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You’re at your lowest low. The business is in debt.  You don’t know how to pay the employees and they are about to walk out.  Your vendors won’t stop calling for payments past due.  You’re on a 3-day eviction notice from your apartment. Post to Instagram You can’t think straight because of all of the anxiety and stress. You’re on the edge of the cliff. You’re all alone. I’ve been here before, and its not a good feeling. About to commit entrepreneurial suicide (i.e. go and get a JOB and become a laborer….the horror!) But I knew there was only ONE way out of this. You don’t realize God is all you need, until God is all you have. So here is the solution:  Read Psalms 91 entirely…over and over… I want you to realize that in Psalms 91 was written to assure believers that those who trust in God can expect security. Entrepreneurs, isn’t that what we want?  Security!! Read Psalms 91….write it out….read it for 7 days straight. Psalms 91 You who sit down in the High God’s presence, spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow, Say this: “God, you’re my refuge. I trust in you and I’m safe!” That’s right—he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards. His huge outstretched arms protect you— under them you’re perfectly safe; his arms fend off all harm. Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night, not flying arrows in the day, Not disease that prowls through the darkness, not disaster that erupts at high noon. Even though others succumb all around, drop like flies right and left, no harm will even graze you. You’ll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance, watch the wicked turn into corpses. Yes, because God’s your refuge, the High God your very own home, Evil can’t get close to you, harm can’t get through the door. He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go. If you stumble, they’ll catch you; their job is to keep you from falling. You’ll walk unharmed among lions and snakes, and kick young lions and serpents from the path. 14-16 “If you’ll hold on to me for dear life,” says God, “I’ll get you out of any trouble. I’ll give you the best of care if you’ll only get to know and trust me. Call me and I’ll answer, be at your side in bad times; I’ll rescue you, then throw you a party. I’ll give you a long life, give you a long drink of salvation!” If you’re an entrepreneur 3 feet from the edge, I would pick up the entire book of Psalms from the beginning and start a reading plan every morning through it. #BusinessBibleStudy #DebtFreedom

I graduated from Cornell University in 2003 with over $100,000 in debt.  Here I was, 21 years old, carrying around that kind of weight. From the moment I graduated, I was always stressed out about this debt. How was I going to get ahead with a $750+ monthly payment? I got a job. But the job wasn’t paying enough. So I started throwing parties on the side. Since I was making money promoting, I quit my other job to do that full-time. But that soon wasn’t paying enough, so I started a web & graphic design agency with a couple of my friends. This same trend continued for over 10 years. Although I kept the agency for over a decade, I kept on pursuing new entrepreneurial ventures and working hard because…well…I had $100K to pay off after all. I didn’t want to be addicted to working and starting businesses.  It came at our the stress that debt caused. I figured I needed to work harder and do more so I could free myself from the shackles of bondage. But it didn’t work.  In fact, I got into MORE debt. We entrepreneurs have various “stressors” in our lives that lead us to the work addiction. For me, it was this looming debt and need to prove to my parents that I could pay it off myself. Now we’re getting deeper…. In order to understand our addictions, we entrepreneurs need to go deeper below the surface to understand WHY we’re even addicted to working. Work addiction isn’t shallow. It’s developed over time, over many layers.  And if we’re pursing or worshiping it more than God, we have a problem. Entrepreneurs face many opportunities for stress: bad partnerships, unstable client relationships, thoughts of scarcity, feelings of inferiority, keeping up with the Jones’s, social media envy, and coveting other people’s businesses, just to name a few that I’ve been through myself.  Essentially, anything that takes us out of our comfort zone. What happens when these “stressors” persist over time? They become deeper, and we become confused and think we have no purpose or identity….and we even question our faith in God. How do we get out of this mess we’re in? The bible says “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11 28-30 NIV You are a Godpreneur. You are made in God’s image. Because of this, you must deal with whatever stresses you in the way that God, your designer and CEO, has made you to, rather than allowing your stresses to lead you to addictions. God has built you in a way such that your ultimate happiness and relief can only be found in Him. All other solutions are temporary, and in many cases you will be worse off than when we started (like me…I got into more debt). If we pursue temporary solutions rather than taking our stresses to God, we will develop work idols and addictions. Ultimately, God has provided the best solution to our pain—the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Godpreneur Rule #92:  Godpreneurs are too blessed to be stressed. #DifferentiatingMyself #DebtFreedom #SharpenLeadership

There’s a used car dealership I pass by on my way to the gym that has a big sign outside that reads “No Credit, No Problem.” While I can’t knock them for their efforts in advertising and drawing clients in, it still pains me to see the sign and know that people are falling for it every day. No credit?! Then that means the person shouldn’t be buying a car in the first place. It means they need to try to find another means of transportation while they fix their financial situation. This same situation also happens to us business owners when we get the credit card promotions in the mail or as we’re checking out online. Everywhere, the enemy is trying to enslave us. As business owners, we can experience such a tremendous amount of financial release from God, but God’s only going to release it into the hands of people that can manage it…and manage it well! We entrepreneurs need to have the highest financial IQ of all people working on earth. God has entrusted us to come up with businesses so that we can hire more people and manage more of God’s money. But how is God supposed to give us more money if we can’t handle it? If we put things on credit cards, what does that tell God about the way we are managing our business? The bible says: "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender." (Proverbs 22:7 NIV) As Godpreneurs, the chains were broken, and you are to live freely in the marketplace. Unfortunately, it’s likely you are a slave right now. You and me both. I tore up my credit cards. I don’t buy anything anymore unless I have money to pay for it in my checking account. Listen, I too want the nice computer, the latest phone, and the nice car to show up to meetings. But I’m not here to impress anyone except God. And God is looking at the way I handle my money and making decisions on whether he’s going to give me more…or the other guy. Godpreneur Rule: Money will go to the Godpreneur that manages it the best. #BusinessBibleStudy #ArticulatingMyIdeas #ShareYourTestimony #DebtFreedom Attracting Money In Your Business, God's Way Educate yourself and prepare your business to steward the financial blessings God has in store for you. 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

By asking ourselves what we could have done differently, we uncover new, better systems, processes, products, and services to better serve our clients, so it doesn’t happen again. And most important of them both: to not fall into a culture of “victim mentality.” My company is 100% responsible for any complaint. We take 100% responsibility for anything that happens. We never blame our clients. And this has helped me create amazing services for my customers. The author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind feels the same way about money as I do about customer service. If we want to be successful in our finances, we must realize that we are in 100% control of our financial life. While it’s easy to blame the economy, the government, our parents, the market trends, and our best friend's neighbor dog for a reason we’re still broke, rich people don’t think this way. When we play the victim of our circumstances (which financially poor people tend to do), we tend to gamble (literally play the lotto) in hopes of getting lucky because some outside force is “holding us down.”  Rich people tend to not gamble, they have control of their finances and appropriate the money according to their plans. But God says we are VICTORS, not victims. And rich people act like VICTORS, and don’t wait for things to fall into their laps but move forward on the battlefield in a complete mindset of victory…that God already won the battle and it’s ours for the taking! The bible says I am victorious: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)" Listen, you and I are powerless without God to meet our own needs and bring true justice to our financial situations. You must see yourself as God sees you—not as a victim, but through the help of God, as an overcomer—and be thankful to God, and be willing to obey Him in your finances moving forward. God’s plan for you is that they have a victorious life even under difficult financial circumstances. Instead of seeing business life as oppressed, emotionally broken, and victimized, we are VICTORIOUS because we have the armor of God and are strengthened by Christ. As a Godpreneur, you’re a child of God, so you can’t put yourself in the role of the victim and blame anyone (clients, employees, the IRS) for your economic situation.  You are the one who decides the success of your finances, and you make the decision to use God’s strength (already given to you) to change your situation. Like I do with customer service if you catch yourself blaming anyone or anything for your financial distress, always remember that you are responsible and try to search within to see where you failed.  You might have hired an employee prematurely, without the proper interview or training. You might have failed to put a budget together for that project that you’re over hours on, and now you’re trying to blame the client or team for the bad performance. To break this ‘business blame game’ and stop thinking like a victim, we ‘Godpreneurs’ must make a list of the things that went bad financially in our business and pray and ask for wisdom on how WE were responsible, and what WE can do differently. We can partner with God to have the holy spirit speak into us about this.  We can take a day of fasting if we need to. We must start doing what we can do for ourselves to take personal responsibility for our financial situation, set healthy boundaries in our spending, and trust God to make us adequate for every task of handling finances in our business and personal accounting. Godpreneur Rule:  Rather than complaining about our business finances, we focus on points where we can make changes and do something for your prosperity. #BusinessBibleStudy #MakeMoreMoney #DebtFreedom #RaisingCapital Secrets of the Millionaire Mind A Christian entrepreneur’s book summary of the New York Times best-seller Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. 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 like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. In fact, it’s my job to listen. As a Brand Strategist, I have to listen to what the entrepreneur is asking for in the company they want to brand or rebrand. I listen to what they want on their website, the logo they envision, and the overall business direction they want to go in. I then have to wait and also listen to the little spirit within that will inspire me to guide the entrepreneur towards their born-to-do identity, the business they were perfectly made for. The key here is to listen twice before speaking once. Listen to the client, then listen to the spirit. It’s a mistake for me to jump the gun and speak too quickly. The Bible says: Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish. The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear a crushed spirit? Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge. (Proverbs 18:13‭-‬15 NLT) Being a good listener leads me to the opportunity to say something that may powerfully affect the entrepreneur's entire business direction, and thus their life. When I’m listening intently and I let the spirit lead my strategy sessions, my clients sit there and drink up every word I’m saying. Such a great feeling to be used by God to pour into my clients! And what a great moment to thus minister to my clients. This is when they are vulnerable because they are hungry for guidance. They are about to make one of the biggest decisions of their life, and here I am given the ability to consult them in any direction. I’m constantly driving home the fact that we only should be doing the business that God designed specifically for us. Christian or not, my clients melt and I’m able to minister because it has to do with their future investment. My clients think they have all the answers. Not all, but most. So most don’t ask for guidance. I have to package the guidance up as business consulting. They’ll buy consulting and planning, they won’t buy advice on what they were born to do. Sell the sizzle, feed them the steak. And because I’m a Holy Spirit driven Godpreneur who is a good listener, my client’s hearts change and they become like a sponge ready to soak up any advice that might bring more meaning (and profits and success) to their business. I can look back now comfortably at my clients and see that most too have become good listeners. They become a good listener to the life-giving words of God, given through me. That’s what happens when two spirits speak to each other. Godpreneur Rule: Learn to listen to your clients and the spirit and discover your ministry opportunity to your client’s heart. #SharpenLeadership

Check out Google Primer. It has marketing lessons you can take wherever and whenever you have 5 minutes free. http://g.co/primer I always encourage my entrepreneurs to find and stay in monthly marketing courses and mastermind groups.  This is a great supplement to those. Let me know about your experience. #MarketingMyServices

Every Wednesday I meet with my accounting and finance department to go over numbers. They hold me accountable to my goals. Every week there is a number to meet, a quota in sales to hit, so that we can keep track with our goals. I’m given two numbers:  a minimum number we need to hit to pay bills and a number that helps us accomplish our goals. The problem is that sometimes I look at that minimum number and say “God, if you’ll just help me hit my minimums so I can pay everyone off.  Even if I don’t get paid, Lord, pay everyone else.” I used to ask God to just help me pay the bills this month, and nothing more. We all have this survival mentality in us. “Lord, if you’ll just let me survive this month…..this season…this trial….” But here is what I know:  our God wants us to ASK BIG! When we pray and release our faith — when we ask God to work in our lives — our asking opens the door for His great work in our lives. But, we have to ask. If we can take the limits off of what God can do in our businesses, we can experience the abundance he has promised us! In the bible, Jabez prayed a bold prayer to God in 1 Chronicles 4:10. Despite his upbringing and surroundings, he dared to ask God for His blessing. “Oh, that You would bless me indeed.” After I learned this, I went to my daily prayer sheet and I started a new section call ASK BIG.  In this section I’ve written things like My whole family will follow the Lord God make me famous in my field, use my influence to help those that can’t afford it, so I can make a big difference in this world, not for my glory, but for yours Every person in this world to hear your message of identity Are you asking big prayers in your business, or are you letting your market circumstances, situations in the past, or how impossible it looks to meet that quota keep you from big prayers? Godpreneurs, don’t let a lack of asking keep you from God’s best in your life any longer. If we all would let this message inspire us to ask big,  we can walk in the fullness that God has for us and become everything God has created us to be! Listen to Joel Osteen’s full message:  Ask Big – http://pca.st/A3dz #WhatBusinessIShouldStart #IncreaseEnergy

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