My friend owns a chain of car dealerships. Due to the chip shortage, getting cars to sell has been a challenge. However, the limited supply has caused car prices to skyrocket. My friend’s peers are selling cars far above sticker price. As his team discussed this opportunity, they decided to take a longer-term view. In fairness to their local ...
In this series, we’re discussing preparing for economic storms. We’ve discussed getting closer to your customers and hiring freezes, the third step you might consider is to trim expenses. In 2009, the economy was crumbling. For those who adjusted and weathered the storm, I heard many tell me a similar story. They discovered that during the good times they ...
Those who are committed to their faith often strive towards giving a tithe, which means 10%, as required in the Old Testament. Then their generosity growth often stops. However, it’s exciting, to hear the stories of people like Terry Looper, author of Sacred Pace. Over the years, God has challenged Terry to increase his giving from 10% to 50% ...
CNN hired 700 people and invested $100 million to launch their CNN+ subscription service. Three weeks later their new leadership terminated CNN+. It didn’t take a lot of math to realize this venture was likely doomed to fail. CNN’s new leadership made a wise, but difficult decision to take their losses and terminate CNN+. Many failed ventures linger too ...
A big surprise many new entrepreneurs experience is their first-year tax bill! For example, a new social media influencer on TikTok receives money from TikTok each month. Many spend that money without considering taxes. What many new entrepreneurs don’t realize is that the money they received throughout the year isn’t really theirs. A significant percent of money earned is owed ...
Some employers are beginning to pay people less if they move to a community with a lower cost of living, even though the work being produced is the same. Other employers are hiring great talent in Midwestern cities by paying them West Coast wages. Paying employees equitably has become complicated. Jesus told a parable about hiring workers throughout the day ...
We recently leased new office space which required us to obtain furniture. Desiring that our limited resources go to ministry rather than furniture, we asked our local community for help. Within hours, dozens of people generously exceeded all our furniture needs. Their generosity allowed them to participate in impacting business leaders around the world. In 2 Kings 4, a widow ...
As shepherds over the flock God has placed in our care, we need to realize that sometimes employees may experience a death in the family, medical emergencies or transportation challenges. These are times when an intentional and proactive approach may be a blessing to your staff. For example, one bank I worked for established a company benevolence fund. Both the ...
Many Christians have heard about the generosity of Hobby Lobby, but there’s another company in Oklahoma City that many locals point to when discussing generosity. The company’s name is Jasco. When I trolled Jasco’s website, I was impressed by not only their extreme generosity, but also by their strategy. Jasco remarkably gives away 50% of their profits to charitable causes, ...
Many business owners believe that the privately-held stock they own in their company has little value until they sell the business. Mark discovered otherwise. Mark leveraged his stock long before selling his business. Mark had his business appraised, then donated 20% of his company stock to a donor advised fund. (That’s basically a checking account specifically for giving.) This gave ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
