A medieval tithe barn at Pilton, Somerset. Image from Wikipedia -- a modern-day example of the sharing without expectation of return philosophy outlined in this post.
This response to a business owner in Michael Stone’s Construction Business Owners Group on LinkedIn caught my eye because it relates to an answer I provided to a disabled publisher in the Google forum where I am a voluntary moderator.
The person writing this post responded to a contractor who had tried, yet failed, in business. After a year’s struggle (from the time of his original post) the contractor’s bank pulled the plug. I ask readers here who don’t want others pushing their religion in their space to take a deep breath, and relax. I’m not asking you to become religious. But take a a minute to read this Christian believer’s perspective, because underlying it is a solution that applies regardless of your faith (or lack of faith if you wish to be non-religious.)
You’ve hit on why most bossiness doesn’t make it past five years. One thing I havn’t heard anyone discuss in this post, is the most important thing of all -put your trust in the Lord first and foremost. He will reward you with work.
I was struggling like you about a year ago. I was very frustrated and tried everything under the sun, seemingly with no end to my misery in sight. Like you, I solicited advise from many people. The most imortant conversation ended up being when I spoke with a old friend who has been a successful interior trim carpenter for over forty years. I asked him how he kept busy all these years, and he said: “One word: Tithing”. I was shocked. I explained that I was doing this and had trouble having enough left to Tithe with. He referred me to the following, and told me I must give of my first fruits, not from what’s left over:
Luke 20:45-21:4
Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all given out of their abundance, but she has given out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
I decided to change my Tithing tactics to my church. I used to give ten percent of what I had left over, which often was nothing. Taking the advise from my friend, I started giving ten percent of my calculated profits per job. Simply put God has provided me work ever since.
Read your Bible, go to church and know Jesus. Network with everyone you can, treat them with kindness and respect. They will take notice and spread the word. Eventually you will be able to lower your price, which will increase the flow of work even more.
Now, I’ll allow that not all of us wish to “Read your Bible, go to church and know Jesus.” I’m quite happy to remain Jewish (please don’t try to “save me”) and if you are Muslim, Hindu, or even an atheist, I don’t care. There is something fundamentally wise about the principle of tithing, though I would advocate you don’t necessarily need to apply it in a monetary sense.
It is this: Put at least 10 per cent of your resources into good deeds that truly help others, without worrying about any form of return, and you’ll probably reap the reward of your truly selfless investment many times over.
Examples of this tithing principle in business (and charitable) practice abound. Consider Habitat for Humanity for example. This is a good example from the perspective of the Christian believer, because undoubtedly the organization that helps poor families lift themselves up to better housing traces its origin to Christian roots. Habitat of course attracts much “business support” from organizations seeking to be seen as doing good deeds, or simply because they wish to unload their products, market, network, “team build” or whatever. This stuff is fine — Habitat is happy to accept the donations — but the businesses and individuals who receive the most from participating truly don’t worry about their return on investment. It just surprises them.
When I started helping out on the Google help forums, I didn’t expect anything in return, even though obviously Google is a for-profit (in fact an extremely “for profit”) business right now, but I’ve earned credibility in places I would never have expected — and had some rather rewarding experiences, as well.
In general, I’ve seen over and over that sales reps, marketers and business developers who focus on what they can do, share, give, and how they can help, rather than what they have to “sell” do far better than those who focus primarily on their quota. Of course they have to get results — they have to find real clients to purchase their products and services — but they need to find these results by putting their own interests aside and focusing on the needs of others.
In fact, I make it company policy encourage employees, especially sales staff, to spend at least 10 per cent to upwards of 25 per cent of their time on good deeds without worrying about reward for themselves or the business — and I’ll allocate supporting funds, as well. This isn’t an effort to convert anyone to my religion. It is just good business.
So, regardless of your faith, consider the values behind tithing if you are struggling with your business. Forget yourself and your own needs and focus at least 10 per cent of your time and resources on helping others without worrying about reward. You may find this is the best marketing advice you will ever receive.