Have you ever had an incident in your business that makes you want to throw in the towel, fire everyone, quit everything, and start over from scratch? For me, it happens more often than I’d like. And in the past, I’ve taken all of the above actions and started over. It happened to me when I was doing marketing for nightclubs. I had an incident with a client. I took it as a sign from God that He didn’t want me serving the nightlife industry, so I started my business over. It also happened when a client of mine wasn’t getting the service I thought my employees were providing. I kept trying to correct the issue, and my team kept producing bad results. This time I didn’t fire my employees, the client fired ME! We lost the contract. On the pilgrimage of launching and growing our businesses, God is looking to transform us and make us more like His son, Jesus. And God will cause certain indicates to happen that I call the “turning point.” This is the fork in the road, drawn by God so that we can change the direction of our business towards where He wants us to be going. I gave you only two examples of incidents in my business, but God in His creativity can use an infinite number of incidents and situation that can radically change us, cause an imbalance in our thoughts, and provoke us in such a way that will rock the foundations of our businesses. On our pilgrimage, God wants us to choose Him over our comfort. Jesus says in the bible "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own". (Matthew 6:33‭-‬34 NIV) Sometimes, the incident you’ll go through in your business will be negative, like mine. Sometimes it can be positive, like a great conference you attend with a mind-blowing message that has you come back fired up for a new direction. Negative or positive, on our pilgrimage of creating a God-First business, God will use a turning point situation to call us closer to Him and to increase our dependence on Him… if we choose the right path at the fork in the road. What’s the right choice? Easy. THE HARDER PATH! I always smile when I tell this to clients. You don’t get a great body by eating Sweets and sitting on the couch. That’s easy to do. You only grow by choosing the path you’ve taken less. We all need an incident to happen in our business, so we are forced to make a change. That situation will come on its own, on God’s timing. We don’t choose the incident; the incident chooses us. We can’t force it; it will happen. And it will happen OFTEN! We must begin to expect it to happen, and be like Paul when he says “for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” (Philippians 4:11) Maybe this blog post is finding you at a place where you haven’t given your business fully to God. Like me, maybe you’ve been serving industries that don’t honor God. Or, maybe you’re doing something you weren’t born to do, and your actual calling is in a different business, industry, or service offering. When we’ve decided to put God First in our business, we started a Pilgrimage to draw closer to God and become like Christ. The current business we’re in is comfortable, but we need to be ready to throw off that comfy plan to follow God’s higher calling. This is how our businesses positively advance in the God-First direction! Will it hurt? Maybe. Will it be uncomfortable. Yes. Will we be naked and vulnerable? Temporarily. But this is where God makes the impossible possible in our business, and God will take you to new levels of contentment. God wants to provide all of us Godpreneurs provision for our businesses beyond our wildest dreams if we appreciate the turning point situations and choose to get out of our comfort zones while on our pilgrimage to experience the breakthrough. #BusinessBibleStudy #FindMyCalling #WhatBusinessIShouldStart The Business God Created You To Start Have you ever wondered why you received the talents and gifts you have been given? We, as entrepreneurs, were born to do. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

I’ve launched and re-launched many businesses of my own since 2000. The journey is different each time, but the fact that I learn from my past makes the next journey different. When I started walking with God in 2008, launching entrepreneurial ventures took on a new light because I was inviting God into the process with me. What I noticed, thereafter, was an amazing revelation – Jesus would begin to heal me of my past experiences to help me be stronger in my future endeavors. See, before, when I would launch a new business venture, I brought a lot of past pain, hurts, frustrations, and expectations. The business would do good for a bit, but eventually, that past caught up to me, and the business would suffer. Old wounds would sabotage partnerships, client relationships, and even my ability to innovate. We Entrepreneurs have a choice when we decided to embark on the pilgrimage of launching and growing a God-First business: we can do it by carrying the weight of our past, or we can partner with Jesus to be spiritually healed and move forward with a new light. The bible says: "And the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all". (Luke 6:19 NIV) While Jesus was leading His own pilgrimage of launching the church, the people recognized that, through him, they could receive healing. The healing empowered their faith more, and of those around them, and they could follow him more closely and experience life in a whole new way. In the say way, you have the chance to launch and grow your business as if Jesus had just given you new legs and new eyes! But, if you were honest with yourself, there are likely areas that we haven’t given over to Jesus yet for healing. Launching a business WITH God is the perfect opportunity to let God do some healing of past business hurts. THAT’S THE POWER OF LAUNCHING WITH JESUS! See, God is using your entrepreneurial venture to heal you! The pilgrimage of starting and growing a business can reveal the areas you still haven’t surrendered, and Jesus can pull you to the side of the road when you’re ready to call out to him! Jesus wants to heal us on this pilgrimage of entrepreneurship! But we Godpreneurs need to be careful to not let our pride, rebellion or bitterness keep us from God working on certain areas of our life. Our businesses growth and success depend on us overcoming anything that be holding us back from more! Remember, the enemy only exists to keep you from achieving everything that God has for you in your business. The enemy will keep you blind to your own hurts. But thank God we can be set free from that, and launching and growing a business is just another tool God can use to show us grace and mercy! When Godpreneurs are ready to be fully spiritual healed, we have to be willing to write down the answer to questions like “God, what hurts am I carrying into this venture?” Be honest with recognizing addictions and flaws that you know God wants to deal with, and let Him do it through your business. Maybe this is your 2nd or 5th business venture, and you want things to be different this time around. If you want a new experience, you need to be a new you. Let God make the adjustments to your Godpreneurial career through the pilgrimage of business ownership. #LaunchingMyBusiness #BusinessBibleStudy #GodpreneurAcademy The Business God Created You To Start Have you ever wondered why you received the talents and gifts you have been given? We, as entrepreneurs, were born to do. 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 thought of going on a Pilgrimage has fascinated me since I was a kid. I’d see it in old Bible movies and think how cool it would be to travel with thousands of people to a destination. When I started reading more about pilgrimages in the Bible, I made a big realization: although I’m not riding in a caravan through the desert, launching and growing a business sure does feel like a Pilgrimage, especially as a Godpreneur. See, in my studies, I learned that a Pilgrimage is anywhere we’re trying to get while staying focused on God. We Godpreneurs may do this several times a year, depending on how much of a serial Godpreneur we are (ME!!). When we set out on this pilgrimage of entrepreneurship, we want to take the most direct route, but we understand the road will be bumpy with unexpected twists and turns. But that’s why we partner with Christ to embark on this journey together. The bible says "I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord , the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep". (Psalms 121:1‭-‬4 NIV) You’re on a Pilgrimage to launch and grow your business, and you’ve invited Jesus to join you on the journey. Along the way, you’ll pray during meetings, you may participate in Bible studies together, and you might even go to some church conferences as a group to continue to learn and grow both spiritually and professionally. We Godpreneur recognize our need for Christ on the journey of running a God-First Business! And it’s important that we travel this journey with another Godpreneur, and alongside other Christian businesses and partnerships trying to do the same thing. The pilgrimage of Godpreneurship towards something that will bring glory to God. As we’re on our journey, we must recognize and know that we’re not trying to meet God somewhere. We’re not trying to accomplish something FOR God. God has everything He needs, He just missing our 100% devotion and dependence. God is already with us. By starting the journey with Him, we’re already bringing Him 100% of the glory we can. There’s nothing more we can do but to TRY to stay in this same attitude along the journey. As we know, that’s easier said than done. Those that love control will have to give it up, and those that fear not having control will need to learn a new mindset along the route. #BusinessBibleStudy #LaunchingMyBusiness #GodpreneurAcademy The Business God Created You To Start Have you ever wondered why you received the talents and gifts you have been given? We, as entrepreneurs, were born to do. 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

When I’m interviewing a client looking to start a business or rebrand their company, one of the first questions I ask is, “what do you see wrong in your industry that you feel you have the solution to?” The reason I ask this question is that what hurts or pains my client reveals something unique about themselves that helps me to guide them towards the product and solution offering that they should bring to the marketplace. For example, two of my biggest pains in branding are My friends and family launching businesses that they have no business being in because it’s nowhere near their calling in life My friends and family taking FOREVER to launch their business idea – either from procrastinating or because they are working with someone that’s taking too long on their branding Because I hurt and pain for these things, I came up with a solution – Launch in 2 Days. It’s a weekend event where I help people discover what they were born to do in business, and I help bring it to life. This isn’t self-promotion. I’m illustrating that out of my pain, my hurt, and my mourning for friends and family investing their hard-earned money into a business idea, and seeing them do it all wrong; I was inspired to create something awesome. If we think about it, entrepreneurship is the art of seeing that somethings not right in the marketplace, and we have the solution for it. There wasn’t a breakfast spot close by to enjoy (which is tragic), so someone built one. There wasn’t a tool for making sure the frames on the wall are hung straight (which is painful to look at), so someone invested one. A client took an entire year of revision to finalize their logo, then blames it on the agency and asks for a refund (which is both frustrating and sorrowful), so someone came up with a way to get it all done in two days. When we face evil, sadness, pain, or tragedy in our businesses or our personal lives, God sees our sorrow, comforts us, and puts our brains to work to come up with policies, products, services, and solutions to resolve that life doesn’t have to be this way. Jesus says: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:4 NIV) What Jesus is telling entrepreneurs is that business is tough, but there’s a silver lining for those with the mindset of processing the pain correctly. Jesus’ second step to achieving greatness in business is that without pain, there can’t be a gain. The world around you is broken, nothing is perfect. Bodies aren’t perfect, so doctors and scientists work tirelessly to fix it. The weather isn’t perfect, so meteorologists and inventors fix it. The economy isn’t perfect, so Wall Street, the government, and financial institutions fix it. Relationships are tough, so a world of coaches and counselors aid it. When you are blessed with the ability to mourn about something in your industry or marketplace, you can receive the ideas you need from the Holy Spirit (your calling in business) to come up with the products and services to fix it. It’s a blessing to go through pain in business because the million-dollar idea can be birthed through the tragedy. Sometimes the pain you experience in business was caused by your own mistakes. If you know you took forever in completing a client’s project, and you see all of the areas where you went wrong in the process, that anger and pain you feel when the client fires you should be used not to retaliate or insult the client, but to feel the need to change your systems and processes, so it doesn’t happen again. That little tweak in your operations can make a million-dollar difference and can change the trajectory of business moving forward. You might even come up with a service called Launch in 2 Days because of this. It’s ok that we mourn in business. It’s essential to the health of our business that we go through tragic times. If we Godpreneurs never grieve over anything, it means one of three things: We’re out of touch with the marketplace, we’re out of touch with our own emotions, or we don’t love. Because when we love, and we see or experience sad things in the world, then that can make us grieve and come up with a solution. Loss in business is the tool that God gives us to get through the transitions towards achieving the untapped potential that’s always waiting within us. Imagine if we all went back in time and addressed painful experiences hurt us, and we dealt with it and genuinely mourned over it. What kind of changes would that bring about in our daily operations or the products and services we are currently offering? Today, go back and grieve. Is there any evil or pain in the world that you want to bring before God in prayer today so He can reveal your breakthrough? Let me pray for you. Dear heavenly Father, you created us to pain for the things you pain for. Help us to acknowledge that sorrow and be comforted by you so we can receive the divine inspiration we need to give us the courage to find solutions and take action to fix it through the businesses you’ve entrusted us with. In Jesus name, amen! #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

In college, I didn’t like my finance and accounting classes. I probably didn’t like them because I wasn’t good at them. I barely scraped by to knock those classes off my list of requirements, knowing I would NEVER become an accountant or be in the financial planning industry. After college, I started my business, and accounting wasn’t my priority. But since I was the “ivy league” graduate of my partners, I took on the accounting myself. I figured since I had just learned it in college, I was the best of the 3 of us. Instead of hiring a bookkeeper or paying for monthly accounting service, I decided I would do it all myself to save money. After all, how hard could this be – it’s not like we were a billion-dollar company. A few years into my company, it came time to files for taxes. I met with a Certified Public Accountant, and he broke the worst news I had ever heard – I owed $15,000 to the IRS in payroll taxes that I had not been paying. I was devastated. The accountant told me that I shouldn’t be trying to do things on my own, especially in an area I’m not good at. That day I sucked up my pride and hired the accountant’s monthly bookkeeping and financial advising services. We all need help in certain parts of our businesses. There are tasks that we need guidance with, but our ego or pride doesn’t let us ask for help. Sure, there are things we can save money on by doing ourselves at the beginning of the business, but the least we could do is ask for guidance, read a book, or follow tutorials. We have to be smart enough to realize this journey wasn’t meant to be walked alone. One problem entrepreneurs can experience is that we think we need to know and do everything on our own since we’re the owners – or else we’d be seen as unqualified to be a business owner. We think that owning a business means we should know it all, so we don’t ask for the help and guidance we need. But doing things on our own is NOT how God designed us. In fact, in the most famous preaching ever given, Jesus tells us that our entire spiritual walk hinges on the concept of humble dependence – our need for God. The bible says “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3 NIV) When Jesus says, “poor in spirit,” he’s talking about people who have come to understand that without God, they are nothing. In other words, the people that are humble enough to admit that they don’t have it all together and need help are the ones that will be blessed. So how does this apply to your journey as a Godpreneur? It’s a blessing for you and your business when you recognize you are in need of God’s grace, you are spiritually bankrupt, and you’re a sinner that will take the whole business down if left on your own. Your realization of this danger to your life is what turns you to God because you realize you can’t do what you’re born to do without Him. One of Jesus’ steps to achieving greatness in business is to have total dependence on God. When you are in a mindset of dependence, it humbles you, and you see that you’re not as good in certain areas as you might think. We stop pretending to be someone we’re not. We get off our throne and let God take His rightful place in our businesses. I could imagine how hard it must have been for my accountant or my partners to work with me, Mr. Know-it-all. I wasn’t willing to learn, grow, or accept correction because I was trying to maintain the inflated image of myself I created because I graduated from an Ivy League school. When I started my journey with God and realized that there was so much more to learn about business, even after graduating college, that’s when I finally humbled myself and committed to being a student again, depending on my new professor – God. When we realize our dependence on God, that’s when He brings a resource into your business that will help. This can come in the form of a person, a new tool, or a resource. Even Jesus, when he started working as a carpenter, must have needed guidance and instruction. God must have brought resources around him to make that happen. We Godpreneurs need to acknowledge that when God is at work within us, we can put Jesus’ teachings into practice across all the areas of our businesses. In a marketplace full of powerful business people, it may seem like a weakness to be dependent on God. This is a lie the enemy wants us to think. The Godpreneur that’s more likely to be successful will be the instills a culture of dependence on God and each other to break through barriers and achieve greatness. As Jesus eludes to, a humble Godpreneur is the first characteristic mark of companies that achieve sustained greatness. Of course, the marketplace is full of entrepreneurs that are stuck in a state of inflated self-appraisal and self-promotion. Instead of being envious, our hearts have to break for them. This is even more of a reason we need to show our dependence on God – so we can be a light in the marketplace and display Jesus’ characteristics and influence others to turn their dependence on God too. Let’s pray. Lord, be merciful to all of us Godpreneurs – sinners ministering in our marketplaces. We recognize our need for help. Please help us to be more humble and have a true view of ourselves in our businesses. We thank you in advance for the greatness we will achieve as we do Your will through our products and services. Amen! #LaunchingMyBusiness #NewEntrepreneurs #BusinessBibleStudy 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

Growing up I had leadership, strengths in sales, marketing and entrepreneurship.  My grandmother sold flowers in the local plaza in Puerto Rico and I would see her wheeling and dealing. I remember being 8 years old at her house one summer and finding a litter of puppies in an abandoned house down the street.  My cousin and I took action and spray painted a board “PUPPIES FOR SALE $5”.  We setup on the busy street, brought the puppies out on display, and opened up our first business. This trend continued for me throughout elementary, middle, high school and college.  I was always selling something, leading something, and or starting something. But when I started going back to church in 2008 and gave my life to Christ, the spirit came in me and stirred up an entirely new gift.  A SPECIFIC gift. You’re reading this, so you’re probably an entrepreneur and can relate to my story above. We entrepreneur tend to be good at several things, but not great at any ONE THING.  We run all aspects of our business.  We do the sales, marketing AND leadership. But if we could admit it… We’re really not great at any of them.  Good, yes.  Masters, no. Why?  Because God is looking to work one main gifting in you. See, the reason it’s hard for Entrepreneurs to identify their ONE GIFT to stick to is that we think we need to be a little of everything for the business to succeed.  Sure, we need to KNOW a little of everything, but it doesn’t mean we do a little of everything. The Bible says this: "Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be." 1 Corinthians 12:14‭-‬18 NIV Isn’t it true that some of us are ears, trying to be noses. Haven’t you met some people that are eyes, trying to be feet.  You can see it (no pun intended), buy they have no clue. God has designed each and every one of us to a very specific role in our business lives. It wasn’t until I was deeper into my relationship with God that the spirit moved me to be specifically involved in helping people find their purpose, their identity, their calling. God specifically wanted me to do that, and anything else in my business needed to be delegated. If you are wrestling with identifying and naming your gifts in business, please know God is not holding out on you. We each have unique talents that God wants to unleash through our ventures. And when God revealed it to me, I didn’t respond immediately.  In fact, I’m STILL honing that craft and looking to shed other tasks while I navigate Entrepreneurship. But I didn’t know this fully until I had started my relationship with God again and he revealed it through a bible study I did at church. God wants to reveal to you your SPECIFIC gifting, the ONE THING that He created you for. Maybe you’re frustrated like I was with too many things, and you just wish you could do one thing so well and have that pay all your bills.  That’s totally OK because God designed it that way and if you truly desire that, God will reveal it to you. Imagine if we all were living out our gifts the way God designed it for each of us. Imagine the picture of a perfect body working in union. That’s when great partnerships can form, joint ventures can thrive, and God’s full glory of gifting can be revealed. Here are some questions that I use to help others find their giftings: What did your parents or friends tell you that you were good at growing up? What do you imagine God could do through you if you really knew and used your gifts? #FindMyCalling #WheretoStartFirst

You’re not yourself when you’re hungry. I love that Snickers commercial.  It’s so true!  My wife calls it being “hangry,” a combo of hungry and angry.  We both must be well fed or else things start to get funky in the home. In the same way that food can set me off on the wrong course, things happen in my business that can do the same. An angry client email in the morning will turn me loose against my employees, and the domino effect will eventually lead me to be “off” with the rest of my clients that day. We entrepreneurs will have 99 reasons every day to be upset, rude, curt, and not so pleasant to be around.  Maybe not every day, but we have our times.  Owning a business is stressful! But we have a responsibility to be the light, to be the difference, to be the example of taking the high road. But how do we change from our natural ways of being angry?  How can we be the exception to the rule?  How can we be different? It’s a matter of the HEART.  What we fill ourselves with will eventually show. In the same way that I eat to remove my “hanger”, I need to consume more of God to squeeze out the natural-born killer in me. In the book of Acts chapter 6, we read about Stephen, a many with exceptional spiritual filling. "Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people." (Acts 6:8) I don’t know about you, but I’ll take an order of whatever he’s eating. Every morning, instead of picking up my phone to check emails and put out fires in my business, I get my filling of spiritual food from God. Maybe this email sent to you daily is your chance to commune with God and hear a message for the day. What I know is this: if we Godpreneurs make getting spiritually fed our first priority for the morning, we will be less “hangry” throughout the day about being able to be a true witness to Christ to others through your daily transactions. It’s easy to see your spiritual life separate from your business life until you realize that your closeness with God has a direct correlation with your relationship with people that do business with you, how you serve them, and how you react to their “hanger”. Godpreneur Rule #89: Godpreneurs get spiritually fed first thing in the morning, the breakfast of champions to prepare them for the rest of the day. #WorkLifeBalance #DifferentiatingMyself

I've been studying the Bible deeply since 2014. A big part of this craving I have for the Word is that there are so many golden nuggets I can pick up for my entrepreneurial journey. I seek to understand God more, see things from His perspective, gain wisdom, and be more like Christ, yet something keeps me from complete spiritual enlightenment. Many of us Godpreneurs want to find that inner peace Jesus promises and improve our business lives. We seek to know God and align our will with His as the ultimate goal of our entrepreneurial journey, yet something is off with the steps we're taking. Well, I discovered that the first step is easier than I could have imagined. While at a men's retreat, the speaker talked extensively about depression and anxiety. He explained that we feel depressed when we're ruminating about something from the past. He then explained that anxiety is when we're stressed or worried about something in the future. His conclusion, therefore, is that living fully in the present is the only escape from depressing and anxious thoughts in our minds. As business owners, we tend to live by correcting past mistakes or planning out future moves. We're constantly in our heads reminiscing of the good times or regretting the things we didn't do while bouncing to thoughts of the following plan, worried about the outcomes. Meanwhile, we neglect the one moment that is fully available to us business owners: the present...the right now. The Bible says “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matthew 6:34 ESV) Jesus tells His followers not to worry about tomorrow. As He has already said, worry doesn't fix anything. Anxiety over things we cannot control or out of our reach makes no sense (Matthew 6:27). Jesus says, in short, that you ought to let tomorrow worry about itself. He's not saying you can't or shouldn't make wise plans for your business. He's also not saying you should ignore anything but the most immediate questions. His context here is about the emotions of fear and anxiety. The present is important because the battle to trust God never occurs in the past or future; it’s always happening in the current moment. When we're living in the Spirit and outside of our mental battle, our spirit allows us to feel something. Feelings (the Spirit) are only experienced in the present because your Spirit can only give you information about this specific moment. So what's controlling us when we're stuck in the past or the future? Well, that's the enemy keeping us from the Spirit. Jesus commands us Godpreneurs to focus on trust for God in a moment-by-moment way. We shouldn't try to solve all our problems, all time, all at once. Let God provide what is needed day by day. As this suggests, there are no advantages to worrying about the future of your business or dwelling in the past, but there are many to living “in the now.” If you manage to achieve that, you’ll experience no significant problems along your entrepreneurial journey, just small ones that can be dealt with as they arise. Imagine if we all tried living in the present - dwelling with the Spirit. Let's stop allowing the enemy to take us to the past and fearing the future. If we did this, we would see how dramatically our business lives will improve. #DifferentiatingMyself #TrustOnGod

Sometimes I read those famous New York Times best-selling business books, and I think to myself, “wow Alex, you have a long way to go.” These writers create incredible stories that make a big impact, and I’m sitting here blurting out my thoughts, thinking I’m making just as big of a difference in this world. At times, we Christian business bloggers might feel like less than a writer and more like my four-year-old son scribbling crayons on a white piece of paper. We see so many seemingly successful writers in all types of styles, and we begin the comparison game and start to doubt our abilities and calling. What do we do when the doubt sets in, our confidence drops, we’re unsure of our writing style, we start comparing, we lose the motivation for writing, and we’re not too sure about which direction to move forward in? The bible says: For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10 NIV) You have to always keep in mind that no matter what your blogging dream and entrepreneurial career is, you ‘are God’s handiwork’ and you have been ‘created in Christ Jesus to do good works’ as a business blogger for Christ! Do you think God doesn’t know the enemy is going to try to take you off your game? God allows that so that you would DEPEND on Himself alone. When you’re in doubt, that’s when you get on your knees and pray and ask God for wisdom and guidance. When you feel doubt, you have two choices. Entrepreneurs will start to feel down on themselves, but Godpreneurs understand that this is God tapping your shoulder saying “Hi, hello, I’m here, and I have a direction for you that I’ve already prepared in advance for you.” God is our business, strategist. He’s the top CEO in the world. He’s got a plan that He created well before we arrived at the scene. God gave us a blogging desire – it’s His way of revealing our purpose, passion, and potential to us and the blog that He has created for us to write through. When I’m not too sure about the direction I should go with my writing style, book theme, or blogging topic; I ask God to lead me on the right path. Something will happen that day that will guide me to where I need to be. Are you better writing a personal narrative or interview style? Are you more investigative or instructional? Do you want to write long 300-page books or shorter 100-page guides? Spend some time doing some research online of different blogging styles until you find what you enjoy the most. Imagine if we always came directly to God when we had any doubts. His only desire is a relationship with us so that He can reveal Himself through us to our readers. Of course, He wants to listen to our doubts and being us clarity so we can step out in faith and be all we can be to our readers. #BusinessBibleStudy #ChristianBloggers #GodpreneurAcademy Keys to Successful Christian Blogging In this course, I'll give you some keys God taught me about how to write a successful Christian blog. 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

Some things exist in business by default. They do not come by choice. One of those things is that there is the presence of a servant and two masters in every business. Unfortunately for the business owners, they serve either of the two masters in business, consciously or unconsciously. This makes the business owner a servant of sorts. A master has control or authority over someone. Whoever is in charge of a business is the master. So, to whomsoever, an entrepreneur subject himself becomes his master. The way and manner an entrepreneur conducts his business demonstrate who the master is. No entrepreneur is ever exempted from being a servant. We are all servants to one thing or person in our businesses. No one can toggle between two masters, unfortunately. Jesus says to us, “You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24 GNB). God and money are critical stakeholders in every business, and they are the masters Jesus talked about, while the entrepreneur is the servant stakeholder. It is no longer news that all we do in business is to offer services. God has called us to the business ministry to serve His kingdom’s purpose, and we must choose to do this in obedience. Money should be meant to serve its purpose as a tool and not the master. Ideally, Christian entrepreneurs should be subject or loyal to the One who called them into this ministry and gives them the power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18). However, this is not true for many. Some have bowed their knees and sold their souls to the devil for riches that would fade away. The devil gives money (Matthew 4:9), though at a very high price. He tries to replicate what God does. Unfortunately for all of us, we don’t have the option of serving two masters at a time. Jesus said, “we cannot.” Both masters are jealous of the loyalty of the servant. It is either God the master in our businesses or money is. To the one you yield your life, business and loyalty become your master. You serve, and that is constant. When someone gives priority to money over God, he becomes a slave to money and forthwith controlled by it. But, when one serves God in and through his business, money becomes his servant. Someone said, “Money is a good servant but a bad master.” Indeed! It is never wrong for one to have money, but it is wrong for money to have one as a slave. When God is the Master, He becomes responsible for your life and business. The same is the case when one is a slave to money. You don’t want money to control your life, do you? When money is in charge, it makes one hate and despises God. There is no pretense about that. Further to this, the person will love money automatically, which leads to diverse temptations, traps, harmful desires that lead to death and destruction and forms the root of all evils (1 Timothy 6:9-10). The person will want to be rich at all costs, not minding the attendant negative consequences (Proverbs 28:20). You heard earlier that money is a bad master, right? Dear God’s entrepreneur, you only decide who becomes the master in your business. Without your permission, neither God nor money would become the master. So you are a significant stakeholder, frankly speaking. You are also the one that harvests and enjoys the consequences, sweet or bitter. When you choose God as the master in your business, the consequences are sweet. You will have unlimited goodness, lovingkindness, pleasure, peace, preservation, and progress of God. The list is endless. At the end of it all, you will leave a legacy of righteousness and peace and glorifying the LORD of Hosts ultimately. We can determine to preach our loyalty to the Spirit of God in the marketplace, changing one life per time. We can change our little world to understand that it is God who gives riches and not the devil. It will be great to see people switching their loyalty to God alone. #DifferentiatingMyself

There’s a pathway out of the valley of the anxiety and stress of entrepreneurship. God used the apostle Paul to sketch a map for us in this passage from Philippians 4:4-8. "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." A business owner would be hard-pressed to find a passage more practical and applicable to the rollercoaster ride of entrepreneurship, wouldn't you agree? Paul lists some helpful ideas for winning the war on worry. If you want to move on from chaos into calm in your company, consider what Paul is saying. Step 1: Celebrate God's Goodness First, he says to celebrate God's goodness, to "rejoice in the Lord always." Mind you, he's writing this from a Roman jail with no money and the thought of execution looking likelier every day that passes. He's not just saying to rejoice in the Lord always, his point is: don’t meditate on the mess. The more you stare at the problems facing your business, the bigger the problems get. So when you have a problem and you're powerless over the circumstances, lift up your eyes and rejoice in the Lord. Rather than giving in to the anxiety, when you start to feel it, you lift up your eyes and rejoice in the Lord. Find some way to celebrate God's goodness - to see the glass half full in any business situation - and to be grateful for it. This is the counsel of the Psalmist that wrote: "I lift up my eyes on to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." (Psalm 121:1) Do you see this intentionally in the words, "I will lift up my eyes?" This was the decision that the Psalmist made. This is the decision we entrepreneurs need to make when powerlessness shows its face. The apostle Peter is a testimony to this verse. You remember how when the storm struck the Sea of Galilee, he knew exactly what 10-foot waves could do to a fishing boat, and Peter cried out: “Lord if it is really you, command me to come to you in the water,” and Jesus said, “come.” Then Peter left the boat and walked towards Jesus, but when Peter saw the wind and the waves, he became afraid and he began to sink. As long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to do the impossible. But, when he saw the wind and the waves, he turned his gaze away from Christ and he began to sink. The next time you feel like you're sinking in your business, and maybe that's today for you, lift up your eyes, set your gaze on Christ, rejoice in the Lord, and rejoice in his sovereignty. Is God greater than your company problems? Has God faced this problem before? Does God have solutions you haven't even thought of? Has God taken you through these types of things before? Does God have a good track record? Is God strong? Is God sovereign? Is God still on the throne? Is He over everything else? Do you see how this is done? You're rejoicing in the Lord, you’re lifting your mind away from the business problems and you’re setting your mind on the one who can solve them. Don't meditate on the mess, instead, you rejoice. That's what it means to rejoice in the Lord. Step 2: Ask for God's Help The Apostle says having celebrated God’s goodness first, you’ll then be ready to ask God for help. "Let your request be made known to God." You see, fear for entrepreneurs triggers either despair or prayer, so choose wisely. God said: "call on me on the day of trouble." (Psalm 50:15) Jesus said: "ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7) The entrepreneurial path free from anxiety and stress is always paved with prayer. That’s why the devil doesn’t want you to pray. The path of peace is always paved with prayer. The enemy would love to shut down your ability to pray in faith. When you pray, and you take a promise of God, and you declare it over your business in whatever area, the Bible says to "believe you have received it" (Romans 10:17). Worry doesn't believe you received it. Anxiety doesn't believe you received it. Stress doesn't believe you received it. The enemy will attack your unbelief. The enemy wants your worry to start a domino effect into areas you've never even worried about before. It's crazy, all of the sudden you feel like your problems come in 3's. That's what's happening. It's a domino effect of worry. Cut it off through prayer and belief in the answer to that prayer. Prayer and anxiety go hand in hand because God wants you to pray, and walk away. Don't sit around waiting to see if God has come through or not. That's not how it was designed. That would defeat the purpose of prayer. You'd still be stressed out and anxious if you had to wait around checking in every 5 minutes if God answered your prayer. No. You walk away, stress-free, anxiety-free, confident that God is going to answer the prayer, leaving you to continue running your business! You'll see new ideas and fresh perspectives - the very creativity God might use to answer the prayer. Step 3: Practice Gratitude And with anxiety now gone from your mind, you can now replace it with gratitude. The apostle says, “in everything, by prayer and supplication, with Thanksgiving!” Anxiety and gratitude can't share the same heart inside of an entrepreneur. The next time you're anxious, begin to make a list of things for which you’re grateful. Your anxiety will begin to fade as you write because anxiety and gratitude refuse to share the same heart. Step 4: Meditate on Good Things Celebrate God's goodness in your business, leave your strategic concerns with Him, fill your heart with gratitude along your entrepreneurial journey, and lastly, meditate on good things all along the way. As a financial provider to your family and employees, it's easy to let anxious negative thoughts in business take over your mind. Listen, you can't control your circumstances, but you can control how you think about them. Peace comes from a stream of thought patterns. It's a mindset. You can be a Christian business owner, born again and on your way to heaven, yet still have no peace. Why? Because of what you’re thinking, because of what you’re meditating on, because of what you're dwelling on, because of what you’re focusing on. You're fixated on what’s going through your ear, what’s going on in your head, in between your ears. Listen, this is why so many Christian entrepreneurs fail - it's because they're stressed and anxious over a situation for which Jesus has already given the victory. For example, if God promised that big contract, and you think about the fact that my God says "He shall supply all my needs according to his riches and glory," then your mind is constantly on the fact that God will supply you. Rich or poor, contract or no contract, the freedom from anxiety doesn't come from the situation or its outcome, the freedom from stress comes from our ability to keep our minds thinking victorious thoughts about what God said in His word and your confidence that He would do it because He’s done everything else that He said He would do. So, the next time that anxiety awakens you at 2:30 in the morning, would you believe what I’m suggesting to you? I'm simply saying that it's not God’s will that you lead an entrepreneurial life of perpetual anxiety. Your Heavenly Father will help you in your business endeavors. God will help you pull out the roots of your anxiety. Your #1 business partner and a wise counselor will help you deal with the fears that face you daily along your entrepreneurial journey. #GainConfidence

I’ve uncovered the root of my anxiety. It comes from my need to be in control, to feel powerful, to be all-knowing of the outcomes I set in motion. Turns out, the anxiety, depression, and unhappiness in entrepreneurship all come from a sense of powerlessness. When we’re powerless, we feel anxious. When we’re powerless, we feel depressed. When we’re powerless, we feel unhappy. When an employee leaves us, we get anxious because we were powerless in their decision. We get stressed because we're powerless in guaranteeing a suitable replacement. Their action doesn't cause them anxiety, our reaction to their action is what causes it. Here’s proof: If you had a 1000 person company, and the same employee left, but you never knew them, you wouldn't be anxious. In both cases, the same employee left, therefore proving that an employee leaving doesn't cause anxiety, our reaction does. And because we're hustling and grind entrepreneurs - the go-getters of the world - we automatically take on the responsibility of overcoming this powerlessness over our debt, overcoming the powerlessness over our circumstances, and overcoming powerlessness over our business plans. Somehow, we feel it's up to us to dig ourselves out of this mess. We say to ourselves, "I got this, I'm going to make this happen." However, this self-reliant duty and obligation is the very thing that brings the stress and anxiety. The situation we're in doesn't cause our anxiety; our reaction and response bring the anxiety. Notice you only get anxious about something in your businesses because you’re not certain about what the outcome is going to be. Like when you launch a new product or service and you've invested a lot of time and money into it and it's coming down to launch day, you get anxious about it. If it was a sure-shot launch, you wouldn’t be anxious. That’s another example of how our entrepreneurial emotions operate. We understand anxiety when it's right there on the edge when it’s close because we’re not sure. But let’s ask ourselves: if we already know, and we’re watching, we would have no anxiety, right? Why? Because we already know the outcome, right? See, you have no fear when you already know the outcome of whatever you need is: My God shall supply it! (Philippians 4:19) The anxiety stops overcoming our emotions when we believe from the bottom of our soul that we are called to do this, and God has made a way for our businesses! When you know and declare the outcome, anxiety leaves you. The feeling of powerlessness leaves you because you declare you're plugged in to the most powerful supply source of all: God omnipotent, the God of unlimited power.

I heard preaching at my church once where the pastor said something like “God doesn’t need your money, He’s got all the money in the world.” Since I’m a creative type, I start imagining God in heaven with miles and miles of gold coins everywhere. It got me thinking, “if God is my father, and gives me what I need, then why the heck am I so worried about money?” How come it’s easy for me to think that if my earthly dad had 1 million dollars in a trust fund for me, I’m good.  I’m secure. I’d feel safe. I’d feel like I don’t have to worry about debt. But if my heavenly father has way more money than that, how come it’s difficult for me to feel that same sense of security? It comes down to one word:  worthy. The one trait that separates wealthy people from us (not wealthy people) is that rich people know their value, they know their worth, and they are convinced that they deserve to be affluent. But those of us that just “get by”, if we’d admit, deem ourselves unworthy and we don’t believe in ourselves, and we certainly don’t believe (fully) that God is in heaven with all the money in the world and it’s all ours for the taking – if we felt worthy of it. Some Godpreneurs remain financially unsuccessful because we think that we aren’t worth it and subconsciously (due to our upbringing), we back away when it comes to God distributing funds throughout the planet (which He’s doing right now, every second of the day). But since rich people are the ones convinced of their value and they understand how to manage it, they have no problem promoting themselves, their business ideas, and their companies. Many of the leaders we see we in the marketplace are rich because they value themselves, value their ideas, gain a following, and sell their ideas confidently. The bible says: "But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life." (Isaiah 43:1-4 ESV) You are redeemed.  You are a child of God.  You are His. He made you uniquely (Psalms 139:14), with a gift and talent that only you were born to do (Jeremiah 1:5). When your creator has called YOU and given you the vision, you are to tell the whole world and let your light shine (Matthew 5:15-16). But you aren’t successful right now because you’ve been brought up thinking that it’s rude to “toot your own horn.”  There’s a difference between boasting, and being confident in your calling and being unashamed to go out and tell the world that you have a better way, a better product, or a better service that will help solve someone’s problem. If you want to be a millionaire, you have to figure out how to help a million people. The only way you can help a million people is the attitude that “If I don’t let my light shine, who will?”  Refusing to promote your calling is the main reason why you don’t consider yourself worthy, and therefore you can never get rich. We must recognize and value ourselves.  We must sell our calling to others. We must let our talents shine with a product or service you can back 100% (because God says you were called for it!) and can reach more people!  Subsequently, God’s Kingdom will also expand people will get to see you, a representative of Jesus Christ in the marketplace – a Godpreneur. We are worth it.  We are children of a trillionaire father. Have coffee one day at an expensive Hotel. Act like it’s your Father’s.  Test drive a fancy car. Act like your Dad owns the dealership. Walk into a country club.  Act like your Dad just bought it. Visit the fragrance section of the most luxurious store in the mall and test the most expensive one.  Act like your Father owns the mall, the store, and the fragrance company. Get into the mindset of a successful, rich, and worthy Godpreneur. Godpreneur Rule: Godpreneurs believe in themselves and are able to persuade others to believe in them, too. #BusinessBibleStudy #TargetMarket

If you call yourself a: Christian entrepreneur Kingdom-minded business owner A God-first brand And you walk hand-in-hand with God, following His purpose for you, you have no reason to be anxious for anything…for an extended period of time. The reason you make God your CEO, the reason we metaphorically "walk" with God and the reason Jesus died for us on the cross has to do with a transferring of our worries, stress, sins, concerns, and anxiety over to God so we can think clearly and remain in our zone of genius to keep pushing our companies forward. The Bible says: do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6) The key to overcoming anxiety in business is simply to not let yourself be caught in a state of PERPETUAL anxiety. You can't remove anxiety, but you can TRANSFER the anxiety to Him so you don't have to carry it. When we do this, the apostle Paul continues with "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. " (Philippians 4:7) Jesus takes our anxiety so we can be free to move about the marketplaces doing what we were born to do. Godpreneurs, it’s impossible to lead a life free of anxiety, but we can discover a life that is void of perpetual anxiety. #GodpreneurRule: Anxiety comes with business, but doesn't have to dominate us in our businesses.