The final Christian business essential is to generate profits. Each of these essential traits of a Christian business works off of the other. Think a flat tire. Without all the working components, the tire stays flat. But a tire that has proper air pressure, good tread, a strong valve, and a wheel to encompass, will go tens of thousands of miles.
So generating profits is like that wheel for the tire to encompass. It helps provide the form in which a business owner can take care of the first four traits.
Generating profits has four key biblical components: planning; faith; warning; and investment.
Think and plan
A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9 (NKJV)
No one makes a profit without planning. I have never heard of someone who did not try and fail before finding something that works for them. Look at Thomas Edison. He failed hundreds of times before finding the right combination for the light bulb.
Failure is a part of planning. We do not plan to fail but we do fail when we don’t plan. Failure is a guide in the way not to go. Failure is a guide in the times to push harder.
Failure is necessary for success. The problem is that the fear of failure freezes a number of people and keeps them in the planning stage.
Look at the verse again. A man’s heart makes plans. We are wired to plan. No one cuts a bunch of cloth and then sews a dress. Drawings are made. Patterns are formed. And trial and era are attempted.
Business is a plan in action. People who are busy aren’t in a business. Everyone gets busy from time to time. Our businesses are a concerted effort to put to action a plan we have to achieve success.
Where we plan and fail is where God becomes the difference maker. A familiar verse for many people makes this clear:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)
Sometimes plans seem cloudy and we do not see clearly until the smoke clears. As Christians, we use this time to trust God to direct our steps. Plans change and that is fine. Flow with the change.
Starting my eBay business was a huge plan for me. As a minister I struggled with whether I needed to become bi-vocational. As a man, I wanted to be the bread winner. I wanted to win that battle to support my family. That was not exactly the result. It was very humbling.
I bought the first available “make-it-my-way” kit, and off I went to make my riches on eBay.
Now, get this, I can plan church meetings, start new churches, negotiate through any type of meeting, and more. I was a miserable planner for business.
I brushed off a lot of the business plans because I felt that I would not need to have business that would ever need creditors. I failed to see that a good plan would keep me focused when new opportunities came along.
I have sold several different things on eBay. I finally had to scrap my eBay store and my eBay plans. I started from scratch and began to think about how I wanted my business to look. I started planning with the end result in mind and tried figuring out how to get there.
Even without a real plan I became a Power-seller. It is not that hard. I wasn’t making any money, but I had my status!
Planning goes miles in pointing someone towards the right direction. Don't think that you can run a successful business without a business plan. If you do not have one, you need to get one! You can buy simple programs that will help you create a business plan from templates. Do make any excuses.
Robert Kiyosaki and Donald trump wrote a book together, Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men, One Message
, that identified the necessities of every business plan. I'll paraphrase it here:All businesses need to generate resources or financing in order to create perspective through marketing and sales which in turn are governed by different systems that tell you how it works while having the proper direction covered by the legal aspects of your business in order to provide an outcome or product. Try saying that real fast.
With that said, what about faith?
Faith versus Laziness
The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich. Proverbs 13:4 (NKJV)
Many people have tried to take faith hostage. They want their faith to do all the work. To be honest, faithful people can be lazy.
I had desires of caring for my family as I began my journey into the business world. I have learned that business runs on a lot more than just faith. It takes sweat and sometimes blood (especially from those dreaded paper cuts).
Just watching an eBay listing is not enough to get it to sell. I have had to learn marketing. I have had to learn that eBay is more of tool to make money than just a means for money.
If I had just been content to put up some listings back in August 2005, then I probably would have quit a long time ago. The lazy way never earns the money.
By learning and working hard, I have seen some successes. My faith in God is stronger not because I have had those successes, but because I trust Him to shore up each step I take.
The verse above says that a lazy man has desire but nothing to show for it. I have survived these past years from a sheer desire to keep going. I have found it easy to quit I the past. I do not want to be like that anymore.
God never rewards laziness.
Our orders—backed up by the Master, Jesus—are to refuse to have anything to do with those among you who are lazy and refuse to work the way we taught you. Don't permit them to freeload on the rest. 2 Thessalonians 3:6 (MSG)
A lazy person doesn’t get anywhere fast. When Christians use faith as a means to be lazy, they hijack it in a way that diminishes their testimony.
Starting a business and just “letting God do the work” is pure laziness. I want you to understand that promising to tithe three thousand percent because by faith you believe God will return 7000% is not biblical!
I do not believe in all this prosperity theology. Does God want us to be successful? Yes, but not at the expense of our souls or to the point that we turn lazy.
A Warning
I want to add a warning to this. I admire the ability and opportunity that many people take to earn money, especially online. Some are very good at it, and others are good copycats.
I will not let their successes become a place of discontent for me. To become envious of the successes of others is a real danger. The vanity of comparing me to others is just wrong.
A sound heart is life to the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones. Proverbs 14:30 (NKJV)
Being true to your heart is the surest way to have life.
Envy is allowing runaway emotions to control you. You are giving away part of yourself. Envy rots you from the inside out. It creates anger and selfishness and bitterness.
Going down the path of envy will only destroy all that you had envisioned. Envy will mix your picture with someone else’s and soon you lose that picture you once had. I do not want someone else’s picture. I paint quit differently from others and I like my colors better.
Envy will also take your focus and worship away from God. You will stop seeing what God sees in you. God sees incredible potential in all of us. Most of the time we live under it, and when envy strikes, we do not even measure up to God’s great expectations for us.
Don’t live beneath where God sees you. Find out who He is and strive after his vision of you. Did you know that when God thinks of you, He has a special song He sings?
The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 (NKJV)
What is He singing about you?
Investment
Generating profits comes in more than one fashion. How are you putting your profits to work for you?
Re-investing your money back into your business is one way but that doesn’t earn extra money.
I am suggesting taking some of your profits and putting it into a rainy day fund.
- Are you using savings accounts to hold you extra monies?
- Are you setting up retirement accounts with a portion of your profits?
- Are you investing in property that will yield a return on investment or are you renting?
1 comment:
This is good advice and is good for life as well as for business. In this "now" scoiety, people have become more and more demanding. Some would not be satisfied no matter what...
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