My wife & I just spent our Saturday night working on her new business plan (Tagline: “Hawaii’s Natural Fitness Experience” .. it’s going to rock the tourist industry in Spring ‘09!) and talking through Proverbs 4.
If you’ve read some of my past blog posts, you know how strongly I feel about the importance of the book of Proverbs when it comes to life and business as an entrepreneur.
If you’re looking for the single most important skill or quality to master — one that’s going to ENSURE your success as an entrepreneur — it’s wisdom alone.
Not ideation… not management… not communication… not marketing.
It’s wisdom that informs your thought and execution in all of these other areas, and it’s wisdom that should be painstakingly, passionately sought above all else.
The book of Proverbs is a collection of writings from the second wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, so it’s a good place to start your pursuit.
The end of the 4th chapter of Proverbs talks about HOW we can commit certain parts of our body to righteousness, and I believe there are essential business implications in these verses as well.
Proverbs 4:23 … “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
Think of your heart as an enormous chest of treasure… gold, diamonds, and other fine jewels that you’ve accumulated over your lifetime.
A lot of people seek to get to this treasure… a few of them to add to it, as they see it as an investment into your and their future, but most to take from it for their own gain, never to return the treasure to you.
Knowing this, you don’t just want to leave your heart out in the open. It’s your responsibility to set up the necessary security measures to allow the good people in while keeping the bad out. So you have a few options:
- You could put a lazy dog out front, who may or may not bark to alert you of intruders
- You could have a few armed guards on duty 24/7
- Or you could build a thick, fortified wall that no one could possibly ever conquer
#1 is no good because the scoundrels can easily get through to steal from you, and I’d advise against #3 because you’ll never have the opportunity to bless anyone with your treasure.
The healthy approach is #2, which provides the most control over those who are granted and denied access.
How does this pertain to business?
There are people who want to use you for their own gain, even under the guise of friendship. As you and your business grow more successful, there will be those who recognize where your train is going & want to jump onboard for a free ride.
Guard your heart against these people, while at the same time recognizing those who are sincerely looking to invest in reciprocal success.
Proverbs 4:24 … “Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.”
Plain and simple. Keep gossip and slander far from you.
This can particularly creep in with the marketing stances we take.
It’s easy to bash our competitors or even slander our colleagues in the name of building rapport with a potential customer base.
This is foolish and unnecessary. There are countless ways to set your brand and products apart while maintaining a high level of dignity.
I hate political ads.
Proverbs 4:25 … “Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.”
Distractions can easily kill a vision.
When you have an established vision for your business (I’m talking about a divinely inspired vision that’s clearly in alignment with the deepest extent of your passions), it’s critical that that vision is incessantly pursued.
Distractions occur on a micro level every single day through various channels: phone calls, email, IM, television, music, the lady next to you at Starbucks, and so on.
And on a larger scale, we have criticism, fear, and other business opportunities (yes, sometimes you need to say NO to a good opportunity that doesn’t align with your current vision) that occur and can throw us off.
We need to eliminate distraction and focus our energy each day on the biggest opportunities that lie in front of us and that are in line with the clearly defined vision for our future.
Proverbs 4:26 … “Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.”
My wife recognized that we often have 3 options when faced with a business decision:
- The Comfortable Route
- The Illogical Route (in her words, “the wack route”)
- The Faith Route
Think about the last major entrepreneurial decision you made & it’s likely you had options that fit into these 3 categories.
The Comfortable Route is the route most would take. It’s the 35mph, freshly paved road to Lollypopville. It involves very little risk, but also poses little to average reward.
For example, this may the decision to remain an employee even when faced with a very promising business venture.
“Yes, this could bring the financial freedom I’ve always dreamed of, endless opportunity to travel & give to charity, and more time with my family than ever,” you tell yourself, “… but it’s safer to have my 401k, decreasing health benefits, and someone telling me how long my vacation’s allowed to be.”
This is boring and unrewarding, but it’s the right decision for many people and I don’t disrespect that.
The Illogical Route(s) are the ones that have no tie-in to your long-term vision whatsoever, but may provide a ton of fun in the short term.
These options are neither low risk nor high risk.. they’re just stupid.
Maybe you have a successful product launch or short term financial influx. Instead of reinvesting the money into additional resources that will grow your business even more, you blow it on the Maserati you’ve been looking at.
Maybe instead of investing some time in learning the EXTREME leverage that internet marketing provides, you continue to throw marketing dollars into various mediums that provide a horrendous ROI… but you don’t even know it’s horrendous because you don’t have any metrics.
That’s illogical.
The Faith Route seemingly involves a good deal of risk, and it certainly can, but in actuality it’s the safest road you can possibly travel when your gauges are finely tuned to the Spirit.
It actually far surpasses The Comfortable Route in terms of safety, and it greatly exceeds The Illogical Route in terms of fun.
This reality seems counterintuitive when face-to-face with most decisions, but accelarating by faith toward your divine mission, vision, and purpose is the best decision you can possibly make in every single circumstance.
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Studying the wisdom of God via Solomon is a ton of fun too if you’ve never done it.
Deciding to do so is a decision that, itself, involves a bit of faith… that investing your time this way is going to produce a result greater than investing it elsewhere (e.g. working in your business, going to the bar, watching a movie, or reading something else).
The end result in my life of applying the wisdom I’ve gained is real and tangible.
Seeing these results helps solidify the faith that inspired me to take action in the first place.
Try it.
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Posted in Business, Faith, Life | Comments (4)
Posted on November 5th, 2008
wow::……
hey andy, i came to here to read the post on voting and saw this; and read it. isnt it ironic that a post of REAL value and lasting signifigance like this one has only my comment, but the political post had 16 times the comments. funny enough it is this post that was more enlightening and will beautiful a greater benefit to ones business. we as people are funny creatures, thankfully God has a sense of humor. Andy i appreciate your candor and definitely look forward to talking more with you.
Tyron The Custom Dream Home Guy
http://www.mydreamhomeforless.com
Posted on December 7th, 2008
Andy,
It is wonderful to see the fruition of the new business model you and your lovely bride have put together. You of course shared a little bit with Sam Bell lll and me in San Diego last month. However, the actually implementation of the spoken vision is evidence of your continual walk in faith.
Now, let me move on to “wisdom”. Your specific point on getting wisdom over other lesser aspirations is very pointed. Pro. 3.13 tells us “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom…”
Your writing and carefully detailing the concepts between the Comfort Route, Illogical Route and Faith Route using verses from Pro. Chpt 4 is food for the marrow for your readers.
Continue to be blessed and full of the Father’s spirit. There is no doubt you are truly fulfilling your purpose.
MJ
Posted on January 30th, 2009
First May God Bless you and your Family. I have been investing since 1996 and had some highs and some very lows involving Real Estate. All I can say is if we don’t do it for Jesus it will come back and bite us in th Bu.. I have leard the hard way by not putting him first, and as always we come back to be humbled befor him and ask for his foregivness. Keep up the faith. I would like to invite you to are home and Church(BRCC)if you ever come to San Antonio Tx.
Bobby & Shannan Avery 210-313-1293
Posted on May 29th, 2010
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