This content was originally published here by 100 Pixels.

HAPPY MONDAY!

We wanted to start the week with an encouraging video from a reader just like you.

Jon Porter reached out to us after enjoying the variety of videos on our site. In turn, he shared a video story of a dairy processing business, Masaka Creamery, that God called him to start in Rwanda employing the deaf. As he puts it, “It was an exciting, overwhelming, full-of-miracles experience …” and from what we can see, we couldn’t agree more! We hope it’s an encouragement and call to action for all of us to think outside of the box when we do business — it can be both successful and redemptive!

Watch below to see the innovative solution to job creation and access in Rwanda!
(For more info on their amazing work, click here )

Big thanks to Charlie for letting us highlight this article originally published on his blog here. Check out his blog for more great content!

— by Charlie Paparelli

11. Pay attention to failure. Learn from it. Embrace the pain. Then move on.

10. Unwillingness to concede failure guarantees its repetition.

9. There are two great predictors of failure: Downtrodden dejection and preening arrogance.

8. The dejected flounder because they never look up.

7. The arrogant fall because they never look down.

6. The surest way to err is to embrace the smug confidence of success.

5. Be faithful in effort and success will find you. Not immediately. That’s not likely. But it will.

4. Find your lane and master it. Pursue many lanes and success will elude you.

3. Diverse pursuits make mice of men who would otherwise achieve.

2. When the lazy and the unfocused see success born of singular determination as luck, they make failure their comrade.

1. The entrepreneur who succeeds finds through failure: knowledge, hope, and, eventually, triumph.

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[Special thanks to Paparelli.com for the cover photo]

We are so grateful to Dan for sharing his article with us and for Mike Loomis for connecting us!

— by Dan Cooper

After I sold my company in 2012, I became what lots of former owners become: a consultant. It’s a good way to use your skills to help others and figure out what you want to be when you grow up – again.

Consulting also happens to squelch that sucking sound of cash leaving your bank account. Besides, I’m also not the kind of guy who can sit around and chill. I’m a business nerd so helping others with their business is my idea of fun.

And lying can be fun, too.

I first found out that entrepreneurs were liars when I did my first couple of assignments. I’d speak to a company’s owner about a specific issue, and create a scope of work to understand the challenge (which in simplified terms would be to do an assessment by talking to people inside and outside the company, reporting those results, and stating steps to correct the problem).

If you are still reading this, you might be thinking, “Those darn consultants! They just write down what you already know and sell it back to you.” 

That’s not necessarily a lie–but someone has to tell the emperor they have no clothes. For some reason, a consultant’s report is a great way to get angry at a piece of paper instead of the actual people and systems that created the problem in the first place.

At the end of these projects I would get a hearty “Thanks! We’re going to have Fred implement these. Let’s chat again sometime.” 

I’d check back six months later and (you guessed it) nothing was implemented. And nothing changed.

Lying to myself

Stumped by this trend I thought I simply needed to work inside the company to implement these changes. So I found several opportunities to join the team as COO, and come alongside the CEO, to become a change management initiator.

This had to be better, right? Nope, the results were even worse. I’d do the same assessment and plan–and even had the authority to implement the changes. What was the problem? 

The person at the top. They created new, improved roadblocks and special circumstances: “Dan, you don’t understand Jane. We’ve always done it that way.” And we would part ways with a polite, “Thanks.”

Something wasn’t adding up. These entrepreneurs wanted to solve problems and grow their company, right 

These experiences formed “the liars list.” These are aspects of businesses (your business) that you’re probably lying to yourself about. My CEO clients weren’t lying to me. In fact, they were forthright about the challenges and their shortcomings. But the fact that they lied to themselves was hurting the company. Did I do that when I ran my company?

The Liars List: What entrepreneurs lie about

The Current Situation:

There is a certain kind of entrepreneur – usually the sales-centric owner who is so sure they can sell their way out of everything that they either don’t want to know the extent of the challenge, or minimize it so the team doesn’t “feel bad.” 

They lie to themselves (and their team) because you can’t sell your way out of a broken organization. These are the companies that go from profitable to hearing they have two months of cash left. And they need a miracle client to save the day. (And everyone knows, a miracle client takes at least three months to acquire.)

People:

You are lying to yourself when you talk in big generalities about something that isn’t going well. For example: “Sales are trending down.” 

At one company a leader of the account management group was responsible for two million dollars of lost business in the previous quarter. He’d run the departments for five years, but those losses were blamed on the previous regime.

Identifying the problem as “slowing sales” means you’ll probably apply the wrong solution–or not even know what to do. It’s like saying the problem with the Titanic was that the ship was sinking. The problem was the gaping hole.

Fix the hole and the ship stops sinking. The problem is that person. Make a change.

In this case, he was then promoted to the executive team. That’s a Dilbert cartoon, not your company.

I get it, when you’ve worked together for a decade, there are deep roots and it’s hard to move on. But when you remove someone who’s a hole in your ship, I always hear, “I wish we would have done that months/years ago! Our culture improved almost overnight. 

Money:

“It’s not about the money” and “It’s all about the money.” No it’s not. And yes it is. 

Pick one. 

Don’t lie to yourself. Without money, and more specifically profit, you have no company. You have no team. And your business will have no impact. Deciding how you want to use the platform and resources in your company is key.

Do you want to have a lifestyle business, grow in order to exit, pass on to your kids or executive team? Great! Your team selection, goals, strategy, investment, and risk profile should match. Too many CEOs give their teams—and themselves—whiplash when long-term and short-term financial goals are not clear.

We want to grow to the next level:

Every ten-year-old wants to be a cool high-schooler. But are they excited about an awkward puberty? 

Growth means change. Change means pain. 

If you want to grow, be honest with yourself (and your team) and embrace the tough choices and the turmoil.

By the way, you can only navigate these choppy waters with a clear goal. 

Your exit plan:

I lied to myself. After ten years I thought I’d be working in the company I built for the rest of my life. 

Due to some partner challenges, pride, ego, (and some lawyers) I sold and walked away. Nothing is forever. Even if you run a company for your lifetime, eventually you’ll need to cash out, give it away, transition, or divest your business. You can put your head in the sand or leave it to your spouse to worry about, or you can start looking into options and make a plan.

Have you ever met a “serial entrepreneur” with a funny history? She may have started a shoe company, sold cattle, worked in advertising, and now owns an IT shop? Your story can read like that (in a good way) if you get real about your limitations–and real about your life goals. 

Stop the lies!

As a coach to lying entrepreneurs, and an entrepreneurial liar myself, I had to find a way to help business owners make the changes they say they want. Because I believe entrepreneurs really do want to see the truth–in themselves and their business. 

You can become a better leader, grow your company, and impact the lives of your employees, vendors, and community.

But it will take daily dosage of the Three Cs:

1. Counsel

2. Community

3. Coaching 

First, we all need feedback from other business owners. And, frankly, other business owners need your perspective and counsel. We need your truth to help us see past the lies we (unintentionally) believe–aka: blind spots.

Secondly, on a larger scale, we need regular gatherings to encourage each other to see the big picture. The truth is, you’re not alone in your entrepreneurial journey. Yes, competition can be brutal. But don’t believe the lie that you can’t trust other business leaders. There is strength in numbers. 

And thirdly, stop avoiding what you need most as a leader. No, I’m not talking about an annual physical (although that might not be a bad idea). I’m referring to personal growth by way of coaching. Put aside the false stereotypes of coaching.

There are successful, seasoned entrepreneurs with the skills and heart to help you grow. (We formed a community called, Acumen to provide counsel, community, and coaching.)

— —

Also check out Dan’s latest book release here!

A practical (and enjoyable) review of the Book of Proverbs, for business owners.

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[Special thanks to Clay Banks on Unsplash for the cover photo]

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 Craig Deall, he serves as CEO of Foundations for Farming—an initiative aimed at bringing transformation to individuals, communities and nations through faithful and productive use of land.

Psalm 126:5-6

Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

That journey of forgiveness led us to obviously many, many tears. But you read in Psalm 126 where it says if you sow in your tears, you’ll reap songs of joy. 

When we’ve been wronged our natural instinct is to hunker down and just feel sorry for ourselves and feel resentment. But we decided to sow and that for us was teaching farming. And that’s how I joined Foundations for Farming, where we teach the very poorest of the poor in our nation and throughout Africa because we love them, because we don’t want them to fail. And love for me is wanting, you know, the most good for anybody, even those that don’t deserve it. 

So we continue to serve like Joseph and Daniel in our nation. We got an incredible farming technique based on what we see in creation and management system, based on teaching the very most vulnerable and the poorest people, the least of his brothers in this nation. And so we do that. And for us, we say that once we had a farm in Africa. Now Africa is my farm because God has given me just such wide scope where I’m able to help people. 

And we look at just our foundational scripture, a challenge to leave you with. Isaiah 58 talks about the true fasting and the unselfishness of Christ. That’s what we try to teach through our farming methodology is the unselfishness, the humility and the faithfulness of Christ Jesus. 

And so as I read scripture, which we come back to all the time, we’re reminded that we need our nation of Zimbabwe to be turned around and to be healed.

And in verses 11-12 of Isaiah 58, which says you’ll be known as the rebuilder of the ancient ruins. But in the first eleven verses it talks about the true fast. The Israelites were doing all the religious stuff and they were fasting and praying and cried out to God and say, Why aren’t you listening to us? And God answers very simply by saying because you’re praying with a selfish heart. And if you pray with a selfish heart, I won’t hear. 

And so our selfishness is tested when we make a plan for the poor, because God then says the true first is this when you make a plan for the poor. Which is wrapped up in loose the chains of oppression, feed the hungry, clothe the naked. 

Then he says your righteousness will break forth like the dawn. The glory of the Lord will be your rearguard. You’ll be known as a well-worded garden, in a sense, scorched land. 

And so it’s this heart for the poor. This absolute unselfishness that has the ability to turn around a nation and bring it into prosperity. So we go to where Jesus goes. We go to the poorest of the poor and we serve them as diligently as we can. And that, we believe, can break that twin bandages of poverty and dependency across a continent.

“If a man steals your farm, teach him how to farm.” 

We’ve all heard sermons and messages on forgiveness and turning the other cheek, but the story of Craig Deall takes these truths to a whole new level. Craig actually lived this. Under the rule of Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe forced thousands of industrial farmers to give up their lands. In a moment, generations of family wealth was gone. But rather than seeking revenge or restitution, Craig chose the path of reconciliation—actually working for the very men who stole from him!

Craig shared his story, starting from when he loved the land more than God—a struggle for any entrepreneur enamored with their own venture—to when that land was taken away from him. Throughout the whole journey, Craig lets us into what God did with his faith through hardship, what it really looks like to forgive our enemies, and why storing treasure in heaven and not on earth is no longer just a sermon point anymore.

Talking with Craig was truly inspiring for us, and we think you’ll be glad you listened in.

Useful Links:

Foundations for Farming

The CEF Community in Action Around Craig Deall and Foundations for Farming

Harvest and Heart Change in Zimbabwe