faith. This is EXACTLY where God wants to meet us. He wants us, as leaders, to know Him so well that we would trust that He delights in our winning! And that’s where we find Joshua and the children of Israel right before crossing the river. In part 1 of my series Overcoming Anxiety in Business, we learned that we need to let God lead the way in our business lives. He goes before us to overcome big battles. But now it’s time for the rubber to meet the road. It’s time to pull the trigger. God lead the way, but now Israel must cross the river. In Joshua (14-15) we read about the faith of the priests and of Joshua. "So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan." Wow, how incredible of a feeling it must have been for the priests and for Joshua. How were they supposed to know that God was going to, once again, part the waters for their crossing?! First, God’s done it before in the past. See, faith is about remembering the past and trusting on God’s word. I bet Joshua had that faith because he kept remember what was done when Moses crossed that impossible body of water. Second, Joshua is remembering the promises of Joshua 1:8 where Joshua learns that he needs to stay in God’s word, and God will make his ways prosperous and he will have success. If you want to experience God’s blessings in overcoming obstacles, you have to have faith that God has already brought you through obstacles and he’ll do it again, and you have to be obedient to God when he instructs you to be in His word “day and night”. That doesn’t mean you need to literally read the bible all day. But as Godpreneurs, it means that we carry ourselves throughout the day in God’s presence. Imagine if all Godpreneurs had faith like Joshua in all of the decisions we made. Where would our businesses be? Would we have made some decisions differently? #GodpreneurAcademy #BusinessBibleStudy Overcoming Anxiety in Business A 3-Day Business Bible Study to Throw Off the Shackles of Anxiety and Live in Freedom Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

I read a lot of books on entrepreneurship, leadership and productivity.  Each book has a different golden nugget that I take and apply to my life and sometimes to my daily routine. One tip that has become a game-changer was writing down my victories every day. I started documenting my wins in business by keeping a bullet point list. By writing down and then reviewing my list of achievements, I’m always staying in a mindset of victory, even though any given day can be a defeat. I write down my victories for the day at 10 pm at night on a Google Doc. Then in the morning I’ll review that Google Doc and see my victories. And if it’s a MAJOR victory, I’ll put that on a separate Google Doc called “Daily Things to Do” and that’s where I’ll have a 30,000 foot view of the major wins in my life. We all have victories in our days, probably more than the defeats. But the problem is that when the defeats come, then OVERCOME our minds, practically erasing any victories.  Even the smallest defeat can erase the largest victory. We often fail in our trust of God because we forget the great things He has done, and often the faith of our children is weak because they have never been told how great God is and how real His working is in our lives. Maybe you’re reading this and you’re going through a financial drought, you don’t know where the next check will come from, bills are piling up, and you’re experiencing defeat.  Especially in a time of drought, we need to remember the great things God has done. Similar to the productivity books I’ve read, God has also instructed us in the Bible to set up reminders that will keep us in His presence and remembering what He has done for us. Once Israel had crossed over the Jordan, God had them set up a reminder. Joshua 19-24 says, “Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.  Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; “for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.” There was obviously a purpose in the memorial stones for the people of Israel themselves. It is so easy for us to forget the great miracles God has performed on our behalf. You don’t remember the past great works of God so that you can live in a dreamland of the past, thinking that the best days of your entrepreneur experience are behind you. You remember them as a point of faith, so you can trust God for greater and greater works in the future, because you have seen and experienced His past faithfulness. There is an important purpose for your children too…so they would have a point of contact with God’s work in the past, and remember that God’s work did not begin with them and their time. There’s also an important purpose for your employees and future employees of your company. They can be more tied to the brand and purpose of your company if they know where God has worked in your business in the past, confirming that He will continue to work there in the future so they would know that there is a God in heaven who can work miracles, even in business, a God they should seek with all their heart. Imagine if we could keep our mind focused on God’s victories, positive things He’s done? Imagine one day we pull out this HUGE list we’ve been accumulating for decades?!  Wouldn’t that be an amazing list to just sit by a beach one day and read out loud to yourself and bask in the glory of God’s miracles in your life?. If we can do this daily, I believe we can develop the habits of the most important lesson I’ve learned so far in Joshua:  staying in God’s presence. #BusinessBibleStudy #WritingGreatCopy #StrengthenIntegrity #GodpreneurAcademy Overcoming Anxiety in Business A 3-Day Business Bible Study to Throw Off the Shackles of Anxiety and Live in Freedom Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

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

Since 2005, entrepreneurs have sought out my advice in business, mostly related to marketing and branding. Beginning in 2013, I’ve felt a deep burden to want to do more for those asking, a burning desire to be more to those that are looking to step into the world of entrepreneurship. While spending time with God in early morning Bible reading, this is what he revealed to me: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us…” (2 Corinthians 5:20, NIV) That burden….that burning desire that I feel…that’s God making His appeal through me. Godpreneurs, He’ll do the same for you if you allow Him into your business. He wants to make an appeal through you to reach your partners, employees, contractors, vendors, prospects and even people on your email list you don’t know. My Prayer for Today is “Father, thank You for choosing me and using me. Today, I surrender every area of my business life to You. Show me ways to be a miracle to others so that my life brings glory to You in Jesus’ name. Amen.” #FindMyCalling #FindingMyBrand #FindingMyPurpose

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 was listening to a sales training and the speaker said something that I can’t stop thinking about.  He said that the best sales people are selling something they really, truly believe will change the person’s life they are dealing with. I used to sell Carnival cruises to people.  It was my first sales job out of college.  I loved cruising!  Selling cruises was so easy because I, myself, was a cruise lover.  My wife can’t go on cruises, she gets sick.  She would make a lousy cruise sales person. But, I think I was missing another level of salesmanship that might have made my sales percentage go up.  I’m not sure that, at the time, I felt that cruising could change someone’s life.  The reality is that IT CAN!  People going on a cruise can experience restored relationships, time with family you’ll never get back, and so many other ways it can impact your life. We entrepreneurs sometimes think our product or service is great because people need it, but do we really believe that A) it’s an amazing product or service, and B) it will truly change someone’s life? We are dealing with other human beings in our daily transactions.  People seek transformation, they seek to believe in something.  As entrepreneurs, the reason we exist is to satisfy these desires in an equal exchange. You get paid, they get what they really want. Imagine if we all thought our products changed lives!  We wouldn’t stop.  We would have the energy to push through rejection, disgrace, shame, hard times, and the other that stresses that come from sales. Without sales, there is no business…period.  It’s the lifeblood of every business, so getting this right is paramount. In the book of Acts in the Bible, chapter 5 gives is a great example of how purpose, passion, and faith came together to provide a supernatural strength and resilience, even through the hardest of environments.  Even though the apostles were jailed and beaten for preaching the word of Jesus, they actually counted that as JOY and it only fueled their desire to go out and tell more people! "Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah". (Acts 5:42) God gives us an amazing example of how, as believers, we should feel about the gospel.  I also see an example of what it takes to have faith in what you are living and bringing to others. For my business, I’ve tied in the message of Jesus as much as I can so that I can piggy back off of the strength and power of the spirit and the calling of my life to spread the gospel.  Since I sell websites and logos to entrepreneurs wanting to start or grow their businesses, I know im in a position to not only give someone what they want, but I truly believe having a successful business will change their lives.  And if I can get the entrepreneurs to understand that God has plans for them to succeed in that business, and that they should tap into that power, I know I’m also helping others draw closer to God through a major part of their life: their work. I’m not the only person that can tie in a life change into their business.  We all can, we just need to seek it and look deep into what people are really buying from you. Godpreneur Rule #173: We Godpreneurs have the responsibility and duty to help our customers experience a change in their life. #MakingMoreSales #BusinessBibleStudy

I’m always surprised when I come across clients that want to just be normal.  I own a branding agency, so it’s kinda my duty to make you NOT NORMAL.  And yet time after time I’m confronted with the same fear…the fear of being unique. The essence of a normal brand is the status quo, being just like everyone else—in how we look, what we offer, what we post, in who we hire, what we spend our budget on, where we prospect for leads, what we do for fun around the office. Being normal is safe. And easy. It doesn’t require much work or effort or change on our part. But it always leads to mediocrity. Financially, the biggest problem with mediocrity is that it creates competition.  Since most people don’t want to ruffle feathers and stay status quo, these companies all end up looking the same in our eyes.  To us, they are competitors forcing us to make a choice. Competition is good.  But having a monopoly is even better! Think about it.  If I am the ONLY person in the world selling this product or service, I can charge more and make a ton more profit.  I’m unique, memorable and highly shareable simply because I’m the only one doing it. Apple is a monopoly.  Yes, there are other phone companies, but Apple has carved out their own unique world and are living in their own monopoly. If I strive to be just like everyone else, I never have a chance to be a special branding agency. When I start to embrace and even celebrate how special and different God made me, I can begin to do extraordinary things in and through my products and services. I can begin to see myself through His eyes. I can begin to live in the uniqueness with which me and my company were created. I can be motivated and inspired to go against the grain of the marketplace. What does that mean? When everyone around me is being a generalist and trying to be a jack of all trades, I niche and double niche. When other agencies around me confirm to the normal way of doing a project, I’m trying to innovate new methods. Going against the norm means having a different outlook on business than others. When everyone around me is working eighty hours a week so they can one day retire and start enjoying life, I’m cutting my hours by increasing my efficiency so I can spend time with my son this morning at the park. And instead of keeping up with the business Joneses, I can be grateful for what I have right now. I matter too much to God to be just like everyone else. I always remember my identity in God. He created me in a unique way for a reason. I am different in how I operate, how I think, how I create brands, and how I process my client’s information. I also have different client experiences, good or bad. I choose to say “God made me unique and I let this light shine.” God would agree. The bible says "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalms 139:14 NIV Whatever obstacles I face, whatever struggle I have with not confirming to business norms, whether I feel my brand isn’t good enough, strong enough, fast enough, innovative enough, I always know that I’m not an accident or a mistake. My business is fearfully and wonderfully made. What makes your business different, special, unique? How can you more fully live out the way that God made your business to be? #LaunchingMyBusiness

I’ve always told my clients that you don’t need marketing. As the owner of a branding and marketing agency, let me explain myself. When I tell my clients that they don’t NEED marketing, it’s because I’m trying to drive home the point that if you figure out what you were born to do, what your calling as an Entrepreneur is, what your purpose is in business, then God will magnetically attract business to you. You’ll be so “in the zone” that marketing or advertising wouldn’t even be necessary because people would talk about you so much that referrals and word of mouth would take over. But…you have to be willing to trust in your calling and drop everything else to focus on that ONE THING you were called to do. This is really a lesson on trust, and how much are we willing to trust in God and not our marketing or advertising campaigns. See, we entrepreneurs can start to rely to much on the things of this world as the provider of our happiness, success, or identity. We put so much trust in our employees, vendors and contractors as the thing that will make our business succeed. And when we start succeeding, guess what, we give credit to those things for our success. And if we fail, we ask God “why did you let me fail?” As entrepreneurs, we have trust issues. Our entrepreneurial self wants to take things in our own hands and control everything around us. But what happens when we’re in a waiting period and there’s nothing there except for God? Or what happens when we’re putting all of our eggs into this one Facebook advertising campaign as “the thing” that will really bring the business in. Or what if someone comes alongside and tells you that your business stinks and you should do something else, but you know you’ve been called to be where you are at. The good news is that God already saw this coming and made a way for us to fully trust in Him. We can’t afford to rely on the things of this world in our business. The Bible says: "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God". Psalms 20:7 NIV Here is the commander of the army telling us that he doesn’t rely on chariots and horses. Back then, the strength of your army was determined by the number of chariots and horses you have. Put it to you this way. It’s like the general of the army saying we don’t rely on tanks and airplanes, we rely on God. It’s not that we need to get rid of the chariots and horses, it’s that our mind needs to understand that those are vehicles God can use, but our entire existence is not dependent on those (very important) things. It’s not only important for you to understand why trust is important in your business, but why specifically is trust important to God. Trusting God in our business is an indicator of our heart’s condition, showing where our commitment and loyalty lies. Trusting God during a waiting period, during a major setback, or during a storm of bad public relations shows Him that we count on Him, not the world. It’s trusting that when you have a choice to make things work in your business by the world’s standards or by God’s, you choose God 10 out of 10 times. We Godpreneurs sometimes to struggle so much bm for this very reason: so that we learn to trust God more. When I faced my own struggles in business, upon reflection, I can’t help but think if it was all a lesson for me to trust God more in leading my business. Was the waiting period a time for me to remove me from me, so I could be filled with God and trust Him more? Thankfully you’re reading this and getting godly counsel to encourage you to trust in God and move forward with your calling! We must hold firm to what He has called us to in our businesses. Otherwise, we would be bending to the world instead of remaining steady to the course He has marked out before us in the marketplace. Our hearts need to reflect a commitment to God. That’s our testimony to employees, vendors and contractors. Lets all choose today to be Godpreneurs committed to the calling, purpose, and God-ordained direction on our business. Like my clients who hear my explanation of why they don’t need marketing if they trust in their calling, few will choose this path. But to those that do, God will pour down blessings on your business for those Godpreneurs who are faithful, loyal, and fully committed to Him. Godpreneur Rule: A Godpreneur’s heart reflects His commitment to God. Questions Are you facing a business battle that calls out your trust? Are you in a waiting period that has you holding on to God more now than ever? Perhaps a competitor or employee is coming against you as well? Is there is a situation at the office that confronts you to operate out of trust or fear? #BusinessBibleStudy #FindMyCalling #StrengthenIntegrity

Owning a business can produce some of the loneliest times you’ll ever experience. Even when I had partners, there were times I felt like it was just me against the whole world. I’m so used to making decisions on my own, taking risks by myself, and cleaning up messes from my vendors or contractors. It really does feel like a one-man-show. The danger here is that when the going gets tough, being alone can lead to depression, anxiety, and making poor decisions. If we’re in a waiting season, it can lead us to make a move before it’s time. If we’re faced with a great obstacle, being alone could make us cower away and retreat back, not letting us advance and grow our businesses. But that’s not how God designed it to be. Physically, we may run the business on our own, but God’s looking for us to make a big mindset shift. The Bible says "Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord , have never forsaken those who seek you". Psalms 9:10 NIV This means that God is right there with you, sitting at the corner of the desk, looking straight at you, ready to protect, defend, and honor you as a Godpreneur. Maybe right now you’re facing a situation in your business that requires all the trust you could gather up. The enemies in the marketplace tempt you in different directions, but you have to stand firm for what’s good and right for your business. This is when trusting God and his process will reveal its benefits: God shading you with protection, defending you from attack, and honoring you in the marketplace. The benefits of Trusting God will surpass all expectation, but the best part is that God will be by our side the entire time. Don’t miss this because this is the key to trusting God: regardless of the outcome, the mindset of following and trusting God is what will produce the victory. Godpreneur Rule: God is ready to protect, defend, and honor us as Godpreneurs. #GainConfidence

Back in 2014, I received a letter from the attorney of one of my clients saying my company was being named as a party in a lawsuit. The letter threatened that I could be sued for millions because of our involvement in their lawsuit. I was so afraid. Where was I going to pull money like this from? How was I going to pay the legal fees to help me defend myself from this terrible situation? I called some lawyer friends. Some suggested I send a letter. Others suggested that I needed to shut down my operations. Others said I need to hire an attorney to represent me. Finally, one of my friends and brother Christ told me that I just needed to do NOTHING. He said that these things usually settle in court and that chances are, I won’t hear about it again. I took his advice, but the letters kept coming, and I kept getting more and more afraid that I’d be bankrupt and be forced to shut down my operations. But then I listened to a great sermon that talked about putting my trust in God, and that He is our great defender! I started repeating this to myself over and over. Each new lawsuit updated letter came in, I’d look at it and say “God is my defender, I did nothing wrong here, God will vindicate me and guide me to move forward.” It’s been years since I received any information about this. It’s almost as if the entire thing went way. Not a peep. We Entrepreneurs are always faced with challenges that will test our trust in our great defender. We might be waiting for a huge financial break. God will guide us. We might be in the middle of a huge fight with our business partners. God will protect us. We might have lost our direction and need to center ourselves again in our calling. God will guide us. But what do we do when we’re trying to find a way to trust God, but it’s more difficult said than done? If you’re like me, this is sometimes the difficulty we face; mustering up the trust to keep pressing on. Listen, trusting God isn’t easy at first, but it will be necessary for staying on track in our businesses for the rest of our lives. The Bible says: "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you". Psalms 56:3 NIV When you’re afraid in your business, your flesh naturally wants to kick into survival mode. Do the UN-natural thing: trust God. There is no other way to fight fear than with the fear of God Himself. I’ve learned to associate the feeling of being afraid and fear to other thoughts that serve me and my business positively. Memorize verses of Trust – This is a great verse to associate to when faced with an unknown situation in business: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NIV). For a Godpreneur, there’s nothing stronger to fight the enemy of fear and doubt that the Word of God in the name of Jesus. Repeat Affirmations – another tactic I use is to repeat over and over “I trust in God’s process.” When you begin to repeat it enough times, you start to internalize it and believe it. Remember the Past – the only way these works is if you document all the times you trusted in God, and He came through for you! In times of difficulty, I often go back to my list of accomplishments and sprinkled in there are victories that came about because I trusted in God. When we’re shouldering deep in our business struggle, and we’re having to wait for something, trust that God will protect, defend and guide you. Imagine if all Godpreneurs trusted in God’s process as we grow our businesses. Imagine a world of people praising God, even as we wait because God hasn’t brought us through yet. Godpreneurs turn to God in our fear. Godpreneurs call out to Him when the trust is fading. Godpreneurs put our trust in Him; He gives us peace in our businesses. God wants to honor that kind or trust and He will not forsake our business ventures. There’s nothing stringer for our entrepreneurial career that God’s almighty promise to protect us, defend us, and guide us. #BusinessBibleStudy #GainConfidence #SharpenLeadership #FindMyCalling

My mind likes to switch back and forth from a defeated mindset to a victorious mindset. My defeated mindset is when thoughts creep into my mind that the idea I have isn’t going to sell, that the product I have isn’t going work in the marketplace, or that client is going to say no. My victorious mindset is when I’m super confident in my plans and that nothing is going to stop me from achieving this goal for my business. My mind likes to switch between both daily, hourly, constantly. Which mindset wins? The one I feed. So, how do I feed the victorious mindset? No matter what I am going through in my business, I must remember God comes through on time! Despite the product launch setbacks, client payment holdups, waiting periods of no sales, or seasons where it seems like God isn’t there. I trust that God is working everything out in the marketplace for my good and has positioned me for greatness for His divine purpose and plan; the plan I was born to do. As I live my life as a Godpreneur in Jesus Christ, I walk obediently in His will, word, and way because God says I’m already victorious. Do you ever feel like your business dreams won’t come to pass? Do situations in your business cause you to feel defeated? I love these verses I’m going to share because they are a reminder that we are already victorious, a this is the mindset we need to operate in more and more throughout our day. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 NIV "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9 NIV "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." 2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." Psalms 23:5 NIV "For we live by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV "The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing." Psalms 34:10 NIV As an Entrepreneur, It serves you no good to doubt in your mind. Your employees, vendors, contractors, prospects, and clients rely on you to have a winning mindset. They are looking up to you as their confident guide. And God is expecting you to know that He’s got your back always, no matter what, and He’s going to produce VICTORY. As a Godpreneur, God’s got such a fantastic business prepared for you. Nothing will be lacking. You’ll be firing off on all cylinders, and everyone will know it’s because of God. But what about the people you work with that don’t believe in God, and think you’re crazy for giving so much trust to a God that has nothing to do with business? We Godpreneurs run and operate God-honoring businesses which means we WILL experience naysaying ridiculers who doubt God’s promises for us.  These haters will even laugh at us because we elect to trust God in the challenging times in our businesses wholeheartedly and refuse to operate them apart from His glorious plan for the marketplace. Even though today things might not be going the way that we desire in your business, God has already lined up our perfect product offering, the people that will work with us, and the clients that we will serve. So when our minds want to shift over to defeat, we must stop and immediately remember some of the Bible verses I shared, and we must trust that we’ve already accomplished that thing we want for our business because God says so. Imagine if all entrepreneurs operated 100% throughout the day in God’s victory, wisdom, discernment, and peace. It would make the waiting so much better. #DifferentiatingMyself #BecomeDisciplined

I’ve been doing CrossFit since 2010. Beyond the physical pain, I’ve also grown in my mindset through the workouts. Lessons like discipline, competition, finishing strong, pacing, focusing, dieting, and more! One skill that I’ve seen serve me well time and time again is RESTING while in the middle of a workout. I’m not talking about a long rest, so the clock expires. I’m talking about short rest to regroup, reset, take a breather, get back up, and hit it hard again. If I go, go, go, then I’m going to burn out and not be able to finish. But when I rest for a moment and take in a deep breath, I can see clearly and attack the workout once again. In our businesses, especially while we’re launching our new idea, we could start out enthusiastically with a lot of fire and energy. The momentum begins to build as excitement for calling being released to the world builds. But if we’re not careful to rest, fatigue could get creep into the mind, and we stop seeing straight. We begin to make the wrong decisions because we don’t have enough oxygen (holy spirit) running through our bodies. We start to tap into our own strength (never a good idea) instead of staying hooking on God’s GPS. The enemy of “business” can disguise himself as productivity, and before you know it, we’ve exhausted ourselves, our vendors, and our team. But God’s word should give us hope that rest is actually something we need to discipline ourselves to do. In Psalms, King David writes: "The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name". (Psalms 23:1‭-‬3 NLT) When you’re a sheepherder, you purposefully stop your flock and go by one by one and make sure they sit down. Some go down without a fight, others are stubborn and still, want to run around. They eventually rest because of the good shepherd that cares for their long-term health and knows there’s a long journey ahead. You need to take a day of the week (Sundays?) and close up shop. Physically and mentally, we need to sit down and rest. I love Chick-fil-A because that’s the exact reason they close on Sundays. For 6 days they place is a madhouse. On the 7th day, they all rest. The Bible says: "In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord , will keep me safe". (Psalms 4:8 NLT) Maybe you’ve never experienced true “rest.” Maybe you’re reading this and thinking “are you kidding me, I can’t turn my brain off.” Trust me, I go through it too. Jesus says “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 NLT). You need more rest, but don’t focus on that, focus on the reality that you need more Jesus. God wants us Godpreneurs to rest. When we rest, it allows us to replenish our physical, mental, and emotional strength that keeps us fighting the battle of bringing our callings in business to life. Just as a good mother cares for their kids and makes them take a nap, God cares for us business owners. He knows the journey that lies ahead for us and the holy spirit with nudging us when it’s time to rest for a moment. Taking a rest break from “launch mode” doesn’t mean we are losing ground; it just means we are getting prepared for the journey ahead into greater things for our businesses. #BusinessBibleStudy #EnhanceFocus