Catching the Vision for Growth

When God gives a business vision, He gives it to you. Some of us spend a lot of time bemoaning the fact that no one else can see what we are seeing, that no one else can catch the vision for what is God. God has called us to do. The reason that He hasn't called them to do that is that he's called you to do it. You have the talents and the gifting and the experience and the education to do this thing. That's why he's asking you to do it or to let him do it through you.

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Business Vision in the Bible

He's given you the vision and it's up to you then to enroll your people in the vision. So when Nehemiah started out, when he left the castle, when he headed back to Jerusalem. And a people with him, people the king had provided for him, soldiers who would protect him on the journey. He had servants with him on the journey, but they still didn't know what the vision was. They followed because Nehemiah was doing something and we want to be part of it. And you will have people like that in your vision, too. You will have people who are like, Whatever she's doing, I want to be part of it.

Growth mindset

They don't really care what your vision is because they love you and they're loyal to you. And that's amazing. Don't discount or discredit those people. You need those people in your lives. But having those people who believed in him and journeyed with him was not enough to get the vision done. The next step of the journey, we see Nehemiah going out in silence and evaluating the work, evaluating the walls and praying around the city for the work that was to come. And even then, he had people with him. It says that there were people who went out with him, the animal that he rode on.

So he was not alone that night when he went out and did that. There are people who are like, Oh, Nehemiah is on the move. Let's go with him. And there were people with him when he went out. And there will be people with you because you're on the move, even though they don't have an idea what you're doing, even though they haven't caught the vision. You will have some people who'll be with you and you're going to feel like it's an uphill battle.

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People and the Business Vision

How come nobody else is seeing this vision? Yet we need to be thankful for those people who are with us, even when they don't see the vision. If you're the only one to recognize that God is with you, you stand strong in that. Nehemiah had God on his side as he walked in that silence during that preparation time, in the evaluation, and in the planning stages to accomplish the vision that God had given him. Then we see that He took his vision to the elders, the people he went to, the people movers of his day.

He went to the leaders, and he shared the vision with them. And when they got the vision for what God was doing, when he was able to enroll them in his vision, they were able to enroll their people in the vision. And this is what you and I need to do, too. Who are your people? Who are the leaders that you can leverage their influence to be the community that you need to get the work done, to spread the vision, to catch this vision for what God has called you to do.

Creating a Network of Believers

You need to create some alliances, my friend. Create some friendships. Create some partnerships in your business with those people who are also influencers. I did a podcast a few episodes back about how to create partnerships, and I interviewed someone who's an expert on that. Go check out that podcast episode. Nehemiah didn't look at the rulers of Jerusalem and say they were his competition. Oh, no, no, no. He looked at them as colleagues, not competitors. And in our business and handprint legacy with our coaching clients, I tell them all the time, those people who also serve your people are not your competition.

They are your colleagues. The fact that you both serve the same group of people means that you should be working together to serve those people. They're your colleagues, not your competitors. And you will rise above and you will become the leader, and you will be placed into positions of leadership. You will be looked up to when you treat them as colleagues, not competitors. Always, always, always. Colleagues who can be working together for the good of the same people.

Strengths, Weaknesses, and Business Vision

You have certain strengths they don't have. So balance that out. The world would be a boring place if we all have the same strengths, right? Those are your colleagues. Work with them to serve the people God is calling you to serve and you will be a better team because of it. So Nehemiah went to the rulers of the people and he said, Here, I'm not here to compete with you. I'm here to help serve your people. This is a vision, God's place in my heart. And he got those rulers of the people enrolled in his vision.

They were able to turn and enroll their people and tell their people, this is a good thing. We approve of Nehemiah. You need to get behind us and enroll in this vision, too. And they enrolled their people in that vision. And you need community when you're doing your work. You need community for years and years and years and years. In our business, we were struggling, struggling, struggling, struggling all by ourselves. No one was believing in us. No one was helping us. Where was our community?

Where is Your Community?

We couldn't find the community. Couldn't find people who would believe in us and support us and catch the vision for what God was calling us to do. So finally I was like, Forget this, I'm going to make my own community. That was back in 2014 when we first started coaching other entrepreneurs. So we started coaching and started gathering our own group of people that we could mentor. But you know what? Even that was not enough to grow the business the way we saw God planning to grow the business. It wasn't until we also plugged into a community that could pour into us that we started seeing huge growth.

We plugged into that community in 2018, 2019 ish, where other people who were further ahead of us on the journey could pour back into us and mentor us, who could come alongside us and encourage us, who could give us a vision for what was further ahead that we couldn't see yet, even as we were encouraging those that we were feeding and that we were mentoring. And that's when the growth started happening. You can't grow when you're a sponge, when all you're doing is reading and accepting and getting fat and you see there's no real growth, but neither can you grow when all you're doing is pouring out and pouring out and pouring out because that shrinks you and dries you up. You need it to go both ways.

Are You in the Red Sea or the Dead Sea?

You've got to be a channel, not a stagnant sponge for the Lord to use you in your business. A true channel you've got to both receive and give. You can't receive and not give. You can't give and not receive. It's got to work both ways. The mentorship and the knowledge, the people pouring into you and sharing information with you as well as you, pouring into others, mentoring others, sharing information, and pouring out. You've got to be a channel. We talk about being the Red Sea, not the Dead Sea, right? The Dead Sea only has water coming in and then evaporating and dries out, leaving it salty. Right?

It doesn't. It comes in and comes in and comes in and then it evaporates. But, it never leaves and goes anywhere to create life. But the Red Sea has water flowing into it and flowing out of it. And there is life there. You don't want to collect and collect and collect and get stagnant. You've got to pour out and you can't pour out and pour out and pour out and never receive. You dry up. You've got to be the Red Sea, not the Dead Sea. And so you've got to enroll people in the vision. You've got to pour into them, but you've also got to look for a group that can pour into you, a mentor who can pour into you, a coach who can pour into you so that you can continue to grow and accomplish this vision that God has given you.

Catch the Vision for What God Has Planned

So let them catch the vision of what God's doing through you. Believe in you. Recently preparing for our Handprint Legacy live event. I had a meltdown moment, right? I had to go back to one of my communities that I've chosen to plug myself into, and I had to share with them. You know this is hard. I'm stuck getting ready for this event. You know what they did? They hopped in, gave me a pep talk and told me to remember this and remember that. Remember what you're doing. Remember what your vision is. They talk me back to sanity.

They gave me practical tips to put into place to get unstuck and keep going with what we were doing because it was worth it. That's what a good community does for you. And that's what this community did for Nehemiah. He was not a stone mason, remember? He was a cupbearer. So, he didn't have the expertise to do this job. He needed other people and he needed to enroll those rulers of the people to get their people enrolled so that they could together learn how to accomplish this vision. Even some of the people under him who helped him were not qualified. He names the different people in the book.

Working with God's Lead

If you go read the book of Nehemiah, there were mayors, rulers, the people,?priests, and women working on those walls. That was unheard of in that time. Women doing physical labor like that. There were perfumers working on the walls. There were goldsmiths working on the walls. Those people rallied around Nehemiah, who was unqualified for this kind of work. They gathered together a band of people who were also unqualified for this kind of work, and they did it in record time because the gracious hand of their God was upon them, the gracious hand of their God, the gracious hand of their God was upon them.

They caught the vision in the community for what God wanted to do for them and their community. And that's what God wants for you and your business as well. He wants you not only to be pouring out into your people. He wants you to find a community that can pour into you, that can say, Yes, we see the vision. Yes, you can do this. They can be that cheerleader for you and that champion for you and recognize that you can't do it all on your own.

Business Needs Community

It might have taken Nehemiah 150 more years if he'd had to do it himself if he'd had to lay every stone if he'd had to learn how to do all the things he needed a community unqualified as they were to come along beside him and help get the work done. And it is as to that other point as well about being qualified or not.

If you can find someone who is loyal and has the vision, that is often a way better match than someone who has all the qualifications at the beginning but can't see the vision. And so as you begin building your team in your business, remember, it's more important that your people are on board with the vision and the heart of your business, then that they've got all the qualifications for the specific work they're going to be doing. We can all learn to do new things, but you can't learn a vision.

Enroll Them in the Business Vision

A vision has to be caught. You have to be enrolled in a vision. And so as you continue to grow your business and even as you begin asking God to help you, you need to be able to communicate that vision that He's given you for this business, for the message that you're taking to the world, to be able to align those people with you who can be strategic partners for your business, who can be the community that will speak life into you and your business.

Ask God to be showing you who those people are and how to connect with them so that you can have a greater impact on your business, so that you can get things done faster. Nehemiah built those walls in 52 days. It was a record. The walls have been in ruins for 150 years with people thinking they couldn't do anything about it. And he comes in and organizes a bunch of people who are unqualified for the work but enrolls them in the vision. And they got it done in 52 days flat. Look at what God can do when he gives you a vision and you're able to enroll others to support you in that vision.

Realign Your Vision with Your Calling

Surround yourself, my friend, with community who can catch the vision, who are dedicated to getting the work done in spite of the obstacles, in spite of the attacks, in spite of criticisms, who can keep working together, get the job done in record time in a way that gives glory to God in front of all the other pagan nations watching what was happening. God wants to do this with your business. So that's my encouragement for you today.

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What's Your Flamingo Advantage?

You've been so caught up in figuring out how to market your business the right way. You've found yourself overwhelmed and your dream a little muddied. What if a simple mindset reset can help you realign your vision, refine your expectations, and revive that dream for your business? I'm Katie Horner, author of The Flamingo Advantage.

For two decades, I've been teaching business owners just like you, how to make your business and marketing decisions with faith, clarity, and with purpose empowering God's people to live out their best worship through the business. My framework teaches how to realign your mindset and your business practices with God's Word so that you no longer operate in fear or lack of criticism, but in confidence and powerful intention. I'd love to invite you to grab a free copy of my book. Just pay shipping. You, my friend, have an advantage and your uniqueness helps you live out God's purpose for you in the world.