ClearPurpose

As Christians, we know that our faith is integral to who we are and gets reflected in what we think, say, and do. But the world around us is skeptical. They have seen enough hypocrisy and mediocrity from within the Christian camp to not put much trust in anything we say and to be critical of everything we do. The way we operate our businesses must be consistent with the faith we profess, including love, grace, and integrity.

After Dean Burnside bought a pest control business in Florida, he worked to instill a missions-minded culture in the business. The company’s website lists their purpose as “to represent Jesus Christ to the Gulf Coast while providing peace of mind at a fair price, protecting our environment as the leader in green pest management, and serving others with excellence in all we do.” He defined the company culture around 6 HABITS: Humility; Attitude (positive); Being diligent; Integrity; Taking care of customers, community, and each other; and Sharing the good news. In time, Dean decided to rename the company Good News Pest Solutions. He tells me that not a day goes by without someone asking one of his employees “what’s the good news?” They all carry a pamphlet that shares the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ that they can share with anyone who asks.

Read my full article on what it means to operate our businesses knowing that the world is watching here.

Coaching legend John Wooden famously said “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” Sadly, many businessmen would rather live by the foolishness expressed by the TV character Al Bundy when he said “it’s only cheating if you get caught.”

The fourth attitude required for glorifying God with your business is that “God is always watching.” The world may pressure us to lie and cheat and steal and otherwise hurt our neighbors for our own gain, but that is not God’s way. God is watching. He wants what is best for us, and that best includes living by His standards.

Many academics say that the answer to improving business ethics is to help business leaders become fully rational in their decision making “in order to better align our behavior with our goals.”  It seems this will naturally lead to unethical behavior, not the opposite.

With society’s rejection of moral absolutes, the problem is getting worse. According to the 2024 American Worldview Inventory, 40% of Gen Xers, 55% of Millenials, and 66% of Gen Zers believe it is morally acceptable to do anything you desire as long as it doesn’t hurt another. “No harm, no foul,” their attitudes seem to say. For too many in business, right and wrong are defined by what best meets their personal needs.

Christians know that morality isn’t a relative personal choice depending on the situation, it is defined by God’s unchanging standards. God is always watching over us, but not as a “cosmic killjoy”. Yes, He is grieved by our sins, but He is also watching over us for our good. He cares, He loves, He protects, and He provides. 

To the sinner, God’s omnipresence (He is everywhere), omnipotence (all powerful) and omniscience (all knowing) should be terrifying. To the redeemed, there’s no greater comfort than knowing that God is always with us, is all powerful, and is working all things to our good.

Read the full story here.

One of the main motivations for many starting their own company or buying a business is that they become their own boss. Business owners quickly learn that this expectation is, at best, a half-truth since your business can quickly become a more demanding task-master than any human boss. I’m not surprised when a business owner tells me their title is something like “Owner/President/Lead Designer/Janitor”. And yet, there’s a sense of satisfaction, even joy, in seeing the business grow and create value for customers, employees, and the community.

Christians know that the world doesn’t revolve around us, that we are called to sacrificial love in serving others, and that we are called above all to serve God. As I serve customers, I am to do it with excellence and integrity, as if I were doing my work directly for the Lord. I’m not to be focused on doing what pleases worldly men, but rather I am to know that my true Master is watching and receiving my God-honoring work as a living sacrifice to Him.

Doing our work as to the Lord does not come naturally. All the forces of the world are aligned against it, encouraging us to be our own man, to take boastful pride in our accomplishments, to protect and pursue our self-interests. But as Christians, we are not our own. “And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

Read my full explanation of this attitude here.

How to Grow Your Small Business by Donald Miller provides a comprehensive architecture for building a business designed for growth. Every chapter introduces a new tool or framework to implement that architecture. (Regular readers know that I like tools and frameworks!) The author provides well written explanations of how to use the tools/frameworks with plenty of examples. 

You may not choose to implement all the tools, frameworks, and playbooks in How to Grow Your Small Business, but you’ll probably take something away from each one that will make you and your business more successful. I strongly recommend this book for any business leader.

Read my full review here.

The Friedman Doctrine, which says the greatest responsibility of business is to satisfy the business’ owners, has guided how companies operate for more than half a century. There’s some logic to this. The owners are the ones who have taken the greatest financial risk and therefore should reap the greatest financial reward. Especially when the business owner is active in a small business, this mindset is natural. If I’m in control, why would I sacrifice some of the benefit to myself for the benefit of another? From the world’s perspective, that would be foolishness.

But the Bible teaches us that God’s two greatest commands are to love Him and to love our neighbor. Loving our neighbors, in a Christ-like manner, requires an others-first mindset in our businesses. God not only requires this of us, but He promises that our sacrificial love will be rewarded. Those rewards might or might not come in a form that the world values, but they are precious rewards that are beyond measure.

Read my full article here on this tension and how we can deal with it in our businesses.

The definition of the phrase “business owner” is pretty obvious. It means “the person who owns a business”. By the world’s standards it seems foolish for a business owner to have the attitude that God, not them, owns their business. 

As Christians we are called to embrace the “unnatural” way of thinking, even if the world calls us foolish for it. We know that every good thing that we have is a gift from God and that we can accomplish nothing without God’s grace and favor. We publicly acknowledge our dependence on God, knowing that doing otherwise steals glory from God. We recognize that ultimately God owns everything, including our businesses. 

Living the reality that God owns it all, including my business, challenges me (in a good way) to think and act focused on God’s glory and my neighbor’s good. Doing so brings great freedom, peace of mind, and ultimately reward. What business owner could ask for more?

Read the full article here on what it means to embrace the attitude that God owns my business.

As one historic document put it, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. As Christians in business, most of the time we enjoy the work that God has given us, but one of the biggest questions we face is how we can glorify Him with our businesses. I believe that we can glorify God through the decisions we make in our work. That includes the big decisions (e.g. what customers to serve and what products to sell) and the seemingly small decisions we make every day (e.g. how do I respond to this e-mail from an unhappy customer?).

Although many business decisions seemingly involve logical analysis, decision making that consistently glorifies God flows from having a Godly character. And that character is developed through a set of habitual behaviors (or disciplines) intentionally focused on glorifying God and growing in Christlikeness. All of these things only happen if we have a mindset (i.e. attitudes) that values Biblical truths.

The article linked below kicks off a new series where I plan to write about the five attitudes, seven behaviors, nine character traits, and twelve impact-defining decisions that business owners can focus on in glorifying God with their business.

Read what these 33 different aspects are and my plans for the series here.

17 Reasons by Zane Tarence is the most practical book I’ve yet read to help business owners prepare for their exit from their business. If you expect to sell your business in the future, then you should understand the factors that drive buyers’ decisions. 17 Reasons explains these factors and tells business owners exactly what they need to do to make their businesses attractive to buyers and likely to successfully complete a transaction.

As a Value Catalyst, my job is to help clients identify and fix issues like these. 17 Reasons can be a very helpful tool in getting my clients to understand the challenges I’m point out to them. Since business owners are busy running their businesses. I bring the skills, tools, processes, and discipline to help them implement fixes like those recommended in this book.

I strongly recommend 17 Reasons to all business owners and their advisors.

Read my full review here.

I’ve been reworking my website to reflect my new focus on helping business owners prepare for their eventual exit. This week I came to the “About Us” page, which is always hard for me. Since the SDG in my company name stands for Soli Deo Gloria, it seems hypocritical to be bragging about my capabilities, but I know I need to explain to potential clients why they can trust me to be able to help them improve the performance, value, and alignment of their business.

Hopefully the video I came up with gives God the glory for the ways He has blessed me so that I can help business owners. You can watch it at my website at https://www.sdgstrategy.com/russ-story or if you’d rather read the script, you can find that here: https://clearpurpose.media/about-sdg-strategy-1dc2d202268a 

BuzzFeed has reportedly been trying to sell First We Feast, the makers of the highly popular YouTube show Hot Ones for $70M. Buyers are interested, but not at that price. Business owners thinking about eventually selling their own businesses could learn some important lessons from the company’s challenges.

BuzzFeed’s experience isn’t unique to big online businesses. According to data from business brokers, only 20–30% of businesses that go to market end up selling. The number one reason that sales fall through is that the business owner has unrealistic expectations of the value of their business. Often a business owner has heard of others selling a business for some multiple of revenues and assumes he can sell his business for a similar valuation. Often those rumored multiples are exaggerated, and every business is unique.

The challenges BuzzFeed faces in selling First We Feast are very similar to those faced by small business owners looking to sell the business they have nurtured and grown. How much a buyer is willing to pay is based on how much cash they think the business will generate in the future and how much risk there is in those forecasts. The three biggest issues facing First We Feast are the same three issues many family businesses face when looking to exit:

– Reliance on the owner and key employees

– Limited growth potential

– Reliability of financial forecasts

It may be too late for BuzzFeed to fix all the issues impacting how much they can get for First They Feast, but it’s not too late for small business owners to take steps to give potential buyers more confidence in the cash generating potential of their businesses. Value Catalysts like myself can help identify the issues that will hurt your valuation and can work with your team to address them one by one. It takes time (typically at least a couple of years) and focus, but the investment is worth it, often dramatically improving how much cash the business generates month after month and significantly increasing the value realized when you are ready to exit.

Let me know if you’d like to talk about how your business can create more value.

Read my full analysis of the BuzzFeed/First We Feast challenges here.