Stepping Out on Faith

Personal experience:

A little over a year ago I decided to take my financial future into my own hands and become my own boss. To me it was an easy decision to make. I had my future in mind. I was tired of making other people rich and other people’s dreams come true. I was ready to make my own dreams come true. So I stepped out on faith.

Since I was little I always had what some people would call a wild imagination. But it was only my dreams. I wanted to live in the biggest house with the nicest car and the biggest yard. I wanted to vacation in the most exotic places and do the things where money was no object. But like most people I was told that I had to finish school, go to college, and get a job. So that’s what I did. I brushed all my dreams under the rug and became regular.

But being regular is not me. It’s not fun. It’s not an option. All through college I had my mind on my work and I also had my mind my dreams that were so quietly swept under the rug. I had got to the point where I was tired of the regular routine of life. I took it upon myself to get out of the regular.

I tried several opportunities that didn’t work. Then the discouragement set in. I was starting to think that I was made to be regular and boring, to live a boring non-fulfilling life. This went on for several years. Every so often my dreams will show up and try to come out. But I would just shove them back under the rug. I had accomplished graduating from college and now I had to find a job.

For years I had been looking and looking for a job in the field that I spend four and a half years in school studying. And believe it or not, until this day I have yet to find one. I graduated in 2008. During these years of looking those dreams never would die. Funny thing about our dreams is that they always have a way of coming back no matter how much we try to leave them or forget them.

After years of no job or low paying retail jobs I was TIRED. I was tired of fulfilling other people’s dreams and wearing myself out in the process. I wanted my own dreams to come true. And I knew nobody could make that happen but me. I had finally come to my breaking point and my point of clarity.

A couple years ago I came across a couple opportunities that would allow me to pursue my dreams and help others with theirs. I thought, “How awesome would it be to be my own boss to become financially free and help others in the process.” I decided to jump on these opportunities. And am I glad I ever did.

I am no longer feeling the pressure of a life of regularness. Yes, I know it’s not a word. LOL! Knowing everyday when I wake up I am working to make my dreams come true and to help someone else excites me. It takes me from regular to particular. There are not a lot of us that run with our dreams. Will you run with yours?

Will you be particular?

 

No Fear, ALL FAITH

Fear is one of the biggest killers of businesses. Fear can get in the way of our business’s success. It’s not that we don’t believe in ourselves or our business, but rather we let the spirit of fear overtake our belief and faith. We need to get to the point where fear is not a factor.

Where does the fear come from? Fear can stem from a number of different things. Fear can be from a childhood failure and the fact that we don’t want to fail again we don’t try. It could come from a negative word from someone that makes us afraid to even try to succeed. It could even come from lack of confidence in ourselves.

Our childhoods are very important part of who we are. As children most of us are fearless, willing to try any and every thing. Sometimes those events grow into an obsession to be great risk takers. But sometimes those events make us pull back from trying things because we fail. However, failure is a part of life. Without it we will never know what we need to work on so we can grow.

There is always going to be someone in our lives that is negative towards our efforts at anything. Those negative words have an effect on us that have us thinking we are not capable of doing. In turn we don’t want to do or we want to do but we don’t believe that it will work out. We don’t put in the effort it takes to be successful because we are scared that those negative words are really true.

Some of us lack the confidence in ourselves. We are not like some that had the routing and cheering on all of our lives. So we really don’t know what we are capable of. We had no one to push us and encourage us. Because of that we have no vision or incite on what our future could be like. Our self esteem is low because of that and we don’t try because we are not confident that we can do it.

Fear has been a big part in some of our lives. For some of us, fear is all we know. We have gotten comfortable in our fear. We let the negative words, the lack of confidence, and the childhood failures overtake and run our lives. But being fearful will only hurt our efforts.

If we want our business to be successful we have to denounce fear. What do we replace it with? FAITH! Faith overrides fear any day. We have the power to speak against anything and speak anything into existence.

Matthew 17:19-20 says, ‘Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.’

Potray Business

It’s not enough just to say that we are in business. We have to portray business every day. We have to look the part and speak the part. We need the details to all be together to run a successful business. We have to work!

Often times people base purchases or business decisions on the way someone looks. If someone looks like they own a business or are part of a business, that person is more susceptible to gaining someone’s business as opposed to someone that doesn’t look the part. The way we dress is very important to the success of our business. We need to look like we have a mission to accomplish.

We need to be prepared to talk about our business at all times. There are going to be times that we are put on the spot to talk about our business and we need to be ready with any details potential customers need to know. Speak directly and fluently, confident in what is being said. Be excited and people will be excited as well. Make people feel what we feel about our business.

Be approachable. A kind face is the easiest thing we can do as a step to grow our business. Most people are drawn to kindness. Make people feel comfortable. Make people feel like we need them, which we actually do. The more comfortable the person feels the more likely they are to become a customer and in turn help promote our business. Combine our knowledge of our business with kindness and we will have better chances of gaining more customers.

Have adequate marketing materials at all times. Anytime that we get to market our business we need to do so. We can do this by having business cards on hand, any flyers that promote our business, business brochures, and some people have car stickers. Because let’s face it, there is someone always watching us. So in order to be more productive, we need to market our business at all times.

When starting a business it may not always be the first thing on our minds. However, we need to train ourselves to be more business minded. Our businesses will not grow without our efforts. Being in business is not easy. We have to work hard for our success and to stay successful. So every day we need to train ourselves to be more business-like.

We need to believe on ourselves like we believe in our business. Our business is not stand alone. We are our business. So when people see us they see our business. Our job is to make sure that what people see is that what we want them to remember about our business. What people remember is what will determine whether they will be customers or not.

We should be inviting, kind, knowledgeable, and presentable. Remember, potential customers are always looking. Let’s make our business stand out.

Faith In Waiting

Isaiah 40:29-31

29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

It is sometimes hard to wait when we want something so bad or have been promised something and we don’t see it coming together for us. It’s even harder when we see someone else blessed before us. The thing in that is we can’t judge our blessing (business) off the timing of someone else’s. We don’t know how long they have been waiting.

In waiting we must stay faithful. Just because God promised it doesn’t mean we stop serving and being faithful. God wants to see if he can trust us. The thing that God has promised us and put in us has to work out. When we remain faithful to Him in continuing the work, we are telling God that we trust Him. We have faith that what He has said will come to pass.

What do we do while we wait? We need to pray, to study, to work, to remain faithful, and to grow in our faith. There is a lot of room for growth in a lot of areas while waiting. Besides, that’s what the waiting is for. God can’t release the blessing of our business until we are ready fully to receive it. We have to have the right mind, the right heart, the right amount of discipline, the right amount of expertise for whatever it is God wants to bless us with.

Have we ever thought that the blessing might not even be for us? Yes God blesses us with it. Yes it will benefit us. But what we do in life should be for God’s glory. In giving God glory we serve, we help others, and we help bring souls to Christ.

It is not always a fun time waiting. But in our waiting we have a lot of time to think. We can think of a strategy. What strategy will be better when working our business? Who can we reach from our business? Who do we want to reach from our business? What type of impact do we want our business to make on others?

Prayer and faith will get us through the waiting process. Pray that God instructs and directs us in our business. Pray that the purpose that our business was put in place for will be carried out. Pray that God sends us to those people that he wants us to bless. Pray that God not only bless our business but bless us more to be a blessing to others. With constant prayer and faith, our business will touch the masses.

Waiting is not always a bad thing. Great things come from waiting. Be patient and know that when the wait is over, the blessing will flow. Business will flourish.

Faith In ALL Things

Faith is not only for the huge things that we want to do in life. Faith is for everything we do. We have a level of faith in and for everything. We just don’t see it as such all the time. We have faith that chairs we sit in will hold us up. We have faith that our cars will get us to where we need to go on a daily basis. We have faith that we will get our paychecks come payday, for those of us that have regular jobs. We always don’t think of it, we just go day to day.

So in business we have to have faith in even the little things. Have faith in your daily efforts. Don’t just always stay so focused on the big picture. Sometimes we look so much at the big picture that we miss the details that we need to be attentive to our daily business. Yes, we need to be always mindful of the goal that we are working towards. Yes, we need to remember that we are working toward a greater purpose. But there is so much that goes into that greater purpose. We have to make those things happen. When they happen, business happens.

Being business minded is a struggle for some people, myself included. There are a lot of times that I have the opportunity to promote my business and I don’t. Honestly, I’m really not even thinking about it. Most of the time I have a one track mind and that is bad for business. That’s where my faith comes in. What I want to do is already in me. I just have to tap into it. I spend a couple of hours a day studying and reminding yourself of the things that I need to do that will help grow my business. Handing out business cards, making flyers, sharing your website are all very helpful tools.

Small things such as those will make a big difference in the progress and image of your business. Now the faith comes in with us. We have to have faith in ourselves that we have the ability to do business. We have what it takes to be business and not just run a business. Everyday we need to have on our minds what we can do to grow our business. We need to make business a priority. Sometimes we are losing because we are not as business minded as we should be. We may not be used to being business. We have to train ourselves everyday.

Never feel that you don’t have what it takes to have your own business. If you have the dream, then what you need to be successful is already in you. We have to have faith in ourselves that we can do what is necessary to be successful. Focus on being more business minded. Then we can be business and not just run a business.

Start Business with Faith

In business there should be a level of faith. Faith that God will do what He said. Faith that you have the ability to do what God has instilled in you to do. Faith that everything will work out for the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. Faith in our business, that it will work.

Often times in entrepreneurship, discouragement hits us. We don't have the support of people we count on, family and friends. Things don't seem to be coming together. We hit every opposition possible it seems. There will be times that we feel like giving up on our dreams and passions, destinies. The thing about that is, you can never really run away from our passions and destinies. Everywhere we look we will see something that reminds us of those things. When God places a purpose on our lives, no matter how hard we try to forget, avoid, or ignore it, it will always be there. We will know that we have something to do. But sometimes it gets hard. God never promised that walking in His will and walking out our purpose would be easy. But He did promise that He would be there.

We have to remember that to be successful challenges such as these are going to arise. We have to overcome those challenges. In doing so our faith is being strengthened. We are sharper, more business minded. We are growing in God. Before we know it we have progressed so much in areas we weren’t even thinking about.  But we have to hold fast to what God has put inside of us to do. No matter whose support we have or don't have or what goes wrong, we have the Word of God. Stand on that promise.

That's where our faith comes in. Believing things will work out even when it seems like they won't. Hebrews 11:1 says, 'Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' Meaning, we believe that what are hoping to happen with and for our business will happen even though we see no signs of it now. 'For we walk by faith, not by sight.'- 2 Corinthians 5:7

So when it comes to our business let's depend more on the Word of God and our faith rather than the opinions of others and what may be happening around us. There will be challenges, but that is when we grow and progress. Be willing to do the work to see the promise come to pass which is the success of our business. With God at the head of our business, it has no choice but to prosper. Jeremiah 29:11 says, ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ That future is our business.

If God said it, that settles it. That’s enough for me! Have faith and believe!