Stephen Owens.org Blog

Biblical Entrepreneurship – The purpose of the Christian entrepreneur

2008-06-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

The next pillar we must examine in biblical entrepreneur is purpose. Biblical entrepreneurs must know who they are and why they are creating their organization. The creation of your enterprise is the by product of the purpose and destiny God the Father placed inside of you.

Purpose is the reason and why something or someone is created. Fulfillment of your God given purpose must be the main focus of your life. Discovering the reason for your birth will unlock the door to manifesting your potential. Let us use a light bulb as an example. The purpose of a light bulb is to illuminate an area. The light bulb has the capability to be used many ways to produce a result but in the mind of the creator if the light bulb is used in any other way then it’s original purpose it is being abused. It is only being used properly when it is manifesting it’s reason for being created which is illumination.

Once you find the reason for your birth you will find a direction for your life that will please your Creator, God. The question that is frequently asked is, “How do I discover my purpose?”. To answer that question we must first deal with salvation. Without accepting Jesus Christ as your savior you can never know your purpose. The only way to get to the Father, The Purpose Giver, is to go through Jesus. Jesus declared in the Gospel of John chapter fourteen verse six, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Based off of Jesus’ declaration the only way to reach The Purpose Giver is to believe the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. After getting into the proper relationship with your Creator you have prerequisite to discovering your purpose.

God exposes your purpose through prayer, bible study, dreams, visions, hunches, inclinations, desires, urgings and yearnings towards particulars areas. What most individuals fail to understand is that purpose is not a single objective or outcome. It is a multifaceted calling upon a multifaceted creation. Every person has multiple areas where they must fulfill a role. Within each area of your life your purpose for being apart of that situation must be discovered. To bring balance to our emotions and imaginations we must weigh them in light of biblical teaching and a Christian lifestyle.

This moves our conversation to finding out if your emotions and imagination are pulling you towards entrepreneurship. Ask your self a series of questions:

“Do I have a desire to be an entrepreneur?”
“Have I received a vision of my possibilities within the marketplace?”
“Do I have yearnings and desires to minister and serve a particular segment of consumers?”

If you have answered yes to these questions you are on the road to becoming a biblical entrepreneur. Now you must talk to the Father so He can lead and guide you to the correct industry.

Earlier in this article it was mentioned that your purpose is a multifaceted calling. Apart of that calling, if God has placed a godly ambition within your to become a biblical entrepreneur, is to establish you within an industry where you can play the role of an enterprise builder. There are many biblical entrepreneurs within scripture. To name a few there is the Apostle Peter, Apostle Paul, Lydia, Job and Jesus.

The Apostle Peter was a commercial fisherman. He was in partnership with his brother Andrew building a fishing business (Matthew 4:18). The Apostle Paul was a Sole Proprietor. He had a tent making business (Acts 18:3). Lydia the first convert to Christianity in Europe was a self employed merchant selling purple (Acts 16:13). Job was a very industrious farmer. The livestock Job had in his enterprise would have allowed him to launch many business ventures. Job had 7000 sheep which could have started a wool clothing company. He also had 3000 camels which could have made a great freight hauling business. His 500 oxen would be a great foundation to start a tracker leasing enterprise to smaller farmers. Lastly Job’s 500 donkeys had the potential to place him into the dairy industry (Job 1:3).

The epitome of Biblical entrepreneurship is the savior of humanity, Jesus the Christ. Jesus used his entrepreneurial passion in the social area of life. Today we call this area the not-for-profit industries. Jesus employed his purpose to transform humanity. His reason for being alive also metamorphosed time changing it from B.C. to A.D. Jesus was a change catalyst within in the life transformation industry. Christian entrepreneurs must use biblical entrepreneurship in both sectors of business, for-profit and not-for-profit.

2008-03-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

Biblical Entrepreneurship - Part 2

This is the second article in the series dealing with Biblical Entrepreneurship. In this article, we will focus on one of the main components of being a Christian entrepreneur. The topic of today is service.

A business that is based on biblical principles must be grounded in service. Focusing on servicing your customers’ needs will set your organization apart from your competitors. To truly have a customer-focused business, your company must have a ministry philosophy. In order to get a clear understanding of ministry, you can model yourself after a great person, Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ ministry is the perfect standard of a customer-focused organization. He ministered to the needs of those around Him. Jesus declared in the Gospel according to Luke “for I did not come to call the righteous but the sinner to repentance” (Luke 9:14). From this statement we can draw valuable information that can help us enhance our customer service procedures.

The first order of business is determining whether there is a demand for the product or service you are offering. Jesus’ product was in high demand because people wanted the things He was offering. Jesus said he came to call the sinner to repentance. He knew the main need of sinners was to connect to God and the only way to do that was through repentance. Jesus had an unique marketing message (The Gospel of the Kingdom) with a customer centric product (Salvation).

The beginning of your customer service experience must begin with your customer’s needs. In the business discipline of marketing, the need of a customer is two fold. A consumer has actual and perceived needs. An actual need is water because our body must have water so it does not dehydrate. A perceived need is your desire to drink sparkling flavored water. The first is a necessity and the latter is a want. Entrepreneurs must keep this in mind as they are constructing their unique selling proposition.

The next step to having great customer service is accessibility. Ask yourself the question, “How accessible is my product to my potential customers?” Accessibility is a matter of availability. Your product must be easily accessible to compete in the marketplace. Jesus understood the concept of accessibility. He made sure his message and product was available. Jesus said that He came to earth for sinners. He placed Himself in an area where He could be easily found by sinners, in their midst. The product or service your organization is offering has to be made available in the distribution outlets where your potential customers purchase their goods.

The last component is reliability. Reliability focuses on a company’s ability to deliver on the promises you made about your product in the marketplace. The organization must be able to produce a quality product when it is purchased. Jesus knew that He was able to deliver on His promise of salvation to His customers. He understood that if people would repent for their sins that God would accept their repented heart and make them a part of His family. The credibility of your organization is based on its ability to deliver on the promises it makes to its potential customers.

Christian entrepreneurs must understand that focusing on their customers’ needs will catapult their organization to world-class status. This is done by ministering to a particular section within the marketplace and then making sure that products and services are easily accessible to potential customers. The last step is to market and distribute only quality products that the company can consistently deliver to consumers. If the desire is to establish a loyal customer, a company has to construct processes and procedures that produce products that will match customers’ needs.

Copyright 2008

Biblical entrepreneurship

2008-02-08T23:18:00.000-08:00

Biblical entrepreneurship is one of the next moves of God. This is the third dimension to the marketplace ministry movement. Marketplace ministry was first exposed when those within the charismatic movement began declaring our covenant rights about prosperity and wealth. The next component was uncovered with the faith at work declaration. This teaching shared the “know-how” of displaying our faith in practical ways within the marketplace. These two components were two-thirds of the circle. The last component is biblical entrepreneurship. Marketplace ministry has followed the biblical pattern within scripture. The pattern is as follows: promise – requirement – manifestation.

When researching the moves of God within scripture we find out that God usually begins a new thing with a promise. Then the promise is coupled with a requirement. The requirement generally deals with a lifestyle issue. After the lifestyle issue has been met the manifestation of the promise will occur. God initiated the marketplace ministry movement when He uncovered our rights to the Abrahamic covenant, which promised prosperity to Abraham’s seed (natural and spiritual). Inspirational teaching from Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland and others has exposed us to this promised.

Next the requirement component was exposed which taught us the fundamentals of living holy in the marketplace. There are books such as God @ Work by Rich Marshall and The Day of the Saints by Dr. Bill Hamon that has helped us conceptualize our roles. Now the promise must be manifested. This is the season for biblical entrepreneurship. The Christian entrepreneur will grab the promises of God along with the requirements of God and build an asset that produces wealth for the glory of God.

There are three fundamental concepts to being a Christian entrepreneur. They are purpose, service and influence. Biblical entrepreneurship is a holistic approach to starting an organization. Christian entrepreneurs must understand that God must be placed at the center of every business activity.

These three fundamental concepts are the keys needed to open the doors to true entrepreneurship. The concept of purpose focuses on the “why” of the entrepreneur. The second concept of service will help the entrepreneur understand that service will take the organization to world-class statues. The last concept of influence encourages the entrepreneur to use his or her resources to communicate the gospel of the kingdom to a dying world.

Christian entrepreneurs strive to have biblical principles as their companies’ standards. The desire of this type of entrepreneur is not centered on wealth and power but on completing God’s will for his or her life. These individuals will build their lives and companies on biblical truths.

Christians that have the calling to purse entrepreneurship need practical teaching on how to live out their faith in the marketplace. They must also be encouraged to seek God so His presence and power can be manifested in their organizations. Our leadership within the Body of Christ has to be aware of the things God is doing in the marketplace.
Biblical entrepreneurship is God’s next move in advancing His kingdom within the marketplace. God has set the stage so we can move into this third dimension. Now is the time to equip believers to minister within the marketplace

By Stephen Owens 2008

A CORPORATE PERSPECTIVE ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP

2007-12-11T09:39:00.001-08:00

Have you ever wondered how those who work within a corporate atmosphere view entrepreneurship?

I sat down with Kim Lariccia who is apart of the senior management team at Progressive Insurance. Kim has practical advice for both budding and seasoned entrepreneurs. This interview was centered on four areas of opportunities for most organizations. These four areas are: leadership, systems, money and business growth. Understanding these four components of an effective enterprise will catapult your business to the next level.

The first section dealt with was leadership. My question to Kim was, “What are the components of a good leader?” Her reply was, “A leader has to be a dynamic thinker.” A competent leader must be able to think on many plateaus; organizational, interpersonal and personal. At the organizational level a leader must think about the creation and articulation of the business’ vision, the culture of the enterprise and the return on human capital. The interpersonal plateau as Kim puts it is “leadership is based on relationship”. The people within your company must trust you, believe in you and in your vision. On a personal level, a leader must build mental and emotional fortitude. Mental fortitude is necessary, because as a leader you must think on many different levels. Emotionally fortitude is required, because ultimately you are responsible for the end result. Therefore your EQ (emotional quotient) must be high for you to have your vision completed through the efforts of your personnel.

The next subject Kim and I talked about was systems. A system is a specific way of doing some thing that brings about a desired result. Entrepreneurs must realize the importance of system development and maintenance if they desire to build an effective organization. Kim indicated that entrepreneurs should use the concept of benchmarking.
Finding the “best practices” of running a business within your specific industry and then mastering those systems is benchmarking. Do you know what your competitors are doing with their processes, policies and procedures? Kim gave a great suggestion for entrepreneurs. Carry an “observation notebook”. You will use this notebook to document the systems you observe within your industry and among your competition. Write down systems, practices, and processes, both good and bad and how they made you feel.

Every experience a customer has at your place of business will affect them on an emotional level. Does this sound familiar, “When I walked into that store no asked me if I needed help. They acted as if they didn’t want my business, so I am going to spend my money where I am appreciated.” The customer’s experience is not logical, it’s emotional. As Kim said, “A great customer experience is what drives success”.

Then naturally, our conversation moved to the topic of money. My question to Kim, “What should entrepreneurs focus on, cash-flow or profitability”. Her reply, “Cash-flow is the reality to stay in business, that is why you need solid backing from the start. Once your cash-flow is consistent, you can position your company to become profitable”. Entrepreneurs must first get the resources they need so their companies can achieve a consistent cash-flow. A resource is not only currency. It’s having a network of trustworthy colleagues that you can bounce ideas off of. It’s also aligning yourself with employees that compliment you abilities. We ended this area with Kim saying, “Don’t panic about the money do your research” This statement transition the interview to our last topic, business growth.

The question that was asked, “How can an entrepreneur grow an organization?” Kim indicated, “It all starts with research, and this is the step most entrepreneurs try to skip”. First, you learn about the opportunity. Is it good, bad or indifferent to you? If it is a good venture, then investigate to find out the type of infrastructure that is needed to capitalize on the opportunity. Finally, do your planning and your forecasting for your new business.
“If possible after the research stage”, Kim said, “pilot your business”. Some call this practice, test marketing. During this process you will find out if your research was accurate. This is also where you will tweak and fine-tune your systems. The piloting stage will give you a glimpse of the capital needed and returns that are possible without a huge upfront investment. Also, while you are piloting your business, make sure you document the best practices for your organization so your future employees can perform their jobs.

At the conclusion for the interview I asked Kim, “What final advice do you have for entrepreneurs?” Her response, “Concern yourself with the ‘what if’s’. What if your company grows twice or four times as fast as you expected? What will you do? What if your business does not grow as fast as you have projected? What will you do?” When entrepreneurs concern themselves with the ‘what if’s’, they will focus on the necessary up front preparation; research, planning and documentation. As a result, they will build and effective organization.

Thank you to Kim Lariccia for your time and needed wisdom. This information will help entrepreneurs on their journey to building an effective organization.

Entrepreneurship for Dummies - Article Series = The Five Core Disciplines of Leadership

2007-10-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

The Five Core Disciplines of Leadership:

Leadership! What does this word mean to you? For most, the word leadership is reserved for the elite, the few special people with extraordinary skills and gifs. Leadership is not a gift or a position; it’s a state of mind. Always remember, the disposition of a leader is different from that of a follower.

The first thing that must be understood is that leadership is a choice. Leadership starts in the mind. It’s your thought patterns that separate you from those that follow. Being a leader is about you as an individual, not the position you hold as CEO, pastor or supervisor. No matter what position you hold within an organization, you are able to be a leader if you think like a leader. Leadership starts with a revelation concerning who you are as a person. Understanding who you are is crucial to your role as a leader.

Every effective leader has a vision. A vision is a goal to reach for. It’s an image that must be manifested. As a leader, your followers are looking to you for direction and guidance. To lead a group of people effectively, you must have a destination in mind. You have to have a picture of the future you are working on bringing to life. This will take imagination, creativity, insight and intuition. Having a compelling vision for your organization is a major key to your leadership. The future must be so bright that your people will buy into it. It is only when your followers have bought into your vision that they will invest their time, energy and creativity into making it a reality.

This moves us to the skills of the leader. Your leadership will not be effective if you are basing your role as a leader on a set of gifts (being charismatic, smooth talker, etc). Leadership is about competency and skill. All skills can be practiced, developed and enhanced. There are five skills that must be learned to take your leadership to the next level. The five core disciplines are: integrity, planning, communication, encouragement and perpetual learning.

Integrity is about wholeness, completeness and keeping your word, so you can be an example to your company. Integrity is a discipline that must be practiced. A leader that has integrity has consistency, they don’t move as the wind blows. People who are consistent can be gauged, you know what they will allow and will not allow. As a leader, your walk must match you talk. Your integrity extends to those around you. The culture of your department or organization is a reflection of who you are. It is an extension of your character. The lifestyle you have and the way you interact with the people you lead will determine how much your business will achieve.

Planning is the next skill to learn. Planning deals with the path you will take your company down to arrive at your destination, your vision. Creating a plan takes imagination and making educated guesses. Your plan is your playbook for your organization. As with any sport, the plays you run on the field are taken from the team’s playbook and executed with as much accuracy as possible. But we must realize that plays in the book cannot take into account for all of the different variables that are possible on the field. The same is true about your plans for your business. When you are planning, allow your game plan to be flexible so your organization can handle the unknown things that will come your way. Understand there are some things you will not know until you are playing the game.

The discipline of communication is a necessity. All good leaders are good communicators. You must be able to tell your followers where you are leading them. Allow yourself to be open, honest and candid about the opportunities, obstacles and rewards that awaits your company. A leader must constantly work to improve all facets of communication, including tone, verbiage, body language and writing. There are many things you can do to enhance your communication skills. You can enroll in seminars or writing classes, or read books on how to become a dynamic communicator. Remember, as the leader of your organization, you are the message of your company. Your walk, your talk and your level of writing ability will communicate to the world the caliber of your company.

Encouragement deals with you motivating the people you lead to pursue your vision along with you. As a leader, you have to learn how to equip your staff for the roles they will play within the organization. This is done through training and delegation. Your staff must be taught how to succeed within their positions. Then you must empower them to use the information they have received by delegating to them the responsible to doing the job correctly and the authority to get the job done. Responsible and authority must be given simultaneously and the authority must match the level of responsibility. You must encourage your people to take on tasks that will stretch their thinking and capabilities and utilize the training you have given them.

A leader is a perpetual learner. They are focused on self-development and personal growth. This discipline of continual learning will speak volumes to those within your organization. It shows that you understand that you don’t know it all. In order for your business to keep up with your market and competition, you must keep up with the changes. Leaders are readers. Commit to learning. We must learn about our competition, the up coming trends and fads, as well as the many changes that are occurring within the economy.

Are you practicing the five core disciplines of an effective leader? If you are ready for your organization to grow you must practice these necessary disciplines. Your integrity will declare that your enterprise operates at a high standard. When it comes to planning remember the old adage, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”. With your communication, continue to develop your ability to communicate your vision effectively. Encouraging the people within your organization through proper delegation will set your company apart from your competition. Finally, you must be a seeker of knowledge as you lead your organization down the path to greatness.

By: Stephen D. Owens © 2007

2007-10-30T08:31:00.001-07:00