This is a special episode for us. One, we think, definitely worth hearing. Why? Well there are few things more important in our lives than effective story telling.

There are few better people (maybe no one??) that do a better job at helping people tell their stories than Nancy Duarte from Duarte Design. They help CEOs of Fortune 100 companies tell their stories, and maybe something more impressive: they are the “go-to” firm to help TED presenters tell their stories well.

As you might imagine, they’ve got a great story, one based in their faith and firmly rooted in Scripture. We think you’ll like it and that it will be a blessing for you.

Also, we did something a bit different this time through. William and I (Rusty was on the East Coast) took the podcast on the road to the offices at Duarte Design. Here’s a quick (1 min) behind the scenes video.

by Henry Kaestner

We’re continuing our practice of bringing you a short, inspirational video to start off your week. Special thanks to Mike Sharrow, CEO of C12 for sending this one in. Got a video that you think would be an encouragement to other faith driven entrepreneurs that we should include in our Monday rotation? Please send it to us!!

by Luke Roush

This was originally published as a white paper for Christian Economic Forum (CEF).

Every year as we approach the Christian Economic Forum (CEF), I find myself both dreading and looking forward to the construction of my annual white paper.

Every delegate to CEF must complete a paper, and these papers form the foundation for the agenda in that year. For me, this is one of the only opportunities I have in my annual calendar to reflect and do some basic research as part of a more formal writing assignment.

While I can hardly claim to have many *Deep Thoughts* of the Jack Handey variety (an old SNL character), I found myself preoccupied this year thinking about the intended and unintended consequences of technology. The white paper below is the essay that emerged from that inquiry, and I hope you enjoy it. It’s titled *The Icarus Moment*, but might be more aptly called “The Tower of Babel” in a Biblical context. Members of the Bible study that I’m part of every Tuesday at Epic Church in San Francisco will recognize that many of our conversations over the last two years have found their way into this piece. For that wisdom and perspective, I am grateful!

The Icarus Moment 

READ “The Icarus Moment” Here

Special thanks to Erriko Boccia on Unsplash for the blog cover photo.

by Justin Thomas

“Get into a comfortable position with both of your feet planted on the floor,” the teacher instructed. I was sitting in a classroom with 35 fellow students at Duke Integrative Medicine. It was our first week of an integrative health coaching training program. I was beginning to feel slightly out of place. Our teacher continued, “Then, allowing your eyes to close or cast down, begin to focus your awareness on your breath.” Now I was feeling out of place.

The breathing exercise continued for another minute or two. When I was settling in, I hear, “your Future Self is waiting for you; waiting to talk to you.” Even with all the doubt and unease in my bones, I remember seeing a clear picture of my future self. The teacher wrapped up the exercise, “When you open your eyes, please remain silent, pick up your paper and crayons and begin drawing whatever you remember from this journey.”

I did what I was instructed and started drawing the image I saw in my head. My future self-was a Navy Seal. I had no intention of really transitioning from my civilian life to a military career.  Plus simulating drowning and lack of sleep are not my heart’s desire. The image represented strength, confidence, and most of all, an ability to protect those around me from harm. I couldn’t believe the exercise prompted such a clear vision.

Motivated by this vision, I signed up for a GoRuck Tough challenge. It’s a team-based endurance event lead by Navy Seals and other types of Military Special Operations professionals. It’s a 12-hour overnight event for civilians to get a small glimpse into special ops training by carrying a backpack with 30 lbs of weight, food, water, and essentials. The military operations leader, known as the “Cadre” also brings a plethora of extra weight that the team has to carry throughout the night such as sandbags, water jugs, and logs while completing specific assigned tasks.

This type of event requires training and preparation. I started walking around with my backpack with weight and exercising. All was going according to plan until I pulled my back trying to do tire flips and then shortly after that I pulled my hamstring during a pick-up basketball game! Both injuries were a shot to the pride, and it forced me to go to a physical therapist (PT) for the first time in my life. My PT did some tests and told me I was one of the most inflexible clients he had ever seen! He softened the blow by qualifying it with one of the most rigid “fit” individuals, but it was another shot to the pride. Now wholly humbled, all I could do was rest and stretch for a couple of weeks.

I was starting to get nervous. My GoRuck challenge was only 10 weeks out. I did not feel like I was getting anywhere close to becoming a Navy Seal, let alone walk without pain. I thought back to my health vision and remembered how Navy Seals tough it out, don’t ring the bell to quit, and make the most out of situations. I tried to do just that, and before long it was time for the event.

After 9+ hours into the GoRuck challenge we were all exhausted, and there was more to go. Our team was moving along at a slow pace as you might imagine when our Cadre pointed to one of the other guys and said: “you are a casualty and need to be carried.” The group stopped, everyone took a moment to breathe and soak in the new reality of not only carrying our current weight, backpacks, log, sandbags, and heavy metal we now needed to move a person. I stepped out of the line and slung the guy across my shoulders and started to walk. I didn’t go far before needing a break, but it was a moment I will never forget. That day I took a tangible step toward my vision of my future, healthy self.

As entrepreneurs, we all have a vision for our company. We may even have a fancy 2-page strategic plan with a 10 yr, 3 yr, and 1 yr goal. I did when I was CEO of a small tech company. It inspired the team, gave us purpose and a clear goal. We spent hours formulating the vision and crafting a plan to execute it. Why don’t we do the same in our health?

Most of us are familiar with the concept of big, hairy, audacious goals (BHAG). It’s almost a requirement in any pitch deck and HR material. I would propose that every entrepreneur, especially those of us who are faith driven, need to have a modified and personal Health BHAG, a big HEALTHY audacious goal.

We need to be a good steward of our health. We are called to be a good steward of the body God gave us. We know this already though. Specifically, we all know it’s better to eat whole, real food than junk food. We all know it’s better to receive 7+ hours of sleep than to try and operate off of 4 hours plus ungodly amounts of coffee to push through. We don’t need head knowledge to be healthy; we need a vision.

Set a Health BHAG

Set a health BHAG – Something that motivates and inspires you. Romans 12 explores this idea of being a living sacrifice and in verse 1 to “offer your body” to God. We all want to be healthy, but that is simply not enough. There needs to be a genuine motivation. Without a Health BHAG you are just spinning your wheels like you would be doing in your business without a clear vision. You make tough decisions and apply discipline to strive towards your established goal. I would encourage you to do the same for your personal health and wellness. It will make you a better entrepreneur, and you will honor God’s word by treating your body like the temple it is:

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” 1 Corinthians 6:19

You know about goal setting and vision casting as an entrepreneur. You know that your body is not your own, bought with a price, a temple for God’s spirit as a faith-driven individual. It’s time to put these skills and beliefs together. Create your own BHAG.

You don’t have to be a certified health coach to do it. Merely ask yourself a few questions such as:

• “what does my optimal health look like?

• What does achieving that allow me to do?”

Start putting down some smart measurables that you hope to get to in 3 years for your Health BHAG.  Then think about how far you can reasonably get in the next 3 months as your first quarterly goal.

A unicorn is not an entrepreneur or company with a $1b valuation. It’s, unfortunately, an entrepreneur who is successful AND healthy. We are called to be salt and light in this world as believers. Perhaps one way we can positively stand out is simply modeling healthy habits and honoring our bodies as Christ commands.

Thank you to Tim Goedhart on Unsplash for the cover photo.

by Angela Smith

There are some things in life that you cannot fully understand until you experience them, and I would venture to say that founding a startup is one of them.  I knew it would be difficult, but I underestimated the difficulty and the depth of which the experience would penetrate my whole self and the ripple effect it would have on all aspects of my life.  

“Entrepreneur by marriage” is how I have frequently described myself.  I am naturally risk averse, practical, analytical, and most comfortable in situations marked by consistency and stability – not generally characteristics for successful entrepreneurship.   My husband Michael, however, was born an entrepreneur with risk taking blood running through his veins compliments of both his maternal and paternal family tree.  In fact, he is the most risk tolerant person I’ve ever encountered and in that way, we couldn’t be more different.  If he is jumping out of a plane, I am standing firmly on the ground. If he is excitedly sharing his next idea, I am considering all the challenges and reasons it won’t work.

Early in our marriage Michael affectionately started calling me “the dream slayer” – he would dream it and I would slay it!  But God did not gift Michael a spirit of entrepreneurship for me to forever stifle it.

In 2011 God called me out of my comfort zone and into a journey of entrepreneurship.  In His wisdom and grace, He opened my eyes to a problem, gifted me an idea, and aligned the burden on our hearts to pursue a dream that would somehow glorify Him!

At the time we had three young kids, Michael was traveling for work, and we had no landline phone in our home.  I found myself reluctantly entrusting the kids with my ridiculously expensive and extremely fragile smartphone so they could talk to Daddy while he was out of town.  Then one day I realized: I don’t give them anything else that’s $600 and breakable and expect that to go well!  There has to be a better way! I envisioned a Bluetooth headset that looked like a kid’s toy phone.  I wanted a way to push the audio of the call to a durable kid’s device, while my phone stayed safely on the counter, out of harm’s way.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the idea.  Michael couldn’t stop thinking about the idea.  For months we talked about it privately and wrestled with excitement and fear – not fear of pursuing the idea, but fear of NOT pursuing it. We were aligned in our burden and fully confident that God had gifted me this idea. It was a dream that I could not slay.

Prayer was the first order of business and we offered up our efforts and whatever the outcome of those efforts to God for His purpose and His glory.  And thus began our journey of founding Yip Yap and transforming an idea into a company.  It’s been a journey of entrepreneurship that God has unexpectedly used to work out my faith in ways I could have never imagined and didn’t even know I needed.

I have known and sought God my entire life, but the roller coaster of extreme highs and extreme lows of entrepreneurship has rocked my faith and I found myself often lost in valleys of uncertainty, fear, doubt and confusion literally crying out to the Lord for help.  I was confident that God burdened our heart to pursue this dream, so why was it so difficult for me? 

In answer to my cries, God has drawn me closer to Himself and opened my eyes to the realization that following a call from Him does not mean that there will be a clear and easy path forward. Everyone called by God in the Bible was required to step out in faith and trust fully in the Lord.  

Consider Noah’s obedience in the face of extreme uncertainty, Abraham’s faithfulness to follow without knowing the way, David’s patience for the fulfillment of God’s promise of kingship, and so many others whose stories demonstrate the faith work that God accomplishes when we say yes to His calling.

Our Lord’s own brother James says:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

I consider the trials of entrepreneurship pure joy because they are testing my faith and by His grace I am persevering and growing more mature in my faith.  

I have learned to live in and accept a place of uncertainty and instability because in Jesus I choose to place my certainty and stability.  

I have learned to take risks and the Lord is using those risks to teach me what it means to truly trust in His provision.  

I have learned to stop striving and believing that through MY efforts alone I can control our success or failure.

I have learned to seek His will, dig well the ditches He is asking me to dig, and trust that He will bring the rain.

Our journey with Yip Yap is not yet complete.  Whether God’s plan is that we achieve worldly success or experience worldly failure is still yet to be realized.  But, whatever the outcome, I stand firmly in my faith and declare that it is well with my soul – and looking ahead from this new vantage point is worth every valley I’ve crossed along the way.

Photo by Matt Howard on Unsplash

by Henry Kaestner

God needs our success and our money to do his work on earth, right??  What is the most important question for us to answer:  How to give, where to give, why to give?  How do we define “net worth”? There may not be a more important topic for a Faith Driven Entrepreneur to tackle, than how to think about generosity.  We worship a generous God who has given to us generously, and we, as do all Christ followers, have an opportunity to respond.  How should we do it as entrepreneurs?  How do we think about ownership?  How do we think about giving?  How do we think about God?

In this episode I share my “born again-again” story.  If my depiction of how God worked through my life as I struggled with how to think about 90/10…80/20…0/100.  We talk about finding a finish line, and we each share a bit of our own stories and those that have been an inspiration to us.

You’ll note that I refer to the Alan Barnhart story which has made such an impression in my life.    You can find the short version of his giving story here, or the longer one (to include how he thought through structures on how to strategically title his business here.)

Photo by Kat Yukawa on Unsplash