You are in the business of becoming. God is making the man or woman you are called to be. From that foundation, your business will be built.

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Passion is a phrase that’s banded around in entrepreneurial circles a lot, and I can totally understand why. Because I’m a passionate person. I’m sure you are, too. Being in this creative space is one that is often passion driven. We are people who feel and we feel deeply and we hear phrases often discover your passion.

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Follow your passion. Live your passion. Profit from your passion. Build a business around your passion. And I’ve spoken these cute sounding phrases myself many times, and in their context, sometimes they can make a great deal of sense, but I think they’ve become a kind of banner in the online world, and it can be applied in a much.

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Sometimes they’re applied so broadly that they actually lose their sense of reason that they lose their grip on reality. I was having a conversation recently with someone that I admire very greatly, a guy called Dave Chessen. He runs a blog called Kindlepreneur cheque it out. He’s also hugely successful software creator. And in our conversation he mentioned how much he hates these enticing expressions where we’re told that we should just build and live and profit from our passion.

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And in it he reminded me because I was asking him about his entrepreneurial journey. It’s a key thing, isn’t it really that we want to really live from who we are? But we also need to actually pay our bills and what greater way, as we’ve heard so many times, then if we do and we can make our living doing something we love, we’ll never work another day in our life. That’s what we’re told, what a wonderful aspiration to have. But the entrepreneurial journey is often quite different from the pictures on the cereal packets and the sales pages.

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Let’s face it, this is more a mountain climb than a lays on the beach. And Dave, in speaking of passion driven business, he reminded me that the word passion comes from the root word, the Latin word Patty, which means suffering or enduring in our passion, comes from the late Latin passion, which means suffering and enduring from the past participle stem of the Latin Patty, which means to endure, to undergo, to experience that which must be endured. When Mel Gibson titled his blockbuster movie The Passion of the Christ, he titled it for a reason.

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He didn’t call it the excitement of the Christ or the obsessive hobby of the Christ, or things that Christ really likes to do. Just because you’re passionate about something doesn’t necessarily guarantee success.

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Many years ago, I was prophesied over there was this, like, the only way I can describe it is like this wild grandma would come and preach at our Church sometimes, and she was, like, really sharply prophetic and had experienced things in the spirit that would make your mind boggle. Literally. She told us stories of laying hands on people who were blind, but not just blind in the usual sense of the word blind because they had no physical eyeballs in their head, and she laid hands on their eyes and God created eyeballs in their skull there.

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And then. So this is the kind of girl that I’m talking about, and she prophesied over me.

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This was many years ago and said, Zeal is great, but Zeal is not a good master. And I’ve learned that over the years I’m a very zealous man, often, much to my regret, when I’ve allowed passion to take the reins instead of wisdom, and I’m not saying one or the other. I’m saying both. And but if anyone is going to sit in the driving seat, let it be wisdom. Just because you’re passionate about something doesn’t necessarily guarantee success.

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Just because you’re zealous and hardworking and committed doesn’t guarantee that you’re going to see the fruits that you desire. Yeah, we hear it talked about a lot as if just following your passion is going to deliver the goods into your lap. Now, I don’t want to discourage you in any way from pursuing your passion in inverted commerce, but I’ve been thinking around the whole subject of being a faithful preener, being a faith based Minister in the marketplace, if you like. And by Minister, I don’t necessarily mean preacher.

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Okay.

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I mean, in any realm of business where you are out there, you are serving the King. It doesn’t matter if you create widgets, if you write recipe books or if you stand in a digital pool pit preaching to the masses, everything that we do is submitted and sanctified unto their King unto the Christ that we serve.

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By kind of online Ministry. I’m talking in the broadest Kingdom sense. I would encourage you to explore that. I would encourage you to believe for that. But also in thinking about encouraging.

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I think one of the failings, sometimes that we fall into is that we highlight all of the benefits that don’t really prepare people for the journey that they’re going to endure. The same is true sometimes a Christian kind of gospel that we like to emphasise the good bits, but we tend to back off when it comes to like, well, yeah, you’re going to have to lay down your life. You’re going to have to die to yourself.

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If you want to experience resurrection, you’re probably going to have to go through a crucifixion first. By the way, we’re going to bury you in baptism just to make sure that you never come back alive.

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And of course, the perspective is everything. But let’s go into whatever endeavour we are seeking to experience with our eyes open. Experience shows us really. Another turn of phrase that’s often heard is, if I can do this, anyone can do it. Often the marketers will put that out there, speaking from their gilded golden eight figure business laptop or whatever else it may be.

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And I’m speaking a little kind of tongue in cheek here. So do bear with me. I’m not in any way kind of criticising pointing fingers, et cetera. I’m just highlighting a little bit of a kind of gap that sometimes people are surprised when they come to it. I remember when I came to Church, I got born again in quite a kind of remarkable manner and came to Church.

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And I just thought, Man, everyone in Church is going to be just like Jesus. What a shock. When I discovered that most of the people in Church were very much like me, full of flaws, turn to phrase, if I can do this, anyone can do it. And on a purely practical level, this may be true. Absolutely.

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We can press the same sequence of buttons, but experience shows us where one speaker marketer coach fill in the blank, might run a certain promotion, set up a particular sales funnel, or run a webinar series with startling results. Another person can then jump in and turn all those same handles, press all those same buttons, even say the same words, but with decidedly different outcomes. What gives a man? It’s not just what the man makes or the woman makes. It’s not just what the man makes that makes the difference.

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It’s actually the making of the man. Just because Elon Musk and I’m picking up Elon’s name because my kids were talking about it, and they’re fairly impressed with him sending spaceships into orbit and building all of these radical new cars and et cetera, et cetera. But just because Elon Musk and blast a rocket into space doesn’t mean that I can. He may say, Well, if I can do it, you can do it. I’m not suggesting that Elon Musk would say that, but it’s no different than when we come to whatever field of endeavour we want to engage in.

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And we hear those words. Just because Pedro Adeo he’s a tremendously successful and very genuine Christian marketer. But just because he can rack up eight fat figures from online challenges that he runs doesn’t mean that I will see the same results. I don’t have the same experience, abilities, connections, confidence, revelation. There are a host of factors I could excuse myself with, and I’m not trying to diminish myself in that comparison.

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In fact, comparison is probably the worst thing you can possibly do. If you’re looking to actually make a difference and make a dent in the universe, the real determiner is simply this. I’m not Elon Musk. I’m not Pedro Adejo. I’m David Lee Martin.

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That’s who I am, and God did not make me to be a carbon copy. He made me me. And you you. There’s a great verse in Ephesians Two, chapter ten, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. His plans are no less impressive for you than for anyone else.

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They are plans to prosper you to give you a vibrant hope and a fruitful future. But it’s going to be a future and a hope in keeping with your personality within the boundaries and scope of what he has prepared and planned and promised for you that will bring you the greatest and deepest satisfaction and joy. And that is really essentially why we should work on ourselves, growing ourself, encouraging ourselves, emboldening, educating and edifying ourselves, respect yourself and do all you can to develop and use your gifts.

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Staring out of the window, observing what everyone else is doing is really not going to get you where you want to be, turn and look in the mirror and learn to appreciate what you see there. Understand that you’re shaped by God for a purpose bigger than you can presently embody and seek to become the man or woman that he needs you to be in order to fulfil the perfect plan for your life and make the things that He’s called you to make.

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As I’ve said. And as I’ve titled this episode, it’s not what the man makes. It’s the making of the man that makes the difference. The Scripture does, of course, say God is no respecter of persons, but this is spoken with reference to His righteousness and invitation into His Kingdom. It doesn’t mean that what He’s done for one, he’ll do for another.

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That’s like a bit of a prickly statement for some. But God’s plan for your life is just as real and true as it is for anyone else. But it is not identical thinking. That just because God acts and works a certain way in someone else’s life, like demands that he should work that way in your life is really a recipe for trouble. It’s going to cause you a lot of frustration.

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You are uniquely his. You are His son. You are his daughter, and by God’s Grace he has got something so special for your life. And it’s not the same as for whatever name you want to fill in the blank. Israel were God’s chosen people throughout our very faith is built upon the covenants that God made with that people.

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And through miraculous intervention, they were freed from slavery. God patiently provided for and protected them through 40 long years in the wilderness. He brought them gloriously into their promised land and shaped them by the covenants he made with them for centuries to become the perfect people in which and through which the Messiah would be birthed. No other nation was shaped to carry that responsibility. These people, Israel, as we know, were shaped as much by suffering as my Covenant and care and the same, I believe, is true for you and me.

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Again, not a popular idea or message, but our experience tends to verify its veracity. God shapes the person that we are oftentimes through the things that we suffer. Even the Scriptures say that Jesus learned obedience through the things that he suffered. Passion in the truest sense of the word, the things that we are willing to endure, the things that we are willing to suffer for the things that we are willing to lay down our life for and pay our price to become. Those are the things that mould our character and move us to act despite the challenges that we face along the way here.

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In speaking of faithful entrepreneurship, we need to understand we need to heed the warning that entrepreneurial endeavours are not all glitter and glory. There are many nights of tears before joy breaks out in the morning sometimes. And why do I say this? Because I really don’t want you stepping into the arena with rose tinted spectacles, expecting your journey to be one without pain, to be one that is not full of questions or self doubt or fear or fumbling or failure. All of these things will rack up.

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They come really as a guaranteed part of the package. And forgive me again if even mentioning such things is like vinegar in your eyes, I’m just wanting to be honest here. God shapes our character through many experiences and not all of them are ones that we would necessarily invite. Business is life. It takes heart.

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It’s not just inch deep desire, kind of passion that will successfully build a lasting, sustainable business.

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The rewards are worth the risk, but you really need to know who you are and be ready for God to build resilience into your spirit. If you’re going to step into building a business around your personality and your passions, it’s going to take more than just a fancy website and a little charisma to do so. Now, being prepared to suffer for the things that we make to go through some gruelling examinations of your own limitations and mindsets to stare failure in the face as well as eagerly embracing success and accord.

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Just because someone has done something successfully doesn’t necessarily mean that you can too, because each person who has done something has a history. They’ve been formed by their experiences.

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Their mindsets have been shaped sometimes over many years. Their beliefs have been forged in many a fire. So don’t take this as a discouragement. I’m not saying that you can’t accomplish what you set your heart to. I’m merely pointing out that character is what undergirds our endeavours.

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The building work often takes place inwardly as we step into our destiny. Don’t wait until you feel ready before you step out. Don’t wait until you think you’ve got it all sussed before you take a chance. It’s as we begin to move and step into that creative destiny. Believe God for the things that we believe he has placed within our hearts, that we change, that we learn that we grow, that we go through some of these growing pains that we’re talking about.

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It really is a journey we discover in the doing, and some of those discoveries are not going to be comfortable. So I guess be prepared to suffer along the way, knowing that God will reward the diligent hand faith has to be coupled with patience in order to possess the promise. I’m learning this one hands on right now be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience, inherit the promises. And the root word of the page has that word patience. Absolutely.

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You guessed it the same Latin word for suffering. Patty the King James is not joking when it describes the fruit of patience with a much less kind of glamorous word. Longsuffering the decision to be an entrepreneur may usher you quickly and seamlessly into a life of untold riches. I mean, wow. If every sales page delivered on just 5% of what they promised would all be rolling in the Island Sands sipping Pina colada.

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Nothing is impossible. I believe in the miraculous. But please don’t be disappointed if your dream of financial freedom and far reaching free doesn’t happen overnight. The making of a man or a woman by the hand of God is not just a quick spin of the wheel. Allow patients were told to have a perfect work that you may be perfect, an entire wanting nothing.

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Be assured. I’m going to read from the amplified James one, three and four. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance insteadfastness and patience. But let endurance instead. Fastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work so that you may be people perfectly and fully developed with no defects lacking in nothing.

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If these words that we’ve considered today are not what you want to hear or you choke on the idea of suffering as part of the parcel of entrepreneurship, you’re best off just kind of leaving now. It’s going to save you a lot of pain and disillusionment down the line because that’s part of our experience of becoming who we are. We learn not only what we are good at and what we can do and what we do bring to the table. All of those things are amazing and I speak of them so often, but in the process we also learn what we can’t, what doesn’t work, the things that we do from a wrong heart or a wrong motivation.

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Sometimes when we’re doing them, we don’t realise it until after the affair.

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And then suddenly we realise man, I don’t even want to be doing this. Why did I even begin?

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It is an exciting journey, but not one without challenge.

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Millions of people are hopping from one shiny object to the next, spending decades of their life shovelling money on course, after course, product after product after promise, and really walking around the same wilderness mountains again and again in the vain hope that there’s an easy painless pathway to prosperity.

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I can only speak like from the very, very, very tiny circle of my experience. And so there may be lots of people who disagree with me in this. And that’s fine. I’m here to learn and grow as well. But what I’ve seen when people are looking to build a business, particularly a kind of brand business around their own particular area of passionate expertise and personality is that it is a challenging journey to take.

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It touches on things so deeply inside of us. It’s so entwined with who we are as a person, not just what we do, that it takes us deeper than just producing a widget and selling like as many widgets as we can now, we’re really putting ourselves on the table for other people to criticise.

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Of course, these things are possible without pain, I guess.

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But from my experience and the experience of many of the people that I’m walking alongside, it’s not without sleepless nights. It’s not without some hard yards figuring out what works and what doesn’t. The rewards are certainly worth fighting for. But those rewards are not just monetary. And again, I think that’s another trap that’s easy to fall into.

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The real reward is that in the process of making we are made, we become the people that God needs us to be in order to fulfil the great purpose he has placed us on the planet. For you are essentially in the business of becoming God is making the man or woman that you are called to be. And from that Foundation, I believe that you will build a phenomenal and far reaching and impactful business. Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully, it’s been an encouragement to you today.

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If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at davidleemartin.Com. Have a great day.