YOUR FAMILY IS A BUSINESS!!!
Many years ago I came to a marvelous revelation that has helped me tremendously as a husband and a father. That revelation was that I needed to run my family with the same thought, care, planning, attention to details, and financial acuity that I would run my own business. The main difference was this: I cannot afford for this business to fail!
I have to learn, grow, work hard, and get things right. I have to recognize my/our mistakes, take responsibility for them, fix them, and avoid making the same mistakes over and over again. I have to wear a variety of hats, personally develop myself, and become competent in many skill sets in order for my family business to succeed. I need to eventually turn a profit and not a loss. I must never lose heart, as this will take time, prayer and great effort, but in the end, there must be more profit than loss.
I must learn to excel relationally. I must learn to communicate effectively. I must learn to plan and then execute those plans. I must learn to effectively parent, disciple, and train my children in the ways of Christ, in their character and their moral values. I must learn to love and nurture my wife and stay emotionally connected. We must work hard and earn money to provide for the things we need and things we are going to need in the future. I must learn to lead our family business with a wise vision so we accomplish the most important priorities of our family business. I must learn to coach my teammates well and keep the morale of my family “employees” encouraged. I must find a way to overcome all the obstacles, setbacks, and hardships we inevitably encounter. I must adapt, improvise, and overcome.
I must see to it that my family business “employees” are well trained and educated, which we did by homeschooling them, and then sending them early to community college/tech school, my wife taking the primary role in that endeavor.
In order for a business to succeed, we must get organized, take the time to keep accurate records, and manage, use and allocate our resources well. This is what I want to focus on today. What I share with you now, you might think is so simple, I already know this. Maybe you do, maybe you don’t. Knowing and doing is of course a vastly different thing. But I am certain some of you out there today can use this critically important, practical advice.
PLEASE HEAR ME WELL.
IT WILL ENSURE YOUR FAMILY BUSINESS SUCCEEDS IN THE LONG RUN!
Most of you reading this probably never wanted to be your own business owner. You wanted to work for someone else, clock in, get a paycheck, and then go home, leaving the hassles and responsibilities of the business to others in the company!! There is nothing wrong with that.
BUT guess what???!!!
You are a business owner. Your family is your business! It has to succeed and you and your business partner, your spouse, are responsible for all of it!!!!!! With God’s supernatural help of course!
Today I write to you from the wellspring of decades of experience living and doing these very things.
THEY ABSOLUTELY WORK!
As an example, let’s start with home education. Kathy was their teacher, and lesson planner. Kathy saw to it that materials were ordered, she chose the curriculum, she prepared the lessons, she chose and purchased the materials, and she kept all the records and lesson plans. They were carefully and faithfully stored in an organized fashion in an oak cabinet, dedicated for that purpose alone. I worked to provide the funds for her education budget. I did everything I could to encourage her, and help her succeed.
As the family business owner and the CEO, I made a strategic decision in order to ensure Kathy and the kids succeeded well, to join a legal, official, Christian accreditation service, https://www.hbeaa.org/about-us
Men, it is absolutely essential that you have a desk, a good chair, a file cabinet, a computer, a printer, and an official office space in your home, or garage (where mine is), where you can focus, think and work on your family business. It does not have to be fancy, or expensive, or filled with the latest, greatest gadgets. For 13 years mine was in the corner of our basement. Whatever it is, wherever it is, you must use it. I am so thankful that 20 years ago I made the decision to forgo parking my little car in our double garage, and instead built in one part, a small, windowless 10′ by 7′ office. It has been a lifesaver, even though I have shoveled tons of snow, and scrapped the ice off the car left in the driveway! I would do it all again!
You can’t do every single thing on your computer, or smartphone, sitting in your pajamas on the couch! You will need paper copies and records of many things. Taxes, birth certificates, passports, insurance policies, important letters, forms, and documents, etc. These must be kept in an orderly fashion in your filing cabinet so you can lay your hands on them when you need to, without the stress of wondering where in God’s green earth you put that important letter, or receipt, a bill to pay, or a vital document!
Every single day, I work in some way on our family business finances. Every single morning I write down exactly where our long-term investments are from the day before. Every single day I enter receipts into the checkbook. Every single day I enter those expenses into my 6 column analysis pad in the correct category. I know every single day where we are at with our money. Finances are the lifeblood of our family business. I watch over our expenses like a hawk! I have been through the worst of times. I have lived through the scariest of times. I have lived through extremely tough and difficult times. I have lived paycheck to paycheck, and other times did not know how we would possibly make it. Life has thrown some tremendous challenges, unfair circumstances, job losses, health disasters and troubles our way. But I always knew where we were at. What needed to be paid. How broke I was or wasn’t. Exactly what I needed to be praying for, planning for, and working towards. There were many years I never thought we would get to where we are at this moment. My burning, unceasing desire has always been to be found faithful by God, in all things! I am deadly serious about my family business and you must be about yours.
In 2018 amidst all the turmoil, injustice, and insanity of what happened, I still had to sit down and think, pray, plan, strategize, and envision where we go from here. Where do we go from the catastrophic loss of almost everything? I pulled out my life insurance policy and realized I needed to lower the amount I was insured for. Why? Because I needed to lower my monthly expenses. I realized that at 62, the house close to being paid for, and a few other assets, there was no need to carry half a million dollars on myself any longer, so I lowered the amount of coverage, saving $100 dollars a month. I found any and every way I could to maximize our finances.
I regularly look over our family business budget to see what I need to adjust so that we get to the financial goal God has put on my heart by a certain age and a certain time. I pray fervently over it every single day, asking God for very specific things and specific amounts.
These two Biblical Proverbs have been my guiding light and winning formula, they have never failed me.
Pr. 24:3-4 LB
Any enterprise {business} is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts.
Pr. 27:23-24 LB
Riches can disappear fast. And the king’s crown doesn’t stay in his family forever-so watch your business interests closely. Know the state of your flocks and herds; then there will be lambs’ wool enough for clothing and goats’ milk enough for food for all your household after the hay is harvested, and the new crops appear, and the mountain grasses are gathered in.
Finally, let me share 2 vitally important principles for your family business to succeed. Cooperation and sacrifice.
My wife cooperates with me and we make shared sacrifices to help our business succeed and become profitable! I cannot overstate how important these two are.
A couple of examples. Kathy and I eat very simply, in fact, we eat the same things day after day, week after week. Food and drink are one of those things that you can spend far too much money on in our day and age. It is stunning to me what is available and what can tempt you in the grocery stores of America. Kathy has been willing to cooperate with me on this matter. {This would look slightly different with kids still in our home.} Both of us understand shared sacrifice and cooperation is the only way to achieve our family business goals.
My wife driving a 20-year-old van is one of those sacrifices she willingly makes to help us achieve our family business goals. I drive a 21-year-old car, in part because the money I save can help pay for some of my wife’s ongoing health needs. My goal is to drive them to at least 300,000 miles or another 10 years if possible. Sacrifice and cooperation help our family business succeed!! For years when our kids were in karate, my wife and kids would go every Saturday to the karate school and clean the entire school. Their sacrifice, cooperation, and work offset some of the cost of the training and helped pay for it.
A few years ago, my wife was given a small money gift after the death of her grandmother. There were many things someone could choose to do with that money. Like buy a newer vehicle to drive than her 20-year-old van or go on a vacation. I ask her permission to pray about how we use it. She agreed. Several months later, I was given extremely reliable information on an investment in a medical company. After much prayer, I asked Kathy if we could invest that money gift, explaining to her why I thought it would be wise and helpful for our long term future in our later years. She agreed. That investment has now grown almost 7 times in value. In light of what happened to us in 2018, we see it as the divine providence of God, as it will be extremely useful to us in the later years of our life. What did it take? Cooperation and sacrifice!
My friends, never, ever lose hope. God cares deeply about you and your life, about your present and your future. He has his eye on you even now. His love, wisdom, faithfulness and blessing are your greatest assets. Don’t stop trying. Don’t stop striving. Never stop praying! God will carry you through those excruciating, hard times, though they may feel never ending. God will sustain you and bring you through.
Ps. 90:17 NLT
And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful.
* I thank God for the extraordinary help of Christian friends along the way over the last 45 years of my life. Without their kindness, help and generosity I would not be writing this to you today.
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