Important tips for Christians in business looking to build a successful business on biblical principles
One of the challenges facing many Christians in business is how to integrate their faith and business. Lots of Christian entrepreneurs question whether they can be successful in business if they stick to biblical principles.
Some struggle to grow their business because they don’t have the advice, resources, knowledge, tools, or experience they need to succeed. So in this post, I am going to share some of the most important pieces of advice for Christians in business so you can build a prosperous business without compromising your faith.
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The Best Pieces of Advice for Christians in Business
1. START WITH GOD
As a Christian, everything should begin and end with God, that’s why you need to make God the foundation of your business.
Seek his face each day, and always ask him for guidance. Don’t think anything is too small for him to handle or care about. Take all your cares to him and let his word be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. (Psalm119:105)
2. CHOOSE A BUSINESS IDEA WITH A GOOD CHANCE OF SUCCESS
If you’re already in business, this may not apply to you, but if you’re still in the start-up stage, make sure you choose a business idea that you can pull off. If there are similar or existing products, find a gap or underserved part of the market you can fill.
Unfortunately, not all ideas are profitable, so starting with a good idea is essential for your success. Lots of Christian entrepreneurs ignore this part when starting a business, but your idea is an important factor on whether your business will succeed or not.
3. COMMIT TO USING BIBLICAL BUSINESS PRINCIPLES
Make a commitment to yourself to remain faithful to God no matter what comes your way. There’ll be high points and low points in your entrepreneurial life, but you can weather the storm as long as you stay faithful to your calling.
Run your business with the word of God, and embrace Christian business values like honesty, loyalty, diligence and humility.
4. PREPARE YOURSELF MENTALLY, EMOTIONALLY AND FINANCIALLY
Running a business can be stressful, so be prepared for the grind. I know that God’s grace is sufficient, but you have to prepare yourself for what lies ahead.
Get your heart and mind in the right place. Have a plan for refreshing your mind, body, and soul periodically to avoid burnout. And don’t forget to prepare yourself financially.
Make sure you have enough funding for your business, and some money set aside for emergencies. You don’t want to run out of money when you run a business, since that may force you to make some unwise financial decisions.
5. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE AND INDUSTRY
Learn everything you can about your industry and potential customers. Carry out market research from time to time so you can stay ahead of the competition, and be aware of changes that are happening in your industry.
Sometimes customers change their buying habits and they may start looking for new products. Staying on top of things like this will position you for success since you’ll always be ahead of your competition, and can react or respond quickly to changes in the market.
6. BE KINGDOM FOCUSED
As Christians in business, our focus shouldn’t be only on material gain. See your business as a ministry and an opportunity to expand God’s kingdom. Work as unto the Lord and whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Your business shouldn’t be all about making as much money as you can, you should also focus on using your business to spread the gospel of Christ, so you can change lives.
7. BE ACCOUNTABLE
In a multitude of counselors, there’s safety, so don’t try to go it alone or think you’re the boss of your business and you don’t need to answer to anyone.
First, you’re accountable to God but you also need some people to hold you accountable. People who’ll challenge you to be better and call you out when you stray from the faith. So find a couple of people who are willing to hold you accountable. Make sure they are men or women of integrity, who are committed to walking in the truth.
When you are a business owner responsible for making all the decisions in your business, it’s easy to get carried away, so surrounding yourself with people who love you, want you to succeed and live a godly life is very important.
8. HAVE A GOOD IDEA OF HOW TO STAND OUT IN YOUR INDUSTRY
One of the reasons businesses fail is because they can’t find a way to stand out from the competition. When this happens, you can’t corner a slice of the market for yourself, so your business may end up struggling.
Take some time to create a unique selling proposition (USP) for your business, and figure out a way to gain a competitive advantage. Don’t just be another voice or another business. Be known for something.
9. KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO DO AND HAVE A PLAN
Do you know what to do to run a business? Do you know all the legal requirements of running a business? What are the most important tasks you need to focus on to grow your business?
What systems or processes do you need to run your business effectively? How are you going to attract new customers to your business? These are some of the important questions you need to answer if you want to run your business effectively. Figure out what you need to do or know, then create a plan for doing them.
When you run a business, ignorance isn’t an excuse for not complying with legal requirements, so make sure you know what is expected from you as a business owner.
10. PRAYER AND STUDYING GOD’S WORD REMAIN A PRIORITY
One of the biggest mistakes Christians in business make is neglecting the study of God’s word and prayers.
It’s true running a business takes up a lot of your time and energy, but you can’t put fellowship with God in the backburner and expect to grow spiritually.
If you want to run your business according to biblical principles, you must spend the time to learn what those principles are, and how they affect or apply to your business.
Praying and reading the Bible should be something you do daily Even if you have to wake up a bit early to spend some time with God, that’s exactly what you need to do. Don’t make the mistake of abandoning your spiritual life while you pursue material wealth. Remember it’s God who gives you the power to get wealth.
Related: 7 Daily Practices for Christian Business Owner
11. USE DEBT SPARINGLY
While debt is an acceptable form of financing your business, you should be wary of it and use it sparingly.
Many Christians in business believe that borrowing money is sinful. I don’t really subscribe to that, but I know the problems and pain debt can cause, so if you have other options to finance your business, you should use them instead.
Remember, the borrower is servant to the lender. Debt can cause a lot of stress and also eats into your profit. Before borrowing money, ask yourself a few questions like:
- Do I really need to borrow money to finance my business?
- How much do I need?
- Do I have a plan to pay off the loan?
- How long is it going to take to repay this debt?
- Is there an alternative to borrowing?
Asking these questions will force you to think carefully before taking out loans to finance your business.
12. AVOID PROCRASTINATION
Procrastination can be a dream killer so avoid it as much as you can.
Don’t put off work that can be done today for another day. Staying productive should be a priority for you especially if you’re a small business owner. Since you are going to be wearing a lot of hats, it’s very important to stay on top of your work. Good time management skills is essential.
Yes, there are going to be some tasks you don’t like (maybe marketing), but they still need to be done. So don’t delay taking action if you can avoid it. Procrastination steals your time because tasks take longer to complete and this, in turn, diminishes your output.
So be about your business and give no place to laziness or unnecessary delays.
13. YOU NEED WISDOM
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (James 1:5)
One bad decision can be the difference between success and failure in business, that’s why you need wisdom.
The good news is, if you lack wisdom, you can ask God who’s willing to grant you wisdom generously. You need wisdom to make good management and financial decisions for your business. Wisdom makes you confident in your ability to make the right decisions.
Many business owners have made foolish decisions because they lacked knowledge or expertise, but you can avoid all that if you learn how to make smart decisions.
Wisdome comes from God, so ask him for it if you think you lack wisdom.
14. YOUR FAMILY DOESN’T TAKE A BACK SEAT
Lots of families have been wrecked because of the ambitions of one spouse or family member. It’s good to be ambitious. There’s nothing wrong with spending time on your business, but you shouldn’t sacrifice your family relationships for it.
You can run a successful Christian business without sacrificing your family or peace for that matter. Let everything you do be done in moderation.
There’s a time for work and a time for spending time with your family. Don’t expect your spouse or kids to understand that the reason you can’t spend time with them is because of your business. Even if they understand at first, sooner or later, they may start to resent you and your business.
So be very wary of this. Don’t ruin your family life for your business.
15. YOUR CHURCH FAMILY IS ALSO IMPORTANT
Along the same lines, don’t neglect fellowship with other believers. It’s true you can worship God on your own or with your family, but isn’t it nice and pleasant when you fellowship with your brothers and sisters Christ?
Don’t you just love it when you’re in the midst of people who have come together to worship and honor God? I enjoy praising God, singing hymns, glorifying God, and learning about him with others.
I know there may be seasons in your life when things can become hectic, but as much as it’s within your power, do not forsake the assembly of the saints. Your church family can lift you up and share your burden in tough times, so keep yourself connected to a local church and community of believers.
16. CHRISTIANS IN BUSINESS SHOULD COMMIT TO EXCELLENCE
Let us be like Daniel who possessed an excellent spirit. Which means, we should keep working on ourselves, improving ourselves, and making sure we never get tired of learning.
Try to be the best at what you do. Committing to excellence means you take pride in your work. While you’re not necessarily a perfectionist, you recognize the importance of doing good work and putting in your best effort.
Which means producing the best products that you can. Giving the best services that you can. Serving your customers or clients to the best of your ability.
When you have an excellent spirit, you don’t rest on past accomplishments because you know there’s still a lot to be done and achieved, so you keep working, growing, and becoming better.
17. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE
Working with the right people can make a big difference to your business, so be very mindful of the company you keep.
Hire and do business with only the right people. Now, the right people doesn’t mean they have to be Christians. There are lots of decent people who are not Christians. However, just like everything else, use your discretion.
You need people who share your vision and are committed to it. You don’t need yes men, or people who won’t speak up if they think you are in error. What you need are people who are hardworking and skilled at what they do. You also need people who share the same values as you.
18. PATIENCE IS ONE OF THE KEYS TO SUCCESS
As a business owner, you should have a long-term focus for your business. Since you’re not likely to be an overnight success, having a long-term focus is the best way to avoid stress and anxiety.
When you’re patient, you’re unlikely to be a victim of scams and get rich quick schemes.
There are lots of stories about quick successes and breakthroughs, but that’s not the norm, and you can’t believe everything you hear. so be patient, work hard on your business, and know the results will come in due course.
Don’t be hasty to get rich because that is a quick way to land yourself in trouble.
19. MAKE SOMETHING USEFUL PEOPLE WANT
Here’s the truth. Your customers don’t care about you or your business (in a general sense of course). What they care about is how you can help them. If your product can’t help them solve their problems, they are going to keep moving until they find something they need.
So your focus should be on making something useful that addresses a real pain point. Don’t get bogged down with all the fancy stuff and branding. If your product isn’t useful, no amount of packaging or branding is going to save it.
Sooner or later, word is going to get out that your product or service doesn’t deliver what it claims, and you will end up losing customers.
Remember one of the biblical principles of marketing is honesty. Don’t mislead people or make promises you can’t keep. An easy fix is to make sure what you offer matches your promise.
Be a man or woman of your word.
20. OUTSOURCE AND DELEGATE TASKS WHEN YOU CAN
When money is tight, you feel like you have to do every single thing. The problem is when you try to do every little thing in your business, you may end us neglecting some of the most important tasks.
Are there tasks you don’t enjoy or aren’t good at? Can you outsource them or delegate them to someone who can do a better job? Outsourcing tasks means you can free up some time to work on the tasks with the highest return on investment like marketing, creating new products, and planning.
If you can’t afford to outsource or hire some help right now, keep it at the back of mind, and know that it’s okay to let some things go. You don’t have to do every single thing for your business.
Below are some helpful articles on the benefits of outsourcing. Check them out.
20 Advantages and Disadvantages of Outsourcing from Your Small Business
21. CREATE A MARKETING STRATEGY
I don’t have much to say here since I wrote a whole article on marketing yesterday. All I have to say is marketing your business isn’t optional if you want to be successful.
Marketing isn’t everyone’s favorite thing to do but it’s essential for the survival of your business. If you don’t know where to start from, check out the post below for some help creating a marketing strategy.
Related: How to Create an Effective Christian Business Marketing Strategy
22. BE ORGANIZED
Being organized can increase your productivity by a lot so make it a priority.
It’s true you don’t need to be organized to run a business, but why would you want to waste precious time being disorganized? Disorganization can land you in trouble and could be costly. Imagine missing deadlines for submitting a proposal, renewing a license, or filing your taxes. All these can be very costly for your business.
It doesn’t take much to be organized. All you need to do is to reduce clutter, have a place for everything, and use calendars, planners, or to-do lists to keep track of appointments and deadlines.
Sound easy enough doesn’t it?
23. YOU NEED A BUSINESS PLANNER
Luckily for you, I have a post on how to create a simple Christian business plan.
This post tells you some of the reasons why a business plan is essential for your business. It doesn’t matter what kind of business you own or how long you’ve been in business, it can still benefit from having one.
If you don’t have a business plan, consider creating one for your business. You can create a simple one in a couple of hours, so why not give it a try?
24. MANAGE YOR FINANCES LIKE A BOSS
Financial mismanagement can sink your business faster than anything else, so you want to keep a close eye on this.
Even if you outsource the bookkeeping and other financial tasks, you’re still responsible for your business finances, so pay close attention to it. Also, it’s important to know the important numbers in your business like how much is coming in and going out.
You always want to be cash flow positive so make sure you know your numbers. Use a budget to keep your spending under control, and don’t invest in things you don’t understand or things that sound too good to be true.
25. TRACK EVERYTHING IN YOUR BUSINESS
If you want to know how your business is doing, you have to learn to track everything.
Do you know where most of your customers come from? Is your business financially healthy? How many units of your products did you sell last month? The only way to know how your business is doing and what’s happening in your business is to track everything.
Know your best-selling products and the losers. Know where most of your profit and customers are coming from. Figure out the systems and processes that work and discard those that don’t.
This is how you keep your business efficient and running smoothly.
Final Thoughts on The Best Pieces of Advice for Christians in Business
Phew! I know this is a lot of information to take in at once but I wanted to share some of the best business tips I have learned, so you can apply them to your business too.
Christians in business face lots of challenges, so I hope these pieces of advice can help you avoid some of the problems of entrepreneurship, and serve as a guide for you, as you continue to build your business.
Which of these pieces of advice for Christians in business resonated with you the most?
Related Christian business advice posts
7 Christian Business Advice to Boost Your Sales and Profit
How to Prosper in Business as a Christian (5 Assets You Need to Build a Prosperous Business)
The Best Pieces of Advice for Christians in Business
