My wife and I used to get into small spats that would turn into big arguments that would evolve into all out wars. To show my toughness, I’d become the opposite of a loving husband. I'd become a hate-filled war monger. In these times of hatred, I stopped being the husband God called me to be. I'd stop helping around the house I'd put in more hours on the business so I can get home late I'd spend more time at CrossFit I'd go to a friend's house at night I would do all of this so that I could stay away from her. Consequently, my business would suffer for days and weeks in these times where I'd walk away from my marriage. It was a terrible cycle and part of a deep, dark time of depression in my life. I hated it. As an entrepreneur, this is dangerous territory and I’ll tell you why. The problem is that our minds become so consumed with fighting the war that we can’t possibly have all the energy needed for us to lead the disciplinary life required of us in our businesses. Our prayer life goes down. Our morning readings stop. We're filled with so much negativity and hate that it becomes difficult to see the opportunities God is placing before us in the business. Married Godpreneurs…this is how SIN works! For me, sin crept in through my marriage. For you, it could be drugs, alcohol, adultery, pornography, illegal's business activities, or any myriad of sins that break up our relationship with God. We all battle sin. So how do we get back on track? How do we get back in line with God’s plan for our lives? In the book of Nehemiah, after the wall was completed, after the wall was working, after the people had heard and obeyed God’s Word, and after the Holy Spirit was doing a significant work in the lives of people – the people were changing and they started acting differently. Nehemiah 9:1-3 says "On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God." What a scene of dramatic, humble repentance. The the people were hearing God’s word and it was changing them. We see here three things the Israelites did. they confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors they continued reading God’s word they worshiped Because I knew that my marriage had a huge impact on the mental game I needed to succeed in my business, I started to find the ways I could get out of the depressing hole I would get myself into.  It all started with confession - honestly coming to God and saying, I know what I’m doing is wrong, and I don’t want to do it anymore. Repentance gives way to a renewed relationship and the pursuit of holiness. You must confess, repent, and move forward….for the sake of your business, your family, and your relationship with God. This is why we entrepreneurs need to carve out time every morning to spend time with God. We can confess, repent, pray, and worship all in this time so we can align our minds with the new opportunities God has for us today. P.S. I did a Business bible study called 40 Days to Restarting Your Business, God's Way. Check it out: 40 DAYS TO RESTARTING YOUR BUSINESS, GOD'S WAY A business Bible study to help you rethink, reinvent, and restart your business, but this time, God's Way! We parallel Nehemiah's rebuilding of the wall to your journey in rebuilding your business. Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out. #MarriedEntrepreneurs #StrengthenIntegrity

I’ve been dead broke, struggling to find clients, waiting for the mail man to arrive with a check from a client, desperate to deposit it before an employee cashes their check. I’ve been rich, totally out of debt, money in savings, lots of business, and thinking about investing in property. And...both situations above were within the same quarter of the year! With a rollercoaster ride like this, we entrepreneurs could be considered suicidal and depressed in the same month as excited and hopeful! What I’ve learned on my Godpreneurial journey is that JOY is the only feeling I need to be seeking. Joy is present in good times and bad. Joy is hope in God and trusting that he has my best interest at heart. But.... How do you feel joy when the checks are bouncing? How can I be happy when I haven’t paid myself in weeks? God has a remedy:  RETURN TO GOD AND CELEBRATE 🥳 Return to God? What do you mean, Alex? I don't know about you, but my rollercoaster of emotions typically coincided with the amount of time I was spending with God in his word. If I'm meditating every morning doing my blog posts and connecting with my spirit, things around me seemed to be doing fine. If I was straying from my morning Bible reading routine, things around seemed to get a bit choppy. My connection with God didn't change the circumstances in my business life; my connection with God changed the way I processed and reacted to those circumstances. All of us entrepreneurs can wander far from the Lord – we can leave our first love and, fall into foolish sin - we can buy into various false personal development teachings from so-called business gurus, run our businesses in selfish pride and even keep the Lord Jesus standing outside the door of our businesses. When we stray away from God's direction and take matters into our own hands, it's guaranteed that circumstances and situations will have a different perspective to them. No longer will you be as tuned into God's point of view, and instead, we'll be in our own heads trying to figure things out. That's a recipe for the opposite of joy: misery. In the book of Nehemiah, we see that Nehemiah had rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and many Israelites had returned to to their homeland following the nation’s 70-year exile in Babylon. It was the first day of their new year, the feast of trumpets, and the apostate nation of Israel stood in the city square and started to listen to Ezra the priest reading the Word of the Lord - he read from the book of the Law, that had been given by God to Israel. Nehemiah 8:9-10 says "Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.  Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”….. Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them." As the people of Israel listened to God’s word being read to them, this errant nation as one man, realized how far they had wandered from their God – how deeply they had fallen into sin. Oh, at first, they started to rejoice, and cried out AMEN, AMEN, – but as Ezra continued to read the Scripture, they started to realise how deeply they had fallen into sin and how far they had wandered away from the truth of God’s word – and both men and women began to mourn and grieve deeply. The people wept as they heard the scriptures being read, for they acknowledged their sin, but Nehemiah, the governor stood up and reminded the people that this first day of the new year was a special feast day of the Lord. He comforted them saying… Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. Have you strayed away from your morning time with God? 4 Steps to Returning Back to Your Morning Routine Like Israel, you should Confess your sin and recognize how far you may have wandered from the Lord. You should turn away from your wrong attitudes and actions and look to Jesus, for every day is a day that is holy to the Lord. You should not remain in self-condemnation – but rejoice that there is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus You should follow the wise advice of Nehemiah – for the joy of the Lord is indeed our strength. Like Israel, today is a day that is a feast day for us Godpreneurs! Jesus Christ has redeemed us by His blood and we have been released from the bondage of slavery to sin into the freedom of Christ’s saving grace. Like Israel, we should listen to the Word of the Lord, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Godpreneurs, imagine if all of us kept the Word of God fresh in our hearts each day. Let's all recognize our faults and failings and readily confess our sins to our Father in heaven – and, from this day forward, let's recognize that every day in our business is a day of rejoicing! Let's never forget that we are the people of God, who have been purchases with the precious blood of Christ - and that the many precious promises of God towards us, his sons and heirs, are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. Let us in everything by prayer and praise rejoice in the Lord and abide in His love – for the joy of the Lord is indeed our strength, through time and into eternity. My Prayer Father thank You that You are my joy and my strength in my business - thank You that there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus and thank You that Your grace is sufficient for Me. Keep me and my daily business operations faithful to You for You and my faithful and generous God – in Christ name I pray, AMEN. P.S. I did a Business bible study called 40 Days to Restarting Your Business, God's Way. Check it out: 40 DAYS TO RESTARTING YOUR BUSINESS, GOD'S WAY A business Bible study to help you rethink, reinvent, and restart your business, but this time, God's Way! We parallel Nehemiah's rebuilding of the wall to your journey in rebuilding your business. Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out. #DifferentiatingMyself #ShareYourTestimony

I’ve admitted to you before: I was a terrible boss. I love people. Everyone will tell you I’m a very nice guy. But when it comes to being a boss, something wasn’t clicking. And I’m searching for that reason why… Today I came across a clue that might help me, and I thought it might help you too. In the story of Adam and Eve, after they ate from the tree, they were naked. In response, they hid from God and covered themselves with fig leaves. They sinned, they let God down, they were less than perfect, so they hid. The legacy of Adam and Eve’s act is that we entrepreneurs are still hiding today. I’m guilty of hiding from my employees when I messed up, things are bad, or even if someone else messed up. Golfing, food, drug abuse, and sometimes even exercise represent our “fig leaves.” And even though we’re hiding, God will still ask us “where are you?”. What are your fig leaves? Next time, stop and realize what you’re doing. Then, ask yourself, WHO do you need to confront or what sin do you need to repent from so that you can stop hiding. #SharpenLeadership

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

I have a confession: I first came to a relationship with God because of a girl. I liked her. I wanted to make her happy by going to church with her on Sundays. Listen, God will use whatever he can to bring us into relationship with him. I have another confession: when I read the Bible now, I mostly see messages on how Jesus wants to partner with me on my entrepreneurial journey and how God wants to grow my influence and business. I see it as the ultimate guide to owning a business!  Am I crazy? With this insight and knowledge, I can't help but to want to show other entrepreneurs how God and the Bible are relevant to their business growth and success.  I think that if I can translate that to others, I’ll actually be helping people develop a stronger relationship with God. Like I said at the beginning, God will use whomever and whatever to bring you into relationship with him. We all see the world through our own passions, gifts and talents.  We all fall in love with God and the Bible in different ways. It’s part of the beauty of the omnipresence of God. Some of us find the Bible confusing. Some find it irrelevant to the times we live in.  Others think it’s a bunch of folktales told by some good people, but likely never happened. I believe these thoughts pervade the mind because we haven’t made the Bible relevant to our lives today.  If we can see the Bible as a manual to entrepreneurship, then I think more entrepreneurs would read it.  To this end, God uses ministers to translate the Word into ways we can make it practical in our lives. God inspires people like me to do that translating, and then he wants you to go out and teach other entrepreneurs the same. In Nehemiah 8 we read that the people were hungry for the word, but not everyone understood it.  So watch how a group goes out to bring understanding. Nehemiah 8:5-8 says "Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the Lord , the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.  The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read." Ezra and his band of Levites read from the Book of the Law of God and made it clear, giving meaning, so the people understood. God designed the Bible to be expounded on by ministers so that it's better understood. It would please God if you were able to give your views of Divine truth in your respective marketplace. You might not feel equipped, yet. You might not understand every part of the Bible. However, you also don’t understand every part of business, and yet you’re committed to moving forward, growing, learning, and building, right? The same is true with the greatest business book ever written:  the Bible. The best MBA course you will ever enroll in happens Sundays and in Bible studies at your church. If all of us Godpreneurs can fall in love with the Bible as our business handbook, then we can not only help our businesses succeed, but we can now have a way and reason to go out and ‘spread the gospel’ in ways we entrepreneurs can uniquely understand. P.S. I did a Business bible study called 40 Days to Restarting Your Business, God's Way. Check it out: 40 DAYS TO RESTARTING YOUR BUSINESS, GOD'S WAY A business Bible study to help you rethink, reinvent, and restart your business, but this time, God's Way! We parallel Nehemiah's rebuilding of the wall to your journey in rebuilding your business. Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out. #FindMyCalling #TimeManagement

Almost every morning I have a routine. I wake up at sunrise, make a powerful cup of bulletproof coffee (Google that!), sit down in my prayer & meditation chair, open up my bible app (YouVersion), and begin ‘eating’ my daily bread. Incorporating this time with God into my "diet" every morning transformed my business and personal life. Where do you think I get the energy and content to write the hundreds of blog posts on DailyGodpreneur.com? I’ve developed a true HUNGER to want to draw closer to God, which happens to also help me grow and lead a God-first business. God got my attention through the rebuilding of my business. The Spirit of God was moving in me, around me, and through me. I couldn't help but to want more of God. People go to God for a variety of reasons: mine is business.  I feel led and called to do so.  I expect that to change over time, but this is currently the season I’m in. When we see God transforming our lives and businesses, it should motivate us more to draw closer to Him. We see the fruits it produces, and we want more of that sweet stuff. That daily bread is what we need as entrepreneurs to stay on track and continue growing. In Chapter 8 of Nehemiah, the wall has been built and now the city is growing.  The people come to the leaders and literally beg them to teach them from the Word of God.  They had just witnessed Nehemiah and company rebuild the wall, something they only dreamed of. Nehemiah's faith, along with the indisputable evidence that God had his hand all over the rebuilding led the people to want more of God. Nehemiah 8:1-3 NIV "All the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.  So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law." It's clear that the Spirit of God was at work in Jerusalem even before the reading of God’s Word in chapter 8. People do not gather together as one man for the things of God unless the Spirit of God has moved them, and they do not desire God’s Word unless the Spirit of God has moved them. The rebuilding of your business into a God-first business should be evidence to yourself, your team, and anyone involved, that God was with you throughout the process. Your thirst for God should be through the roof! God wants to continue to grow your business.  He wants to speak to you every morning and direct your steps.  He wants you to come to him with problems, conversations of concern, and continued praises as God paves the way before you. We Godpreneurs need our daily bread to lead our teams to new heights. P.S. I did a Business bible study called 40 Days to Restarting Your Business, God's Way. Check it out: 40 DAYS TO RESTARTING YOUR BUSINESS, GOD'S WAY A business Bible study to help you rethink, reinvent, and restart your business, but this time, God's Way! We parallel Nehemiah's rebuilding of the wall to your journey in rebuilding your business. Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out. #ArticulatingMyIdeas #WritingGreatCopy

caused distrust in the accounting, no single vision for the future, no way of venting and no clear leadership

My partner and I would frequently get in email battles and heated arguments in front of employees. The biggest problems my partners and I had was not knowing how to communicate properly. Notice I didn’t say ‘a lack of communication’. I communicated a lot…I worked in the same small office. We all get into arguments with our partners. But what’s it all for? Can we even remember WHY the last argument started? The way to a restored and happy business partnership is through good communication, but we don’t know how to speak what matters, let alone to listen well and respond. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:29 "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." God wants us to be great communicators by listening and really knowing your partners needs. I believe God wants us to 1) Think about this greater purpose next time you’re talking with your partners. 2)While most daily talk is simply to share information or discuss less-than vital decisions, try to be fully present with your business partners even when discussing the most mundane of details. 3) Make it a practice to share with each other when you’re stressed or excited about. 4) Make the goal of communication with your partners developing greater compassion for one another. What I learned over the years is that communication isn’t just the act of speaking.  Communication is also listening and empathizing its really a self-less act. We all start out born knowing how to communicate one way….cry to get fed. But if we want real change in our partnerships, we have to learn the other side of communication: listening. #BusinessPartnerships #ShareYourTestimony #EnhanceFocus

In 2005 I formed a 3-way partnership with two of my really good friends.  One was a graphic designer, one was a website developer, and I was the Cornell University business graduate that was supposed to know what he was doing when it came to running a business. So naïve yet full of energy and excitement, the three of us desired to leave the corporate life and take control of our lives. We had visions of growing an agency full of the best creatives and doing amazing work for our clients.  The name of the company spoke our hearts desire: The Creative Complex. We sought to build, literally, a fun place to work with ping pong tables and games and a relaxed working atmosphere. We really did want it to work out….but…. You can probably fill in the story from here based on your experience in partnerships. We all desire one thing when we start, but things change. People change. Visions change.  Plans change.  Circumstances change.  We change.  And when you start making money, hearts change. So what happens when partnerships go bad? What can we do to bring them back to life?  How can we….just go back to when we first started? What I’ve discovered over repeated failed and successful partnerships is a key to cracking the partnership code. This key, when applied, can help unlock restoration and a renewed sense of hope in the business. Revelation 2:4 in the bible says "But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!  Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand and from its place among the churches." The key I’ve found is that we have to go back to the basics, back to why we started this, back to our first days of excitement. In your marriage, you reminisce on the dating, wedding and honeymoon and all of the sudden the fighting stops and there’s peace (for a little). It’s the similar concept in business. So here are some practical steps to going back. Re-reading the business plan together: Where you start in business largely determines where you’ll end up. You can make significant progress and possibly avoid conflict if you spend some time thinking about what you hoped for most at the start.  (And if you don’t have a business plan, well now you know why the partnership is failing.  How can we expect the business to fulfill our dreams and expectations if they aren’t articulated or well defined? Create a business plan together.) Dream brainstorm: after the meeting above, then dream together of the future.  See yourselves succeeding.  The Bible says God has plans for you to prosper.  This is true for your partnerships too! The process of investigating and sharing our deepest desires for business is on-going.  We need to make it a habit to do a periodic mental exploration together to think about the dream you had of what business would be like when you were starting. Add a RECURRING event in your calendar to at least have a yearly looking back meeting followed up by a looking forward meeting.  And if you can do it 2-4 times a year, EVEN BETTER!  The more we get to know each other and communicate, the better chance we have at restoring and strengthening our business partnerships. #DifferentiatingMyself #FindMyCalling

One of my biggest problems in business partnerships is that I want to control everything. For example, if I hire a subcontractor to do a job for me, I want it done a certain way – my way. It always ends up this way because somehow, some way, the company I’ve chosen to partner with drops the ball or something didn’t go right. And because my name is on the line, I immediately move in to control the situation to make sure I save the situation. The problem is that it eventually ruins my relationships and I have to move on to a different vendor, contractor, employee, or partner. All of us entrepreneurs want the control in our businesses. But if we use it in our business partnerships, we could lose everything. Whether it’s controlling the temperature at the office or the cleanliness of our desk, we all want our business life to function in a way that suits us. And what do we do when something doesn’t work the way we like in our businesses? We try to control it. But if we try to employ this same strategy in our business partnerships, we lose connection and brotherly love we had when we first started together. All partnerships start out great. But when we don’t feel validated and appreciated in the business partnership, anything starts to tear the group apart because controlling behavior starts coming into play. It’s our survival instinct kicking in. So we control our business partners actions to ensure we get the relationship we want. Listen, control erodes joint ventures and the unity present at the beginning, which was the very foundational reason we even got into the partnership. The Bible says: "So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up". (Romans 14:19 NLT) Do you want the truth? If you control your business partners, employees, vendors or contractors, you’re in danger of losing the relationship and business altogether. People who feel controlled will try to escape your grip. They’ll avoid you at the office or on the phone. They may distract themselves with other ventures and mentally check out. They may start to spend less time at the office or just away from you. Is this happening to you? Sounds familiar? Here’s the solution for us Godpreneurs: we need to give up the role of “overbearing boss.” We must begin cultivating a relationship of openness and brotherly love. After all, they are your brothers and sisters in Christ. We may need to seek some business counseling for this. I know, sounds like marriage therapy, right? But it’s true because I’ve experienced it myself – when business partners learn healthy ways to deal with conflict, connect regularly, and become complimentary in the way God intended for the business, a strong business bond is just over the horizon. For a daily dose of encouragement and perspective, subscribe to the daily email devotional at www.dailygodpreneur.com/subscribe. #BusinessBibleStudy #BusinessPartnerships Finding Purpose In Your Business Partnership You and your business partner are unique individuals and God is creative in the way He wants to use both of your gifts together. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

Are there any areas of the business where you can show awesome leadership by giving up your rights?

I’ve been a brand strategist since 2001.  Almost all of my entrepreneurial career I’ve spent helping businesses have cool logos and websites. Naturally, I pay attention to my own identity.  My logos and websites are always in tip-top shape.  I am obsessed with how I am perceived by my target audience and people that work with me. But in 2014 I had an identity crisis that forced me to go back to the drawing boards of my own life and company brand and rethink an entirely new approach to branding. Long story short, my company was the top branding agency for nightclubs around the world.  In 2008 I started going back to church, and over the following years, I felt God pulling me away from that world completely. In 2014 I dropped every nightclub client to follow God completely and trust he had my back.  Almost overnight I lost it all…Employees, contracts, partnership…Myself…My identity as the king of nightlife marketing. What did I do when my life flip turned upside down? Where did I go when I lost almost everything that had been there to me for almost a decade? How do I find my way back to a brand identity that would make me feel like I matter like I have a purpose? This is exactly where God needed to take me in order to show me my true identity – His identity through me. What I’ve discovered since then is that branding is the external spoken word of the internal embodiment of God within us, trying to express Himself through us. I know, it’s a mouthful. It’s a very advanced thought.  I’ve been at this for years now – I’ve dedicated my life to this topic of identity. When things aren’t right at home or in business, when life is crumbling around me and it seems like I’ve lost hope, I’ve come to understand that this is God’s way of correcting my brand and trying to line my company up with who He is, not who my selfish self wants us to be. The dictionary defines identity as “who someone is, the name of a person, the qualities, beliefs, etc., that make a particular person or group different from others.” I’ve come to understand brand identity not as who my company is, but WHOSE my company is.  It’s not so much about the cool logo and website, but more about lining up my qualities and beliefs with God’s qualities and beliefs.  It is in this mirroring effect that God begins to attract to Himself, through me, the clients, and people He needs me to work on. The Bible says: "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord , “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 NIV To find my true brand identity, all I need to do is focus on one thought: I am a child of God. The foundation of my company is grounded in my faith in a God that loves me, gives me purpose, sees the big picture, and reveals to me what I was born to do – the greater plan for my business. What’s my company’s brand identity?  It’s an object of His love, poured out from me for my customers to taste. So while the roller coaster ride of Entrepreneurship takes its sharp twists and turn, that foundation truth doesn’t have to change in me: this business is God’s business.  Even if I wrestle with internal feelings of not being clear on the external appearance of my brand, I can hold on to God’s truth. I know He’s got a plan for my business, even when I don’t know what it is or when it seems to look totally different than what I’ve imagined. This is what brand identity is about. The only constant is that it comes from God. Everything else is ever-changing because as we draw closer to God and allow our companies to be used by God, the company always changes. God gives us the growth we so desire. How do you see your company’s brand identity? How do you think God sees your company? P.S. I did a Business bible study called 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand. Check it out: 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand This business Bible study will help you launch a God-first personal brand that will help you strategically, financially, and personally. Developing your personal brand starts with launching something new and completely different from what you already have. Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out. #BusinessBibleStudy #FindingMyBrand #BuildMyPersonalBrand

It revealed to me how LITTLE I knew about management - and how management correlates with leadership.

The biggest hurdles I've had to overcome as a Christian entrepreneur are distractions. For example, I'll start to put together a new Business Bible Study, and I'll be halfway through completion, and something comes up in one of my companies and I'll pause the project for an extended period of time to go tend to that issue. By the time I come back around to finishing what I've started, the chess game has changed and now I find myself unmotivated to continue. My mind wants to do so many things.  I want to start other book reports, more devotionals, open new channels of revenue in my business, form new partnerships, increase my marketing efforts, hire more staff, and the list continues! We entrepreneurs have so many opportunities.  What we have to watch out for is which opportunities are from God, and which are the enemies tactics to distract us from the task at hand. How can we smell when something is from the enemy trying to derail us from the project God has called us to complete? In the Bible, Nehemiah was near the completion of the wall when the enemy comes in to try and distract him, take him off course, and possibly derail the entire project. Nehemiah 6:1-4 says When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates— Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer. Nehemiah displays the ultimate show of discernment. He has the ability to judge matters according to God’s view of them, and not according to their outward appearance. Picture Nehemiah going to the Word of God and equipping himself with discernment. Perhaps he read Proverbs 27:6: "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." That passage alone would remind him to not look to outward appearances, but to judge soberly. You've likely been the victim of deception by outward appearances of opportunities. This lack of discernment produced some kind of suffering. You've listened to others who give a good appearance, but don’t walk in the nature of Jesus. You've likely accepted things blindly because it looked good or sounded good, without carefully judging it against the whole counsel of God’s Word. We've all done this. So the question becomes... How can we develop entrepreneurial discernment? First, if you want to see things as God sees them. This means you need to get to know His Word. A "Daily Godpreneur" isn't just a cute name for a blog...it's a calling for entrepreneurs to get to know God's Word so that we can stand up against the deception of the enemy that wants to take us from our purpose and calling. Second, discernment comes through spiritual maturity; Hebrews 5:12-14 says that discernment is something spiritual babies don’t have (a baby will stick anything in his mouth). Third, discernment can be given as a gift from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:10). Seek Him for it. Without discernment in business, we can think a dangerous opportunity from an enemy is really a blessing from God. We can think a good idea is a God idea. We can think our own noble desires to serve are God’s promises for success. We can think God is saying “now” or “later” when He is really saying “later” or “now.” We can think another entrepreneur is a great guy or a spiritual leader when they are really doing damage to God’s people. Look around.  Where is the enemy trying to attack you?  Is it the lure of a giant contract?  Is it a new business opportunity your brother in law is presenting? The enemy will often hit you when you're down - you've lost a key player on your team or sales drying up and the bank account is slim. This is when you are most vulnerable to the deception. We all need to watch out for the tactics distracting us from God’s original calling for us to lead God-first businesses. We need to keep our eyes on the next step. We need to focus on the ONE THING we need to do today to keep building our wall. All my best, Alex Miranda Get to know me at www.alexmiranda22.com P.S. I did a Business bible study called 40 Days to Restarting Your Business, God's Way. Check it out: 40 DAYS TO RESTARTING YOUR BUSINESS, GOD'S WAY A business Bible study to help you rethink, reinvent, and restart your business, but this time, God's Way! We parallel Nehemiah's rebuilding of the wall to your journey in rebuilding your business. Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out. #BusinessBibleStudy #EnhanceFocus #SharpenLeadership

I was once involved in a startup where, once the first money started coming into the business, my partner began buying expensive furniture and artwork for himself. This would have been fine if he was using his own profits, but he was taking from the company money to furnish himself with perks. When I started to see my partner doing this, I became very concerned. It got to the point where I decided I didn't want to be in a partnership with him anymore. If this is the way he was going to be spending the company's money, I didn't want to be any part of the building of this company. Then, disaster struck. My partner figured we would keep making these amazing profits that we were experiencing, but one day, the business ran into big supply chain problems and the money stopped coming in. He was left with over $100,000 in debt to repay because he had personally borrowed over what he was supposed to take. We entrepreneurs are sometimes in positions where we are ‘entitled’ to do things because of our position that can end up playing a burden on our own employees, vendors, and contractors.  We give ourselves perks, take off more days, take longer breaks, more vacations, etc. God is searching for hearts that are aligned with His. He’s seeing how you treat the perks that are rightfully yours. In the book of Nehemiah, we read that he was appointed Governor of Judah. As Governor, he was entitled to tons of perks.  He was given allowances for food and wine, money, and more.  He could get anything he wanted, however, he took a different mindset. Nehemiah 5:14-15 says, "Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also Lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that." Like me, maybe you also find yourself as part of a startup. Or maybe you're like Nehemiah and you find yourself rebuilding your company. Both mean that your business is in building mode.  It’s all hands on deck. When you're starting or restarting your company, especially if you're doing it because God is moving you to do so, this means that God is going to be seeing how you manage the "perks" that are going to start coming your way. Will you be enticed to bathe in the luxuries of your position, or will you stand side-by-side with your lowest rank employees in building the business? We serve a God that is training our hearts to be aligned with his.  It’s not about the product or service you provide, it's about the purpose and the heart behind the business. We all need to stay focused on our mission to produce a business that glorifies God. Once the business is up and running, from our own profits, we will enjoy the fruits of our labor. All my best, Alex Miranda Get to know me at www.alexmiranda22.com P.S. I did a Business bible study called 40 Days to Restarting Your Business, God's Way. Check it out: 40 DAYS TO RESTARTING YOUR BUSINESS, GOD'S WAY A business Bible study to help you rethink, reinvent, and restart your business, but this time, God's Way! We parallel Nehemiah's rebuilding of the wall to your journey in rebuilding your business. Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out. #AgencyOwners #SharpenLeadership