week 124: are you serving two masters?
unfaithful
thank you to over 11,000 of you who read this weekly and share with your friends and family for behind the scenes on building zero to 10 million dollar business from scratch and beyond.
i also include a personal note in the end so i am grateful that you let me do that without judgement.
about four weeks ago, i realized i was being unfaithful to my work.
it’s not that i wasn’t working hard, but every moment away from work, i was focused on something else—equally interesting and amazing.
for almost the entire year of 2024, i was serving two masters. and if you know anything about Jesus, he’s very clear:
"no one can serve two masters. either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other."
so true.
for several months, i found myself resenting the business that was thriving and providing for my family.
why?
the numbers looked good.
the work was fulfilling.
the money was coming in.
but still, i had an uneasy feeling about why i was doing what i was doing.
in reality, my reasons for doing the work were wrong.
to make payroll, we took on clients and projects that, in hindsight, we had no business accepting. they helped us meet our financial obligations, but they drained both the business and the team.
over the last four weeks, i’ve started regaining my confidence. both my co-founder and i are rediscovering the joy in what we do—really enjoying it again!
by the end of q1, we’ll finish wrapping up clients and contracts we shouldn’t have taken on in the first place. while there’s still some drama, we’re completely retooling our work, our team, and our focus.
in many ways, it feels like we’re back in business—and it feels so good!
pro tip: when you run a business just to meet payroll, you’ve already lost your way.
on a personal note: on Saturday, we had a father-son event at our local church, and it was incredibly touching.
it reminded me that i’m not always right. but it also helped my son realize that he’s not always right either. that was a win!
i learned that we only have a handful of full summers left with our son before he becomes a man and starts a life of his own.
from now on, i’m recommitting to being intentional at home—not in a “you have to do this” way, but in a “let’s do this together” way.
as much as i want to be my son’s friend, i know that parents can’t truly be their teenage son’s friends until he becomes a man.
in some ways, i feel like i’ve failed or fallen short in this area. every day feels new, and as a family, we’re growing, stumbling, and learning all at the same time.
just as one can’t serve two masters, i can’t be both a parent and a friend at the same time.
leader’s point: in both business and life, you must have a clear purpose. without it, you’ll try to serve everyone and end up serving no one.
One of the best!