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

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

There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. COURSE HERE We all, as Godpreneurs, have stories we are waiting to tell. The right time to do it is always NOW! Don’t waste time thinking twice about the difficulties or resources you don’t have in order to start, think about what you do have right now and follow both God and your heart, there’s no time to lose when it comes down to living out the dream God has planned out for you. There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. Write the story God always planned on you to write, serve Him in the best way possible: by following His wish for you and your business TAKE COURSE HERE #GodpreneurAcademy #BusinessBibleStudy #LaunchingMyBusiness

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

As an entrepreneur, I have been challenged to find the right people to hire, collaborate with, or partner with different projects. Work cannot be done in a silo, and work can only be accomplished by finding the right team members to complete the task. However, over the years, I am learning that finding the right team members goes beyond their skills and talents. Do they share the same values as me? What is their character like? One particular project stands out to me: a post-production editor was not meeting the timelines of delivering edited videos. I frequently called him to check on progress, and he made promises that he will deliver at a certain time but in vain. Then one day, an industry peer reached out, and we began catching up; and he mentioned that he was working on a particular project, and the above-mentioned editor was on this project as well. This shocked me and it made me realize that the editor did not share the same values as me. One value being honesty. The dictionary describes being honest as free of deceit and untruthfulness, sincere, morally correct, or virtuous. The word of God takes in deeper and states in Colossians 3:9 (AMP): “Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old self with its evil practices…” In addition, the bible also highlights honesty in Proverbs 10:9 (AMP): “He who walks in integrity and with moral character walks securely, But he who takes a crooked way will be discovered and punished.” Therefore, as business leaders, we need to take some time in choosing whom to work with. Some situations will only reveal someone’s true character, and it will cause us to doubt our selection process. This should not deter us, but it should sharpen our discernment as we meet new people or continue working with our team members. The revealing of someone’s values or character is a gentle nudge from God to show who can progress with us into the next level of our businesses and those we have to leave behind. The entrepreneurship journey is a winding road that requires us to pay close attention to those we work, collaborate with, or partner with. For you to reflect, ask yourself the following questions: What values are important to share as a team? What skills and values should I have in order to work in harmony? Is there someone who I need to leave behind? #HiringtheRightPeople

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

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

As an ivy league business graduate from Cornell University, I didn’t take the “spiritual” stuff seriously in my 20s. My love for mathematics and chess made me someone that needed logic and reasoning to make my move. I’ll admit that I still struggle sometimes to grasp that God can work in supernatural, miraculous ways. It was difficult for me to develop a faith where I recognize that I have no control over the businesses I launch, only what’s going on inside of me. But seeing God work in amazing and wondrous ways of being my visions to life has helped me to become more open to supernatural ways that think line themselves for me to succeed. I know I’m crazy about taking financial risks in starting a business, but am I? Or am I extra faithful? As entrepreneurs and owners of our businesses, it’s difficult for us “let go, and let God” because who the heck is going to start and run this business if we don’t?! But running our business and expecting a supernatural encounter with God are two different things. We must do both. How do we break down any walls that we’ve built up that don’t allow us to let God do what only He can do in making our dreams a reality? The answer is in the bible. The stories of the Bible are meant to show us that miracles do happen… Yesterday, today, and always. In the Bible, we read: When he finished teaching, he said to Simon, “Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch.” Simon said, “Master, we’ve been fishing hard all night and haven’t caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I’ll let out the nets.” It was no sooner said than done—a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch. Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell to his knees before Jesus. “Master, leave. I’m a sinner and can’t handle this holiness. Leave me to myself.” When they pulled in that catch of fish, awe overwhelmed Simon and everyone with him. It was the same with James and John, Zebedee’s sons, coworkers with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “There is nothing to fear. From now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.” They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him. (Luke 5:4‭-‬10‭, ‬10‭-‬11 MSG) You and I aren’t any different than Peter. Peter was an entrepreneur who, acting out of logic and past experiences, tells Jesus that there’s no way he was going to catch fish. The timing of the day was off, the tide wasn’t right, he was tired, the nets weren’t ready… and the excuses went on and on. But Jesus… Jesus had a different outcome for Peter. Luckily, Peter listened, the miracle occurred, a lesson was learned, and the entire church was built on the rock of Peter. Is Jesus telling you to launch that idea? Are you doubting and hesitating to cast out that net because logic doesn’t add up? You’ve been given the instructions, but you’re embarrassed, fearful of defeat, or too tired to give it another go? Like Peter, you probably have many flaws in business, but Jesus wants to work through your faith to show you that anything is possible with him and that he’s going to make your business idea shine bring for all to see. We Godpreneurs have a chance to get it right this time around. Maybe things in the past didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but when. We EXPECT the supernatural to happen in our business; God shows up. Everything in our experiences, logic, or reasoning might be screaming that we CAN’T launch this business, but Jesus has a different outcome. Imagine if we all trusted that God was going to do miraculous things if we picked our nets up and launched it out into the seas to begin receiving our catch. Amen! Godpreneur Rule – Godpreneurs listen to the little voice telling us that, with Jesus, everything in our business can turn around in a heartbeat. #BusinessBibleStudy #ArticulatingMyIdeas Overcoming Obstacles to Launching Your Idea Join Us on a 12-Days Business Bible Plan to learn Overcoming Obstacles to Launching Your Idea. 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

A Godpreneur finds his full identity in God. #FindMyCalling #NewEntrepreneurs

As a young girl, I had many friends, and I would come home from school and eagerly tell my parents and sibling about my day and what I did with my friends. As the years rolled by, my relationships began to dwindle, and I wondered why I had fewer friends than my younger self. When I took the bold step of starting a business, my friendships reduced drastically, and I became a handful. This change dampened my hopes, and I began to find myself wondering if I had made the wrong step by starting a business. The choice of starting a business and resolving to continue building a business is very personal, and the majority of entrepreneurs know from a young age that they will start a business at a later stage or start many more as time goes by. The entrepreneurial journey is lonesome, and we can find ourselves struggling to maintain friendships or relationships because they do not understand our resolve to build a business. The story of Gideon came to my mind. When he faced the call to deliver Israel from the Midianites. Gideon minded his own business, beating wheat in the winepress because he had to hide and save it from the Midianites. Then the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him to save Israel from the hand of Midian. Gideon is shocked that God could choose him but eventually, he obeys, and he sets out to attack Midian with 32,000 men. (Judges 6-7) I can only imagine Gideon thinking that he has the right number of people to fight against the Midianites. However, God says “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ 3 Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.” (Judges 7: 2-3, NKJV) Gideon watches the troop dwindle in size, yet God continues to tell him that there are still too many people. A test is done to select the men, and those who lapped water were 300, and these men were to proceed with Gideon. Therefore, are you willing to let God choose your 300? Are you willing to let God choose your tribe? Even if you see people leaving your life, friendships ending or team members quitting along the way? It can be challenging to watch the people around you reduce to a handful but imagine what you could accomplish by allowing God to choose your 300. Like Gideon, the Midianites were destroyed, and Israel was delivered. Our businesses can only reach greater heights if we let God be God in our lives and businesses. He knows who is best for us. He knows who will contribute to the business honestly and wholeheartedly. He knows who will stand by you when the storms of life come your way. So, the next time you see a person leave your life, remember Gideon and his 300. #DifferentiatingMyself #HiringtheRightPeople