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The Estherpreneur is a weekly chat about doing business and life God’s way. Join your host, Edna Harding as she offers biblical strategies and practical applications to improve your mind, business, spirit, relationships, and finances. Listen along as she talks with guests on how to thrive in all areas of life. Edna is a Wife, Mother, Growth Strategist, Author, Minister, Certified Maxwell Business Consultant and Executive Coach, an accredited Master Mindset Coach, and Speaker whose message of hope, truth, and wisdom reaches people all around the world. FavorandWealth.com Estherpreneur.com
Edna Harding [00:00:03]:
Welcome to Estrepreneur, a podcast for entrepreneurs and leaders doing business and life God's way. Each week we discuss biblical and practical tips to improve your mind, business, spirit, relationships and finances. Listen along as I speak with special guests on how to thrive in all aspects of life. Hi, I'm Edna. Like many of you, I wear many hats. I'm a military wife, mother, author, certified John Maxwell business and executive coach, trainer, and founder of Favor and Wealth, where we help the good guys win. So tune in as we bring on the light.
Edna Harding [00:00:46]:
Well, hello everyone. Thank you for tuning in for another episode of the Estrepreneur podcast. This is Edna Harding, and thank you guys for joining us in with me today. This week, I pray, pray that you had a blessed week so far. And if you're new to this podcast as well, you know, in this podcast we talk all things business and life God's way. And in this episode we're going to talk about the silent killers of success. And this is basically a continuation of our three part series. So if you did not listen to the first part, listen to last week's session.
Edna Harding [00:01:24]:
And today we're going to talk about a continuation, which is basically seven different proverbs that's going to help you grow your business God's way. And so I guess I want to welcome those who are new here. If you're new to this channel, I'm excited that you guys are here. Obviously, the Holy Spirit led you here and I don't take that lightly. So I hope that you get some wisdom nuggets that you can apply in your business today. And for those of you guys who have been listening to me all this time, I thank you. I thank you. I thank you.
Edna Harding [00:01:59]:
If you haven't already done so, please connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm so excited to get to know some of you guys. You have reached out via LinkedIn and I love hearing what the podcast is doing in your business and how it's really helping you and encouraging you in your walk. So glad you guys are here. All right, so let's get right to it. I guess I want to ask you a question. Have you ever heard God's going to break that door down? Have you heard that before? God's going to break that door down. Okay, but I want to ask you a question.
Edna Harding [00:02:36]:
Maybe, or should I say, what if that door is locked because the hinges weren't oiled?
Speaker C [00:02:50]:
All right.
Edna Harding [00:02:54]:
We'Re going to expose the dangerous match of favor without humility and potential without work. Because a lot of Times, what you find is in the beginning, everyone's humble. But then all of a sudden, as business continue to increase and as they get to increase their platforms or increase their fame, they forget that the person that got them there wasn't themselves. It was actually the grace of God. So if you want God's favor and results, you need both humility and hard work. And that's what these proverbs that we're going to be learning about today is teaching us. And we're going to unpack what these essential pillars are. So let's start off with proverb number four, which is humility, which is, which is found in Proverbs chapter 16, verse 18 to 19.
Edna Harding [00:03:58]:
It says, Pride goes before destruction. Better to be lowly in spirit than to share plunder with the proud. Because what happens is, and you see this time and time again, and this applies to God's children only now, if you are not a child of God, you're not a threat to the enemy. So. So the enemy doesn't care, okay? But when you're a child of God and you're doing things God's ways, the enemy will do everything he can to tempt you so that you don't build it God's ways and so that you're guaranteed to fail. Because one thing about God is he's very clear that you're either with him or you're against him, right? And so when you follow the ways of the systems of BAAL or the Babylonian systems or systems of the world, yes, you could be guaranteed success. But there's a price that you're going to pay, right? There's a curse that comes with following the systems of baal. And this is what a lot of people don't teach.
Edna Harding [00:04:58]:
But I'm not teaching this. This is not coming from Edna. This is coming from the Bible. Okay? And so again, I'm going to read that verse again. It says, pride goes before destruction. Better to be lowly in spirit than to share plunder with the proud. Because what happens is success without humility will lead to collapse. If you are a child of God, this is what's going to happen.
Edna Harding [00:05:23]:
You need to ask yourself, am I still teachable? Can my team correct me? Do I delegate wisely? Okay? Because if you have to be control over every little thing, if you have to kind of like what I call helicopter parent, every single task you outsource to your team, that could be prideful. That's not control, that's not perfectionism. That is control. Okay, so what can you do you need to systemize, you need to delegate. You need to hire for strengths, not your clones. You don't want to hire people that are exactly like. You want to hire people that complement you.
Speaker C [00:06:03]:
Right?
Edna Harding [00:06:04]:
So essentially where you're weak at, you want to hire people who are strong in that zone. And it's okay for you to get feedback and constructive criticism from them.
Speaker C [00:06:12]:
Right.
Edna Harding [00:06:14]:
To seek regular feedback. And you need to keep grounded through what mentorship advisors counsel those who are not willing to tell you that you're going the wrong path.
Speaker C [00:06:27]:
Right.
Edna Harding [00:06:28]:
And be open to that.
Speaker C [00:06:30]:
Right.
Edna Harding [00:06:30]:
You need to choose humility.
Speaker C [00:06:33]:
Right.
Edna Harding [00:06:34]:
And you need to be teachable. So because when you're teachable and you're humble, you could then start building sustainable systems based on the wisdom that you get from what? Wise counsel through the people that knows where you're weak at. Okay. Because a lot of times, you know, it's so funny, they say always surround yourself with not yea sayers, but naysayers. And the reason why is when you have naysayers around you, what's going to happen is they're going to point out things that the yea sayers won't say.
Speaker C [00:07:10]:
Right?
Edna Harding [00:07:10]:
And it's going to help you grow. It's going to help you identify your blind spots. It's going to help you areas where you're weak at. It's going to help you fill in the gaps that needs to be filled.
Speaker C [00:07:20]:
Right?
Edna Harding [00:07:21]:
So it's okay to have people with opposing views.
Speaker C [00:07:26]:
Right?
Edna Harding [00:07:26]:
Because what happens is it iron sharpens iron. Now, you cannot be. Thank you, Holy Spirit. You cannot be opposing views. When it comes to the Bible, when it comes to truth, when it comes to the word of God. The way I see it, if it's in the word of God, that's the truth. Like you go off of what the Bible says specifically, what I'm talking about is strategy. Because someone who might be analytical might have a different strategy from someone who's more relational.
Speaker C [00:07:52]:
Right?
Edna Harding [00:07:53]:
And it's okay, you could hear both and you learn from both and you apply them into whatever solution you have. But when it comes to the word of God, you cannot compromise on that. But when it comes to strategy, you can compromise on that. Does that make sense?
Speaker C [00:08:06]:
All right. All right.
Edna Harding [00:08:08]:
And the second thing, the next proverb that I want to talk about today is hard work. Proverbs 14, verse 23. It says, all hard work brings profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. Okay, let me say that one more time. All hard work brings profit, but mere talk leads only to Poverty. So what am I saying? Don't be lazy. Do not be lazy. Put in the work? Yes.
Edna Harding [00:08:35]:
Is it hard work? Absolutely. I'm tired all the time. I'm tired all the time. But guess what? I love what I do. I know it's going to bear fruit. One day I'm going to put in the work and I know that one day I will get the fruits of my labor. But in the meantime, I know I have to put in the time until I can get the income so I can start outsourcing things and bringing, you know, bring hiring more people. But in the meantime, I have to do it.
Edna Harding [00:09:03]:
I have to be okay with doing it. You know, a lot of times people think that when God gives you a vision, when God gives you assignment, that that's it, that's going to be easy peasy from there. No, it's actually like it's going to require faith. You know, a lot of people who are called to entrepreneurship, there's a faith portion to it. There's a faith walk to it. Yes, God will provide. He will give you strategy, he will give you provision, he'll give you insight, he'll give you favor. But there's also some hard work component.
Edna Harding [00:09:32]:
So what does that mean? Talkers don't win, doers do. So you can't just talk about God's vision, God's promises, declare all the prophetic words. You got to put actions to plan.
Speaker C [00:09:44]:
Right.
Edna Harding [00:09:45]:
So I'm sorry, put, act. Yeah, put action to the plan. Thank you, Holy Spirit. So you want to build daily work rhythms. So I remember when I was a stay at home mom and I was watching my little ones. I was, I, I, I worked during, when my kid was napping, right when, and so instead of napping, I was working, right. I was, I was building the things that you're seeing in my business, Unlimited mentors. I was building the worksheets, I was building the SOPs, I was building the classes, I was attending courses, I was attending mentorship programs to help me still continue to grow in the midst of being a mom.
Speaker C [00:10:19]:
Right?
Edna Harding [00:10:19]:
And so the point is you got to put in the work. It's not just going to happen. You have to put in the work. Number two, you got to prioritize impact, not perfection. Analysis by paralysis means you're going to wait until everything is perfect before you start selling stuff. I started, you know, so funny, I started selling my group mentoring program before I finished building it. I made the first module and then I sold it prior to finishing. And as people are buying it and taking the course, I was recording the next module.
Edna Harding [00:10:50]:
Is that a sin? No, it's not. Because I know I can deliver. I've done it in person for many years. This is my first time putting it into an online program. So there's an integrity component after it.
Speaker C [00:11:02]:
Right.
Edna Harding [00:11:02]:
Don't sell something that you know you can't deliver. That's, that's lying, that's deceit and that's deception. However, there is a difference when you've already delivered the result for many other people. And let's say you're creating an online program, right? So that's what I did. So was I lying, stealing or cheating or deceiving? No, because I know I could produce results. I've done it in person. I was just never done it online now why did I? And thank you, Holy Spirit. And for those of you guys who are only doing stuff in person, I highly suggest you do it online now because there's so much.
Edna Harding [00:11:35]:
I think I'm really grateful that there's the online business, even though I hated it at first because I'm not a very techie person. The fact of the matter is I'm able to expand my services and grow my services and have clients from all over the world instead of just focusing on my local clients. Because with the Internet now, I could work with anybody and everybody. And especially being in a military wife, I need to be able to move my business. Is it taking longer? Is it harder? Yeah, it kind of sucks. But I'm glad I did. I'm glad I put in the work all these years because now I'm starting to see the what the fruits of my labor, slowly but surely. But the Bible says that's what, remember in scriptures we talked about in Proverbs it says that you have to be patient and you have to persevere.
Edna Harding [00:12:21]:
You have to be patient, you have to be severe. And you also have to prepare. You prepare by putting in the work, building the ark before the animals come. Then you have to persevere. Meaning overcome every attack the enemy does. And you have to be patient that the results will come and God will reward the fruits of your your work.
Speaker C [00:12:39]:
Right?
Edna Harding [00:12:40]:
All right, so again, second point. Prioritize impact, not perfection. Number number three. Use time blocking and accountability systems. Schedule it in. Okay? All you busy moms, all you busy bees, you're those. And I've done this before. Thank you, Holy Spirit.
Edna Harding [00:12:56]:
I built my business while I was working corporate America too. So if you're not a stay at home mom and you're working in corporate, I started building my business. Now did I get scam? I wish. I probably would be further ahead. I didn't get scammed. But then I also learned how to build business in the midst of crisis. So all those were lessons learned. But the point is, wherever season you're in, you could work on the God given vision or the God given dream by just putting in an hour or two towards the God given vision and dream.
Edna Harding [00:13:26]:
You don't have to have a whole day. Just pick 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, midnight, whatever it is. Like put in the work, right. And then build the thing. And God is going to send your customers.
Speaker C [00:13:38]:
Right.
Edna Harding [00:13:40]:
The last thing I want to emphasize, you want to track progress and refine. Okay. You can't just go, go, go. You got to evaluate, you got to reflect. What worked? What did you learn? Lessons learned. What could you have done better?
Speaker C [00:13:54]:
Right.
Edna Harding [00:13:54]:
Hindsight 20 20, like what are some things that you should have done and that you didn't do? These are things that you want to ask yourself. Because remember, experience isn't the best teacher. Evaluated experience. Experience is. That's something from John Maxwell that I've learned many, many years ago in 2014, I've learned that you could be 70 years old and still have a mindset of a 20 year old if all you're doing is the same thing over and over again and you're not learning from those experiences.
Speaker C [00:14:23]:
Right.
Edna Harding [00:14:23]:
Evaluated experience is what changes your life. Not experience. Okay? You have to say, you have to see what could have Always learned something. Holy Spirit, always learn something from your experiences. Good, bad or ugly. Whether you something or whether you lost something, there's always a lessons learned. Identify it, document it, grow from it, learn from it. Okay.
Speaker C [00:14:46]:
All right.
Edna Harding [00:14:46]:
Remember that hard work done with strategic focus and rest is a key. You need to have a mixture of both resting and building, building and battling. Building, battling, resting.
Speaker C [00:14:59]:
Right?
Edna Harding [00:14:59]:
That's what Nehemiah did. He had a sword in one hand, he had a brick on another hand, and I believe he rested as well. And so it's not just a, a physical game, it's a, it's a spiritual game, it's a mindset game, it's a financial game. It's every aspect that you could think of. Just understand that when you're a target of the enemy, the enemy is going to come against your heart. He's going to come against your mind, he's going to come against your finances, he's going to come against your relationships, you know, your family. Like, he's going to come against everything that concerns you because he wants to distract you from building what God wants you to build. The key is you have to declare the word of God.
Edna Harding [00:15:36]:
You have to declare his promises. You got to hold on to your faith and believe that God is going to give you the weapons of warfare at the right time and that the Holy Spirit is with you. He's holding your hand, he's taking it to your finish line and you just have to walk by faith and not by sight. All right, now I want to close with this, my friends. Remember that humility makes you sustainable, but it's hard work that makes you successful. You need both. You need humility and hard work. Without these two and the three other proverbs that I talked about last week, you're not going to be able to have a sustainable growing business based on, on a solid foundation, which is what the word of God.
Edna Harding [00:16:16]:
So when you combine today with the pillars that we talked about last week, okay, then you're going to start building a kingdom enterprise, an enterprise that's going to be built on a solid rock foundation. If you guys don't remember what the pillars were, the foundation was last week. It was diligence, wise counsel and integrity. And today what did we talk about? We talked about hard work and humility. And next week we're going to end with the last two proverbs that you need to use in order for you to build a business that honors God, loves people and ultimately create profit for your bottom line. All right, now if you're weary and you're hurt and you and you just want to recalibrate and join a group that is all about God's ways and, and and learn from not just his word, but practical and timely strategies for your business. I want you to consider joining my business Unlimited program where we help you build sustainably. We work intentionally on your God given assignment and you also thrive personally and spiritually in all aspects of life.
Edna Harding [00:17:28]:
If this is something of interest to you, please check out the description. We have my my website favorandwealth.com click on group and growth sorry, Group growth mentorship program and apply to be part of my and I hope to see you guys on the inside. Well, God bless you my friends and hope you have a wonderful week ahead. Take care.
Speaker C [00:17:49]:
Bye bye.
Speaker D [00:17:54]:
Thanks for joining us this week on Estrepreneur. Make sure to Visit our website favorandwealth.com for more information on our services. While you're at it, if you found value in this show, we'd appreciate a rating on itunes or if you simply tell a friend about the show, that would help me out too. Also, check out my book, the Ugly side of Sales, available on Amazon, where I share seven of my secrets on how to win and grow business the right way. Until next time, keep shining.