Spiritual Principles in Business

Spirituality is the hidden talk that’s involved in my client conversations; it’s behind branding, cash flow, customer service, and employees. The pieces behind your integrity and vision are you expressing yourself through your business.

The 9 spiritual principles in business:

1. Taking Your Place as a Molecule in the Universe

This is core element in leadership; think of the basic molecules hydrogen and oxygen. Those molecules don’t worry about what they aren’t, they don’t try to be a different molecule, and they don’t allow a void. Nature abhors a void. Molecules don’t apologize for their presence on the planet; they just do their job.

We should behave the same way, it’s not for us to play small, to apologize for our nature, or to apologize for what we’re doing with or in our business; were just supposed to fill our space as who we are. Apologizing or reducing who you are could be hurting others on the planet. Be like an oxygen molecule; don’t take more or less space than what is right for you.

Keep your boundaries in shape. Don’t let your nervousness, anxiety, your sense of apology cause you to share more than what is healthy for you to share. There is a perfection in you sharing what’s appropriate and no more or less, don’t share more than what allows you to stay stable and strong. Interact with employees and customers, that is appropriate. 

2. Money and Cash Flow

The bible has two stewardship perspectives, one being that it's good to earn money, and the second being that it’s hard for a rich man to make it through the eye of a needle.

Be responsible for stewarding forward the cash flow of the business. If you don’t protect the cash flow, you can’t keep the business open. So, if you want to keep your promise to your employees, protect the cash flow because negative cash flow for too long will close a business. It’s not selfish, greedy, or self-involved, it’s protecting the entity, which is the business. Price products appropriately so you can keep your promise to your employees, yourself, and to whatever purpose your business is serving. Don’t give away time or hours that you’re not charging for, that not only takes away from your income, but it means you can’t help as many people as you need to.

When you charge people enough, you can pay your employees enough, and that means paying people generously, but overpaying them for their position. When you pay people more than what they’d make somewhere else, they start to feel entitled because they feel guilty or that they don’t deserve it. Entitlement behaviors look like people asking for more vacation days than is stated that they are entitled to. 

I’m no preacher, but like so many people I work with and who listen to my radio show, I incorporate spiritual principles into my business. So the rich man through the eye of the needle has to do with focus. There’s nothing wrong with earning or having money or being rich. But, what is your focus? Is it on avoiding having money or on just having money, because either of those extremes is dangerous? I work with a lot of small business owners who avoid the money as a spiritual principle, but I say that the very reason you started that business, that vision is what you focus on. When the money comes, it’s ok, and when the money isn’t coming in, it's ok. Avoiding money by not pricing appropriately or overpaying employees or not allowing your business to grow, is difficult.

What do you do as a business owner? Do you apologize for the space you take on the planet? Do you not share? Do you keep your electrons to yourself? Are you making sure your business is financially sound each month?