Have you had a season in life where you learned a lot?

it's not a school based education, it's a season in life where life is the educator? I've been in one of those seasons and I've been trying to take good notes in order to grow. One of the top lessons for me is this: Entrepreneurship is worth it. I'm 15 years into a ministry career and being an entrepreneur in my small windows of free time has really opened my eyes. As a matter of fact, I'm starting to believe everyone in full time ministry should try to do one thing entrepreneurial in their career.

Before anyone gets the string page locator to tight in their Bible I recognize that 90% of ministry is entrepreneurial (Even though it's hard to admit, at least 10% is administrative). But I use the phrase entrepreneurial meaning you provided a product or service that equates to a personal revenue stream. For life long ministry folks this is a little bit terrifying.

But's let's Be Brave and talk about why I think you should leap into something entrepreneurial.

1. The market is changing - We are living in a era where the market has leaped from domestic, to international, to now being global without limits. From right where you are, you could sell an E-Book on your leadership style to someone in the Philippines without an email, hand shake, or travel budget. Instantly. They get value of learning, you get the value of revenue. That's stinking amazing. (Unless you're one of those eschatological folks who's paranoid about purchasing woven shoes from someone in Bulgaria)

2. Doing good is marketable - Because of this massive shift in limitless boundaries in the market place, doing good has become a hot commodity. If I can buy the same product from someone in China, Brazil, or Hawaii what makes me pick the person or business I want to buy from? It's probably because one of them shares a compelling story about how they plan on doing good with the revenue. Who wants to do good more than someone in ministry!? Come to find out, lots of people! And they call themselves business men and women! For example, check out Rebecca Smith and what her company Better Life Bags is doing to change Detroit!

3. Location is everything - I was deeply impacted by what someone shared with a group of college students back in 1999 as I was headed into my senior year. This guy, Paul, talked about the Christian faith is product of a strategic placement God gave to Israel. Israel, or Canaan at the time, was a land bridge between the two greatest economic world powers of the time: Egypt and Assyria. God placed his chosen people strategically between passing world powers to influence them through an example of their relationship with a Covenant God.

Could business be ministry as well? Absolutely. There are business people who want to do a ton of good in the lives of their employees, city, country, etc... Having a Entrepreneurial endeavor could be your most effective tools to share the hope you have!

4. Service rules - I've discovered this is a pretty cool part of doing something entrepreneurial, helping someone else who has a grand plan to help others is awesome! I was recently doing some work for one of the Factory Family members Justin behind the scenes on his site. I came across this comment by one of his readers on his post about how he's blown it as a dad:

I mean, are you kidding me? That's powerful stuff right there! And now we have a bunch of people who make up The Factory and are doing cool stuff that is changing the world! Justin has never met Scott but look at the way hope can spread! Believe it or not, that's an outcome of service orientated business. Pretty cool.

There's still more I'm learning but these four things have jumped off the page at me. There's value for those of us in ministry to learn about this new style of business. The deck is stacked in our favor because we love to serve! We want to see people flourish and that's a great value to pass on to a customer.

So is there that thing, that idea, that entrepreneurial thought of yours that's been waiting to get out? I think it's time for you to explore that in your free time and see what happens!

4 Reasons People in Ministry Should Do Something as a Entreprenuer