God Gave You “The Thought.” Don’t Dare Abandon It.

After accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I began to experience a personal relationship with God. This relationship, over time, changed my perspective on the world. It also changed my perspective on business, including entrepreneuring.?

The lens through which I viewed the world changed from a secular worldview to a biblical worldview. This different God-view helped me make sense of much that I did not understand about the world.

I'll never forget the presentation I gave one morning in 2009 at a downtown Atlanta law firm. It was titled “The Seven Characteristics of an Entrepreneur.” The first and most important characteristic was “the thought.”

It is most important because the thought provides life direction. It is like a beacon for a young person. They will not know what to do when they get the thought, but they will spend the early years of their lives moving toward it. They will unconsciously be led each day to make the thought a reality. The thought will guide their big life decisions. The decisions that move them to what they were supposed to be doing with their lives all along.?

There were about fifty people in the room that morning.?

The audience comprised entrepreneurs, small business people, and service providers. The entrepreneur portion of the audience included experienced entrepreneurs and some who wanted to be entrepreneurs.?

I introduced the concept of thought using my new biblical worldview.?

I believe the thought of being an entrepreneur comes from God. There is no scientific evidence that explains where a thought comes from. Animals don't have the thought. Only human beings have the thought. And here is why we have it.?

The Bible says:

So God created human beings in his image.

In the image of God, he created them;

male and female, he created them.

Yes. We are like God. And God, the Bible says, created everything we see and enjoy.

The thought changes everything for the person who gets the thought. They can't shake it. It is personal. It is just for them. God spoke to them even before they knew God. God had a plan for their life, and this was their revelation of that plan.

I asked, "How many of you at a very young age knew you would be working for yourselves or doing something different than everyone else?"

Most of the entrepreneurs raised their hands.

"When did you have this thought?" I asked.

"Middle school?" Most hands went up.

"High school?" The remaining hands were raised.

I didn't even bother to ask about college.

This surprised me. I never asked this question about the thought to a large audience. I only asked it in one on one meetings in my later career as an angel investor. Each of them was driven by the thought God gave them. Some didn't realize they were being directed by the thought until they got "the idea" for a startup. But most knew there was something different about them. They lived their high school and college lives walking to the beat of their own drummer.?

They excelled early in life socially and academically. They stepped into leadership positions seemingly without a thought. They just found themselves in front of the room. And if they didn't step into leadership, they sat there knowing they should have done it.

This is the tough part. Being true to the thought.

Once they had the thought, they had to be true to the thought. If they weren't, they knew they were living a lie in their hearts. They sold out to the security of having a job with a career. They cast aside leading their tribe and all the risks associated with going it alone. They buckled. They became a part of the system with all its controls and predetermined hierarchy.??

Over the years, the men and women I met living a lie are successful but unfulfilled. They know they sold out. They have all the "trappings" provided by corporate success and wealth, but it isn't enough. It doesn't do it for them. Something is missing.

I know this is true because this happened to me.?

I came from a middle-class background. My father was a blue-collar worker. His whole life, he worked to provide for his family. He coveted a job with high security and a good pension. He walked the well-defined path most people in our society walk.?

I had the thought at a very young age but had no idea what to do with it. But step by step through my development years, unbeknownst to me, God guided me. I did what my dad modeled for me. I went to school, graduated, and got a good job. Security. Defined growth path. I went mainstream. But I was quick to decide that this was not me.??

Now what?

And that is when I met Richard Brock, my first entrepreneur. When I met him, I knew. This was my path. "Quit your job and join him," I thought. Against every one of my friends' advice, I did. I quit and joined Richard. We built a great company together. And every day, I loved it. I was right where I was supposed to be, entrepreneuring—creating something from nothing. Trusting it would all work out.?

I realize this was when I was finally obedient to the thought. My life was in congruence with God's plan for my life. All I had to do to get real fulfillment was meet Jesus. The rest is history.

Be true to the thought God gave you. It is thrilling and fulfilling!