Are you wondering how to succeed in business as a Christian?
When I decided to become an entrepreneur many years ago, one of the questions that kept me up at night was “can a Christian be successful in business if they stick to biblical principles?”
Like all entrepreneurs, many Christians want to be successful in business, but some are not too sure what God says about business success, and if it’s right to desire it.
These are great questions to ask if you are a Christian business owner because you don’t want to spend years working on your business, and feel like you are toiling in vain. No one wants to be in that position.
I know a few business owners who gave up on their dreams because they couldn’t make their business work after years of trying, and I don’t want to see that happen to anyone.
So if you have been wondering how to be a successful business owner, I have a few tips to share with you, that can take you to the next level in your business.
First, let’s address some questions that you may have.
CAN A CHRISTIAN BE SUCCESSFUL IN BUSINESS?
I know many Christians are unsure if they can be successful in business if they follow biblical principles. So the answer to the question “can a christian be successful in business?” is a resounding yes.
If non-Christians can be successful in business, there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t be successful. As long as you work hard on your business and have a plan for your business.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT SUCCESS IN BUSINESS?
The Bible has a lot to say about success in business. For example, in Psalm 90:17, we read “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!”
In Deuteronomy 28:12, the Bible says “The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.” and finally in Proverbs 14: 23, we are told “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”
These scriptures clearly demonstrate that God blesses our work and the labor of our hands, including our businesses. While these bible verses don’t mention the word “business”, it’s not a stretch to say that they refer to all our endeavors and undertakings.
Now, let’s dive into what you can do to succeed as a Christian business owner.
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How to Be Successful in Business As a Christian
1. DEFINE WHAT SUCCESS MEANS TO YOU
Before you can achieve success in your business, you must start by defining what success is. What does success mean to you? How will you know when you achieve it?
Another reason why you should define what success means to you is, it would help you to set business goals, and show you where to focus your energy, so you can achieve them.
Note that your definition of success doesn’t have to be set in stone. It can change depending on whatever stage you are in your business. So feel free to change your definition of success at anytime.
Let me break this down a little bit.
Now, let’s say you are a new Christian business owner, success for you might be earning $1000 or $2000 a month within the first six months. Or if you’re a service-based business, maybe success is getting your first twenty clients.
How you define success should be personal to you. There’s no one size fits all in business. Set your own metrics, and use them to determine whether you’re successful or not.
2. SOLVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM AND BE AN EXPERT
You want to know how to succeed in business as a Christian? Then, make sure your business solves a specific problem.
If you try to solve lots of problems, you are going to have a hard time or a longer time achieving success. But, when you hone in on one thing and become the expert, success becomes easier to achieve.
Be known for something. One thing. Be the go-to person or business for a particular problem. For example, don’t be a marketing strategist. Be a marketing strategist for new female entrepreneurs. Don’t be a business coach, be a business coach for realtors or online business owners.
One of the mistakes many Christian entrepreneurs make is they are all over the place. They think casting a wide net is the way to go, but what happens is, they end up diluting their marketing message, so it becomes difficult to know what they do, or whom they serve.
Along the same lines, make sure you create or offer something that’s useful and helpful to your customers. In other words, offer what people want, and solve their problem.
Related: Top 9 Tips for Christian Entrepreneurs (To Improve and Grow Your Business)
3. HAVE AN EFFECTIVE MARKETING STRATEGY
I am going to be real honest with you. I don’t like marketing or selling. It doesn’t come naturally to me, but I know it’s an essential part of any business, so I must do it.
It’s nice if you love marketing and selling, but you don’t have to love it to do it or be good at it. So the fact you don’t like marketing isn’t an excuse to ignore it.
It’s going to be difficult to become a successful business owner if no one knows that you exist. No matter how good your products or services are, if people don’t know about them, then you’re not going to sell them or earn money from your effort.
There are lots of ways to market your business, but some marketing strategies are more effective than others. What works for one business may not work for you, so it’s up to you to do your research (with some trial and error), so you can come up with an effective marketing strategy for your business.
Some of the most common marketing strategies include:
- Content marketing
- Email marketing
- Search engine optimization
- Social media marketing
- Paid ads
- Video Marketing
- Referral or affiliate programs
Usually, the most effective marketing strategy combines two or more of these strategies. Here is a helpful article on marketing strategies for you to check out. 10 Marketing Strategies to Fuel Your Business Growth
If you don’t have a marketing strategy for your business, start working on it today, if you truly want to be a successful Christian business owner.
Want some more tips to help you build a successful business? Grab a copy of my free cheat sheet, Essentials for a Successful Christian Business.
4. YOU NEED GOOD MONEY MANAGEMENT SKILLS
I know I have said this a few times, but no matter how good you are in business, if you don’t have good financial skills, you’re going to fail.
There’s a reason so many people earn good money but are still broke. Same thing with lots of businesses that appear to be doing well, but end up failing. A lot of times it comes down to financial mismanagement.
When you have good money management skills, you know how to produce your goods in a cost-effective way, and how to manage your business in a cost-effective manner.
With good financial skills, you will know how to price your products for maximum profits, what to invest in, and how to keep your expenses low, so your business can be profitable.
Having good money management skills means you know how to set both revenue and profitability goals for your business, so you can keep your business financially healthy.
Understanding your business finances, and your numbers will help you to become successful, so don’t ignore this very important skill.
Finally, all of these skills can be learned, so there’s no need to feel downcast if you don’t have them.
5. BE TRUSTWORTHY AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS
Trust is an essential quality of a good business woman, and it’s even more so if you’re a Christian. One of your most important tasks as a Christian entrepreneur is to build trust. Trust between you and your customers, and between you and your employees or partners (if you have them).
Yes, I know there are lots of successful people who used questionable means to gain their wealth, but these people are not your role models. I know there’s a saying that “no good deed goes unpunished,” and sometimes it feels that way, but we can’t allow that to get in the way of building trust.
So, don’t worry about it if it looks like people are taking advantage of you. While you can’t control what other people do, you can certainly control your actions. Which means, if you want to succeed you must be trustworthy.
Take care of your customers. Repeat customers are essential for business growth and success. It’s easier to get an existing customer to buy from you than it is to convince a new one.
Let your customers know they can count on you. If you claim your product can solve a specific problem, make sure your claim is true. Your marketing message must be honest, and don’t make promises that you know you can’t keep. Customer loyalty can really make a difference to your business.
Also, being trustworthy means, you pay your bills when they are due, and you conduct your business in a way that honors God. This isn’t always easy, but it’s what we must strive for!
6. HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN BUSINESS AS A CHRISTIAN: OFFER VALUE TO YOUR CUSTOMERS
Don’t you just love it when a business or business owner treats you with respect, and makes your customer experience so nice you can’t wait to be back? Conversely, if you’ve ever had a poor customer experience, you know how bad or angry that made you feel.
As a Christian business owner, your duty is to provide value to your customers. You want to make every interaction with you or your business a memorable one, so your customers can keep coming back for more.
The good thing is, there are lots of ways you can provide value to your customers, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t it.
Here are some examples:
- Understand the needs of your customers so you can tailor your products or services to meet them. This is a great strategy to retain existing customers and acquire new ones.
- Focus on customer satisfaction. I belong to a few Facebook groups, and one of the things that come up often is people buying expensive products that failed to live up to their expectations. Of course, everyone isn’t going to be happy with you, but if you advertise your product as something, then make sure you deliver on that promise. A satisified customer is a happy customer, and probably a customer for life!
- Make the customer experience nice, and as stress free as possible. Don’t make your customers jump through hoops to purchase from you. Don’t make contacting you such a big hassle (especially when they have a complaint). If you make every expeience with a customer a memorable one for them, I assure you they will keep coming back.
There are lots of ways you can add value to your cutomers, so put on your thinking hat.
Related: Top 9 Tips for Christian Entrepreneurs (To Improve and Grow Your Business)
7. BE PREPARED TO MAKE SACRIFICES
We can’t talk about how to be successful in business as a Christian, without talking about the importance of making sacrifices.
Like most people, my natural tendency is to hope or expect big results with the least amount of effort. It would be nice if things were that easy, but nothing good comes easily.
One of the reasons people fail is because they quit too soon. Now don’t get me wrong, there are times when pivoting or giving up on an idea is the best or smartest thing to do. But, that isn’t what I am talking about here. What I am talking about, is the tendency of not dedicating one’s self to a venture, then quitting because things didn’t work out.
If you want to succeed in business as a Christian, you must be willing to make sacrifices. You have to sacrifice your time, your money and other resources because there’s no other way around this.
Of course, you must be careful to avoid burnout, but be ready to spend countless hours on your business, if you want to succeed. You may have to sacrifice sleep, time with your family and friends. You may have to give up some of your hobbies (at least for a time) to build a successful business.
Building a successful business takes time, sacrifices and hardwork. It’s a marathon not a sprint, so prepare yourself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually for the journey ahead.
8. KNOW YOUR COMPETITION
I believe you can’t fight what you don’t know. Not to say you should be fighting your competition, but you need to know who they are.
Study your competition very well to see what they do well or what they do poorly, and how you can improve on what they are doing. Get inspiration and ideas from them without copying them.
Now, I am not saying you should spend all your waking moments stalking your competitors or monitoring what they are doing, but it’s good business practice to keep an eye on the competiton.
Healthy rivalry is good and I encourage it. What I don’t encourage is toxic rivalry where you try to tear the competition down or you’re just plain malicious.
You can be inspired by your competitors, and you can always look for ways to improve on what they are doing when it makes sense for your business.
9. HAVE FAITH
Just like in your Christian life, you need faith to get ahead in your business. Faith in a good God. Faith that if you are diligent, you’re going to see the reward.
From the moment you decided to become an entrepreneur, you took a step of faith, and you need that faith to keep going, especially in the tough moments.
You have to believe that everything is going to work out for your good. You have to be confident in yourself and your abilities to run a business successfully. You must believe that you have what to it takes to succeed.
So many entrepreneurs are held back by low confidence and fear. They make decisions based on fear, and not data or research. But, that’s the wrong way to go about things. Don’t let limiting beliefs or the fear of failure hold you back or stop you from reaching your full potential.
So, have faith, put your head down and keep working on your business, trusting the reward is going to come soon enough.
Last Thoughts on How to Be Successful in Business As a Christian
You can be successful in business as a Christian if you work hard and know what you are doing. As a Christian entrepreneur, you should strive to use biblical business principles to grow your business, and trust the process.
There are lots of other tips you can use in your business, but I hope the ones in this post can be useful to you. Remember, nothing works unless you do. So make sure you start implementing these ideas into your business if you want to see results.
Have you ever wondered how to succeed in business as a Christian?
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