The World of Business

They say that if you want to understand a person, you must walk his path in his shoes. Something similar can be applied to the world of business. When you are a simple hired worker, you see your work through the eyes of a worker who has certain rights and obligations. But when you become an employer and producer, you see the whole picture completely differently.

There is certain statistics on observing individual entrepreneurship and private business that is worth knowing and understanding before you plunge into this world. About 80% of private firms go bankrupt and close in the first three years of beginning their activity. When I come to the labor market as a newcomer, experienced clients form a certain opinion about me, and they cautiously enter into business relationships with me. Not only your professionalism plays a very big role, but also your attitude toward people, respect, honesty, and friendliness. We deal not with soulless robots, but with the same people who have families, who get sick and dream of happiness in their lives. But for many of them, money has become the meaning, and the "golden crown" of this world—the goal of life.

Combining your faith, love, and friendliness with business will seem impossible to many, but God has a different view on this, and He can teach each of His sons or daughters to combine all these things in life and be His witnesses in every place.

A Limited Liability Company differs from other forms of enterprises in that in case of failure or bankruptcy you lose only your firm and everything that is listed on it. And in other cases you bear responsibility with all your property. For example, if I took a bank loan for building a residential complex, and the next crisis didn't let me finish the job, or all sales hung up, or the house was not accepted and is subject to demolition, then the bank will deal only with my firm, and my private life will be inviolable. In all other cases, all responsibility lies on all my property, and they can hang all debts on me that will need to be repaid.

When you become an entrepreneur, no one pays anything for you anymore, and you are surprised at how many all kinds of "pumps" and "vacuum cleaners" there are in life, which come to you for what's theirs with enviable constancy, and they don't care whether you have something or not. You must give everything they demand and expect, and you need to earn all this first and at the same time still live on something yourself and support your family.

If I deal with new clients, then I don't know what kind of people they are and how decent they are in paying for orders, but I have faith that they are honest. Also, the internet exists, where you can read reviews about people you plan to deal with.

The world of business is an ocean of interesting opportunities to improve your financial situation, but it's worth remembering that there are many cunning and hungry sharks there who don't disdain anything. However, God and His protection exist, and those who have decency and honesty and remain faithful to this, despite everything.

It is written that much increase comes by the strength of an ox. Proverbs 14:4. When you work for yourself, only you bring profit to your firm, and this is your main income, but when people work for you, they can contribute to the prosperity of your enterprise and free your hands, allowing you to engage in searching, organizing, and solving other tasks. However, people need to be paid not only their salary, but also social payments made for them, which they don't see but which are mandatory by law: medical insurance, pension fund, vacation pay, bonuses, and years of service. And all this can require much more expenses from you than you think.

The money that comes into the firm's cash register is not yours to just take and spend like that. Half, and sometimes more of what you receive, can be safely set aside for taxes and various side expenses, and the remaining money will go to purchasing materials, tools, paying salaries, and so forth.

You shouldn't rejoice too early that large financial receipts are coming. It won't always be like this. You shouldn't despair if the cash register is empty and nothing profitable is foreseen. This also won't always be like this. Everything has its place and chance, but there are also patterns.

Being a businessman is not a consequence of having business, but rather a way of your thinking that is formed not in one day, but in the process of your becoming in this sphere and acquiring businessman's experience.

It's worth considering the fact that God, Who gives you strength and wisdom in acquiring wealth, also observes your activity and expects from your profit support for those spiritual projects that serve the good of society.

If I opened a commercial enterprise, then it should bring profit, and from this profit I need to plan charity. If I decide to give everything away, believing that the Lord will supply all my needs, seeing my generosity, then I think reality will differ from expectations, and I will first be very surprised that I'm left with nothing, and then I'll start asking for wisdom from above in managing my affairs.

It's always easy for me to be generous with other people's money or with what I could only dream about. It was especially simple to give what you didn't earn by your labor. But when you earn your bread by the sweat of your brow and know its price, then giving it for God's work, you give along with it your heart and part of your life and soul that was spent on acquiring this wealth. And you don't know how other people will receive this and how they'll evaluate it.

Communication with family members helps greatly in business, with those who love you and experience all your victories and failures together with you. This is invaluable help that so inspires you for any labor and gives you courage to enter the unknown and go toward the intended goal. And if your spouse shares your faith in God and constantly prays for you, then this becomes the most substantial contribution to your labor and success. Family in business is that oasis that gives you rest and reloads your consciousness, making you understand that work is not the meaning of life, but only part of God's plan for man. And complete stopping on the Sabbath from all affairs and cares shows me and all my surroundings Who is Main in my life and Whose law is written in my heart.

As business developed, we understood that there are many legal ways to withdraw monetary means from the firm to our family, so that we could plan various prospects, save for all kinds of needs, and engage in good deeds without damage to the family budget. It's not always stable, but always interesting.

You can watch without tiring how fire burns, how water flows, and how they give you salary.

As in love, in business there are its own laws and orders that fully agree with God's will and act constantly in relation to any person. Every businessman remains a person who wants to be happy and healthy, wants to know that someone loves him and wants to be a friend. This exists in your business too, if you have this in your heart and give it to those who need it.

1. Please read Psalm 90:10; Deuteronomy 5:13; Proverbs 6:6-11; 12:9; 14:4; 18:9; 21:25; 31:10-31; Acts 18:1-3; Ecclesiastes 3:22; 4:5,9; 5:11,17-19; 9:10; 11:1,6; Isaiah 44:12; Jeremiah 22:13; 1 Corinthians 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8-9; Romans 13:6-7 in light of this lesson.

2. What did you understand from this topic?

3. What other verses from the Bible came to your mind?

4. Is there a difference in judging an entrepreneur's work from outside and from inside?

5. Is it necessary to have an idea about the internal structure of any enterprise?

6. Have you noticed that our whole world consists of large and small businesses?

7. Is it bad for a believing person to have their own business?

8. If some person has been engaged in business for a long time, will they have formed businessman's thinking?

9. To trade, buy and sell with one's own and others'—is this good or bad for a believing person?

10. Will the world of business become bad if you have a bad opinion about it?

11. What happens to those people who stop working with their hands?

12. Why did God command us in His commandment to work six days and do all our work?

13. What is the difference between a hired worker and a private entrepreneur?

14. Does the Lord understand business better than businessmen?

15. Do you have plans for your own business? If yes, do you understand what you will have to face?