Off the Ladder Daily - Lesson in Leadership from Nehemiah

 keywords

leadership, small business, encouragement, Nehemiah, commitment, prayer, challenges, purpose, persistence, faith


 summary

In this episode of the Off the Ladder podcast, Branden Sewell discusses the challenges faced by small business owners and shares leadership lessons drawn from the story of Nehemiah. He emphasizes the importance of commitment, perspective, prayer, and persistence in overcoming obstacles. Branden encourages listeners to lean on their faith and maintain a clear purpose in their business endeavors, reminding them that challenges can lead to growth and learning.


 takeaways

The podcast aims to provide encouragement and education for home service business owners.
Branden plans to release daily episodes for a week, focusing on short, impactful content.
Leadership requires commitment, clear perspective, continual prayer, and courageous persistence.
Facing challenges is a part of being a small business owner, and it's important to lean on faith.
Having a compelling purpose connected to your business is crucial for success.
Fear can cloud judgment; shifting perspective can lead to breakthroughs.
Prayer can help refocus and change perspective during tough times.
Persistence is key; moving forward despite challenges is essential.
Failures can provide valuable lessons that equip you for future success.
The end of the journey is when you quit; keep refining and moving forward.


Titles

Overcoming Challenges in Business


 sound bites

"We drive forward. We move forward."
"I hope it brings value."


Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Daily Episodes
01:25 Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah
03:22 Facing Challenges as a Small Business Owner
06:20 Characteristics of Effective Leadership
09:39 Encouragement to Keep Moving Forward

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Transcript

Branden Sewell (00:01.688)
Hi, I'm Brandon Sewell, owner of Seal Pro Painting and host of the Off the Ladder podcast. And we exist to help home service business owners learn so that they can lead well and ultimately live life off of the ladder. so today's episode is just me testing something. So what I'm planning on doing is maybe for like the next five days, seven days, releasing a daily episode. Now these episodes are gonna be shorter.

and they're gonna be posted only to Apple, Podcasts, Spotify, and any other major podcast platform. it will only be an audio version and I won't be doing you know the YouTube and Instagram and all of that stuff. so

The whole purpose of the these are going to be short, something for you to listen to, maybe just a quick little encouragement at the beginning of your workday. something that you can get a quick you know, encouragement, educational moment, whatever, something for you to reflect on. I do want to start just by doing like a quick little devotional and giving some feedback on that.

so this is coming from the Leadership Promises for Every Day by John Maxwell, devotional. so I'm just gonna read it. it says, Meeting a God-sized challenge. the scripture for the day is, and it happened. When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, they were very disheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was done by our God. Nehemiah six, sixteen.

So this is referencing in Nehemiah when they were rebuilding the walls in Jerusalem. and initially when you know they had gone out to take on this task, they had faced backlash, if you will, from you know, what the Bible would call their enemies. so this reads or or John Maxwell writes, Commitment comes before anything else in a leader's life.

Branden Sewell (02:23.5)
Because Nehemiah had it and drew it out of others, the people finished the wall in fifty-three days. Despite much at adversity, their great accomplishment so thrilled Nehemiah that he wrote, When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, they were very disheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was done by our God. He goes on to say, Leaders who complete a task possess these characteristics.

Compelling purpose, they make a great commitment to a great cause. Clear perspective. They don't let fear cloud their view of the future. Continual prayer, they pray about everything and gain God's favor. Courageous persistence. They move ahead despite the odds. If you're facing a God sized challenge, cultivate these characteristics to give yourself the best opportunity for success.

And you know, I think anyone who starts a small business is taking on a pretty big challenge that is bigger than yourself. so today maybe there's challenges that you are facing in your small business. Maybe today, you know, it's early. you know, I I've been up since before four AM working. you know, and that's just the reality of

of being a small business owner. And maybe that's you, you know, you're carrying the weight of a small business. And you know, it can feel daunting. You're, you know, going over in your mind all of the things that you have to do. You're thinking about, you know, your family, you're thinking about providing, you're thinking about your employees and them being able to get paid and take care of their families. You're thinking about your customers and how they're gonna take it.

get taken care of. You're thinking about your vendor relationships. You're thinking about your community and thinking about your business and your brand and how you're perceived. And all of those things that I'm sharing are things that I think of, you know, so it's always weighing on me. all of those different things are always going through my head. Right. And so I hopefully this morning you're encouraged to know that at the end of the day you might feel like you have

Branden Sewell (04:48.532)
a big challenge in front of you, you may feel like it's it's too big for you to overcome or to take on. And the reality is is that's a good place to be because that's when you know you get to that place where you realize that if God doesn't move on your behalf, you know, then then it's not gonna work, right? But that's the beauty of

Of faith as God puts us in these circumstances, He puts these challenges in front of us that we aren't able to do in our own strength or our own understanding. And you know, it's when we lean on him that we can see him come through in in mighty ways. And and in those moments, it's not something that we can take credit for on our own, but it's, you know, we can look back and say,

wow, you know, that was God moving on my behalf. I couldn't do that at my own strength. And I can't tell you how many times, just in my own business, I've been in that place of, you know, just having the constant realization that really it's it's God who worked something out for me because I might not have

been able to do it on my own.

Branden Sewell (06:20.622)
Sorry. so if that's you, be encouraged. And just a quick reminder again. you know, these are the characteristics. again, compelling purpose. They make a great commitment to a great cause. You know, I would say with that, make sure that you have a greater purpose connected to your business.

make sure that there's a a why attached to it, you know. there's a great book called Start with Why. it's actually sitting on my shelf over here. It's by Simon Sinek. that kind of encompasses that, you know, having a a purpose behind what you're doing. clear perspective. so not letting fear cloud your view of the future, you know, that where you're at right now, the circumstances that you're facing.

the enemy will try to get you to believe the lie that you're doomed, that you're gonna fail, cause you to be just completely enwrapped in fear. I would say shift your perspective and watch God come through for you time and time again. continual prayer, I mean I think that's a big part of refocusing and changing your perspective.

you know, just just when you take the time to detach from the circumstance and put it in God's hands, that's always a pretty powerful thing. and you know, ultimately, courageous persistence. So, man, th i sometimes in business it can feel like the odds are stacked against you, right? And feel like there's just no way that you're gonna overcome. You know, it could be a

a Thursday before payroll and you don't know how you're gonna make it. But what we do as business owners and we do as entrepreneurs is we drive forward. We move forward. We do the next thing that we know to do. we take action and we do the best that we can with what we're given and we leave the rest, we leave the results up to God. And

Branden Sewell (08:40.812)
You know, we watch him come through. I know for me I've seen him come through time and time again. And I will add that there are seasons where for me God didn't show up in my timing. And so maybe I experienced a failure. and, you know, I was trying to prevent something from happening. that thing that I was fearing ended up happening, but in that

season in that failure, in that valley, I learned something that equips me and gives me what I need to go to the next level, to take a step further in this journey. And so even if the worst thing that you can imagine happens in business, just know that that's not the end. The end is when you quit. so just keep picking yourself up, keep moving forward, keep

refining yourself, refining your process and keep moving forward. well that wraps it up for today. I hope that's an encouragement for you. stay tuned, subscribe to the podcast and next pot next episode will be tomorrow. so come back for these daily if I get some good feedback, if I see this kind of go well.

I'll keep doing this. It is quite a bit of work. I'll have to you know, record these either in big batches or daily. so it's a little bit of editing work and getting those up and up for you guys. But I hope it brings value and if so, share that with me. Give me some feedback. I'd love to hear it. but that's all for now. I'll see you next time on this next short episode of the Off the Ladder Podcast.