It kills me to see people starting businesses they have no business being in in the first place. What perplexes me is people jumping into ventures that they haven’t created a plan or strategy for. What annoys me is that there’s a simple solution to the entire thing: discover what you were born to do, and do that. When I first started my business, I told everyone I was a web and graphic design company. Naturally, I get people knocking at my door the day after they think of a great idea because they come to me for a logo and website. Oftentimes the clients didn’t have a full plan, and I didn’t care as long as they paid their deposit and we began work. As I began to grow in my walk with God in 2008, I started to feel a nudge pulling on my heart for the people who I knew deep down inside shouldn’t be starting this type of business, but I still sold the dream to them. In 2012, I made a decision to change that because the passion inside of me didn’t allow me to continue to take money from people that I knew were bound to fail. I implemented a product called “Brand Strategy Session”, and required that each new client coming through our firm would first need to purchase this “business plan” and we would come alongside and help make sure this person was putting themselves in the right business that was suited for their personality and style. Everything changed for me when I made this move. All of a sudden I felt like God was using me to minister Entrepreneurs. This was the beginning of Daily Godpreneur. In light of my calling in Christ and my vocational calling to help Entrepreneurs find their identity, I came to the conclusion that what I’m really upset about is that God created every one of us with something we were born to do, and Entrepreneurs aren’t doing theirs for one reason or another. So my mind continues to go to work, seeking out the ONE THING, the ONE MESSAGE that they need to hear that will turn it all around in their mind and help them realize their born to do identity. All of us Entrepreneurs have a passion for something that breaks our hearts. And if we look closely, that passion is always related to the passion and vocation in our business life. But in order to connect our passion (the thing that hurts us most of how things are) to our business, we have to take on a heart like Jesus and feel the compassion He feels. The Bible says: "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." Ezekiel 36:25‭-‬27 NIV What God is wanting from Godpreneurs is that we submit fully to the spirit He gave us through belief in Jesus. This spirit will guide your passions in positive ways. I don’t come up with the solution, I’m simply a vessel that God is using to manifest the solutions He already came up with. 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. #FindingMyBrand #WhatBusinessIShouldStart

I used to tell people I do amazing, jaw dropping, award winning logos and websites.  I sold the sizzle, not the steak.  After all, I was competing with an overseas market of websites like Fiverr and UpWork where Entrepreneurs could get logos done for cheap. As I began to seek out more purpose and meaning in my work, God began to reveal to me the bigger picture of what I was really here for. Logos and websites were the OUTCOME of my greater service to my clients.  What my clients were really seeking was a sense of identity and belonging in the marketplace.  What my clients are really after is passion and purpose in their offering. I used to focus on the products and services I offer as the main show in my branding and marketing materials.  Now I sell the bigger picture: I help people and businesses find out what there were born to do. How did I come to this prophetic conclusion?  What were the steps I took to go so deep as to find this meaning derived from a logo and website company? My relationship with God is where I rest my true identity.  From there I receive the inspiration needed to not only know what God wants me to do, but also what my clients should do. I love the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman because it shows how a product like water was used to draw out a deeper need that the person had. The Samaritan woman thought Jesus was trying to sell her on actual water, but in reality he knew the deeper pain and that he himself was the solution. The bible says in John 4:13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The water is a temporary thirst quencher, but we’ll be thirsty for more later. Your product or service is a temporary fix until you’ve attached a meaning much greater behind it, and can articulate it will to your clients as the solution they REALLY need to their problem. My work has become 100% spiritual in nature, guided by a God that is after the hearts and souls of every prospect and client I come across. This is what I brand now – the bigger picture. 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

I’ve been building my Christian personal brand since 2014. I was also running my branding and marketing agency at the same time. It’s not easy to launch a personal brand while also running a business. From one day to the next, a client can call with a massive project, forcing me to put my “pet project” to the side so I can make some money. Just like that, my desire to get out there with my “signature product” has been derailed…again… I know I’m not alone because I’m in the business of launching people’s personal brands…it’s a struggle we all share! Entrepreneurship is like the Miami weather in the summer – one moment it’s clear skies, and the next moment there’s a hurricane. The danger with this “unpredictable storm” is that it could lead to a place of us asking ourselves “why would God make it so hard for me to do what I feel He’s calling me to do?” To make matters worse, when we do finally launch our Christian personal brand, we don’t get the number of subscribers we sought or purchases we predicted. This can REALLY derail even the most faithful church-goer! When we start going through some very real trials on our personal brand journey, we question why God would allow it. We may even fight back tears of anger and frustration and think, “How can I represent a God I can’t trust?”. Our questions and doubts hit at the heart of one of a Christian entrepreneur’s biggest decisions: Will we trust that God is good even when business is not? Our response to pain and challenges along the personal brand journey determines so much about our future success (or failure). The Bible tells the story of doubting Thomas. He didn’t believe Jesus was resurrected until Jesus shows up and proves it by showing Thomas his piercings and scars. But then Jesus tells Thomas one of the most important lessons for all Christianity. Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29 NIV) Faith in entrepreneurship requires trust in a plan from God that’s not always predictable or understandable by our human standards. If you’re honest, you too want irrefutable proof of God’s providence on your personal brand journey – especially if you’re doing it for the Kingdom!  You want proof in a number of followers, subscribers, likes, comments, and retweets. You want the proof in sales and joint ventures. We tend to think we wouldn’t be going through a struggle of launching and growing a Christian personal brand if God were really with us.  We may even think putting God in the brand was a mistake. But that’s not it. With Jesus is in our brand’s boat, the storms of solitude may still rock us, but we won’t sink. He’s with us, both in a successful launch and in the worst-case imaginable…nobody listens. God is with us. God is for us. Who can be against us? Let’s all trust God with whatever we’ve been holding back on our Christian personal brand journey. Let’s trust Him with our future product launches. Let’s trust Him with our virtual assistants. Let’s trust Him with our social media channels. Let’s trust Him with our followers. Let’s trust Him that he’ll provide financially! Let’s trust God without a doubt that we’re on the right path! Period. Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, we trust You with the personal brand we’re starting and other things we’re stopping. We trust You with where we’re staying and going in Your name. We trust You enough to give our business life to serve and connect to the people you’ve entrusted us with. We trust You are present with purpose in the midst of our entrepreneurial storms. Thank You for being with us, guiding our steps, and giving us a calling to be Your light in the marketplace. Amen. #NewEntrepreneurs #ChristianBloggers 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. 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

People might think I’m an extrovert that loves to go out and connect with people. Can I share a secret? I’m not a networking kinda guy…. Don’t get me wrong, I love to connect with people.  I can meet a stranger at a party and by the time we leave, I’ve inspired that person to think differently. However, do I PURPOSE to go out and connect? No. It’s just not in my nature to be intentional about it…yet. We’re all made to serve our marketplaces, and we can certainly make a great impact without intentionally going out to connect with people, but connecting with others is PARAMOUNT to building a Christian personal brand. We can’t build a personal brand without being…personable. We can’t be personable if….we’re not intentionally stepping out of our comfort zone to connect with others. God has so many great opportunities lined up for our calling, but He’s going to bring that about through us connecting with others. Who we connect with today will change the blog posts and videos and testimonial stories we share tomorrow! The Bible tells a great story of how one man’s intentional desire to connect with others changed the course of history! "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him." (Matthew 4:23‭-‬25 NIV) Jesus’s ascension from obscurity to authority started when he connects with people around Galilee and recruits his first disciples who begin to travel with him and eventually form the core of the early Church.  The next scene is Jesus connecting with more people, healing the sick, more people find out and come to where he’s at, and the rest is history. Jesus didn’t start out like a rockstar preacher.  He was called to this, but he wasn’t the authority on the scene…yet. Jesus had a plan to reach out to anyone who would give him a chance to share his newfound ministry. Jesus’s decision to connect didn’t just change his story; it changed history. You see, Jesus was 12 connections away from altering the course of his humanity. And those connections became the 12 disciples that started the Christian church you call home today. You may be one podcast interview away from changing your story.  Any opportunities that come your way, paid or not, that are anywhere near to being relevant to your personal development, take it.  God is lining connections up for you on your personal brand journey. We’re one friend away from a better client. You’re one reader away from your next business partner. You’re one conversation away from getting a coaching client. You’re one mentor away from understanding your gifts and becoming a better Christian business influencer. Let’s be intentional about connecting with the right people.  On the same coin, who do we need to DISCONNECT with to open up space for God’s connections? #FindMyCalling #NewEntrepreneurs #LaunchingMyBusiness #PersonalBranding 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. 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

Serving others comes naturally to me. I’m a “nurturing” personality type. I love training, motivating, mentoring and counseling other people. I believe it was my servant attitude that made it easier for me to build a Christian personal brand around myself. I understood early on in business that entrepreneurship wasn’t about me, it was about having the attitude about helping others first. But I know there are other personality types out there where serving doesn’t come naturally, and instead, there’s more of a self-centered approach to business. After all, we’re the owners whose names are on the line, so we want it OUR way. All of us Christians building a personal brand can be a bit self-centered. By nature, we’re all selfish. We’re born this way. However, the danger of building a personal brand is that we put ourselves in a position to forget about God and be consumed with “self” promotion. Although we’re Christians with a God-first message for the marketplace, we’re still influenced by the “have it your way” culture we live in. But God wants us to have it His way. How can we build a personal brand and, at the same time, build a business that’s not all about us? The secret is to develop and master a go-giver, servant’s heart. The difference between “personal branding” and “Christian personal branding” is that in the latter, Christ is first. And if we’re going to build a personal brand around Jesus, then Jesus tells us “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24 NIV) Being a Christian, you’re actually in a better position to build a personal brand than someone who doesn’t have Jesus because we’re constantly reminded of our position behind Jesus “to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (John 4:34 NIV) While others serve themselves by feeding off of their personal brand, you get the privilege of saying your food is to serve God, please Him, and complete the assignment God called you to do in the marketplace. Your food is to do the will of God and finish His work. That’s the calling of Christian personal branding. When others building their personal brands are “filling themselves,” God keeps you in check by reminding you to fill others. When the materialistic culture around us says, “Get all you can! It’s all about you,” God wants us to contribute rather than to consume so we don’t become consumed with ourselves. God created us to be givers. Developing a Christian personal brand allows us to focus on the needs of others rather than focusing on our desires. Instead of making it all about ourselves, we can build a business around serving others, and get rewarded (paid) for it! This kind of business attitude will change your brand story. The best stories we have as business owners are remembering how we helped someone in their business with our product or service. When we helped someone solve a problem, we were serving that person. It feels good to tell those stories because we were made to serve just as Jesus did on earth. Serving others may not feel as natural to many of us, but serving isn’t something we do. A Christian personal brand is stepping into the servant we are called to be – becoming more like Christ. Lord, I pray that you reveal how you’re calling us to serve others through our personal relationships with others. Who are You calling us to serve in the marketplace? Where are you calling us to serve? In Jesus’ name. Amen! #BuildMyPersonalBrand #FindingMyBrand 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

I have a love-hate relationship with entrepreneurship. I love that the marketplace is always changing, so there’s always something new to launch! However, sometimes I just want to stay in my safe and secure stage of business, but I know I can’t stay if I want to keep up with the times. Our worldly nature is to seek security and avoid change. It’s a defense mechanism. But as entrepreneurs looking to influence others, it’s a good idea for us to keep our hearts prepared for change because… change is a guarantee. There are reasons we’re called to stand our ground when the pressure mounts in our businesses, but many times God is calling us to take a risk. How do we know when it’s time to finally GO and launch our personal brand? And if we already have launched, how can we sense it’s time to go to the next level or launch the next product or service? The answer is…when we feel restless where we are, that could be God planting a divine desire in us to serve Him in a new, surprising way! The Bible says, "If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them."(James 4:17 NIV) God’s calling can’t be ignored. He created every human with a purpose to accomplish, and if things are going to be different on Earth, people need to step into their calling.  This is why it’s a sin for people to ignore and NOT do what they were born to do. God has inspired YOU to serve a specific group of people (target market), with an idea (business plan), to solve a problem (niche), in a certain area (marketplace). God is calling you to finally LAUNCH that idea for your personal brand!. If you have a hunch, you need to follow it. Embrace the adventure into the unknown.  And the best way to make this leap of faith is to get a good running start with a group of other Christian entrepreneurs launching and growing their personal brands (you’re in good company here at Daily Godpreneur). The moment we sense something new happening in our business or something different in the marketplace, even if we don’t change immediately, it’s always a good idea that we keep our hearts open for this change. There’s a season to start planning, shed off what’s not serving us anymore, and stay focused on doing the little things preparing ourselves for the launch of our Christian personal brand. But at some point…we have to LAUNCH! “But what if it’s not right? What if it’s the wrong direction?”. I’ve heard it all.  I’m in the business of launching brands, I know the questions that keep us up at night staring at the ceiling causing anxiety and restlessness. We need to use the restlessness in our favor! Sometimes the best decision we can make in finding God’s direction is to finally LAUNCH. In the Bible, God revealed Himself to Abram and gave him a very simple and direct command: walk away from everything you’ve ever known. “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1). The entire course of humanity would have been different if Abram would have ignored his calling. God has been revealing Himself to you or else you wouldn’t be reading this blog post. It’s time. Leave. LAUNCH. GO! To step toward our destiny of being personally used by God to influence the marketplace with our message to businesses worldwide, we have to step away from our security. To go to the next level in our life, there are 4 key areas where we have to leave our businesses. We have to leave the industry we know and step into this new industry of teaching, speaking, writing, coaching, and consulting. We have to step away from the comfortable way of doing business we’ve been in for years. We have to see new ways of generating revenue and stop holding on to the predictable way we’ve been used to. We have to focus on the harder, more difficult business concepts to learn as opposed to staying in our “easy zone” of things we know how to do. Who knows where God can take our personal brand story if we just let Him!  One day, years from now, we’ll look back on our entrepreneurial journey and see the whole story. The question is…what’s your story going to be? Will it be, “I felt like God was calling me to influence the marketplace with the Word of God, but I was afraid, so I did nothing.” Or will you have a faith-filled God-venture to tell?! The difference comes down to acting when God “LAUNCH,” or staying where you’re comfortable. What business is God calling you to leave? What Christian personal brand is He calling you to launch? I’m praying for you! #TargetMarketANDNiche #NewEntrepreneurs #WhatBusinessIShouldStart 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. 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

Not many people know this, but back in 2017, I was seriously considering hanging up the hat on this Godpreneur brand along with the agency I’ve had since 2005 to get a 9-5 job. I looked online for positions, I applied for a couple, and I even went in for an interview. It was the lowest point in my business life. Bills had piled up, clients weren’t calling, and I was lost in the direction of my Christian personal brand. I often think about how different my life would be had I given up at that time. My story would go something like “Yeah, I HAD a calling over my business life, and I have it my all but it didn’t work out. Oh well, that’s life.” As Christian entrepreneurs looking to launch a personal brand that will unashamedly put God first, we WILL wrestle with occasional challenges in different seasons of our business: a client we don’t think we can stand another day, a partnership that’s suddenly gone wrong, a dream that’s running out of money to fund, a product launch that’s failed our expectations. When we face difficulties in pursuing our personal brand calling, it’s natural to reconsider our huge, business-altering decisions. We might ask questions like these. Should I take my chances, leave this burning desire of mine, and look for another way to make money? After I failed attempt…again…is it time to move on? Am I really cut out to be a personal brand influencer for God? Should I cut my losses before things get any worse? In each of these examples – and with most major choices on our pilgrimage of Godpreneurship – we find ourselves at a pivotal fork in the road, and it’s time to decide to stay the course or walk away. At this moment, we have to ask ourselves: Are we choosing to quit because it’s the right thing or because it seems like giving up would be easier? The Bible says: "Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near." (James 5:7‭-‬8 NIV) Farming is such a crazy business because you plant some seeds and can’t eat or collect that money for months and months. The amount of faith needed to “stay the course” and trust that God will provide makes farming the perfect metaphor for kingdom-minded entrepreneurs. When you’re facing the tough questions of staying the course or walking away from your God-first brand, oftentimes the best choice is to keep your venture going. Although there are some situations and decisions you need to walk back from, the important question to ask yourself is, “Am I choosing to give up on the venture because it’s the right thing or because it seems like leaving would make life easier?” We Godpreneurs can sometimes show the greatest act of faith when we show faithfulness to what we feel God has called us to change in our respective marketplaces.  Sometime in the future we can look back and thank God that we stayed the course of our personal branding when it would have been easier to walk away and slide back into the shadows. What a testimony! Imagine if all of us “called” to share a testimony in business didn’t quit and instead finished the race set out before us! Remember, God made us in His image and He is the author and finisher of our personal brand story! Let me pray for you. Dear God, I’m praying for anyone trying to walk away from their calling, that you would convict them and give them the strength to stay and finish. Provide resources and people that will help them stay the course of their calling. Give them the strength to press on, in Jesus’ name, AMEN! #ChristianBloggers #FindingMyPurpose 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. 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

One of my biggest struggles in entrepreneurship is getting involved in too many things taking me in too many different directions. For me, it’s a blessing and a curse. My gifting is to activate, launch, press play, bring things to life, move forward despite all odds, and go into the unknown in faith. But if left unchecked, I can easily launch things that are out of line with where God wants me TODAY. I stress the word today because I’ve learned that just because I got a vision doesn’t mean that I need to press play today. Now I find myself going back and pausing (or even canceling) projects that I feel God may open up opportunities for later on. Christian entrepreneurs have good intentions or at least some kind of justification for the things we do in business. Most of us have this desire to do more and be more. God is so awesome to us that He’s given us the gift of vision – seeing our future in a different way. God has also deposited ambition in our hearts to fuel us along the journey of entrepreneurship. But too many times we take on projects we’re not meant to do right now, sacrificing the launch and focus of our God-First personal brand.  We don’t take the time to really stop, take a time-out, pray about it, sleep on it, or get guidance. And even though we had good, godly intentions behind our actions, we seem surprised when we find ourselves a long way from our goals and even further from the location where God wanted us to be today. How can we stop a train that’s already moving? How can we take time to really know what we’re supposed to focus on today? How do we develop the skill of easily dropping projects that, if we were honest, probably wasn’t the next step on our Godprenurial journey? The big changes in our business lives—both negative and positive—happen with a series of decisions we need to make as soon as possible. The Bible says "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1‭-‬2 NIV) God’s Word says to “throw off everything that hinders.” Hinders what? Hinders from running the race marked out for us! You have a calling from God to launch and grow your personal influence in business. He’s waiting to use you. There’s something that God has put on your heart, and although the other things may seem related or a building block, it’s really a distraction that’s entangling you. When you’re entangled in other projects or businesses not related to your personal brand calling, you’re in sin because it’s disobedience to what God wants you to do TODAY. I know it’s harsh. It’s harsh for me too. I’m with you on this sin. But when a project, business idea, or job is taking us in a direction we know is moving farther away from the business God has called us to personally do, we need to pause not only to consider the financial and strategic consequences but also to decide to stop traveling in the wrong direction. How Can We Turn From Non-Calling Projects? The Bible verse above starts out with “therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses…” First, we need to realize that God didn’t design entrepreneurship to be a journey you travel on your own. He knew the enemy brings all these distractions and sins along the pilgrimage of your pursuing your personal calling. That’s why we have the Holy Spirit, the church, and a series of guides, coaches, consultants, and mentors along with way.  We might need to step toward accountability, a new partnership, or a new place to work from. Second, we have to “throw off everything that hinders” us from pursuing our calling.  We need to assess what’s taking us in a direction we don’t want to go or that God doesn’t want us to go? What do you need to stop completely?  What can we stop in order to move you closer to the business God created us to start? What we need to do to STOP distracting projects is Take a day or half-day. Fast and pray for guidance. Sleep on it. Get some godly wisdom from business people you trust. Picture the possible outcomes. Then, ask yourself, “Is this something I should stop completely?” The decision we make here is the next stepping-stone toward our destination!. In order to start on the journey of our personal brand calling in business, something else has to stop. It’s likely MANY things have to stop (especially if you’re a freak like me and love to launch things!). Although the word ‘stopping’ is usually seen as negative, it’s not so negative when we think of stopping to get gas. Stopping can be one of the most productive things we do in business! When we stop to take inventory of where we are and where we want to go, we can then decide how to move into our calling in business. In other words, stopping actually means stepping in a new direction in our entrepreneurial journey. What can you stop in order to move you closer to God’s divine direction?. My prayer for myself and for you is that we stop, repent, and turn away from anything that’s not serving our entrepreneurial calling and return to God and His path for our personal brand. #ChristianBloggers #SharpenLeadership 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. 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

In 2014, I led a Bible study for entrepreneurs in my church. During those weeks, I felt the Holy Spirit calling me in a new way in my business. At the time, my agency did logos and websites for different companies. Clients would come to me if they were launching or re-branding their businesses. But during this Bible study, God was showing me that if an entrepreneur didn’t have a bigger vision for their business – a godly vision – then the venture would likely fail. This thought burdened me because, being in the position that I was in where I help businesses launch, I had the opportunity to share this thought and help guide the entrepreneur to launching the business that God created them to start. That’s when I discovered my personal calling business – I help entrepreneurs uncover their calling in business, and my agency brings it to life! My personal calling (helping people discover what they are born to do) was different than my agency’s calling (bringing that calling I helped discover to life). This was the foundation of my personal brand, The Born to Do Method. You would think that once I discovered this, I stopped everything I was doing to ONLY focus on my calling. Right? You’d think that a Godpreneur like myself, that teaches other people to ONLY pursue their calling, would himself heed to his own advice. Right? Well, that’s NOT my story. Instead, the story of launching the business God created me to start has chapters that, until now, I didn’t want to share with anyone. From that moment of discovery in 2014, all the way to 2019, I ended up in places I never wanted to be. I blew my calling off. I made decisions that took me farther away from my purpose than I ever intended to go. I chartered my own path that cost me more than I ever thought I’d have to pay. I hurt people. I compromised my values. I broke promises to myself, God, and the people I worked with. I was running from my calling. We all have a story we’re going to tell one day about the journey towards uncovering and bringing to life the business God created us to start. Our story might look like an immediate, meteoric rise to fame and fortune, or a battle of frustration, failure, resistance, procrastination, and delay. But our story isn’t over. It’s not too late for us to change the brand launch story we’ll tell one day! The Bible says “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:18‭-‬19 NIV) The entire Bible is a story of the good news: His story is not over! It’s never too late for you to change the story of your calling in business. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done (or haven’t done), your entrepreneurial future is unwritten! When you decide to start writing the NEW story God has shown you, victory is coming, more connections begin to line up, your journey of making a difference begins, and you start to the goodness God had for you all along. The old has gone and the new is here. (2 Cor 5:17) It doesn’t matter what’s been written in the past, with God’s help, you can transform your entrepreneurial life into one you’re proud to share. So how do we begin to write our new story? We must LAUNCH SOMETHING NEW! The Bible says “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22‭-‬24 NIV) It doesn’t matter how uncertain, afraid, or stuck we may feel right now, our story continues today and tomorrow. We have a choice of what we LAUNCH TODAY. Imagine if we all launched into the direction of the entrepreneurial story we want to tell! What personal brand has God called you to start that you haven’t launched yet? Is it a blog? A book?  A community? A course to teach? A coaching service to provide? Write what’s coming to your heart. Don’t think about the resources it will take, God, got you covered! #NewEntrepreneurs #WhatBusinessIShouldStart #LaunchingMyBusiness 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. 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

In late 2014, I was making some major changes in my business that left me depressed, broken, and redefining my complete identity. Since 2005, my company had served the nightclub industry. I had built an agency niche around the nightlife and my personal brand as a “nightlife marketing authority.” I had books, a blog, and I was speaking at events across the United States to help nightclub marketers with ideas on how to pack out their clubs. Then, Jesus found me in 2008. I started going back to church and discovering this new way of personal development through Christ. It was all so new and exciting for me. It felt like literally being born again… As exciting as it was for me personally, my ethics and morals were beginning to change and my agency and personal brand were no longer lining up with my new set of values. I was about to go through one of the biggest public transformations someone can make – from nightclub promoter to follower of Christ. After years of battling my old and new identity, I made a decision in 2014 that would change my life and the lives of my partners and employees. I shut down the nightlife side of my agency and personal brand to begin to build a new brand. What was the new brand? I had no idea. I just knew it wasn’t what I was doing. Many of us feel in our hearts that there’s an opportunity to share a God-inspired personal message with the business world. As that fire starts to build within us, every day we make choices that are getting us closer to coming out with this personal brand message or continuing to watch others launch theirs while we stay on the sidelines. What would your business and your life look like if God was using your calling to reach hundreds, thousands, even millions? I pray for you to receive the spiritual and practical business guidance you need to play out a God-honoring personal brand story you’ll love to share with the world! #FindingMyBrand #ShareYourTestimony #ChristianBloggers 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. 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’ve been a brand strategist since 2001.  Almost all of my entrepreneurial career I’ve spent helping businesses have cool logos and websites. Naturally, I pay attention to my own identity.  My logos and websites are always in tip-top shape.  I am obsessed with how I am perceived by my target audience and people that work with me. But in 2014 I had an identity crisis that forced me to go back to the drawing boards of my own life and company brand and rethink an entirely new approach to branding. Long story short, my company was the top branding agency for nightclubs around the world.  In 2008 I started going back to church, and over the following years, I felt God pulling me away from that world completely. In 2014 I dropped every nightclub client to follow God completely and trust he had my back.  Almost overnight I lost it all…Employees, contracts, partnership…Myself…My identity as the king of nightlife marketing. What did I do when my life flip turned upside down? Where did I go when I lost almost everything that had been there to me for almost a decade? How do I find my way back to a brand identity that would make me feel like I matter like I have a purpose? This is exactly where God needed to take me in order to show me my true identity – His identity through me. What I’ve discovered since then is that branding is the external spoken word of the internal embodiment of God within us, trying to express Himself through us. I know, it’s a mouthful. It’s a very advanced thought.  I’ve been at this for years now – I’ve dedicated my life to this topic of identity. When things aren’t right at home or in business, when life is crumbling around me and it seems like I’ve lost hope, I’ve come to understand that this is God’s way of correcting my brand and trying to line my company up with who He is, not who my selfish self wants us to be. The dictionary defines identity as “who someone is, the name of a person, the qualities, beliefs, etc., that make a particular person or group different from others.” I’ve come to understand brand identity not as who my company is, but WHOSE my company is.  It’s not so much about the cool logo and website, but more about lining up my qualities and beliefs with God’s qualities and beliefs.  It is in this mirroring effect that God begins to attract to Himself, through me, the clients, and people He needs me to work on. The Bible says: "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord , “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 NIV To find my true brand identity, all I need to do is focus on one thought: I am a child of God. The foundation of my company is grounded in my faith in a God that loves me, gives me purpose, sees the big picture, and reveals to me what I was born to do – the greater plan for my business. What’s my company’s brand identity?  It’s an object of His love, poured out from me for my customers to taste. So while the roller coaster ride of Entrepreneurship takes its sharp twists and turn, that foundation truth doesn’t have to change in me: this business is God’s business.  Even if I wrestle with internal feelings of not being clear on the external appearance of my brand, I can hold on to God’s truth. I know He’s got a plan for my business, even when I don’t know what it is or when it seems to look totally different than what I’ve imagined. This is what brand identity is about. The only constant is that it comes from God. Everything else is ever-changing because as we draw closer to God and allow our companies to be used by God, the company always changes. God gives us the growth we so desire. How do you see your company’s brand identity? How do you think God sees your company? 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. #BusinessBibleStudy #FindingMyBrand #BuildMyPersonalBrand

I have friends that religiously listen to podcasts. Personally, I used to listen to them more, but I’m more into video content. However, podcasting is enormous, and it’s here to stay. It’s not surprising that podcasts are popular. For us personal brands, there’s a low cost to producing them. For consumers, it’s easy to find something extremely targeted that they are interested in listening to. The possibility of building a tribe through niche audiences through the medium makes it the perfect vehicle for those who would like to create a powerful Christian personal brand. I have a dual approach to the world of podcasting. I have my show on Soundcloud, and I’m frequently a guest on other people’s podcasts. Both ways have helped me grow a following and get my message across. The Bible says But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” (Luke 4:43 ESV) When building a Christian personal brand, your business should be to spread Christ's fame in every place and to use our influence in guiding listeners to God’s word, and that your message may positively serve someone’s life. If you’re up for the challenge, podcasting is undoubtedly a medium the Lord created for you to build a following to bring people to himself. There are two ways we can leverage the power and clout of podcasts to get our message in front of the right people. One is by starting your podcast. The second option would be to get invited to someone else’s podcast as a guest. 1) Creating Your Own Show My show is Daily Godpreneur with Alex Miranda (https://soundcloud.com/dailygodpreneur). It’s been powerful to run a personal brand podcast. I get to host my own show and tailor the content any way I feel the spirit leading me towards. And, podcasting is not that difficult nor that costly - music to my ears! It doesn’t take much to get the right microphone on Amazon and start sharing and spreading your message. By now, in this book, you’ve likely found the message that will set you apart in the Christian personal branding space. To help you best share your testimony and teach your message to your target audience, you need to first decide on a format that perfectly suits your brand. The 4 Options Are: Solo host. A trendy style. You’re the host of your own show, and you take it wherever you want to take it. There’s an outline to the presentation; however, you’re more freestyle. Interview style. I get asked to be a guest on other podcasts because their style is the interview style. This format will add an exciting element to a show and allow you to leverage influencers to help build your follower count. Narrative style. This one is my style. It’s story-driven podcasting. It’s inspirational. It’s based on a message I want to share with the world. Each one is almost a mini-sermon. That is the toughest, though. It will need a significant amount of editing, so a cohesive story is put together. Multi-host format. My partners and I always talk about hosting a show for Christian entrepreneurs to listen to for lunch. We haven’t pulled the trigger, but I always think it would be cool to host a show with them. It is ideal for your listeners to get more than one perspective or input about the topic at hand. 2) Be A Guest On Other Podcasts Getting interviewed, especially on top podcasts in the Christian entrepreneur space, can wonders for your brand. However, you first need to get on the radar of those top podcasters and give them a reason to have you over. While this can seem challenging, it’s pretty easy once you know-how. Start by: Researching the top podcasts in your niche. Listen and study the shows you want to appear in. Craft a fantastic pitch. Follow up Like with most things in life, consistency will determine what you can get out of podcasting. 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 #PersonalBranding

I have a confession: I’m not the best at recognizing when I need to pray. My prayer life is something I work on. I know its not my strength. Usually, I try to solve things on my own. When the sales pipeline dries up, I frantically look for business. When I have a new idea, I implement without seeking counsel.  It’s just my nature. For entrepreneurs, there's nothing wrong with feeling the pressure and acting accordingly. However, sometimes we’re missing one key element in the pressure cooker: going to God in prayer FIRST. If we go to God and ask for strength, THEN we can move to doing what we were going to do. This is efficient because we've got the mindset we need to continue: God is backing me up. In the Bible, Nehemiah was being attacked while rebuilding the wall at Jerusalem. Instead of caving in to the pressure by trying to take on the enemies through his own strength, he asked God for His strength. Nehemiah 6:9 says, "They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.” But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.” God wants us to come to him for strength as we build our God-first businesses. Are you implementing prayer into business decisions? We can start today! 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. #StrengthenIntegrity #BecomeDisciplined

The biggest hurdles I've had to overcome as a Christian entrepreneur are distractions. For example, I'll start to put together a new Business Bible Study, and I'll be halfway through completion, and something comes up in one of my companies and I'll pause the project for an extended period of time to go tend to that issue. By the time I come back around to finishing what I've started, the chess game has changed and now I find myself unmotivated to continue. My mind wants to do so many things.  I want to start other book reports, more devotionals, open new channels of revenue in my business, form new partnerships, increase my marketing efforts, hire more staff, and the list continues! We entrepreneurs have so many opportunities.  What we have to watch out for is which opportunities are from God, and which are the enemies tactics to distract us from the task at hand. How can we smell when something is from the enemy trying to derail us from the project God has called us to complete? In the Bible, Nehemiah was near the completion of the wall when the enemy comes in to try and distract him, take him off course, and possibly derail the entire project. Nehemiah 6:1-4 says When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates— Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer. Nehemiah displays the ultimate show of discernment. He has the ability to judge matters according to God’s view of them, and not according to their outward appearance. Picture Nehemiah going to the Word of God and equipping himself with discernment. Perhaps he read Proverbs 27:6: "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." That passage alone would remind him to not look to outward appearances, but to judge soberly. You've likely been the victim of deception by outward appearances of opportunities. This lack of discernment produced some kind of suffering. You've listened to others who give a good appearance, but don’t walk in the nature of Jesus. You've likely accepted things blindly because it looked good or sounded good, without carefully judging it against the whole counsel of God’s Word. We've all done this. So the question becomes... How can we develop entrepreneurial discernment? First, if you want to see things as God sees them. This means you need to get to know His Word. A "Daily Godpreneur" isn't just a cute name for a blog...it's a calling for entrepreneurs to get to know God's Word so that we can stand up against the deception of the enemy that wants to take us from our purpose and calling. Second, discernment comes through spiritual maturity; Hebrews 5:12-14 says that discernment is something spiritual babies don’t have (a baby will stick anything in his mouth). Third, discernment can be given as a gift from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:10). Seek Him for it. Without discernment in business, we can think a dangerous opportunity from an enemy is really a blessing from God. We can think a good idea is a God idea. We can think our own noble desires to serve are God’s promises for success. We can think God is saying “now” or “later” when He is really saying “later” or “now.” We can think another entrepreneur is a great guy or a spiritual leader when they are really doing damage to God’s people. Look around.  Where is the enemy trying to attack you?  Is it the lure of a giant contract?  Is it a new business opportunity your brother in law is presenting? The enemy will often hit you when you're down - you've lost a key player on your team or sales drying up and the bank account is slim. This is when you are most vulnerable to the deception. We all need to watch out for the tactics distracting us from God’s original calling for us to lead God-first businesses. We need to keep our eyes on the next step. We need to focus on the ONE THING we need to do today to keep building our wall. 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. #BusinessBibleStudy #EnhanceFocus #SharpenLeadership

I was once involved in a startup where, once the first money started coming into the business, my partner began buying expensive furniture and artwork for himself. This would have been fine if he was using his own profits, but he was taking from the company money to furnish himself with perks. When I started to see my partner doing this, I became very concerned. It got to the point where I decided I didn't want to be in a partnership with him anymore. If this is the way he was going to be spending the company's money, I didn't want to be any part of the building of this company. Then, disaster struck. My partner figured we would keep making these amazing profits that we were experiencing, but one day, the business ran into big supply chain problems and the money stopped coming in. He was left with over $100,000 in debt to repay because he had personally borrowed over what he was supposed to take. We entrepreneurs are sometimes in positions where we are ‘entitled’ to do things because of our position that can end up playing a burden on our own employees, vendors, and contractors.  We give ourselves perks, take off more days, take longer breaks, more vacations, etc. God is searching for hearts that are aligned with His. He’s seeing how you treat the perks that are rightfully yours. In the book of Nehemiah, we read that he was appointed Governor of Judah. As Governor, he was entitled to tons of perks.  He was given allowances for food and wine, money, and more.  He could get anything he wanted, however, he took a different mindset. Nehemiah 5:14-15 says, "Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also Lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that." Like me, maybe you also find yourself as part of a startup. Or maybe you're like Nehemiah and you find yourself rebuilding your company. Both mean that your business is in building mode.  It’s all hands on deck. When you're starting or restarting your company, especially if you're doing it because God is moving you to do so, this means that God is going to be seeing how you manage the "perks" that are going to start coming your way. Will you be enticed to bathe in the luxuries of your position, or will you stand side-by-side with your lowest rank employees in building the business? We serve a God that is training our hearts to be aligned with his.  It’s not about the product or service you provide, it's about the purpose and the heart behind the business. We all need to stay focused on our mission to produce a business that glorifies God. Once the business is up and running, from our own profits, we will enjoy the fruits of our labor. 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. #AgencyOwners #SharpenLeadership