Business and Christ

[PaulW]

HI, I have my own business and have told myself that it is a family business as I had my family working with me. They were given leniency as long as the work was getting done. They had their strengths and weaknesses as all employees have. The business was growing and vibrant as they made the office feel like home. We have hit a bit of a lull in the economy and times have become tough. My family have asked for more money and as we could not afford it I said no as I felt that if we lost the business we would all be without work. They have all left and I have had to replace them. The office is a place I do not want to be I do not want to be the boss as the family was what the business was about. I want to get to a stage that I can leave the business in their hands. I cannot blame them for leaving. If our business was more successful I could pay them more and can get them back. I pray to God ever day for guidance in this matter and have handed the problem over to him. Maybe this forum will be His answer.

[dema]

The answer comes with peace. I can tell you a little about my experience - but God speaks in peace.

I had my own business and had family working for me. I felt like God put me into the business, due to the circumstances that created it. And I figured I would be in it forever. I had a lot of success for a short while, and then the recession. One day I realized I had to close it. By that time no family worked for me and I was down to four people - two part-time.

In retrospect, I know it was exactly what God planned. I hired too many people and paid too much money. But it was in the depths of the recession. My family in particular bought a house and got through the recession due to my business. One of them works with me as my assistant in my new position. God provided me with a job before the business was even closed. I worked part-time at both for a while.

God moves us around. He may have wanted you to train your family members to prepare them for life. That may have been the purpose. That was certainly the biggest part of the purpose of my business. I fed a lot of people in hard times and trained them for better jobs than they would have had had the business not existed. But one day God was through with it and he threw me into the next adventure very quickly.

So, is the blessing off of your business now? Is it time to move on? Can you sell the business? Can you merge with another business?

Whatever you do, pray about it and wait for peace. When it was time to close, I just knew. And the peace came. And God led me through.

[PaulW]

Thanks Dema, you opened my eyes to another way of looking at it. I now truly believe that I gave the problem to God and will leave it in his hands as it is His will. The business is not in dire straits at the moment but needs frugal management. I do miss the family members as they did bring a air of lightness to the office. I have started a small business for one of the other members and will trust in our Lord to guide that as well. I hope that in time they will return and take over the business but that is my hope, maybe it is not their future. Thanks again. God bless.

[dema]

Whatever you do, do it unto the Lord. If you are pleasant and jolly, customers love it. If you look like your best friend died - customers leave. Many are nice and give you sympathy - but many still don't come back.

So if you stay, stay with joy. And that is a big sign as to what you should do - if the business makes it impossible to find your joy, then something needs fixed. Maybe just doing the business differently - looking specifically at what prevents joy.

Be careful of bookkeepers however. I would say that close to 50% of the private small businessmen I know who did not take preventative measures was ripped off. Generally for something in the tens of thousands of dollars before they realized.

Sign your own checks - don't let someone else sign. If you just review the books, what an employee can do is to write a check to themselves but then enter it in as an extra utility check or a check to someone you do a lot of business with. And of course they rotate it. But in the computer - you don't notice that there are thirteen instead of twelve - or maybe if she's smart she even overpays 11 months so that the twelfth month there is a credit and she can write it to herself and enter it for the vendor.

There are of course other tricks, but this one is very hard to catch unless you sign your own checks and look at each one. I kept my checks with me. That way, if she wanted to void a check and write a new one, she had to come to me and give me the old one to get a new one.

This is really, really common. Brother-in-law, husband - even after I warned him repeatedly - grrrr, two local charities, a charity in another city...... it goes on and one. I was warned within my first year of doing business - about the time I hired my first bookkeeper. Oh, and don't think that because they go to church and are so sweet and love their grandchildren they won't. I know of others not listed who were ripped off because a child was ill. People can justify stealing for a good reason or out of pure desperation.

Anyway, if you stay, be careful and be happy.