Business : Lessons from Scripture with Advocate Boyce Mkhize

we we're now live streaming on facebook and uh welcome again welcome to the facebook family as well thank you for coming through we're going to start off with the word of prayer let's all close our eyes and pray in heaven we thank you this afternoon thank you so much for being good to us for being kind for being loving thank you for the sabbath thank you for your child boys and kizer who's going to take us through our lesson business and lessons from scripture we pray for anointing we pray lord for guidance we pray lord that you may imbue him with your spirit that he may speak words that come from the throne and moreover to us who are listening may we learn and importantly apply so that the kingdom may come soon and soon enough in jesus name we pray amen all right thank you so much for coming through i'm going to give over the announcements welcome to the 230 conversations my name is and i am going today in our program and i'm going to start off by announcing our making announcement this is 230 conversations we're all about thought facilitation in discussion if it's the first time this is a christian platform the seventh-day adventist church to be specific and we are an online platform you can find us on fda underscore advertise on facebook we do have our own 230 conversations page and this is the one that we're live streaming on right now sd underscore advertise is our mother and she is also available on instagram if you have any program to do with sda or otherwise you can put it through for advertising or marketing whether it's in south africa or if it's an international it doesn't matter there's people that can see it all these programs that we have we actually upload them on youtube especially again even today's program so please do check it out later on our youtube page the title the name is 230 conversations sda there's a lot of things that we've done go check out the many programs we've used it let's learn let's grow spiritually please do not forget that we have our 9 13 cyber school lesson in today's lesson was entitled choose life and what a lesson we had choose life and we are zeroing in into the book of the autonomy next week we're going to have another one but today right now advocate boyce in kise is with us here and the title is business lessons from scripture we pray for a blessing upon him as he prepares to teach us and then coming up next week at 9 30 we've got our lesson 10 their hearts that's happening at 9 30 then please do check our social media pages so that you can be able to get what's coming up for our 230 lesson we're still engaging with our speaker as soon as that's done check our pages particularly i think on tuesday or wednesday you should be able to find out who will be speaking to us this coming sabbath god bless you all as we prepare to learn i'm going to give it over right now to my elder here and when i've done that our elder will take us through as soon as it's done he'll give it over then you facilitate the talking god bless you all for this take us through thank you very much nintendo thank you to um the hosts of this powerful uh program please allow me to share this screen i would like to share a presentation all right let's just see if this can work yeah i'm not sure if you can see that can you see my screen now we can we can see it clearly okay great all right okay so um i'm gonna cut straight to the chase um i'm not sure what inspired this team but definitely it is quite an intriguing theme in terms of what um lessons and principles we could draw um from the scripture um in terms of how we run business and um and related issues um so what i intend uh doing is to deal with a few aspects the first one being the default settings are default settings and i will deal with some business stereotypes or slash business myths and and then deal with the principles uh very briefly and then the conclusion so so that's that's uh what we're planning to to deal with just in terms of default settings um there's there's always been a an issue particularly amongst christians and believers and sometimes particularly adventists and to think that doing business is actually unclass-like in fact being wealthy is a problem um and and you know sometimes we misinterpret and misapply scriptures uh you know where it talks about you know the love of man is the root of all evil and that text has never suggested that money is evil um but the love of money becomes the root of all evil now um and it's in fact consistent with the um the first commandment i shall have no other gods you know before me anything that is loved in excess um it could be money it could be something else um that becomes problematic so so so the the whole discourse around wealth and um doing business and being rich etc has never been an affront to god in fact we serve a god who has got and who owns all the resources um and so business and in fact fizzy and squarely you know right in there you go to the bible and it is replete with uh stories of people that in fact were multi trillionaires and billionaires of the time and the jobs of this world the abrahams of this world i mean these guys that were loaded um if we can put it in today's commercial terms um and in fact god establishes um our default settings and the foundations in the book of deuteronomy 28 13 it says um i've just determined for you destined for you to become heads and no tails in other words and we i've determined for you um to become um the leaders of the pack and not the followers and i've determined for you to actually and be the trend setters are not trained followers and this is our default setting of course it gets distorted and it goes it gets interrupted by the entrance um of sin and and of course we we know the history and the rest um of the story is is that we in fact have uh tended to become perpetual tales um rather than heads and in fact when you read that text it says you'll be above only and not to be beneath um and so that's smacks of someone who's in control is in charge who's leading um and somebody who is not a beggar in fact if you read the whole text the whole passage it tells you that you will actually be the one that is a lender you know you'll be lending out you will not be borrowed um and and and that is the default settings that's what god had intended for us to do when he places adam and eve in the garden of eden he says you know be fruitful and multiply you know and you know watch occupy and do whatever that needs to be done and for the upkeep of this place um in deuteronomy 28 still um two verses earlier um god in fact distance and these are default settings again it destines for us to become wealthy plenties of goods it talks about plenties of goods and now that's a multiplication of assets fruit of the capital uh multiplying and so that's basically um stock levels you know just increasing fruit of thy ground and in the land which the lord swear unto the half of us to give thee of course we do have a complication these days um and of course the complication is to do with um issues of access to land but there is another issue which is i think important that i pick up from this text and it is it's basically that a fruit of thy ground simply means um that and i've never seen the ground that just operates without being tilled and managed and maintained and nurtured etc and all of that so the fruit of that ground simply means um also and the power that we utilize to till and to actually make sure that there is production and productivity there so so that's the default setting we are set up and not to be employees but to be employers in our own right um and it doesn't matter and that we actually are in the micro scale in terms of business or macro scale of business and for as long as we um have got some kind of control in the area in which we are and that's the default searching that's what god had intended for us to be let alone the interventions and the interruptions and the super winning events that that have disturbed the entire um ecosystem of god's people now some of the business needs and um stereotypes um i am going to be moving quite quickly because i would like us to have a conversation conversations are much more better than just a monologue and in terms of these things um some of the business needs that that we hear is that you know business is not for me business for wealthy people um you need money in order to do business and that's myth number one and myth number two is that people say businesses for the privileged few no it's not just for everyone business is for everyone and i'll demonstrate to you what i mean by that and there's also myth number three where people say you can't do business um without being corrupt and of course you can do business without being corrupt and and they will tell you also that doing business is impossible um these are type of myths that we get accustomed to and we get used to excuse me these kind of narratives and to a point where we actually fold our hands and we basically resign ourselves to thinking oh look look i mean this is for certain individuals um it can't be for me um you know i'm not good enough you know for business etc there is a point i'm going with regards to this because you're going to realize that in fact um doing business is not something that is just for the privileged few it is for everyone who has been given the ability to be alive and take note of what i say given the ability to be alive so for as long as you can breathe you have the ability to actually become a successful businessman and a successful businesswoman and you just need to look into a number of people um that have defined all odds to actually become very successful business people in fact i can tell you now that a number of billionaires um or some of the well-known billionaires rather um are in fact uh drop-outs at uh adversity which means they couldn't uh they were found not to be good enough academically and but the economic world found them to be the top of the cream because it tends to be not so much about the academic but about your mindset and we're going to talk about a bit a bit about that because it's something that i trust and may actually help someone here are the two very important fundamental principles that i want to i want to deal with trying to deal with the issue of the business myths [Music] the first one of course is the issue of us needing money in order to do business i i make a statement here it's a bold statement and you you will never realize this um until you get into a situation where you have to deal um with some of these things you don't need money more as you actually need networks um what works is networks that work um and by networks that work i'm not talking about uh frivolous friendships that actually add no value and people that just waste your data and waste your time and waste your time um etc etc i'm talking about networks that matter okay i'm not talking about networks which are about just going to spend time um and excitement and being excited about with nothing um things that are perishable things that have got no value things that are not durable that's a subject for another day by the way i'm not there today but the point is you need networks that work i spoke to a group of executives about two weeks ago and i said to them what is it that drives you and most of them of course as would be expected is no it's money it's money it's money it's money and everybody talks about money but can i tell you something that when you are actually driven by money you are i'm sure you've heard about the the maslow hierarchy of needs and you are actually at the basic premise of that pyramid you are actually at the bottom rung of the ladder in terms of um basic needs you know your physiological and you know shelter kind of things that's that's at the most basic level that's where you're operating from you you you have a long way to get to the uh you know agile the higher echelon of the of the pyramid which is uh self-actualization when you operate at the level of self-actualization you are there driven by your brand brand creation and brand creation in fact stops money by far if you put your energies and in building a brand mp is a pty ltd that brand if it works and you put your energies in actually creating that brand that's more important and that's more potent that's more a powerful um dollars and cents that you actually might be able to access and let me illustrate this point if you go chasing for money without a brand you hardly gonna be able to make the money but if you have made the brand and you've put effort in creating the brand the brand will pull money towards itself i hope someone hears me so so so in other words um you get to a point where you don't go out looking for jobs but jobs come looking for you because there's a brand now let me give you a typical example if you get to the point of self-actualization which is what you should actually be focusing on so you're doing in an inverse pyramid so so your top your first target is self-actualization which is the top of the of the pyramid you are actually um turning things around and turning the pyramid on its head and what is then going to happen um is that once that brand is mature it is actually going to bring and draw everything and that is your physiological needs and money and whatever money just will follow the brand money follows and power you know so once you've got the power and you there you've made the brand now i'm not talking about and i trust you you're hearing me well here um i'm not talking about power isn't political power etc no no no that's not where i am i'm talking about creating your own brand where people are going to say but yeah we've had all of them but we want that you know and where you're going to be sitting and without in fact even a thought of anything you just get a call and someone says amen um there's this position and uh we with we just thought about you and we consider we want to to check if you would like to consider when you get to that point where jobs come looking for you and at that point um because of the maturity of the brand um you're going to be calling the shots um so when when when that happens um you are able to actually say to people and i i don't like making examples about myself and sometimes you know it just gets a little awkward but what i'm talking about is i'm talking about the things from experience you'll get to a point where in fact um you you come and they invite you and they say please would you consider this particular position or this role or whatever and and you say oh yeah well i mean it's interesting me etc etc you engage in in conversation for engagement not in a job interview all right um in a conversation when you get to that conversation um it's about a feat you know will i fit in this environment and you know will they like me will we be able to work together that kind of thing that's a conversation now when when when you're done with that conversation then there's uh runs and sends issues you know when you get to that point you basically say well this is where i am this is what i'm gonna i'm gonna be looking at all right at that point uh at that point they're going to say um and and as they've said before oh well no um in fact our scales would not allow that you know so i say oh no that's fine then um it means it's not going to work essentially so you you are able to actually tell them straight in the face it's not going to work and i'm going to walk away all right because you know the power of the brand and you are not going to settle for anything less so what then happens is they have told you that the scales are not you know uh geared that way obstructed that way and two three days later you get a call they say amen um we've had to review and to look into our scales uh in fact we think we'd like you um to come and this is what we're gonna offer you we're gonna in fact uh match what you asked and even go a little bit more you you know that the brand has matured so what you need is networks it's networks that work in business and i can tell you now um when you see the tenders advertise and the beads advertise etc and the person who's going to get that tender is already long by the time you see it advertised um you are too late and if and you've not had a conversation and now that's how business works and and i'm gonna come to this point because in fact maybe let me deal with that point right now people want to do business with people they don't know generally that's a principle now call that corruption call that whatever you call it but let me tell you that you go to the jews they do business with their family you go to the indians they do business with their family you go to the africanus they do business with family and people that are close by and close-knit that family obviously gets bigger as you go because i have a friend and my brother has got a friend and my brother's brother has got a friend you know a friend a friend a friend so that family gets bigger and so before you know it even if it may be entity number that that entity somehow has got some kind of linkage and lineage um to that very first concept of we're going to do business with people that so networks is what you need now um so you don't need money that much as you actually need networks i think i've made that point i'm gonna move on the next thing is you don't need big ideas by the way in business um you just need innovative ideas okay so so you don't have to be looking at um how are we going to bring the sky down all right um and then you close yourself into a laboratory for years trying to figure out how do we bring this car down or how do we um paint to the sky people um you know that kind of thing that's massive big big ideas the the some of the very thriving and the most thriving businesses are those that in fact come out of very small innovative ideas and and that gets replicated and economies of scale this thing gets cascaded it gets multiplied you know and and before you you're gone and let's just take an example i mean you would know this um there's been a massive case um in south africa vodacom versus a small guy um employee who just conceived an idea you know please call me all right small small little thing you know please call me is this guy simply sat and thought you know someone is going to be stuck without data and they might be in serious trouble okay and all they will need is to reach out to someone who can come to their rescue at that particular point and why not just create a facility which will enable someone to actually just send and this automated message please call me so that you know that there is someone in distress and then i can actually reach out to them and and i'm able to find them conceive that idea that ideas worth billions of friends i mean vodacom has made billions out of that out of that concept all right so it doesn't have to be massive massively big ideas how do we get to the moon um that kind of thing it just has to be about innovative ideas so i thought i was down i'll deal with those issues because sometimes we we tend to be skeptical about business we tend to think it's for big boys we tend to think that you're gonna take massive resources in order for you to get to business no you need networks you need innovative ideas i've spoken to this point you don't need money you need networks people don't do business with people that don't know matter of fact there's so much money if you've got networks all right um there's so much money if you've got networks even if you don't have the money all right um and you realize this as you uh get stepped into these issues now let's let's start digressing a bit but i thought it that was important for us just to uh you know touch base as we pass because uh my mandate and subject today is to actually look into what does scripture say and about business you know so what are the lessons that we can draw from scripture and in terms of uh business and how possibly these could help us um so this this this graph that i've created here um just deals with um you know um one two three four five six um principle that i want to touch on and and we can then have a discussion so first of all vision and vision principle vision the the second one is diligence um third is excellence and the fourth is what i call fair dealings um and the fifth is um the seed principle and the sixth is the distribution principle so let's let's let's take these one at a time no the vision principle um you would know that um it is uh the wisest king solomon and one of the wildest kings that ever lived in fact the most was king that ever lived um king solomon he makes the statement uh proverbs 29 28 19 where there is no vision people perish all right in fact um it was dr rasada who made another profound statement he says when you don't have vision you need supervision all right i'll repeat that where if you don't have a vision you need supervision and that could be interpreted in two ways number one you need to be supervised all right and if you don't have a vision and that's why you'd always be under perpetual tutelage of someone and that's the one ideal concept that comes out of that the second one is if you don't have a vision you need to have a vision bigger and then your visionless um concept so so so where there is no vision to perish in order for you to actually start making headways and this thing this thing needs to begin to work all right and it begins about just with plotting what is it that actually the world needs you know now let me digress a bit but also this is an important declaration i don't know if you're aware that you know we we speak um there's this narrative about the fourth industrial revolution fourth industrial revolution fourth industrial revolution um and there's so much craze around it you know and there's this thinking that the fourth industrial revolution must actually bring out some automation that's out of this world some automation that was never thought of before that was never conceived and things that are just going to be robotics artificial intelligence etc and all of those kind of thing but i've always argued that the fourth industrial revolution exists in everybody's head all right and and and fourth industrial revolution is in fact you know um human ideas expressed through innovative technology now you can coach me on that that's my definition human ideas expressed through innovative technology that's what i believe the fourth industry and so what this simply means is you you're gonna look into most of the time most of the visions business-wise are formed when people begin to think about how to resolve and to solve um the world's issues and wealth challenges and wealth problems okay um someone that um had to think about a cough mixture and actually was beset with coffee and they had to look into how do we actually help suppress this irritation that comes up and you know out of that came a solution of a cough mixture all right um so so it's born out of thinking about challenges present challenges and how we could actually better the lives of people so vision a vision principle is vision is principle number one we must have a vision we must be thinking innovatively we must be thinking out of the box the diligence principle um ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse 10 whatsoever thy hand find it do to do do it with thy mind no half measures no half baked things for there is no work no device no knowledge no wisdom in the grave without goes all right again solomon basically admonishes us okay that the the diligence principle is about ensuring that you occupy now and you maximize now uh you optimize now you you you actually put in um so much energy in what to do and and underlined with passion you know that which you do must be done so it must be done with such gusto and such vision and such power and such passion that in fact um you know no one could do it any better you know and um diligence is a principle of the bible you know working hard you know this thing of thinking that we can actually take shortcuts with the tenders that's why you actually take one beat you give it to someone and the next thing they are riding on a four by four and the road has not been constructed and the next thing there's no road but there is a 4x4 the next thing there is no money to sustain the 4x4 and the thing is repossessed etc and all of those kind of things the man that was once held in upper claim is actually now a pedestrian city is staying in the back room of the mother et cetera and all of those kind of things the diligence principle is about is is not about shortcuts it's about investing energies in what to do it's about um you know very little sleep um in fact if you go to the book of proverbs it talks about laziness you know and and and most of us sometimes think that you know um you can just get by etc in life you're not going to be able to get by and if you're not diligent so the diligence principle in business is very key um you need hard workers you need people that are dedicated that are going to go an extra mile um you know yesterday i i went um to a cowash and it's quite a number next in in my neighborhood so i i went to the first one it was um kind of uh latest afternoon um around in fact got a past half past four i tell you i went to four different car wash stations um and the guys that are working there um were telling me oh no no no we've taken our last car because we're supposed to be out by five o'clock all right so they are clock watchers okay um so that tells you that for them what matters most is to actually knock off and not to do business now if that was your business you know i can tell you now that you would actually be losing and almost 50 percent or 100 of what you would actually make um head your employees been dutiful and diligent enough all right or if that was your business you would actually not um chase any client away um so eventually i landed up because i know there's another one which is a 24 hour service coach you know so i landed up there and i got a full service etc all of those kind of things but the principle here is diligent you know working hard putting in those extra hours at a time because you've put in so much you'll get a time to relax and to rest etc and enjoy your money okay but there is time to put it on instead my late grandfather uh used to wake us up you know as the crack of dawn so we go into the fields and all of those things and he used to tell us if a man does not work he is not going to eat lucky did they realize that in fact that was biblical 2nd thessalonians chapter 3 verse 10 if you don't work you must not be given food that's a diligence principle now the excellence principle is almost related to that but it's not just about hard work it's about doing it better and best and then the rest there are many car washes but what distinguishes yours from the rest um there are many lawyers but what distinguishes you as a lawyer for the rest there are many preachers what distinguishes you from the rest of the other preachers so so the excellence principle is what determines whether you make it in the market a highly competitive market might i air or you don't make it okay so colossians 3 versus 23 talks to this principle of excellence and says don't just do the minimum that will get you by do your best work from the heart for your real master for god that's colossians 3 verse 23 don't just do the minimum you know some of us and you know work just so that we are not um you know fired um and so just doing the paris minimum so well so that we're not fired um where we deliver what what what's required etc in one but then you know you can spend 20 years um in the same post in the same position because you're actually doing the paris minimum okay there's nothing that says you're actually acting at a level that's higher um than your current position um so there's nothing promotional and promotable about you you are actually at the level where you deserve the salary or even less and so so so when you are not at the excellence principle you're just doing things just to get back in business people that do that do not live long okay so if you are in the hotel food industry you must know that your food must taste the best all right because if your food tastes the best it will market that guy is a captured client he's coming back to that restaurant without an adult if i go to a restaurant and i don't get good service and i don't get a good meal rest assured i'm not going back there because i pay for the service all right now doing it so and there's so many restaurants out there you know i mean you spoil for choice okay so if you're gonna do only the best minimum forget it you're not gonna make it it's a highly competitive world you need to be able to excel in what you do it's much longer makes the statement about excellence whatever falls within your hands even if it does not fall within the category of the so-called big professions do it with the best with your best of you know your might and with with with excellence even if your street sweeper sweep the streets well like michelangelo painted pictures sweep the streets well like shakespeare wrote poetry you know sweep the street so well like the host of heaven will have to pause and say um here leaves uh leave the great sweeper also up this job one sweep the street so well that both the living the dead and the unborn could do it no better and therefore when you do that you are actually at the epitome the world comes looking for you linking up to that issue about brand maturity and creating the band the excellence principle is what will make you thrive and succeed and doing the threat dealings principle you know colossians 4 verse 1 masters provide your slaves with what is right and fair because you know that you also have a master in heaven okay so this idea of cheating people and shortchanging people is not godly okay so even in business um it must be a worthwhile um wages and it must be a deserved wages it must be proportionate to the strength and the abilities that are being put forward in terms of this thing so don't don't shortchange people and don't take shortcuts and it's important in fact um you saw the story of jacob and the and the uncle and how they tried to shortchange him you know all of those things and the multiplication principle that came out of there because god then will vindicate his people and the victims etc so the fed dealings principle is basically saying treat everyone well i'm rushing somewhere to conclude um so that we can then have a conversation i like this one because um and it's it's quite deep in my in my mind um the seed principle okay so in business um you need to understand that um it is not harvest um that big that stands um it's the seed principle it's the investment it is the plowing it is the planting um that starts so so that's the seed principle um most of us in fact eat the seed um i i i did a presentation um not so long ago in another platform zoom platform expound i think it was um and and that presentation is there where i was talking about seed and seed eating by the africans and how we eat the seed as africans now the seed principle is profound it's very deep it's very instructive you see um and i pick it up from the first king 17 12 to 13. leave a letter on malachi 3 you know that's 8 to 10 and 11 et cetera and on the stewardship principle but first kings 17 12 13 the weed of zaraphat we know the story all right um the prophet malaysia finds it there i'm gathering the elastics so that i can go make a meal for myself and my son we eat and die this is the last that we have the prophet says don't be afraid go home do as you have said okay pick up the sticks go and prepare that last meal as you said and he says but first and that's why i've underlined but first hey i wish i could preach on this but first all right but first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you hear and bring it to me now here is a very intriguing thing and the prophet then says then make something for yourself and your son okay now if that was the last how is it that i am going to go back and make something for myself and my son when i've given you that which was the last oh you know the sid principle says that which is actually lost is in fact the beginning of a beaker in the greater harvest now for those of you that are not used to farming you know for a cub of maize it should be what it is you actually need one one it all right and it becomes blend to us the fruit of the ground becomes plenty to us deuteronomy where we started off it becomes plain to us why it is actually the effort the diligence the faith that underlies that planting season that knows and understands that i don't eat the seed number one i don't start with eating i don't start with destruction okay the seed principle is about investing in the business if it is technology you invest in technology if it is ict security you invest in that if it is about people you invest in the people so so it is a sid principle um now the question is when did it multiply um to the weirdos that of this is then make something for yourself and your son but you've already made the last bit and you've given it to the to the to the prophet and when did it multiply the last portion was going to be the first for the prophet it that's the reality that that last portion was going to be the first for the prophet so where was the portion going to come from from the first and the last she gave to the prophet now that actually became a multiplier a multiplication effect and that's what actually makes people to be in business now if you don't understand the seed principle you're going to destroy everything including the seed and when you've done that you've got nothing to harvest if you eat your seed you are actually going to destroy everything this is why when you're in business you need temperatures the temperance you need restraint you need to be able to understand that this actually it must be reserved for a day of the harvest this is a seed principle you need to invest um you need to put money you need to put your sweat and your bra you need to put your skill you need to put your tears on top you need to put your knees as you beseech the lord in prayer you need to put your all into that business to make it succeed that's the seed principle the principle of investment truly i tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did it for me matthew 24 40. in other words what god is actually saying um in this uh whole concept of the seed is that when you were actually uplifting those of the list of brethren you were actually uplifting yourself you were actually creating a platform for your ascension that's what this principle is saying they see the principle in fact it ties up with the distribution principle when i have that which the lord has placed in my disposal the distribution principle says i must then be able to actually share and distribute to the rest so that i can then also become the center of distribution and the center of excellence and when you've done that business will be thriving because you've believed in the bible god bless you yes tom all right thank you so much my elder foreign much appreciated um i'll stop sharing off the screen now so that i can have a side-by-side view of you thank you again um thank you also everyone oh what a lesson okay you felt like preaching i was about to say go on just just take us through you know all right let's let's have the hands up what you do here on the platform is um you want to ask a question you want to comment on something you want to say you know um pick it up from what was being said you just lift up your hand through the platform now be able to recognize you turn to the facebook family what you simply do is you write your comment then i can be able to read it here then you can have an answer to it as we discuss our brother person says we need to converse we need to talk and so this is the time and the name of this platform is called 2 30 call conversation so they might as well just start talking you talked about the principles um and all six i think seven of them the seed principle being one of the ones that you really got excited about here and then you also talked about the presentation that you made in one of our sister platforms which is uh expound on why africans um you know eat the seed maybe while you're waiting for their hands would you like to spend a bit on the the maybe someone has tried the business idea but the feed has been eaten before i give over to fan head and to come through with a question yeah well yeah um indeed um one of the things um about eating the seed this thing is is quite deep um sometimes eating the seed is about destroying the relationships in business okay many of us as africans have actually been victims um to our own brothers who have actually shortchanged us okay and our own brothers and where you bring the bread to the table but you are the first one to be cut out when there is sharing of the bread all right now this is part of eating the seed the person the hand that actually brought you and gave you the food is the hand that you actually bite as africans we very very very um i don't know even how to put it but we we tend to actually eat the seed of relationships and we should change each other we sideline each other and would rather you know just share the bread with complete strangers um rather than our own and and this is in fact part of the toxicity that we have um we we need to understand that there are many ways of actually destroying and eating the seed and and i do want to believe that if most of us were actually true and faithful to the issue of the nurturing uh of the seed and we'll be very far and if we may maintain the relationships if we we we were able to actually wait a little longer before we we buy that four by four if we're able to um you know just make time to actually invest in this thing and not rush for the harvest um i tell you we would be fine um so let me pause that all right no thank you so much uh uh uh uh brother boyce let me let me take it up with all the fun head and then coming through here and i think uh we talked about business ms brother joined us a bit later i think i started off by telling us the business myth what what goes on around you you're saying business for the wealthy business for the privilege that's not true you can't do business without being corrupt that's also not true doing business is impossible and the statement that came through was that anyone who is breathing in and out is able to start business and to maintain funheading zaza in that order let's go ahead uh thank you for the uh presentation uh i think you answered the other question that i had just now so i'm not oh well maybe i might touch on it a bit um you know on the business myth uh jesus says that it is difficult for a camel to go through uh it's difficult for a camel to go i mean it's it's easier it's easier to go through a needle than for a rich man to enter and the poor have used this year to lambest the the wealthy so to speak and these are the words of of uh jesus himself now uh i've never been i've never been rich so i would only speak from the other side of the divide i guess you've been on both sides of the divide so you'll be better informed to speak from the other side as as well now uh there is a tendency according to us there is a tendency of for the rich to to become buffed up and uh pompous and proud whenever they get on the other side according to us from where from the from where we stand and what do you say to that is it all rich people that become that oh is it do you make a conscious decision that when i get to the other side i will not forget the struggles that i went through so i will not look down on the poor and then now when you speak of um you you just like i said you answered part of it when you spoke of eating the seed you know when you spoke of networks creating networks for us as adventists the common network that would have would be our fellow church members but with our we've been beaten a lot not only twice and for me for me personally i've come to a point where i would rather go into business with a white person because from my experience i do a lot of i do a lot of jobs on commission so i would send my client to a white person he he probably only knows me from the fall and i'll tell him you want this amount you want x amount my commission is x amount i'm giving my client to you after the deal is done can you pay me this amount that guy two days later will contact me and say i've just done the deposit into your account with our brothers the phone will even go to voicemail for a month how do you do it uh how do you create those networks so to speak do you play call for perhaps or do you go to many other churches because i i'm not sure how are you doing all right thank you so much for hanging for that one i think that's the question that has been noted allow me uh for the voice to take uh then from there and you can just phone and see that you're writing the questions to remind so fan head and you asked i think about two questions there uh and then they've been noted and then it's gonna take us through there we are i'm just trying to unmute you sisters there you go uh hi everyone um i have two questions uh and maybe question comment or some sort okay um he mentioned that we um you need networks and most of the yeah you need networks you don't need money the challenge that we have is let me make an example i stay in a rural area and my network is people that are around here and i started business and only quite honestly the people that can support me are people around here and most times when you need people to to support your business you would need to go out of your community or go where there are people with money like you say that uh you cannot do business with someone that you do not know you always do some i mean do business with someone that you familiar with now the challenge is the people i know are poor and the people in my network are poor and since you cannot or we cannot do business with people that we do not know how do you then break into them that system for most people go to do some sports where they meet and they have nice connections and networking but if you are coming from a poor background you do not have money you do not have rich network and and you do not have you do not know someone who who has made it who can who you know that can take you in or under their wing or some sort so how do you then uh build a network okay you mentioned again that you you know when you're good at something someone will notice but in this case who then notices if everyone around you is poor and i know a lot of people most people that would want to invest they would either want to extort your business manipulate to take over your idea and all that very few people would want to build your business and not benefit from it so there is there is this person who is in your network or is trying to come to your network and they are rich and they have these um ulterior motives then how do you deal with it so maybe speaking from someone who is trying out something and they do not have any sort of network how do they break in and maybe saying it realistically how do you break into the market and see that uh your business across okay and my my other comment my comment will be i know someone who created who's making something very powerful and and that person the church where he worships or where the person the person worships they know that this person does this product that is so good but there is brain loyalty as well they prefer buying things from the brands that they know because they've worked with them they've used used them for a very long time and the same people that we're saying which they should network he's supposed to network with they prefer other brands um other brands instead of his so um so this person this person does this thing very well and the church decides to go out then how then do we balance that we need to the networking issue actually it's it's it's called really confuses me we have people that are good and we have people that decide to go outside and and do business with other people like the fun hidden has they hated yeah i think it's fun he did did mention that he prefers doing business with white people because of of his experiences now i am someone who is building up some to something and fun he didn't trust white people or other races because our people are not doing justice to the business to to build what i mean doing business with so how do we then this business it's a it's a it's a very tough one i i'm not so sure if you got the gist of what i'm trying to say i got you got you got jesus go ahead my elder go ahead okay thanks um beautiful questions and and and in fact beautiful comments as well um uh in terms of your submissions is some of it was in fact some uh very useful um and destructive comments and to vaniren's points um the the issue around um it's better for you know a camel it would be better for a camel easier rather better easier for a camel to go through the eye of a little and than a rich person and jesus was not speaking against riches and he was actually speaking about um disconnectedness all right now when when i talk about disconnectedness he's talking about human beings and that have got resources um and those resources actually become more bigger than the individuals um and and they become bigger more than the individuals because those resources in fact um tend to become the god of the individual so he's talking about he's talking about that it's talking about disconnectedness people that are not connected to the make because it you you see if you take the example of job um one of the richest um at the time when he lost everything and in fact and he did not lose himself um and and later on uh i think it's chapter 2 42 later on job is in fact having a multiplication of what he had had prior to the destruction that visited him so god was talking about disconnectedness people that would actually say like job's wife kiss god and die okay because you've simply lost the riches so that's what he was addressing he wasn't addressing the ill of the riches there is no illness in the riches okay and the example again rich young ruler go jesus says go sell everything and come and follow me etc this was a test just like the test that we dealt with earlier on of that widow and when the prophet says bring that last thing to me and first all right and go and prepare but how am i going to go and prepare when i've given you the last you know so so that's the disconnectedness they puffed up rich people okay um it's it's not because of riches and i want to argue you know riches don't make anyone arrogant or puffed up and they simply expose it okay and some of us are in fact humbled because of poverty um but but in essence we are arrogant internally if resources were to be placed at our disposal at our disposal and would actually be untouchables and perhaps sometimes that's why god is protecting us from you by not giving you the resources and so the puffed people that are rich it has nothing to do with the riches it has to do with that disconnectedness again all right um so you can have um dollars and billions etc and still be humble um you know so i i know and i've got people have got friends that are down to earth who would even kneel at you but they're multi millionaires okay they drive ferraris and you know rolls royces etc and all of those things that's how money has not gotten into their heads and you know because they are above it they're in control um well it's your choice my brother i mean to do business with whoever you feel comfortable with uh you know um i i have my own philosophy you know about you know doing business um i know the disappointments and that our brothers keep visiting on us i have lost a lot of money to adventist brothers a lot of money um i mean when i say a lot i mean a lot you know um and and you see these people and sometimes you know um you know the lord blesses them and they they get the things right but they they just don't want to pay you okay um and and and you see this and you just say to yourself oh well the lord will we'll see um we'll provide so so that disappointment is there but that has never made me to get to a point where i tamed everybody with the same brush and say black brothers adventist brothers are all bad okay so i don't get that every time it's it's about trying with due diligence to actually study people before you make any commitments in business there's talk of due diligence you don't buy a business without actually starting and researching and checking it upside down you know work with people understand them from a distance without any commitments and investments you will get to understand their characters and you start with smaller things and that's where you they will show you their true colors and once you start with the smaller things and you see how their character makeup actually jumps up that's when you actually realize i'm not supposed to be investing here so check that out network creation and i'm gonna address this together with zaza's question you know on the on the issue of network creation i'm localized i'm surrounded by poor people etc and all of those kind of things well the point of the matter is that if you want to come out of the situation you need to go to where money is that's the bottom line okay um and there are several ways of doing it okay um people think that you know golf is for lanies and whatever and all of those things i played call and and through golf i have met several several people and i've made i've met i mean people that would actually become business partners on certain projects you know and at some point in my life you know and and that's how i've made money and or at least a little bit of money and now the point is that you need to be able to actually get to where money is you know um if you're not able to get where money is try and actually become the money creator in your own locality now um last week i was in quesadilla and i was driving um and and i looked at this part of the country first amount it's very rural deep road okay deep deep deep problem and maybe let me not even make that let me make a very simple example that's very close to you i mean that that you know very well white people in this country and somalis and ethiopians and everybody else is making a killing out of the rural economy it's puzzle shots all right the question is why did we not see this all along that the economy is actually where the people are in terms of the rural areas and this is not so much about big it's about the economies of scale if you actually are able to supply the most needed commodity in that area at a reasonable and a competitive price you're a winner you're going to be able to make it okay now the wives have found this thing that's why they're malls that are thriving in the townships that's why there's pick and pays in the township that's why there's shop rights in the township and let's say that somalis all over you you know in the townships they found a niche find a niche okay and that niche is something that may make you to become an industry in your own right in that particular locality so go out look for money go out look for friendships build friendships the i mean golf is not the only thing you know and these days and facebook although these things that us as well you know meeting with people that you don't know and whatever and all of those things but obviously you do your due diligence you meet up with people you know that kind of thing one of the things that we fail to do as a church as the adventist church by the way it's just a simple thing of just creating a database of who's who in the adventist church you know i think we try to do something at some point and again where there's no vision people perish okay people started becoming petty etcetera and all of those things raised all sorts of things and that project collapsed straight on its face all right the point is we don't know who's doing what in the adventist church you know there are plumbers within the church but they do not get support from us you call someone who is a trained surgeon 9-1-1 okay but there is a brother who's stabbing for bread next door to you okay so what's what's the point you know um because we don't have a database we don't know who's doing what just at the church level we can start there okay um and we can start moving up at district level conference level union level division level etc we need to know who is doing what where let me tell you my principle there is no job that i don't do okay and so in other words there is no job i've said no i'm not able to do this you know what because every job opportunity that comes my way creates an opportunity for me number one to either learn how to do it number two or to find a relevant skilled person to do it and that's creation of a network so when i go out and find you and i say here's the opportunity there's a cat there for me without a doubt now we need to be able to get to a point where you know i i did business um i was running my own fam um and i did a couple of things i never marketed and what i was doing whenever i felt that you know the revenue was going down i'll simply pick up a call see oh this hey um let's have tea um and we meet up hey what's going on what's cooking in your place you know then i understand during the conversation something is gonna emit and i'm gonna say that thing i can give you a solution on it you know just casual conversation i can give you a solution on it do you want a proposal you say yes i want the proposal send the proposal the rest is history i'll be there doing the thing now that is the the spirit i mean the i've done trainings of uh corporate governance strategy development whatever legal lawyer forensics the works you know construction it's it basically is about multiplying diversifying your portfolio that's one other principle by the way don't put your eggs in one basket okay so go find the people and look out for people that can actually add value there's nothing that actually you would lose by asking some of the people by saying hey you know what i'm trying business here i want you to be my mentor or whatever um oh i've got this concept and this idea can you help me out in terms of this thing i've helped a couple of people in that way and in some instances where i could um you know and there are many other very powerful business people out there who have got the heart and to actually help uplift others and try and find those people and make and make connections with them all right so primarily is the last thing um you know brand reality will always be there and that's why i was saying um it's the excellence with which you actually deliver the thing okay now the the brand loyalty there there are many ways of of breaking brand reality okay you can [Music] out of an impeccable service customer service okay um that's number one number two you can innovate around the issues of the brand okay and this is where we need to be able to know that at some point we may actually lose uh certain things may include some losses but if it is meant for building the business i've lost a lot of money you know trying to build this build that you know all of those things but it's part of the job sometimes you may want to say oh okay you guys are committed to x brand you know i'm gonna give you my brand look at this functionality try this go and test this for nothing all right um and they go and they test it and then you say to them it's got i'm gonna give it to you at ten percent less than what you you're actually accustomed you've breaking that brand and if you've got sensible people on the other side okay so use innovative marketing strategies and market penetration mechanisms to be able to actually get to that the rest will be issued over to you all right thank you so much okay i think that's uh it's a mouthful and beautiful address that you're giving us right there so i think elephant is taking notes and learning how to maneuver their way i think all of us are thinking of um you know i think it's been a month of business and your third speaker this particular uh week and and you've brought a different dimension into this especially when you incorporate issues to do it um you know excellence in issues to do with um you know seeding and and brain layout that was being spoken about yeah very important then that we're able to excel we're getting the idea i'm gonna give to prayer now we're getting the idea that it is it is not for the privileged getting into business it is for everyone that means it's you and it's me and maybe another thing that you love to know in the platform here apart from what you've said what if other people that are in business done in addition to what you probably have put across um you know to to go up there and and look the part was supposed to be the heads and the tails but the head always protrudes and should be able to see and how have other people been able to say hello to the world and take through to the market i'm going to give to prayer kumala here and i'm hoping that even in the platform here even on facebook and address issues to do it unity you spoke about somalia and we spoke about um i think jews also do that pretty well afrikaners do that pretty well here's the black race combination working together finding the niche pulling through the money is where the people are pray go ahead hello can you hear me hi lauren here okay i've got three questions the first one is um to the presenter what is your definition of a poor person the second one is what are the three pivotal business principles that have worked for you personally and the third one is is if you had a chance to change one thing in our education system as the black community what would it be all right thank you so much press straight to the point straight to the point all right uh fun heading your hand up thank you so much our speaker is writing down the the the questions and i think this is our nose van halen's wife who was laughing at her husband for failing to recall a biblical vest about the camel going into [Laughter] all right um i wanted to ask on the question of uh of parasites how um how did you make it up okay let me not call them parasites because that's the lingo that we use on site but these are basically people that come to you for handouts when you are still trying to build your empire now if you uh bow down to their every request you're not gonna make it up so how did you handle those that came to you maybe three four times a week and wanted free services right great thank you so much for those questions um um you you know one of the things that that really work um or that that that has worked for me as well is uh without expecting anything in return you know how the lord just takes care of your business when you do that um you know sometimes i i mean people have said okay um please give me advice here i've got this situation etc etc um at certain please give me your invoice and i've said no no please send me the the details let me have a look at it et cetera et cetera money we will talk about you know at the later stage if it gets to that point but for what i'm gonna do and i know my colleagues in the legal fraternity would not well let me not say would not but you know hardly um you know so i would basically be able to say no i've got i've got a bit of time and let me just spend a little bit time off on this issue and give free advice legal advice and an approach sometimes i'll draft a letter from someone etcetera and all of those things and you know um not so long ago i met a lady that i had helped about i don't know 10 years ago and she says oh you know thank you so much for what you did to me you know and i was actually uh fired at work and you helped me out and etc etc and i got reinstated you know and you know frankly i could not recognize the lady i had forgotten the name etc and all of those kind of things now the point is that sometimes um it's not about just getting getting getting the system also needs to actually get out and get out and get out and to give and to give and to give of course within limits and reason um so do have some and if you've got the capacity and it's not going to strain your resources um and you can provide some kind of help here and there by all means do it um and you know of course it's within limits if if you can't do it and it's going to strain resources on time and all of those things you you know politely say i'm sorry my brother i am not able to have on the street so that's on the issue of the hands off um definition of poor persons um yeah i didn't see that one coming um and i'm not even sure if i have a definition of poor myself and but i suppose i mean the definition of pure is would be generally someone who is not able to sustain themselves okay um i'll put it as general as that okay if you're not able to sustain yourself and you have to live on the basis of being given handouts um for me that will constitute po

2021-11-28 19:41

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