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

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

In my company Creative Complex, we’re united to help entrepreneurs find their God-given identity…what they were born to do!  We do this by, first, making it very clear that to have a calling on your life, there must be a ‘caller’.  We’re not ashamed to talk about Jesus and share our testimonies of how the way our business USED TO BE, to how it is now.  In fact, for us to do the best possible work for our clients, we MUST tap into the spirit of our clients. We’re not crazy….OK, maybe we are!  We’re nuts about our clients understanding that in order to create a great brand, we must get to the core of why the company and entrepreneur exist!  Every person on my team, from my executive assistant to my graphic designer overseas, knows the plans we have as a company to reach over 10,000 entrepreneurs with our message. THIS IS NOT A PLUG FOR MY COMPANY. I tell you this to say that we are all united under one message and one cause: spread our message. When we entrepreneurs can find a message and a cause, we have the opportunity to unite people in our cause and create a movement. Some of us think that people are motivated by money.  We think that people are moved by bonuses, perks, or cool products to sell. And if we are motivated by these things ourselves, our workforce will be too. But God left a blueprint for uniting a workforce and creating a movement. In the second chapter of the book of Acts, God sends down the holy spirit into all the believers, uniting them under ONE CAUSE: Jesus, and spreading that love. The uniting work of the Spirit of God through the preaching of the gospel to the nations, in turn, brought about the knitting together of a new community of believers. Those who believed the gospel were all together and had everything in common. These new converts sat at the feet of those who had been taught by Jesus (Acts 2:40-47). The secret to a united workforce is that everyone must be preaching the same message.  What’s your company’s message?  Usually this is called your mission, vision or purpose statements.  All together, these form the key message you’re putting out. In my business, we’ve been able to tie our message into the same message of the gospel!  Heck, I feel like I’m killing two birds with one stone: I’m giving them a brand AND spreading the gospel!  When people do business with me, I want them to feel like they are doing business with Jesus, with a company that brings light and love.  I want my clients to have purpose! There is only ONE SPIRIT.  The closer we can tie our company mission to this one spirit, the closer we come to the one-ness we Godpreneurs are seeking in our lives. Godpreneur Rule #37: we seek for our businesses to be one spirit with God, and go out and spread that message to the world. #BusinessBibleStudy #SharpenLeadership #FindMyCalling

When I first stayed my agency with my partners, the agreement was to split the company 3 ways. We’d each get 33%, which in all of our minds meant that we’d each put in equal parts work. Seems fair, right? The problem is that we each have a different definition of work and value, therefore there is no equal scale to evaluate sweat equity work put in. This expectation isn’t real, and it led to many disappointments and struggles in my business partnership. When we experience disappointment in business and it’s no one’s fault (such as a hurricane or loss of contract due to a client closing their business), we generally get upset and figure out how to move on. It’s the disappointments that point back to our unrealistic expectations for each other that tend to be stickier. These hard-to-shake disappointments can sometimes be described as disordered attachments—misplaced desires that compete with God for our heart. By following the thread that runs through our disappointments and our persistent anger, we can uncover their origin. My business partners and I have had our share of sticky disappointments; that’s part of what broke us up in 2013. When we got together to create our agency, naïve optimism overshadowed the reality that one of them was ambivalent if we grew or not, the other had a very short fuse, and neither liked doing the sales. That same optimism obscured the reality that I struggle to need them, I am too quick to judge, and prefer doing the selling! These partnership speed bumps were definitely not marked with fluorescent orange paint or signage of any sort. After we twisted and turned and experienced whiplash on the roller-coaster of entrepreneurship more times than I care to admit, it began to dawn on me that perhaps I needed to find a more productive, less destructive path through my disappointments. I asked probing questions such as, What if rather than blaming each other for our disappointments, I confessed my failures and owned my areas of weakness? What if I looked at the disappointments to discern if they revealed any egocentric expectations, disordered attachments, or misplaced hopes? Once I stopped avoiding these seemingly problematic feelings and started investigating them, something shifted. We’ve all been to weddings and heard 1 Corinthians 13 over and over. Did you know that this verse was not written for husband’s and wives. It’s for all of us. You love your business partner, right? I do. Not the same love as my wife, but brotherly love. Now read this verse with them in mind: "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance". 1 Corinthians 13:4‭-‬7 NLT Again, this verse was written for all of us. We just have been acclimated to attach it to married couples. Rather than continuing to blame my partners for my disappointment, I started asking God to help me do three things: repent of any unfair expectations appreciate my partner’s strengths, and develop reality-based expectations. Of these three objectives, developing reality-based expectations has been the most difficult. My unrealistic expectation of everyone working equal amounts died a slow death because I clung on to it. Clinging is a form of denial that masquerades as hope. We persist in clinging because it gives us something to hold on to and allows us to sidestep the hard work of changing what we have control over: ourselves. You are learning to let go of your unrealistic expectations by choosing an internal posture of holy resignation. Practically speaking, holy resignation means accepting and loving your business partners without demanding that he or she change, resisting the vortex of despair and blame, and standing in faith that God will complete a good work in the business—regardless of current circumstances. Imagine if everyone in the partnership had this holy resignation? Businesses that we do business with would produce a great experience because there would be this culture of love and respect that would start at the top, permeate through the employees, and make it down to me and you – the consumer. #BusinessBibleStudy #BusinessPartnerships Finding Purpose In Your Business Partnership You and your business partner are unique individuals and God is creative in the way He wants to use both of your gifts together. 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*

The other day I went to visit one of my ex business partners at an event he was producing.  He loves putting events together and marketing them.  I was happy to see him in his element. Guess who else was there? The 3rd partner. The 3 of us, together again like we used to be. It’s amazing to spend time together, sometimes joking about the past. But there’s a sadness that comes over me. Where would we be if we stayed together? Could I have something different go impact the outcome? I know God’s plans are greater than mine and we broke up for a reason, but I can’t help to wish we could go back to day 1….knowing what I know today. Coming into a relationship with God half way through our partnership definitely did help the partnership. It could have ended in a very bad way had I not implemented some of the things I’ve been teaching here. We entrepreneurs all have regrets, things we wish we could go back and change knowing what we know now, especially in our business partnerships. We can choose to harp on the past and let that depress us, or we can do the one secret I’ve found that helped me in my business partnerships and lets me be totally happy today even through the breakup. Most entrepreneurs have been in a difficult time in your partnership. Some of us have reached the brink of ending, some are just starting to experience some strife, and others of us are taking proactive measures to avoid even getting to these points. Wherever we’re at in our partnerships, God will do amazing things in and through you if we can do this…. God’s word says in Romans 8:26-28 "Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good." The spirit keeps us present before God. Why is this important? The secret to success in business partnerships lies more with the relationship between you and God than in changing your partners or circumstances. So if you’re focused on the situation you’re in or what’s in it for you in this partnership, then you’re doomed to continue along the same path you’re on. At this point you’re asking “Ok Alex, that’s awesome, but I can’t stand my partners and this sound like I have a lot of spiritual growing to do and I don’t have the time…I need a dose of something for today.” Here is the secret to being all your partners needs you to be… It is easy to put our own needs before the partnership, or to put business before God. It’s even possible to put “personal holiness” before following God and doing what He asks us to do for others. The greatest discoveries you can make as an entrepreneur is focusing on what God has already done for you. This is what makes you a more perfect partner. When you’re focused on God, you don’t care so much about what you’re getting out of the partnership. Instead, I believe and know, you care more deeply about what your partnership is receiving. I read a marriage book by Gary Thomas and in his book he asks asks, “What if God designed marriage not to make us happy, but to make us holy?” The fights that we experience with our partners are opportunities for us to lay down our own desires and serve someone else. Maybe that’s what God intended for business partnerships. When we do this, maybe we’ll experience radical growth we could never have imagined. My hope in writing ‘Fixing Business Partnerships Gone Wrong’ was for you to learn from my mistakes, realize God is in control, and focus on serving your partners like Christ served us. When I began to realize this concept and apply it to my partnerships, the relationship definitely improved. I’ve noticed positive changes in myself since being in partnerships. I believe great partnerships, in good times and in bad, teach us about keeping the focus on God and His love for others. Your Entrepreneur Compass, Alex Miranda. ——— #BusinessPartnerships #BuildMyPersonalBrand

Balance means keeping all the parts of my life in their proper places In my business partnerships, what happened outside of the office would creep its way into the office and into the dynamics between me and my partners. If I partied too much, played too much golf, had a bad girlfriend, or focused on Crossfit too much, the business would see the effects of that eventually. Balance is one of my favorite words, probably because I have to work so hard to keep my life in balance. Businesses are negatively affected by partners who are living chaotic, unbalanced lives. In order for a partnership to run smoothly, all partners need to regain balance in their personal lives. Balance means keeping all the parts of my life in their proper places. It means giving priority to what matters most. For me, that means my relationship with God comes first, my family second, my business third. Business life really runs great for me when I prioritize this way; and it really can spiral downward quickly when I do not. Often life itself and the demands that come to me each day knock me out of balance, so I have to take many “time-outs” to make sure that I am in balance. The bible says Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. 2 Peter 3:17 NIV What does the balance in your business partnership mean to you? What are your priorities, and what prevents you from keeping them in the right order? Here’s a suggestion for balancing your business life: Write out your list of priorities in the order of importance to you. Then make a list of all the things that can get you off balance. Keep your lists together in a place where you will see them often. Make a habit of taking a “time-out” each week to look at your lists. I think by doing that, you will be amazed at how much easier it is to stay in balance with your partners. Taking a “time-out” to set priorities straight is important for regaining balance in your business partnership. Godpreneur Rule: Godpreneurs take “time-out” to add more balance to our lives! #BusinessBibleStudy #WorkLifeBalance #BusinessPartnerships

The reality is that a partner is not designed to meet every need—that job is already taken by God What would make me happy in a business partnership? I would want my partners to think and act like me. I would want them to be committed, hard-working, type-a personality, strong work ethic, willingness to learn and grow always, treat people well, and just be totally sold out to the cause. This would make me very happy! We’d have the perfect partnership and a real chance at making it big. Right? We all have painted a picture of the perfect partnership. Yours is likely different than mine, but you have expectations when entering a venture with someone. What happens when they don’t meet those expectations? What do we do when we’ve invested so much time and possibly even money into a partnership that is not meeting your expectations and you’re no longer happy. I’ve learned from God that I can’t put all of these expectations on business partners. It’s not right for me to think that my partner will be like me…they won’t. What if God designed business partnerships as a tool to actually reveal our need for Him? What is the very conflict I experience with my partners that was meant to help bring the partnership to a whole new level? The bible says But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV There was a time in business where I thought having a business partner was supposed to make me happier, less lonely, and less stressed because I would be splitting responsibilities. I was wrong! This thought killed my partnerships. Finally, I got it. I realized that my expectations had been unrealistic. In my business, if I looked at my partners to complete me – to make me happy – I would fail. There were times when they did make me happy, but not all the time. They are human and they make a lot of mistakes. Sometimes they hit home runs and sometimes they strikeout. The reality is that a partner is not designed to meet every need—that job is already taken by God. Expecting my partners to meet all my needs sets them up for failure. But if I let God meet all the needs that He wants to meet in my life, then that allows my partners to meet the needs He has designed them to meet in the business. That works. That is the way God designed it. Think about what you can do today to begin allowing God to meet the needs of your business that He wants to meet. #BusinessPartnerships #BusinessBibleStudy

I’ve always told my clients that you don’t need marketing. As the owner of a branding and marketing agency, let me explain myself. When I tell my clients that they don’t NEED marketing, it’s because I’m trying to drive home the point that if you figure out what you were born to do, what your calling as an Entrepreneur is, what your purpose is in business, then God will magnetically attract business to you. You’ll be so “in the zone” that marketing or advertising wouldn’t even be necessary because people would talk about you so much that referrals and word of mouth would take over. But…you have to be willing to trust in your calling and drop everything else to focus on that ONE THING you were called to do. This is really a lesson on trust, and how much are we willing to trust in God and not our marketing or advertising campaigns. See, we entrepreneurs can start to rely to much on the things of this world as the provider of our happiness, success, or identity. We put so much trust in our employees, vendors and contractors as the thing that will make our business succeed. And when we start succeeding, guess what, we give credit to those things for our success. And if we fail, we ask God “why did you let me fail?” As entrepreneurs, we have trust issues. Our entrepreneurial self wants to take things in our own hands and control everything around us. But what happens when we’re in a waiting period and there’s nothing there except for God? Or what happens when we’re putting all of our eggs into this one Facebook advertising campaign as “the thing” that will really bring the business in. Or what if someone comes alongside and tells you that your business stinks and you should do something else, but you know you’ve been called to be where you are at. The good news is that God already saw this coming and made a way for us to fully trust in Him. We can’t afford to rely on the things of this world in our business. The Bible says: "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God". Psalms 20:7 NIV Here is the commander of the army telling us that he doesn’t rely on chariots and horses. Back then, the strength of your army was determined by the number of chariots and horses you have. Put it to you this way. It’s like the general of the army saying we don’t rely on tanks and airplanes, we rely on God. It’s not that we need to get rid of the chariots and horses, it’s that our mind needs to understand that those are vehicles God can use, but our entire existence is not dependent on those (very important) things. It’s not only important for you to understand why trust is important in your business, but why specifically is trust important to God. Trusting God in our business is an indicator of our heart’s condition, showing where our commitment and loyalty lies. Trusting God during a waiting period, during a major setback, or during a storm of bad public relations shows Him that we count on Him, not the world. It’s trusting that when you have a choice to make things work in your business by the world’s standards or by God’s, you choose God 10 out of 10 times. We Godpreneurs sometimes to struggle so much bm for this very reason: so that we learn to trust God more. When I faced my own struggles in business, upon reflection, I can’t help but think if it was all a lesson for me to trust God more in leading my business. Was the waiting period a time for me to remove me from me, so I could be filled with God and trust Him more? Thankfully you’re reading this and getting godly counsel to encourage you to trust in God and move forward with your calling! We must hold firm to what He has called us to in our businesses. Otherwise, we would be bending to the world instead of remaining steady to the course He has marked out before us in the marketplace. Our hearts need to reflect a commitment to God. That’s our testimony to employees, vendors and contractors. Lets all choose today to be Godpreneurs committed to the calling, purpose, and God-ordained direction on our business. Like my clients who hear my explanation of why they don’t need marketing if they trust in their calling, few will choose this path. But to those that do, God will pour down blessings on your business for those Godpreneurs who are faithful, loyal, and fully committed to Him. Godpreneur Rule: A Godpreneur’s heart reflects His commitment to God. Questions Are you facing a business battle that calls out your trust? Are you in a waiting period that has you holding on to God more now than ever? Perhaps a competitor or employee is coming against you as well? Is there is a situation at the office that confronts you to operate out of trust or fear? #BusinessBibleStudy #FindMyCalling #StrengthenIntegrity