If you’ve determined want to use your God-given gifts to develop a profitable business to God’s glory, you’ve probably wondered or asked, “Is this God’s will?”

Or maybe you’re clear on your call into entrepreneurship, but you wonder if the steps you’re taking in your business are the one’s God would really want you take. How can you know for sure?

Knowing God’s will can seem tricky, but trying to gain a clear understanding of where He is leading you in your business (and your life) is essential to truly being able to glorify Him in all things.

In this week’s podcast, I’m going to provide you with 5 tools you can use to determine whether or not the decisions you are making (or the actions you are taking) are truly in agreement with what God wants for you and your business.

Today’s podcast will equip you the tools you need to make better and more empowered decisions that are truly led by the Spirit of God.

Plus, you’ll also receive your “word for the week” to stay empowered, inspired, and encouraged to use your entrepreneurial gifts so that you are fulfilled, and God glorified.

And remember if you want to be featured in the “Rising Tide Spotlight,” or you know someone or something that should, leave your nomination in the comments section below.

Resources mentioned in this podcast:

Danny Iny & Write Like Freddy – Blog Success Training

Have a question or comment about the content in this podcast? Want to discuss this week’s “Word for the Week”? Feel free to use the comments section below this post to share your thoughts and insights.

It’s Mindset Training Monday!

Here’s the cold hard truth. If you want to reach your maximum potential, if you want to build a profitable (and God- glorifying business), and if you want to continue to achieve new levels of success in your life – you have to develop courage and you have to be bold.

If you think you can sit around hoping for a blessing to fall on your business(it could happen), but it’s not likely. Whatever it is that you desire for your business is going to require that you take some risks. It’s going to require that you do some things you fear. It’s going to require persisting when it seems like there is no point in doing so.

And if all that sounds a little overwhelming – it shouldn’t. The only reason you should feel overwhelmed by those ideas is because you think you are all you’ve got in making that happen. Thankfully, you have a whole lot more. Thankfully, you have all the courage and boldness you need to achieve the best life has to offer right. inside. yourself.

In today’s episode of the Faith. Business. Fun. podcast, we are going to discuss the three keys to developing and unlocking the courage and boldness that you need to take game-changing action in your business and life.

Today’s podcast will give you a solid understand of where your true courage and boldness rest, so that you’ll be more empowered to press on toward the goals and dreams you have for your business and your life.

Plus, you’ll also receive your “word for the week” to stay empowered, inspired, and encouraged to use your entrepreneurial gifts so that you are fulfilled, and God glorified.

And remember if you want to be featured in the “Rising Tide Spotlight,” or you know someone or something that should,  leave your nomination in the comments section below.

Resources mentioned in this podcast:

Loren Pinilis and Life of a Steward – Time management resources from a biblical perspective

Have a question or comment about the content in this podcast? Want to discuss this week’s “Word for the Week”? Feel free to use the comments section below this post to share your thoughts and insights.

It’s Mindset Training Monday!

Do you ever to set out to do something, or decide that you are going to try something new, and somehow the accomplishment continues to evade you? Or maybe you have a burning desire to accomplish a goal in your business, but you still find yourself at the same level of progress as last year?

Why is it that sometimes we know exactly what we want to do, what we need to do, or what we should do yet we still don’t do it?!

In today’s episode of the Faith. Business. Fun. podcast, we are going to discuss a secret truth that prevents you from achieving the results you want in your business and life.

Knowing this secret truth, embracing its power, and living its practice is essential to paving a path to success in business and life that is ALSO congruent with God’s will.

Today’s podcast will leave you more aware of what you may be doing that is sabotaging your progress. And, you’ll get a simple strategy for eliminating self-sabotage for good.

Plus, you’ll also receive your “word for the week” to stay empowered, inspired, and encouraged to use your entrepreneurial gifts so that you are fulfilled, and God glorified.

Oh! And you don’t want to miss a new segment called the “Rising Tide Spotlight.” Be sure to check that out and if you’d like to be featured, or know someone who should, leave your nomination in the comments section below this post.

Resources mentioned in this podcast:

Mitchell Allen of Morpho Designs – Retrievem

Joyce Meyer – Battlefield of the Mind

Have a question or comment about the content in this podcast? Want to discuss this week’s “Word for the Week”? Feel free to use the comments section below this post to share your thoughts and insights.

Are you blindly following bad advice in your business?

Once a month I host a meetup group for entrepreneurs in my local community.

I do this because:

1. It gets me out of my home office and engaging with human beings other than my clients,

2. It allows me to share what I know with (and learn from) like-minded entrepreneurs,

3. And it gives me an honest and clear perspective of what other entrepreneurs are facing in their businesses (which makes me more effective in my own work with entrepreneurs).

The group has been active for nearly a year and it is starting to become a community of its own with over 250 members. Every fourth meeting we engage in what I call an “entrepreneurial roundtable” where members of the group are given the opportunity to present any issues they are having in their business to the group for collective brainstorming.

Every roundtable thus far has been incredibly engaging, and I’m always inspired by how willing entrepreneurs are to help each other. It’s clear to me that everyone tries to offer up their best insights and advice, but most recently someone blurted out a suggestion that only perpetuates the marketing and business fads that frustrate entrepreneurs to begin with.

Being a Bearer of Bad Advice

The issue up for discussion during this particular roundtable focused on helping a group member create a new strategy for generating leads since his former tactics (primarily yellow pages- yes some people still use those) weren’t working anymore.

He really wanted to try and leverage the web for lead generation but found that Google pay-per-click ads and paid classified listing offered dismal results.

And then someone said it. Hollering from the corner of the room like a street preacher with a megaphone on a downtown corner, some shouted “Start a blog page and write a bunch of articles about your subject. You’ll look like an expert on it and people will start buying from you!”

I know they had good intentions, but this was REALLY bad advice. Not only was it wholly inaccurate, but it was definitely the WRONG fit for this guy’s business, and more importantly for is primary objective – to generate immediate leads.

Now don’t get me wrong, I believe virtually any legally existing enterprise could blog for their business to their benefit, but if you want to generate immediate leads launching a blog is not the way to do that.

For most local businesses the benefits of blogging (depending on the competitiveness of their online market) aren’t realized for six to 18 months. So in terms of immediate lead generation, blogging is not the way to go.

But this advice also fails to acknowledge the fact that just because you write a blog doesn’t mean anyone will show up (let alone ready and willing buyers for a highly personal service).

And, this advice fails to acknowledge the fact that blogging isn’t simply a one- time set it and forget it marketing tactic. Blogging well requires a significant amount of commitment, effort, and understanding of basic blogging principles.

It’s a long-term method for lasting success on the Web. It’s not a casual thing you set out to do because someone suggested you try it out for quick lead generation.

Why This Matters to You and Your Business

Now if I sound like I’m on a soapbox about this, I just might be. But I’m not on a soapbox about all the freely perpetuated bad blogging advice, that’s a different issue for a different day. I’m on a soapbox because so many entrepreneurs lose sight of their objectives in pursuit of “trendy” marketing and advertising tactics.

If you are in business to truly profit and benefit the people you serve, you need stop focusing on tactics and start focusing on your people. The people you serve in your business should drive every marketing activity you implement. PERIOD.

Your marketing initiatives should be based on:

• Who “your people” are
• What they communicate about
• When they look for what you offer
• Why they want what you offer
• Where they are
• How they communicate
• Who they usually look to for what you have to offer
• What they want most from what you have to offer
• Where they are most likely to purchase what you offer
• When they want what you offer
• Why they will pay for what you offer
• How they want to receive what you offer

And one hundred more variations of these type of questions.

If you’re frustrated with the results of your marketing efforts, stop what you are doing and ask yourself these questions. Then, start looking at the tactics you can use to reach your people in a way that resonates with who they are, the way they communicate, etc.

Once you’ve identified those tactics, implement them properly. Test them and tweak them, until you find the right marketing mix.

Doing this will help you select marketing activities that will truly help you meet your objective. And when you’re doing things that will help you meet your objective, you’ll experience positive results.

Stop Blinding Following Other “Blueprints”

So often we try to apply cookie cutter systems and marketing fads to our highly unique businesses and the bottom line is – they just don’t work.

Does this mean blogging doesn’t work? Of course not! I wouldn’t be doing it if it didn’t work, but I’m fully aware of what is required to achieve the results I’m after – and it’s not to generate immediate leads.   I’m clear on my objectives and my expectations.

Will you do the same? Let’s chat about it in the comments below.

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”– Steve Jobs

Do you ever feel like the odds of your business success are truly stacked against you? Does it sometimes seem like enduring the rise and fall of opportunities and obstacles you face isn’t worth the pursuit of entrepreneurship? Do you ever think to yourself, “It just feels too hard.”?

If you’ve ever felt that way or had those thoughts, here is what I can tell you for sure, you are not alone! Entrepreneurship is incredibly rewarding, but (despite the “overnight success” stories you hear) its hard work. It requires mental perseverance. It requires emotional stability. It requires great faith.

Succeeding as an entrepreneur is just as much about your mental, emotional, and spiritual strength as it is about your mission, market, and marketing – if not more. And without the requisite mental, emotional, and spiritual strength YOU WILL QUIT.

So how do you find the strength to never give up? How do you find the will to do what is right when you feel wrong? How do you hold fast to perspective when it seems to be slipping away?

Introducing the “Fun. Business. Faith.” iTunes Podcast

I believe there is no greater intangible asset that we can develop as entrepreneurs than mental, emotional, and spiritual stability (or what I’m calling MESS). Without it you are like chalk on the sidewalk – washed away with one downpour. But if you train yourself (much like a runner trains for a marathon) to develop MESS, you’ll never be a “mess”.

And to help you achieve the MESS you’re after, I’ve created the “FUN. BUSINESS. FAITH.” iTunes Podcast. This podcast is designed to help entrepreneurs recognize their God-given emotional, mental, and spiritual power necessary for peak performance and lasting success.

Every week (on Monday), I’ll be bringing you one powerful Bible-based strategy for becoming a more effective and empowered entrepreneur. You can listen to or watch his podcast below, or you can click here to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, so you never miss a single episode.

In our very first episode this week, I cover the founding principle upon which all other principles in the life of the podcast will be built. I also share a few important things about how the relationship between faith and business is not only natural and worthy, but completely transformational to your life and business too. You’ll also learn exactly what you can expect to get out of this podcast from week to week (since this initial episode is a bit different than the norm).

This podcast is created directly from my heart to yours. It’s created for the spirit of every entrepreneur with a dream in their heart, and a call on their life to serve God while serving others through business.

If you’re ready to become equipped for lasting success as an entrepreneur, you don’t want to miss this podcast – this podcast is for YOU!

Have a question or comment about the content in this podcast? Want to discuss this week’s “Word for the Week”? Feel free to use the comments section below this post to share your thoughts and insights.

See you next week!
Marlee