There are three pillars of love that I want to talk about. So to establish a system that never fails in your business, whether you are starting a business or want to take your business to the next level, love must be at the core of your foundation and in every other aspect of your business. To practically establish love in your business, let us look at the three pillars of love.
The Three Foundational Pillars “On one occasion, an expert in the Law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” he replied. The expert answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with your entire mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Jesus replied, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.” – Luke 10: 25-28 NIV.
Based on Jesus’ answer, the three foundational pillars of The Business System That Never Fails are below:
x Pillar # 1 – Love God.
x Pillar #2 – Love yourself. That may sound self-centered, but I will clarify that soon.
x Pillar #3 – Love your customer as much as you love yourself.
Who is your neighbor? “ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply, Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” – Luke 10:29-37 NIV.
Again, based on Jesus’ answer, your neighbor is anyone you have the opportunity to serve. For the purpose of this book, your neighbor is your customer, whether the end-user of your products or services, your employee, vendor, boss, distributor or employer.
Those are the three foundational pillars of love that every business must establish in order to have a strong invisible foundation—one that will enable them build The Business System That Never Fails. When you establish this strong invisible foundation, the results in your life and business will become visible. Let us talk about the three foundational pillars in greater detail.
“ In fact, this is love for God: to keep his
commands. And his commands are not burdensome.”
—1 John 5:3 NIV
MODULE 1
PILLAR #1: LOVE GOD
In the business community, we don’t often hear of loving God as being a foundational pillar for a strong business. However, let me tell you specifically that loving God the Father, loving Jesus, and loving the person of the Holy Spirit can help you to build a strong, sustainable business.
A building or system that is built upon three solid pillars is a very stable structure that cannot easily be destroyed.11 Each pillar is very important. You can't take away one of the legs from a three-legged table and leave it standing, can you? So how can love for God be such an important part of building The Business System That Never Fails?
Well, I will give a couple of examples. First, I have never seen a detached branch, a branch that is disconnected from the tree, bearing any fruit. Every branch that is going to be fruitful must be attached to the trunk of the tree. Branches do not just hang in the air and bear fruit.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” – John 15:5-8 NIV
It is clear from this passage that a branch cannot produce fruit without the vine and God is the vine. Many people who are in business, or who want to start a business, make a plan for themselves that keeps them very busy. They don’t take the time to love God and to abide in him, which is why a lot of their activity leads to frustrating results and failure.
11Ecclesiastes 4:12 KJV They are only fruitful for a short period of time. That is because a disconnected green branch will survive for a short period of time, but then it will become brown and die.
Most business owners think that the time they invest with God is wasted time. No! The time you invest with God is the most valuable time, because God knows business more than any human on the face of the earth.
Now, that is quite a statement, isn't it? God is the greatest business EXPERT I know, and as we go through our system, I am going to document this fact. God’s nature of love is what makes him an expert in business. Developing a loving relationship with the greatest business man on earth is a wise thing to do. This explains why loving him is the first pillar in building The Business System That Never Fails.
A relationship with him enables you to love yourself, and your customers. God is therefore the centre piece of The Business System That Never Fails. Loving Him is the greatest of the three pillars.
The Source and Resources I will give you another example that may be a little bit out-of-the-box. I am grateful to Dr Myles Munroe, who has helped me to understand Genesis chapter 1. If you look at this chapter, you will discover that everything God created lives in its own habitat.
Let me put it this way. God spoke to the water to create fish, and fish have to live in water to survive. God spoke to the ground to create animals, and animals have to live in or on the ground to survive. In other words, God created living creatures that have to live within their natural habitat in order to survive.
If you take a fish out of water, the fish will struggle until it dies. If you throw an elephant into deep water, the elephant will drown. So God spoke to the ground to create animals, and he spoke to the water to create fish.
However, when it came to creating man, God spoke to Himself. He said, “Let Us make man in Our image.”12 Since man was created from God, the presence of God is the natural habitat for man, in order to experience maximum functionality, productivity, joy, peace and fulfillment.
When man is not operating in the presence of God, where love for God is of prime importance, then
12Genesis 1:26 NIV man will be operating outside of his natural habitat, and his life will be full of struggle, frustration, and disappointment—until man dies.
I know business people who are very frustrated and very disappointed, who are struggling just to survive. The problem is that they are operating like a fish out of water—disconnected from the source. Part of the reason why loving God is the main pillar of the three pillars is because, without the source, you cannot have replenished resources.
If you take the word “source” out of “resource”, you are going to be left with “re”, which is the foundation for the word “regret”. Regret means being sad because of a missed opportunity. Because God is the source of everything, if you are not attached to Him as your source, you are not going to have enough resources to run your business. Your business will go around in circles of regret.
Since loving God is the first and primary pillar of The Business System That Never Fails, then what can I say to a business person who is too busy to invest time with God? For instance, as I run my business, I look to invest and gain a return on my investments. Wha
t is the return on investment in investing time with God and in his book?
Loving God - Return on Investment (ROI) I can answer the ROI question in many ways, but I will use my personal story to answer the question. Back in 2009, I was working as a business consultant and I was very busy. I started work very early in the morning and I stopped late at night. I was working so hard that I neglected my relationship with God. I was barely investing time with God. I was always in a rush.
I would get up in the morning and say, “God, you understand I am running late. I will pray in the evening.” Then in the evening, I would come back so tired and I would say; “God you understand I am so tired. I will pray in the morning.” Then I would go to sleep.
I kept doing this for a long period of time. On a few occasions as I tried to read my Bible when I was tired, I ended up sleeping on my Bible like a pillow. Then one morning, as I was about to rush out of the house, the gentle voice of God began to speak to my conscience.
He said , “Benson, where are you going?” I said, “Lord, I’m going out for business.” He said, “You are very busy”
I said, “Yes, I am trying to network and meet more people.” He said , “So you are doing all this work, meeting all these PEOPLE, and trying to introduce yourself to them so you can get new customers?”
I said , “Exactly.” Then He asked me one simple question that changed my life and business perspective. He said, “Benson, how many PEOPLE do you think I know?”
I was almost sobbing at this point when I said, “God, you know everybody.” He said , “Exactly. What makes you think that when you invest time with me I will not introduce you to anybody I want to; and that you won’t even have to put your credentials on the table to convince that person to do business with you, because I will give you the best introduction?”
I realized my busy schedule, without God in the equation, was not a good business strategy. Then I really began to take my time with God seriously.
I have had tremendous ideas while investing time with God which have caused my business to move light-years ahead—more so than if I weren’t investing time with God. So you definitely receive ideas, you definitely receive emotional strength; you definitely receive spiritual strength to be able to start and build your business when you invest time with God. What a great ROI! When you invest time with God, you will be able to see remarkable results in your life and business.
When you invest time in your customer, you see the return on investment in your bank account. Start to see God as your customer as well. Make God your number 1 customer. Focus on serving Him. When you make God your number 1 customer, He will refer other customers to you.
Can you imagine God referring customers to your business? Allow that to sink deep into your heart. So, investing time with God would be like investing time with your number 1 customer—a customer who has a lot of connections and contacts. This is getting more impactful. There is a transformation taking place in your heart right now. Your life and business will never be the same again.
Eyes have not seen “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 NIV
When you love God, you will experience new results and breakthroughs in your life and business. That is because a loving relationship with God produces supernatural results.
Abraham loved God, and he was one of the greatest businessmen in his generation. He was rich in silver and gold.13
Solomon loved God, and he was the wisest and wealthiest man in his generation.14
13Genesis 13:2 NIV You might be thinking. Those are just Biblical examples. Are there modern day examples? I am glad you asked.
One of my clients was struggling with her business when I met her in 2010. When I started working with her, the first thing I did was to help her reestablish her priorities and give God first place in her life. As she began to invest more time with God, within a couple of weeks, she felt more peaceful and had more clarity. She also improved her services and in less than 24 months, her business revenue increased by a whopping 120%.
I am not advocating that you love God just because you want your business to grow, even though that will happen as a natural side effect. You may not get the whopping results that my client got when you start loving God at a deeper level.
However, I can assure you that when you love God genuinely and run your business in partnership with Him, your life, revenue and profits will increase. I will talk more about increasing your revenue and profits later.
141 Kings 3:3-15 NIV “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
— Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
MODULE 2
PILLAR #2: LOVE YOURSELF
Let's move on to the second pillar. I mentioned that after loving God, you should love yourself. I know that it sounds like I am saying that you should take care of your own needs before your customer’s needs. I know that it sounds like a popular business principle—take care of yourself first and get the best out of every business transaction for your own benefit. What exactly do I mean by loving yourself?
One of the most common things I have found in working with business professionals is low selfesteem. A lot of business people are insecure, and part of the reason is because they have not invested time to really take care of themselves and understand their true identities. I mean, taking care of themselves spiritually, taking care of themselves mentally and taking care of themselves physically.
Spiritual Health Spiritually—we have already covered some material related to your spiritual health under the first pillar of loving God. You have to be connected to God to be spiritually healthy, productive and profitable. Furthermore, you have to be spiritually conscious. To become spiritually conscious, you have to train your human spirit consistently just as you train your mind and your body. Here are three ways you can train your spirit and become more spiritually conscious:
1. Meditate in the Word “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” – Joshua 1:8 KJV
To meditate means to ponder, think about the Word of God. It also means speaking the Word aloud to yourself. I have had amazing experiences reading the Word out loud to myself. Reading and meditating in the Word enables your faith to grow. It makes your business prosperous and you experience good success.
2. Act on the Word Faith without action is dead.15 Reading and meditation grows your faith, but without corresponding action, you will not get results. In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus teaches that anyone who acts on the word of God is wise and anyone who does not act on the word of God is foolish.
Acting on the Word enables you to build your life and business on a strong, solid foundation—a foundation that is able to withstand the storms and daily challenges of doing business. Not acting on the Word will restrict you to build your life and business on a weak, sand-like foundation—a foundation that will crumble when you encounter the storms and daily challenges of doing business.
3. Obey your conscience instantly Your conscience is the voice of your human spirit. Some people call it hunch or small still voice or intuition. In some business communities, it is referred to as a “gut feeling.”
Whatever you choose to call it, the more you meditate on the Word of God, the more active and sensitive your conscience will become. Each time I act contrary to my conscience, I end up regretting my decision. However, your emotions can easily overpower your conscience.
15James 2:14-26 NIV Just because something sounds logical and you have an emotional connection to it does not mean that it is the right thing.
In 2010, a friend invited me to watch
a movie. It was supposed to be a great movie, and I was really looking forward to watching it. On the day the movie was scheduled to air, I did not have peace about watching it. That still small voice in me kept telling me not to go. I did not listen.
I used logic to silence my conscience. I reasoned, “What will my friend think of me?” When I finally got on the road and was driving towards the movie theatre, I got lost. By the time I found my way to the theatre, I was 45 minutes late. I was so frustrated that I decided to return home without watching the movie. I wasted time, fuel and energy because I disobeyed my conscience.
Mental Health Technology and the world we live in are changing rapidly. For you to stay current and continue to serve your customers, you have to update your mind continuously.
Dr. David Oyedepo often says, “If you don’t update
“Your mind is like a magnet. It attracts according to its content.”
yourself, your will soon be outdated.” When some people go to school and graduate, they stop reading or updating themselves regularly,
so their expertise becomes obsolete over time. What worked 5 years ago is not working in this current business environment because things have changed.
When you update your brain with new knowledge, you attract new customers into your life. Your mind is like a magnet. It attracts according to its content. If you fill your mind with thoughts of low selfesteem, you will attract customers who have low self-esteem.
Not too long ago, I began to write down the characteristics of the ideal customers I want to serve for my business—customers whom I know I can serve with the best of my abilities. I wrote down 13 characteristics. When I finished writing these characteristics, I said, “This clearly represents my ideal customer.”
The Business System That Never Fails Page 3
