Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

Fortune 500

Is It Right to Pray For Business? (Part 2)

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Yes! Pray for Business.

My most recent On-Purpose® Business Minute, Is It Right To Pray For Business, clearly struck a chord with many viewers as the public and private comments came pouring in. Additionally, I had a record number of unsubscribers from The On-Purpose Business Minutes. Too bad for us all.

In my decades of business advisory and consulting services I’ve worked with founders of a Fortune 100 company to floundering entrepreneurs. The principles of sound and ethical business can all be found in the Bible. But if you don’t have a biblical understanding, it is hard to know that.

Purpose is a spiritual concept.

That may make you uncomfortable. Don’t let discomfort keep you from growing as a leader or growing your business. Learn to pray for business success. Matters of faith often arise in my work with leaders.

Prayer is a natural outgrowth of these engaging relationships.

Plus prayer beats talking to yourself.

Your insights and comments are always welcome below.

Be On-Purpose!

Kevin

What Is Money Worth to You?

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What is money worth?

After watching and reading this On-Purpose Minute, I invite you to comment below.

Money, life, and work are interwoven life themes. Your money perspective paints your financial outlook. Here’s a preview:

Money matters!

There isn’t a day in your adult life when you’re not handling money.

Consider all we do with money:

  • exchanging money for time
  • making money on the job
  • spending money for groceries, goods, and services
  • doing money makeovers
  • investing money
  • counting money
  • worrying over money
  • saving money
  • wasting money

There are nefarious aspects of money such as counterfeiting money, stealing money, embezzling money, and “following the money.” The list could go on.

Money is everywhere. Money moves and measures the economy.

Money is our storehouse of value. Money is in our pockets and purses. Money rests on our dressers, in our drawers, and under our mattresses. When we’re short of money and long in the month, we’re worried.

Money can be the currency of a relationship, as in a couple fighting over money, investing for retirement, or saving for a home down payment. Money opens doors to social standing and status. There are people with old money and new money. Money can define a parent–teen relationship. There’s mad money. And then there’s money madness.

Money has meaning but it isn’t the source of meaning and worth.

It can be a source of security, income, worry, emotional stability or instability, the driver of our decisions, and generous giving.

Artists and theologians weigh in with gold nuggets of money advice:

1 Timothy 6:10 informs,

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Did you catch that last phrase, “and pierced themselves with many griefs”? Talk about self-inflicted problems! Money is the result of service, provided there is a mechanism in place for a fair exchange of value.

Pink Floyd’s Money lyrics (first stanza below) from their album Dark Side of the Moon reflects the dilemma with the almighty dollar:

Pink Floyd Dark Side of The Moon album cover
Click the cover to order from amazon.

Money, get away
Get a good job with more pay and you’re O.K.
Money it’s a gas
Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash
New car, caviar, four star daydream,
Think I’ll buy me a football team
Money get back
I’m all right Jack keep your hands off my stack.
Money it’s a hit
Don’t give me that do goody good bullshit
I’m in the hi-fidelity first class traveling set
And I think I need a Lear jet
Money it’s a crime
Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie
Money so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a rise it’s no surprise that they’re
giving none away

In a prior On-Purpose Minute titled, “How’s Your Trust Account?” I invite viewers to consider where their trust is located … really.

Previously, I asked you to consider what you would do differently with $100,000 in your pocket.

Money will become whatever you choose it to become.

Will you become a slave to it or will you be the master of it? Come to terms with your attitude toward money. Money can be a source of great confusion and consternation. It can also be a source for provision and blessing.

Money can help you be on-purpose! Every time you use it, ask yourself, “Am I spending or am I investing this money?” Then consider if you are spending time or investing your time.

Ask yourself this simple question: What is money to me? Now you’re invited to chip in below with your comment to the question: What is money?

Let me hear from you!

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

P.S. Perhaps you remember this “Show me the money!” scene from the movie Jerry Maguire.

Why Is My Business Struggling?

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Fortune 1000 company CEOs and small start-up business owners who have yet to make $1,000 often share the same problem—a business struggling to succeed. Economic conditions can definitely have an effect.

Many of the business challenges I see, however, are self-inflicted!

Business problems due to lack of sales revenue are most often addressed at the surface level—”We need a new website, lower prices, more salespeople, and so forth.” Sales and marketing are obvious places to look by the entrepreneur or even seasoned CEO.

Business solutions like these are where hordes of consultants and advisors earn their fees. Most often they are well earned and justified.

But wait—there’s more!

My experience as a business advisor for CEOs of multi-billion dollar companies and one person start-ups tells me that these tactical plans and approaches to problem businesses are often futile. It leaves the business struggling and focused on the wrong activities, even if well intended.

The culprit of many a business challenge lies below the surface.

If the basic business design, model, and plan have flaws then the entire business is off the mark. The larger the business, the more it lives within the corporate culture—for better or worse. Even a small defect at the core of the business can be expensive.

What To Do

  1. Watch this video on The On-Purpose Business Plan. Invest 9 minutes right now. This will help you find undiscovered wealth within your business. As you’re watching ask yourself if your business has this kind of thinking and structure in place and developed. Better yet, ask yourself the value of it if you did have it in place. When you build your business on your purpose, then you’re capable of offering a full-bodied expression of your business instead of the typically tactical and anemic offerings of today.

If something is missing in your business … it is probably here!

    2. Do This: STOP! = Start Thinking On-Purpose! 

How to do that: Try this simple exercise. Write down your “truths” about your business. This could include your assumptions about your customers, the market conditions, what it takes to sell, the benefits and features of your product or service, costs, the quality of your team or delivery … you get the idea. Jot down what you hold as a reality or truth in your business. These are your assumptions and concepts.

Next, take your list to two or three people outside your industry and ask them to review the list and to tell you their take on your observations plus their thoughts and perceptions. Avoid defensiveness. Wear your R&D and market research hat and listen—don’t tell—and just ask.

Finally, interview a few customers or targeted prospects to learn if your truths are reality or simply impressions that constrain your business development and growth. Ponder it and then adjust accordingly!