Hard Times. Hard Decisions. Soft Heart.

— by Michael Sipe

Three Keys to Leading As A Christ Follower in Challenging Seasons.

“Just because I’m big of heart, doesn’t mean I am slow of mind or weak of hand.”

That’s the somewhat offhand comment Patricia Asp made to me in a recent 10 Talent LeaderTalk Podcast interview (ForbesBooksRadio.com/10x) when I asked her about how she reconciled her Christian faith with the demands of senior leadership.

Pat’s had a stellar top executive career in the public and private corporate sectors. She’s President of Compass Executives (CompassExecutives. com) and also an independent board member of 4WordWomen.org, a nonprofit organization providing leadership training and mentoring to women in the marketplace. And she’s a devoted follower of Christ. Her comment prompted me to reflect on the three most essential components of leadership, regardless of your faith, but certainly for Christ-followers.

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Finish This

At the end of every podcast, we like to ask our guests to share what God has been teaching them in this season of life. This week’s guest is J.D. Greear. He’s lead pastor of The Summit Church in North Carolina, President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and a fountain of wisdom.

Galatians 3:3

Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?

The thing this week that God has been pressing into my heart is what you began in the spirit you can’t finish in the flesh. That’s what Paul said to the Galatians. And whether you’re talking about your own, in theological terms, sanctification, which means growing to be more like Jesus or whether you’re talking about your marriage, your parenting, or a ministry that God’s given you, or a dream that you’re pursuing. If it came from the spirit, it can only be completed by the spirit. And for me, you know, like most people here, they’re probably high capacity men and women. And they’ve been used to saying, just show me the mountain and I’ll get over it. And that’s how I’ve lived a lot. And so God has been just working, just kind of tearing some things down to say you cannot finish this in the flesh.

[ Photo by Anton Shuvalov on Unsplash ]

Work Pray Love by Diane Paddison

We continue to count down the Top 100 Books for Faith Driven Entrepreneurs with…

Work Pray Love

by Diane Paddison

The number of Christian women in today’s professional workforce is increasing, and they are hungry for practical mentoring. They yearn to learn from someone who has climbed the ladder of success without sacrificing family or faith—something author Diane Paddison has done with excellence and grace.

This is a working book for working women.

Full of practical, proven guidance that is both professionally viable and biblically sound, each chapter includes sidebars featuring pertinent facts from current research, resources relevant to the chapter’s topic, action-oriented ‘to do’ lists, and other interactive material.

Work, Love, Pray is a valuable resource for professional Christian women, but it’s also a must-read for the husbands, sisters, daughters, and friends who share their lives.

We invited Diane on our podcast, click here to check it out!

Click on the book cover to check out the Reviews and Purchase at Amazon


Jon Elder

Founder | Black Label Advisor

Prior to starting Black Label Advisor, Jon worked as a Project Manager on large scale commercial projects across the country. Once realizing that he could better serve his family and others running his own business, he started selling a variety of products on Amazon in late 2014. His company grew rapidly to the point where he went full time on his Amazon FBA business in 2017. He later sold his business for seven-figures in 2019. Over the course of five years running his own business, he did over $10 million in sales. Currently, Jon is a full time consultant helping other Amazon sellers achieve the same success he had at Black Label Advisor. He has a passion for helping other Amazon sellers get over the inevitable bumps in the road. At Black Label Advisor, he hand-selects his clients and pours into them and shares all his knowledge he gained over the years selling on Amazon.com.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO FAITH DRIVEN ENTREPRENEUR

3 Keys To Creating a Powerful Marriage and Business

— by Robert Fukui

Being married can be challenging enough at times but throw in the aspect of running a business and it gets even more complicated. Divorce lawyers estimate that divorce among entrepreneurial couples is 5-10% higher than the average.

This is a sobering statistic but it doesn’t need to be true for your marriage. There is a solution.

While sacrifices do need to be made for the business, it does not have to come at the cost of your marriage. That is a world standard that we as Christian’s shouldn’t have to live up to. 

So here are 3 Keys to Creating a Thriving Marriage and Prosperous Business. Listed in order of importance.

Key #1 – FAITH 

It is actually possible to have your cake and eat it too. Your marriage can be strengthened at the same time your business is prospering. Matthew 19:26 says “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

According to an article written in Christianity Today, active conservative Protestants that attend church regularly are 35% less likely to get divorced than those with no religious affiliation. 

If that surprises you to see that stat it did to me as well. I was one that believed the lie that divorce rates in the church were the same as in the world. But remember, the operative word in that stat is “active” Christians. Not simply someone that states they are a Christian but one that is actually going to church, reading the bible, active in the church community, etc. It’s one that is walking the walk.

Key #2 – FAMILY 

The second priority behind God is your spouse (if applicable) and family. They should get your best after you give God his. Now, this isn’t measured in the amount of time you give but the quality in which you give it. 

One day a week of uninterrupted time for your spouse and family is a good goal to have. That means no checking emails, text, phone calls that have anything to do with business. Whatever time you do give your family, they deserve your undivided attention.

I understand that from time to time there will be business emergencies but they should be true emergencies. Time with your spouse and family should be protected and treated as the precious asset that it is. 

You give them your best, they’ll give you theirs. 

When you devote quality time to your spouse and family you will be amazed at how many conflicts disappear and how your relationships flourish. This will not only help your marriage but will do wonders for your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. 

Also, quality time with family will allow you to be better rested, energized and more productive in the business too.

Key #3 – FINANCE (Business)

Ok, so you’re probably wondering “how can I find time in my busy schedule to give quality uninterrupted time to God, spouse, and family…and still build the business?”

First, God will bless your faithfulness to Him and your family.

Second, you just need to get creative and find ways to do more with less. Putting more time in the business does not necessarily equate to increased output. So increase your productivity. 

A great example of both is Chick-fil-A. It’s no secret that the Cathy family are strong believers but they are also highly devoted to family. 

We all know that they are closed on Sundays. For a fast-food restaurant, Sunday’s represent 17% of total revenue for the week. So you would think this would put them behind amongst their competitors. 

Well, think again. 

A typical Chick-fil-A restaurant earns $4.16 million/store. That’s #1 in the industry! A distant second was Raising Cane’s (not McDonald’s) earning $2.9 million/store. (For more amazing stats about Chick-fil-A click here)

In short, the power struggle between marriage and business occurs because we are trying to build our business based upon our own understanding, knowledge and power. But Zachariah 4:6 says “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ saith the Lord of hosts.

So put your faith and family first and lean on the Holy Spirit for creative solutions on how to work smarter not harder. When you do this you will build a Thriving Marriage and a Prosperous Business.

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[Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash ]

Ministry of Excellence

— by Jordan Raynor

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandments were, he replied, “Love the Lord your God…and…Love your neighbor as yourself.” As we saw last week, excellent work is one way in which we fulfill Jesus’s command to love God by revealing his character of excellence to those around us. As we’ll see today, excellence is also necessary for keeping the second commandment in our work.

As Christians, we can’t say we are seeking to love our neighbor as ourselves and then do our work with mediocrity. Think of the extreme example of a Christian doctor. While that doctor may pray with her patients, share the gospel with her co-workers, and donate money to her church, her most basic form of ministry is in being an excellent doctor. If she were a mediocre medical professional, her patients’ lives might be at risk. The doctor’s first responsibility in her work ought to be the ministry of excellence—serving her patients as best she knows how, giving them the same level of care she would expect for herself and her family.

Now, for most of us, the relative skill of our work isn’t going to mean the difference between life and death. But we all have an opportunity to obey Jesus’s command to love our neighbors as ourselves by choosing to do excellent work and going far beyond the minimum standards required in our jobs. I love what Matt Perman says on this topic: “Slack work is like vandalism because it makes life harder for people—just like vandalism. Christians are to be the opposite of vandals and slackers in their work. We are to do work that will truly benefit people by going the extra mile rather than just doing the minimum necessary. Excellence in our work is actually a form of generosity and love, and poor quality is a form of stinginess and selfishness. Shoddy work is not just shoddy work; it’s a failure of love.”

As Christians, we shouldn’t seek to do the bare minimum in our jobs to collect a paycheck. If we believe our work is a calling from God, we will “work heartily, as working for the Lord (Colossians 3:23),” seeking to glorify God and love others well by being the most focused and excellent doctors, entrepreneurs, teachers, artists, carpenters, and executives we can possibly be. Excellence in our work isn’t just a means to some personal gain. Excellence is our most fundamental form of ministry in our work. Let this truth encourage you to focus on pursuing mastery of your craft, becoming the most exceptional version of yourself for God’s glory and the good of others!

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[ Photo by Andrea Leopardi on Unsplash ]