What About Great Business Ideas?
The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

My previous article ended with the comment that “I’ve come to learn that you don’t have to have a great business idea in order to start a business or for it to last a lifetime and beyond”. My support for that statement is based upon the following scriptures as well as observing directly and indirectly businesses that have been built to last.

The LORD will perfect that which concerns me: Your mercy, O LORD, endures for ever: forsake not the works of Your own hands."
Psalm 138:8

Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass. Psalm: 37:5

The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the LORD weighs the motives. Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:1-3

Well, now, if you are an entrepreneurial visionary then of course you have business ideas. As a matter of fact, you have a whole bunch of them floating around your mind. The ideas may be scattered, overwhelming and seemingly unattainable. Those people that you share your business ideas with may wonder (and sometimes you do too), “What is he or she up to now?”

If you are an entrepreneurial visionary, then God has shown you the vision or any visions. These great ideas that you get are not to say that you are a genius but to acknowledge that God has entrusted you with a mighty work to do. However, the vision that God has given you may only be a glimpse of what is to come; and many of the details of God’s plans may not have not been revealed to you, YET.

If they are BIG GODLY ideas, then believe that they are from God. He says our ways are not His ways and our thoughts are not His thoughts. Surely, you will have to stay in communication with Him to see the end come to pass. Staying in communication with God is no mistake and should not cause you frustration if you endeavor to do the work that God has for you because God requires you to consult Him in order to move from Point A to Point B.

As a submitted Christian, you are being perfected every day. With yourself as a model, you should be open to perfection being made daily in every area of your life including in growing and developing your business. It may take a lifetime to move from just a great idea to a great company to own and work. In other words, to move from glory to glory; but isn’t that what God expects of you? Also, another model is in building a house, it takes many minds, money, labor, equipment, supplies, revisions and adjustments to get from the blueprint to the finished house.

It is a process. It is being done piece by piece, step by step and day by day; it takes time and it is completed at a set time. Now even at the point of having a newly built house, the house still needs to be furnished which is another set of requirements and actions to take. And, while you live in the house, you are constantly repairing, updating, remodeling and refurnishing to get it to where your vision for it is at that time. I am sure you see the trend and it is no mistake.

In examining businesses that have been operating for generations, many of them may have started out with one idea and moved into other industries because of new ideas and markets over the years, decades and centuries. They had many challenges, some “failures” that required them to make changes, corrections and adjustments in their operations. However, giving up on the business was not an option. What you see is that the owners and management did not give up on the business but just refocused their efforts to some other product or service.

As a business owner building a business to last, you are not necessarily committing to one product or service but to a foundational, solid business that can adapt and move into other products and services as the vision becomes clearer. As in your submitted Christian life, you are being perfected day to day, the same goes for your business. As the perfection process may not necessarily be a pleasant process for you personally, it may not be for the business as well. However, you have to know that you know that you are in God’s will and that He has started a good work and it will be completed until the day of Christ’s return.

Surely, it may take a lifetime to develop your great business idea(s) into a great business that continues to last into successive generations.

Lay aside every weight that entangles you and keeps you from moving forward due to the fear of failure or fear of success. Do something with what you do have and keep moving day to day toward bringing the vision to pass. Remember and be encouraged that it’s not how you begin, it’s how you finish and you have a lifetime to finish it, to leave a business for successive generations to build upon for their generation and beyond. Also, don’t let your chronological age stop you from moving on with your business ideas, remember and be encouraged that many of the saints in the Bible had lived 50 years or more before God used them to do great things by His grace and for His glory. It’s a faith walk and you can do it!

Now, if you don’t have to have a great business idea in order to start a business or for it to last a lifetime and beyond, then what is it that you MUST have?

The next article will address that.
Copyright© 2004 by Bonita M.W. Shelby; Used by permission, BlackandChristian.com

Bonita M.W. Shelby is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Business Manager. A graduate of Howard University, Ms. Shelby is a member of Jericho City of Praise and a Breast Cancer survivor. She helped establish the Howard University Hospital Breast Cancer Support Group. Ms. Shelby is the principal and business life coach of Kingdom Business, Inc. Responses are encouraged and for more information, I invite you to visit our website or contact us:
http://www.kingdombusiness.biz
bonita.shelby@verizon.net
301-445-0398 (Tel)