Nothing has built my faith more than being a business owner. Over the past two decades of being an entrepreneur and talking with hundreds of other entrepreneurs, I’ve found one thing to be universally true: Business creates hard moments that will challenge you to the core. There are two ways you can handle these moments. What you choose will determine your destiny.
Business is a fiery furnace of personal transformation. The pressures of business, things like revenue, cashflow, and people issues, will transform our hearts. Pressure in business is part of the territory. The question is will your heart become harder or softer?
The natural tendency is for our hearts to become hard.
Where does you heart go when you think of situations like these:
- A new customer backs out of a deal you were counting on
- Cash flow slows down and the bank balance is below your needs for payroll
- One of your best employees leaves for a competitor and brings three other people with him
- A new government regulation kills your plans for a new service offering
Moments like these push all of our buttons. Fear shows up in the pit of your stomach. Its close cousin, anxiety, raises its ugly head at 3:00 am. Tired and exhausted, the next day anger sets in. Over time, the dogpile starts.
What you do in these moments has the potential to transform your heart or destroy your business and your life.
Option one is to go with it. After all, business is business. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. We just need to toughen up and get at it. Fear is fuel.
As we double down, anger becomes resentment which leads to bitterness. Frustration leads to hopelessness and then despair.
In all of this you begin to lose heart. The voice of the enemy speaks saying, “God has abandoned you. He didn’t come through and he won’t. You’re on your own now.”
Chronic anxiety and anger creates an angst that requires attention. Many medications are available to help with this. From the numbing effects of too much alcohol and overeating to the distractions of pouring ourselves into work or hobbies we find ourselves addicted and trapped. These ways of coping with stress hurt your closest relationships. Your marriage and family suffers.
At work, anxiety and anger fuel a relentless drive. You become impatient and short tempered. You transfer your emotions to our team, putting undue pressure on them to perform. In desperate grasp for control you begin to micromanage.
All of this builds a toxic culture which hurts productivity, destroys morale, and ultimately causes many people to leave.
This situation creates more fear, more anxiety, and more anger. You find yourself in the classic downward spiral.
Of course, you are known as the successful entrepreneur. It’s your identity You can’t fail. Emotions like fear and anxiety seem weak and would hurt your image. So you don’t tell anyone. You live alone and scared, reasoning that fear, anxiety, and anger are part of the package. Even better, they are the fuel that will drive you!
This is the way of the world.
Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end leads only to death.” It literally kills us. The toxic cocktail of fear, anxiety, and anger seeps into our homes, eroding our marriages and parenting. It sabotages our health leading to all of the diseases that come from chronic stress. These literally lead to death.
There is a better way that leads to life. Option two is to see these high-pressure situations as full of potential for transformation. Fear, anxiety, and anger can be the dashboard lights that prompt us to run to God.
I like to think that if Jesus were talking to stressed out entrepreneurs in 2023 He might say, “Come to Me, all you who are weary, anxious and afraid your business is going to collapse and you will look like a total failure. Come to Me you who feel out of control and are angry. Come to Me and let Me give you rest.”
Jesus’ invitation to us is simple: “Follow Me.”
Where the way of the world is to double down on control, the way of the Kingdom is to surrender.
What do you surrender? You let go of fear and anxiety. You make no agreement with it. You release anger and bitterness.
Then, you invite Jesus into the situation. You start asking Him questions: What do you think about this? What should I do? Then, you listen.
All of this draws you closer to the heart of the Father. As you are led by the Holy Spirit you grow in your identity as the beloved son or daughter of God, just as Romans 8:14 promises.
Pressure becomes the fuel for growth. Over time, Romans 5:3-5 becomes a reality for us: “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
The pressures of business will not go away. They have the power to destroy you or transform you. The choice is yours.
You can begin today. Chances are there will be a situation today that will push your fear, anxiety, or anger button. I challenge you to see it as a dashboard light and bring it immediately to the Father. As we do this, what once launched a downward spiral of despair can instead initiate an upward spiral of transformation.
