In this series, we’re discussing seven keys to successful business startups. The final key to success is to be generous. One of the paradoxical concepts in the Bible is that if you generously give away money for God’s work, He, then, can trust you with more, sometimes replacing far more than you gave. Bob faithfully tithed from his personal paycheck ...
Michael Zigarelli, a professor at Messiah University in Pennsylvania, spoke at a God in the Workplace event recently. One of the simple, but profound, insights Mr. Zigarelli reportedly shared was “the starting point for faith at work is faith within.” Michael stated that Chick-fil-a doesn’t have a company policy requiring employees to go the extra mile. Instead, Chick-fil-a hires ...
Many people believe it’s fine to lie to the Internal Revenue Service about their taxes and still maintain integrity. When I was a commercial lender, I was meeting with a small business owner who, while handing over his tax returns as part of his loan application, said, “I sure hope you aren’t making your loan decision based on those numbers. ...
Previously, we discussed the Federal Trade Commission’s desire to eliminate most noncompete agreements. One common use of noncompetes is for the protection of trade secrets. If the FTC eliminates noncompetes, a possible substitute that can help protect your trade secrets can be a non-disclosure agreement. A non-disclosure agreement requires the signer to agree not to share the trade secrets ...
On Thanksgiving Day, the race for buying Christmas presents began. Black Friday amplified the season, Small Business Saturday grabbed their fair share and then Cyber Monday excels online. In addition to the Christmas buying season, there’s another important season: the Year-End Giving season. Today is officially Giving Tuesday, but Black Friday is far better known and celebrated than Giving Tuesday. ...
Kathy and I were visiting a new city and wanted to experience local food. The hotel concierge recommended and called a restaurant for reservations. At first, the restaurant refused to take our reservation. Our concierge pressed on until we were finally promised a reservation at precisely 6:45, not earlier or later. The next night we were excited to try ...
Recently, I was teaching a men’s group on the value of using their areas of giftedness. One person shared with me that he and his son had just discussed giftedness the day before. They came to a profound conclusion: Giftedness, without strong character, can have a very bad ending. Bernie Madoff, who died in prison last year, was a great ...
My friend, Jim, recently shared with me a new idea they have implemented in his company to encourage generosity. Jim uses a new app called Grateful for Giving. Jim’s company purchases gift cards to give to his employees or customers that entitle them to give to any charity of their choice. These cards direct the recipient to the app to ...
A few years ago, Dan considered selling his machine tooling business. Fortunately, he shared his plan with me before he had negotiated a deal with the buyer. After I introduced Dan to a unique strategy, and the National Christian Foundation, Dan donated 20% of his company to a donor advised fund prior to the sale. This strategy gave Dan an ...
Many years ago, two businessmen considered buying a bank. They had discussions with me about becoming the CEO of that bank. Unbeknownst to me, they asked a former boss of mine his opinion on my ability to run the bank. It was reported to me that he told them, “Rick certainly has the skills and background for that job, but ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
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