What’s the best way for a follower of Jesus to start a Christian business? This question is at the heart of what we do at Kingdom320: equipping and empowering Christians to build profitable, scalable businesses to fund God’s Kingdom.
There’s never been a better time to create and scale a Kingdom-minded company with the technology and pace of growth available today. The question is where to start: How do you build a strong Christian business? What does it mean to be a Christian entrepreneur compared to a regular entrepreneur?
In this article, we take a look at the key principles of what it means to build a business that honors God, is biblically sound, and will give you the fulfillment you need to thrive. Most importantly, we’ll take a look at how to leverage your profits and growth to fund God’s Kingdom here on earth.
What is a Christian Business?
A Christian business, or faith-based business as it’s sometimes called, is a business built on principles, values, and practices in line with the teachings of Jesus. As a Christian entrepreneur, you are committed to applying biblical principles to your everyday business decisions. Honesty, integrity, reliability, wisdom, patience, diligence, being a faithful steward of your time, talent, and treasures; these are only a few of the key biblical values that exemplify a Christian business.
Whether you make physical products, provide services as a Christian business coach, or invest in real estate (a lucrative endeavor), every situation and decision is an opportunity to lead with your faith. What does your faith say about your conduct? What does your faith say about your P&L? A Christian business is run in a God-honoring, profitable manner because it’s putting your faith into practice.
What does the Bible say about opening a business?
The Bible has many strong examples of Christians starting businesses. Paul was a tentmaker while traveling for his missionary journeys (Acts 18). Aquila and Priscilla, two contemporaries of Paul, were also tentmakers by trade. Many of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen by trade. The wise woman from Proverbs 31 is lauded for her business savvy as she rose early to bring her goods to market, buy a field, plant a vineyard, and sell garments she made.
What makes a business a Christian business?
The key difference between a regular business and a Christian business is having an eternal perspective. Many entrepreneurs, even some who are followers of Jesus, do not operate their businesses with an emphasis on its eternal impact. The business only exists for this life, not for eternity.
A Christian business is built to make an impact far beyond this lifetime. What will your profits make possible for the glory of God and His Kingdom? What will your business contribute to that makes an eternal impact? If your business isn’t meant to ultimately help fund God’s Kingdom here on earth, are you being the best steward of your business?
How to Start a Christian Business in 7 Steps
There is freedom and power in starting and scaling a Christian business as a faith-based entrepreneur. You get to define what values to champion and which mission to pursue. The more specific and potent your vision for your company, the stronger your impact for eternity. So, how do you start a Christian business? There are seven simple steps for becoming a Christian entrepreneur:
- Choose your niche
- Define your mission
- Mind your due diligence
- Pick a business name
- Draft your business plan
- Test and learn
- Start to scale
You may already wonder why choosing your niche is the first step. Great question. It will make more sense with context.
1. Choose Your Niche.
In case this concept of niching is unfamiliar to you, a niche is a smaller segment of a group or population that has more specific characteristics, interests, or needs. It’s a group within a group, and there is one key reason why choosing your niche is essential for your business success.
Who is your business’ target market? Your business will be more appealing to the right people when you can focus your message – how you talk about what you do – to speak to a more specific audience. What are their exact needs? What are the specific questions and problems they’re facing right now? Opening any restaurant without focusing on a specific type of clientele is a guessing game of appeal. Who knows if your restaurant serves the right type of food?
Picking your niche strengthens your message in two ways:
- It focuses on the more specific group of people you want to serve.
- It eliminates interest from the wrong types of people.
As the saying goes, the riches are in the niches. Choose a business idea or industry that you’re passionate about, then choose a subsection of people that you want to serve inside that industry. That’s a simple, effective way to niche down your business. If you want to get into investing, choosing real estate as your investment focus will sharpen your decision-making and optimize your energy.
2. Define Your Mission.
A great starting point is to write out your mission, vision for your business, and your company values. What’s the greater purpose of your Christian business? What does your business stand for? What does it stand against? What are the areas where you will refuse to compromise? Defining your mission as a Christian entrepreneur will set a powerful lens for every decision, conversation, and situation you face.
3. Mind Your Due Diligence.
There is a treasure trove of wisdom found in experienced Christian entrepreneurs. Find mentors you can trust in your church, your Bible study, your local community, and even Christian business owners in other parts of the world. Reading business books with strong biblical principles is an excellent way to educate yourself.
Being a new business owner doesn’t mean you have to reinvent the wheel. Plug into business networking circles that are geared toward Christian entrepreneurs in your local city. Many Christian business owners love going through our master class, “Real Estate God’s Way”. There’s no cost to attend, so hit the link to start watching.
4. Pick a Business Name
This is a fun step! What do you want to name your new baby with an LLC attached? Christian business names often convey some type of faith background or biblical value in the business name. Cross + Tomb Construction is an obvious example of a Christian business name, but you don’t have to include faith imagery in your business name to be a Christian business. If you have a list of business names, do a thorough search of Google, social media, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to see if anyone else already claimed that name. This is also part of your due diligence. Rebranding after your business launches can be an expensive process!
5. Draft a Business Plan
What’s your game plan for building your business? Creating a business plan is a solid next step. This is usually an in-depth document that can range from one page in length to a hundred pages or more. It gives detailed insight into your business’ values, mission, and vision, analysis of your target market, your plan for growth, company structure, core products and/or services, marketing and sales strategies, and financial analysis.
This is a core document you need to have if you want additional funding for your business. The good news is there are many lucrative businesses that don’t require funding. You can start wholesaling houses with no money if you lack funding or don’t want to pursue additional funding.
This is also a good time to decide whether you want to have a business partner or start building a team. With a business plan and a team structure in place, you are already setting the groundwork for your eventual exit from the business. And yes, you will exit your business someday. The question is whether you want to take the necessary steps to exit by design or by default. Defining an exit strategy for a variety of circumstances is a wise step to implement.
6. Test & Learn
You have a great business name, a solid business plan, and you know who you want to serve. It’s time to launch! If you’re new to your industry, you may want to start small, testing and learning as quickly as possible. This will give you the flexibility to pivot and adjust based on mistakes and what you learn. Be prepared to encounter more than a few ‘bumps’ along the way during your first year in business. That’s part of the messy, beautiful learning process of becoming your own boss!
7. Start to Scale
As you learn and adjust, you will see your business start optimizing. Now, you’re ready to start scaling your business. When is the best time to scale your business? It’s often sooner than you want, but it’s still ultimately your decision on when to scale. As a side note, it is often much easier to scale as a Christian online business than a physical product Christian business.
If you have a physical product, start by increasing production and marketing by 10%. Wait for a period of time, then analyze and adjust from there. Scaling with wisdom means you’re still following biblical principles, staying humble, and trusting prayer and God’s Spirit to guide your everyday decisions. Scaling your business may be one of the best ways to exercise your prayer muscles!
Top Tips for Christian Entrepreneurs
What are some of the best pieces of advice for Christian entrepreneurs? Our team has been in the ‘trenches’ of business as a Christian business for almost 20 years. Here are a few of our top tips for Christian entrepreneurs:
- Get clear with your purpose: This is a key distinction from writing out your business’ mission, vision, and values. This is personal – why are you a Christian business owner? This will help separate your identity from your business’ performance. You are not your business. You happen to be the one running your business as a steward of God’s resources.
- Pray regularly: Pray for your business when you get up. Pray for your business when your head hits the pillow again. Pray when walking into that big meeting. Pray when facing difficult decisions. Pray for wisdom, and God will answer with wisdom.
- Prioritize self-care: Burning out is a constant threat for entrepreneurs, especially in our always-on, never-enough world of endless notifications and messages. Protect your mental health with taking off days as a reward for hard work.
- Find a healthy hobby: There’s relief in developing a skill or practice that doesn’t relate to your business. If your business is a mental-heavy business, find a hobby that’s a physically demanding hobby, like hiking or martial arts. If your business is physically demanding work, find a hobby that exercises your mind during the down time.
- Give back with generosity: There is one reason why God blesses your business with abundance: so you can be a blessing to others for the sake of God’s Kingdom. How are you investing the abundance back into God’s Kingdom here on earth? How are you helping make an eternal difference with the blessings of profits in your business?
There’s wisdom in growing your Christian business in a way that works for you, your family, and your goals. Remember, you are the one most responsible for the opportunities you face as a business owner. This is a profound responsibility called stewardship.
Start Your Christian Business Today
You have what it takes to become a financially successful, God-honoring Christian entrepreneur. You now know what steps it takes to start a Christian business, what a Christian business is, and how to make your business fit your family and your goals.
Ready to start the meaningful business you crave? The answer may be real estate investing. You’re invited to see what’s possible with our training “Real Estate God’s Way”. This is a powerful, action-igniting front-row seat to see how real estate can give you and your family the income and impact you want as a Christian entrepreneur. Hit the link to join us for “Real Estate God’s Way”.
