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Your business problem may not be a business problem.
The Estherpreneur Podcast examines what most business conversations miss: the condition of the builder behind the business.
Hosted by Edna Harding, Christ-Centered Business Architect and CEO of Favor & Wealth, this show helps founders identify what is actually limiting growth—strategy, structure, sales, leadership, capacity, identity, stewardship, or spiritual misalignment.
We question business advice that produces growth without wisdom, visibility without capacity, revenue without stewardship, and success at the expense of the person carrying it.
Expect biblical truth, practical business strategy, uncomfortable questions, and conversations about sales, money, leadership, spiritual warfare, emotional maturity, and building in obedience to God.
Because sometimes you don't need another strategy.
You need to identify what is actually out of order.
“By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established.” — Proverbs 24:3
Estherpreneur.com | FavorandWealth.com | EsthersOil.org
Edna [00:00:00]:
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 [00:00:45]:
Well, hello everyone. Thank you for tuning in for another episode of the Estherpreneur Podcast. My name is Edna Harding, and I'm nothing but a messenger of hope, life, and truth. In today's episode, we're going to talk about business and Intelligence specifically for kingdom-minded entrepreneurs. Essentially, what does that mean? It just means how to hear God and also read the data, because here's what I found. We have a lot of Spirit-filled, Spirit-led entrepreneurs who only can discern the Spirit of God but does not have any practicality as far as being able to take something in the spirit and bring it forth into the natural. And so today we're going to dive into, into how to do that. And if you guys are new here, welcome, welcome, welcome.
Edna Harding [00:01:36]:
In this podcast, we talk all things business and life God's way, utilizing timeless wisdom and timely methods. Oh my goodness, it's been a crazy day. Anyways, I just wanted to share a quick story. A few years ago, I was talking with an entrepreneur who told me something I hear all the time, which is, Edna, I've been praying for my business to grow. I know God gave me this vision, but the sales aren't just consistent. So I just asked her a simple question. How many leads do you get last month? Nothing. Then I asked, what percentage of people who discover your business actually becomes clients? Nothing.
Edna Harding [00:02:16]:
Then she said something that stopped me. She said, I don't track those things. I just trust God. Okay, now listen very carefully, okay? Trusting God doesn't mean ignoring information, okay? In fact, one of the most important forms of stewardship in business is learning how to interpret what your business is already trying to tell you. And this is what we call business intelligence, specifically divine business intelligence, right? Because kingdom entrepreneurs don't just move by inspiration. We move with wisdom. All right. I have a free gift for you guys.
Edna Harding [00:02:55]:
If you stay tuned to the end of this episode, I'm going to give you guys an option. I actually created a kind of like a scoreboard, a way for us to keep track of exactly what I'm telling you right now. It's an Excel spreadsheet that I created for those who can't afford a full system. So if this is something you're interested in having for your business, consider listening to this episode And I'm going to, I'm not going to tell you exactly what to do yet, but when we get to that point, I'm going to tell you what to do. And as a gift, I will send you the scoreboard that I paid a lot of money to someone to create for my clients. And I'm going to do it for you guys for free because I'm feeling generous today. I had a great week. All right.
Edna Harding [00:03:37]:
Okay. So today I want to show you how to approach business intelligence in a way that not only aligns with your faith, but also help you steward your business like the CEO God called you to be. Now, before we talk about dashboards, before we talk about numbers or analytics, I want to address identity because this is something that a lot of coaches tend to either focus on too much or don't even talk about at all. I believe there's a balancing act for all of this. Sorry, guys, something's like in my throat. Anyway, the way you lead your business is a reflection of how you see yourself. And so today I want to say, I guess I want to get it emphasized, I want to emphasize that many entrepreneurs still operate primarily as creators or service providers. But here's the problem.
Edna Harding [00:04:25]:
God didn't just call you to create. He called you to govern. So Genesis tells us that humanity was given dominion. Okay, humanity was given dominion. And if you guys don't know what that is, I think it's like Genesis 1, Genesis 1, 2, or 3 was like, we will make man in our image and they will have dominion over everything in the earth. I actually did a thorough lesson on this in my Business Unlimited program. By the way, guys, join it if you haven't already. It's a great program.
Edna Harding [00:04:55]:
There's a self-paced version. It's affordable. Both of them are affordable, whether group mentoring or the self-paced version, because it's really going to give you the foundation you need to build a lasting business. Now, for those of you guys who are already CEOs of multimillion-dollar companies, don't tune me out either. This is going to be beneficial to you, I promise. Okay, so Let's talk about dominion first. Dominion means responsibility. Dominion means oversight.
Edna Harding [00:05:19]:
It means awareness, and awareness requires information. So a kingdom-minded CEO does not operate blindly. In fact, a kingdom CEO pays attention. Proverbs 27:23 says, be sure you know the condition of your flocks. That means your offers, your clients, your marketing, and your revenue are the modern flocks of your business. So you need to know what those are, right? Not only your team members, but also everything that concerns you. You need to know their condition because if you don't know the condition of all those things, guess what? You won't be able to steward their growth. Now, when people hear the phrase business intelligence, we often look at it as like complicated software, massive dashboards, and corporate data teams.
Edna Harding [00:06:07]:
Okay. But I have good news, my friends. Business intelligence is actually much simpler than that. Okay. Business intelligence is basically the discipline of interpreting information so you can make wise decisions. Okay. And it answers 4 important questions. Okay.
Edna Harding [00:06:24]:
This, by the way, guys, if you haven't noticed yet, this is a teaching podcast. So you probably want to pull over and take some notes or stop and get a notebook because I'm going to give you guys you know, some, some tactics today. Okay. This podcast is a mix of both timeless wisdom, biblical, you know, spiritual stuff, but also a lot of practicality. So today's episode is going to be one of those because I feel like teaching today. All right. So the 4 questions you need to ask yourself is what happened? Why did it happen? What is likely to happen next? And what should we do about it? Okay. Because every successful company in the world asks these questions constantly, but here's what happens.
Edna Harding [00:07:03]:
Many entrepreneurs don't do this. Okay. And instead they run their business, what? Emotionally, right? So they only launch offers when they're excited. They create content because it feels, they feel inspired, right? Or they pivot because something feels off. So it's all emotional-based versus wisdom-based. And with wisdom, it requires you to actually observe and monitor your activities because when you observe, it produces clarity. And now there are 5 areas where every entrepreneur needs business intelligence. The first is what I call it revenue.
Edna Harding [00:07:37]:
Revenue intelligence. This simply means understanding where your money is actually coming from. Which offer is producing the most revenue? Which clients are staying the longest? Which products are truly profitable? Many founders assume something is working because they love it, but love does not equal profitability, okay? So this is something that has been hard for me, right? Because I love what I do so much, but it's not really paying the bills, right? And so I had to pivot my offers and pivot my focus to higher ticket, higher ticket, even though I love, you know, serving, you know, like the smaller ticket clients, it's just a lot of work. And that is basically a gift. That's like my ministry, but I also need to create profits so that, you know, I could help my family hit our goals. We have certain goals that we want to do before the end of this year. And so I have to pivot to more higher ticket sales. Does that make sense? Not to say that I'm going to neglect my lower ticket sales, but I have to focus on where the revenue is.
Edna Harding [00:08:41]:
Does that make sense? Hopefully this is making sense. All right. The second area is what I call marketing intelligence. And this is where you, where does your best clients find you? Okay. Is it social media? Is it referrals? Is it email? Is it speaking engagements? Your marketing strategy should be built on what's already working, not on what is trending. Pretty straightforward. Okay. The third area is client intelligence.
Edna Harding [00:09:07]:
You need to pay attention to the clients who quickly say yes and who implement what you teach and who also refers others. These are the clients that reveal your true positioning. Okay. Because if, if, if you're, you gotta pay attention, how, who are these people? What are you saying to them? What, what's working? That's how you're gonna know how to create duplicable marketing strategies, right? Because you have to pay attention to data. Does that make sense? You gotta see what's work. On the other side of that, you have to look at those clients that you didn't want to work with. What did you say? How— what was involved? Like, what was your pitch? And don't do that because you don't want to attract the wrong clients. You want to attract the right clients.
Edna Harding [00:09:49]:
Does this make sense? All right. Okay. So now the fourth area is operational intelligence. This is where many businesses struggle. Okay. If your delivery systems are disorganized, then your growth will eventually collapse under its own weight. I am so grateful and so thankful I came from an operational background. Because I've seen time and time again how we bring in all these huge sales and I would lose it because the operations wasn't ready, which is why I don't just focus on the sales aspect and the product aspect.
Edna Harding [00:10:20]:
I also focus on the delivery and account maintenance, right? Because the last thing we want is to work so hard to get a sale and then we cannot execute, okay, because we're so disorganized. So operational intelligence is an important key. If your delivery systems are disorganized, your growth will eventually collapse under its own weight. And healthy businesses build systems that support growth. Okay. And the fifth area is decision intelligence. This is where data and discernment can— data and discernment. Oh my goodness.
Edna Harding [00:10:53]:
So you take what the numbers reveal and then you submit it to wisdom, prayer, and strategic thinking. So you take your revenue, you take your losses, you take your expenses, you go before God and say, help me. Get rid of things that does not belong in this particular season. So what that does is you're praying, you're asking God for wisdom, you're thinking with the Lord. That combination produces powerful decision. Now here's something that's really interesting that I think you guys will find pretty cool. Most entrepreneurs don't avoid business intelligence because it's complicated. They avoid it because it's confronting.
Edna Harding [00:11:28]:
Numbers tell the truth and people don't want to face the truth. You know, it's that word, you can't handle the truth. Have you read that? Have you listened? Read that movie, listen to them, watch that movie. Okay. Because numbers reveal when an offer isn't converting. Numbers reveal when marketing isn't reaching people. Numbers reveal when a strategy needs to change. Okay.
Edna Harding [00:11:48]:
And sometimes it's easier to stay inspired than to face the numbers, but here's the deal, my friends, we have to pay attention to numbers because avoidance never produces growth. Clarity does. In fact, Luke 14:28 says, suppose one of you wants to build a tower, won't you first sit down and estimate the cost? Loss. Jesus himself was teaching something profound. Wise builders calculate, okay? We assess, we plan, and guess what? You all need to do the same, okay? So let me make this very simple for you, okay? You guys ready? You don't need a complicated system. Once a week, just sit down and review 5 numbers in your business: your revenue, your leads, your sales conversions, your traffic resources, and your client outcomes. That's it. That's all you have to do.
Edna Harding [00:12:38]:
Then you ask these 3 questions. You ready? What worked? What didn't work? And what needs to change? Again, what worked, what didn't work, and what needs to change? Man, I'm flying by through this episode. Okay. So when you do this on a weekly basis, what it does is it builds strategic awareness, and strategic awareness then transforms entrepreneurs into CEOs. Okay. And this has been difficult for me too, because to go from— I remember I had this prophetic word over me a long time ago that said, you are not just going to start a Christian business. You're going to be God's CEOs, which means I had to pay attention to my numbers. I had to pay attention to my expenses, my profit, my time, all these things, and really take into consideration, am I stewarding it all well? And if not, I have to have a slap in my face and be like, you are not stewarding it all well.
Edna Harding [00:13:29]:
You're losing money. You're bleeding money. You need to focus on those higher return on your investment. And when— like, I went through a ministry phase, but now he's— the Lord's like, I need you to reign. I need you to make money for my kingdom. And so that's what I'm doing right now. I have to make money for the kingdom. So no more freebies, no more all these things where I'm sacrificing an arm and a leg to help someone and they don't even care, right? I only focus my efforts on those who are willing to put in the effort and willing to pay the price, just like I paid the price for where I am today.
Edna Harding [00:14:04]:
Does that make sense? Okay. So I want to leave you guys with this thought, and that is that many entrepreneurs are praying for multiplication, but they're not measuring what they already have. And here's the problem, my friends. You can't call yourself a steward if you don't even know what you have, because stewardship starts with awareness, because what you measure, that's what you can multiply. And Business intelligence is not about becoming corporate. It's actually becoming responsible. Okay, you're being responsible with the vision God gave you. You're being responsible with the people you serve.
Edna Harding [00:14:42]:
You're being responsible with the provision God is releasing through your business. And what happens is if you're faithful with little, you'll then be faithful with much, right? Stewardship meets wisdom, then that's when growth becomes sustainable. All right. So if this is something that you would like to do, and just for listening to the whole episode, here's what I want you to do. I want you guys to email me. I'm going to give you my direct email address at edna@favorandwealth.com. And I want you to email me specifically what are the— in fact, to make it simple for you, you, you, instead of focusing on all 5, why don't you just start with doing 2 a month, right? Tell me what you're committed to— you're committing to doing as far as monitoring and asking these questions to. Is it revenue? Is it leads? Is it sales conversions? Is it traffic source? Or is it client outcomes? Focus on 2 or 3 that you're going to commit to for the next 4 weeks, okay? If you commit to these for the next 4 weeks, Okay, I am, so here's what you're going to do.
Edna Harding [00:15:53]:
So first you're going to email me, I don't know, I'm going to think of something, say KPIs, KPIs giveaway as a subject line. You email me subject line KPIs giveaway. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to send you the dashboard. Okay. With a tutorial. Once I send you the dashboard with a tutorial, you can then monitor your revenue, your leads, your sales conversion, your traffic research, or client outcomes. You could either use the tutorial, you could use the dashboard that I send you, or you could just put it on a piece of paper. I don't care about how you do it.
Edna Harding [00:16:24]:
I just want you to do it. If you do this for 1 month consecutively for 4 weeks, I'm going to invite you guys to a free training intensive with me where you guys can ask me whatever you want about your business.
Edna [00:16:37]:
Okay.
Edna Harding [00:16:38]:
I'm going to, I'm going to put it in a small group. If you do it and you respond back, okay, you're committed. And what we're going to do is I want you to email me and I want you to put something on the calendar. Okay. In fact, Um, in fact, what I want you to do is send an invite to me and put in a calendar date 4 weeks from whenever you submit and say 4 weeks from now, checkpoint with Edna. And so, so that it's on your calendar and then you're going to respond back with your outcomes for monitoring for the 4 weeks. If you do that, I am going to give you a free Q&A with me, which means basically consulting with me. Okay.
Edna Harding [00:17:15]:
I'm not playing around. I want you guys to move forward. This is just a free free gift for those of you guys who take action. So again, what are you going to do? You're going to go to your email. You're going to email me at edna@favorablewealth.com, put KPI giveaway. I think that's what I said, whatever I said earlier. And then, and then I'm going to respond back with a tutorial and a dashboard. I want you to send an invite, a calendar invite 4 weeks from the time I send you the dashboard, put Checkpoint with Edna.
Edna Harding [00:17:46]:
And then at that point, before that, when that you see it on your calendar, that means you're going to submit to me what you monitored. And if you completed all 4 weeks, either 2 or 3 of those numbers, and you submit it to me and make sure honesty is best policy, like if you're really doing the truth, right, then I will give you guys a quick free consulting gig session, gig session with me, not one-on-one. A small group of you, maybe like, I don't know, 3 or 4 of you, if you guys are interested. All right, well, hope this bless you. Hope this generated some excitement to work on what God is telling you guys to build. I pray that this encourage you to, you know, hey, bridge biblical wisdom with timely methods, you know, be spiritual but also practical. This is the key component. Faith without works is dead.
Edna Harding [00:18:37]:
All right, friends, God bless you guys, and I hope to hear you soon. Hear from you soon. Take care. God bless. 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 7 of my secrets on how to win and grow business the right way.
Edna Harding [00:19:11]:
Until next time, keep shining.