What is the one thing you need in your business this year as a Christian woman business owner or content creator?
While much of what you’re hearing this time of year is about setting goals, dreaming, and planning for your business, I want to share with you something that I believe will make a big difference for you. It’s something that is absolutely necessary as a Christian business owner, and you won’t hear it from many people: discernment.
Discernment is necessary for us as believers because there is so much out there that sounds good, but may actually be harmful.
In this episode, I’m sharing 3 ways you need to practice discernment in your business this year. If you want to dive even deeper into the concept of discernment in the Bible, check out the video I did below:
3 Ways to Practice Discernment in Your Business This Year:
1. Who you are following and taking advice from
You don’t have to only take business advice from Christians. But you need to be willing to discern when there are practices or recommendations that do not line up with your faith.
Ask yourself:
- Who are you listening to podcasts?
- Who are you following on social? What types of things are they recommending?
- Does the majority of what they are saying or teaching line up with your values? Or is a significant portion going against your faith?
When it comes to biz advice, be picky.
2. Types of work or clients you take on
If you are a service provider or coach or consultant, it’s very important to use discernment about the type of work or clients you take on. It’s helpful to pre-decide about this, and one of the best ways to do this is to outline your values.
Consider:
What are your guiding values in your business? Are these communicated on your social media, your website, etc?
Secondly, remember you don’t have to say yes to clients. You can turn down work. It may be awkward or uncomfortable, but I promise it is better when you do it upfront rather than wait.
I learned the hard way on this.. I took on clients where it wasn’t a good fit… I had a gut feeling, but I said yes anyway. Then I ended up feeling icky about some of the work I was doing. This is not a good place to be.
So I want you to get clear on your values; make sure they are communicated on your content; then practice discernment when meeting with potential clients, and be willing to say no when necessary.
3. Where to focus your own business efforts
Finally, you need discernment about where to focus your own business efforts. If you are anything like me, you may have lots of possibilities and skills you could use. Or lots of ideas about products and programs you could create.
But you need to ask God for wisdom and discernment about where to focus.
Because here’s the truth that I know, but hate admitting: you cannot do all the things and do them all well. You can do a few things and do them well. And that means some things have to wait and some you have to completely stop doing.
Resources that God provides for us to grow in discernment:
The good news is that God provides us with resources that will help us grow in this area.
- His word
- Holy Spirit
- Other people
I’ve chatted about this topic on the Christian Woman Leadership Podcast, so here are those episodes if you want to dive deeper into this:
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