Search results for "leadership"

I thought to myself, "man, Alex, you need to be praying moreover your own leadership and those of your

I received a nasty phone call from a client that wasn’t too happy about the progress my team was making on a project we were doing. There was yelling, screaming, name-calling, and blaming, followed by a barrage of insults and unsolicited advice on how my company should operate. Years ago, I would have fired right back and laid it on this client even harder than what was done to me. I’ve been chewed up and spit out before, so I know where this could have led. I’ve fired this client on the spot in similar spats and not thought twice about it – poof, be gone from my life. But I’m different now. I’ve learned the art of diffusing a situation and winning the client’s heart right back to me so we can course-correct and finish the project out with grace. We’ve all experienced terrible tirades from callous clients. Whether it was our fault or theirs, when expectations aren’t met, or some outside factors come into play, people stop being kind, and the relationship is threatened. At this point, we have a choice of mirroring the client’s feelings and engaging in the negativity or taking the higher road and diffusing the situation to come to a peaceable resolution. We know God would want us to take the higher road, but easier said than done. How can we change our ways when we’ve always been used to arguing back, flaring our temper, and defending ourselves to the point of destroying client relationships? The answer is in the most famous preaching ever given on the planet. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount lays out the eight beatitudes, which are qualities of the people that enjoy special favor from God. The third beatitude is Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5 NIV) Many people think meek means weak. Yes, they rhyme, but that are opposites. Meekness means power under control. Jesus even described himself as “meek and lowly,” but Jesus was the most influential and powerful man to walk the earth. If you’re looking to achieve greatness in your business, learning meekness will be critical for your success. When you are a meek entrepreneur, you have come to serve, not to be served. Therefore, you hold back asserting yourself for your benefit, but instead, display self-control that benefits everyone involved. The next time a client or situation makes your blood boil, and you feel the anger or frustration rising in you, remember the meekness captured by Psalm 37:1-11, which starts our with, “Do not fret because of the wicked,” and concludes with “the meek shall inherit the land.” In business, you have relationships with partners, employees, vendors, contractors, shareholders, clients, prospects, and competitors. At every point in our day, someone can threaten our ‘good mood,’ and from one second to the next, we could turn the world on fire. However, Jesus is guiding you to do as He did and curb your urge to use power to avenge the wrongs done against you or to build your image and instead use whatever power you have to serve and build others up. What does this look like in our businesses? For me, it has saved many business relationships, and even made them stronger! What could have ended up with a burned bridge built our relationship and landed me an even bigger contract and more referrals from the client I described at the beginning. See, because I kept my composure through all the insults, the client ended up telling me that he had a very long day, frustrated with so many other things in other areas of his business, that I was the one he took out his anger on. He apologized for his words and thanked me for keeping my cool. He commended me for keeping my composure and told me ‘that Christianity stuff is working for you.’ That’s what it’s all about! We Godpreneurs are God’s witness here on earth of what a relationship Christ can do for our personal development. Meekness is evangelism in business. Sure, it can be extremely challenging to give up our power to God’s agenda, especially in business. In a cut-throat environment where financial profit is god, it seems to be the self-promoting aggressive entrepreneurs who get ahead more often than not. However, anyone who looks out only for their interest loses out in the end. People who are thirsty for power are often lonely people, lacking in meaningful relationships. These people may have accumulated materialistic things and achieved monetary success; they will eventually find out that the world controls them. On the other hand, Jesus promises that the meek Godpreneur “will inherit the earth.” Jesus came to bring Heaven to earth, and when we display meekness, we’re doing our part to create this new heaven and a new earth in our respective marketplaces. Imagine if we all submitted our business power to God. Imagine heaven all around you – in every meeting, every relationship, every transaction. When we become meek, Godpreneurs, we receive God’s grace and all the good things we desire that otherwise might elude us. How are you going to use meekness today? I pray you’ll submit your power to God and let Him lead you to exercise control as Jesus did – for the sake of others. #BusinessBibleStudy #SharpenLeadership Jesus’s 8 Steps For Achieving Greatness in Business Achieving greatness starts when we learn about humble dependence on God and trust that He will always bring new resources into our business. 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

Are you feeling discouraged that business isn’t going the way you wanted? Has your business turned into BUSYness, and you’re overwhelmed? You’ve assembled your team, you have a plan, but the enemy keeps attacking from different angles. He’s got your team discouraged, and the once excitement in Restarting the business has now turned to them being afraid. If this continues like this, the business will likely fail and everyone is looking for a new job. But that’s not the plan God has for you. God has plans for you to prosper and grow! In the Bible, the book of Nehemiah gives us entrepreneurs an amazing example of how to lead through a rebuilding project. At the beginning of the project, there is encouragement, excitement, team building, and overall great spirits for what God was doing. However, in Nehemiah 4, we see discouragement settle into what was once an exciting revitalization of the rebuilding of the wall. Nehemiah 4:10-11 says "Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”  Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.” Nehemiah's project is being threatened by exhaustion, discouragement, and an overwhelming feeling that this is "project impossible." And to make matters worst, fear has crept into their minds. Sound familiar? You’re not alone in your struggle. This is every entrepreneur's rollercoaster ride when rebuilding, and relaunching a business.  You’re always in one of 3 places: in the middle of a trial, coming out of one, or going into one. Right now you’re in the thick of it. Successfully Restarting a business - God's Way - means you'll be honoring God more in the marketplace, and that’s not something the enemy will allow easily. We need to hold on to God's promises. We need to not give in and not give up. We need to pray up and press on! Victory is ours because God said so! All my best, Alex Miranda Get to know me at www.alexmiranda22.com P.S. I did a Business bible study called 40 Days to Restarting Your Business, God's Way. Check it out: 40 DAYS TO RESTARTING YOUR BUSINESS, GOD'S WAY A business Bible study to help you rethink, reinvent, and restart your business, but this time, God's Way! We parallel Nehemiah's rebuilding of the wall to your journey in rebuilding your business. Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out.

When I first started my business, the partnership between the founders was great! Two of my best friends and I, coming together to take matters into our own hands and leave the corporate life. But as we grew, we experienced conflicts with various parts of the business. From money to marketing, and hiring and firing, we bumped heads on a lot of things. Attitudes flared, pride jumps in, one email would set a wildfire of email attacks, and we were back in conflict. As entrepreneurs, we all experience conflict in business partnerships much as we do in our personal relationships. Joint ventures gone wrong, teams that fall apart, we have times where we feel left out, singled out, treated unfairly, or undeserving of a harsh comment. As I grew closer to God in the years that my business grew, I would begin to handle these conflicts differently. The Bible verse I had to memorize was Romans 5:3-4: “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” You have to learn to stop and ask yourself “what can I do to grow (or help someone else grow) in the midst of these experiences? You should trust God to work through the situation. Just pray. God will teach you and your partners valuable business lessons through dealing with conflict in entrepreneurship. Godpreneur Rule #28: In times of conflict, Godpreneurs realize it’s a moment of potential growth and pray for God to work through the situation in hand. #BuildMyPersonalBrand #AgencyOwners #BusinessPartnerships

One day, I had a new plan for rebuilding my company. I prayed about it, and now it was time to take action. I gathered up the people closest to me and formed a new team that would help accomplish the vision. What’s my vision? In a sense, it was the same as Nehemiah’s when he had the vision to rebuild the wall - I wanted to see my company rebuilt! Why?  Because God made me passionate about making sure people are living in the identity and purpose they were born for. I had a dream, a vision, a plan, and an unwavering commitment to seeing it through because this plan was coming from God. We’ve been praying and planning and plotting, now it’s time to set this business in motion. Nehemiah had a plan and there was no question that he believed it would succeed. Nehemiah 2:17-18 says "Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work." I love his commitment to the cause.  Here we find a man on a mission! Does your business feel like you’re on a mission from God to make it happen, or you’re just on a mission (Miami lingo for things not going as planned)? You need to gather the troops, unfold the plan, and get to work!  If they see that you’ve been called to do this, and if God has placed them there for you, they will give you a vote of confidence. If we’re all press play on the plans God has for us in living the identity and purpose we were born for, we as entrepreneurs will see more joy and happiness from what we do and there is nothing that will stop us. Get going with the plan! All my best, Alex Miranda Get to know me at www.alexmiranda22.com P.S. I did a Business bible study called 40 Days to Restarting Your Business, God's Way. Check it out: 40 DAYS TO RESTARTING YOUR BUSINESS, GOD'S WAY A business Bible study to help you rethink, reinvent, and restart your business, but this time, God's Way! We parallel Nehemiah's rebuilding of the wall to your journey in rebuilding your business. Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out. #WheretoStartFirst #FindMyCalling

When my business is doing great, I’m like ‘Yes God, you are amazing! Thank you! You’re rewarding me and pouring your blessings!’ When my business is down, I’m like ‘What did I do God? I’ll never do that thing again, I promise! Please stop punishing me!…’ I tend to see God the same way my parents raised me; Good gets rewarded and bad gets the belt. What goes around, comes around. I know I’m not alone. I think we all think this in business. A downturn in the financials has us thinking about where we went wrong. A customer service complaint has us dwelling on the past mistakes we might have made. The problem with what-goes-around-comes-back-around thinking is that it constantly has us walking on eggshells. Analyzing past actions to course-correct in the future is amazing, but analyzing the past to beat yourself up is exactly what the enemy came to do. To live in guilt will destroy the visions God gave us and put up walls of fear that will keep us from living the ‘risk it all’ lifestyle that an entrepreneur must endure. God gave us Paul in the book of Acts as an example of a man that knows his past but only focuses on his future. He’s not walking around shamed by the things of his past but instead focuses on the hope of the visions come to life of his future. In Acts 27 and 28, we see Paul get caught in a huge rainstorm on his way to Rome. There were 276 men on board this ship and Paul somehow finds a way to make this an opportunity to show everyone who God is. All men on board were prisoners and the guards in charge of them. All of them should have died, but Paul had a vision he shared, so their lives were spared. Everyone at home hearing about a shipwreck would have been like ‘they deserved to die for the actions that got them to jail’ but what goes around didn’t come around. God was good. While shipwrecked on an island, they were building a fire, and a venomous snake bit Paul. The natives on the island immediately said ‘this guy must be a murderer, he’ll be dead in minutes for the crimes he committed. But Paul shook the snake off and was never ill. In fact, with that same hand, he healed the father of the chief of the island. You see, the world has us thinking that what goes around comes around. But this simply isn’t true…not under God’s economy…not under God’s business plans. Instead, if you stay focused on your gifts and talents, and keep believing you are on a mission for Christ, then you will be able to shake off the seemingly life-threatening setbacks that befuddle us and chain us to guilt that we were already forgiven of. Godpreneur Rule #60: Godpreneurs learn from their mistakes, but don’t live in their mistakes. #GodpreneurAcademy #BecomeDisciplined #EnhanceFocus

At the end of 2014, I decided that I was going to go in a radically different direction with my business. I knew God wanted so much more for my business. I knew the company had a bigger purpose…and I was on a mission to discover it. I was led to read the book of Nehemiah in the Bible. It led me down the path of Restarting my business from the ground up. I spent all of 2015 rebuilding my company, Creative Complex. Towards the end of 2015, my church started a series on the book of Joshua from the Bible. At service, God spoke to me through the pastor that it was time for me to take what’s been built and go to market with it. It was time to conquer my niche, make a name for my company, expand my market, and step into the promises I KNOW God has for me and my business.  We entrepreneurs can spend a lot of time building our businesses. God has sustained us, but we know we’re meant for so much more. But we are cautious. We’ve been burnt in the past.  We’ve been down this road.  We’ve tried and failed in the past.  The road ahead is difficult, we know it. Maybe you’re a 9-5 employee and you’ve spent a lot of time writing your business plan, coming up with your invention, building your app, but you’re not sure when to pull the trigger to start the business. Maybe you started your business and have been cautiously growing, but you know you haven’t given it your all-out potential. Maybe you’re like me. You’re on version 4.0 of your business. You’ve learned a lot through this 10-year roller coaster ride. You’ve restructured the business, put God first, and now it’s time to grow. This can be a scary point for any entrepreneur. The risk is high. But I’ve discovered the blueprint to grow my business and conquer my market, God’s way. It’s the roadmap to success for any business looking to enter into financial freedom…the land of milk and honey for all entrepreneurs. The book of Joshua 1:1-5 starts out: "After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord , the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory." The first thing we see is that God will call you when it’s your time. I remember there being times when I was Restarting my business that I wanted to get out and start growing the business, but I didn’t feel it was the right time. I was waiting on God to let me know when. The second thing we see is that God keeps his promises. You may have started and failed a couple of times, but you know that you are supposed to make this work.  You know God has plans for you to prosper.  He’ll keep those plans. Third, we see that God is very specific in his visions for you, and they are BIG. I have a whole document written out of all the places I want my business to go. My visions are huge, but so is this land of Cannan that God is commanding Joshua to enter.  This is a land that covers 210 miles long and 120 miles wide. God has set everything up for a day like today. You’re ready. You’ve spent enough time building up the dream in your mind. If we trust that God has commanded us for a day like today. He’s asking you to rise up and take what is yours. #FindMyCalling #TargetMarketAndNiche

The business partnerships I’ve been in are hard. Looking back now, I can see that a lot of the problems stemmed me coming into the venture full of pride of ownership and pride of the gifting and/or financial contribution I was bringing to the table. So when things didn’t go right, my pride would puff up and I would begin to criticize, point fingers, play the blame game, and deflect the conflict back at my partners. Oh, and forget about me ever saying “I’m sorry.” (laughing out loud). Now I’m different. I’m a Godpreneur in various business Partnerships with other Christians and non-Christians. I’ve learned that apology is the cure for pride. Apologizing to our business partners is hard work. Saying I’m sorry and changing our business behaviors is even harder, and what makes it so hard for us is pride. Being in a partnership always to some degree involves each person fighting for control. It’s like being in the longest game of tug of war where the only way to stop struggling is for someone to fall. When our behaviors in the business partnership are driven by pride, we want to win every argument about money, always be right about a client. If we see difficulties in the operations is our partner’s fault, we bring up our partner’s admitted shortcomings of the past, and explain away or deny our own sins and weaknesses that we brought into the partnership. We need to change our mindset entirely on this partnership dilemma. Partnerships can be the very thing that God’s put into our lives to continue to mold and shape us into the likeness of Christ, thus becoming the best Godpreneurs possible. We need other people’s input and critique to know how we sound, how we look, how our actions affect other people in the business. In humility, we need to realize that we aren’t quite as brilliant and tough as we think we are. The Bible says: “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (Romans 12:3). When your business partner has an issue with something you did or didn’t do, develop the habit of stopping for a moment and asking yourself “How did I contribute to this issue?” The golden nuggets you’ll discover will propel you and your business to heights you could have never imagined. Then, just say “I’m sorry, you’re right, I could have done XYZ different, and I’m taking responsibility for that.” Easier said than done, but imagine if we all operated from this mindset of self-reflection and personal responsibility? Wow! Godpreneur Rule: Godpreneurs say I’m sorry and take responsibility to grow in our partnerships. #BusinessBibleStudy #SharpenLeadership #BusinessPartnerships Finding Purpose In Your Business Partnership Instead of reading the blog posts, take the video course!  I personally teach you the method.  You get: Workbook 3-Video Teachings Access to dozens of courses in the Godpreneur Academy! 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 was very selfish in the first 5 years of my partnership. It was truly all about me and how I could benefit from the company. I used my Ivy League status, my interpersonal skills, and my sales ability to bully my way through decisions in the company. I cared about my partners, but to the extent in which it helped me. I loved my bros, but I loved myself more. I remember one of my partners reminding me constantly of my selfishness, but I didn’t see it. I thought I was the nicest guy ever…that’s what my mom told me! Although our partnership is over now, I wonder if things would be different had I known the things I know today. You see, what I’ve learned is that we are naturally selfish. We’re born selfish. It’s our instinct of survival to think of ourselves first. We all enter partnerships with a ‘what’s in it for me’ mentality. If we’re honest with each other, we all suffer from this selfish condition (if you don’t anymore, kudos!).  So how do we identify and remove this selfishness? What I’ve learned now that I wish I knew before is that there are 8 keys to removing selfishness and we can find them in the bible in Philippians 2:1-8. "If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care — then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human !  Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion." The keys are this: Agree with each other Love each other Be deep-spirited friends Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. This isn’t a call for you to lay down your visions, not lead, let yourself be abused, or not defend what you feel strongly about. The irony is that if you can follow the steps above, you’ll actually become even more powerful and influential in your partnership. You’ll be able to win your partners over to your vision much easier.  They will know your heart and trust you more. If all of us can be Christ in our partnerships, we’re truly living out the gospel in our businesses. #BusinessPartnerships #SharpenLeadership #GainConfidence

In 2008, just 3 years after starting my partnership, I began my spiritual revolution.  I grew up Catholic, and after confirmation I really didn’t have much interest in church. Like most boys growing up in Miami, the girls and nightclubs are more tantalizing to our souls. But in 2008 a friend of mine invited me to a Christian non-denominational church and I was hooked! I started growing in my relationship with God. My heart was changing, my thoughts were changing, and the way I viewed people and my business were changing. I’d like to tell you that my partners were happy for me and everything was peaches and cream, but nothing could be further from the truth. Because I was walking in one direction and the other was walking opposite, making business decisions became challenging. I was serving a new CEO above me that wanted things to be different. To please my partners, I sacrificed my new thoughts in hopes of keeping the peace and moving forward. I convinced myself that when its business, God is out, but for my personal life, I was going to grow with God. Essentially, I was living a double life. Sometimes in partnerships we’re put into situations where one person is a believer and the other isn’t.  Or maybe it’s two Christians, but one isn’t walking as close to God as the other. We begin to experience moral and ethical problems.  Business is like a marriage, and being married to someone that’s reading a different book can be challenging! So where do we go from here? Certainly we don’t just bow out and give up the business, right? We can’t just sacrifice all we’ve done to create the business, correct? God’s ways are different, contrariant in nature. The opposite is true. In fact, God wants you to get deeper into the business partnership, but He wants it done out of sacrifice to Him. Romans 12:2 says "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." This verse is TOP 5 verses of the Bible that I hold on to and live by every day.  Wherever we are at in our lives, God wants us to think like him and sacrifice the old ways in which we thought. The relational problems that arise from my business partnerships used to deeply trouble me until I wrapped my head around the concept of sacrificing everything I used to think in order to think like Jesus would. This helped me to see my partners not as ‘opposite’ of me, but as brothers that I love. You can choose to focus on your partners and the problems, or you can choose to focus on sacrificing your thoughts and replacing them with God’s thoughts. Let love shine through from God to your business, your partnership, your clients, your services, and your employees. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, genuine love is all about giving of oneself. However, the pattern of capitalism in the business world is selfish. If we’re conformed to it, we might try “sacrificing” to gain something, be it happiness, acclaim, self-worth, or in my case keeping peace with my partners. But true sacrifice involves giving up selfish desire for selfless love. Sacrifice in business requires balancing our hopes of success and wealth with the understanding that those hopes are not the focus. True sacrifice involves a greater goal than we gain personally or relationally. As Jesus’ life demonstrates, sacrificing must be about living to serve God, even as we seek to serve our business partners and others for him. #WorkLifeBalance #SharpenLeadership #BusinessPartnership

From elementary school, I can always remember being in some kind of leadership position. Oftentimes, I think this can lead to leadership fatigue, pride, and a slow-down in our true potential We can find rest from our own feelings of leadership responsibility if we can understand that Jesus came (Acts 2:32‭-‬33 NIV) When Jesus ascended into heaven, it started his leadership role as king over every

We all have a “dream client” that we wish every client was like. It’s not that this client paid you the most, it’s that they were impacted and changed the most by the product or service we created. How can we bring more of these good-feeling situations into our businesses? We must decide on a niche. The best branding projects I’ve been involved in were the ones where I helped an entrepreneur discover what they were born to do, bring it to life, and help them tell the world about it. I’ve guided thousands of entrepreneurs on the journey of launching a business, but the best ones are when the entrepreneur feels a “calling” to create the product or service they envisioned. So how do I attract more and more “dream clients” to allow me into their business plans? All of us entrepreneurs are built by the same creator of the universe. And by design, God created us to come back and connect with Him regularly. This action of coming to God often is integral to the development of our entrepreneurial journey. I personally believe this “daily huddle” with God is where we business owners uncover and discover our niche. The desire for quality time with God, our CEO, is how we were built so we could receive His loving care and divine direction for our entrepreneurial calling. God built us GODPRENEURS to be restored by Him so He could reveal His ideas more to us. The bible says “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Getaway with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28‭-‬30 MSG) Rest is what prepares the mind for the revelation. You’ll be able to decide on a niche more clearly when you are living freely and lightly. When you discover how to connect with God regularly, you live in a condition of abundance. You’ll be getting filled up, so you can turn around and fill others up. You’ll see that the people that start buying your products and services will all contribute to confirming your joy and happiness in a very specific niche. And when you’re feeling more of your joy, more often throughout the day, you’re able to have a better quality of life at the office, at home, and in your community. You’re able to give because you first received it. You’re able to love and serve on those who you were meant to do business with. You’re able to do what you were born to do. I have my personal brand, Daily Godpreneur, and I constantly come back to God and allow Him to guide my writings and teachings. In turn, I believe He brings me the people I’m supposed to do business with! He also inspires my marketing and advertising so I can attract even more followers. If we neglect the daily task of coming to our CEO (God) for our discovery prayer time, we’re missing out on His revelation. If we fail to learn how to meet with God in prayer and meditation, we operate in a condition of depletion and start to depend on our own energy source. And as a form of survival, we’ll try to take from everyone, rather than overflow onto a specific group of people – the ones God called us to serve. What’s Next? Make a list of everything you LOVE doing and are UNIQUELY gifted at doing. Avoid things you’re good at or obligations just because you wear that hat in the business. Keep it to your UNIQUE ABILITIES. List things that you would do even if you weren’t paid to do it. What moves your heart, calms your heart, or makes it beat faster because you’re excited to do that service or provide that product? What services do you provide that restores you, excites you, or connects you to God? What do you do at work that, after finishing, you think you yourself “Wow, that was a spiritual experience!” Once you have your list, narrow it down to the ONE PROBLEM you would do for the rest of your life. That’s your niche. #BuildMyPersonalBrand Deciding On A Niche In 4 Steps to Deciding on a Niche for your Business, join Alex Miranda as he guides you to launch a brand with intention and purpose and decide on a niche already. 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’m always battling this conflict in my mind of wanting to help others but needing to make money for myself.  There’s also a battle of wanting to be this big celebrity authority, but still wanting to stay humble. We Godpreneurs that have a big message to share with the world can sometimes feel this conflict and it may hold us back from pushing forward with our cause. Many of you know, I read the Bible almost every morning to hear from God on what he wants me to do today and what message he wants for the Godpreneurs. Today I got a peak into, what I believe to be, the formula for achieving authority and potentially celebrity status in your niche, while doing exactly what we’ve been commanded to do. Ready?  I’m excited! But wait, to set this up, I have to share something amazing that led to this. My wife and I attend a marriage growth group (Bible study) where we’re reading Andy Stanley’s book “Staying in Love”.  Each week there are devotionals we are to do together at home to prepare for the following week. The morning of writing this blog, before opening the devotional, I prayed “God, speak to me today on what you want me to do and share.”  That’s my routine every morning:  coming to my CEO and asking what’s the plan for today. The devotional had me read Philippians 2:1-11, and that’s where and how I got the revelation I’m sharing with you today. I’m going to do something different.  I’m going to break this down in sections and explain each section from the point of guide to Becoming an authority. 1-4 "If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand." If you pause there and give me your attention, there’s some amazing nuggets here. First, we can’t miss the fact that first, we must be following Christ.  He’s the ultimate example how how to rise to authority.  I can write a whole new book just on how, first, we must follow Christ in order to receive the true calling from God on what we should be becoming an authority in. Second, don’t be obsessed with making it to the top.  Instead, be obsessed with spreading your message and putting your tribe first.  Getting to the top will follow, as we’ll see in the next verses. 5-8 "Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion." There’s a powerful message here that I don’t want you to miss.  It’s easy to skip over this part. For some of us, coming to the realization that we have a message to spread to the world can be jolting because it requires us to remove ourselves from the day-to-day business, put others in charge, and set on a new course of learning and growing to becoming the best messenger we can be. Your identity is going to change, and this process won’t be as easy as you’d think. It was easy for Jesus because he knew he was God and he knew his role and he knew his purpose.  Most of us are timidly stepping into our roles as Godpreneurs, sometimes one foot in and one foot out. 9-11 "Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father." Here’s the last key, the promise from God that you want to hear:  “God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything.”  I believe that we’re all created in God’s image and asked to follow Christ because God wants to lift us high!  That authority you want, that celebrity status you seek…that’s God’s plan. But we can’t see celebrity as the Keeping Up with the Kardashians.  Celebrity comes as a result of following the order above.  Authority celebrity is your reward for a job well done, your service to God and humanity, your duty of accomplishing what you were born to do. #SharpenLeadership #BusinessBibleStudy Deciding On A Niche In 4 Steps to Deciding on a Niche for your Business, join Alex Miranda as he guides you to launch a brand with intention and purpose and decide on a niche already. 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

Back in 2007, I got into some huge tax problems. I had hired a bunch of employees, but I wasn’t sending their personal taxes to the IRS like I should have been. It turns out I needed $14,000 to repay the IRS or I could face more penalties or even jail. I had no idea I was breaking a law at the time. It wasn’t until my accountant pointed it out that I realized what I was doing was not only wrong, it was illegal. I was basically stealing from my employees and the government. I was in big trouble and I needed $14,000 quickly or the trouble was going to get worst. Embarrassed and ashamed, I told my parents about the issues I was facing. Without hesitation, they agreed to pay the debt off for me. I was now free from that weight on my shoulders! The price of my mistake was paid by my loving parents. Of course, I promised I had learned my lesson and I wasn’t going to let that happen again. We all have areas in our business life where we break the law, bend the rules, or even unknowingly do something wrong that eventually catches up to us. And if those sins we commit aren’t exposed and brought to justice, we will continue to do them for the rest of our business careers. Some of us are stuck in a pattern of sin in our businesses that we don’t have the power to break free from. We have a client that’s paying us illegally, but it works out because we’re saving money. We have business coming in from places that don’t honor God, and still willingly do it, even though we know it’s wrong. This is called sin. And until sin is put to death, we are dead businessmen transacting in a corrupt world. But… The bible says "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life". (John 3:16 NIV) The death of Jesus stands at the center of the solution to the very sin that traps you. On the cross, a sinless man pays the price of your sins in business so that you can be alive and free from all the sins that hold you down. Jesus’ death on the cross is both the most tragic evil done, but the greatest good of all time. All the sins you commit in your business have a penalty. And for every crime caught, there is a penalty. Like when I got caught not paying taxes when the penalty was paid, you say that justice has been served, and that’s a good thing. Whether you’ve been caught or not, our sins are a rebellion against God. Those sins still trap you in a world that God didn’t have planned for you to operate your business in. This sin that you have carries a penalty by God – death. It’s not just physical death, but a spiritual one too. When we’re spiritually dead, we’re separated from God, and we continue our sinful existence until our physical death. But like my parents paid my $14,000 IRS debt, Jesus paid the penalty for your sins in business when he died for us. This doesn’t mean you stop sinning, it means that the penalty of the sin was incurred for you, payment was made by Jesus himself, and you are now free to draw closer to God so that you can be freed from the grip of sin. Now you can begin the journey of letting go of the sins you’ve carried for years in your business because the price was paid. I remember when I found out about my IRS problems I was afraid, scared, and I didn’t even want to go into work. But when my parents paid the debt, I was free from those thoughts and able to take my business to new levels that God wanted to show me. Jesus’ death is one of the most important concepts a business owner must understand. I didn’t fully understand its significance, this is why I’m trying to illustrate it in different ways. See, I had committed a crime in my business and the penalty for that crime was $14,000 that I could not pay for. However, my parents could pay the penalty on my behalf. The penalty was paid. The IRS was restored. The cost was real. Yet because of the generosity and sacrifice of my parents, I’m not bound to pay the penalty. So, Jesus died for our business sins and paid the penalty for them out of His love and generosity, allowing us to avoid paying the penalty ourselves if we accept that. I believe the message of the gospel for entrepreneurs will be the hardest to do or understand because we’re the authority in our businesses. The bible says “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich [a successful businessman] to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25 NIV). As entrepreneurs, we tend to act on our own authority to choose between good and evil in our businesses instead of submitting to the ultimate authority of God. This rebellion is what curses us, causes us to sin, and we fall short of what God has planned for us. But we love our sin, we trapped, we’re separated from God, and we deserve to get caught and pay a price. But God, rich in mercy and love, pursued and saved us by substituting his Son in our place. For me, this means that now I’m free to do what I was Born to Do. And although I still sin, I’m not trapped because I’m forgiven and I can get up and continue to pursue my calling. So to us Godpreneurs, Jesus’ death is the best news in the world for our businesses. It’s the gospel—the good news that though we substituted ourselves in the place of God, God substituted his Son in our place that we might draw near to him in righteousness and continue to uncover and pursue our purpose and calling here on earth. If all of us business owners repent and believe in this, we can receive new life in Jesus, be reconciled to God, our business dealings cleansed from shame, our brands restored to honor, and given an eternal inheritance in the family of God! #BusinessBibleStudy #NewEntrepreneurs #GodpreneurAcademy

Have you ever heard someone say “I was born to do this!”? Why is it that some people have a knack for crunching numbers and others have a talent of throwing footballs? Here is the good news: be encouraged that God equips us specifically to do the things He has called us to do! That is the beauty of gifts and talents – they enable us to be the entrepreneurs God intended. Of course, the reverse is also true – when we try to start a business other than what God has enabled us to do, we fall outside His entrepreneurial design for us and we are destined to fall short. As Christian entrepreneurs, we should spend our lives discovering and using our spiritual gifts and business talents. This pursuit is essential if we are to accomplish God’s entrepreneurial purpose for us, because we can’t do anything for Him without the gifts He gave us. With those gifts, however, we can accomplish a lot in our businesses. I, Alex Miranda, have a spiritual gift of prophesy, exhortation and teaching to help entrepreneurs uncover their God-given gifts, cultivate them and help them put them to work, for the glory of the Lord. Actively finding out your gifts and talents will be the single most important thing you’ll do in your entrepreneurial career. Next most important is putting them to use. If you need help finding yours, please take my Entrepreneurial Vision Experience course. #EnhanceFocus #FindingMyPurpose