I can’t remember the last time I said “Thank you God, for blessing me with the gift of entrepreneurism.” As Godpreneurs, we believe we’re on this earth to accomplish a duty and obligation God has set before we were born. But our hearts are still deceitful. It helps to ask ourselves, “Why do I serve the Lord?” Is it to gain His favor, earn His blessings, impress others with our “godliness”, or avoid His wrath? Or is it because He commands me to do it? As entrepreneurs are bombarded with the demands of life on earth, mainly financial demands, we often lose sight of the eternal perspective. I started a new routine in the mornings to help keep me aligned. Start your work day by recognizing who He is and what He has done in your business. This will help you obey Him not from a robotic sense of duty, but from the overflow of thankfulness that is in your heart. Be a Godpreneur because you love God above all things…even over the financial gains. #StrengthenIntegrity #SharpenLeadership

One of the most frustrating concepts in my business is “waiting on God’s timing.” I’m always hearing ‘strike while it’s hot’ and ‘there’s never going to be a time like now’ and ‘do it before someone else’s does’. I recognize some of this as hyped up sales talk, but it could also be God speaking through someone else to me, right? It’s a mystery to me…the concept that there’s a time to grow and a time to act. I’ve seen it play out over and over in my business.  Sometimes I feel like I made the right decision, sometimes I bombed the timing and failed miserably. I’ve started businesses that I shouldn’t have just because one day I woke up and had a vision. The same has happened to me with marketing campaigns and releasing new products. I’ve let visions of the future deter my current daily duties, taking me off track. But even amidst the mystery of God’s timing, I do know that one concept is fact: action before preparation usually spells disaster. We entrepreneurs want to shoot first and ask questions later. We want to live the dream that if you build it, they will come. We don’t like writing business plans. We want to throw up the vision on our team and hope they got it and have it done by next week. But this isn’t how God wants us to react as Godpreneurs. In the case of what we were born to do, God wants to prepare us for what he knows lies ahead. We may urgently feel the need to act on a business idea or a new email blast that seems foolish to wait on, but God has bigger plans we don’t understand. The Bible says, "For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose". Philippians 2:13 NIV God’s timing is perfect, and our visions are simply a small part of His bigger vision. This is why God wants to work INSIDE of us, to prepare us to act on what we were born to do.  And when we’re ready, that’s when He’s ready for us to act…it will be on His timetable. God’s timing can be hard to hear for you, right? I know, that’s the struggle. This is the biggest thing I hear about from entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs. You think that once the vision is clear, we must be ready, otherwise, why would we have the vision? All I have to say is don’t be impatient. We shouldn’t move before God leads. We accept his training and his timing. Meanwhile, what we were born to do, though it may burn inside of us, will enable us to endure the wait, because we know it’s worth it to get it right. We know that having a vision will come BEFORE the preparation. LeBron James had the vision of being the best in the world BEFORE his preparation.  It was the vision that gave him the strength to endure the preparation: all the practicing and hard work. Visions will always be bigger than us.  That’s the point!  Within that tension is where we always want to live because then we know God is always working on us. Godpreneur Rule #29: Our visions are meant to prepare us, they aren’t to be acted on. The preparation will lead to the vision coming to life. #WorkLifeBalance #DifferentiatingMyself

A few years ago I received a letter in the mail from a law firm. The firm was representing Getty Images, a website that sells stock photography asking us to prove that we purchased a certain image that was on our website. But we couldn’t provide the proof because, as the law firm suspected, we had used the image without purchasing it. We had to pay a hefty fine. From that day forward, we became extremely cautious with the imagery we use on our website and our clients as well. Now we follow the rules and pay for our stock photography. The fear of having to pay another fine keeps me on the straight path, even though there have been plenty of other opportunities to save money and just grab a free image I find on Google. We all have opportunities in our businesses to lie, cheat and steal.  We have ways to twist the truth, while covering it by making others think we are angelic. How can we CHANGE our ways? For me, a letter in the mail threatening a lawsuit if I didn’t pay fines helped me to change. But do we need a lawsuit, bankruptcy or a breakup to reach us a lesson? Well, actually, God will use whatever He can to get your attention and change your ways. In the book of Acts, we come across an event that makes my point. A husband and wife sold their land and donated the proceeds to the early church.  They told everyone that they gave ALL of the proceeds, but they lied, and only gave a portion. "Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” (Acts 5:4 NIV) That same day, they both died. The amazing part of this incident is that everyone else who heard about this stopped cheating. They saw that God doesn’t play. You can be told that downloading pirated movies is illigal. You can be warned by your accountant that using your company credit card for personal expenses is cheating on your taxes. You can cut corners on delivering the service or product that your customers purchased. But you can’t stop God from knowing your ways, and doing something to correct it. Knowing God is there to love us so much to want us to be better, we have two choices: 1) we can know that God expects more from us, and stop our ways, or 2) we can accept the consequences when the lawyer sends the letter and let it be a lesson for the future. We should be so lucky that God loves us so much to send us a lawsuit so that we can grow to be the best representative of Him in this world. Godpreneur Rules #74: Godpreneurs have a healthy fear of God that helps us grow. #StrengthenIntegrity #WorkLifeBalance

The other day my coordinator followed up with a lead I had spoken to back in March about a branding and website package.  My first conversation with this prospect was awesome!  Seemed like he was going to buy on the spot.  I sent him the email follow up with a payment and scheduling link. When my coordinator gets on the phone with him, he angrily complains that we never followed up and it’s too late now and he’s already gone with another firm and to not call anymore. When I heard this I was very surprised. I had a great conversation and everything seemed like the start of something awesome. My surprised attitude quickly turned to an anger inside because I was now insulted at the claim we never followed up. As entrepreneurs we are constantly being angered and insulted and pushed around. Sometimes from clients, sometimes from our own employees. So what do you do when that anger boils up and you feel like telling that person off? In Proverbs 15:1 we read A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. God says hold your tongue. God says to show love. When I got back to my desk I went straight to the email I had originally sent following up and I replied to the email and calmly explained that I was sorry he may have missed my follow up email and if there was anything we could do in the future to help we are here to serve. I even wished him good luck on his new venture! He replied that he was sorry that he didn’t see the first email and that he’s busy now and will get back to us. I could have replied angirly. But instead it was a gentle reply that opened the relationship back up. #SharpenLeadership

Back when we were a graphic design fulfillment company, I would send artwork on canvas to my clients every year.  It was an awesome way of showing how much I appreciate their business.  They would hang it up in their offices, and I would make sure it was a piece they would be proud to show off. It’s easy to give gifts to our current clients….they’s paid us! But should we be giving gifts to those that aren’t our clients yet?  They haven’t paid us any money, doesn’t make sense! The bible says: Giving a gift can open doors; it gives access to important people!” (Proverbs 18:16 NLT) Gifts are totally unexpected, undeserved, and given from a heart that wants to strengthen a relationship. CURRENT CLIENT GIFT IDEAS For current clients, I recommend getting on SUBSCRIPTION GIFT GIVING.  Subscription gifting is the perfect way to show appreciation and stay on your client’s mind. The best part? As the on-the-go gifter, you have the ability to ‘set it and forget it! It still requires thoughtfulness to find the perfect fit for a client, because if he or she is going to be receiving something from you once a month, it had better be something well-liked!   So you sign your client up to Dollar Shave Club Birchbox Sock 101 BarkBox Graze PROSPECT GIFT IDEAS God has shown us gift-giving, so what can you be doing in your business to give gifts to PROSPECTS? A book or ebook that you wrote (this is major authority builder) Cupcakes, candy (any food really) A sample of your service (this is a little lame, but it could work) Something 3D in the mail, like a stress ball Do you have any ideas that have worked for you?  Share below! #SharpenLeadership #MakingMoreSales

These are the ones that take up a lot more time, need more hand holding, are more stubborn in their ways, think their ideas are the best, and change directions multiple times during the branding process. This used to make me irritated. So much so that after a while, my attitude and heart changed towards that client, and what started out as a great relationship became toxic and confrontational. What I’m describing to you are the emotions I personally went through.  Maybe the client felt the same way, or maybe that’s just the way the client is and his or her expectations are that I need to handle those twists and turns because it’s my job. As I’ve grown closer to God and given more of my heart and passion to him, I’ve become a lot more graceful in my dealings with clients.  This has helped me, once again, appreciate the process of branding and show more love to my more challenging clients. Mastering my passion doesn’t mean mastering my craft. I get better at branding each job that I do, but my passion gets its exercise elsewhere. The bible says "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil." Proverbs 4:23‭-‬27 NLT My emotions are a powerful force. I control them, not my clients. My passions can be the source of much of the evil way I would end up treating problem clients. Instead, I choose to accomplish great things by properly directing my heart’s focus. God has given me a set of perfect and reliable guidelines in His Word that will direct my business life when place my passions under their authority. But it requires a practiced decision I must make in theory, well ahead of the practical test.  This isn’t a switch I turn on and off.  This isn’t light that stays on all the time. Prayer plays an important role in helping me to predetermine my behavior as I face the challenges of entrepreneurship. You contain your emotions through your will and intellect if you are wise. This is accomplished by thinking through your values and priorities before the adrenaline starts to pump. Many a client relationships have turned south in seconds because behavior had not been considered before the tension rose. I have lost my reputation and moral authority in the snap of the finger. I can destroy something I have built up over a long time in a matter of seconds if I let my passions get the better of me. Godpreneur Rule: Godpreneurs Give our heart to God and channel our passions toward personal growth. #WorkLifeBalance #BecomeDisciplined

Whether dealing with employees, partners or contractors, I often took my team for granted.  Showing courtesy, gratitude, and care for others might happen in the first couple of months of knowing the person, but that wore off for me. The same person whom, once upon a time, I wanted to do work with and was excited to have on my team, now likely feels unappreciated by me for all that they do for me everyday. Why is it that today if a new client comes knocking at the door with business, we jump to thank them even before the job is done, and yet, we show little or no gratitude to the people on our team that make it happen? What we fail to realize is that expressing gratitude benefits both parties in the relationship—the recipient and the giver. When we give appreciation to those that work for us, we often receive even more in return! Research shows that employees that felt more gratitude feel more attached to the business and are more pleased to come into work even the following day. Satisfaction goes up! Gratitude is a boost to get people on your vision and riding the rocket with you.  It will also help employee retention, so people stay with you longer. The bible says “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” God is asking us to be grateful because it takes our focus off of the NEGATIVE (which is our tendency) and places it in the POSITIVE (which is where God wants us). Every day we have the awesome opportunity to show appreciation to the people that help run your entrepreneurial machine. Here are some simple ways to show employees, contractors, vendors, partners, joint venture partners, and clients well-deserved appreciation everyday: Thank your employee because they care, not because it’s their job. When your employee is doing their job, don’t just think “well, that’s what I pay them for”. You may be taking their work for granted just because you’re also doing your job. Appreciate the fact that they are a component of the machine you’re building and without them the thing doesn’t run as well. Tell them why you appreciate them. So it’s one thing for your employee to hear “Man, I’m really grateful to have you on my team”. It’s a whole different story to follow it up with “I sleep better at night knowing I have you on my team”. Be creative in expressing recognition. Saying the same thing over and over becomes bland.  People become numb to it. Try more personalized phrases: “I’m grateful when…”, “I’m blessed to…”. Simply pick a different way of showing the same appreciation. The English language allows for millions of combinations. Appreciate the time and mindset, not only the results. Even when your employees goof up and are unable to deliver up to your expectations, thank them for their effort and time. If your contractor forgets to do a task from a long list of tasks, or if he or she burns the cookies, don’t make them feel all their work was wasted. “It’s not a big deal. Thank you for your effort.”  (personally, I would also follow it up with how it could have been done differently) Look for positives to appreciate even in negative circumstances. My mom is great at seeing the good in everyone, everything, every situation.  How many times have you gotten the “I’m running late,” or “I can’t come in today,” or “I’m backed up.”  Instead of moaning and groaning, thank the fact that they are even telling you this in advance.  This will make them want to “make up” for it. Surprise “Thank You” notes. I’ve written thank you cards, sent text messages, wrote emails, posted on employee’s Facebook walls, and left sticky notes on their desk.  You don’t have to do this daily.  With the 5 examples I just gave, you have one for every week of the month.  Then figure out other ways and come back to repeat any later on.  These can make their day. Let them know how important they are to your success. As an entrepreneur, we are only as strong as the people working in our machine. Even if you’re a solo-preneur, you still count on vendors, affiliates or contractors to help you succeed. Count your blessings and accomplishments in business, and inform your team about the impact they have in your success. Appreciate how your people contribute to the achievement of your personal goals. Praise in private and public. It’s nice to be praised at your desk, but it’s even better to be recognized publicly. You can send an email blast, post on the company Facebook page and bring it up at the next meeting. Find ways to appreciate publicly. Go out of your way when they need help. The best way to show gratitude is showing up with they need help. Praying for someone who is down, buying their tires and having them pay you back slowly, or just listening when they need to talk. Sometimes you can offer to do their job for them so they can take a break if you see them down. Give a Gift. Nothing says thank you like a gift. For some employees this will be the best thing ever, but for others it won’t be as impactful.  You won’t know until you try it. The more thought that went into the gift, the bigger the impact. Your Entrepreneur Compass, Alex Miranda. COMMENT BELOW:  What are some ways you show your team gratitude?. Sound off below. #ShareYourTestimony #DifferentiatingMyself #AgencyOwners

Have you discovered your purpose in business, but find yourself struggling to execute on it because you get sucked back into old ways? Maybe there's a new direction you want to take with your business, but past clients and old services keep you from moving forward because…you have to pay the bills, right? Or, there's a personal brand or blog you've meant to launch, but with all the distractions of life, you can't find the time to press play or continue building. There's a strategy I want to share with you today to help you move into “an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you” (Ephesians 4:20-24 MSG). I'm continually tweaking my branding agency. I've been helping businesses launch since 2005, but it hasn't always stayed the same. I've changed my process, target market, and niche too many times to count. In 2019, I decided I wanted to target more doctors. So I started talking more about doctors on my blog posts and examples. I even created a new page on my website to target that market specifically. Yes, I still had other types of businesses calling me, but I was doing small things to move me into a new direction that I felt God was calling me towards. We can all rebrand and redirect our focus because it's human nature to be remade. We're constantly shedding our skin, and new skin is replacing it. God uses entrepreneurship to help us be remade into our new selves - what He created us to do. But He won't force the change on us. He wants us to keep asking, keep listening, and keep working with Him. The bible says: “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9 NIV) Jesus says to ask, seek, and knock. That's three ways of saying the same thing - be continuous and relentless in pursuing the things of God. God won't reveal our true brand's calling all at once. It's a continuous process where He wants to guide and teach along the journey. God will identify our brand in a process and progression that builds on itself throughout our entrepreneurial career. For this reason, you shouldn't get hung up or stressed about being stuck between your old business model and the new direction God wants to take you to. He wants to work THROUGH the process. There's no formula or timeline of how this works. However, when God gives us a calling in business that is unique to us, we have to treat that with the most extraordinary care. We can't allow that vision to be lost or forgotten with the hustle and bustle of life. We have to have a system and process in place to constantly be revisiting the calling. Deciding on a niche to serve is a process of documenting what God reveals to us and consistently revisiting and revising it. If we keep our calling top of mind, we'll always stay focused on who we were meant to become in the marketplace. How do we keep our calling top of mind so God brings our niche more into focus and action? I've created a Trello board and Google Document dedicated to the purpose of writing out what God reveals to me about my purpose and calling. The more I revisit this and analyze it based on my current circumstances, the more my niche is revealed. Constantly reading and tweaking, resurfaces the feelings towards solving the problem I was born to fix. Get a journal or open a document on your computer or phone and record what God has been revealing to you. Remember, moments He spoke. Recall terrible client situations you never want to experience again and amazing clients you loved to work with. Remember the situations you loved, and the products that made you proud. Bring back moments where you helped someone, and it felt like you were in your zone. Write down Bible verses that impacted you and your business. Imagine if we all collected and compiled all of these things and revisited them every morning, even if it was just for 5 minutes. Let's preserve and protect what God shows us because it will reveal the niche, product or service you were called to bring to life. Simply keep returning again and again. God is faithful. He will bring the vision to life. #TargetMarketAndNiche Deciding On A Niche In 4 Steps to Deciding on a Niche for your Business, join Alex Miranda as he guides you to launch a brand with intention and purpose and decide on a niche already. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

As Christian entrepreneurs, our hearts are shaped from before we were born to hurt for a particular wrong in this world. We don't know it from birth, we uncover it along the way. Entrepreneurship (God's way) is taking a risk to launch a venture that will solve that specific problem you were created to pain over. But with so many avenues to take and so many people we can help, how do we know the exact pain we were born to pour into? I've always been in the business of launching businesses, either for myself or for my clients. Before knowing anything about Christ, I've had a marketing and branding agency. But something weird happened when I started my relationship with God 5 years after launching my company. I began to "feel bad" for entrepreneurs that were coming to launch their business that I knew deep down the venture wasn't going to work out for them. Before knowing God, if you had an idea for a business, I would take your deposit and start working on whatever you had come to me asking to be done. But after knowing God, I began to question the client, "Are you sure this is the business you were born to do?" My relationship with God revealed to me a pain that I couldn't shake off: there are people launching businesses that they have no business launching. Furthermore, if this isn't the right business, then what exactly is the business he or she is supposed to be in. When we start our relationship with Christ and couple that with our vocation of entrepreneurship, God begins to shape our hearts to pain for the same things He pains for. God gives us a NEW heart-shaped like His. The Bible says "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." (EZEKIEL 36:26 NIV) The first clue to deciding on a niche is carefully analyzing how when certain problems come up; your heart is moved. The movement of your new heart is one way God teaches you what is your "thing" in the marketplace. Business books call it your unique selling proposition (USP): what you and your company uniquely solve, different from every other company on the planet. Your heart is made to notice, to care, to move more for certain people (target market) and particular needs (niche problem to solve): when their needs meet, your heart is satisfied; when they aren’t, your heart hurts with their heart. For me, it would pain me to see an entrepreneur try to be everything for everyone. It wouldn't sit right if the person launching the business were doing it off of a whim, or because there's "money" to be made. When I got my new heart, I grew a passion for helping people discover what they were born to do BEFORE launching their business. We can all become conscientious of the feelings our God-first heart gives off, and begin to meet the true needs or the people we're called to help so that we can not only find their joy but ours too. Also, take note that you're not moved by the same thing I'm moved for. It means you and I were uniquely created, and not all of us are shaped to solve the same thing. A second clue to deciding on a niche is understanding that although all of us Christian entrepreneurs are created for good works, as individuals, we're not created for EVERY work. We're all called to help those in need in our marketplaces, but as individual companies, we're not called to meet EVERY need. It is especially difficult for realtors to grasp their heads around. They think because they have a license to service the entire state of Florida, that everyone is their target market. But that's impossible. I have to help them see that they were created to solve a particular niche need, and the process of deciding on a niche makes the difference between top earners and those that struggle. I have discovered my thing to do here in this world, and my prayer is that CHRIST teaches you what is yours! Don't look for your niche at a seminar or a YouTube video or because you saw someone else succeeding. Your niche will come from a heart after God's heart. Imagine if we all detached ourselves from our selfish desires and considered only our hearts. What specific group of people can we help with a particular need that uniquely moves us? That's our niche. #NewEntrepreneurs #FindMyCalling Deciding On A Niche In 4 Steps to Deciding on a Niche for your Business, join Alex Miranda as he guides you to launch a brand with intention and purpose and decide on a niche already. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

I used to think I had to do everything myself.  After all, I started the company!  I’m in charge of finances, sales, marketing and operations.  And within each, I have hats within hats to wear.  It’s all my responsibility and I need to make sure I can do it all in the 18 hours I’m awake in the day. But 18 hours isn’t enough, so I put things off for the next day….and the next…and the next.  When I come to realize it, my email box is full of 3,000 unread emails and my to-do list has stretched to page 3 on a legal pad. Sometimes I dream of taking a trip to a cabin in North Carolina for 1 month, locking myself in a room, and doing everything I can to catch up. 24 hours just isn’t enough in a day to do it all.  Yup, that’s the truth. So how do we accomplish everything we need to do to run a successful business?!  How will we bring our dreams of growth and expansion to life if all we have is 24 hours in a day? One thing I’ve learned in growing in my relationship with God is that He will accomplish through you what he needs to accomplish in the time available.  Imagine checking in with your CEO (God) in the morning and asking for the critical tasks of the day.  He would know exactly what you need to do, after all, he came up with the 24-hour day! In the book of Job, God challenges Job’s frustrations and says something that I always remember when I’m frustrated at God’s design of the world. Job 38:4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand." And in Job 38:12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place," Whenever you catch yourself complaining that there aren’t enough hours in the day, remember the power of the two verses above.  It should give you the right perspective on how to see the day of work laid out before you:  God’s perspective. If we were very honest with ourselves, the reality is that God’s 24-hour design is perfect, but we are the ones that get distracted, do unnecessary work, and are inefficient. As Godpreneurs, God’s our CEO and he knows what he’s doing. We can wish for more time, but we’re not going to get it. We can’t make our days longer. What you can do is see your work from God’s perspective and leave the rest in His hands. If everything in our businesses depended on us, no amount of hours would ever, ever be enough. #SharpenLeadership #TimeManagement

One of my greatest struggles as an entrepreneur was creating the habit of getting up early every morning to spend time in meditation and prayer.  Even though every success seminar and autobiography of the rich and famous Business gurus said that I must create this habit, I struggled. Could be that I went to sleep too late.  Could be that I’m not a morning person.  Could be that I worked so much into the early morning hours that I couldn’t get up.  Could be that I would wake up, check my emails and see there was a fire I needed to put out.  Could be that there was so much to do that day that I didn’t have time. Could be that I was just too darn busy. And if I could be honest with you, I feel very guilty about being so busy.  My marriage has suffered greatly from it. We entrepreneurs have a lot going on in our minds and lives.  Responsibility to pay bills, spend time with family, eat right, exercise, make sales, do marketing, bake cookies, hold the baby, watch CNBC, go on date nights, etc. etc. The problem isn’t the fact that I have a lot going on.  Heck, that’s awesome!  We should celebrate the fact that life is shaking and baking!  Don’t be ashamed that you’re a work of art when it comes to efficiency and productivity. God has shown us what the real problem is. Remember the story of Martha and Mary when pays a visit.  Martha is busy cleaning.  Mary is eager to learn from Jesus. Martha’s an amazing worker.  But Mary made Jesus a priority.  The cleaning up could wait. Jesus says in Luke 10:42 "But few things are needed—or indeed only one.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” The truth is that hard work is one of your God-given functions and gifts in being a Godpreneur. You use the intellect and circumstances God has provided you with to lead your business. A bunch of Bible verses praise having a strong work ethic. Work or ambition in and of itself isn’t the problem.  In Part 1 I reveal that the first way to solve Busyness is finding purpose, aligning your heart and motivation. Today we encounter that another major issue are our priorities. If our purpose is to serve God with our businesses but also make time with him our #1 priority, we’re on the right track.  Imagine if we all developed the habit of waking up early and being still in God’s presence. Our CEO wants to meet with us daily.  Let’s make showing up to this meeting our priority. #TimeManagement #SharpenLeadership

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

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

Today I want to talk to you about clients confirming your plans. All entrepreneurs have these grand visions of seeing our products and services succeed.  We would buy our own services, and we’re 100% sure everyone in the market will buy it too! If you were in corporate America, you’d have to go through months, sometimes years of product development and testing to come out with a new service offering. But if we just do a little listening to our clients and some basic planning, God will use our clients to confirm our plans. In 2015 I made some major shifts in the direction of my business.  Towards the end of that year, I started to let God control more and more of my business.  I was so focused on doing everything myself, I wasn’t letting God into the entire process, even service development and prospecting. One day I woke up and said, God, I want to serve the people you want me to serve. I want to bring identity to those entrepreneurs that YOU’RE trying to save, that you’re trying to be a part of their business more. You see, God evangelizes wherever we’ll let him.  He’ll use you, the entrepreneur, to get to other entrepreneurs who he wants to be involved with. That very same day, after declaring that morning that I wanted to be used by God, 3 POTENTIAL clients called me back-to-back-to-back.  I spoke with each one, and each one was in the same place:  they each wanted a higher meaning and purpose for their entrepreneurial lives. I hung up the phone so happy after the 3rd person, I just thanked God for using me to reach entrepreneurs. What am I saying? If you align yourself with the plans that God has for you, God will use your clients to confirm the service offering that you should be focusing in on fully. When the children of Isreal were at the point before crossing the River Jordan into the promised land, they sent out two spies to check out the city of Jericho.  While they were there, they came across an inn keeper by the name of Rahab.  She was an entrepreneur, a hotel owner.  She wasn’t Israeli, she was actually the enemy. But she was different than the rest of the people of that city, and God was going to use her in a major way. Rahab spilled the beans to the two Israeli spies.  She said to them in Joshua 2:8-14 “I know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you.” Imagine you’re on the phone with a client and they tell you “I just know that you were placed here to help me, I felt it.” This surprising outburst of faith shows how God had a plan in bringing Rahab and the spies together. And see, it is the same kind of thing we see when God supernaturally brings us to clients who are open to our products and services.  God will use seemingly unimportant clients at the right time to confirm your business growth plans, your products and your services. But how do we know that the next 3 phone calls are going to be the ones?  How can we tell if it’s from God? That day I spoke with the 3 clients that confirmed my direction, all 3 of them dropped clues of their faith in a higher power.  This is when I knew God was at work. Rahab continues in Joshua 2 to confess to the spies “And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.” Rahab’s declaration “He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” is proof of her faith. It is not strong faith and it is not perfect faith, but her faith is there.  In the same way, we’re not looking for clients to know their bible cover to cover, but just for a glimmer of faith.  We may not like the business that client is currently in, or we may have an impression of them as too small or even too big of a client,  but the fact is that God doesn’t see clients (and everyone for that matter) for their works, he sees them for their faith. Like Rahab, my clients knew who God was, knew who they were in themselves, and trusted God. You may be an accountant or a physical therapist.  You may feel strongly about a certain philosophy in your business style or your practice.  The clients that are for you are clients that will also show signs that they agree with your train of thought. For me, it’s important that my clients understand and know God, because, I do identity branding for their businesses from God’s perspective. #WhatBusinessIShouldStart

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