In a previous post, I spoke about the powerful nature of a song I dedicated to my wife, and how listening to a song you’ve dedicated to someone can bring you to tears of either anger or bliss. As an entrepreneur, I need my mind focused on as much of the RIGHT NOW as possible. I don’t want it running too far ahead, and I don’t want it lingering behind. I also want my mind in as much positivity as possible. I have to curb my enthusiasm to watch the news, surround myself with positive people, and….here’s one you probably have never heard….listen to POSITIVE music. What do I mean by positive music? I have songs I turn to when I’m upset, depressed, sick of it all, and wanting to escape my reality. Music I loved in high school, a different relationship in my life, a different season I was far from God. I’ll start listening to music that has nothing to do with where I want to go in life. It’s like a drug. Here’s the trick I’ve learned that I implement every morning while playing making coffee and before I begin blogging. I created a playlist of awesome Christian lyric songs that keep me in a state of THANKSGIVING. If I’m constantly being reminded to give thanks to God, my mind is ready to receive the opportunities He has for me and it keeps my eyes looking straight ahead, keeping the course. We all have tools to take us back to depressing times. It can be music, food, alcohol, drugs, other people, or maybe an old stomping ground. But God wants us to stay in a mode of THANKSGIVING so we can keep moving forward. Nehemiah 12:31 says "I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate." You know the songs that remind you of God, and what he’s done for you - songs that literally bring you to your knees. In that moment of glorious surrender, God meets you, and positivity and thanksgiving enter your body. What if every morning we had 2 or 3 songs we played that lined up our hearts and got us ready for the day? What about playing a couple in the car, on the way to work. Let’s make it a habit to give thanks to God through song. 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 #DifferentiatingMyself

There’s a song I dedicated to my wife before we were married.  It’s a beautiful song that captured my emotions at the time I dedicated it. Later on, I took her to the concert and the band played "our song."  That song eventually became our wedding song. I also played our song on the car ride home from the hospital with our new baby boy.  It brought us both to tears. What's the song? It's called "Two is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls. I love the song because it's a reminder of my commitment to her. Sometimes I’ll play it when I’m mad at her because I know it brings my heart back in alignment. Dedicating that song to her was powerful and has helped me in good times and bad. I think we all know the power of dedication because we’ve experienced this in the past. Whether it was a dedication to your wife or a song dedicated to someone that hurt you, hearing the song brings up strong emotions for us. We have the ability to have similar emotions in our businesses by dedicating our businesses to God.  We dedicate things so that we create a bond between the two subjects. How amazing would it be to dedicate your business to God so that there is an eternal bond and a higher sense of purpose and passion as you continue building? The Bible shows us what that looks like as we read the final chapters of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 12:27-30 reads "At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres. The musicians also were brought together from the region around Jerusalem—from the villages of the Netophathites, from Beth Gilgal, and from the area of Geba and Azmaveth, for the musicians had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the wall." What´s going to happen now when people walk past the wall of Jerusalem? They will think of the time they dedicated it to God and the songs of praise and thanksgiving.  It will be a good memory impressed in their minds. Dedicating your business to God will add protection and align your heart with God’s.  It will give you a crutch to lean on during bad times. Similarly, it will give you a podium to speak from during the good times. When we dedicate something to God, we give it all to him. We hold nothing back. It is given in full and joyful surrender. It is all for God’s pleasure, all for his use, all for his glory. God’s desire is for us Godpreneurs to be like him…holy! (1 Peter 1.14-16). If we want to restore our businesses, we must first ask God to help us walk in holiness. Then, we will become “living stones being used to build a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2.5). How would you plan a dedication of your business to God? What elements would be included? What would such a celebration look like? A PRAYER OF BUSINESS DEDICATION God, we want to uplift your name among the people. Help us to dedicate ourselves and our businesses for your glory. Give us the encouragement we need, and remind us that you are always with us. I'm praying for you, too! All my best, Alex Miranda Get to know me at www.alexmiranda22.com Want to learn the book of Nehemiah from an Entrepreneur's point of view? In this business Bible study, we parallel Nehemiah's rebuilding of the wall to your journey in rebuilding your business. Check it out here: 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! Also, coaches and Christian business leaders, you can use, edit, and repurpose the teachings for your own tribe! Check it out. #EnhanceFocus #IncreaseEnergy

The scariest part of Restarting my business was doing it alone with my assistant.  We were the first ‘wall builders’. Then, I had to strategically convince others to join this amazing team of two that promises to change the world. I did all of this with debt piling up and no guaranteed clients. I was relying on my faith that God would provide and that it was His will that I start the business. Serving God in entrepreneurship takes much courage. Yet, we do so because, as Christians, we know the cause is just and that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek to serve him. People generally fall into two groups: people who volunteer to attempt the difficult tasks for God, and people who applaud those who do. To which group do you belong? I thank God every day for blessing me with team members that pioneer new ventures with me. How do I find and recruit other God-first people to come work with me? I let God bring them into my life. I primarily start recruiting through my network of friends at church. God shows us in Nehemiah 11 how the leaders rebuilding the city re-populated Jerusalem the same way. Nehemiah 11:1-3 says "Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten of them to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. The people commended all who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.  These are the provincial leaders who settled in Jerusalem (now some Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants and descendants of Solomon’s servants lived in the towns of Judah, each on their own property in the various towns," Nehemiah and the people restored the city wall. Now they needed people who would live in that city and defend it, if necessary. Jerusalem, despite its new fortification, was still a dangerous place to live. the city was still prone to attack from neighboring factions. Nehemiah decided the nation’s leaders and their families would live there, and to give the remaining spaces to people who volunteered or those who drew lots. You have a network of people around you, too.  Most won’t fit into your business.  But if you pray for God to reveal each person, they will begin to surround your business.  As long as your antennas are up, you’ll seize the opportunity when it comes. We are loved by God.  We are to prosper and succeed.  God will reward us for the risks we took as pioneers to restart and rebuild.  If we stay in the spirit and always come to God for our next steps, he will be faithful to bring us the right people to continue to build our businesses. 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. #WheretoStartFirst #SharpenLeadership

In 2010, I prayed for God to help me find an office space for my company to move into. I was running the business out of my living room and I felt it was time to take a bold step of faith and move into an official location for my agency. I specifically remember praying for and circling around a certain warehouse district that was close to my house. As you might guess, the Lord heard my prayers and brought me into a new season with a beautiful new office. I was so grateful to God that I decided to dedicate my office to God and his work. I made a covenant with God to use my office for whatever he needed. Since 2010, my office has hosted worship nights, volunteer outreach meetups, Bible studies, counseling sessions, worship band practices, and more! My office has even served as my church's official administrative office because we didn't have a building. All of us Godpreneurs have an opportunity to make a covenant between our businesses and the work God is doing here. We're part of his plan, and committing our resources to his purpose is what he's looking to do along our entrepreneurial journey. Why is this important? When we make a covenant with God, it makes us accountable to him as our CEO.  We essentially surrender our (sometimes sinful) hearts to God. I’m not saying we all need to open up our offices to the church. I'm not saying you need to stop everything you're doing to serve God's people only. For many entrepreneurs, the business doesn't have an exact correlation between what the church is doing and the services we provide. However, if it is not our services, we can make a covenant in other ways.  We can tithe, we can serve, we can volunteer resources. There are a lot of ways to commit our businesses to God. The important part is to make some kind of commitment that makes your heart feel good. The book of Nehemiah shows us how to restart our businesses by showing us what it is to make a covenant with God. Nehemiah 10:39 says "The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and olive oil to the storerooms, where the articles for the sanctuary and for the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the musicians are also kept. “We will not neglect the house of our God.” After living in exile from Jerusalem, the people of Israel were able to rebuild the walls and move back into their city. Once they resettled in the city, they needed to get back to the basics so that they wouldn't fall back into sin and end up right back in exile. One way was declaring and engaging themselves in the work of God. They made a covenant that they would take care of the house of God and not neglect or forsake it, and instead contribute the necessary provisions to support it. Although the Israelites had paid great taxes to the kings of Persia and had much hardship put upon them, they would not make that an excuse for not paying their tithes; but would render to God the things that were his, as well as to Cesar the things that were his. Making a covenant is a big deal. Making one with God is the biggest deal you’ll make for your business. Pray for where God wants you to make a covenant.  Is it a promise to only hire believers in your business? Is it a commitment to provide your trucks to be used by the church?  Are you going to separate 10% of your company profits to help your church with its new building project? All of us Kingdom-driven business owners must do what we can in works of piety and charity, notwithstanding the taxes we pay to the government; and cheerfully perform our duty to God amidst our business burdens, which will be the surest way to ease and liberty in God’s due time. My covenant is to always make my office a satellite location for my church to do its work. Imagine if Christian entrepreneurs worldwide could find a way to make a covenant with God. Pray for yours. 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 #FindingMyPurpose

My branding agency is committed to one thing:  helping companies reveal their true God-given identity and bringing that vision to life. We don't do public relations, advertising, or digital marketing. We only do....branding. However, this clarity in my service offering wasn’t always there. I used to dabble in a bunch of different agency services.  Whatever my clients needed, I would tell them I could do it, and we'd launch a new service offering. The problem with this model is that you're always having to learn a new service offering in a new industry. It takes any momentum and stops it in its tracks in order to shift in a new direction. My lack of commitment to one industry, one service, one plan, one purpose, and one vision ultimately hurt my company and I lost credibility with my employees and my clients. We entrepreneurs have a tendency to switch gears too fast. And when the money isn’t right, we even tend to switch directions too fast. But God’s example to us is one of faithfulness and commitment to one thing:  our God is love. No matter how far we deviate from the plans, he is love. No matter how bad we screw things up, he is love. It’s that commitment to ONE THING that makes God so great in our lives and in our businesses. In the final chapters of Nehemiah, we see people that are being redeemed. Remembering their past is hurtful but it's strengthening their faith because it's reminding them that God is love and is for them and their success. Nehemiah 9:26-27 “But they were disobedient and rebelled against you; they turned their backs on your law. They killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you; they committed awful blasphemies. So you delivered them into the hands of their enemies, who oppressed them. But when they were oppressed they cried out to you. From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies." God is the ultimate example of sticking to one thing and doing it better than anyone.  And this motivated the Israelites into a new season. You can motivate your followers in the same way.  It’s going to take a commitment on your part to be one way, move in one direction, with one purpose. Imagine a marketplace where love ruled entrepreneurs and their commitment to their products and services were focused.  We’d all be experiencing better goods, and we’d all be giving the best, which is what God intended. #ShareYourTestimony #SharpenLeadership

Table of contents Introduction What is meditation? Gyms Train the Body, Meditation Trains the Mind The more you focus on connecting with God, the more pleasurable it becomes. Meditation is the Key to Growing Your Business, God's Way. Christian entrepreneurs operate businesses in an uncertain world. We choose to struggle to survive on our own or partner with God on a faith-filled adventure of uncertainty and dependency on His word. Without a practical way of connecting with God, we're prone to fear and stress. Thankfully, God designed us with a desire for worship and connecting to Himself, our creator. Meditation helps us entrepreneurs connect with God, which, by his grace, calms our busy brains for less anxiety and more enjoyment in life - the promise of heaven on earth. Too good to be true? Nope! Both science and the Bible agree that meditation rewires and transforms our brains – for the better. INTRODUCTION I've heard that meditation is great. Still, as a Christian entrepreneur, I had two struggles: 1) I didn't want to be influenced by new-age spiritual philosophy, and 2) I didn't have hours every day to sit down in total silence. So, I began to explore the science behind meditation and what the Bible says about meditation. I discovered that I didn't have to compromise my Christian beliefs and become a monk searching for nirvana to reap the benefits of meditation. The most significant discovery I made in my studies of meditation is that I had already been practicing a form of meditation by reading devotionals in the mornings. Don't devotionals provide us Christians with a great solution to many modern problems like stress and anxiety? Well, that's the exact science behind meditation! What is Meditation? First, what is meditation? My idea of meditation was some Chinese philosophy of breathing exercises or some Hindu and Buddhist practice of repeating mantras. However, when I studied the Bible, I noticed that meditation is contemplative prayer - a personal dialogue with God we have throughout the day. The Bible says Oh, the joys of those who …. delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. (Psalms 1:1‭-‬3 NLT) For us Christian entrepreneurs, meditation is a mental exercise to break into the fruit-bearing season of prosperity that God has promised for us. And the most efficient form of meditation for us is to have a structured way of becoming aware of and reflecting on the things God wants to reveal to us for our businesses through His word. For us, an excellent meditation practice is reading the word, reflecting on it, sharing it with people we interact with that day, and practicing it in our day-to-day business operations. Meditation for Christian business owners is the process of identifying a problem we're experiencing, deliberately focusing on specific Bible verses or stories, and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God and His desire for us to overcome that problem and live in the freedom of Christ. The funny part that I'm writing about meditation is that I had a problem: I felt I didn't know how to meditate I went to God and the Word with my problem God revealed verses and insight into meditation I discovered that the way I was approaching my problem of meditation is, in and of itself, the art of Christian meditation 🤣 I can't help but laugh out loud at how amazing God is to those that love Him and serve Him! This is how I've been solving my business problems since 2014. It's how I've come up with over 700 blog posts and 50+ business Bible studies. I've been meditating all along! Gyms Train the Body, Meditation Trains the Mind We all know the health benefits of physical training; doctors constantly encourage us to take up jogging, swimming, or weight lifting. And while physical fitness is good, the Bible says that godliness is of greater gain (1 Timothy 4:8). How do we work on our godliness? Meditation. Meditation Trains our brains to be more attentive to the things God wants us to work on. Our mental health and well-being are exercised through meditating on God and His word. The Bible says My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. (Proverbs 4:20-22 ESV) Through neuroplasticity, scientists have proven that the brain can be reshaped. Think of the brain as a muscle that can be worked out and responds to training the same way our biceps grow when we do curls 💪. In my Godpreneur Method Challenge, I teach about a meditative practice that I've been doing for years. It's a method I've used to give my brain a workout, and it's a practice I believe every Christian entrepreneur should be doing daily, Monday through Friday. First, I have my quiet spot. I'm sitting in it right now as I write this blog post. With my coffee in hand, it's about 5:30 am; the house is silent, and I'm ready to connect with God for my morning business meeting. Next, I focus on a problem that I'm experiencing in business. It could be an external problem (an issue with my business partner), an internal problem (I want to be more on time for my meetings), or a philosophical issue (why is your calling from God so important). Finally, I'll begin researching what the Bible says about that problem. God is always giving us grace in areas of our lives so that we can approach these issues with awareness and faithfulness that He will see us through to the completion of that problem. This is how I've solved every problem in business I've experienced since I started this meditative practice in 2014. At first, you might be overwhelmed by the number of problems you want to bring to the Lord. Why aren't my clients paying on time? How could my business partner do this to me? When will this prospect buy my service? Why am I so stressed and anxious all the time? How can I experience a breakthrough in my marriage while running my business? And so on. God designed us with a survival mechanism. He wired our brains to identify problems. Meditation is how we work through those problems to find solutions to keep on living the life he created for us - heaven on earth. The more you practice the Godpreneur Method of meditation, the easier it becomes to calm your mind by solving one problem at a time. With a daily habit of working out your brain, your problems will come and go quickly, showing that your brain is working in the right direction. The more you focus on connecting with God, the more pleasurable it becomes. There is nothing more enjoyable to me than waking up early to write a blog post for Daily Godpreneur. Think about it: I get to identify a problem I'm experiencing in business, spend time with God researching what His word has to say about it, share that solution with others, and apply it to my business to overcome the issue. Come on…is that not what our Christian journey is all about? And I've been able to master this habit to a point where I feel LOST in my day if I haven't connected with God in the morning. Ok, fine…it makes sense that a dedicated Christian business blogger would have a transformed business from routine meditation – but what about the rest of us? The good news is that you don’t need to go and start a blog and amass a following to reap the benefits of meditation. I've had members of my Godpreneur Academy start as beginners in developing the habit of daily morning devotionals. After just two months, they reported feeling less stressed in their businesses and with much more clarity in their calling. When your brain knows that it has a plan for solving problems in business, it doesn't stress as much. Think about it…you're not as stressed about something once you know the solution, right? Once you train your brain that the solution to all business problems is in God's word, you naturally become less stressed. The daily meditative practice of the Godpreneur Method doesn’t just reduce stress, though – it can also make business more enjoyable! The more you focus on the task of waking up and connecting with God to solve issues in your business, the more pleasurable the process becomes. The problem with most Christians that do morning devotionals is that they are just trying to rush through them to check them off their list for the day. This is like eating an apple quickly just to finish the apple. But if you stopped to focus on the apple while you eat it, the more intense the experience will feel. You’ll notice every aspect of the apple – from its waxy, smooth appearance to the sound it makes as you bite into it to its texture, taste, and smell. Is your mouth salivating right now? That's the power of focusing your mind. Instead of quickly through your morning devotional, the meditative nature of the Godpreneur Method trains your mind in this kind of hyperawareness, which causes the brain to work out. This, in turn, makes waking up to connect with God more enjoyable! When we're focused on solving business problems with God in our morning meetings with him, the activity of problem-solving becomes more stimulating and enjoyable. Remember, the best-tasting apple is the one you’re thinking about! 🤤🍎 Meditation is the Key to Growing Your Business, God's Way. A bank loan I'm waiting for makes me fret about the future. A project my company messed up on makes me linger in the past. I worry about tasks I've forgotten about, and I anxiously await the starting date of a new employee I hired. Entrepreneurship makes it hard for us to be present at the moment - let alone enjoy it. Our minds are distracted, busy, and filled with uncontrolled thoughts. That's exactly where the enemy wants us: stressed out. Worse of all, we miss out on the things God wants us to experience that makes business ownership special and fun. However, it doesn't have to be like this. God sent us the holy spirit as a practical tool to disconnect our minds from past and future thoughts to connect with the present moment that we're designed to live in. The holy spirit helps us replace our anxiety-ridden past and present thoughts with the Bible's peace-giving past and present promises. The Bible says But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26 ESV) We also read Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3:17 ESV) The holy spirit is God's tool to free our minds. We accomplish this by remembering (meditating on) God's word. The key point I'm trying to make is that meditation is the key for entrepreneurs to connect with the holy spirit and live freely in God's gift of the present moment. Becoming more connected to your holy spirit and the "heaven on earth" that Jesus promises won't happen overnight. But training your mind to be present with the holy spirit is possible - and the Godpreneur Method of meditation will train you on time, consistency, and practice. Staying in the moment and knowing what "one thing" God wants you to focus on right now, can be challenging even on the least stressful days, but here's a challenge that’ll help ground you in the now. It's called the Godpreneur Method Challenge. It's a 5-day challenge to show you the exact process I follow Monday through Friday that allows me to stay present and focused on the one thing God wants me to be working on. Every day I'll start you off on how I prepare for my morning ritual, including prayer, worship, and breathing exercises. Then, I'll show you how to identify an area of improvement God wants you to make in your business. Once you're clear on what you intend to work on, I'll guide you on how to identify the solution through Bible study. Finally, I'll open up my playbook on how I apply the solution to my business while also turning the lesson into teaching for others around me. How does that sound to you? How different would your business life be if you developed a daily meditation habit? Would your relationships be different? Would you feel more significance, meaning, and purpose in the work you do? How would the trajectory of your entrepreneurial journey change? What impact would it have on you strategically, personally, and financially? Don't judge this as a sales pitch. Stay present with your holy spirit. Does your spirit tell you that this is an area of your life where you need help? The whole point I'm trying to make is for you to fully engage with the opportunity that's in front of you as it truly exists without preconceived thoughts. Once you finish the challenge, you'll be equipped with a tool that you'll use for the rest of your entrepreneurial career. And the more you practice the techniques; the more God will become part of every area of improvement in your life. That’s a sign that your brain is being transformed (Romans 12:2)! And the more you give into this process, the more peaceful, relaxed, and content you’ll become in your business life, regardless of what's happening around you (Philippians 4:11-13). If that's a challenge you're interested in taking, comment below, and I'll send you a link. #DifferentiatingMyself #EnhanceFocus #TrustOnGod

Milestones are times in my business life when something significant changes. I have a Google Doc of milestones in my business where God HOOKED IT UP! Whenever there’s a moment where I’m like “Dude, this is a miracle, only God could have orchestrated this”, then I write it down on my list. At least once a week (usually Mondays) I’m reading that list to myself. It reminds me that God is amazing!  It gives me a chance to celebrate what He’s done in my business, and positions my mindset to receive more blessings. God works in our businesses even before we realize it.  He’s the reason for every victory, whether we give him credit or not.  The problem is that we entrepreneurs are such forward-thinking visionaries that sometimes we don’t look back to the past to celebrate.  Sometimes we’re so focused on the FUTURE that we miss the opportunity TODAY to celebrate God for what he’s done. The people of Israel had also stopped celebrating God and it cost them the city of Jerusalem. Then, Nehemiah came back to rebuild the wall and bring back the worship of God. When the wall was finished, they celebrate who God is and what he did in the past. Nehemiah 9:6-7 says "You alone are the Lord . You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.  “You are the Lord God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham." This verse teaches that whatever ability they had to rebuild that wall, they served and glorify God according to the utmost of it. The priests were leading the people to glorify God so that they would be kept humble, thankful, and watchful to not fall back into the sin they had just gotten out of. Hopefully, you're at a place where you've rebuilt your business God's way and you're in a new place along your entrepreneurial journey. If God is first in your business, should be feeling really good about your operations, the people you’ve invited into your wall, and your ability to lead them to new heights. Celebrate this milestone and remind your staff to also celebrate! Send out an email this morning to your team…a celebration email. I do this at the start of each month. Set a recurring calendar reminder to do this. Whenever God has done something amazing in your business, have a Google Doc list where you’re keeping track of this. Each month, send some victories to your people and let them celebrate with you. If we can become Godpreneurs that celebrate all the amazing things that God has done, I believe we are setting our hearts in the right spiritual vibrations to continue to receive all that God has promised for our businesses.  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. #WhatBusinessIShouldStart #FindMyCalling

Before I became born again, I discovered a spiritual world that wanted me to WIN, be rich, and have abundance. It was called "The Law of Attraction," and I learned it from a book called The Secret. I was so fascinated with the concept that I bought the DVD, purchased books for my staff, and began sharing the enlightening idea with my friends. I couldn’t contain myself from sharing it with everyone I encountered. It was like I had discovered the secret of life! However, one friend stopped me when I tried to share it with him. He said, ‘Alex, that’s great!  But do you know who is the power behind this law of attraction?’. My friend explained that this "power" is God, and God is the one that wants me to succeed. My friend said that I’m on the right track, but I’m missing one key component: give credit where credit is due. See, I was on the right track in terms of a "power in the universe" that wanted to provide for me, but I didn't recognize God as that source. My friend was helping me realize that I wasn't alone in this world. We entrepreneurs tend to want to do this world on our own.  Even the best Christians can stray away when we forget that God is the power and force behind our business.  We come to God when our companies are struggling. Then, when the business starts doing great, we spend Sundays on the boat that we purchased from the successful business God helped us create.  We forget God. We fail to give credit to where credit is due. Nehemiah and his leaders have a solution for this, and as you can suspect, it’s centered around giving credit to God. Nehemiah 9:5 says "And the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. ” “Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise." After Nehemia led the charge to rebuild the walls at Jerusalem, the leaders read the word of God. They gathered together for an incredible service of worship. “Stand up and bless God,” and they start praising him. God is the only God, the Creator of heaven and earth. He is the creator of your business. He is worthy of the praise from you and your entire team. When you give credit to God for the business's successes, it’s powerful because it keeps your mind focused in a positive direction. I’ve been close to over-drafting my business bank account, and the only thing that kept me from depression and suicidal thoughts is praising God for who he is!  And guess what? A check would appear, or a lead will call with payment to get started on a project. Out of NOWHERE, someone will call to buy my product. Coincidence? No.  This is how God works. As long as we Godpreneurs give credit to where credit is due, we are putting our hearts in a place to be used by God in a greater way in our marketplaces. God wants this for us if our minds and hearts are always aligned in giving Him credit. 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. #EnhanceFocus #FindMyCalling

Table of contents Introduction Why Christian CEOs Should Care About Building a Personal Brand Personal Branding and God-First Leadership A Personal Brand is a Relationship Ecosystem What’s a God-First Personal Brand? Discover Your 'Born to Do' Uniqueness How to Start Developing Your God-First Personal Brand What Problem Do You Solve in the Marketplace Fully Address the Problem The Born to Do Method The 6 Questions of the Born to Do Method Questions 1 and 2: What Problem Do You Solve and What Are You Passionate About? Questions 3 and 4: What's Your Past Education and What Experiences Have Shaped You? Questions 5 and 6: What Do People Want to Buy, and What Do You Love Selling? Bring Your Brand to Life Introduction Did you build a God-first business? Did you bring Christian values into the business's systems, processes, methodologies, and operations? Then you might want to consider building a personal brand around the successful business you've created. God wants to use leaders like you to influence others. Let's explore what successful Christian CEOs need to know about building a God-First personal brand. In this post, I share why even the busiest CEOs should care about building a personal brand, using the Born to Do Method to develop your own personal brand, and more! Why Christian CEOs Should Care About Building a Personal Brand People do business with people, not companies. They do business with the visionary CEO they like, know, and trust. God designed it this way because He desires relationships built on trust and mutual connections. This keeps the good guys moving up, and the bad guys get eliminated. It's in our DNA to fellowship and connect with others because God wants to use us to be His witness to others. This is why human connection creates customer loyalty and employee endearment beyond any relationship a company could ever reach. We're designed to have strong bonds with one another. Notice that the big God-first companies have personalities that drive that brand's mission. Wendy's had Dave Thomas, Walmart had Sam Walton, and Chick-fil-A had S. Truett Cathy. In your company, that persona is you. And God wants to use your public persona (or personal brand) to share how His influence in your life was the secret sauce to your company's growth and success. Personal Branding and God-First Leadership God put people in leadership positions to influence their follower's thinking. This is the most fundamental and enduring purpose behind being in a successful leadership position. The Bible says Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of the fifties, and of tens. (Exodus 18:21) For thousands of years, God-fearing people have been entrusted with leading. They would be men of good sense and that understood business. Back in those days, leading was delegated by kings and rulers. These days, avenues exist for anyone led by the holy spirit to do personal branding, giving God an outlet to influence people’s thinking through us. We can influence employees, clients, prospects, vendors, contractors, stakeholders, partners, and even competitors in our marketplaces! Our personal brand is a tremendous asset that God uses to grow our companies both publicly and internally as successful CEOs. Even a podcast, which is typically externally focused, can influence a company's internal culture. Imagine employees that don't regularly encounter the CEO now listening to their leader on a podcast, watching a video series, reading their book or blog posts. You may never meet your employees at the cash register, but they find out exactly what you believe in through your personal brand. Whether you have thousands of employees or only a handful of clients, God wants you to share your inspired thoughts in public. If not you, who? You were the one given the unique methodology. People will listen and find value in what God wants to say and do through you. This human connectable importance is what God longs for. The blessing comes as more opportunities for your company. That's a fact! As the owner, founder, and CEO of a successful Kingdom-first venture, God wants to use your personal brand to activate, utilize, and maximize every available asset you allow to advance His purposes through your company's mission. Able A Personal Brand is a Relationship Ecosystem Nothing can replace having coffee one-on-one with someone and getting to know them. However, with all of the digital assets available to us, we have an amazing opportunity to create one-way human interactions that can be multiplied and scaled. The Bible says And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. (Mark 16:15) When you see people starting a speaking career, it's because they have a calling inside to share with the world. Those speakers share such great stories that we feel like we intimately know them. They share their "real" struggles and victories over podcasts and blog posts. And although we've never met these guys, we know an incredible amount of information about them. We feel a bond with them. And then we become evangelists of that person's message...a message that took them deciding to start personally branding themselves so that God could use them to spread the Word. You're building a relationship ecosystem when you start sharing your message across various platforms. It's about building an engine that operates 24/7 across different media and environments. Every part of your personal brand that you develop is tied to the overall goal of inspiring others with what God has uniquely shown you. You're creating touchpoints and opportunities for someone to get to like, know, and trust you. Only then will they be able to learn from you and be activated by you. God's plan for spreading the Gospel is to use your multiplied influence through purpose-focused personal branding. It's time now to respond to the call and take advantage of the tools available for us! What’s a God-First Personal Brand? Your personal brand is a relationship with you, separately from your company. It's God using His likeness through you to advance His purposes. The process of personal branding involves uncovering the uniqueness God created through you, building a reputation on the things He wants you to want to be known for, and then allowing yourself to be known for them. Ultimately, the goal is to create something that conveys a message God wants to share with the world and recognize the opportunity to be rewarded financially, strategically, and personally. Discover Your 'Born to Do' Uniqueness The key to God-First personal branding is that you have to uncover what God put you here uniquely to do and then serve others through it. The Bible says As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: (1 Peter 4:10) Your uniqueness is a gift from God to be used to serve others in some way, shape, or form. How to Start Developing Your God-First Personal Brand Personal branding starts first by defining your message, your marketplace, and the media you'll use to share it all. First, what's your message? The role of someone who does branding is to be able to pull your message and story out. See, branding people who understand their role as a conduit between God and you will be able to get a "feeling" of what your message will be. This is why you struggle to find your message if you go at it alone. Next, it's time to define a very specific marketplace. God doesn't want us to think that the entire world is our marketplace. There are 8 billion people in this world, and God will use other people like you to share a message within their marketplace. You need to focus on your own tribe, your own specific geographic area, demographic, or industry. The final step is to define the media and modalities by which you'll share your personal brand message. There are many methods, modes, and media to choose from when building a personal brand. You don't have to create online courses or go on a speaking tour if that's not your cup of tea. Maybe you want to lead a mastermind group, launch a membership program, and offer 3-month coaching and consulting service based on your methodology. Others might want to lead an event or even become a vlogger (video bloggers). God wants to use your personal brand in the way in which you've been uniquely capacitated to spread awareness. Whatever the method, it will be how you love (or will love) to communicate. Trust God in this process. SIDE NOTE: Sometimes, starting with the end in mind will help. For example, if you want to attract more mortgage brokers to work at your brokerage, you reverse engineer your personal brand to meet that goal. Similarly, suppose you know you want to expand your franchise operations to 1,000 stores. In that case, you know your personal brand's media and message have to be positioned in a way to develop relationships with franchisees to be in a position to buy their stores out when they are ready to sell. What Problem Do You Solve in the Marketplace When John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministries in the world, they were solving a problem. The problem was Roman oppression. The solution was to repent and turn to God. At that moment in time, that was a well-received message because it really helped people cope with the issues going on around them. Notice that, first, John had to recognize a problem and have the heart to want to help others solve it. Then, his ministry began. First, the beginning of your personal brand is answering with one or two words: What problem does God want to solve through me? My one word is purpose. I help people discover their purpose because it's a big problem if people can't feel meaning and significance in what they are doing here on earth. It causes a lot of stress and anxiety when we don't know what we're supposed to be doing. I've written an entire book called Discovering Your Calling as an Entrepreneur. It's all about stepping into your purposed-focused calling. When you discover one word, it's something you can quickly write an entire book on. Your one word is your identity through Christ and solidifies your spiritual existence in the business world. At this point, I hope you're convinced that your personal brand is not some superficial vanity public relations tool to exploit more sales. This is the life purpose we're talking about here. This is your secret to living your best life and running a God-First company, and God wants you to be excited to share it! This is your calling. It is why you were put on this earth! When the problem God wants to solve through you becomes evident, your message, marketplace, media, and monetization strategy will all line up. Fully Address the Problem In my book Discovering Your Calling as an Entrepreneur, I define the problem of not knowing your purpose in business, and I focus all of my marketing around that problem. If entrepreneurs don't know their purpose, they end up launching businesses they shouldn't be in, or the business is out of alignment, and they end up quitting to move to the next shiny object they can put their hope able. Why my book is a good example is because it solves the problem of purposelessness. People buy solutions to their problems. And they buy into people who can guide them to solving their problems. Your ability to recognize their problem, empathize with it, and present a clear path to victory will determine if the person will choose you as the best solution. The Born to Do Method One of the most significant questions someone will ask themselves is: what on earth am I here for? The symptoms of this question lead us to ask what problem we solve and what we're going to dedicate the rest of our lives. These questions can be hard to articulate and turn into a business or personal brand; however, it's the work that needs to be done BEFORE beginning any journey to branding. This is why I developed the Born to Do Method in my branding agency. It's a framework built on six questions that help uncover the entrepreneur's personal brand - the message they are born to share with the world, along with the services and products to complement the message. It's a methodology that focuses exclusively on what God uniquely called that individual to do. And as we evaluate the responses with our clients, themes will overlap, and certain cornerstones will be set in the foundation to build the brand. The methodology is about determining how God makes you truly unique and irreplaceable. Once you know that the God of the universe wants a one-on-one relationship with you and your business, you realize that building a personal brand is the way God breaks you free from the ordinary life the world has to offer and separates you from the noise and influence of the marketplace. Your personal brand helps you understand that you have no competition because no other person is like you. God needs you to be different so that you're in a space all your own so that your tribal following can easily recognize you. The 6 Questions of the Born to Do Method The best part about personal branding is that it only involves the CEO. There's no back and forth with partners; no need to bring the marketing team in with focus groups. All we have to do is find out the "magic" that makes you special and unique. What did God create you to do that no one else can do? The 'Born to Do Method' is a metaphor for an individual's calling from before birth. If someone is born to do something, this person was pre-thought of with a plan to do something for its creator: God. Christian or not, I bring this up to my clients, and it's my little way of evangelizing while also driving the point that branding is a spiritual, one-on-one process with your creator, so let's take this seriously. The 6 Questions are paired up into three sets. One question deals with who you were designed to be; the other deals with how you should serve others. Ironically, personal branding is not about you: it's about God and His purpose through you to serve others. The problem with some personal brands promoting riches, fame, and influence is that they are slaves to what the world needs them to be. That's why famous people constantly hate their life, burn out, and get sick of what they're doing because it's out of balance with how God designed personal influence to be. On the flip side, if you're only focused on who God made you be and the things you want to do, you run the risk of launching products and services that nobody cares about or needs. This would then fail the very element of personal branding God needs to do through you to influence others. This is why the Born to Do Method seeks to balance how God shaped you with what the world needs to hear and receive from you for God-focused problems to be solved. Personal branding done correctly seeks to define the intersection where who the world needs you to be…. and who God designed you to be. Godpreneurs have a calling over our business lives, and our personal brands operate in a space closest to our calling. Questions 1 and 2: What Problem Do You Solve and What Are You Passionate About? The first pair of questions in the 'Born to Do Method' balances what you're passionate about with what problems you can solve. First, we must recognize that our holy spirit produces a feeling called passion. I feel that goosebumps are the holy spirit connecting with God to physically show us that we're on the right track with something. Then, we pair that passion up with something the world needs - a real problem to solve that we can monetize. For me, I know people need logos and websites. Without it, most can't operate their business. And since logos and websites are the expressions of one calling, and my passion is to help someone find their calling, I'm operating in my zone of genius by providing personal branding services to successful Godpreneurs. I like to ask my clients what they could talk about all day, for free, and be jacked up about! This usually pulls some good information out of them. You have various experiences and skills, as well as passions and interests. Without a roadmap, it can be a struggle to decide which way to go. Use Trello to make a list of all of these things and sort them by what you're ok at and what you are uniquely gifted at. SIDE NOTE: You'll notice that some things that you consider yourself excellent at are something you need to let go of and delegate to someone else in your organization so you can stay in your unique abilities. I asked my clients another approach to this question is if they had automatic money coming in from a trust fund. The only stipulation is that they have to be at a company and position that they love doing. What would that job or company be like? Money isn't a factor; only your joy and happiness are. Questions 3 and 4: What's Your Past Education and What Experiences Have Shaped You? The first set of questions dealt with your passions and problems you love solving. The next set addresses what you're gaining knowledge and experience in. First, your past education, combined with what you are continuing your education in will shed light on what you were born to do. Everything you've read, observed, and heard, as well as your formal education and seminars you've attended, are likely things that fascinate and intrigue you. I believe that God has placed things in your past and present as guides to your future. There's always a reason or significance in your interests. Subconsciously or consciously, hobbies or jobs we pursue point us towards our calling. Next, the Born to Do Method digs through your past experiences to uncover things you've accomplished and credentials that give you credibility to talk about a topic - the focus of your personal brand message. If you're going to guide others, you have to have walked the walk for others to trust you as their guide. God uses our personal testimony as the gateway into deeper relationships in the service to others. A testimony gives you the right to talk about the topic because you’ve actually done the work and seen results from it. Once this next set of questions are answered, my company explores the accomplishments and results in these areas. In combination with the first pair of questions, we're beginning to connect things, and the picture of your personal brand calling is starting to show. Every past experience related to what you love to study is evidence and an indication of how God designed you and who you're meant to serve. For many of the CEOs I work with, God wants them to serve as the person they used to be. Because you understand what the person is going through mentally, you can empathize best. Empathy is an essential component in people trusting you and thus gaining a following. For me, I heavily research, study, and get training in helping people find their purpose, their calling in life. That, combined with my experience in helping launch hundreds of brands for entrepreneurs, makes me a perfect guide for helping Godpreneurs bring their calling to life. Questions 5 and 6: What Do People Want to Buy, and What Do You Love Selling? Now it's time to focus on the economic side of your personal brand. The last two questions take your uniqueness and put a monetization strategy behind it. You've discovered the problem God wants you to solve and what you're passionate about. Now it's time to look at which way people would like to buy from you. Creating a business model around your personal brand can be tricky because there are so many options. You can run a membership site, well video courses, do masterminds, and even host events. For me, my target market wants to launch its Christian personal brand. Financially, they want to add a revenue stream. They want to feel fulfilled in their life by pursuing their God-ordained calling. Strategically, they want to continue growing their successful existing business. Remember that this question focuses on what people WANT, not their needs. What people need, we will address in the next question. That's where we put a monetization strategy behind what they want. But first, you have to be clear on the fact that people want something beyond your services. You have to find out what your audience WANTS in their life financially, strategically, and personally. Now that you're clear on what people want, now let's give them a service that brings it all together, from A to Z. The sixth and final question of the Born to Do Method is asking yourself what business you want to be in. This is where you take all the ways you make money to create a viable business considering all the previous questions: passions, skill sets, experiences, problems you solve, and the current market needs. For me, I'm in the publishing business. My Christian entrepreneur audience needs help taking their message to the world. First, they buy branding services. So, I have branding packages to help them bring their vision to life. We help create their signature system, their signature talk, the book, the courses...the works! Then, qualified personal brand clients move into my publishing platforms of Daily Godpreneur and the Godpreneur Academy. That's where we have a stage for them to connect to Christian entrepreneurs who will discover them and buy their signature system. As a publishing company, we find talent and bring their products to the marketplace to buy and make royalties on the sales. The five keys to a successful Christian personal brand business model are that it can be performed digitally, there's a recurring revenue component, it can run while you sleep, and it's scalable, meaning that it has a system and process that can be duplicated. Your goal is to design a system with as many of these five business model components as possible. Bring Your Brand to Life When deciding to bring your Christian personal brand to life, you can start it off on your own, or hire a firm like mine (Creative Complex) to do it with you. For the DIY people, we have a course called How to Build Your Christian Personal Brand on the Godpreneur Academy to help guide you on launching. For entrepreneurs running successful businesses, it's more efficient for you to use a firm like mine to continue growing your business while launching this next component of your life. The four major phases of working with us are 1) discovering your calling, 2) launching the personal brand, 3) publishing your methodology on our platform, and 4) coaching, guidance, and mentorship in speaking and writing so you can be more influential. Whether you're the DIY type or a branding agency type, we have events, live virtual training, and webinars. We work exclusively with Christian personal brands through the agency and operate primarily through one-on-one interaction with a brand strategist who talks to clients and encourages them along the journey. #PersonalBranding #BrandStrategist #BuildMyPersonalBrand #DifferentiatingMyself

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 believe all of us Godpreneurs were given dreams by God for the purpose of accomplishing those dreams and bringing those visions to life. I don’t know what that dream is that you have for your business. I don´t care how far-fetched that crazy product or service idea might appear to be. I don't care how disappointing it might have been as you’ve worked toward that dream, but here’s what I know: that dream that you're holding in your mind is possible. In the Old Testament, we read Joel 2:28 says “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." Christian entrepreneurs, we have been given the gift of the holy spirit. It means we are constantly downloading and receiving dreams and visions. And, sometimes we can’t see how we'll accomplish that dream, but what we do know is that it's possible to have a dream and run toward it as we work on it day in and day out in our businesses. However, most entrepreneurs don’t work on their dreams. Why? For many years I didn’t. One is because of fear - the fear of failure. What if things don’t work out. And, the fear of success - what if I do succeed and I can’t handle it? The other thing that happened is some entrepreneurs get comfortable. They have a good thing going. The family business is stable, why rock the boat. They stop learning and growing. They stop working on themselves. They stop stretching. They stop pushing themselves. And there's another group of entrepreneurs that I want to talk to. You guys that had a dream, pressed play on it, invested all your time and resources, you followed God's prompting and, yet, the business failed and took you down with it. You've ended up becoming very cynical about entrepreneurship, and you throw in the towel on yourself and on your families and on your dreams. For others listening, you don’t feel worthy. This happens to a lot of 9-5 workers with a dream of entrepreneurship, but not willing to take the risk. You keep thinking about pressing play, but because you don't have a college education, because I don't believe in yourself, because you allow other people's opinion of you to control your destiny, you don't act on your ideas. Can I share with you that passion for something will outwork and win out over knowledge, skills, talent, natural talent, natural gifts every single time.

Godpreneurs, when you crawl out from underneath the covers every Monday morning and you sit on the edge of the bed, you have a choice to make for that week. There are two doors and there are thundering knocks at each one of them. Behind one lies your destiny and a business of purpose-focused profits. Behind the other lies the death of an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs, if you don't engage intensity or passion in your business, then you aren’t living your business life to its fullest. You'll wake up and sit there with your head and your shoulders slumped over and your chest caved in, dreading having to start the week. If you can't wake up with your chest and your chin straight out, and if you can't summon up the energy, the excitement, or the enthusiasm for something your business, every workweek will be a drag to wake up to. So, the question becomes: what mindset shift do entrepreneurs need to make to always choose passion and purpose over dread and depression? It's a simple, yet profound concept. You Plant, God Brings the Miracle God says if you plant the seed, I’ll make the tree. You can’t have a better arrangement than that! It's about giving God the tough end of the deal. What if I told you to go make a tree? Not go plant a tree. No. Go MAKE a tree. That would keep you up late at night trying to figure out. How do you make a tree? God says “No! Live the miracle part to me. I made the seed, the soil, the sunshine, the rain and the miracle of the seasons, and I’m God and I can do all this miraculous stuff. I just have reserved something very special for you." And that’s what? Plant. That’s it! Godpreneurs, we get the best part of the deal. We just need to follow God's instructions and we get to witness miracles in our businesses. God wouldn't tell you to go build a business empire. He's not going to instruct you to go create a multi-million dollar business. Maybe your mind is telling you that this is what success looks like. Not God. God's instructions sound more like, "Alex, go and solve this one problem for someone. I'll give you the strength and wisdom, I just need you to listen and do this one thing." God gave us entrepreneurs the power to plant seeds. And if you want to see the miracle of a fruit-bearing business, you have to DO the things God has commanded you to do. If that’s to launch a new product, then launch. If it´s to read a leadership book he's put on your heart, then read. If it's to pivot to a new industry, then pivot. If it´s to study a new technique, then study. If it’s to get your hands dirty and work, then work. Whatever you feel the holy spirit moving you to do, then do. The holy spirit won't prompt you to do something tomorrow. Your brain does. Not the holy spirit. The spirit works in the NOW. If you want passion and purpose in your business life - if you want to defeat depression - then get in the seed planting business and expect the miracle of God throughout your entrepreneurial journey. Godpreneurs do labor that works miracles! When a seed is planted in the ground you can't control the sunshine, you can't control the weather, and you can't control when the locusts will come and try to destroy the crops. All you can do is plant your seed in the ground and believe. God himself has to give the increase. Only God can make the sun shine. Only God can bring the rain. If you keep planting seeds, and continue pursuing your dreams, then you´ve done your part. Every morning, do your part. That's how you overcome daily discouragement and step into persistent passion.

Today, I want to talk about the gifts of the holy spirit in entrepreneurship. God gave us business owners access to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Imagine what we could do in the marketplace if we had gifts of healing, prophecy, tongues, interpretation, the Word of knowledge, the Word of wisdom, the working of miracles, and the discerning of spirits. Just reading those gifts, my brain is already running wild on how to profit from these gifts. However, we can't work for these gifts, we can't buy them, and we can't choose them like picking your favorite color of Starburst candy. In the Holy Spirit, we are given the fullness of grace. This means that accessing specific gifts of the Spirit isn't accomplished by anything we do or don't do. They are gifts, and similar to gifts we receive from friends and family for our birthday, we only receive gifts because there was a loving relationship established with the giver of that gift. If we want to unlock the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it will only be accomplished in one way: our entirely focused love and devotion to Jesus. HOW I TAPPED INTO THE GIFT OF PROPHECY In 2014, I rebuilt my branding agency from the ground up. The Holy Spirit gave me the power to personally change my identity from a nightclub promoter to a follower of Jesus. Once I followed Jesus, the Spirit convicted me of sin in my business, and I began turning away from anything that didn't glorify Him. I was becoming a Godpreneur, leading a God-first entrepreneurial walk. I was seeing my job as a branding expert from a whole new perspective. Without even trying, I started loving my job and my clients in a whole new way. I cared about the success of their business and the overall purpose of their entrepreneurial walk. And then, something weird happened. Almost magically, I began to receive inspiration from God on what to say to my clients, and I spoke vision into their future. What I didn't realize at the time was…I was prophesying into their business life. Out of nowhere, the gift of prophecy came over me. Without me trying, and out of pure love for my clients' success, the gifts of the Holy Spirit started to shine through me. THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES GIFTS TO THE ENTREPRENEUR When we Godpreneurs give our lives to Jesus and commit to sanctification personally and in our businesses. We open ourselves up for God to use us in the marketplace through the Holy Spirit. How do we tap into the gifts of the spirit in our business? How do we recognize them? The Bible specifies what gifts can and do become visible and possible in each of us through the gift of the Holy Spirit. "The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all. To some people the Spirit gives a message of wisdom. To others the same Spirit gives a message of knowledge. To others the same Spirit gives faith. To others that one Spirit gives gifts of healing. To others he gives the power to do miracles. To others he gives the ability to prophesy. To others he gives the ability to tell the spirits apart. To others he gives the ability to speak in different kinds of languages they had not known before. And to still others he gives the ability to explain what was said in those languages. All the gifts are produced by one and the same Spirit. He gives gifts to each person, just as he decides. (1 Corinthians 12:7-11) Jesus gave diversities of gifts to His disciples through the Holy Spirit; healing prophecy tongues and interpretation the Word of knowledge the Word of wisdom working of miracles discerning of spirits The Holy Spirit works these gifts in you for the profit of all your clients, prospects, employees, vendors, and contractors - in your given marketplace. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) You use them in your business to edify Christ’s earthly body. TAPPING INTO THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT You may desire to identify and use the gifts of the spirit on your entrepreneurial journey, but how? Paul exhorted to desire the best gifts but spoke about a more excellent way. He described the qualities of love and said that without them, you are nothing. “Love suffers long, and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own; is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) The key to tapping into your spiritual gifts is to measure ourselves against the divine qualities of love, and let the Holy Spirit work with you, that you can come to them in truth. Remember my story of how I gained the gift of prophecy? I believe it was my love for God, and through that, my love for my clients and their success ultimately led to the gift of the spirit to be used through me. We all have the possibility of an extraordinary calling, an amazing glory, through the work of the Holy Spirit. “… to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19) Imagine if our entrepreneurial journey led us to be humbled deeply under God’s mighty hand, through the leading of His Spirit, so grace comes over us so that we come to this fullness. What if the businesses God created us to start were based on the gifts of the Spirit, instead of trying to fit the gifts into a business we want to start? My prayer is that all of us would do as Paul exhorted Timothy: meditate on these things, give ourselves entirely to them, that our progress may be evident to all. (1 Timothy 4:15.) #DifferentiatingMyself #FindingMyPurpose #TrustOnGod

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

Today, I want to give you a way to realize, analyze, and ultimately turn away from involuntary sin in your business. All of us business owners sin and fall short of the glory of God. However, not all of us realize we're even sinning - there's sin in our business that we only realize after we've done it. What do you do about the sin you didn't purposefully bring into your business? In His miraculous ways, God gave you and me the ability to realize, analyze, and then away from involuntary sin in business. This miracle is able to happen because of our intercessor: the Holy Spirit. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE ENTREPRENEUR'S INTERCESSOR In my previous two posts, I wrote about the Holy Spirit's power to transform us into the likeness of Christ and help us gain victory over conscious sin. However, because there is also sin I don't even know I carry, now I need to talk about gaining the ability to recognize the sin that I do not consciously agree. My branding agency used to make websites for all the major nightclubs in the world. When you visited the portfolio on my site, you could browse a beautiful gallery of top-notch nightlife web designs. A church network asked me to rebrand their entire company during that same time. I was even invited to speak at a few church seminars to help give ideas on church branding and marketing. I had already stopped all of my nightclub promoting because it didn't feel right to be going to church on Sundays after partying all night Saturday. However, I didn't feel that doing branding work for nightclubs was sinful in any way - after all, I needed to make a living, right? Before signing the contract to work with my company, the pastor of this major church network called me with concern. He said that some of the elders of the church were concerned that I had nightclubs as clients on my website portfolio and that they didn't feel comfortable working with my agency. That day, I felt a conviction I had never felt before about my work in the nightlife industry. I immediately removed all nightclub jobs from my website portfolio and began my complete transition out of that industry. As entrepreneurs on a mission to grow personally and professionally, there are many moving parts in our lives. We have to be thinking externally and internally almost 24/7. This can be exhausting. With so many moving parts, we're bound to mess up and not see some part of ourselves or our company that still aren't glorifying God. How can we stay on top of everything going on around us and be "good Christians," when there is sin we didn't even consciously agree to do? This is where God gives us the Holy Spirit as our intercessor. The Bible says Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26 ESV) In addition to being our power and helper, another task of the Holy Spirit is to intercede for us. (Romans 8:26) He will take what is from Jesus and declare it to us. (John 16:13-15) Here's the progression of how this works: You don’t know how to pray for your entrepreneurial journey as you ought, but the Spirit does. He leads you into many various situations in your daily business life which will cause your flesh to react. These situations bring to light the sin in your flesh. You react in different ways, whether by word or action. As you think about what you've said or done, you get to see that sin was present. When we're able to take a sober assessment of some of our actions (or inactions), we can see that it wasn’t the virtues that came forth, but our human nature. We get to see that we did what we hated, just as Paul saw in Romans 7:18-25. These involuntary reactions from the flesh that we get light over are referred to as the “deeds of the body,” and can take the form of thoughts, words, and even actions. There is no condemnation for these because we didn’t consciously agree to sin. Yet, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can still overcome these deeds of the body after they have come out of our bodies by loving and acknowledging the truth about what happened and consciously choosing to disagree with them and hate them. Paul, in Romans 8:13, says “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Imagine if all entrepreneurs used the Spirit as our guide and strength in business. If we did, we would continue to walk in the light and can overcome anything in our future business dealings before they happen again. #DifferentiatingMyself