Posts by Vickie Oakley

Wise Counselors
 
This week’s devotion is on the subject of finding and taking good counsel from others.
 
Proverbs 20:18 reads: 
 
Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without wise advice.
 
Certainly, we’re not going to war – but some would say that business is a lot like warfare… do you sometimes feel that way?
 
I have thought up dozens of really great ideas in my head, grabbed a pad of paper and poured them out in excitement, bought domains and even started out with great momentum, only for things to flop.
 
I’ve learned over time that it pays to seek out an outside perspective before investing a lot of time and effort into a project.  
 
Fresh eyes see things that we haven’t noticed yet.
 
Someone with more experience can spot the cracks in our idea’s foundations that we don’t know enough to recognize.
 
I embrace the opportunity to be completely wrong about something I’ve dreamed up – and honestly, this has been a big part of my moving forward.
 
You can’t be so in love with your own ideas that you refuse to ask others what they think.
 
Who are your wise counselors?  
 
Are you taking the time to consult with them often enough to let them make a real impact on your business?
 
Maybe today is a good time to check in 🙂

Pricing Yourself

What are you worth?

Oooh… touchy question 🙂

Maybe I should ask, what is your time worth?

In a past devotion we established that we only have 24 hours in a day. 

Some of those hours belong to our children.

Some to our spouse.

Some to ourselves. 

Some to God.

Some to our church.

Some to our community.

The hours you spend at work – become hours that can’t be spent elsewhere so you must assign value to that time.

How do you decide your prices?  

Outside of our faith, we should be pricing our products and services based on a variety of factors.

Competition, quality, specialization, experience, etc.

If you’re good at what you do and give great results, your prices should be higher than average.

If you’re new and learning, your prices should be lower than average.

But add our faith to the mix and things get complicated.

Are high prices prideful?

Are low prices holy?

No and No.

You’re not called to a life of poverty or low priced servitude and you’re not being ‘uppity’ if you’re especially gifted and can charge a premium for your products and services.

Stretch Your Faith

Holli Same-Old lives in a Safe-Place within view of her Safety-Net.

Holli dreams of a Great-Life in a Great-Place but the Great-Road to get there is only visible when you leave your Safe-Place behind.

Holli tried to leave her Safe-Place but she gets nervous when she loses sight of her Safety-Net and ends up going back… sometimes she’s been within a few steps of seeing the Great-Road and never knew it.

Sadly, Holli’s Safe-Place isn’t even Good-Enough but she’s used to the way her Safety-Net bails her out when times are tough.

Holli’s Safety-Net keeps her from Going-Under but it also keeps her from Over-Coming.
 

What’s your Safety-Net?  What do you cling to and rely on that’s keeping you from stretching yourself in a real way?

Stretch Your Faith

Holli Same-Old lives in a Safe-Place within view of her Safety-Net.

Holli dreams of a Great-Life in a Great-Place but the Great-Road to get there is only visible when you leave your Safe-Place behind.

Holli tried to leave her Safe-Place but she gets nervous when she loses sight of her Safety-Net and ends up going back… sometimes she’s been within a few steps of seeing the Great-Road and never knew it.

Sadly, Holli’s Safe-Place isn’t even Good-Enough but she’s used to the way her Safety-Net bails her out when times are tough.

Holli’s Safety-Net keeps her from Going-Under but it also keeps her from Over-Coming.

What’s your Safety-Net?  What do you cling to and rely on that’s keeping you from stretching yourself in a real way?

We live a life of priority – at least that’s what we’re called to!

Some things matter more than others.

In our lives, some people matter more than others.

Some tasks are more important than others.

Some projects are more important than others.

If you don’t assign priority to the things that you do, how will you decide how to spend your time?

Every work day morning you wake up, take care of your family and pets and settle into work.  Now what do you do?

Read email?  Visit Facebook? Open Twitter?

Is that really the best use of your fresh hours?

How do you prioritize your projects?

When it comes to client work, that’s pretty easy.  First come, first served.  Deadlines command activity.

But what about your own projects?

If you’re working towards a financial goal, it’s only natural to put the projects that have the greatest financial reward up at the front of the line.

Still, there comes a point in your business where you have to give priority to projects that will add functionality rather than profit. These projects make your business life scalable.

Take some time to assign priority to your current projects today.

Spiritual Gifts Affirmations

 

This isn’t a complete list but hopefully you’ll find yourself in here somewhere.

 

ADMINISTRATION: 1 Cor. 12:28 – to steer the body toward the accomplishment of God-given goals and directives by planning, organizing, and supervising others 

 

Affirmations:

 

I am gifted to be organized and get things done.

 

I easily manage and motivate others.

 

I hear from God and do His will and help others to do the same.

 

 

DISCERNMENT: 1 Cor. 12:10 – to clearly distinguish truth from error by judging whether the behavior or teaching is from God, Satan, human error, or human power

 

Affirmations:

 

I know right from wrong and look to God’s Word whenever I’m not sure.

 

I spot falsehoods and am not taken in by liars.

 

 

EVANGELISM: Eph. 4:11 – to be a messenger of the good news of the Gospel 

 

Affirmations:

 

I share my love for Jesus easily and appropriately.

 

God gives me the right words for every situation.

 

God opens doors for me to share about Jesus.

 

 

EXHORTATION: Rom. 12:8 – to come along side of someone with words of encouragement, comfort, consolation, and counsel to help them be all God wants them to be 

 

Affirmations:

 

My eyes are open to see people who need encouragement.

 

I take the time to speak encouraging words to others.

 

God gives me words of comfort to share with those in crisis.

 

 

FAITH: 1 Cor. 12:8-10 – to be firmly persuaded of God’s power and promises to accomplish His will and purpose and to display such a confidence in Him and His Word that circumstances and obstacles do not shake that conviction

 

Affirmations:

 

God has given me great faith to believe in His power.

 

I believe that all things are possible through Christ.

 

I do not fear or look for reasons to fail, God will do what he has promised in my life.

 

 

 

GIVING: Rom. 12:8 – to share what material resources you have with liberality and cheerfulness without thought of return

 

Affirmations:

 

I give with joy.

 

God blesses me to be a blessing to others.

 

 

HELPS: 1 Cor. 12:28 – to render support or assistance to others in the body so as to free them up for ministry

 

I am always willing to fulfill a need because I work for God.

 

My eyes are open to needs and my hands are quick to act.

 

 

HOSPITALITY: 1 Pet. 4:9,10 – to warmly welcome people, even strangers, into one’s home or church as a means of serving those in need of food or lodging 

 

Affirmations:

 

My home is open to everyone God brings me.

 

Even in public places, I look for ways to make people feel at home around me.

 

 

LEADERSHIP: Rom. 12:8 – to stand before the people in such a way as to attend to the direction of the body with such care and diligence so as to motivate others to get involved in the accomplishment of these goals

 

Affirmations:

 

I understand authority and can submit to it and exercise it over other faithfully.

 

I will lead by serving and equipping others.

 

 

MERCY: Rom. 12:8 – to be sensitive toward those who are suffering, whether physically, mentally, or emotionally, so as to feel genuine sympathy with their misery, speaking words of compassion but more so caring for them with deeds of love to help alleviate their distress

 

Affirmations:

 

I see the best in others and am never quick to judge.

 

I am willing to pick someone up and support them even when they don’t seem deserving.

 

I will lift others up and not be pulled down.

We’re All Gifted
 
Romans 12:4-6a reads…
 
“Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.”
 
You are uniquely gifted by God to accomplish the purposes He has for your life and this statement is true on a small daily scale and on a huge life scale.
 
Have you heard it said that ‘everyone is good at something’?
 
It’s true – but unfortunately in our world, not everything that someone is good at is valued like it should be.
 
For example:  There is a man I know who gets up every day and puts his hands to whatever work comes before him.  Some days that means setting up tables and chairs for hundreds and cleaning toilets.  Other days that means sweating through a long afternoon of lawn care in 100 degree heat.  
 
Most wouldn’t consider manual labor a gift – but it is one. Being a true servant, being willing to do whatever needs to be done – is an amazing gift.
 
This man never hates his work or complains about it.  He appreciates that he was work to do.
 
Do you know what your spiritual gifts are?  I have an AMAZING resource to help you figure it out!
Click the link below:

https://a.co/6WZt7Sy

 

Stretching Your Faith

 

Proverbs 21:5 reads:

 

Good planning and diligent work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

 

I know a thing or two about shortcuts.  I’ve set some amazing goals for myself over the years and when the completion date draws near I feel a lot of pressure to just ‘make it’ to the end somehow.  That’s when a shortcut looks real good to me.

 

Some shortcuts are great – trimming a few minutes off a project here and there can’t hurt much, right?  

 

Let me plant a seed of thought in you today that may just bring about a harvest of excellence in your life…

 

Think of a plan as a promise.

 

If you plan to complete a project in ten important steps, and feel tempted to leave out one or two of those steps in order to make a deadline – you’re breaking your promise.

 

Nobody likes to think of themselves as someone who would break a promise!

 

Apply this thought to every plan, no matter how small, even those you make only for yourself.  

 

Do you set your alarm for 6am in order to get some quiet time with God in the morning?  That’s you making a plan.

 

Do you hit the snooze a couple of times to stretch out your sleep? That’s you breaking a promise to yourself. (It’s not the best way to start the day)

 

Do you create excellent plans based on what you know a project requires – but later trim off some of the ‘time intensive’ items on the list to save time?  

 

That’s you taking a short cut and it will have an impact on your bottom line.

 

Why am I talking about this on Stretch Yourself?

 

Because making and keeping plans/promises will be the single most important thing you can do to stretch your faith in yourself right now.

 

You know God is a Big God who can accomplish anything.

 

Now you need to know something new about yourself…

 

That you’re someone who makes plans and sees them through to completion. You’re someone who finishes what she starts and does so with excellence!

 

Practice this in small things and you’ll be accomplishing it when it really matters most 🙂

How Do You Answer The Call?

 

Hmmm… so maybe you got an inkling from our last blog that you might need to be making a change of course in your career in order to pursue work that you really love.

 

Does that scare you to pieces?

 

That’s ok – we’re entrepreneurs and we’re used to being a bit scared about what we do.  We just do it afraid, amen?

 

Let’s talk steps.

 

Step One:  Dream

 

Dream a little dream about the work that you love and see yourself doing it.  What does it look like? What does it feel like?

 

Step Two:  Equip

 

What do you need to make this dream come true?

 

Do you need training?  Do you need a mentor? Do you need a partner?  Do you need tools?  

 

Make a list and prioritize the order in which you need them.

 

Step Three: Act 

 

Take action on the first item.  If it’s expensive and you need money – take action to get that money! Pray, moonlight, freelance, sell – just get the cash and get what you need!

 

So many people wallow in work that they don’t enjoy, miserable and deflated day after day. 

 

But unless they DO something about it, what will ever change?

 

If you’ve been pursuing work you love all along you can probably skip the ‘Dream’ step and move directly to Equip and Act.

 

God didn’t create you for mediocrity.  Reach out for excellence and do what you can do and allow God to blow your mind with what only He can do with your efforts!

Blessings