The entrepreneur's prayer
After eighteen months of running my own business, I've learned that the challenges you face while doing so aren't business problems.
A young woman and I met in a coffee shop a few weeks ago to talk about entrepreneurship. She wanted to start a passive income business. I told her that was a myth. She then asked if I knew of any books that would help her learn about business. Nothing came to mind.
After eighteen months of running my own business, I've learned that the challenges you face while doing so aren't business problems.
Sure, every business owner should have a basic grasp of accounting and finance. It's helpful to know in simple terms how an income statement and balance sheet work. You do need to understand cash flow, especially in a services business like mine. Unit economics of each hour of your time is useful for general rules of thumb. If you want to run a coffee shop, then inventory, margins, and managing employees and vendors are important. For this knowledge, read The Ten-day MBA and you'll have all you need to know. I told her this.
But that's a small part of owning a business. Knowledge is of only limited use. The larger part requires the entrepreneur to manage her own emotions, to be grateful for new opportunities that come his way, to nurture and grow relationships, knowing that serving other people is the alpha and omega of ownership. It's more useful to know and understand the interior self and how it relates to external realities.
For that, entrepreneurs need an entirely different set of skills, skills that they don't teach you in business school, believe me.
In The Art of Living, theologian Ed Sri describes, as the subtitle reads, "the cardinal virtues and the freedom to love." He explores Aristotle's and Aquinas' ethics surrounding four foundational virtues that in our modern world have been covered by sands of time: prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice.
The book develops the thought that without these virtues, we cannot be a whole person. "Indeed," he argues, "in an age of moral confusion, when the great tradition of the virtues has not been passed on, the challenge is not just that we don't know enough about Christian doctrine or the Church's moral teachings. The problem runs much deeper: we don't even know how to live."
A truly virtuous person isn't just merely doing the right things: "It's about a person's disposition, character, emotions, and desires. Do you desire the right things? Do you take delight in the right things? Is it easy for you to pursue the good? And do you do so consistently?"
When you pursue virtue, you're able to understand the risk and opportunity in your venture. That's prudence. You can have the frame of mind and emotional strength to overcome challenges that inevitably find you. That's fortitude. You can stay focused on what's important, letting shiny-object distractions pass you by. That's temperance. You can commit to a business model and a way of being that helps others flourish in all the myriad ways life demands. That's justice.
More than that, a virtuous person is attractive and trustworthy. People want to be around someone who pursues the good in all aspects. They build character and integrity. Business runs on trust. If a client can't trust you, you don't have a business, no matter how sharp your financial models may be.
Reading the book has helped me see how important these characteristics are over many other so-called success metrics. Who cares if you've raised a million dollars in seed funding if you or your spouse or children or employees are miserable? Who cares if you drive profits up if you put others around you down?
In the book of Jonah, the prophet is sent to Nineveh to preach to that great city. Instead he fled from the presence of the Lord and wound up in the belly of a fish. Instead of cursing God or complaining, he recognized how his own actions had led him there.
From this dark place he prayed a prayer, and God heard him:
“I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble,
and he answered me.
I called to you from the land of the dead,
and Lord, you heard me!
You threw me into the ocean depths,
and I sank down to the heart of the sea.
The mighty waters engulfed me;
I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.
Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence.
Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’
“I sank beneath the waves,
and the waters closed over me.
Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.
I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
I was imprisoned in the earth,
whose gates lock shut forever.
But you, O Lord my God,
snatched me from the jaws of death!
As my life was slipping away,
I remembered the Lord.
And my earnest prayer went out to you
in your holy Temple.
Those who worship false gods
turn their backs on all God’s mercies.
But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise,
and I will fulfill all my vows.
For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”
Every entrepreneur I've met over the last year has prayed a prayer like this. The venture starts off grand—hopes soar and optimism reigns. At some point, reality pulls those dreams back to earth and the once-naive entrepreneur is confronted with his own limitations and weakness. The mighty waters engulf him, buried beneath the wild and stormy waves.
Inevitably he sinks down to the belly of a fish, "the very roots of the mountains." He cries out and says with tears, "As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord."
The interesting thing is that Jonah's prayer also reminds us of another storm, where the waves and billows crashed over another boat hundreds of years later. During that storm, the disciples feared for their very lives. Jesus slept. He awoke and chastised the disciples for their lack of faith, then said, "Be still!" and the winds stopped.
The second chapter of Jonah, the one containing his prayer, should be top of mind for everyone wanting to start a business. You'll eventually wind up in the belly of the fish. Will your virtue help you cry out to the Lord in the right ways, hoping to one day find land?
Thanks for reading.