People have problems that need to be solved. And God uses people like me and you to help solve those problems. Personal branding is the outward expression of your calling to help others so that they can find you, learn about your solution, and be transformed by it. What if you haven't honed in the calling that will be the foundation of your God-first personal brand? That's what I want to help you with today. I Struggled to Find My Calling Why me? What qualifies me to help you? Because that's what my own God-first personal brand is...I help people discover their calling and bring it to life! But I didn't always know this. In 2014, I started my journey of discovering my God-first personal brand through a Bible study I took in my church. We analyzed our gifts, talents, values, past experiences, and aspirations to uncover God’s vision for our lives for eight weeks. For others in the group, it was difficult to self-reflect. I often found myself helping others find their vision and not focusing on my discovery process. I felt frustrated because everyone else was making progress, but my ideas were all over the place. Ironically, on the closing day of the 8th week, it became clear that my calling was to continue to help others discover their calling. All of my personal qualities, along with how the group was viewing me and the ease at which I was able to help them reveal God's vision for my business life. This transformed me; personally, it transformed my branding agency, and it set the course for my God-inspired teachings on Daily Godpreneur. I decided that I wanted to be known for helping people discover what they were born to do and bring it to life through a purposed-focused brand. If that's what God called me to do, then come one and come all! We All Are Responsible to Steward Our Calling Like no other time in history, today's digital age gives someone in Kenya and Florida access to learning about what God has called us to do. God has handed us all the ability to go on missions around the world. Therefore we must understand our God-first personal brand to be the face of that message out there. The problem is that the enemy also knows that we have a calling and will confuse us, causing us to delay and possibly never discover our personal brand calling. But God has a solution. The Bible says: Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1-3) When 1 John was written, there were so many people claiming to be something they weren't. I believe some of these false prophets didn't do this out of bad intentions; they just didn't have a full picture of the gospel or themselves. They became personally branded as "false" because of a lack of correct knowledge. John's solution was to test their spirits. Testing the spirit is at the heart of my Born to Do Method, a methodology I use to help my clients discover if the business they want me to brand is the business they should be in or if it's a misdirection from the enemy. In the end, I help them discern this and lead them towards what they are born to do. If you want to know what message you were born to share with the world through your personal brand, it's going to start with God, go through Jesus Christ, filter through your holy spirit, flow through you to others, and bounce right back at you in the form of your calling. Let's break this down for you in a practical exercise I share in my methodology, the Born to Do Method. It's also part of my book and course, How to Build a Christian Personal Brand. Step 1. What you want to be known for is really what God wants to be known for. In his book, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren explains that we must first understand God's purposes for us to find our purpose. Our purpose will derive from one of God's purposes for humanity. The flow starts by first understanding that we are conduits of God's purposes. So first, pick which of these do you feel called to help with: Purpose #1: You Were Planned for God's Pleasure (entertain others) Purpose #2: You Were Formed for God's Family (build communities) Purpose #3: You Were Created to Become Like Christ (coaching, mentoring, personal development) Purpose #4: You Were Shaped for Serving God (through products and services) Purpose #5: You Were Made for a Mission (inventors, creators, method-makers) Your first homework is to read Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life so you can soak in the order of things above. Your God-First personal brand quest (which is a quest for personal fulfillment, satisfaction, and meaning) can only be found in understanding and doing what God placed you on Earth to do. Step 2. Jesus already traveled the mission you want to go on Jesus Guys, this journey God-first personal brand doesn't have to be so complicated! We have an example with can copy. Jesus studied God's Word, was part of a God-first community, went to get baptized, heard from God, set out on a mission, and transformed people's lives. The Bible goes into a lot more detail, and you have to study his life so you can become more like him. By becoming more like him, your spirit then tunes in better on your calling from God. It's not that we need to stop procrastinating and delay discovering our calling; it’s that we need more Jesus. When we do this, the heavens open up, and your calling can flow through to your spirit. Step 3: Ask the holy spirit to move you As you get to know Jesus and God's Word better, you begin to develop the habit of improving yourself, and God gives you the desire to learn even more about yourself so that the spirit can speak to you. For example, remember how I discovered my calling by being part of a Bible study. The act of gaining knowledge will move your spirit. Some ideas: take courses, read books, get deeper into your craft, listen to podcasts. It's by seeking knowledge that the spirit guides you towards things you like (and away from something you dislike). Trust your spirit's guidance; this is the heart of discovering what you were born to do. Step 4: Ask others to describe you in a few words. So we started with God, went through Jesus, landed on the holy spirit, and now the Spirit wants to use you to impact others. So going to other people's opinions and views of you is the next step in our journey of discovering our God-first personal brand. Have ten people write down how they would describe your most helpful quality to them, and try to keep it anonymous. You want truthful answers from those you ask. You're asking people, “If you were to describe a time where I helped you the most because someone else needed that help too, how would you describe me to that other person?” This step will often reveal your superpower, bringing you very close to uncovering your God-First personal brand calling. Step 5: Take a sober assessment of yourself, too I'm not going to ask you to fast and pray for 40 days and 40 nights, although that works for many people when they want to hear from God. Maybe consider a 1-day fast while also having a conversation with your own spirit and asking it to reveal how you help people most. What was the one time you helped someone with something where you felt the most joy and meaning? It could have been a paid or free job. It could have happened at the dinner table or while doing an activity. There's something in business that you help others with, giving you joy and meaning beyond making money. This is closely tied with what you want to be known for. Write all these things down. Step 5. Collect and Categorize Gather your answers as well as the answers from the others. Group similar traits and qualities together. Some groupings have similar traits that you and others identified. These are traits congruent with your personal brand. For example, somebody says that you are good at making them feel confident, and you have identified that you want to help more women become more confident in themselves. You could gather those two notes and put them next to each other. Repeat this process until you see the common pattern. Step 6. Conclude on Your Calling You should have some clusters of categories that you are now looking at. These are clusters for which God wants you to be known because they match what others already think about you! God will use others, along with your holy spirit, to help you conclude on your calling. These overall traits or qualities will be the foundation for your God-First personal brand. You have now found the intersection between what other people think about you and how you see yourself. Imagine if we all went through this activity to discover the message we're called to deliver on behalf of God through our personal brand. How much better would, then, our products and services be? How can we go wrong if God is first in our personal brand and business? With the help of others and the holy spirit, it’s possible to discover our calling and bring to life the business God created us to start. Next steps For some, building a God-First personal brand will help them share their message as a speaker to audiences locally or even globally. For a God-first real estate agent, building their personal brand helps God bring them, new clients, through organic searches from people trying to buy homes in their area. For a young startup trying to work towards their first round of funding, focusing on elevating the founders’ God-first profiles may attract investors by adding credibility in their meetings before even meeting with investors. And a God-First personal brand will benefit someone who wants to launch a faith-based podcast to help them build awareness around their show’s topic. God won't build your personal brand overnight. He wouldn't give you that burden. You have to grow into it as your spiritual walk grows. Imagine becoming a person of influence without the ability to influence correctly. That's why your influence grows as you grow with God. That's by design to protect you and others. I hope that the Born to Do Method makes sense to you and that you find it useful in building your personal brand. If you have any questions about the steps, feel free to Tweet me @DailyGodpreneur. If you found this article helpful, I encourage you to share it with your faith-based network. The more we help each other learn how to start building our God-first personal brands, the more effective products and services will be in the marketplace for us to enjoy and be transformed by! And if you have any God-First tips about starting a brand or processes that helped you, please share as a comment! 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. #FindingMyBrand #FindingMyCalling

Anyone doing business online must have a solid personal brand. But what if you’re not sure you have the time and skills to do it yourself? Whether you’re just starting to build your personal brand or are looking for a branding brush-up, hiring an agency could be the right way to go. Take Advantages of an Agency’s Resources You may not have the resources to tackle personal branding yourself. Most small business owners and entrepreneurs are up to their ears in their daily operations and barely even have time for strategic planning and other long-term issues. If you don’t have in-house staff to help, it may be easier to hire experts. Help to Articulate Your Personal Brand If you’re struggling to define your personal brand, an experienced branding agency can help you better articulate it. It’s often difficult for an individual to understand exactly what they’re going for. What image do you want to create in the public’s mind about who you are and what you do? Branding professionals can help you discover and clarify the best approach. The point is that the person or agency you choose needs to match who you are so that there's no disconnect, and this can be challenging. You need to uncover what you were born to do and establish God’s vision for your business first, and people that are called to the vocation of branding help do this for you. A Fresh Perspective It’s often hard to accurately see how you appear in others’ eyes. A branding agency can bring you a fresh perspective. They can see what you’re already doing, right or wrong. Their feedback can help you better decide how you want to present yourself to the world. A fresh perspective can also help you get un-stuck if you’re in a rut. Identify Your Target Market Have you clearly defined your target market and their values and motivations? This can be a huge task, but it forms the foundation of good branding. An agency with a great deal of marketing experience can help you identify and define your target market. They can also analyze the competition and help you find ways to set yourself apart. Brand Visuals and Design Design is one area where an agency can help you in your personal branding efforts. A significant part of branding is defining your visual language. This is hard for those of us without a keen eye for design or specific design skills. The experts have done it before, and they know what will work best to communicate the image you have in your mind. Handle Your Own Personal Branding Of course, you are the expert on yourself, and you are the essential part of your personal brand. This is a challenge to communicate to others, even if they are branding experts. So think carefully before you choose to outsource all or part of your personal branding. If you have the means to invest, you can save a great deal of time and energy by outsourcing. And perhaps you can learn a few things from the experts you hire. If you decide to handle it yourself, you’ll stand a good chance of building a personal brand that communicates to your audience who you are and what you stand for. Let me help you learn the process for creating a successful God-first personal brand yourself. In my new course, I’ll teach you how to craft a brand message that incorporates your unique value, how to develop the visual style of your personal brand, how to compile a branding pack, and much more. If you want to know about more ways to develop a powerful God-first personal brand, then head over to my program, Build Your Unique Christian Personal Brand. In this course, you’ll learn how to create a compelling identity that attracts a value-aligned audience and increases your influence and sales. Check it out here - Build Your Christian Personal Brand | Godpreneur Academy #BuildMyPersonalBrand

We follow brands for many different reasons. We share their values, we like their products, we find their content helpful, etc. One huge reason is that we resonate with the story behind the brand. As part of your Christian personal branding, you need to craft and tell your testimony. If you look at the companies you love, you’ll discover that each one has a powerful story behind it that resonates with you and your values. Why Storytelling Works Testimonies are powerful because: They put a human face on your business People naturally love and are engaged by stories A good story offers one more way to communicate your values Stories engender trust because they explain “why” People relate to stories, especially when they see themselves in them Your Founding Story An essential story that you absolutely must tell is how your brand came to be. Most of these stories have a similar plot arc: You suffered from some seemingly insurmountable problem (which is the same problem or one problem that your audience faces) You went through all sorts of frustrations, just as your audience is now You came upon a simple idea and decided to give it a try The idea worked and got results, and now you’re here to teach others how to do it Of course, this isn’t the only good founding story. But the above story is powerful because it says: “I overcame your problem and I can help you overcome it too.” Other Ideas for Personal Branding Stories At the very least, you should develop a story that tells about the founding of your brand, but there are many other ways you can use storytelling as well: When you talk about your life and especially your business, what do people find most interesting about your journey? This is a story that needs to be told. Explain how you came up with an idea for a certain product. Pick your best product or the one you most want to see increase in sales. Think of specific challenges you faced along the way or major milestones you met and turn each into a piece of content you can share. Tell the story of a customer or client that you helped. Even better, have them tell the story. You can use this as a piece of social proof. There are stories everywhere waiting to be told. It’s just a matter of finding them. Where to Share Your Stories You can use storytelling in blog posts, YouTube videos, the “About” page of your website, social media, and anywhere else you publish content. You don’t have to be a master storyteller. Just get out there and explain to people why you do what you do, and it’ll have the desired effect. If you want to know about more ways to develop a powerful God-first personal brand, then head over to my program, Build Your Unique Christian Personal Brand. In this course, you’ll learn how to create a compelling identity that attracts a value-aligned audience and increases your influence and sales. Check it out here - Build Your Christian Personal Brand | Godpreneur Academy #ShareYourTestimony #PersonalBranding

What's the difference between "Christian" personal branding, and normal personal branding? The biggest difference is that you’re going to be held to a new standard of operating. How you conduct yourself in business will be a testimony and witness to God in your marketplace. What people say about you and your products or services, to your face and behind your back, is part of your testimony. How you dress and behave with others is part of your testimony. Your online presence, including your social media profiles, is a big part of your testimony. What you do online will not go unnoticed, and in business, and in Christian personal branding, you want to make sure you’re being noticed for the right things - what God has called you to do. Fortunately, you can manage your Christian personal brand to promote the image and the message you want to get across. You can shape your Christian personal brand to make the right impression on everyone who comes across your name. But it’s up to you to take responsibility for bringing that brand to life visually for others to take notice, and you have to do it God’s way. The Bible says But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) Here we see when Samuel had anointed Saul as king, it was his tall stature and good looks that caught the prophet’s attention and yet Saul turned out to be a real disappointment to Samuel, for his heart was not pure before the Lord. Now, I want you to notice that Samuel admits that man looks on the outward appearance. We can’t stop this. It’s a fact of life. It’s human nature. It’s how we make decisions of whether we want to work with someone or not. And if our hearts are pure, and we authentically want to help others and share our passion with others, then outward appearance serves God’s purpose of attracting our niche to come work with us. Everyone wins! Assuming your heart is in the right place to follow the Lord’s calling over your entrepreneurial life to help others, Christian personal branding will uniquely show that in the marketplace where our niche hangs out. 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. #BuildMyPersonalBrand #PersonalBranding

Are you trying to figure out what strategy to use on Instagram to establish your Christian personal brand? Do you show your face, or not? Do you post multiple times a day or once every few days? How do you grow an authentic following? Instagram is how @DailyGodprenuer was able to grow to be the #1 Christian business blog in the world. Growing to over 60,000 followers, its been an incredibly effective way to grow my brand, increase traffic, and boost my membership. How did I do it? I gave people access to my personal walk with God as it related to my entrepreneurial journey and business growth. When I first started @DailyGodpreneur, it was called "Daily Godpreneur with Alex Miranda." I would share everything I was finding in the Bible related to business. It gave people a chance to meet the “real” me. God was giving me all these little golden nuggets that I just couldn't keep to myself, so Instagram was the best and easiest way to accomplish this. The best way to build our Christian personal brands is to give people a look into our business life through our spiritual walk. Nearly 25% of the population of the whole planet is on Social media; that's 2 billion users worldwide. And since God made us to respond well to visuals and videos, Instagram is a platform that we cannot overlook for being His light in the marketplace. So how exactly do we build a successful Instagram account as a Christian business thought leader? What is the formula for success? The Bible says Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 ESV) God simply wants you to be unashamed about sharing the Word of God as you work. There's a whole lot of space to work within that parameter. Sit back, pull out a pen and piece of paper, and I will show you how I built @DailyGodpreneur to over 60,000 followers. 1. Authentically Put God First Instagram is about unashamedly being the Kingdom-minded, purpose-focused entrepreneur God created you to be. There's a message He put in your heart, and you can't help but share it. If you really want to succeed at growing your Christian business personal brand, then you need to learn how to use Instagram to authentically share what God has put on your heart. God made sure that being authentic be a real and important thing in marketing. It has to be this way if we're going to point more of the business world to Christ! Thankfully, Instagram allows us to be a good testimony of our authentic faith. There is no such thing as a ‘wrong’ post for your God-first personal brand, as long as it is authentic. Remember, the goal here is to let people into your life (as much or little as you want) and to give your target audience a peek behind the curtains of your business life. Just authentically share what God has called you to do in your Instagram posts and you will attract value-aligned people to you and your brand. 2. Pick a Theme For Your Posts I've seen too many Christian personal brands on Instagram whose posts are all over the place. While you certainly have liberties regarding the design and subject of your posts, you still want a cohesive looking account. Design: Take @DailyGodpreneur for example. For many years, all of our posts have looked the same: A piece of Bible-based wisdom for entrepreneurs, a nice image to complement the quote, and the same font usage. Subject: You can keep your message congruent by combining the overarching theme of your account (Christianity) with the business segment of your life (entrepreneurs). It doesn’t really matter how you keep your page "on brand," only that you keep your designs consistent and the message congruent. Note: I post off-brand pictures every once in a while, but I try and tie most of my posts back to the main theme of my Daily Godpreneur brand. 3. Get New Followers to Your Blog Whenever possible, you should have some mention of your blog or website so that people can follow up with you and (hopefully) become paying customers. Unfortunately, Instagram only allows one link and it has to be in the bio of your account. On my account, I drive traffic to a page where people can sign up to my weekly newsletter (https://www.dailygodpreneur.com/sign-up). Whenever you post a new picture, include a short blurb about some relevant promotion or free giveaway that you are running on your blog with “More information in the bio” in parentheses. If your posts are high quality and your copywriting skills up to par, you should be able to get people over to your website pretty easily. If you are running a promotion for a new book or trying to sell a new product, it is ok to have a link in the description that redirects followers to a sales landing page. However, I only recommend that you do this for a couple of weeks at the most. It may be tempting to constantly push new products, however in the long run, you will build more brand loyalty by sending followers directly to your home page. 4. Use IGTV for Preaching Videos As Christian influencers in the business world, we have a lot to say. So much that we could probably be on the pulpit preaching a message ourselves on Sunday! Well, your dream can come true through IGTV! On the @DailyGodpreneur IGTV, I preach little 5-minute sermons of blogs that I've written about. And when I write a series of blog posts, I can convert that to a series of IGTV videos organized on my channel so once someone starts watching one part, they can easily stream through the whole series. The 2 keys to success with IGTV as a Christian looking to influence other entrepreneurs with a message are Find Your Format and Create an IGTV Series: while your stories and feed posts can be random highlights from your life, your IGTV videos should be based on a format. They should have a repeatable theme and style that your audience can expect in every episode. Produce with Purpose: Regardless of your format, your videos have to look well produced and contain the storytelling building blocks that make for a great engaging video on IGTV. These are just a few great tips from my experience with Daily Godpreneur's IGTV channel! At the end of the day, in order to create an amazing IGTV strategy, you need to know your audience inside-and-out and create content that really resonates with them. 5. Use Canva to Improve Post Designs Beautiful photos and designs are the keys to success on Instagram. To be successful on Instagram, you really need to up your graphic design game and create professional-looking images. No amount of clever hashtagging, geotagging, or even authenticity will help you succeed with Instagram if your photos and designs are 'no bueno.' We use Canva.com to create templates that we work from when posting on Instagram (create a free Canva account here). With Canva you can do a lot of marketing materials, from blog graphics to ebooks, flyers, brochures, banners, and so on. But we will focus on how to create Instagram posts. You might get away with some clumsy or even funny-looking pictures on Instagram stories, but the images on your profile must be inspiring, creative and should stand out to be able to capture your follower' attention. After all, as Christian personal brands, we're trying to influence and create change in the marketplace. 6. Reply to Every Comment and Message This piece of advice may not be doable for those of you who have hundreds of thousands of followers. Odds are if you are reading this guide, you have not quite reached that level. At @DailyGodpreneur, we generate a reasonable number of comments (less than 50 per post), so we respond to all comments. Minus the trolls and spam, of course. Even if it just a simple “amen 🙏” works wonders. Engaging with your audience is one of the keys to succeeding with Instagram. 7. Tag Other Christian Entrepreneurs Don’t be selfish when it comes to promoting other brands and companies on Instagram, especially if they have a large following. It doesn’t matter how many likes you get from the post. If your photo is good, the other brand or company may regram it. At @DailyGodpreneur, we find other Christian business leaders or famous preachers and tag them on photos. If we get lucky enough to have our image reposted or shared on a story, this increases the number of eyes who see our content, grows our follower base, and adds authority to our brand. 8. Get Personal In Stories Stories are fun because you can get personal and also promote new stuff you're doing. Since you're growing your Christian PERSONAL brand through Instagram, get personal! In most businesses, you want to be professional. However, whenever you are growing your personal brand, things are different. It’s not only ok to share about your life. It’s mandatory. For stories, it doesn’t matter what you are posting as long as you get personal. So post photos about your travels. A fitness transformation. Pictures of you and your significant other. Or even just pictures of your dog. Let people see behind the curtains. Show them the real you. Otherwise, you are just building an Instagram account to promote another regular business. And if you're promoting a new product or promotion, do it in a personal way. Be you. Conclusion In the hands of a kingdom-minded Godpreneur, Instagram is a powerful tool! You can use it to quickly grow your Christian personal brand and share your business wisdom and your testimony with thousands of new ears. But you have to learn how to harness it first. With the above 8 tips, you can have a good head start. You have to take action. You have to implement these tips. And you have to be consistent. Comment below with any of your tips. 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. #SocialMediaMarketing #GainConfidence

Subject lines that sell. Calls to action that hook you. Massive product launches. Marketers are obsessed with the extraordinary. They use hyperbole and blast glittery images because consumers have committed fully to the alluring call of the amazing. Marketers betray branding because, absurdly, they don't find branding amazing enough. The story. The why behind it all. Marketers have ROI in their eyes. This is going to be a hit launch. We’ll sell thousands and the world will know our product or service. Marketers are devastated that branding doesn’t meet those expectations. We’ve bought into the seduction of “extreme marketing” because we do not believe in the ordinary. We need some marketing magic, something new and huge and… amazing. The problem is this: marketing magic is just an exaggeration of the ordinary. What we call amazing is either a manipulation or an exaggeration of what is the normal brand. Branding tells us, “seek me, and I will provide a great product and unparalleled service because this is what I'm called to do.” How many times do we ask our friends for recommendations on products? No marketing. Just the plain little authentic review from a fan. Authentic fans will blow marketers away. Brand evangelists will amaze you with the purpose behind the products and services; with the places this brand will take you to. We should embrace that real success in entrepreneurship is in the everyday, the mundane, the here and now. We get excited when we hear of new marketing techniques. Yes, we want to sell more. But marketing is just a sign pointing to the ordinary things of your calling in business. When we lean in to running the business God created us to start, the unsearchable riches He whispers are of the ordinary: peace, hope, love, service. We might back away feeling underwhelmed. But these are the greatest treasures of heaven and earth! The Bible says "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (Jeremiah 33:3 NIV) Do not be seduced by a false marketing perspective. You have all you need to make your product successful - the story of WHY you did it... The calling from God! Do not be seduced into waiting for a magic shortcut. The viral marketing miracles are just a tool to show you what is available all the time when you choose branding. Purpose Thankfulness that you were chosen to solve a problem Awareness to your calling These are the three elements of being an entrepreneur that are truly divine. Truly Amazing. 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. #FindingMyBrand

One of my business partners walks into the office and says “Hey dude, you gotta get on TikTok, it’s the funniest thing ever! People post videos of themselves in extremely creative and entertaining ways.” I’m curious. So I check it out. He was right. It’s fun. It’s addictive! People WILL BE INFLUENCED by the content creators on it. The question is: what’s the best strategy for us Christian entrepreneurs to develop our personal brands on TikTok so that our message can be one that is heard…even if it’s a younger demographic. What is TikTok? We all have teenage and early-twenties friends that have mentioned TikTok, it’s the newest rage. And it’s not just for teens. God brought this powerful branding platform for us Christian personal brands the same way He allowed for Instagam, YouTube, and Facebook to exist. Welcome to a Christian entrepreneur’s introduction to TikTok through the perspective of leveraging TikTok for growing your God-first personal brand and influence for the Kingdom. TikTok is a Chinese social network that puts video first. People can post short videos, edit them, add music, and post them to their TikTok followers. It’s estimated that over 500 million people use TikTok, meaning the network is larger than Twitter and Pinterest. WOW!! TikTok (Douyin抖音) is an amazing platform to promote our Christian personal brands because if it is true that spreading our message is our calling, then short videos give us the chance to influence others with our skills, art, abilities and inspired ideas in a fast and smart consuming way. I use TikTokmyself for 2 main reasons: To promote my @DailyGodpreneur Personal Brand To study this trend and adapt my B2C marketing strategies to brands that I consult and my own companies In personal branding and marketing, things change quickly and we can’t rely on a single platform. Today we need to concentrate not only on Instagram and YouTube, but also on Tik-Tok to reach new communities online with Kingdom-minded thoughts and inspiration. The bible says, He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15) Our primary calling as Christians is to spread the word. Our SECONDARY calling is to use our business and personal brand as a means to do that. I’ve put together a mix of strategies, tips, and advice on building a Christian personal brand on TikTok. We focus on China, a powerful country that offers incredible possibilities for foreigners able to adapt to the social media ecosystem. For more insight about Personal Branding for Christian Entrepreneurs, click here. Who is Behind TikTok? TikTok is for short videos mostly 15 seconds long, but with the ability to make 60 seconds long clips. While using this platform, you’re supplied with a number of songs and many filter options to customize the videos. TikTok is owned by ByteDance. That’s the privately held company, founded in 2006, that is, according to reports, now the most highly-valued tech startup in the world. It just raised a $3bn round of funding that valued it at $75bn. So TikTok has a lot of capital behind it, which could make it more difficult for incumbents to quash it. TikTok burst out in 2018 and became the most downloaded iPhone app, getting the nickname of “China’s Snapchat”. Chinese adore it and they use it to show their life, passion, and talents. Its audience is extremely young and active. According to a survey, nearly 67% of TikTok’s users are under 30 and 56% of them are students. At the same time, data shows that 43% of users live in first and second-tier cities, the developed metropolitan areas. There are so many users and they are so different, different ages, different income, different interests that almost any Christian brand could find here its target and any creator — his audience. As far as it’s a short-video app, it is often compared with Vine (remember that!?) Vine was actually acquired by Twitter in October 2012 prior to its official launch. In 2016, however, thanks in part to growing competition from other apps including Instagram and Snapchat, it was shut down. Vine became popular with content creators who used it to create comedy and music shorts, and it eventually grew to 200m active users. Not surprisingly, brands were eager to get in on the act as well. 6 Reasons Why You Should Use TikTok for Your Christian Personal Brand 1) Videos are easily “digested” by your fans People love video. Our society is hectic and TikTok offers quick bits of consumption without unnecessary complications. Short videos force you to show interesting things about your talent without tricks; the storytelling must be simple and the skills easily recognizable. This makes the platform extremely natural and interesting to follow. 15-second videos are an extremely easy way to promote your inspired ideas, make people think and awaken their interest. People adore these videos because they are easy to understand and can help them to relax. By you recording your day-to-day business life and sharing unique points of view on God via vlogs, Christian entrepreneurs can boost their personal brands and fill an unsatisfied educational, motivational, or entertainment niche in their industry. 2. Your Fans are Millennials You can just use simple in-app tools of TikTok and create original and authentic content which immediately will be delivered to a huge number of users and your customers. Are you looking for a fresh and young audience? They’re looking for your brand here. With the average age of a TikTok user being 13- to 24-years-old, mostly girls, TikTok is a gold mine when it comes to getting your #GodFirst message in front of Gen Z’ers. Very creative and active, they will promote you to their friend and families, if they like you. They are looking for new things, so you can absolutely find new followers and customers here. 3. Personal Branding to Buying Your Products – Making the Switch Ok, you’ve started and got your first audience. And what’s next? Enjoy the easy conversations with them! This audience is so affable you can receive feedback as soon as you post things. The fastest and easiest way to engage them is by using daily challenges and a wide network of hashtags. Some of the big western brands already have created their own highly welcomed challenges. Not so long ago fashion brand Guess launched its #InMyDenim hashtag challenge, the first-ever branded partnership with TikTok. Guess posted several “Official” videos accompanied by Bebe Rexha’s “I’m a Mess,” and then let the content creators do their work. NBC Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon lauded the app and created the #Tumbleweed Challenge. Users posted more than 8,000 videos using this hashtag. If you want to be involved with something buzzy, something shining brand new, operate in a different way and on a platform that has the potential for visibility in a less-crowded space. TikTok was definitely created for you. 4. Learning as a process on your Personal Branding Pilgrimage After downloading the TikTok app you’ll find yourself in the brand new world of lifestyle and culture. Actually, it’s a good way to understand the 15-24 year-olds, what they want, what they’re looking for, what they are used to. Just spend some time scrolling through videos and soon you’ll understand how your potential audience thinks. 5. Christian Speakers: use TikTok as your Online Stage Do you have the gift of teaching? Simply show it. Film a few short videos about yourself, your life, your work. Let people get to know you as a speaker and exhibit your skills of influence. You can take short videos when you’re at an event, you can even have your team go LIVE with you on stage. 6. Collaborate with Other Christian Entrepreneurs Nowadays young, highly-influenceable Christian entrepreneurs are presented with a lot of options and alternatives of similar type teachings. So we have to collaborate to present new and innovative thoughts to those that will listen. I’ve been collaborating more with other Christian business influencers, it’s definitely on the rise within our industry. If you want to TikTok together, let me know! Since we share common goals, values, target market, and business objectives, it’s a no-brainer. Together, we could reveal the one thing our audiences never done which could transform their business life forever. Everyone wins! Conclusion and Tips on using TikTok for Christian Personal Brands At the moment, TikTok is a new and unfamiliar territory for us Christian business owners. Many companies are still afraid to step on unstable soil. But for Christians who want to spread their message to the world, especially the young, the return on investment might be high for the months to come! I suggest approaching the platform with a Personal Branding Strategy that leads to a clear God-First Business Branding Focus. Step by step. Don’t be boring on TikTok, be influential! TikTok has the potential of being a major platform like Instagram and Facebook and shouldn’t be easily dismissed. The app is still in its infancy, but the number of users joining is impressive. It’s still too early to tell the future of the app, as it may continue to rise in popularity or it could plummet. If you are looking for your way to reach a young, new audience, an easy way to understand it and gain some interest from it TikTok is for you. Get more Tiktok fans and strengthen your brand on this platform by checking out this infographic from Digimush. 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. #GainConfidence #SharpenLeadership

It kills me to see people starting businesses they have no business being in in the first place. What perplexes me is people jumping into ventures that they haven’t created a plan or strategy for. What annoys me is that there’s a simple solution to the entire thing: discover what you were born to do, and do that. When I first started my business, I told everyone I was a web and graphic design company. Naturally, I get people knocking at my door the day after they think of a great idea because they come to me for a logo and website. Oftentimes the clients didn’t have a full plan, and I didn’t care as long as they paid their deposit and we began work. As I began to grow in my walk with God in 2008, I started to feel a nudge pulling on my heart for the people who I knew deep down inside shouldn’t be starting this type of business, but I still sold the dream to them. In 2012, I made a decision to change that because the passion inside of me didn’t allow me to continue to take money from people that I knew were bound to fail. I implemented a product called “Brand Strategy Session”, and required that each new client coming through our firm would first need to purchase this “business plan” and we would come alongside and help make sure this person was putting themselves in the right business that was suited for their personality and style. Everything changed for me when I made this move. All of a sudden I felt like God was using me to minister Entrepreneurs. This was the beginning of Daily Godpreneur. In light of my calling in Christ and my vocational calling to help Entrepreneurs find their identity, I came to the conclusion that what I’m really upset about is that God created every one of us with something we were born to do, and Entrepreneurs aren’t doing theirs for one reason or another. So my mind continues to go to work, seeking out the ONE THING, the ONE MESSAGE that they need to hear that will turn it all around in their mind and help them realize their born to do identity. All of us Entrepreneurs have a passion for something that breaks our hearts. And if we look closely, that passion is always related to the passion and vocation in our business life. But in order to connect our passion (the thing that hurts us most of how things are) to our business, we have to take on a heart like Jesus and feel the compassion He feels. The Bible says: "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." Ezekiel 36:25‭-‬27 NIV What God is wanting from Godpreneurs is that we submit fully to the spirit He gave us through belief in Jesus. This spirit will guide your passions in positive ways. I don’t come up with the solution, I’m simply a vessel that God is using to manifest the solutions He already came up with. 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. #FindingMyBrand #WhatBusinessIShouldStart

I used to tell people I do amazing, jaw dropping, award winning logos and websites.  I sold the sizzle, not the steak.  After all, I was competing with an overseas market of websites like Fiverr and UpWork where Entrepreneurs could get logos done for cheap. As I began to seek out more purpose and meaning in my work, God began to reveal to me the bigger picture of what I was really here for. Logos and websites were the OUTCOME of my greater service to my clients.  What my clients were really seeking was a sense of identity and belonging in the marketplace.  What my clients are really after is passion and purpose in their offering. I used to focus on the products and services I offer as the main show in my branding and marketing materials.  Now I sell the bigger picture: I help people and businesses find out what there were born to do. How did I come to this prophetic conclusion?  What were the steps I took to go so deep as to find this meaning derived from a logo and website company? My relationship with God is where I rest my true identity.  From there I receive the inspiration needed to not only know what God wants me to do, but also what my clients should do. I love the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman because it shows how a product like water was used to draw out a deeper need that the person had. The Samaritan woman thought Jesus was trying to sell her on actual water, but in reality he knew the deeper pain and that he himself was the solution. The bible says in John 4:13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The water is a temporary thirst quencher, but we’ll be thirsty for more later. Your product or service is a temporary fix until you’ve attached a meaning much greater behind it, and can articulate it will to your clients as the solution they REALLY need to their problem. My work has become 100% spiritual in nature, guided by a God that is after the hearts and souls of every prospect and client I come across. This is what I brand now – the bigger picture. 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. #BuildMyPersonalBrand

I’ve been building my Christian personal brand since 2014. I was also running my branding and marketing agency at the same time. It’s not easy to launch a personal brand while also running a business. From one day to the next, a client can call with a massive project, forcing me to put my “pet project” to the side so I can make some money. Just like that, my desire to get out there with my “signature product” has been derailed…again… I know I’m not alone because I’m in the business of launching people’s personal brands…it’s a struggle we all share! Entrepreneurship is like the Miami weather in the summer – one moment it’s clear skies, and the next moment there’s a hurricane. The danger with this “unpredictable storm” is that it could lead to a place of us asking ourselves “why would God make it so hard for me to do what I feel He’s calling me to do?” To make matters worse, when we do finally launch our Christian personal brand, we don’t get the number of subscribers we sought or purchases we predicted. This can REALLY derail even the most faithful church-goer! When we start going through some very real trials on our personal brand journey, we question why God would allow it. We may even fight back tears of anger and frustration and think, “How can I represent a God I can’t trust?”. Our questions and doubts hit at the heart of one of a Christian entrepreneur’s biggest decisions: Will we trust that God is good even when business is not? Our response to pain and challenges along the personal brand journey determines so much about our future success (or failure). The Bible tells the story of doubting Thomas. He didn’t believe Jesus was resurrected until Jesus shows up and proves it by showing Thomas his piercings and scars. But then Jesus tells Thomas one of the most important lessons for all Christianity. Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29 NIV) Faith in entrepreneurship requires trust in a plan from God that’s not always predictable or understandable by our human standards. If you’re honest, you too want irrefutable proof of God’s providence on your personal brand journey – especially if you’re doing it for the Kingdom!  You want proof in a number of followers, subscribers, likes, comments, and retweets. You want the proof in sales and joint ventures. We tend to think we wouldn’t be going through a struggle of launching and growing a Christian personal brand if God were really with us.  We may even think putting God in the brand was a mistake. But that’s not it. With Jesus is in our brand’s boat, the storms of solitude may still rock us, but we won’t sink. He’s with us, both in a successful launch and in the worst-case imaginable…nobody listens. God is with us. God is for us. Who can be against us? Let’s all trust God with whatever we’ve been holding back on our Christian personal brand journey. Let’s trust Him with our future product launches. Let’s trust Him with our virtual assistants. Let’s trust Him with our social media channels. Let’s trust Him with our followers. Let’s trust Him that he’ll provide financially! Let’s trust God without a doubt that we’re on the right path! Period. Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, we trust You with the personal brand we’re starting and other things we’re stopping. We trust You with where we’re staying and going in Your name. We trust You enough to give our business life to serve and connect to the people you’ve entrusted us with. We trust You are present with purpose in the midst of our entrepreneurial storms. Thank You for being with us, guiding our steps, and giving us a calling to be Your light in the marketplace. Amen. #NewEntrepreneurs #ChristianBloggers 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

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

Serving others comes naturally to me. I’m a “nurturing” personality type. I love training, motivating, mentoring and counseling other people. I believe it was my servant attitude that made it easier for me to build a Christian personal brand around myself. I understood early on in business that entrepreneurship wasn’t about me, it was about having the attitude about helping others first. But I know there are other personality types out there where serving doesn’t come naturally, and instead, there’s more of a self-centered approach to business. After all, we’re the owners whose names are on the line, so we want it OUR way. All of us Christians building a personal brand can be a bit self-centered. By nature, we’re all selfish. We’re born this way. However, the danger of building a personal brand is that we put ourselves in a position to forget about God and be consumed with “self” promotion. Although we’re Christians with a God-first message for the marketplace, we’re still influenced by the “have it your way” culture we live in. But God wants us to have it His way. How can we build a personal brand and, at the same time, build a business that’s not all about us? The secret is to develop and master a go-giver, servant’s heart. The difference between “personal branding” and “Christian personal branding” is that in the latter, Christ is first. And if we’re going to build a personal brand around Jesus, then Jesus tells us “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24 NIV) Being a Christian, you’re actually in a better position to build a personal brand than someone who doesn’t have Jesus because we’re constantly reminded of our position behind Jesus “to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (John 4:34 NIV) While others serve themselves by feeding off of their personal brand, you get the privilege of saying your food is to serve God, please Him, and complete the assignment God called you to do in the marketplace. Your food is to do the will of God and finish His work. That’s the calling of Christian personal branding. When others building their personal brands are “filling themselves,” God keeps you in check by reminding you to fill others. When the materialistic culture around us says, “Get all you can! It’s all about you,” God wants us to contribute rather than to consume so we don’t become consumed with ourselves. God created us to be givers. Developing a Christian personal brand allows us to focus on the needs of others rather than focusing on our desires. Instead of making it all about ourselves, we can build a business around serving others, and get rewarded (paid) for it! This kind of business attitude will change your brand story. The best stories we have as business owners are remembering how we helped someone in their business with our product or service. When we helped someone solve a problem, we were serving that person. It feels good to tell those stories because we were made to serve just as Jesus did on earth. Serving others may not feel as natural to many of us, but serving isn’t something we do. A Christian personal brand is stepping into the servant we are called to be – becoming more like Christ. Lord, I pray that you reveal how you’re calling us to serve others through our personal relationships with others. Who are You calling us to serve in the marketplace? Where are you calling us to serve? In Jesus’ name. Amen! #BuildMyPersonalBrand #FindingMyBrand 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

I have a love-hate relationship with entrepreneurship. I love that the marketplace is always changing, so there’s always something new to launch! However, sometimes I just want to stay in my safe and secure stage of business, but I know I can’t stay if I want to keep up with the times. Our worldly nature is to seek security and avoid change. It’s a defense mechanism. But as entrepreneurs looking to influence others, it’s a good idea for us to keep our hearts prepared for change because… change is a guarantee. There are reasons we’re called to stand our ground when the pressure mounts in our businesses, but many times God is calling us to take a risk. How do we know when it’s time to finally GO and launch our personal brand? And if we already have launched, how can we sense it’s time to go to the next level or launch the next product or service? The answer is…when we feel restless where we are, that could be God planting a divine desire in us to serve Him in a new, surprising way! The Bible says, "If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them."(James 4:17 NIV) God’s calling can’t be ignored. He created every human with a purpose to accomplish, and if things are going to be different on Earth, people need to step into their calling.  This is why it’s a sin for people to ignore and NOT do what they were born to do. God has inspired YOU to serve a specific group of people (target market), with an idea (business plan), to solve a problem (niche), in a certain area (marketplace). God is calling you to finally LAUNCH that idea for your personal brand!. If you have a hunch, you need to follow it. Embrace the adventure into the unknown.  And the best way to make this leap of faith is to get a good running start with a group of other Christian entrepreneurs launching and growing their personal brands (you’re in good company here at Daily Godpreneur). The moment we sense something new happening in our business or something different in the marketplace, even if we don’t change immediately, it’s always a good idea that we keep our hearts open for this change. There’s a season to start planning, shed off what’s not serving us anymore, and stay focused on doing the little things preparing ourselves for the launch of our Christian personal brand. But at some point…we have to LAUNCH! “But what if it’s not right? What if it’s the wrong direction?”. I’ve heard it all.  I’m in the business of launching brands, I know the questions that keep us up at night staring at the ceiling causing anxiety and restlessness. We need to use the restlessness in our favor! Sometimes the best decision we can make in finding God’s direction is to finally LAUNCH. In the Bible, God revealed Himself to Abram and gave him a very simple and direct command: walk away from everything you’ve ever known. “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1). The entire course of humanity would have been different if Abram would have ignored his calling. God has been revealing Himself to you or else you wouldn’t be reading this blog post. It’s time. Leave. LAUNCH. GO! To step toward our destiny of being personally used by God to influence the marketplace with our message to businesses worldwide, we have to step away from our security. To go to the next level in our life, there are 4 key areas where we have to leave our businesses. We have to leave the industry we know and step into this new industry of teaching, speaking, writing, coaching, and consulting. We have to step away from the comfortable way of doing business we’ve been in for years. We have to see new ways of generating revenue and stop holding on to the predictable way we’ve been used to. We have to focus on the harder, more difficult business concepts to learn as opposed to staying in our “easy zone” of things we know how to do. Who knows where God can take our personal brand story if we just let Him!  One day, years from now, we’ll look back on our entrepreneurial journey and see the whole story. The question is…what’s your story going to be? Will it be, “I felt like God was calling me to influence the marketplace with the Word of God, but I was afraid, so I did nothing.” Or will you have a faith-filled God-venture to tell?! The difference comes down to acting when God “LAUNCH,” or staying where you’re comfortable. What business is God calling you to leave? What Christian personal brand is He calling you to launch? I’m praying for you! #TargetMarketANDNiche #NewEntrepreneurs #WhatBusinessIShouldStart 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

Not many people know this, but back in 2017, I was seriously considering hanging up the hat on this Godpreneur brand along with the agency I’ve had since 2005 to get a 9-5 job. I looked online for positions, I applied for a couple, and I even went in for an interview. It was the lowest point in my business life. Bills had piled up, clients weren’t calling, and I was lost in the direction of my Christian personal brand. I often think about how different my life would be had I given up at that time. My story would go something like “Yeah, I HAD a calling over my business life, and I have it my all but it didn’t work out. Oh well, that’s life.” As Christian entrepreneurs looking to launch a personal brand that will unashamedly put God first, we WILL wrestle with occasional challenges in different seasons of our business: a client we don’t think we can stand another day, a partnership that’s suddenly gone wrong, a dream that’s running out of money to fund, a product launch that’s failed our expectations. When we face difficulties in pursuing our personal brand calling, it’s natural to reconsider our huge, business-altering decisions. We might ask questions like these. Should I take my chances, leave this burning desire of mine, and look for another way to make money? After I failed attempt…again…is it time to move on? Am I really cut out to be a personal brand influencer for God? Should I cut my losses before things get any worse? In each of these examples – and with most major choices on our pilgrimage of Godpreneurship – we find ourselves at a pivotal fork in the road, and it’s time to decide to stay the course or walk away. At this moment, we have to ask ourselves: Are we choosing to quit because it’s the right thing or because it seems like giving up would be easier? The Bible says: "Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near." (James 5:7‭-‬8 NIV) Farming is such a crazy business because you plant some seeds and can’t eat or collect that money for months and months. The amount of faith needed to “stay the course” and trust that God will provide makes farming the perfect metaphor for kingdom-minded entrepreneurs. When you’re facing the tough questions of staying the course or walking away from your God-first brand, oftentimes the best choice is to keep your venture going. Although there are some situations and decisions you need to walk back from, the important question to ask yourself is, “Am I choosing to give up on the venture because it’s the right thing or because it seems like leaving would make life easier?” We Godpreneurs can sometimes show the greatest act of faith when we show faithfulness to what we feel God has called us to change in our respective marketplaces.  Sometime in the future we can look back and thank God that we stayed the course of our personal branding when it would have been easier to walk away and slide back into the shadows. What a testimony! Imagine if all of us “called” to share a testimony in business didn’t quit and instead finished the race set out before us! Remember, God made us in His image and He is the author and finisher of our personal brand story! Let me pray for you. Dear God, I’m praying for anyone trying to walk away from their calling, that you would convict them and give them the strength to stay and finish. Provide resources and people that will help them stay the course of their calling. Give them the strength to press on, in Jesus’ name, AMEN! #ChristianBloggers #FindingMyPurpose 7 Steps to Launching Your Christian Personal Brand There are seven key factors for succeeding at launching the purpose God has placed in your heart for you to fulfill. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

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