WEBVTT 00:00.631 --> 00:04.872 [SPEAKER_01]: You are listening to Blessed and Boston, presented by Anchor DeMedia. 00:05.493 --> 00:11.535 [SPEAKER_01]: In entrepreneurship podcasts for Christians, all about how to make God the CEO of your business. 00:12.135 --> 00:19.297 [SPEAKER_01]: Get ready to be inspired, challenged, but well equipped to live and build your destiny, his way. 00:28.958 --> 00:32.460 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of The Blessed Embossed Up of Podcast. 00:33.480 --> 00:49.468 [SPEAKER_00]: So over the last week, I have been feeling terrible, I've had a cold, I thought that I was one of the men and I was getting ready to record an episode on Sunday and then I started coughing up the storm and now I could barely talk for the so long without coughing. 00:49.488 --> 00:52.069 [SPEAKER_00]: So I am going to rest. 00:52.649 --> 00:58.891 [SPEAKER_00]: versus trying to push myself and pausing every minute or two to call, I'm going to rest this week. 00:59.071 --> 01:05.314 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to put out a one or two replay episodes because we didn't have an episode last week. 01:05.894 --> 01:11.276 [SPEAKER_00]: One of my favorite things about this show being out for almost 10 years is the fact that we have so many episodes to pull from. 01:11.656 --> 01:14.317 [SPEAKER_00]: And I usually intentionally try to pull from episodes 01:18.118 --> 01:26.721 [SPEAKER_00]: It feels new even if you heard it before, because one thing we know is that God's Word is never still, is never old. 01:27.181 --> 01:34.123 [SPEAKER_00]: And I believe that when we do these repost episodes, he always has a way of bringing the exact message back. 01:34.823 --> 01:39.704 [SPEAKER_00]: when it needs to be repeated and there's one that has been top of mine all day for me. 01:40.164 --> 01:41.124 [SPEAKER_00]: So I need to go locate it. 01:41.144 --> 01:47.285 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember what year this one came out, but I do remember it was like a January episode that I really loved doing. 01:47.305 --> 01:53.946 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to repost that one now and then we'll pull another one for later in the week and prayerfully by next week. 01:54.847 --> 02:00.088 [SPEAKER_00]: My call will be gone and I will be ready to record the new episodes I have for you. 02:03.177 --> 02:06.979 [SPEAKER_00]: I can't wait to really dive in and finish my notes on them so that we can record them. 02:07.619 --> 02:09.540 [SPEAKER_00]: So thank you guys so much for your patience. 02:09.621 --> 02:10.341 [SPEAKER_00]: I love y'all. 02:10.381 --> 02:12.342 [SPEAKER_00]: Please enjoy this repeat episode. 02:12.802 --> 02:16.384 [SPEAKER_01]: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of The Blessed Embossed Up Podcasts. 02:16.704 --> 02:20.747 [SPEAKER_01]: And this is another installment of our Bible on Business Series. 02:21.067 --> 02:26.129 [SPEAKER_01]: The title today's episode is that Kingdom Entrepreneurs are Disrupters. 02:27.410 --> 02:34.701 [SPEAKER_01]: Over the last few weeks we've had some really pivotal episodes and shout out to everybody who has messaged me whether it's on social media. 02:34.821 --> 02:41.952 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm in an off social media face right now, but every now and then I'll log on just to check my messages to make sure I'm not missing anything. 02:42.552 --> 02:47.614 [SPEAKER_01]: And as I've done that, I've seen some of your posts or emails and messages. 02:47.694 --> 02:50.695 [SPEAKER_01]: So I really just thank you for your support of this show. 02:50.715 --> 02:57.857 [SPEAKER_01]: If the show is blessed you, please leave us a five-star review because that just helps people know what we got going on over here. 02:57.877 --> 02:59.738 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot of Christian content out here. 03:00.078 --> 03:02.839 [SPEAKER_01]: And I believe that what God is doing and blessed and bossed up. 03:03.199 --> 03:06.420 [SPEAKER_01]: It's been different since we started almost eight years ago. 03:07.583 --> 03:10.565 [SPEAKER_01]: Whew, we gonna talk about that when the anniversary comes up. 03:10.925 --> 03:18.009 [SPEAKER_01]: But it's been different since starting this show, but I believe this Bible on business series has really been something special. 03:18.369 --> 03:22.751 [SPEAKER_01]: And even us introducing our new booklet, pick leadership as an identity. 03:22.811 --> 03:26.293 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just excited about what God is doing on this platform. 03:26.553 --> 03:29.235 [SPEAKER_01]: And I wanna get this message out to as many people as possible. 03:29.295 --> 03:36.499 [SPEAKER_01]: So share the podcast, share the episodes that resonate with you the most with your communities, your family, your friends. 03:37.079 --> 03:37.800 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much. 03:37.920 --> 03:38.481 [SPEAKER_01]: I love you guys. 03:38.521 --> 03:39.222 [SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate it. 03:39.903 --> 03:40.223 [SPEAKER_01]: All right. 03:40.243 --> 03:44.448 [SPEAKER_01]: So in today's episode, we are going to be in the book of Acts. 03:44.469 --> 03:49.455 [SPEAKER_01]: And I found this particular text we're going to be specifically in Acts 19 23 through 32. 03:52.118 --> 04:03.506 [SPEAKER_01]: To give a little context, this story describes a moment in the city of Ephesus when the Apostle Paul's ministry sparks a really big reaction amongst local business owners. 04:04.127 --> 04:21.360 [SPEAKER_01]: It reveals how his ministry impacted things economically and spiritually and it shows or introduces the tension between the early Christians and these pagan religious practices specifically surrounding idol making because that's what their business was all about. 04:22.040 --> 04:28.663 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, believe this text is relevant to us as entrepreneurs because it shows that we are going to be disruptors. 04:28.743 --> 04:37.487 [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of things that we're going to discuss about what was happening in the city of Ephesus and their idolatry and all that they were into to me is very similar to 04:38.908 --> 04:51.995 [SPEAKER_01]: different idolatry and even a cultic practices that we see in the business world and if we're going to have these pure kingdom businesses what's going to come from it or come with it is going to be a lot of disruption. 04:52.595 --> 05:01.939 [SPEAKER_01]: People are going to have strong reactions to that disruption and I believe that this is a great way to prepare us for the inevitable because this is speaking about a riot in 05:03.240 --> 05:24.133 [SPEAKER_01]: whatever a riot may mean for our journey may be different, but I still believe that there are some practical and important implications in this text that we need to keep in mind as we are building our businesses and also there's hope in this text because as we're going to see the Lord kept Paul even in the midst of this riot breaking loose. 05:24.693 --> 05:42.531 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, before we read the specific passage, I think it's important for us to just give a bit more context about Paul's impacted ministry in Ephesus as a whole so that we can truly understand the context and the times that we find ourselves in once we get to chapter 19, verse 23. 05:44.413 --> 06:01.783 [SPEAKER_01]: So, to give you some background, Paul's ministering emphasis as described in Acts 18 through 20, it represents one of the most significant and influential missions, both in terms of the time that he spent there, which was about three years, and the profound impact that it had on the local community. 06:02.283 --> 06:14.458 [SPEAKER_01]: and the wider region of Asia Minor, Ephesus, which is a major city in the Roman Empire, was not only an economic hub, but it was a center of pagan worship, most notably of the goddess of Artemis. 06:14.918 --> 06:17.301 [SPEAKER_01]: The culture was saturated with idol worship, 06:18.306 --> 06:31.511 [SPEAKER_01]: magical practices in a cultism and it created this environment that both resisted and at the same time attracted Paul's message, especially because at the time Paul was performing a lot of miracles. 06:31.571 --> 06:32.491 [SPEAKER_01]: There was one part. 06:32.971 --> 06:34.892 [SPEAKER_01]: I can't remember where exactly it was. 06:35.252 --> 06:42.675 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to say chapter earlier on in chapter 19, but it was funny because there were some Jewish people who were going around trying to 06:43.115 --> 06:46.277 [SPEAKER_01]: cast out demons and do the same thing that they were seeing a poll do. 06:46.897 --> 06:52.480 [SPEAKER_01]: And the Dana responded back to the Jewish person was like, I know Jesus, I know Paul, but who are you? 06:53.020 --> 06:54.181 [SPEAKER_01]: I found that to be so funny. 06:54.861 --> 07:02.966 [SPEAKER_01]: But I believe that even though this area, they resisted his message, of course, because it was talking, he was talking about the Lord, 07:03.626 --> 07:29.099 [SPEAKER_01]: And also attracted them because they were attracted to miracles similar to how when I think we did the episode on losing 83% or something like that but I was talking about how Jesus had finished doing all of these miracles and he drew in all of these disciples because they like to see these miracles they wanted to see more they were attracted to what he was doing but then once he started talking about. 07:29.819 --> 07:36.023 [SPEAKER_01]: the depth of his message beyond the miracle signs and wonders they weren't trying to hear it because they couldn't understand it. 07:36.083 --> 07:44.409 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I believe it's these same tendencies that we see in a city of Ephesus that were drawn in, but also resisted. 07:45.289 --> 07:49.552 [SPEAKER_01]: Nevertheless, Paul's ministry was extremely impactful. 07:50.213 --> 07:56.517 [SPEAKER_01]: During his time in Ephesus, Paul initially preached in the synagogue as he often did whenever he entered a new city. 07:56.877 --> 08:00.540 [SPEAKER_01]: However, after facing some opposition with some of the Jewish leaders, 08:01.200 --> 08:04.603 [SPEAKER_01]: He shifted his teaching base to Elector Hall. 08:05.123 --> 08:07.445 [SPEAKER_01]: This space allowed Paul to teach daily. 08:07.885 --> 08:10.167 [SPEAKER_01]: He was reaching both Jews and Greeks. 08:10.668 --> 08:17.453 [SPEAKER_01]: And his teachings became widely known and scripture notes that are residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord. 08:17.513 --> 08:19.995 [SPEAKER_01]: And we see that in Acts 19 and 10. 08:20.335 --> 08:25.640 [SPEAKER_01]: And this indicates that his message reached far beyond this city limits that he was in. 08:26.140 --> 08:37.431 [SPEAKER_01]: And this extended period of teaching again about three years allowed him to disciple any quit believers strengthening their faith in enabling them to share the gospel with others in the region. 08:38.264 --> 08:47.151 [SPEAKER_01]: One of the most notable impacts of Paul's ministry was the transformation that he had amongst those who were involved in magic and occultic practices. 08:47.852 --> 08:58.721 [SPEAKER_01]: After they witnessed God's power through Paul, many of them confessed their practices and they publicly burned their expensive scrolls and books of magic and an active repentance. 08:59.141 --> 09:01.983 [SPEAKER_01]: So this truly symbolized their dedication 09:04.025 --> 09:12.228 [SPEAKER_01]: Acts 19, 19 says, a number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. 09:12.648 --> 09:16.489 [SPEAKER_01]: The value of these books was several million dollars. 09:17.129 --> 09:18.630 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, talk about fruit. 09:18.790 --> 09:20.250 [SPEAKER_01]: Paul was getting a job done. 09:20.511 --> 09:21.431 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, you hear me? 09:22.371 --> 09:28.933 [SPEAKER_01]: And his ministry even directly impacted the local economy, particularly those that were profiting from idol worship. 09:28.953 --> 09:30.014 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what we're going to get 09:34.057 --> 09:38.718 [SPEAKER_01]: Paul's ministry laid the foundation for a strong, vibrant and church in this city. 09:39.038 --> 09:44.120 [SPEAKER_01]: His work led to the formation of a Christian community that continued to thrive even after he left. 09:44.680 --> 10:00.625 [SPEAKER_01]: Later, Paul's letter to the Ephesians in the account of the Ephesian church in the book of Revelation illustrates that the believers and Ephesus grew into a significant Christian community that influenced that region for years and years to come. 10:01.225 --> 10:12.452 [SPEAKER_01]: So as we can see Paul's ministry is shook up their society, it challenged their cultural norms by challenging their religious practices, it's a societal values. 10:12.972 --> 10:19.115 [SPEAKER_01]: He showed them that the gospel isn't limited by or conform to whatever culture that they have going on. 10:19.676 --> 10:27.120 [SPEAKER_01]: He showed how Christianity can disrupt economic systems that are rooted in sinful practices, that tension, 10:30.962 --> 10:47.226 [SPEAKER_01]: the gospel can impact even the foundational economic systems of a community, because the challenge is greed, exploitation, and idolatry, and we're going to get to that and our main message of this episode, but he also showed them that spiritual warfare is real. 10:47.766 --> 10:58.388 [SPEAKER_01]: He demonstrated through his work that true faith and Christ equips you to confront and overcome spiritual forces in a way that their worldly practices like magic simply can. 10:59.613 --> 11:08.862 [SPEAKER_01]: When I read all of this and go through the work and the impact of Paul's Ministry and Ephesus, the one word that comes to mind is legacy. 11:09.923 --> 11:14.487 [SPEAKER_01]: We should all aspire for our businesses to have this type of impact. 11:15.148 --> 11:31.554 [SPEAKER_01]: to where we're challenging cultural norms, we're winning souls for the kingdom of God, to where we're confronting idolatry and sin and bringing people to a place of repentance, to where when we lead, it's not about Paul is so great, but it's Christ is so great. 11:31.774 --> 11:35.575 [SPEAKER_01]: People aren't chanting His name, they're chanting Jesus. 11:36.335 --> 11:43.818 [SPEAKER_01]: And as I read this and I meditated on it, I wanted it to be the subject of today's episode, because I see this as wisdom. 11:44.710 --> 11:47.713 [SPEAKER_01]: Man, God, this book, y'all, is so rich. 11:47.833 --> 11:48.915 [SPEAKER_01]: I can't say it enough. 11:49.035 --> 11:51.297 [SPEAKER_01]: The Bible is so rich. 11:51.998 --> 11:55.822 [SPEAKER_01]: Wisdom is not just in Proverbs and in Ecclesiastes. 11:56.062 --> 11:58.465 [SPEAKER_01]: Wisdom is all through the text. 11:58.945 --> 12:04.911 [SPEAKER_01]: And Paul left us some really, really good wisdom here as we are going to disrupt in our own ways. 12:05.772 --> 12:15.902 [SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to be building these businesses in this world that is full of idolatry, just like Ephesus, that's full of a cult practices, just like Ephesus. 12:16.162 --> 12:23.689 [SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to disrupt these systems and think that they're not going to react strongly. 12:24.610 --> 12:35.042 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a part of this life, but we have this wisdom here so that we can take things these things into consideration as we are continuing to build and plan for our businesses. 12:35.342 --> 12:37.164 [SPEAKER_01]: So let's go to Acts 19. 12:37.925 --> 12:43.831 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to read from verse 23 through 32 and this is the new living translation. 12:45.092 --> 12:52.917 [SPEAKER_01]: It says about that time, serious trouble developed in Ephesus concerning the way and the way is referring to the Christian life. 12:53.477 --> 13:01.041 [SPEAKER_01]: It began with Demetrius, a silver smith who had a large business manufacturing silver shrine of the Greek goddess Artemis. 13:01.621 --> 13:03.603 [SPEAKER_01]: He kept many craftsmen busy. 13:04.183 --> 13:09.126 [SPEAKER_01]: He called them together along with others employed in similar trades and addressed them as follows. 13:13.428 --> 13:20.090 [SPEAKER_01]: But as you have seen and heard, this man Paul has persuaded many people that hand-made gods aren't really gods at all. 13:20.530 --> 13:25.031 [SPEAKER_01]: And he's done this not only here in Ephesus, but throughout the entire province. 13:25.651 --> 13:29.592 [SPEAKER_01]: Of course, I'm not talking about the loss of public respect for our business. 13:29.952 --> 13:40.534 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm also concerned that the Temple of the Great Goddess Artemis will lose its influence and that Artemis, the magnificent goddess worship throughout the province of Asia and all around 13:43.816 --> 13:49.282 [SPEAKER_01]: At this, their anger boiled, in a began shouting, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. 13:49.783 --> 13:52.166 [SPEAKER_01]: Soon the whole city was filled with confusion. 13:52.626 --> 14:01.237 [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone rushing to the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus who were paused traveling companions from Macedonia. 14:01.817 --> 14:05.118 [SPEAKER_01]: Paul wanted to go in too, but the believers wouldn't let him. 14:05.678 --> 14:13.880 [SPEAKER_01]: Some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, also sent a message to him, begging him not to risk his life by entering the amphitheater. 14:14.741 --> 14:20.202 [SPEAKER_01]: Inside the people were all shouting, some one thing, some another, everyone was in confusion. 14:20.422 --> 14:22.943 [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, most of them didn't even know why they were there. 14:23.543 --> 14:26.846 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna keep reading all the way to the end so I don't just stop in the middle of the story. 14:27.386 --> 14:31.890 [SPEAKER_01]: The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward and told him to explain the situation. 14:32.230 --> 14:40.356 [SPEAKER_01]: He motioned for silence and tried to speak, but when the crowd realized he was the Jew, they started shouting again and kept it up for about two hours. 14:40.917 --> 14:42.998 [SPEAKER_01]: Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. 14:43.098 --> 14:44.880 [SPEAKER_01]: Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. 14:45.440 --> 14:48.501 [SPEAKER_01]: At last, the mayor was able to quiet them down enough to speak. 14:49.062 --> 14:57.785 [SPEAKER_01]: Citizens of Ephesus, he says, everyone knows that Ephesus is the official guardian of the temple of the great Artemis who's image fell down to us from having. 14:58.285 --> 15:02.807 [SPEAKER_01]: Since this is an undeniable fact, you should stay calm and not do anything rash. 15:03.148 --> 15:08.910 [SPEAKER_01]: You have brought these men here, but they have stolen nothing from the temple and have not spoken against our goddess. 15:09.450 --> 15:15.853 [SPEAKER_01]: If Demetrius and the craftsmen have a case against them, the courts are in session and the officials can hear the case at once. 15:16.293 --> 15:17.754 [SPEAKER_01]: Let them make formal charges. 15:18.194 --> 15:22.796 [SPEAKER_01]: And if there are complaints about other matters, they can be settled in a legal assembly. 15:23.216 --> 15:30.159 [SPEAKER_01]: I am afraid that we are in danger of being charged with rioting by the roaming government since there is no cause for all this commotion. 15:30.599 --> 15:33.841 [SPEAKER_01]: And if wrong demands an explanation, we won't know what to say. 15:34.501 --> 15:36.822 [SPEAKER_01]: Then he dismissed them and they dispersed. 15:37.402 --> 15:38.783 [SPEAKER_01]: So let's recap for a second. 15:39.183 --> 15:51.352 [SPEAKER_01]: The riot began because the metrius, a silver smith, whose job was to create shrines to the goddess Artemis, he stirred everybody up because he was saying that Paul's teaching threatened their bottom line. 15:51.392 --> 15:57.316 [SPEAKER_01]: It threatened their livelihood and the worship of Artemis and calls this big uproar. 15:57.897 --> 16:01.940 [SPEAKER_01]: Even dragging in the people that Paul was with, instead of theater with them. 16:02.620 --> 16:11.953 [SPEAKER_01]: Paul had all intentions on going in there to confront the crowd, but the other believers were like no, and he had some friends in high places, favor. 16:12.394 --> 16:17.862 [SPEAKER_01]: The officials, they told him not to go because they were rightfully afraid of his safety. 16:18.823 --> 16:22.005 [SPEAKER_01]: So back in this theater, confusion, escalates. 16:22.565 --> 16:23.686 [SPEAKER_01]: Everybody's chaotic. 16:23.766 --> 16:25.227 [SPEAKER_01]: Everybody's shouting different things. 16:25.267 --> 16:27.148 [SPEAKER_01]: Don't nobody know what they holler in for. 16:27.328 --> 16:31.831 [SPEAKER_01]: It was just straight chaos and folks not even know what the real problem is. 16:32.651 --> 16:40.136 [SPEAKER_01]: The city clerk then steps in, calms everybody down, letting them know that pulling his people and rob no temples, they ain't saying nothing about 16:43.898 --> 16:51.530 [SPEAKER_01]: And when him folks saw the truth of the freedom and Christ and true that he's the only way the way as they named it in the beginning 16:52.304 --> 16:53.065 [SPEAKER_01]: People left. 16:53.385 --> 16:57.349 [SPEAKER_01]: They burned all of their witchcraft books and all of that as we saw in the text. 16:57.369 --> 16:58.510 [SPEAKER_01]: They left on their own. 16:58.730 --> 17:02.393 [SPEAKER_01]: Paul and his people weren't out there talking bad about Artemis. 17:02.413 --> 17:03.795 [SPEAKER_01]: They were just sharing the good news. 17:03.835 --> 17:07.858 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's a word in some wisdom on evangelism all by itself. 17:07.898 --> 17:10.961 [SPEAKER_01]: But that ain't what this episode is about. 17:11.061 --> 17:18.068 [SPEAKER_01]: But the city clerk, he basically told them like, look, if you got some smoke with Paul and his companions, take it through the courts. 17:18.348 --> 17:19.008 [SPEAKER_01]: They open. 17:19.229 --> 17:28.013 [SPEAKER_01]: There are procedures available that you can take this through, but if not, y'all ought to be charged with writing because you don't have no reason to be here. 17:28.074 --> 17:28.694 [SPEAKER_01]: I've been like this. 17:29.194 --> 17:34.297 [SPEAKER_01]: The crowd finally got some sense and understood what the city clerk was saying. 17:34.717 --> 17:35.418 [SPEAKER_01]: And they rolled out. 17:36.179 --> 17:47.446 [SPEAKER_01]: The riot ended in any violence, no punishment for Paul, no punishment for the people that he was with, thanks to the mayor's stuff and end, and talk some sense into everybody. 17:47.947 --> 17:52.950 [SPEAKER_01]: And Paul didn't have any immediate conflict in the city of Ephesus after that. 17:53.530 --> 17:57.112 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, there's some key things I want to emphasize in this text. 17:57.613 --> 18:03.637 [SPEAKER_01]: The first being that when you hit on people's idols, they will have a visceral reaction. 18:04.417 --> 18:12.760 [SPEAKER_01]: Paul hit on the same idol, one of, that is very prevalent in the business world today, and that is the love of money. 18:13.301 --> 18:22.284 [SPEAKER_01]: Demetri is made this argument, or he was hyping people up trying to make it seem as if Paul was blaspheming artifice, but he wasn't. 18:22.804 --> 18:26.386 [SPEAKER_01]: What he was really mad about, was that he was going to be making less money. 18:26.626 --> 18:30.907 [SPEAKER_01]: This was impacted in their bottom line because Paul was converting people over to Christianity. 18:30.947 --> 18:36.549 [SPEAKER_01]: So the less people you have, worship and Artemis, the less of them little figurines that you're offering to say. 18:36.909 --> 18:48.612 [SPEAKER_01]: So this was impacted his money, but he was getting people hyped up trying to make it seem like Paul was saying this is that another about their false God, but that wasn't true. 18:49.232 --> 19:05.185 [SPEAKER_01]: But because he impacted them economically, this caused Demetrius to react in such a way where he built up this huge chaotic riot based off of lies and misinformation and confusion. 19:05.205 --> 19:11.351 [SPEAKER_01]: Because anybody even know what they was mad about, but he got he successfully manipulated everybody to be upset. 19:12.086 --> 19:31.813 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, I don't know what rioting will look like in our individual journeys, but this text, as I said before, tells me that we need to expect that there is going to be some type of opposition, because our message in our way of doing things as kingdom business, it directly conflicts with that of the world. 19:33.197 --> 19:38.921 [SPEAKER_01]: A couple idols that come to mind are hustle culture and being a workaholic. 19:38.941 --> 19:55.292 [SPEAKER_01]: We talked a lot about that in the previous episodes how there are so many online business models and just entrepreneurship and general that promotes this hustle, this crime, there's no days off that leads to burnout, depression, anxiety. 19:55.412 --> 19:58.934 [SPEAKER_01]: I remember all the statistics we read in the previous episode. 19:59.835 --> 20:09.063 [SPEAKER_01]: As Christian entrepreneurs, the gospel emphasizes that we need rest, we need balance, we need to trust God rather than relying on our human effort. 20:09.644 --> 20:17.411 [SPEAKER_01]: We have a different approach that honors the Sabbath, that honors rest, that demonstrates that success doesn't require 20:21.054 --> 20:23.617 [SPEAKER_01]: this is disruptive to the norm. 20:24.198 --> 20:26.841 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you could even see people's reactions to this. 20:27.181 --> 20:38.394 [SPEAKER_01]: If you're somebody who works a job, where if you say, hey, I'm going to have to leave the office early because my child has a basketball game or whatever, how that might impact you negatively in the workplace. 20:39.188 --> 21:03.237 [SPEAKER_01]: There are so many women who are freezing their eggs and doing different things because they have to put off starting a family based upon career advancement because they can't take a break in their late 20s and early 30s to focus on building their family because they have to work to set themselves up for financial future in job security and promotion and your career goals. 21:04.045 --> 21:08.961 [SPEAKER_01]: The way that the corporate system is set up is as if you can't have both. 21:09.985 --> 21:16.407 [SPEAKER_01]: And so many women are resorting to other alternatives in order to accommodate this way of life. 21:16.767 --> 21:18.127 [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think that that's right. 21:18.807 --> 21:22.148 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, it's one thing if you just don't want to have children at that time. 21:22.228 --> 21:27.409 [SPEAKER_01]: And so you freeze your eggs and do was necessary so that you can healthily do that later. 21:27.969 --> 21:36.771 [SPEAKER_01]: But if you're doing it solely because you need to in order to advance professionally, our system should not be set up that way. 21:40.052 --> 21:44.795 [SPEAKER_01]: because it is not God's will for us to sacrifice family life for work. 21:45.115 --> 21:57.161 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you choose to go about work, career, business, the Lord's way, it's going to be offensive and cause a reaction from those who benefit on the system being that way. 21:57.381 --> 22:03.345 [SPEAKER_01]: So it may cause to a promotion, it may cause you career advancement, it may cause you arrays. 22:04.410 --> 22:07.152 [SPEAKER_01]: And for us as entrepreneurs, it's going to cost you time. 22:08.073 --> 22:19.962 [SPEAKER_01]: As I have grown my business, I've been entrepreneurs since 2015, full time since 2017, the way that I worked in those earlier days, there's no way. 22:20.702 --> 22:26.088 [SPEAKER_01]: that I could work that way now being married with a family, with small children in particular. 22:26.469 --> 22:37.801 [SPEAKER_01]: I was telling my husband the other day, I was watching this YouTube video and the woman was talking about how like she said that she was doing ministry or something. 22:38.061 --> 22:42.286 [SPEAKER_01]: She was at something or her husband's a minister and she was at something that he was having and somebody 22:42.666 --> 22:55.882 [SPEAKER_01]: had came up to her and prophesied to her about how she was going to have this impactful women's ministry and she was going to do all of these things and she said I looked at that lady and said that sounds wonderful but it's not going to happen until my kids are older. 22:56.993 --> 23:13.452 [SPEAKER_01]: And that really struck a court with me because I feel like something that I have learned as I've grown my family as I'm in this phase of growing my family and in this phase of having businesses, I realize that I cannot focus on both at the same time. 23:14.692 --> 23:15.133 [SPEAKER_01]: I can't. 23:15.714 --> 23:30.095 [SPEAKER_01]: I can't be in this phase of rapidly growing my business and trying to do this and trying to do that while also tending to my family and my young children and their needs isn't it is not going to happen at the same time. 23:31.156 --> 23:33.038 [SPEAKER_01]: And I've had to face that truth. 23:33.158 --> 23:42.986 [SPEAKER_01]: I feel like when I had my first son, it was a bit more feasible because I was able to create a system for my business, a system for my home and that harmony was there. 23:43.627 --> 23:49.552 [SPEAKER_01]: As I added another child to the equation, in my home life became a bit more demanding. 23:49.892 --> 23:57.018 [SPEAKER_01]: And as I was growing my business and the business became a bit more demanding, it was very obvious, the conflict. 23:58.260 --> 24:10.507 [SPEAKER_01]: And as I took that to the Lord, I talked to you guys about, you know, his instructions to me about slowing down and changing the way that I've done business and all of that, like the Lord has parents in me through the season very well. 24:10.547 --> 24:16.251 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'll share it with you guys a lot of the things he's taught me when we remember we did the episode on god math and 24:16.591 --> 24:31.625 [SPEAKER_01]: I share the replay of that webinar, so the lore has really given me strategy and insight on how to navigate this season, but one of the things that I had to face before surrendering this to the lore is like, hey, 24:32.553 --> 24:50.958 [SPEAKER_01]: These goals that I had that I was pushing to get done in one, three, five years, I need to take the timeline off of that because the work that's going to have to go into it for me to meet those deadlines, something is going to suffer and I am not willing for my family to be one of those things. 24:51.338 --> 24:54.639 [SPEAKER_01]: I am not willing for my children to be one of those things. 24:55.359 --> 24:59.080 [SPEAKER_01]: I am definitely not willing for my marriage to be one of those things. 24:59.341 --> 25:06.343 [SPEAKER_01]: I will close every business down before I lose my husband and my children trying to be this boss chick. 25:06.703 --> 25:07.644 [SPEAKER_01]: I absolutely not. 25:08.504 --> 25:09.364 [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely not. 25:10.225 --> 25:15.887 [SPEAKER_01]: But something that I feel like I had to face was, hey, you're going to have to be okay with this taking a little longer. 25:15.907 --> 25:23.230 [SPEAKER_01]: I know that it's this desire for you to have this million dollar business, but you might be okay with a few six 25:24.672 --> 25:30.477 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, if the Lord wants to do something else and speed something up and do his, his thing, that's wonderful. 25:30.758 --> 25:34.581 [SPEAKER_01]: But as far as what I'm putting my strength to, it can't be that. 25:35.502 --> 25:44.991 [SPEAKER_01]: And the riot, I'm using an quotation of that type of decision or choosing to disrupt that grind culture in entrepreneurship. 25:45.780 --> 26:07.828 [SPEAKER_01]: that could look like your own internal stuff, the enemy, just really bringing your type a over a cheever or just to the forefront and home girl is on 10, just hating this decision that you're making and it's causing a lot of internal turmoil, it made your riot, it made show up and friends and family like what you're going to just focus on your children. 26:08.348 --> 26:14.871 [SPEAKER_01]: what about you, how are you going to just let your husband provide and you don't have your own stuff on the side? 26:15.171 --> 26:16.292 [SPEAKER_01]: What if he leaves you? 26:17.052 --> 26:20.374 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I grew up around independent women. 26:20.974 --> 26:33.460 [SPEAKER_01]: So a lot of the writing came in the form of opinions with a lot of the decisions that I've had to make in order to be in alignment with the Lord. 26:33.781 --> 26:36.082 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we're going to experience that 26:36.762 --> 26:43.866 [SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to have chaos that comes up as a result of us disrupting what may be normal. 26:44.947 --> 26:55.273 [SPEAKER_01]: Another idol in the business world that we are called to disrupt as kingdom entrepreneurs is manipulative marketing that is only focused on sales and not sold. 26:56.193 --> 27:13.746 [SPEAKER_01]: Many online businesses we see at all the time using high pressure sales tactics, psychological manipulation, these scarcity driven, used car salesmen type of practices to exploit people's emotions, to exploit their insecurity, to make them buy something. 27:14.407 --> 27:18.449 [SPEAKER_01]: All types of manipulation going on, just to feed consumerism. 27:19.310 --> 27:20.931 [SPEAKER_01]: But the law calls for honesty. 27:21.331 --> 27:22.512 [SPEAKER_01]: He calls for integrity. 27:22.772 --> 27:25.373 [SPEAKER_01]: He calls for loving your neighbor as yourself. 27:25.973 --> 27:33.297 [SPEAKER_01]: So us building these ethical businesses where we are serving people as opposed to just trying to sell to them. 27:33.617 --> 27:40.940 [SPEAKER_01]: We're respecting them as individuals and prioritizing their needs rather than just prioritizing us making a quick buck. 27:41.461 --> 27:43.742 [SPEAKER_01]: Us coming in approaching marketing this way 27:44.442 --> 27:45.863 [SPEAKER_01]: It is different. 27:46.383 --> 27:53.745 [SPEAKER_01]: And this may not cause an external riot because anybody going to fight you on the fact that you're serving folks because they're trying to get their money. 27:53.765 --> 27:56.046 [SPEAKER_01]: They're not worried about you. 27:56.086 --> 27:59.487 [SPEAKER_01]: They may look at that as something as an advantage to them. 28:00.027 --> 28:08.409 [SPEAKER_01]: But this that riot in quotes may show up as a sacrifice and your business financially by you not playing by the world's 28:11.624 --> 28:16.749 [SPEAKER_01]: I remember I had a client, we were coming up on the time to renew their contracts. 28:16.769 --> 28:23.836 [SPEAKER_01]: So we did like their podcast and we did like some social media stuff for them and all of my contracts are a year. 28:24.316 --> 28:28.060 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're coming up on a year and we were having our meetings and we were going over our five things. 28:28.661 --> 28:43.161 [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, well, we were able to do our metrics and all of that over the course of my work in relationship with this client, I had come to realize that the specific problem that they had, that they hired me for. 28:44.297 --> 29:00.410 [SPEAKER_01]: they actually need it something else because I could just tell about conversations I could tell by feedback I could tell by their responses to the genuine good results that we were providing that there was something else that it was just some type of disconnect. 29:01.233 --> 29:13.196 [SPEAKER_01]: So when we were having this call and going over just a recap of what we were able to do, and I was talking to them, what I realized is that when they needed, was different than what they hired us for. 29:13.876 --> 29:19.997 [SPEAKER_01]: And they were never going to get that met, because that's not what they hired us for, if that makes sense. 29:20.017 --> 29:30.300 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's kind of like, well, the situation was, they hired us for their podcast, the develop and manage a podcast, as well as to do some social media work for them. 29:31.020 --> 29:38.265 [SPEAKER_01]: their bigger problem was that they were doing a lot of various marketing efforts. 29:38.285 --> 29:41.527 [SPEAKER_01]: So marketing is so broad, right? 29:41.627 --> 29:47.471 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you got traditional, then you got one lot and then under those individual umbrellas are so many different approaches. 29:47.891 --> 29:51.894 [SPEAKER_01]: And so they were essentially like throwing things at the wall and seeing what's stuck. 29:52.194 --> 29:54.916 [SPEAKER_01]: And so the podcast and what we were doing with social media was one of 29:56.137 --> 29:58.739 [SPEAKER_01]: throwing at the wall to see what stuck. 29:59.519 --> 30:06.424 [SPEAKER_01]: And they had other things going on too, but it was like nothing was fully like working together as it should. 30:06.464 --> 30:14.469 [SPEAKER_01]: Like marketing it starts with the sales and the business objectives of the organization and the goal of the marketing strategy. 30:14.769 --> 30:23.093 [SPEAKER_01]: is to drive the financial goals of the business and it is to use whatever forms of marketing necessary to drive those goals. 30:23.393 --> 30:27.215 [SPEAKER_01]: So what they had was a bunch of tactics with no anchor strategy. 30:27.815 --> 30:33.838 [SPEAKER_01]: And we were one of those tactics along with other people that vendors that they hired out for other forms of marketing. 30:33.858 --> 30:38.520 [SPEAKER_01]: So they have folks on the podcast and social media that have other people 30:42.802 --> 30:44.003 [SPEAKER_01]: audio ads as well. 30:44.043 --> 30:53.067 [SPEAKER_01]: So they had so many different things moving, but there was no anchor, strategy that was fueling all of these decisions. 30:53.527 --> 31:02.632 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I ended up realizing that in our conversation, in our working relationship, and I told them I said, hey, I don't think that you should renew this contract. 31:02.952 --> 31:05.814 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, this is like a five-figure contract for me. 31:06.354 --> 31:08.175 [SPEAKER_01]: So this is a good piece of business. 31:08.875 --> 31:13.880 [SPEAKER_01]: that it will be in my business's best interest to renew this contract. 31:14.842 --> 31:17.665 [SPEAKER_01]: by any means necessary, but that's not how I operate. 31:17.945 --> 31:20.747 [SPEAKER_01]: I operate only kingdom principles. 31:21.308 --> 31:27.253 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I told them I said, hey, I don't think we should discuss renewing this contract. 31:27.693 --> 31:34.659 [SPEAKER_01]: Based on our conversation, this is what I think that you really need, and I explained to them in more detail what I just explained to you. 31:35.019 --> 31:37.341 [SPEAKER_01]: And I said, so here's my suggestion. 31:37.402 --> 31:39.023 [SPEAKER_01]: And I gave them some suggestions on 31:39.383 --> 31:47.648 [SPEAKER_01]: how I think that they could feel that gap and then see better return and investment from all of their marketing tactics. 31:47.888 --> 31:57.094 [SPEAKER_01]: And so they really appreciated the fact that I was honest about that, they really appreciated the fact that I was willing to, she said it like, you know, the fact that you're willing to lose business. 31:57.734 --> 32:02.896 [SPEAKER_01]: speaks volumes and I told her when I work with people, first of all, I have an obligation to the Lord. 32:03.456 --> 32:04.397 [SPEAKER_01]: And I love what I do. 32:04.957 --> 32:05.677 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't have to work. 32:05.958 --> 32:07.338 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, my husband says, carry me. 32:07.818 --> 32:13.080 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I do this because I genuinely want to serve those that God has called me to. 32:13.381 --> 32:16.302 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I'm feeling like that there's a disconnect or something missing. 32:16.702 --> 32:18.523 [SPEAKER_01]: I am willing to just take the L. 32:19.585 --> 32:27.548 [SPEAKER_01]: for the sake of integrity and for the sake of making sure that I'm in alignment with the way that the Lord wants me to run his business. 32:28.008 --> 32:40.192 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I say this to say that your riot may be a financial loss, your riot may be time, things taking a little bit longer, but you have to be willing 32:41.012 --> 32:43.294 [SPEAKER_01]: to face whatever comes. 32:43.854 --> 32:46.576 [SPEAKER_01]: And there are so many idols that I can go over. 32:46.997 --> 32:57.165 [SPEAKER_01]: But I think it's less about that and more so about being willing to face the riots, whatever that may look like, because Paul was ready to pull up. 32:57.205 --> 32:58.726 [SPEAKER_01]: He was ready to confront them. 32:59.346 --> 33:00.867 [SPEAKER_01]: But God had already 33:01.748 --> 33:08.832 [SPEAKER_01]: provide it protection in a way for this to get dealt with without Paul having to deal with it or be impacted by it. 33:09.332 --> 33:18.558 [SPEAKER_01]: He had favor with the mayor and the people in there who would like, hey, no, you stay out here because we'll need you going in there and then it gets even more violent because here you are. 33:19.078 --> 33:24.140 [SPEAKER_01]: They had the mayor who went in there and calmed everybody down and gave them an alternative way to deal with their issues. 33:24.541 --> 33:33.685 [SPEAKER_01]: And then everything was resolved and everybody dispersed without any violence or without Paul facing any type of repercussions at that time. 33:34.794 --> 33:51.360 [SPEAKER_01]: And so there's so much hope and encouragement that even when we feel like we're taking some type of laws, even when there's so much chaos or writing or persecution and things that are happening, even when that feels overwhelming and it feels dangerous. 33:52.320 --> 33:55.842 [SPEAKER_01]: It's so much hope in knowing that there's safety in the Lord. 33:56.062 --> 33:57.783 [SPEAKER_01]: There's favor in the Lord. 33:57.803 --> 34:01.805 [SPEAKER_01]: There's provision in the Lord and we can rest in that truth. 34:02.206 --> 34:07.068 [SPEAKER_01]: And we could put our hope in our faith and our confidence in Him as Kingdom Entrepreneurs. 34:07.809 --> 34:10.150 [SPEAKER_01]: So there's encouragement for us as disruptors. 34:10.650 --> 34:12.491 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we're going to have some riots. 34:13.111 --> 34:21.236 [SPEAKER_01]: They're going to look different for many of us, but we're not doing this alone in the Lord has already set up whatever provision that we need. 34:22.455 --> 34:41.171 [SPEAKER_01]: So now that we understand that riots are a part of this, that we're going to be disrupting some things, we're going to be addressing some idols that we're going about doing the business, the Lord's Way, and this capitalistic consumer driven environment that just cares about money and self, we're going to make some folks mad. 34:41.851 --> 34:45.394 [SPEAKER_01]: So what does that mean for us as entrepreneurs? 34:45.455 --> 34:49.198 [SPEAKER_01]: How do we build businesses that are pure, that are resilient? 34:49.618 --> 34:55.363 [SPEAKER_01]: that are able to withstand various challenges like Paul's ministry did. 34:56.304 --> 35:07.314 [SPEAKER_01]: I have about six or seven things here that are practical tips that I want you to think about and consider as a strategizing for your business on how to disrupt well. 35:07.695 --> 35:10.557 [SPEAKER_01]: And when I say disrupt well, what I mean by that is, 35:11.418 --> 35:15.479 [SPEAKER_01]: with us disrupting the norm of culture. 35:16.040 --> 35:26.863 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, there is heightened risk of, in a high likelihood of these various riots and obstacles that we are going to face the persecution and all of that that we discussed. 35:27.123 --> 35:33.705 [SPEAKER_01]: But I also think that there's a lot of opportunity here that we that can work in our favor as Kingdom Entrepreneur. 35:33.725 --> 35:34.646 [SPEAKER_01]: So for example, 35:35.426 --> 35:40.249 [SPEAKER_01]: We talked about how the world's way when it comes to marketing can be pushy. 35:40.349 --> 35:44.091 [SPEAKER_01]: It can be manipulating people just to get their money. 35:44.151 --> 35:51.516 [SPEAKER_01]: It can be very profit-focused and not people-focused in how us as Kingdom Entrepreneurs were focused in all serving people. 35:51.916 --> 36:00.902 [SPEAKER_01]: We're focusing on pouring into them, not just on making them spend their money, but we are interested in them, and pouring into them as individuals. 36:01.222 --> 36:07.366 [SPEAKER_01]: I believe that that is an approach that can potentially go over very well with potential customers. 36:07.426 --> 36:10.308 [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, we may lose some opportunities. 36:10.708 --> 36:16.792 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we may put income at risk in some ways, but there are other ways. 36:17.113 --> 36:17.493 [SPEAKER_01]: So where I 36:20.915 --> 36:23.117 [SPEAKER_01]: of our businesses without compromising. 36:24.257 --> 36:30.541 [SPEAKER_01]: I've had people who've come into my studio and I'm given a tour, and they're telling me about their event or things that they have going on. 36:31.101 --> 36:35.104 [SPEAKER_01]: And I should be focusing on selling them into booking the space for something. 36:35.384 --> 36:41.007 [SPEAKER_01]: But sometimes I'll tell them, hey, I don't think that this is the best fit based upon what you think your needs are. 36:41.628 --> 36:46.371 [SPEAKER_01]: And while that may have been a loss of that business, that's turned into referrals. 36:47.151 --> 37:06.376 [SPEAKER_01]: that's turned into new opportunities, and has also turned into a reputation, a reputation that has served as well in a long haul for our business where people trust us to be people who care about them, people who go to actual mile, people who think about the details and really put the customer first. 37:06.556 --> 37:14.257 [SPEAKER_01]: So again, yeah, we're disrupting, but when you disrupt well, you're able to do so in a way to where your business doesn't fully 37:17.539 --> 37:22.905 [SPEAKER_01]: in alignment with the Lord and not compromise, but still see impact in income. 37:22.965 --> 37:33.196 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, there's sometimes where you just go to take the L because the cookie going crumble with you being obedient, but that doesn't have to be the case all the time. 37:33.456 --> 37:35.719 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that's where talking about here. 37:37.342 --> 37:44.728 [SPEAKER_01]: So the first way that you can dwell will is to have transparent pricing and practices. 37:45.529 --> 37:54.316 [SPEAKER_01]: If you are a product-based business, be honest about what materials, what ingredients, go into the products that you're selling to your consumer. 37:54.336 --> 38:01.222 [SPEAKER_01]: If you have a clothing brand, talk about how you source your fabrics and the meaning behind it and how that will impact. 38:01.542 --> 38:04.063 [SPEAKER_01]: the comfortability of the customer. 38:04.223 --> 38:15.307 [SPEAKER_01]: If you sell wellness products, so like I buy vitamins pretty frequently, and I look for companies who are transparent about their ingredients, I want to know what's in this vitamin. 38:15.387 --> 38:23.749 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to know where it came from, and I'm more likely to buy from companies who do that, companies who have like a purity award or something that 38:25.910 --> 38:28.732 [SPEAKER_01]: and their ingredients and materials that they use. 38:28.972 --> 38:31.053 [SPEAKER_01]: So be transparent about that with your customers. 38:31.073 --> 38:33.475 [SPEAKER_01]: That's not something that we see too often. 38:33.495 --> 38:42.161 [SPEAKER_01]: I think we see a more in the supplement industry or food and beverage and stuff like that because a lot of consumers are more health conscious. 38:42.341 --> 38:44.362 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm one of those health conscious consumers. 38:44.402 --> 38:45.303 [SPEAKER_01]: I buy organic. 38:45.683 --> 38:48.465 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't buy anything with dyes or anything for my kids. 38:48.505 --> 38:49.525 [SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm real big one. 38:49.886 --> 38:53.188 [SPEAKER_01]: And ingredients for my own body as well as my family. 38:53.608 --> 38:58.874 [SPEAKER_01]: So I think we see a more often in that sense, but how often do we see it in other type of businesses? 38:59.455 --> 39:05.762 [SPEAKER_01]: Like how can you be transparent about what all goes into even the service that you're offering your customer? 39:06.263 --> 39:10.568 [SPEAKER_01]: I know for me, I'm always thinking of ways that I can add value 39:11.128 --> 39:12.489 [SPEAKER_01]: to my client. 39:12.510 --> 39:21.959 [SPEAKER_01]: So I had a coaching program last year that I did for entrepreneurs called the executive or entrepreneur to executive training program. 39:22.540 --> 39:29.767 [SPEAKER_01]: And I really wanted to help people to build the foundations of a good business because I felt like so many entrepreneurs, 39:30.047 --> 39:47.558 [SPEAKER_01]: would just hop into doing whatever they're good at, so whether you're a graphic designer, a photographer, you create clothes, like whatever the case may be, you hop into your area of expertise in neglect some of the foundational elements that make a successful business and that sustain a successful business. 39:47.918 --> 39:49.559 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I have a master's in business. 39:49.599 --> 39:51.521 [SPEAKER_01]: I've been an entrepreneur for quite some time. 39:51.841 --> 39:53.582 [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, I had a lot of value. 39:53.862 --> 39:57.024 [SPEAKER_01]: that I could bring on my own, but how can I make this even better? 39:57.385 --> 40:17.940 [SPEAKER_01]: So I enlisted my husband who is a CPA and I had him donate classes so that people from a professional standpoint can learn about business taxes, can learn about financial operations, can learn how to read their profit and law statement, can learn how to create a budget for their business to wear all those financial things, I've been taught. 40:18.000 --> 40:22.283 [SPEAKER_01]: Not just for me, but now a specialist who is an expert at that. 40:22.723 --> 40:28.484 [SPEAKER_01]: I even enlisted the help of my lawyer to talk about intellectual property securing your business. 40:28.664 --> 40:39.727 [SPEAKER_01]: I've had the benefit of being able to see how law plays a great role in creating income opportunities for businesses beyond their products and services. 40:39.787 --> 40:51.230 [SPEAKER_01]: I've had people reach out to me to license my intellectual property and that's something that I would be able to have passive income as a revenue stream that I will be able to have 40:52.910 --> 41:08.257 [SPEAKER_01]: came about simply by making sure that I took care of the legal aspects of my business and so I wanted those that I worked with to be able to get their knowledge as well and so I enlisted the help of my lawyer Sure, I could talk about my experiences with it, but I'm not a lawyer. 41:08.538 --> 41:11.199 [SPEAKER_01]: So I brought in my to be able to contribute to that 41:11.499 --> 41:19.904 [SPEAKER_01]: So that was a way that I was thinking about how to better serve those that I wanted to work with, how to be more thorough about it. 41:19.964 --> 41:26.107 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was transparent about the experts, their background, and those who will be pouring into them. 41:26.127 --> 41:30.789 [SPEAKER_01]: And so that wasn't a product as far as like something I was shipping and mailing out. 41:31.050 --> 41:34.531 [SPEAKER_01]: But I was able to be transparent and it worked very well in my 41:37.513 --> 41:52.658 [SPEAKER_01]: So for you as you're planning out your business think how can I be transparent in both my pricing as well as my practices make sure that you have policies and things that are in your businesses that are rooted in integrity. 41:53.018 --> 41:58.640 [SPEAKER_01]: That will help set you apart from the Shaishti tactics that we see in this industry. 41:58.740 --> 42:19.245 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you have policy that prioritize integrity, so let's say like some type of return policy, or if you have some type of honest advertising policy, some type of let's say price matching policy of seeing this and product based businesses before where they'll say if you find this cheaper, somewhere else, I'll match that price. 42:19.585 --> 42:28.437 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's a commitment to the integrity of the business and also a commitment to serving well the audience by not having them overpay. 42:29.218 --> 42:30.580 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's something to think about. 42:31.061 --> 42:35.587 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's something I believe will be very beneficial to your marketing strategy. 42:35.967 --> 42:46.050 [SPEAKER_01]: No, it's not content and post of what we have reduced marketing to in this digital age, but this is going to create brand loyalty. 42:46.070 --> 42:49.231 [SPEAKER_01]: This is going to create trust with your consumer. 42:49.271 --> 42:52.352 [SPEAKER_01]: This is going to benefit your business in a long haul. 42:52.372 --> 42:54.893 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's the first way to disrupt 43:00.615 --> 43:05.999 [SPEAKER_01]: The second thing I want you to write down is prioritize purpose over profit. 43:06.879 --> 43:09.361 [SPEAKER_01]: The business world loves money. 43:09.421 --> 43:16.745 [SPEAKER_01]: The focus is on money, money, money, but how can you prioritize the Lord's purpose over the bottom line? 43:17.046 --> 43:20.608 [SPEAKER_01]: And you may say, well, tell you, my business is all about purpose. 43:21.048 --> 43:22.109 [SPEAKER_01]: This is a kingdom business. 43:22.129 --> 43:24.790 [SPEAKER_01]: This is why the Lord is calling me to do blah, blah, blah. 43:24.850 --> 43:25.211 [SPEAKER_01]: I get it. 43:25.351 --> 43:26.852 [SPEAKER_01]: I hear you, but we can still do more. 43:27.372 --> 43:28.192 [SPEAKER_01]: It's what I'm saying. 43:28.753 --> 43:36.277 [SPEAKER_01]: And by doing more, I believe this will also go over well with your potential customer and it'll go over well with building. 43:36.617 --> 43:37.198 [SPEAKER_01]: the brand. 43:37.538 --> 43:45.465 [SPEAKER_01]: And so you wanted to ways that you can prioritize purpose over profit is by having some type of giving arm to your business. 43:45.745 --> 43:51.350 [SPEAKER_01]: So figure out how can I include charitable causes to my business? 43:51.410 --> 43:55.273 [SPEAKER_01]: How can I have a social impact arm of my business? 43:55.734 --> 44:02.219 [SPEAKER_01]: And I've thought about this even recently with the Society, the Society used to be a membership community. 44:02.239 --> 44:03.981 [SPEAKER_01]: I was just an extension of the podcast. 44:04.261 --> 44:26.320 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a paid membership community and it was just a part of the business, but this year we actually formed the Anchor Media Foundation and now the Society is a program under it because I wanted to have a nonprofit arm to my empire so that I can't focus on giving and the Society is a way to where we can just focus on serving our community. 44:26.780 --> 44:41.704 [SPEAKER_01]: We were doing so many things like raising money to give back for the holiday job heard me talk about that on the podcast before raising money to be able to serve people for the holidays who may not have the resources to do things that they want to do for their families. 44:41.784 --> 44:44.064 [SPEAKER_01]: We've come together and serve each other. 44:44.125 --> 44:48.266 [SPEAKER_01]: People who haven't been babies and we have purchased our registries. 44:48.286 --> 44:51.286 [SPEAKER_01]: We've done so many different things within our community. 44:51.606 --> 44:53.307 [SPEAKER_01]: But I felt like we could do more. 44:53.907 --> 45:07.122 [SPEAKER_01]: we can do better at really honoring this community that the Lord has blessed us with in honoring these women and we made this adjustment to being a nonprofit so that we could be able to do that. 45:07.823 --> 45:13.168 [SPEAKER_01]: And I believe our members appreciate that and appreciate the intent behind it. 45:13.749 --> 45:15.229 [SPEAKER_01]: So what does that look like for you? 45:15.430 --> 45:26.073 [SPEAKER_01]: You may not need to form a whole non-profit, but how can you support various, let's say, Kingdom projects or church initiatives or do community service? 45:26.173 --> 45:32.535 [SPEAKER_01]: How can you use the money that you're making in your business to be a blessing to other people? 45:33.295 --> 45:39.197 [SPEAKER_01]: Think about that as you plan for your new year and more importantly, implement that when it's time to. 45:40.157 --> 45:46.498 [SPEAKER_01]: Also, as you're planning out your products and your services for your business, think about how can I go above and beyond? 45:46.998 --> 45:48.379 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I may be a lawyer. 45:48.539 --> 45:50.399 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I may be a real estate agent. 45:50.459 --> 45:52.059 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I may sell clothes. 45:52.399 --> 45:58.200 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I may insert whatever your business is here, but how can I still meet people's needs? 45:58.800 --> 46:02.741 [SPEAKER_01]: Solve their problems, give them exactly what they're purchasing and signing up for. 46:03.101 --> 46:04.041 [SPEAKER_01]: How can I do that? 46:04.501 --> 46:07.202 [SPEAKER_01]: And also go above and beyond. 46:08.102 --> 46:14.471 [SPEAKER_01]: At Anchor Media Studios, we have so many things that we do extra for people who book our space. 46:14.791 --> 46:18.256 [SPEAKER_01]: There are steamers in there just in case you change clothes and it's a little wrinkle. 46:18.496 --> 46:19.357 [SPEAKER_01]: You can knock that out. 46:19.738 --> 46:23.403 [SPEAKER_01]: We have microphones and things so people are lugging equipment. 46:23.443 --> 46:25.926 [SPEAKER_01]: We have lighting just so many things that are 46:26.486 --> 46:46.412 [SPEAKER_01]: added conveniences for those who utilize our space even when people book this space normally a lot of places you go to have my keyless entry you get a little code you go and it's very impersonal but I usually when people book for us with us for the first time I usually like to show up and meet them and give them a quick tour make sure they have everything that they need 46:46.892 --> 46:52.394 [SPEAKER_01]: give them myself on number so they can reach out to me if need be throughout the course of their booking. 46:52.674 --> 46:59.577 [SPEAKER_01]: If people need to extra 10, 15 minutes, I give them some grace without being quick to charge them for every single second. 46:59.937 --> 47:05.799 [SPEAKER_01]: So those are just some little ways for me and my business practices that I try to go above and beyond. 47:06.259 --> 47:12.481 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's different folks may look down upon it, but it's something that allows me to connect with my audience better. 47:12.821 --> 47:14.202 [SPEAKER_01]: It's the way that I show the love of the 47:15.378 --> 47:17.539 [SPEAKER_01]: And I've seen it positively impact my business. 47:18.199 --> 47:20.960 [SPEAKER_01]: We have a new tenant at the studio who came to tour. 47:21.481 --> 47:27.363 [SPEAKER_01]: I called them ahead of them coming to confirm to introduce myself to learn a bit more about what they had going on. 47:27.403 --> 47:31.325 [SPEAKER_01]: So that when I did the tour, I was able to customize it to their specific needs. 47:32.085 --> 47:35.508 [SPEAKER_01]: And at the end of the tour, they signed up for a lease. 47:35.648 --> 47:37.769 [SPEAKER_01]: So now they're attending within our space. 47:37.809 --> 47:45.715 [SPEAKER_01]: But as we were talking, they were appreciative of the customer service because they were talking about how another space that they looked at. 47:46.476 --> 47:47.897 [SPEAKER_01]: The customer service wasn't good. 47:48.317 --> 47:52.920 [SPEAKER_01]: The detail into the space and the environment that was cultivated wasn't there. 47:53.040 --> 47:58.584 [SPEAKER_01]: So this was like a coworking space that they toured and they were saying how like, I mean, you got a therapist 48:00.265 --> 48:03.466 [SPEAKER_01]: Doing weaves and the next office somebody doing nails over here. 48:03.766 --> 48:14.608 [SPEAKER_01]: They were like, it's just not a professional environment And it was just too much and so then then the customer service was a lot They were very pushy very salesy. 48:14.708 --> 48:23.010 [SPEAKER_01]: She was like she was on an email thread of two different sales associates Both trying to bully her into signing a contract 48:23.430 --> 48:30.456 [SPEAKER_01]: She said they were calling her late at night, sending messages, she said that she was totally turned all by their approach. 48:31.356 --> 48:42.786 [SPEAKER_01]: And she has such a different experience with us that they signed on and now that now they are tenants within our space, which is great for us financially because that's monthly recurring revenue. 48:42.926 --> 48:45.748 [SPEAKER_01]: I know how we love predictable income around here. 48:45.768 --> 48:50.552 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, we build businesses that need to be predictable, not we shoot in a dark everybody. 48:51.032 --> 49:06.278 [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, that's great for our business, and so that was an opportunity where I was able to see in real time what disrupting well looks like and how that can positively impact the business without compromising. 49:06.758 --> 49:10.901 [SPEAKER_01]: So for you, think about how can I go above and beyond? 49:11.322 --> 49:19.868 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe my shipping policy is our ship out in three days but I push myself to get it done in one so that they're surprised because they got it earlier. 49:20.368 --> 49:26.473 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I write a handwritten thank you note with my product that I'm shipping out just as an extra touch. 49:26.993 --> 49:31.197 [SPEAKER_01]: Whatever the case may be brainstorm, think about it, but incorporate it. 49:31.737 --> 49:38.868 [SPEAKER_01]: because it is going to benefit your business and is also going to positively impact your customer. 49:40.049 --> 49:43.354 [SPEAKER_01]: Number three, stay rooted in prior and community. 49:44.444 --> 49:51.446 [SPEAKER_01]: a big part of your business strategy for the new year and for today in tomorrow is to stay rooted in prayer and community. 49:51.946 --> 50:02.748 [SPEAKER_01]: When youth face different type of riots or resistance, sometimes it is the way that Paul faced it, where these people were in an uproar, in his amphitheater. 50:03.068 --> 50:09.270 [SPEAKER_01]: For us, in today's age, it may be online, it may be somebody who's doing a YouTube video, leaving a bad review. 50:09.890 --> 50:16.913 [SPEAKER_01]: doing some type of exposed whatever we see so many of these days so you can expect persecution. 50:17.533 --> 50:29.578 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe somebody made a TikTok series on you and they lying through their teeth or their misrepresenting the facts the way that Dimitri is was in the text just saying a whole much of stuff that wasn't true about Paul's ministry. 50:29.898 --> 50:35.600 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to face things like that as Christian but we have to stay rooted in prayer and community 50:35.960 --> 50:41.222 [SPEAKER_01]: because I believe that when we do that, the Lord is going to allow us to see things before they happen. 50:42.163 --> 50:44.224 [SPEAKER_01]: He's not going to let us be blindsided. 50:44.264 --> 50:59.991 [SPEAKER_01]: Some things will catch us off guard, but in my experience by me having a prayer life, by me having a community who I'm praying for and they're also praying for me, that has allowed me to be proactive instead of reactive about 51:03.288 --> 51:10.914 [SPEAKER_01]: being a prayer and community will allow you to have the support that you need to withstand those seasons where you are enduring. 51:11.475 --> 51:19.522 [SPEAKER_01]: I remember I went through a very hurtful process a couple of years ago that took about three or four years to resolve. 51:20.262 --> 51:25.365 [SPEAKER_01]: And if frustrated me so much where I was being lied on it, I was being persecuted. 51:25.405 --> 51:33.950 [SPEAKER_01]: This riot was one that is like etched into my brain of a core part of my entrepreneurial journey. 51:34.691 --> 51:38.173 [SPEAKER_01]: And in that, it's my community that kept me on a straightening era. 51:38.813 --> 51:41.115 [SPEAKER_01]: So many times, like I speak on this show every week. 51:41.655 --> 51:44.056 [SPEAKER_01]: And the Lord told me, do not say anything. 51:44.476 --> 51:45.877 [SPEAKER_01]: And I had to stay true to that. 51:46.537 --> 51:49.199 [SPEAKER_01]: And my community had to hold me accountable to that. 51:49.599 --> 51:57.283 [SPEAKER_01]: And through prayer, the Lord was able to just continue to strengthen me for the years that it took for the situation to resolve. 51:58.043 --> 52:02.985 [SPEAKER_01]: But without it child who knows I might have been clapping back that's that's actually not in my character. 52:03.165 --> 52:03.886 [SPEAKER_01]: I am teen. 52:04.366 --> 52:05.766 [SPEAKER_01]: I will act like you don't exist. 52:06.167 --> 52:10.388 [SPEAKER_01]: Like my flesh if I'm offended or somebody comes for me. 52:10.808 --> 52:12.609 [SPEAKER_01]: I am not inclined to respond. 52:12.749 --> 52:16.631 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm inclined to ignore and sometimes that's not good either. 52:17.091 --> 52:21.533 [SPEAKER_01]: It can benefit in the fact that I'm not, you know, clapping back or popping off at the mouth. 52:21.913 --> 52:25.855 [SPEAKER_01]: But it doesn't work in my benefit where I'm supposed to pray for my enemies. 52:26.826 --> 52:30.789 [SPEAKER_01]: that it isn't good when I'm supposed to be taking things to the Lord. 52:31.830 --> 52:38.855 [SPEAKER_01]: But by you being grounded and rooted in prayer and community, it allows you to respond well to the rights. 52:39.335 --> 52:41.617 [SPEAKER_01]: What if Paul would have been like, no, I'm not staying out there. 52:41.637 --> 52:43.498 [SPEAKER_01]: Let me go in there, because not any lying on me. 52:43.858 --> 52:48.442 [SPEAKER_01]: He and there telling them people that I'm doing this, that other, all I'm doing is spreading the gospel. 52:48.982 --> 52:49.863 [SPEAKER_01]: No, let me add them. 52:49.903 --> 52:52.624 [SPEAKER_01]: Let me add them like imaginative Paul was like that. 52:52.984 --> 52:58.808 [SPEAKER_01]: When God had already worked out that the mayor was going to come to fuse the situation and it wasn't going to be a thing anymore. 52:59.308 --> 53:08.253 [SPEAKER_01]: Imagine it instead of him being rooted and anchored and doing things the Lord's way, He would have operated out of His flesh because I'm sure He was irritated. 53:09.584 --> 53:10.305 [SPEAKER_01]: but he didn't. 53:11.065 --> 53:22.413 [SPEAKER_01]: And so for us being rooted in prayer and community, it keeps us grounded, it keeps our flesh at bay and it keeps us in that secret place which is where we built these businesses from. 53:22.974 --> 53:24.755 [SPEAKER_01]: So as you're planning your year out, 53:25.474 --> 53:29.255 [SPEAKER_01]: Figure out how am I going to work in prayer and community? 53:29.615 --> 53:31.136 [SPEAKER_01]: Who are my people that are not in trust? 53:31.216 --> 53:33.696 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we need to have a prayer call once a week. 53:34.037 --> 53:36.017 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we need to have a prayer call every day. 53:36.457 --> 53:41.559 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we need to have check-in points where we get together once a month and addition to our prayer call. 53:42.199 --> 53:56.511 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe we need to have some rules where it's like, hey, if I text, write it, that means that it's something going on and I need you to call me and help me accountable, whatever it may be for you, whatever works based upon your community. 53:57.011 --> 54:09.902 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it's you need to get involved in your local church and join a small group, join a ministry, something where you're building up the kingdom people that you have in your community and your friendship circle. 54:10.862 --> 54:16.023 [SPEAKER_01]: Think about that, ponder on that, and whatever it may look like for you, implement it. 54:16.764 --> 54:23.205 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm actually only going to do one more because a lot of the other ones I had, I've touched on in my explanations. 54:23.705 --> 54:35.548 [SPEAKER_01]: And so the last thing that I want you to write down is think about how can I make sure that the legacy I'm leaving is a legacy of the Lord in that myself. 54:37.280 --> 54:39.401 [SPEAKER_01]: Paul's legacy is Christ. 54:40.281 --> 54:45.944 [SPEAKER_01]: What he did in the city of Ephesus was made a mark for Christianity. 54:46.724 --> 55:01.810 [SPEAKER_01]: And so with our businesses, yeah, we're gonna do all of these great things, but we need to be intentional because people have a tendency and it's this culture of idolizing individuals, of celebrity culture, of influencer culture. 55:01.890 --> 55:06.312 [SPEAKER_01]: It's all about personal branding, self-self, me, me, I, I. 55:07.760 --> 55:26.612 [SPEAKER_01]: And so you're going to build a personal brand by way of you doing what God has called you to do, you're going to be known by way of you being the vessel, but you need to be very intentional about stewarding that influence and stewarding that impact to where the main thing is the main thing which is Jesus Christ. 55:27.875 --> 55:34.638 [SPEAKER_01]: So how can you build your business, whatever your business may be in a way to where he is glorified. 55:35.139 --> 55:37.660 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, in some businesses, it may look different than others. 55:37.920 --> 55:40.441 [SPEAKER_01]: So in my business, I have faith-based business. 55:40.721 --> 55:43.663 [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm a lot more open and honest about my faith. 55:43.723 --> 55:44.663 [SPEAKER_01]: I talk about the Lord. 55:44.683 --> 55:45.684 [SPEAKER_01]: I talk about Scripture. 55:45.724 --> 55:47.825 [SPEAKER_01]: That is the culture of my business. 55:48.145 --> 55:52.367 [SPEAKER_01]: You may be in an industry that isn't like that, right? 55:52.427 --> 55:54.128 [SPEAKER_01]: So you may be in an industry as more. 55:54.368 --> 56:05.896 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you're a teacher, maybe you're in real estate, maybe you're in law, maybe the culture or the boundaries of your industry doesn't allow you to be as vocal about your beliefs as others. 56:06.176 --> 56:10.119 [SPEAKER_01]: That doesn't mean that you can't leave a legacy of the glory God. 56:11.400 --> 56:13.001 [SPEAKER_01]: You show the love of God. 56:14.042 --> 56:18.044 [SPEAKER_01]: In how you treat people, you show the love of God and how you go above and beyond. 56:18.305 --> 56:21.467 [SPEAKER_01]: You show the love of God by you being Christ like. 56:22.600 --> 56:25.141 [SPEAKER_01]: That's also leaving a legacy for the Lord. 56:25.261 --> 56:26.381 [SPEAKER_01]: You be in Christlight. 56:27.301 --> 56:37.183 [SPEAKER_01]: And then also you live in a lifestyle of obedience to him because all the specifics about the other ways that you can show your faith and glorify him through your work. 56:37.263 --> 56:47.846 [SPEAKER_01]: He'll tell you, so these are things that we have to figure out on our own, but we have to focus on it and make it a priority so that we can make sure that we are implementing it. 56:49.485 --> 56:53.086 [SPEAKER_01]: So in this episode here, I pray that this bless you. 56:53.567 --> 57:03.151 [SPEAKER_01]: I pray that you learn something new, because this is a somewhere that texted I personally hadn't read before, before I came across it for this episode. 57:03.691 --> 57:08.473 [SPEAKER_01]: And I hope that you got some good practical nuggets that you can use so that 57:09.413 --> 57:15.517 [SPEAKER_01]: You're able to go about your business with the understanding that there are going to be riots, but you can disrupt well. 57:15.897 --> 57:24.483 [SPEAKER_01]: You can understand that, hey, I'm going to ruffle some feathers, but I can do that in a way to where I'm not compromising and I'm still seeing elevation in my business. 57:25.163 --> 57:27.245 [SPEAKER_01]: And again, remember, sometimes though, 57:28.025 --> 57:30.468 [SPEAKER_01]: who we just going to have to suffer for the lower, right? 57:30.869 --> 57:43.045 [SPEAKER_01]: So don't think that this is full proof because this simply may not apply in some seasons, but I still wanted to give some practical things for in the seasons where you are able to apply it. 57:43.305 --> 57:44.667 [SPEAKER_01]: you're able to see the fruit from it. 57:45.108 --> 57:51.858 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you are in a season where you just, the riot is causing you to just have to endure, then you just got to sit under it. 57:52.219 --> 57:55.964 [SPEAKER_01]: And you could listen to the episode we did on that to get encouragement there. 57:56.465 --> 57:58.689 [SPEAKER_01]: But again, that's it for this episode. 57:58.729 --> 58:02.574 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much for listening to another episode of The Blessed and Boston podcast. 58:02.875 --> 58:04.457 [SPEAKER_01]: I love you guys and I'll see you in the next one.