Profitability – Nehemiah Business Life Cycle

WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL BY PATRICE TSAGUE

Are you living comfortably, enjoying the fruits of your labor? Is your business running smoothly and generating profit? What should your attitude be during this profitability stage?

Profitability – Nehemiah Business Life Cycle

You made it! After experiencing the ups and downs of the startup stage, after all the long hours and late nights, after overcoming roadblocks, after pushing through the discouragement, after pressing forward with endurance – you finally arrived at the profitability stage! The profitability stage is the season when the business is creating margins with consistency while generating a quadruple (people, planet, profit, eternal impact) bottom line. You are constantly making more than you spend, and you are doing it in a way that honors the Lord. Congratulations, it’s time to celebrate!

“Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt…who led you through that great and terrible wilderness… that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end— then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ ‘And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth…’” – Deuteronomy 8:11-18 (NKJV)

It’s important to remember in this season what the purpose of wealth really is and to remember the One who enabled you to get to this stage. In this stage, your challenges may come in the form of pride, misplaced trust, and selfishness. The moment you shift your focus from the Giver of wealth to wealth itself, you have ventured into dangerous territory: “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God…” (Deuteronomy 8:11)

Take the time to thank God and to be grateful for His provision and gifts that He has given you to enjoy. Prayerfully look for ways to do good, turning your wealth into “good works”. Have a heart and a company culture of generosity, and use your resources to store up eternal treasure.

The profitability stage of a Nehemiah Business Life Cycle has the following characteristics:

• It may take about 5 years or longer to achieve profitability.
• The entrepreneur and the company are enjoying some level of success.
• The company should be building cash reserves.
• Revenue is being reinvested into the business to provide for growth.
• The company has enough margin to allow for giving.
• The entrepreneur may need to address the poverty mentality
• The company’s profitability margin is commensurate with the industry standard or exceeds it.
  • If the company’s margin is not in line with the industry standard, there must be a justifiable reason for why this is the case – for example, the company is operating in more ethical ways than the industry. If this is the case, the company should be developing and executing creative methods to meet and exceed the industry profitability standard in an ethical and moral manner rather than accepting less profits as the norm.
• The company could face cash flow challenges due to growing uncollected receivables 
• The entrepreneur could face the profit trap

During this stage, it is important to be cautious as the business could turn into a prison for the entrepreneur. Many entrepreneurs, upon achieving profitability, struggle with taking time away from the business without the business losing its profitability. We call this the profit trap.

In other words, the profitability of the business becomes completely dependent on the entrepreneur’s involvement. This means that entrepreneurs who reach this profitability stage can find themselves in the same circumstances as they were when they worked a 9 to 5 job. They are making money by losing their freedom. It’s important for an entrepreneur to delegate and build systems as the organization grows to avoid this situation.

My prayer for you today is that you would not fall into the trap of getting comfortable or prideful, trusting in uncertain riches, but that you would celebrate this stage with a humble and trusting attitude while looking for ways to “be rich in good works.”