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Godpreneurs, when you crawl out from underneath the covers every Monday morning and you sit on the edge of the bed, you have a choice to make for that week. There are two doors and there are thundering knocks at each one of them. Behind one lies your destiny and a business of purpose-focused profits. Behind the other lies the death of an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs, if you don't engage intensity or passion in your business, then you aren’t living your business life to its fullest. You'll wake up and sit there with your head and your shoulders slumped over and your chest caved in, dreading having to start the week. If you can't wake up with your chest and your chin straight out, and if you can't summon up the energy, the excitement, or the enthusiasm for something your business, every workweek will be a drag to wake up to. So, the question becomes: what mindset shift do entrepreneurs need to make to always choose passion and purpose over dread and depression? It's a simple, yet profound concept. You Plant, God Brings the Miracle God says if you plant the seed, I’ll make the tree. You can’t have a better arrangement than that! It's about giving God the tough end of the deal. What if I told you to go make a tree? Not go plant a tree. No. Go MAKE a tree. That would keep you up late at night trying to figure out. How do you make a tree? God says “No! Live the miracle part to me. I made the seed, the soil, the sunshine, the rain and the miracle of the seasons, and I’m God and I can do all this miraculous stuff. I just have reserved something very special for you." And that’s what? Plant. That’s it! Godpreneurs, we get the best part of the deal. We just need to follow God's instructions and we get to witness miracles in our businesses. God wouldn't tell you to go build a business empire. He's not going to instruct you to go create a multi-million dollar business. Maybe your mind is telling you that this is what success looks like. Not God. God's instructions sound more like, "Alex, go and solve this one problem for someone. I'll give you the strength and wisdom, I just need you to listen and do this one thing." God gave us entrepreneurs the power to plant seeds. And if you want to see the miracle of a fruit-bearing business, you have to DO the things God has commanded you to do. If that’s to launch a new product, then launch. If it´s to read a leadership book he's put on your heart, then read. If it's to pivot to a new industry, then pivot. If it´s to study a new technique, then study. If it’s to get your hands dirty and work, then work. Whatever you feel the holy spirit moving you to do, then do. The holy spirit won't prompt you to do something tomorrow. Your brain does. Not the holy spirit. The spirit works in the NOW. If you want passion and purpose in your business life - if you want to defeat depression - then get in the seed planting business and expect the miracle of God throughout your entrepreneurial journey. Godpreneurs do labor that works miracles! When a seed is planted in the ground you can't control the sunshine, you can't control the weather, and you can't control when the locusts will come and try to destroy the crops. All you can do is plant your seed in the ground and believe. God himself has to give the increase. Only God can make the sun shine. Only God can bring the rain. If you keep planting seeds, and continue pursuing your dreams, then you´ve done your part. Every morning, do your part. That's how you overcome daily discouragement and step into persistent passion.

Today, I want to talk about the gifts of the holy spirit in entrepreneurship. God gave us business owners access to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Imagine what we could do in the marketplace if we had gifts of healing, prophecy, tongues, interpretation, the Word of knowledge, the Word of wisdom, the working of miracles, and the discerning of spirits. Just reading those gifts, my brain is already running wild on how to profit from these gifts. However, we can't work for these gifts, we can't buy them, and we can't choose them like picking your favorite color of Starburst candy. In the Holy Spirit, we are given the fullness of grace. This means that accessing specific gifts of the Spirit isn't accomplished by anything we do or don't do. They are gifts, and similar to gifts we receive from friends and family for our birthday, we only receive gifts because there was a loving relationship established with the giver of that gift. If we want to unlock the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it will only be accomplished in one way: our entirely focused love and devotion to Jesus. HOW I TAPPED INTO THE GIFT OF PROPHECY In 2014, I rebuilt my branding agency from the ground up. The Holy Spirit gave me the power to personally change my identity from a nightclub promoter to a follower of Jesus. Once I followed Jesus, the Spirit convicted me of sin in my business, and I began turning away from anything that didn't glorify Him. I was becoming a Godpreneur, leading a God-first entrepreneurial walk. I was seeing my job as a branding expert from a whole new perspective. Without even trying, I started loving my job and my clients in a whole new way. I cared about the success of their business and the overall purpose of their entrepreneurial walk. And then, something weird happened. Almost magically, I began to receive inspiration from God on what to say to my clients, and I spoke vision into their future. What I didn't realize at the time was…I was prophesying into their business life. Out of nowhere, the gift of prophecy came over me. Without me trying, and out of pure love for my clients' success, the gifts of the Holy Spirit started to shine through me. THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES GIFTS TO THE ENTREPRENEUR When we Godpreneurs give our lives to Jesus and commit to sanctification personally and in our businesses. We open ourselves up for God to use us in the marketplace through the Holy Spirit. How do we tap into the gifts of the spirit in our business? How do we recognize them? The Bible specifies what gifts can and do become visible and possible in each of us through the gift of the Holy Spirit. "The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all. To some people the Spirit gives a message of wisdom. To others the same Spirit gives a message of knowledge. To others the same Spirit gives faith. To others that one Spirit gives gifts of healing. To others he gives the power to do miracles. To others he gives the ability to prophesy. To others he gives the ability to tell the spirits apart. To others he gives the ability to speak in different kinds of languages they had not known before. And to still others he gives the ability to explain what was said in those languages. All the gifts are produced by one and the same Spirit. He gives gifts to each person, just as he decides. (1 Corinthians 12:7-11) Jesus gave diversities of gifts to His disciples through the Holy Spirit; healing prophecy tongues and interpretation the Word of knowledge the Word of wisdom working of miracles discerning of spirits The Holy Spirit works these gifts in you for the profit of all your clients, prospects, employees, vendors, and contractors - in your given marketplace. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) You use them in your business to edify Christ’s earthly body. TAPPING INTO THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT You may desire to identify and use the gifts of the spirit on your entrepreneurial journey, but how? Paul exhorted to desire the best gifts but spoke about a more excellent way. He described the qualities of love and said that without them, you are nothing. “Love suffers long, and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own; is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) The key to tapping into your spiritual gifts is to measure ourselves against the divine qualities of love, and let the Holy Spirit work with you, that you can come to them in truth. Remember my story of how I gained the gift of prophecy? I believe it was my love for God, and through that, my love for my clients and their success ultimately led to the gift of the spirit to be used through me. We all have the possibility of an extraordinary calling, an amazing glory, through the work of the Holy Spirit. “… to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19) Imagine if our entrepreneurial journey led us to be humbled deeply under God’s mighty hand, through the leading of His Spirit, so grace comes over us so that we come to this fullness. What if the businesses God created us to start were based on the gifts of the Spirit, instead of trying to fit the gifts into a business we want to start? My prayer is that all of us would do as Paul exhorted Timothy: meditate on these things, give ourselves entirely to them, that our progress may be evident to all. (1 Timothy 4:15.) #DifferentiatingMyself #FindingMyPurpose #TrustOnGod

I’ve been dead broke, struggling to find clients, waiting for the mail man to arrive with a check from a client, desperate to deposit it before an employee cashes their check. I’ve been rich, totally out of debt, money in savings, lots of business, and thinking about investing in property. And...both situations above were within the same quarter of the year! With a rollercoaster ride like this, we entrepreneurs could be considered suicidal and depressed in the same month as excited and hopeful! What I’ve learned on my Godpreneurial journey is that JOY is the only feeling I need to be seeking. Joy is present in good times and bad. Joy is hope in God and trusting that he has my best interest at heart. But.... How do you feel joy when the checks are bouncing? How can I be happy when I haven’t paid myself in weeks? God has a remedy:  RETURN TO GOD AND CELEBRATE 🥳 Return to God? What do you mean, Alex? I don't know about you, but my rollercoaster of emotions typically coincided with the amount of time I was spending with God in his word. If I'm meditating every morning doing my blog posts and connecting with my spirit, things around me seemed to be doing fine. If I was straying from my morning Bible reading routine, things around seemed to get a bit choppy. My connection with God didn't change the circumstances in my business life; my connection with God changed the way I processed and reacted to those circumstances. All of us entrepreneurs can wander far from the Lord – we can leave our first love and, fall into foolish sin - we can buy into various false personal development teachings from so-called business gurus, run our businesses in selfish pride and even keep the Lord Jesus standing outside the door of our businesses. When we stray away from God's direction and take matters into our own hands, it's guaranteed that circumstances and situations will have a different perspective to them. No longer will you be as tuned into God's point of view, and instead, we'll be in our own heads trying to figure things out. That's a recipe for the opposite of joy: misery. In the book of Nehemiah, we see that Nehemiah had rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and many Israelites had returned to to their homeland following the nation’s 70-year exile in Babylon. It was the first day of their new year, the feast of trumpets, and the apostate nation of Israel stood in the city square and started to listen to Ezra the priest reading the Word of the Lord - he read from the book of the Law, that had been given by God to Israel. Nehemiah 8:9-10 says "Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.  Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”….. Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them." As the people of Israel listened to God’s word being read to them, this errant nation as one man, realized how far they had wandered from their God – how deeply they had fallen into sin. Oh, at first, they started to rejoice, and cried out AMEN, AMEN, – but as Ezra continued to read the Scripture, they started to realise how deeply they had fallen into sin and how far they had wandered away from the truth of God’s word – and both men and women began to mourn and grieve deeply. The people wept as they heard the scriptures being read, for they acknowledged their sin, but Nehemiah, the governor stood up and reminded the people that this first day of the new year was a special feast day of the Lord. He comforted them saying… Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. Have you strayed away from your morning time with God? 4 Steps to Returning Back to Your Morning Routine Like Israel, you should Confess your sin and recognize how far you may have wandered from the Lord. You should turn away from your wrong attitudes and actions and look to Jesus, for every day is a day that is holy to the Lord. You should not remain in self-condemnation – but rejoice that there is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus You should follow the wise advice of Nehemiah – for the joy of the Lord is indeed our strength. Like Israel, today is a day that is a feast day for us Godpreneurs! Jesus Christ has redeemed us by His blood and we have been released from the bondage of slavery to sin into the freedom of Christ’s saving grace. Like Israel, we should listen to the Word of the Lord, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Godpreneurs, imagine if all of us kept the Word of God fresh in our hearts each day. Let's all recognize our faults and failings and readily confess our sins to our Father in heaven – and, from this day forward, let's recognize that every day in our business is a day of rejoicing! Let's never forget that we are the people of God, who have been purchases with the precious blood of Christ - and that the many precious promises of God towards us, his sons and heirs, are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. Let us in everything by prayer and praise rejoice in the Lord and abide in His love – for the joy of the Lord is indeed our strength, through time and into eternity. My Prayer Father thank You that You are my joy and my strength in my business - thank You that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus and thank You that Your grace is sufficient for Me. Keep me and my daily business operations faithful to You for You and my faithful and generous God – in Christ name I pray, AMEN. 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. #DifferentiatingMyself #ShareYourTestimony

Today, I want to give you a way to realize, analyze, and ultimately turn away from involuntary sin in your business. All of us business owners sin and fall short of the glory of God. However, not all of us realize we're even sinning - there's sin in our business that we only realize after we've done it. What do you do about the sin you didn't purposefully bring into your business? In His miraculous ways, God gave you and me the ability to realize, analyze, and then away from involuntary sin in business. This miracle is able to happen because of our intercessor: the Holy Spirit. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE ENTREPRENEUR'S INTERCESSOR In my previous two posts, I wrote about the Holy Spirit's power to transform us into the likeness of Christ and help us gain victory over conscious sin. However, because there is also sin I don't even know I carry, now I need to talk about gaining the ability to recognize the sin that I do not consciously agree. My branding agency used to make websites for all the major nightclubs in the world. When you visited the portfolio on my site, you could browse a beautiful gallery of top-notch nightlife web designs. A church network asked me to rebrand their entire company during that same time. I was even invited to speak at a few church seminars to help give ideas on church branding and marketing. I had already stopped all of my nightclub promoting because it didn't feel right to be going to church on Sundays after partying all night Saturday. However, I didn't feel that doing branding work for nightclubs was sinful in any way - after all, I needed to make a living, right? Before signing the contract to work with my company, the pastor of this major church network called me with concern. He said that some of the elders of the church were concerned that I had nightclubs as clients on my website portfolio and that they didn't feel comfortable working with my agency. That day, I felt a conviction I had never felt before about my work in the nightlife industry. I immediately removed all nightclub jobs from my website portfolio and began my complete transition out of that industry. As entrepreneurs on a mission to grow personally and professionally, there are many moving parts in our lives. We have to be thinking externally and internally almost 24/7. This can be exhausting. With so many moving parts, we're bound to mess up and not see some part of ourselves or our company that still aren't glorifying God. How can we stay on top of everything going on around us and be "good Christians," when there is sin we didn't even consciously agree to do? This is where God gives us the Holy Spirit as our intercessor. The Bible says Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26 ESV) In addition to being our power and helper, another task of the Holy Spirit is to intercede for us. (Romans 8:26) He will take what is from Jesus and declare it to us. (John 16:13-15) Here's the progression of how this works: You don’t know how to pray for your entrepreneurial journey as you ought, but the Spirit does. He leads you into many various situations in your daily business life which will cause your flesh to react. These situations bring to light the sin in your flesh. You react in different ways, whether by word or action. As you think about what you've said or done, you get to see that sin was present. When we're able to take a sober assessment of some of our actions (or inactions), we can see that it wasn’t the virtues that came forth, but our human nature. We get to see that we did what we hated, just as Paul saw in Romans 7:18-25. These involuntary reactions from the flesh that we get light over are referred to as the “deeds of the body,” and can take the form of thoughts, words, and even actions. There is no condemnation for these because we didn’t consciously agree to sin. Yet, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can still overcome these deeds of the body after they have come out of our bodies by loving and acknowledging the truth about what happened and consciously choosing to disagree with them and hate them. Paul, in Romans 8:13, says “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Imagine if all entrepreneurs used the Spirit as our guide and strength in business. If we did, we would continue to walk in the light and can overcome anything in our future business dealings before they happen again. #DifferentiatingMyself

Today, I want to talk to you about turning away from sin in your business. We all have little (or big) things we do in our business that aren't pleasing to God. The fudging of tax numbers, the personal expense reported as a business expense, the employee we have anger or resentment for. Big or small, this is sinful behavior that God wants to root out of our businesses so we can run a clean operation for His glory. The easy stuff to work on is sin which is obvious. There are things you already know you shouldn't be doing, you've been trying to work on it, and it's almost eradicated. The difficult sin to get rid of is the sin you don't even know you're carrying around. How do we identify and get rid of sin in our business and keep it out for good? Enter our helper: the Holy Spirit. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE ENTREPRENEUR'S HELPER In my previous post, I talked about the Holy Spirit as our source of power for transformation into the likeness of Jesus. Now, I'm going to show you that the Holy Spirit is also the source of our help for turning from sin. As a nightclub promoter and marketer, I was deeply embedded in the nightlife industry. My entire identity was wrapped in that world. I needed the power of the Holy Spirit to rescue my soul from that. And although I made that switch, I still carried sin with me into my new walk with God. What sins? Well, the sin of not paying taxes, anger towards business partners, resentment towards terrible clients, and a laundry list of other things would undoubtedly trip me up on my new walk with Christ. No matter how long we've been walking with the Lord, we all have areas in our business lives where God is sanctifying us, cleansing us from our sinful nature, and bringing out the light of Christ more. How can we identify our sin in business to turn from it? The Bible says, “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. (John 15:26 NLT) Jesus called the Holy Spirit the advocate, comforter, companion, or in some translation, your helper. Then, Jesus continues by explaining that the helper will guide people into all the truth, convicting us of sin, judgment, and righteousness. (John 16:8-15) You will get to see the true business owner in you, what dwells in your flesh, through the Spirit in the light of God's Word. The Holy Spirit gives you power for victory over conscious sin in your business. It is written, if you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16) If you operate your business in the Spirit and walk your entrepreneurial journey in the Spirit, you won't become high-minded, provoking, and envying one another. (Galatians 5:25-26) As I drew closer to God, the Holy Spirit in me began to convict me of different things that weren't pleasing to God, and I slowly began to turn away from those things. This allowed me to grow into the God-first business owner I am today. Imagine if the entire business world operated from a sinless place? What if we all paid much more attention to the work that the Holy Spirit wants to do in our business lives? Think of the fellowship, networking, and leveled-up leadership abilities that grow out of this work of the Spirit, as the fruits of the Spirit grow in us more and more! Thank you, Father, for sending us a helper 🙏🏼 #DifferentiatingMyself

Today, I want to talk to you about transforming you, your products, and your services into the image of Christ. As Christians, we know that we're on this journey to be more like Jesus. How does that happen, especially for those business owners who have never operated their business from a "God first" perspective or have no idea how services and products can reflect Jesus in their respective marketplaces? This transformation happens by taking full advantage of the POWER of the Holy Spirit along your entrepreneurial journey. My first business was a branding agency that did logos, websites, and graphic designs for nightclubs, bars, lounges, and strip clubs. However, something happened inside me when I started to go back to church and accepted Jesus as my savior. I began to feel convicted about the work my agency was doing. A few years after I was born again, I stopped all nightlife work cold turkey. From one day to the next, I fired all my employees and clients and started the agency again from scratch. How was I able to make this transformation over time? The holy spirit. THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES ENTREPRENEURS POWER The Bible says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and all of Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8.) What is this power from the Holy Spirit for? Paul testified that it was his "earnest expectation and hope" that by death or life, Jesus would be magnified in his body. (Philippians 1:20) What greater task does the Holy Spirit have than to empower Godpreneurs to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus, and that His life would be manifested along your entrepreneurial journey and through the businesses you operate as you bear in your body the dying of the Lord Jesus? (2 Corinthians 4:10-11). You bear witness in the marketplace to Jesus Christ in this way. You absolutely cannot do this in your own strength, only through the power the Holy Spirit gives you. Jesus opened a new and living way through His flesh, through the Eternal Spirit, and offered Himself without spot to God so that you too could serve the living God in the businesses that God intended for you. (Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:20) I'm not going to pretend that my transformation was all peaches and cream. When I left the nightlife, I was declaring war on the enemy. I had a lot of baggage that I needed to let go of. My identity had to be broken down to be built up again. It was the hardest thing I've experienced in business. The great news is that the Holy Spirit will lead and empower you in development to learn obedience to the Word of God in your sufferings in the business world and be led to perfection, just as Jesus was. (Hebrews 5:7-9.) Jesus said that His Father is glorified when His disciples bear much fruit. Those Godpreneurs who bear fruit will get further training to bear more fruit. (John 15:2,8.) This is the process of entrepreneurial sanctification through the Holy Spirit, which leads us to partake of Jesus' glory (His virtues). (2 Thessalonians 2:14) Imagine if all of us Godpreneurs took full advantage of the power of the Holy Spirit by staying entirely in its presence. The power of the Holy Spirit in us right now strengthens our will to endure in this process so that we do not lose heart during the transformation but can stand firm until the end! #DifferentiatingMyself

I have a confession: I first came to a relationship with God because of a girl. I liked her. I wanted to make her happy by going to church with her on Sundays. Listen, God will use whatever he can to bring us into relationship with him. I have another confession: when I read the Bible now, I mostly see messages on how Jesus wants to partner with me on my entrepreneurial journey and how God wants to grow my influence and business. I see it as the ultimate guide to owning a business!  Am I crazy? With this insight and knowledge, I can't help but to want to show other entrepreneurs how God and the Bible are relevant to their business growth and success.  I think that if I can translate that to others, I’ll actually be helping people develop a stronger relationship with God. Like I said at the beginning, God will use whomever and whatever to bring you into relationship with him. We all see the world through our own passions, gifts and talents.  We all fall in love with God and the Bible in different ways. It’s part of the beauty of the omnipresence of God. Some of us find the Bible confusing. Some find it irrelevant to the times we live in.  Others think it’s a bunch of folktales told by some good people, but likely never happened. I believe these thoughts pervade the mind because we haven’t made the Bible relevant to our lives today.  If we can see the Bible as a manual to entrepreneurship, then I think more entrepreneurs would read it.  To this end, God uses ministers to translate the Word into ways we can make it practical in our lives. God inspires people like me to do that translating, and then he wants you to go out and teach other entrepreneurs the same. In Nehemiah 8 we read that the people were hungry for the word, but not everyone understood it.  So watch how a group goes out to bring understanding. Nehemiah 8:5-8 says "Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the Lord , the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.  The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read." Ezra and his band of Levites read from the Book of the Law of God and made it clear, giving meaning, so the people understood. God designed the Bible to be expounded on by ministers so that it's better understood. It would please God if you were able to give your views of Divine truth in your respective marketplace. You might not feel equipped, yet. You might not understand every part of the Bible. However, you also don’t understand every part of business, and yet you’re committed to moving forward, growing, learning, and building, right? The same is true with the greatest business book ever written:  the Bible. The best MBA course you will ever enroll in happens Sundays and in Bible studies at your church. If all of us Godpreneurs can fall in love with the Bible as our business handbook, then we can not only help our businesses succeed, but we can now have a way and reason to go out and ‘spread the gospel’ in ways we entrepreneurs can uniquely understand. 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. #FindMyCalling #TimeManagement

Almost every morning I have a routine. I wake up at sunrise, make a powerful cup of bulletproof coffee (Google that!), sit down in my prayer & meditation chair, open up my bible app (YouVersion), and begin ‘eating’ my daily bread. Incorporating this time with God into my "diet" every morning transformed my business and personal life. Where do you think I get the energy and content to write the hundreds of blog posts on DailyGodpreneur.com? I’ve developed a true HUNGER to want to draw closer to God, which happens to also help me grow and lead a God-first business. God got my attention through the rebuilding of my business. The Spirit of God was moving in me, around me, and through me. I couldn't help but to want more of God. People go to God for a variety of reasons: mine is business.  I feel led and called to do so.  I expect that to change over time, but this is currently the season I’m in. When we see God transforming our lives and businesses, it should motivate us more to draw closer to Him. We see the fruits it produces, and we want more of that sweet stuff. That daily bread is what we need as entrepreneurs to stay on track and continue growing. In Chapter 8 of Nehemiah, the wall has been built and now the city is growing.  The people come to the leaders and literally beg them to teach them from the Word of God.  They had just witnessed Nehemiah and company rebuild the wall, something they only dreamed of. Nehemiah's faith, along with the indisputable evidence that God had his hand all over the rebuilding led the people to want more of God. Nehemiah 8:1-3 NIV "All the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.  So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law." It's clear that the Spirit of God was at work in Jerusalem even before the reading of God’s Word in chapter 8. People do not gather together as one man for the things of God unless the Spirit of God has moved them, and they do not desire God’s Word unless the Spirit of God has moved them. The rebuilding of your business into a God-first business should be evidence to yourself, your team, and anyone involved, that God was with you throughout the process. Your thirst for God should be through the roof! God wants to continue to grow your business.  He wants to speak to you every morning and direct your steps.  He wants you to come to him with problems, conversations of concern, and continued praises as God paves the way before you. We Godpreneurs need our daily bread to lead our teams to new heights. 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. #ArticulatingMyIdeas #WritingGreatCopy

As a branding agency owner, once we're ready to show the client the amazing logo and brand we came up with, we put on a show! Our clients come into the office for the big "logo reveal." It's a special day, so we go all out and buy food and dress up extra spiffy. One time, before one of the presentations, my assistant shows up to the office and sees that I hadn’t really given much thought to the presentation of the food. Being a typical guy, I just laid out the food on the ping pong table with no regard to style or class. In an instant, my assistant grabs some sheets, folds some boxes, and transforms the former plain setup into a dazzling display rivaling catered wedding décor. I was so amazed! I had no clue she had that talent! From that day forward, of course, she was the person in charge of preparing the office for client presentations. There are many talents hidden amongst our team members. We can harness those talents for our companies, but we have to be intentional in asking. Our team is hired for specific duties, but if the company is going to excel and pay us all more money, the attitude must be ‘all talents on deck’. After accomplishing the great task of rebuilding the wall at Jerusalem, Nehemiah entered a new season: rebuilding the city inside of the wall. To do this, he asked for an offering of gifts. Nehemiah 7:70-72 says "Some of the heads of the families contributed to the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics of gold, 50 bowls and 530 garments for priests. Some of the heads of the families gave to the treasury for the work 20,000 darics of gold and 2,200 minas of silver. The total given by the rest of the people was 20,000 darics of gold, 2,000 minas of silver and 67 garments for priests." God has put people around you that will help strengthen and prosper what you’ve build.  It may be monetary, it could be furniture for the office, or it can be talents (like my assistant’s interior decorating skills). But you literally have to ask, "Hey guys, we're trying to take our company to another level. What gifts, talents, connections, and resources can you bring to the table to make this happen?" Hopefully you casted a good enough of a God-first business vision to your team that gets them excited to BRING IT FOR GOD. Then, their spirit will motivate them to go above and beyond for the benefit of all. 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. #ArticulatingMyIdeas #LaunchingMyBusiness

He’s done this to me more than once in my life...changed the way I introduce myself, changed the trajectory of what I thought I knew to do. Can you relate? The first time I had to rediscover how I showed up was in my 20’s. At the time I thought I would be serving in youth ministry for the rest of my life. I thought that was my calling, my identity, my purpose on this planet. And then He whispered change...He said this season is over - it’s time to step out - so I did. I had come to terms that my highest and best at the time was to step out of my youth pastoral role to allow God to bring someone else in that had a different gift mix to take things to the “next level”. My season was about being a gap person - but I didn’t realize that when I was in it. So I stepped out, and in time God did bring that right leadership person to fulfill the vision that He had for the life of that youth ministry. At this initial re-branding, I found it extremely difficult because I had put my identity into my work. I had locked my identity in as being a youth pastor and had no other vision. When that changed, and I had no other vision for myself at the time - I was in a really dark place. I felt lost, I didn’t know who I was - I had no idea who I was in Him. It was a journey of rediscovery - a journey of establishing my identity in Christ, not what I did. Fast forward almost 20 years later, and I’m in a similar but different space. I’m a hairstylist by trade and have introduced myself as such for over 20 years. Except now I have had to retire due to a repetitive shoulder pain that keeps popping up. We’ve recently made a huge move as a family, so it’s been a natural break to reinvent myself in our new location, but it still feels strange. For half of my life, I’ve shown up this way - I’ve run my home hair business for close to 15 years - this just doesn’t leave you when it’s been a part of your fabric. The fact is I’ve always wanted to be a hairstylist - literally my whole life, so I was living the dream...and now...what now? Because I have invested the last 20 years since my last re-branding into being firmly established in Christ and not by my works, this rebranding feels fluid and not painful. It’s funny how God works - little did I know almost three years ago when I started my other beauty business that He would be creating the framework to build upon for where I am at in this moment. Though I am not working in hair like I was, I can still keep it a part of my life for freelance beauty services for photoshoots and special events, etc. And in this current space, I can develop a brand as a freelance entrepreneur. I am actually quite excited to see what will become of this venture. But I know He isn’t finished... He is also re-working me to show up with a new brand that He is in the process of revealing. But isn’t that true of everyone? Doesn’t He rework all of us? Isn’t He the Potter and we the clay? Jeremiah 18:1-4 says: The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. How about you? Have you experienced being taken off the spinning of the Potter’s wheel just to be chucked back on, smooshed, and started over on? Do you have a vision of His Kingdom that is bigger than what you do? Your vision has to be bigger so that when He reworks you, you don’t spin out lacking in hope but can trust that He still has you in His hands. As entrepreneurs, our identity must be locked in Christ so that the work of our hands is really just an extension of His hands. If He knows He has our hands and feet to work through - where will He send us? What can we be available for? If He says to give up our boats of what we know to follow Him, can we be flexible enough to do that? When we let Him flow through what we do as entrepreneurs, our gifts will make room for us, and He will be the multiplier of the paltry amounts of loaves and fish that we have to offer. ` At the end of the day, none of what we do is about us or the expansion of our own efforts. As Godpreneurs, we are about expanding His Kingdom and He must increase and we must decrease. #FindingMyCalling #FindingMyBrand #PersonalBranding

Back in 2008 when I left the nightlife scene to start a relationship with God, I knew I was being watched. I realized my friends and family would be looking at me, questioning, and watching my next moves. Over the years, they saw me transform my personal, business, physical and spiritual life. And, the most part, I believe I’ve been a good testimony of the transforming nature of God: He renewed me and continues to elevate me. During this transformation, I also had to rebuild my branding agency from scratch. This means that former clients, vendors, employees, and partners were also going to witness a transformation. The great news is that I was successfully able to rebuild the agency into a God-first business. I attracted better clients and felt more fulfilled with the work we were doing. My friends, family, and employees were all able to witness the transformation. And you know who else saw the transformation? My enemies. What do I mean by enemies? When I left the nightlife to be a "born again" Christian, some enemies spawned up. We can also call them "haters." Instead of encouragement, these enemies threw shade on the flip flop from nightlife to day life. My enemies knew I split from clients and partners I was no longer aligned with and had to REBUILD from scratch. They had been watching, and when the rebuilding work was finished, they were keeping a closer eye on my every move. WE ALL HAVE ENEMIES We all have enemies looking on our rebuilding process and wishing for our downfall. Enemies can come in many forms, including competitors, former clients, partners from previous businesses, etc. With God as our help, we can succeed and be able to be a testimony to these enemies, and they will know that only God could have helped make the transformation possible. God shows us in Nehemiah 6:15-16 how our enemies will react with the rebuilding is done: "So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.  When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God." When God is your strength and faith going through a rebuilding process, - especially if it's a radical change like mine - your success will be magnified by the decrease in your enemies to be able to affect you!  But more importantly, your business becomes a testimony - even to your enemies - that God can do the same for their businesses. We entrepreneurs give thanks to our God for not only helping REBUILD our business but for also using us to help other entrepreneurs, even your enemies. 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. #ShareYourTestimony #GainConfidence

My accountant called me one day warning me that I was going to owe a lot in taxes that year. See, I had a really good year in sales that year. Business was booming! However, nobody wants to pay taxes, right? Although I had a great year, there was a seed of anger, resentment, and greed in me that was not thinking about how great of a year I had. So, when my accountant told me I'd be owing taxes, I immediately started scheming up ways to not pay the taxes. Then my accountant said these profound words: you should WANT to pay taxes! She explained that paying taxes means your company is doing great! Her reasoning was that the better the company does, the more it can contribute to the growth of this awesome country. Wow, I was mind-blown. That conversation shifted my mindset. Instead of plotting on how to work around paying taxes, I needed to focus on trusting that paying taxes are part of the plans God has for my company and that my business and that I'm part of the growth of my country! We all have ways where we are tempted into deceit. Sometimes we have friends propose illegal business opportunities. Other times our clients ask us to do illegal things on the books or in licensing, permits, contracts, etc. A “Godpertunity” would never come across your desk that asked you to do something illicit.  Although Robin Hood might have thought he was doing a good thing, it was illegal and not from God. In the Bible, we read the story of Nehemiah and his quest to rebuild the wall at Jerusalem. During that rebuilding project, he faces many obstacles that threaten the success of the entire endeavor. It got to the point where outsiders were sending spies and trying to play tricks on him so that he would commit a sin, be arrested, and the entire project of rebuilding the wall would come crumbling down. Case in point, in chapter 6, Nehemiah shows us his skill to discern a lie - a lie that could have ruined his career as a developer. Nehemiah speaking, says "But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me. (Nehemiah 6:11-13) Nehemiah was the governor and the leader of this rebuilding project. He needed to show a good example of undaunted courage. He has shown such resolve and confidence in God's calling over his life to rebuild the wall. He's so far into this project, he's thinking why now would he dishonor God and religion, and betray the people and city of God, by his cowardice? God forbid! Nehemiah feels, not that he would profane the temple by making it into a place of refuge, but that he would break the law by simply entering it. Being a leader and taking on BIG projects that bring glory to God in the marketplace means the enemy will expose you to many ways you can cut corners and perform illegal activities.  Some could lead to a damage of reputation and integrity, some risk relationships, others can lead you to jail. The greatest mischief our enemies can do us Godpreneurs, is, to frighten us from our duty, and to lead us to do what is sinful. We can't allow ourselves to decline doing a good work with a bad one. We can't always avoid getting advice from others, however, when we do, we need to reject what is contrary to the word of God. How can we stand firm against the enemy's various schemes to derail what God wants us to build (or rebuild) for Him? In my experience as a Godpreneur, I've only been able to discern the enemy's plots by staying in the word of God. We, Godpreneurs, need to be consistently studying the Bible. This is the only way we can guard ourselves against the anger, resentment, and greed that comes about when our business is being threatened. Following Jesus's examples is how we yield to impatience, discontent, or anger that could lead us to sin. We are Godpreneurs, our boss is God, and the Spirit would never lead us to deceit.  God will provide, always and forever.  We don’t have to engage in illegal activities, even if disguised as good.  If its illegal, its not of God. We can let our spirit guide us to stop doing anything illegal. 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. #GainConfidence #AccountingHelp #StrengthenIntegrity

I used to dislike Twitter. I avoided it. It felt like gossip and uncontrolled noise. Then, I had a change of heart. I realized that I could be using the platform to communicate with other Christian entrepreneurs the wisdom I was gaining from my morning Bible readings. Everything changed when I saw Twitter as a platform for spreading God's word to the business marketplace. The Bible says: Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! (Psalms 96:3 ESV) Those of us building a Christian personal brand can use Twitter to build our following, but there's a right way and a wrong way. After experimenting, tweaking, adjusting, re-evaluating, I want to make sure you're establishing your following the right way on Twitter. Here's an outline of the 8 tips for Christian bloggers, authors, coaches, consultants, and brands looking to establish a Twitter following and expand their message to this platform: Tweet frequently Optimize your posting time Post visual content Utilize hashtags Engage with replies, retweets, and tags Create an inviting profile Identify followers within your network Draw in followers outside of Twitter No bots, no spammy tactics. Just eight actionable steps you can take ASAP to attract valuable, flesh-and-blood followers. Whether you’re after more leads or just want to get the attention of big names in your industry, the following tips are totally fair game. 1. Tweet As Often as You Study God's Word (often, right?) Versus the likes of Facebook or Instagram, Twitter requires a more aggressive content strategy. According to data by CoSchedule, the “sweet spot” is anywhere between three and seven tweets per day to maximize engagement. On @DailyGodpreneur, I tweet as often as 15 or 20 times per day, though! But that's directly proportional to the fact that I tweet as I do my Bible reading and studying. I'm using Twitter as the first place I throw my ideas out. I don't do much self-promotion. Occasionally I'm throwing out an offer for a course or membership, but it's a very small percentage vs my other tactics: Personalize Bible verses Golden nuggets from a great sermon, but in a "business" context Tweets from my followers Tweets from Christian leaders and I give a business spin to it Relevant Christian entrepreneurship industry articles Bible verses (as image or text) Buzzworthy stats Breaking news (if the news is your "thing") Personal updates (rarely) The list goes on and on! Filling up your Twitter feed with fresh content lets potential followers know that you’re active, engaging, and worth following. With the help of social scheduling software, you can regularly queue up content without having to constantly tweet in real-time. This effectively allows you to attract new followers around the clock. 2. Time Your Tweets to Perfection And speaking of timing, blasting your tweets while your target audience is sleeping won’t help you gain new followers. I see the most engagement during weekdays in the early and late afternoons. Figuring out how to get more Twitter followers doesn’t mean sitting in front of the screen for nine hours a day, either. Ideally, you should schedule tweets to hit the times where users are more active and tweet in real-time at intervals throughout the day as well. 3. Post More Visual Content As you probably know, tweets containing visual content receive more likes, shares, and retweets than those without them. As such, you should strive to couple your tweets with some sort of accompanying image. Although there’s nothing inherently wrong with solely text-based tweets, images are better poised to stop serial scrollers and encourage them to take a look at your post. Even something as simple as a colorful blog post preview would work. Coupling our tweets with GIFs or visually appealing images is something we do often. Meanwhile, infographics are shared three times more often than any other type of image on Twitter. If you’ve got some compelling data to share with the world, go for it. And signaling the strength of video content marketing, this medium is six times more likely to be shared than a typical text-based tweet. Whether you’re looking to inform or entertain your audience (or both), filling your feed with visual content can help bring new followers into the fold. 4. Harness Your Hashtags Think of hashtags as a way to make your posts searchable, almost as a form of SEO for your Twitter account. According to data and best practices on how to use hashtags, tweets with at least one hashtag receive 12.6% more engagement than those without them. Statistically, tweets that feature hashtags get more engagement; however, you should be wary of weighing down your posts with too many of them. Using a couple of hashtags to any given tweet is a quick way to increase the likelihood of new followers finding your account. Plus, doing so, only takes a couple of seconds and there are plenty of hashtags to choose from. For example, you can use #Godpreneur, which is ideal for your Christian entrepreneur content :-P To inject some personality into your feed and to avoid sounding too suit-and-tie, you can also play with popular community hashtags such as #MondayMotivation. Additionally, you can piggyback on event-based hashtags as well (think: awards shows, sporting events, and anything else topical). The only thing to be wary with hashtags is that you don’t go overboard. Posts brimming with hashtags look spammy at a glance and are otherwise distracting. And besides, spamming isn’t necessary when you know which of your hashtags attract the most followers. By taking advantage of Twitter analytics, you can dig deeper into the top-performing tags for your particular brand. 5. Master the Arts of Tagging, Retweeting & Replying Getting more followers on Twitter doesn’t have to be a time-sink: it just means making the most of the time you spend on the platform. Sure, you can and totally should schedule tweets to optimize engagement. But at the same time, you don’t want your Twitter account to look like it’s completely run by bots. You need to get in the trenches with your followers, customers and industry leaders alike. Regularly engaging with other users via tagging, retweeting and replying immediately. Which lets new followers know that you’re human and gets more eyes on your brand. For starters, let’s say you’re replying to another brand’s tweet to try to get their attention. Writing out a detailed, thoughtful response will score you more potential followers than a brief one-word reply. Another smart way to get other brands interested in your account is by shouting them out. Tagging other brands as a compliment is a popular tactic to show some love to others in your industry. In turn, they might give you a shout out as well. Likewise, being tagged in a tweet can help you tap into new audiences by understanding who else is sharing your content. If you want to be tagged by others, you should do the same yourself. And despite only taking a couple of seconds, retweeting your fans and followers can help introduce you to new ones, too. Retweeting followers and customers shows potential followers that you're willing to engage with them These small pieces of your content strategy contribute to the bigger picture of attracting followers. Any combination of tagging, retweeting, and replying doesn't have to take long but are essential to letting those potential followers know you’re active. 6. Optimize Your Profile for New Followers Considering that up to 15% of tweets are suspected to be bots, you need to do everything you can to prove you're human. In addition to a diverse content strategy, there are a few subtle steps to make your profile friendlier to new followers. Optimizing your profile involves two straightforward steps: A clean profile photo. According to the psychology of social photos, an unobstructed facial photo is ideal if you aren’t using a high-res brand logo. Relevant tags, industry keywords, and location information. In short, your profile should be “complete” by describing what you do, your title, what companies you work with, and where you operate. A taste of your personality. Giving your followers a sense of who you are is always a plus. An optimized profile picture on Twitter proves that you're not a bot. Letting your Twitter followers know what to expect from your account is a nice touch. Simply put, fine-tuning these pieces of your profile help guarantee a positive first impression with new followers. 7. Find Followers Within Your Network Here’s a simple, straightforward tip for gaining some new followers and making yourself more visible in Twitter’s search in seconds. If you’re like most people, you’re hesitant about uploading your contact list to any social network. However, syncing your contact list to Twitter can help you tap into your existing network of people most likely to follow you. Importing your email contacts is a smart strategy for finding Twitter followers If your synced contacts are on Twitter, your account has a higher chance of showing up as a suggestion under the “Who to Follow” section. Depending on the size of your contact list, this can score you a lot of new followers with very little work on your part. 8. Funnel Followers from Beyond Twitter The last piece of winning more Twitter followers means promoting your profile beyond the platform. We promote our Twitter account when someone subscribes to our email list. We include a link to our social accounts on-site next to our opt-in form. I even put a follow button for Twitter in my email signature to give my contacts another avenue to get in touch with me. Oh, and I also have a link to my Twitter account tucked away in my Facebook “About” section. Linking your Twitter to your other social profiles helps funnel more users to your profile. Considering how commonplace Twitter is for marketers in general, there’s no shame in plastering your profile wherever you can to help encourage new followers. Finally, if you're a guest blogger, include your Twitter handle in your bio. Twitter is a quick and easy way for readers to get in contact with the author of a blog post. And that wraps up my list! What Are You Doing to Grow Your Twitter Following? Growing your Twitter following doesn’t happen by accident. A combination of planning your content, engaging with fellow users, and optimizing your profile is key to attracting new followers. If you’ve been struggling to figure out how to get more Twitter followers, start with these steps. Many of them only require a small commitment of time but can make all the difference in terms of new leads, customers, and exposure for your Christian personal brand. And on that note, what kind of traction are you seeing on Twitter these days? Anything special you do to bring in new followers? Let us know in the comments below! P.S. I did a Business bible study called 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand. Check it out: 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand This business Bible study will help you launch a God-first personal brand that will help you strategically, financially, and personally. Developing your personal brand starts with launching something new and completely different from what you already have. Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out. #EstablishingAFollowing #SocialMediaMarketing #PersonalBranding

A friend of mine once gave me a powerful metaphor that I've never forgotten. He said, Alex, everyone has two wolves in their minds: a good wolf and a bad wolf. Every day, every waking moment, they are battling each other. The one that WINS is the one WE feed. I've never let go of this vivid image. I've taken the story further in my mind. I've imagined a cage in a dark dungeon in my mind with a huge padlock. Inside this cage is a starved, skinny, frail, near-death bad, bad wolf. This wolf is so weak; he can't even stand up. Any moment, he could die. But the bad wolf never dies. Why? Because every once in a while, I throw it a bone. If we are staying present and at the moment is great for us business owners, but not if that present moment is being controlled by the bad wolf - the enemy's way of starving the good wolf and feeding itself. No entrepreneur wants to be miserable, yet many of us are unhappy for short or long periods. The cause of this is the enemy's control of our present moment - instead of the Holy Spirit. Scientists call this culprit the "ego." Psychology has described it as a part of your mind that controls our thoughts and behavior without us noticing. Since we cannot easily observe the "ego," most entrepreneurs don’t know the extent to which the enemy takes control at certain moments in our businesses. For example, if we later reflect on a dispute with a business partner or employee, we may notice (and perhaps regret) that we overreacted. Yet, we simply weren’t aware of anything influencing or controlling our thinking and behavior in the thick of the dispute. In the Spirit, we would NOT have reacted that way. Impossible. But the enemy came to rob us of our PRESENT joy and happiness and replace it with depression, anger, fear, pride, and a host of other synonymously negative thoughts. The Bible and Ego Concepts of "ego" appear in the Bible; however, the word does not appear because psychology needed to make up to scientifically explain the spiritual enemy. An inflated sense of self is shown to be destructive throughout the Bible. One early example is when Lucifer wanted to be at the same level as God. Because of his inflated ego, he became Satan and was banished from heaven. Lucifer was transformed by Pride (Isaiah 14:13–15). Then, in the garden of Eden, Satan deceived and tempted Eve by telling her that she could be like God (Genesis 3:4–6). The Dangers of the Enemy (Ego) The danger for entrepreneurs is that because we often run the day-to-day operations of our businesses as "the boss," we generally have an exaggerated sense of self-importance because we need to protect our investment and provide for our families. The entrepreneur's - often unconscious - focus on our own financial and societal security results is an excessive preoccupation with “self." This means that we can crowd out the holy spirit during our day, allowing the enemy to take control even without wanting. Why does the enemy do this? It depends on our misery for its present existence, so it obstructs today's happiness at every turn, acting against our own best interests every hour of the day. The enemy's existence as a destructive part of our daily mindset that produces misery would explain why so many entrepreneurs suffer, despite our only wanting to live an unhappy business life. And left unchecked, under the present control of the enemy, some entrepreneurs will intentionally sabotage their happiness by deciding to stay in profoundly destructive business partnerships, painful client relationships, or failing businesses that aren't in their calling. The enemy attacks our present moment by leading us into conflict situations with others and makes us unhappy with our current situation so that it can gain control over our behavior and thinking. For example, in business, whenever two or more people under the control of their enemy (ego) come together, drama ensues – as can be seen in contract conflicts or social media spats. While even well-meaning Christian entrepreneurs may want to work together peacefully, the enemy inside each takes control of the present moment (over the holy spirit) and annoys them at trivialities, and causes them to overreact. If we find ourselves suddenly in a fiery debate over a minor issue, like who should follow up with the client or whether a certain plan is good or not, this is probably the work of the enemy. Instant gratification is another way the enemy robs an entrepreneur of their present moment holy spirit. All the various forms of modern idolatry in entrepreneurship have a self at their very core and glorify instant (present moment) gratification. The dark forces of this age have convinced a new generation of entrepreneurs that contentment is achieved only by immediately satisfying the urges of the self (yolo). And we can trace this back to the Garden of Eden, where Eve became stirred by Satan’s lie that she could “be like God” (Genesis 3:5). How to Battle the Enemy Dying to self is the polar opposite of ego. This is the biblical model for Christian entrepreneurs to stay present with the holy spirit as the moment-to-moment guide of our days. The Bible is filled with admonitions against the self because of a businessman's inherent desire to worship (especially prevalent in personal branding). The Bible calls us to die to ourselves that we may live in Christ: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). This doesn't mean that we cease to be unique individuals or to have a sense of self. But it means that we are no longer prideful or self-obsessed. Instead, our primary identity is founded in the truth of Christ, and our lives are lived in the present by His power, for His glory, and through the HOLY SPIRIT. The enemy is a destructive part of the entrepreneur's mindset and, therefore, the overall business. It wants to rob you of your present relationship with your holy spirit be the most important part of you. The enemy knows no limits, so it will bring you much suffering if you let it gain control. However, if we fix our eyes on Jesus and focus on becoming more like him, we feed the holy spirit, starve the enemy, and begin to live in communion with God in the present moment - the only moment God wants us to live in. P.S. I did a Business bible study called 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand. Check it out: 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand This business Bible study will help you launch a God-first personal brand that will help you strategically, financially, and personally. Developing your personal brand starts with launching something new and completely different from what you already have. Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out. #DifferentiatingMyself

Personal branding for Christian entrepreneurs is for people unafraid to lead with their faith...for God-first business owners who confidently lead with their faith. Can a personal brand really excel if we are upfront and obvious about our faith in Jesus Christ? I believe that this is not only possible, but it's exactly how God designed it to be. Ever since launching Daily Godpreneur, I've been building a personal brand to help entrepreneurs understand the Bible from a business perspective. I put myself out there as a subject matter expert, not really knowing what that was going to do for my own business as a branding agency. What's happened since that launch in 2014 has been an amazing transformation of my purpose and calling in business. I've grown as a better leader. I've grown as a better brander. I've grown as a better guide to my clients. Now, clients seek me out. They want to feed off of me. My work is more authentic and my clients genuinely feel my passion for serving them. Personal branding as a Christian entrepreneur, especially those looking to serve other Christian business owners, is an incredible responsibility that I believe all of us have the opportunity to create. There is something so unique about us Christian entrepreneurs who walk with the Holy Spirit. People don’t even have to ask if we are believers, or even wait for us to bring it up. People just know. We have the opportunity to bring this sense of peace within the presence of our personal brand! Our personal brands can generate and radiate a sense of positivity from being forthright about our faith in Jesus. The Bible says "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." (Galatians 5:25 NIV) God marks His children for the world to take notice. The Holy Spirit acts as a magnet to attract opportunity. A personal brand is an opportunity to keep in step with what the Spirit was already meant to do - shine light. Christian personal branding is the calling on an individual who follows the word of God and is essentially marked for the world to take notice. It's already obvious in how you speak, how you act, and how you carry yourself because the word of God isn’t just a hat that you wear and take off whenever you want to -- it has branded you. I do branding in my agency. I talk about it all the time. I know the power of branding on a business. I also know the power that branding can have on a Christian who lets God lead their message for the world. We Christian have been given the opportunity to market ourselves in such a way that consumers know who we are (believers) and what we stand for (Jesus) so that those who God has assigned to follow us are attracted to us! We can take this concept, and, through a blog, books, courses, speaking, or coaching, we can find ways in which we can strengthen our personal brand. So, can a person in this day and age really excel when branded with Christianity? This is not a question -- it's a right we've been given. Just be authentic. Don't fake it. If you do not truly believe in putting God first in your personal brand, then followers won’t either. Imagine if we all talked about God's word on our blogs and videos. Imagine if our courses and speaking engagements all evangelized Christ. Imagine if our personal brand and business could lead people to church without us even having to try!! Try writing a blog post today about your faith and how it marries into your industry or business. It shouldn't feel forced, it should be natural. Do you feel that you should show your faith off to the world through your personal brand? Why or why not? Will you work to better display God through your personal brand to the world? P.S. I did a Business bible study called 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand. Check it out: 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand This business Bible study will help you launch a God-first personal brand that will help you strategically, financially, and personally. Developing your personal brand starts with launching something new and completely different from what you already have. Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out. #BuildMyPersonalBrand