Business Sense

1. Business Sense For When Business Life Gets Out of Balance “One decision has the power to change everything.” Dr. Blake Life is cool when you make right decisions and outcomes are better than expected. BUT! What about that one decision? That decision can be forced on you, an event happens that you could not see was coming or the doctor tells you that news. Keeping life, family, career, business, retirement in balance is a challenge on a good day. Business Sense does cover a wide variety of decision making topics that can also be used in one’s personal life. Business Sense also talks about when that day comes and balance gets thrown out the window. C.S. Lewis said, "Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance." Even the smallest decisions in our daily lives can have vast importance. Make decisions each day you'll feel good about later. Consider this. When that day comes, you may not be ready for it but you can decide to get through it now.

2. Less is Better “The less your baggage weights, the farther you can carry it.” Bryan L. 1. Less /lĕs/ Adjective : Not as great in amount or quantity. : Lower in importance, esteem, or rank. : Consisting of a smaller number. The question would be, how can less business be better? I have watched and worked for many companies over 54 years. The ones that are still in business did two things that the others did not. One, they concentrated their efforts and Two, they planned many years ahead with the customer in mind. Its like reducing a soup. To make the soup taste strong your keep cooking it at a lower temp until you get the flavor you want. Too many want to be business owners that just spend the money and then wait for customers to show up. Poor planning with no idea what your business flavor is just doesn’t work. Focus in, reduce if necessary, know what your customers want and plan for the long haul. All of the businesses I worked for that are out of business did not follow these few simple steps. This says it all! The business plan should address, "How will I get customers? How will I market the product or service? Who will I target?" The principles of a business plan are pretty much the same. But after page one to two, everything is unpredictable, because costs or competition will change and you don't know how things will be received by the market. You have to be able to continually adapt. Companies that fail to adapt will die. Others are brilliant at adapting. Cameron Johnson

3. 2. Less of What? If we follow Cameron Johnson’s line of thinking, less of being inflexible and more of being adaptable. He spills it out. How will you get customers? Have a plan just for attracting customers. Who will you market the product or service too? Who is your customer? Have a business plan! Everything is unpredictable - because costs or competition will change and you don't know how things will be received by the market. You have to be able to continually adapt. Companies that fail to adapt will die. Others are brilliant at adapting. Remember this, the marketplace shifts everyday. Again, have less of being inflexible and more of being adaptable. 3. Everything That Exists Comes From Faith. My pastor but it this way, “Faith is a conviction based on what I’ve heard and accepting it as truth.” He also says, “Great faith must be fed.” Like when a personal or business storm comes your way. James 1.6 says, but when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. If your personal life or business life is in a storm the way through the storm is through. Everyone gets a storm in their life. Belief and doubt are polar opposites that contract each other. What you fed will determine how long your storm lasts. You either concede to the doubt and the storm wins or you pick yourself up off the floor and find another way through. “Whatever We Build Upon Will Grow.” Luke Cobrae Jeff Bezos said, “Any business plan won't survive its first encounter with reality. The reality will always be different. It will never be the plan.” How many times do you think the Amazon shopping concept got re-written, re-planned, re-marketed, re-thought until you experience what you see today?

4. 4. How Far Can You Carry Your Baggage? When I went through my divorce I was given a book that said this. In order to move forward you need to sort out what is good luggage and what is bad luggage and only take the good luggage with you. Apply that say concept of sorting out the bad business thinking from the good business thinking and only take the good business thinking with you. The Bible says, “Be anxious for nothing.” Matt 6.34 That is an all inclusive statement of what not to do. Ask yourself the question, what am I holding onto? Being anxious ties you down emotionally or living in a “what if” mindset. Just how far will you going in business or in life with that hanging around your neck every day? Being anxious means you are wasting your mental or emotional energy on something that has not happened. 5. Sometimes You Have To Go Alone. Sometimes business requires great risk. If you had a scale you could put all the potential gains on one side and all the potential losses on the other. “Sometimes You Have To Go Alone”, is about going for it alone. I hope you get the concept. Isolation 1. God isolates you for a reason. It is much better to be alone than be with those who hinder your progress. If you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far go to together. To go alone builds independence from anyone else except God. It’s just you and God brainstorming, planning and executing a brilliant plan. When we misplace our trust in someone else and they kill the deal, that action can build resentment that carries forward for years. Really know who you are partnering with in life and business. If God is trying to separate you for a season and for a “Good” reason, give Him permission to do just that. Sometimes God has to separated you and me from the rest of the flock to reshape us like clay, to align us with a great purpose. If our business is not about a greater purpose then its just a mediocre something. Just like in reducing a soup for greater flavor, sometimes we have to be reduced to make us into a strong business person. If you want to make a difference accept the fact that adaptability may come into play. Excerpts From The Vine - Ecclesiastes 3 - A Time for Everything There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. A time to plant and a time to uproot. A time to tear down and a time to build. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them. A time to search and a time to give up. A time to keep and a time to throw away.

5. 6. A Time To Search and A Time To Give Up. Do you want to keep your self imposed thinking or do you have the courage to surrender it? Some people say never surrender anything. The wiser people know that surrendering is a smart thing to do because surrendering works like a boomerang and brings back what was given up to overflowing. Get this concept. God isolates you for a reason. God isolates before He elevates. To prepare you for a greater season. The next season could be the biggest one in your life. There is a time for everything! Planting, Uprooting, Tear Down, Building, Scattering Stones, Gather Stones, Searching, Give Up, Keeping, Throw Away. How many of these words apply to life and business. Isolation will test your faith. God will use your struggles to prepare you for greater assignments. Our hope is not based on what we can accomplish but on what God can do for us. 7. Balance! Balance can be work load vs life style, internal noise vs internal peace, relationship with God vs no relationship with God, eating and exercise vs fasting and resting. Balance can be any two things that balance each other out. You are the only one that can determine what your balance should be. When it comes to business life things can get out of balance quickly because busy can replace productive very easily. A Couple Thoughts From the Vine (Bible) Surrender to the Vine Mt 21.22 - Whatever you (surrender) ask in prayer (faith) you will receive it. Balance can be like a boomerang. You have to throw it or surrender it to get it back. The Vine Only Speaks Life. Proverbs 18.21 Say Less bad stuff about yourself. Again what you speak (boomerang comes back to you) Death and life are in the power of the tongue. The Vine Provides - Romans 4.17 Jesus calls into existence the things that do not exist. The Vine Provides. So you are the big dog who gets it done, right? There may come a day (cancer) when you are no longer a big dog, but instead you are in the fight of your life. There you are in the middle of suffering, all resources are gone and you can’t see your way to tomorrow. You have no resources that you can use to call the things you want into existence, but there is someone who can. What will you do? “Clear everything off your day and get re-balanced.”

6. Planning For Now Proverbs 27:1 "Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth. 1. Character Wins the Day! As I work day to day to beat the Bastard (cancer) what I find is the ultimate reason for being here is a strong character and believe me cancer will test your resolve. What do you do when your faith is in crisis? Cry a little, get pissed a little, scream a little. From the Vine - John 14.27 Jesus talks about His peace for you when all else has failed. Take a deep breathe, breathe in the name of Jesus and see what happens. Another pearl of wisdom From the Vine - Mark 4.37-40 What if we could be calm in the storm? So Jesus is sleeping and the 12 are frantic because the storm is raging. Figure that one out, one guy is sleeping while 12 are frantic. What is the difference between them? Character! One man knows how to shut the storm up and make it calm. The 12 can do the exact same thing but they are mentally and emotionally caught up in the event instead of taking control of the situation. “Rule your mind, which if it is not your servant, is your master.” Horace

7. 2. We Serve Our Thoughts. If your character is not strong enough to win the day, what is? Matt 6.24-25 “Take no thought”, Serve Him with my thoughts instead. John 3.16 What you have for me is far greater than anything I’ve ever had. From The Vine - Who Controls Your Thoughts? Luke 9:1 - He (Jesus) called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over their own thoughts and situations. If you don’t control your thoughts, who does? 3. Master Yours Now From The Vine Concept - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 - But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Keep this in mind “Prepares”. From The Vine John 29.11 God does not prepare His plan to fit into our life, He prepares your life to fit into His plans. Did you ever bother to think that your life is bigger than what you have planned? 4. Current Tense “Focus on what I do have”. Luke Cobrae The half glass full mindset prevents Jesus from doing things. Mark 6.6 It takes great faith to move beyond where we are. Hebrews 11.6 James 4.13 Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. We have all made plans to do something. I made plans to triple my real estate holdings. Then cancer came along and changed all that. I live in today, my plans are for today. Many of my today plans don’t get done courtesy of being sick so much. You don’t know beyond this very minute what your life will be like tomorrow. From the Book Perpetual You can start where you are and change the ending, because living in the past prevents us from experiencing divine appointments for today.

8. Money Smarts "Money moves from those, who do not manage it to those who do." Dave Ramsey If everything in your mindset is your only business sense, then you are limiting your business potential. Without Being Connected to the Vine - We serve our thoughts. Matt 6.24-25 “Take no thought”. If the thoughts you are constantly repeating are not moving you forward, loose them. 1. Stewardship of Our Life from Pastor Luke Cobrae Consider how these concepts effect your business decisions, plans and outcome and make the right adjustments to line them up for greater success. The Parable of the Talents from the Vine talks about “according to our ability.” If you are not achieving the business success you had in mind, maybe you are deficient in an ability. The Parable of the Talents from the Vine. Not everyone gets everything, but everyone gets something. The two staffers who invested the talents given to them prospered more. The third staffer was critical of his master buried his talent and lot everything. All three got something according to their attitude ability. From the Vine 2 Cor. 10.13 talks about our area of influence, “the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us”. If your business sphere is small be excellent at increasing what you have, otherwise like Dave Ramsey said Money moves from those, who do not manage it to those who do or like the Vine says, it will go to someone else.

9. Metron – A unit of either length of volume. Everything is measurable, our time, our asset use, our energy, our investment plan. The Vine says in Matt. 25.17 “Likewise, the one with the two talents gained two more.” Faithful is who you are. Whether you have a lot or little your Metron is to be faithful with it. If you are not faithful with what you have you no Metron. 2. Above and Beyond What Exists in Your Mind Have you ever heard the term unlimited potential? It’s antiquated and really means nothing. Yah we do great things, but what is beyond our reach of understanding and doing? Everything that is not accomplished yet. And what we forget is we have a heart with much greater capacity to achieve things yet it gets overlooked. The Vine says in Eph 3.20 “God is able, to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all you could ask or think (for your health, heart, career, love life and anything else you can come up with. If you could do above and beyond, why haven’t you. I remember my business mentor Jim Rohn said one time as a millionaire that he was at an event where a billionaire was speaking and the billionaire asked the millionaire, why haven’t you. 3. Your Trust Capacity Are you trustworthy? From The Vine Concept - Can The Vine Trust You? Luke 16.10-12 10 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? Character is doing what you said you would do, after the feeling is gone." Unknown

10. 4. Great Trial in Business From The Vine Concept Ps. 147.3 - Faith is a product of great trials. Ever been through a great trial that kept on going? Cancer has been like that. Every area of my life has been turned upside down with negative results to this point. From The Vine - Ps 37.23 “ God is not forgetful or indifferent to any aspect of your life.” We do not experience anything outside of His divine jurisdiction in other words He does care and He has to work with our decisions. From The Vine - Pro 3.5 “Lean not.” Trust is not about the outcome, it is about the outlook. Trust in and Lean not. You cannot have one without the other. From the Book Perpetual / The Season of Despair Ps 55.4-8 Despair tries to persuade you that hope does not exist. Despair breeds within us something far worse than losing our life, it can make us lose our reason for living. When business or life trials just keep going and our faith building or hope does not keep up, despair creeps in to convince us that things will not work out. You can’t go around what God wants you to go through. 2 Sam 23.11-12 says Shammah stayed “stationed” in the battle field. Ps 73.26 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Circumstances “I choose to not let my circumstances define my identity”. I choose to let my life be defined by Christ. “For in Him we live and move and have our being”. What do you do when your business goes into famine like mine did? 5. Season of Famine (From the Book Perpetual) Your mental emotional physical and spiritual resources are dry and barren. You become parched and tapped out. Life gets reduced to placing one foot in front of the other. All day. Every day. Emptiness – This condition provokes a strong sense of deprivation (being reduced) Life seems to contain nothing. You feel completely empty. Loneliness – The season of famine also brings a strong sense of isolation. Col. 11.1 NLT and Hebrews 12.1 The Message Famine (cancer) exposes the real you. Even though you may not sense it, God’s presence is in your season of famine. In order for God to get you to where you are going, He has to take you from where you are and that requires change. 2 Cor 3.18 from glory to glory.

11. Think Tank 1 What business disaster needs to come to you that you are thankful for that gets you on track with greater success? In the late 1800’s when cotton was undisputed king of the south, every cotton plantation in Coffee County Alabama was wiped out by the boll weevil. The economic fallout was disastrous, causing Christians in the little town of Enterprise to meet together and pray. “We thank you Lord, that You have the blessed us for so many years with cotton. Now it’s gone but we know You work all things together for good. So we trust you.” Following their prayer meeting the town of Enterprise decide to change crops from cotton to peanuts. Now although peanuts at the time were virtually unknown, there was a man of exceptional intelligence. One of the greatest thinkers in our country’s history, who in the same year as the folks of Enterprise felt the Lord nudging them to plant peanuts, was talking to the Lord. A wonderful believer with a deep interests in astronomy he prayed “Father teach me the secrets of the universe.” Then he hung is head and said, “Lord I know that’s too presumptuous to ask. Just teach me about the peanut. The man’s name was of course was George Washington Carver and how the Lord answered his prayer! Beginning in 1865 Carver developed over three hundred products from the lowly peanut, of which the primary discovery as as I’m concerned was peanut butter.

12. As a result of George Washington Carver’s discoveries, suddenly there was an unexpected, unprecedented demand for peanuts. And Coffee County began to prosper beyond belief. What had been a disaster became a blessing. What has been adversity became prosperity and all because instead of being eaten up by a worm of negativity, the people of Enterprise glorified God. If you go to Enterprise today you will see a monument in the town square with a boll weevil on top and this inscription underneath. In profound appreciation for the boll weevil and what he has done as the heard of prosperity this monument is erected by the grateful citizens of Coffee County Alabama. “All things work together for good.” Romans 8.28

13. Think Tank 2 “If you don’t do anything with it, it won’t do anything.” Anything refers to the idea that almost accomplishing something is not the same as actually accomplishing it. How strong is your “Think Tank”? Will it withstand the test of time and produce that magic something that meets the needs of millions? Greg Kinnear in “Flash of Genius” and intermittent wiper blades. Flash of Genius focuses on Robert Kearns (played by Greg Kinnear) and his legal battle against the Ford Motor Company after they developed an intermittent windshield wiper based on ideas the inventor had patented. As he drives his Ford Galaxy through a light rain, the constant movement of the windshield wipers irritates his troubled vision. The incident inspires him to create a wiper blade mechanism modeled on the human eye, which blinks every few seconds rather than continuously. With financial support from Gil Previck, Kearns converts his basement into a laboratory and develops a prototype he tests in a fish tank before installing it in his car. He patents his invention and demonstrates it for Ford researchers, who had been working on a similar project without success. Kearns refuses to explain how his mechanism works until he hammers out a favorable deal with the corporation.

14. Impressed with Kearns' results, executive Macklin Tyler asks him to prepare a business plan detailing the cost of the individual units, which Kearn’s intends to manufacture himself. Considering this to be sufficient commitment from the company, Kearns rents a warehouse he plans to use as a factory and forges ahead. He presents Ford with the pricing information it requested along with a sample unit, then waits for their response. Time passes, and when nobody contacts Kearns, he begins placing phone calls that are never returned. Frustrated, Kearns attends a Ford dealers convention at which the latest model of the Mustang is unveiled, promoting the intermittent wiper as a selling point. Realizing the company has used his idea without giving him credit or payment for it, Kearns begins his descent into a despair so deep he boards a Greyhound bus and heads for Washington, DC, where he apparently hopes to find legal recourse. Instead, Maryland state troopers remove him from the bus and escort him to a mental hospital, where he is treated for a nervous breakdown. Finally released when doctors decide his obsession has subsided, he returns home a broken man, determined to receive public acknowledgment for his accomplishment. Thus begins years of legal battles, during which time his wife leaves him, and he becomes estranged from his children. At trial, Kearns represents himself after attorney Gregory Lawson withdraws from the case, because Kearns refuses to settle. Eventually Kearns' ex-wife and children support him in his endeavor. Toward the end of the trial, Ford offers Kearns a $30 million settlement, but without admitting wrongdoing. Kearns decides to leave his fate in the hands of the jury, who determine that Ford infringed his patents, but that the infringement was not deliberate. The jury awards him $10.1 million. The closing credits indicate that Kearn’s later wins an $18.7 million judgment from Chrysler Corporation as well. You have read about two different Think Tanks with problems that needed to be solved. And they were. Back to Prov. 3.5 Do not lean on your own understanding. It takes great resolve to win business and life battles.

15. “Any business plan won't survive its first encounter with reality. The reality will always be different. It will never be the plan.” Jeff Bezos About Bryan L. Bryan L. is a former Real Estate Investment Portfolio Owner of over 110 properties, Cancer Warrior, Turned Digital Publisher on LinkedIn. Business Sense is Powered By Eye Catcher Business Publications 3.16 He Loves You Copyrighted 2024 by Bryan L. The Bryan K Long Company Eye Catcher Publications