Does that mean prayer makes no difference?

Many owners would say it steadies them, and steadier decisions are better decisions. That is different from a guaranteed outcome, and nobody honest will promise you one.

How do I know if I should keep going?

From whether the business can be made to work — whether a typical job is profitable, whether the cash lasts, whether you can fix what is broken. Those are answerable. Reading signs into a slow month is not.

Is it wrong to want it to succeed?

No. Wanting to build something that lasts and provides for people is not a lesser motive. The question worth watching is what you would be willing to do to get there.

← Answers

Does God want my business to succeed?

Nobody can tell you that, and anyone who does is guessing on your behalf. Faithful people run businesses that fail and dishonest people run businesses that thrive, so success is not evidence of approval and struggle is not evidence of the opposite. What you can control is how it is run.

Why the question is usually asked

Almost always in a hard season, and underneath it is a different question: have I got this wrong. That is worth separating out, because the answer to "is this business viable" comes from the numbers and the answer to the other one does not come from a P&L at all.

What outcome does not tell you

Plenty of businesses built carefully by decent people fail because a market moved, a customer went under, or the timing was wrong. Plenty of others succeed while treating people badly. If outcomes measured character, the most upright operator in your trade would be the wealthiest, and you already know he is not.

The part that is actually yours

How you price. Whether people are paid properly and on time. Whether your word holds when keeping it costs you. Whether the estimate matches the invoice. Those are decisions rather than outcomes, and they are the same whether the year is good or bad.

Be careful what you do with the answer

Reading a good quarter as approval sets you up to read the next bad one as judgement — and that is when owners make frightened decisions: dropping a price to survive a month, taking a client they know is trouble. The pressure feels like discernment and it is not.

Also asked

Does that mean prayer makes no difference?: Many owners would say it steadies them, and steadier decisions are better decisions. That is different from a guaranteed outcome, and nobody honest will promise you one.
How do I know if I should keep going?: From whether the business can be made to work — whether a typical job is profitable, whether the cash lasts, whether you can fix what is broken. Those are answerable. Reading signs into a slow month is not.
Is it wrong to want it to succeed?: No. Wanting to build something that lasts and provides for people is not a lesser motive. The question worth watching is what you would be willing to do to get there.

Written for your trade

This is the kind of thing Solomon works through with owners using their own numbers. See how it works →