Your Calling Deserves A Calendar And A Plan

If your weeks are packed but your digital business still feels stuck, the problem probably is not your calling or your talent. It is your priorities. We share a raw coaching session pulled straight from Long Path Creator Academy that challenges the reactive “scroll, respond, repeat” routine and replaces it with a leadership framework you can actually live by.

We walk through the urgent vs important priority grid (the Eisenhower Matrix through a John Maxwell lens) and show why the “important but not urgent” quadrant is where content creation, strategy, relationship building, and long-term impact are built. Then we address the tension many faith-driven creators feel: charging for your wisdom, following up, and creating offers can feel unspiritual. We make the case that sustainability is stewardship, and that thinking like a business owner does not cancel your pastoral heart. You learn leverage over presence, systems over moments, and metrics as stewardship.

Next we get nerdy in the best way: neuroscience, neuroplasticity, and the reticular activating system (RAS) mapped to Romans 12:2 and renewing the mind. If your identity has not shifted, your behaviour will keep snapping back. You will leave with a practical Daily Mode of Operation (DMO), three non-negotiables (content, engagement, and DM conversations), and a short 3-step exercise to write a kingdom identity statement you can declare daily.

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Transcript

Why This Coaching Session Matters

0:00

Hey, welcome back to the Shepherd's Tent. I'm your host, Mark Casto, and I am genuinely glad that you're here today. Now, before we get into it, I want to give you a little heads up. Today's episode is a little different, and I mean that in the best possible way. What you're about to hear is not a traditional podcast episode. It's an actual coaching session pulled directly from inside my digital business community, Long Path Creator Academy. And I felt so strongly about this particular teaching that I wanted to bring it outside of the walls of that community and put it right here in our podcast feed because I believe it's going to land for a lot of you. Now, here's why I made that call. A lot of people who listen to the Shepherd's Tent are pastors, ministry leaders, authors, coaches, entrepreneurs, people who carry real wisdom and a real calling. And many of you have been quietly wondering if there's a way to take what God has placed inside you and build something with it in the digital space. Something that creates impact beyond your immediate reach. Something that could even generate an additional stream of income while you continue doing what you're called to do. This session that I'm about to share with you speaks directly to that. It's called Priorities, Purpose and Profit, how Kingdom Entrepreneurs Think Like Business Owners. And in it, I cover everything from a Maxwell leadership principle on priorities to what neuroscience actually tells us about how the brain rewires itself and how that maps out perfectly onto what Paul wrote in Romans 12, verse 2, to a practical daily structure for building a digital business around your calling. So this is the kind of teaching that happens regularly inside of Longpath Creator Academy. Real coaching, real frameworks, real community. And if what you hear today resonates with you, if something stirs in you while you're listening and you find yourself thinking, this is something that I want to go deeper with, I want to personally invite you to come join our free community. No cost to get started. Just come in, get around some kingdom-minded entrepreneurs who are building, and then just see what it feels like to be in the room where your calling and your business can belong together. So you can find us at Markcasto.co. The link will be in the show notes below. Guys, I'm going to stop talking now and let the teaching do its work. This is priorities, purpose, and profit. I hope it blesses you, challenges you, and moves you forward. Let's jump into it. All right, welcome back, everybody. I'm so glad that you're here today because I want to share with you in this training something I genuinely believe is going to shift the way that you operate, not just in your business, but in your life. And before I get into it, I want to say something that might sting just a little bit, but I say it with love because I've been exactly where you are.

Busyness Versus Real Business Progress

3:05

Most people that come into this space are already busy. Matter of fact, incredibly busy. They're consuming content, they're taking notes, they're showing up to calls, they're posting here and there, they're listening to podcasts on the way to work. And at the end of the week, they look up and wonder why nothing has really moved. And here's the hard truth, okay? I had to learn this the hard way. Okay. Busyness is not a business. Okay. Busy is not the same as productive. Activity is not the same as progress. And motion is not the same as momentum. Okay. I spent several years in pastoral ministry, pouring into people, preaching on Sundays, Tuesdays, counseling, leading, serving. And when I made the transition into the digital space, I carried all of my ministry habits with me. Okay. I was hardworking, I was committed. I was showing up every single day, but I was showing up without a plan, without, listen to this language, priorities, okay? Without a structure that matched the vision that God had placed in my heart. And it wasn't until I started studying leadership, specifically years ago, the work of John Maxwell, that something began to click for me. And so I actually picked up one of his books here recently called The Develop called Developing the Leader Within You 2.0. And this was the first leadership book I ever read at 17 years old. And so I picked it up and um and something began to click for me. And Maxwell says it like this, okay? And I've never forgotten it. Everything rises and falls on leadership. But I want to take that a step further into where I feel like we're supposed to go today. In your digital business, everything rises and falls on your priorities. Okay. So what you put first determines what gets built. What you protect determines what grows. Friend, even down to the point of how you structure your day determines whether you're building something that lasts or just busy until you burn out. So today I want to walk you through four things. So I want you to get a notepad out or get your phone out, do something where you can take some notes. I want to talk about this Maxwell principle, okay, and why priorities are the foundation of everything. And I want to talk about the shift that has to happen in your mind, uh, going from whatever job it is that you have. Maybe you're a pastor, maybe you're a nine-to-five worker, maybe you're a full-time mom, whatever, whatever it is, I need to help you make the shift from whatever you are to understanding that to be in this space, you have to start thinking like a business owner. Okay. And I want to give you a practical daily mode of operation. Now, this won't be a complete daily mode of operation because everybody's unique and they know exactly what they're going after. But I want to give you at least some idea of what a mode of operation looks like. It's what I call a DMO, okay? That tells you exactly where to focus your energy based on where you are in the journey. And I want to show you what the latest neuroscience says about real lasting mind change and how it connects directly to what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 12 about renewing the mind. And then I want to cast a vision for what this whole thing is really building toward, okay? The power of digital products and what it means to have income that doesn't require your presence every single hour. So let's jump into it,

The Urgent Important Priority Framework

7:01

okay? I want to talk about this principle again that's kind of been highlighted to me from the John Maxwell book. Okay. So let's start with this question, okay? When you woke up this morning, what was the first thing that you did? Come on, take a minute and think about it. If you're like most people, you probably picked up your phone, you checked your notifications, you probably scrolled for a few minutes, or probably, let's be honest, maybe it was more than a few minutes. You checked your email, you looked at what was happening in the community, and before you even had a cup of coffee, your attention was already being pulled in 17 or 17 different directions. Okay. And here's what happens when you start your day like that, okay? You spend the rest of your day reacting. Someone posts something, you respond. Someone sends a DM, you answer. Someone, something comes up in your inbox and you handle it. And by nine o'clock at night, you've been busy all day, but you haven't done the one or two things that would actually move the needle forward for your business. See, what is that? That is the priority problem. And it's the single biggest reason that talented, called, gifted people stay stuck. See, John Maxwell teaches something that I think every kingdom entrepreneur needs to tattoo on their brain. He talks about the difference between the urgent and the important. And he actually didn't invent this. It actually goes back to Dwight Eisenhower, okay? One of the most productive presidents in American history. But Maxwell made it accessible in a way that changed how I think about my days. So here's the framework, okay? Everything on your to-do list falls into one of four categories. I want you to write this down, okay? Number one, urgent and important. Write that down. Urgent and important, okay? These are genuine crises. Okay. A client needs help, a deadline is today, something broke and has to be fixed right now. These things get done first. They have to. They're urgent and important. Okay. Second category is important but not urgent. Okay. This is the category that most high-performing people live in. Okay. This is where strategy lives. This is where content creation lives. This is where relationship building lives. This is where your personal growth lives. These are the things that build your future. But because they're not screaming at you, they're the first thing that gets pushed off the list. Okay. It's important to remember that. Okay. Third category, write this down. Urgent, but not important. Okay. Now, these feel pressing. They have a sense of immediacy, but they don't actually move the needle. Somebody else's emergency. That's that's that's what these things are. They're somebody else's emergency. A notification that demands your attention but doesn't deserve your energy. Most of social media lives in this category if you're not intentional. Okay. Now let's write the fourth one down. And this fourth one's big. Neither urgent nor important. These are time wasters. Okay. Neither urgent nor important. Write it down. Time wasters. Distractions. Things that feel like rest, but are actually just avoidance. Oh, that's a big one right there. Now, here's what Maxwell would tell you, and here's what I'm telling you today. The most successful people, whether it's business, life, ministry, whatever it is, they have learned to live in that second quadrant. Okay. Important but not urgent. They've learned to protect their time for the things that build, even when those things aren't screaming for attention. And for you, as a kingdom entrepreneur, maybe you've been in this a while, maybe you're a new kingdom entrepreneur. That means your content deserves a place on your calendar. Your learning deserves a slot in your day. Your DM conversations, the ones where you're actually building relationships with people in your audience, those deserve protected time, not leftover time. So here's what I want you to hear, okay? Your calling is too important to be run on whatever time's left over after everything else gets handled. I'm gonna say it again. Your calling is too important to be run on whatever time is left after everything else gets handled. You've been given wisdom, guys, experience and a story that someone out there desperately needs. And if you don't steward your time around getting that wisdom into the marketplace, the world doesn't get it. The people who need what you carry don't get helped, and you stay frustrated, feeling like you're always working, but never really building. Friend, let me say this: your calling deserves a calendar. Your vision deserves a schedule, and your priorities need to reflect what you actually believe about the assignment that God has placed on your life. Friend, that's the Maxwell principle that can be applied to you as a kingdom entrepreneur. And everything that I'm gonna talk about today actually flows from this foundation. Okay.

Permission To Think Like Owners

12:54

So I want to talk to you about something that I think is one of the most unaddressed conversations in this entire digital space. Okay. And it's the internal shift that has to happen before anything external can change. Okay. So again, like I said, maybe you're a pastor, an author, a coach, a speaker, a thought leader, an entrepreneur, whatever it is that you are, your identity is built around serving people. Okay. And that's a really beautiful thing. That's a kingdom thing. But the call to pour out, the call to give, to sacrifice, to show up for others, that's woven into who you are. But here's what happens when you try to build a digital business without making this internal shift. You keep giving everything away for free because charging for it feels unspiritual. You undercharge because you feel guilty asking for money in exchange for your wisdom. You don't follow up with people because it feels pushy or salsy. And you don't create offers because it feels like you're commodifying the gospel. And I want to speak directly to that today because I lived in that tension for a very long time. Friend, there is nothing, and I want you to hear this, there is nothing unspiritual about building a business around your calling. In fact, I would argue that stewarding your gift in a way that creates sustainability, in a way that allows you to serve more people at a higher level for a longer period of time is one of the most faithful things you can do with what God has given you. See, if we look at the life of Paul, Paul made tents. Lydia ran a business. Proverbs 31 is the portrait of an entrepreneurial woman. The kingdom has always had room for people who work with excellence and build with intention. So the first thing that I want to give you today is what I call a mental permission slip, okay? Permission to think like a business owner, permission to value your time, permission to charge for your expertise, permission to build systems that serve people even when you're not physically present. Permission to create income that reflects the value of what you carry. Friend, you don't stop being a pastor when you put your business owner hat on. You don't stop being whatever it is that you are just because you put the business owner hat on. Okay. You don't stop being a coach or an author or a minister. You add a new way of thinking to who you already are. You you, as a business owner, are expanding your identity rather than replacing it. Okay. Now, what does thinking like a business owner actually look like on a practical level? Well, let me give you a few things here. I want you to write this down. Listen, friend, do not just watch these videos. You got to take action. You've got to participate. You've got to like most of the time, the way that you can remember things is write it down. Okay. So I want you to write this down. Okay. Leverage over presence. Okay. Now, again, we're talking about thinking like a business owner because that's who you are now. A business owner thinks about leverage. Okay. A minister thinks about presence. And both matter. But in the digital space, leverage is what allows you to multiply your impact beyond what your physical presence can accomplish. Guys, I watch pastors do this all the time. A sermon that you preach once reaches people in the room. But a course you build once can reach thousands of people over years. Friend, that is leverage. That is the power of the digital model we're teaching you inside of Long Path Creator Academy. Okay. Write this one down. Systems over moments. Okay. A business owner thinks about systems. Systems over moments. And again, I'm just getting into using my mind as an example. Okay. A minister, being a pastor, I always think about moments, whether it's the sermon, the altar call, the whether you're you're meeting with somebody, the conversation, moments are powerful. But systems are what allow those moments to happen repeatedly, consistently, and at scale. So when you build a system, which could be a funnel, an email sequence, an onboarding process, you are creating a container that delivers your ministry moment to people who haven't even found you yet. That's so powerful, man. Now, write this one down. Metrics as stewardship. Okay. A business owner thinks about metrics. How many people are engaging? What content is resonating? What's my conversion rate? Where are people dropping off? This friend is not unspiritual. This is stewardship. You've been given a platform, you've been given an audience, and understanding what's working allows you to serve your people better. And honestly, it honors the Lord better. Write this one down. Sustainability over sacrifice. I'm gonna say it again. Sustainability over sacrifice. A business owner thinks about stability and sustainability. Okay? Not just pouring out until there's nothing left, but building something that can just keep going, that can grow, that can be handed down, that can fund the mission for years to come. So I want to ask you, are you giving yourself permission to think this way? Because until you do, the tactics don't matter. You can have the best funnel in the world and still sabotage it with a poverty mindset. Friend, you can have a beautiful community and still give everything away without ever asking someone to take a next step. Friend, this shift has to happen on the inside before the strategy will work on the outside. So give yourself the permission slip today. You are a kingdom entrepreneur. That means you bring the excellence of a business owner and the heart of a kingdom person, and you refuse to separate the two. You the two become one. Okay.

Neuroplasticity Faith And The RAS

19:47

Now, I want to go a little deeper. Let's get a little nerdy here for a second, because I've been talking a lot. If you've been in this community or you've been on live calls, I talk about mindset and identity shifts. Okay. And I want you to understand that this isn't just motivational mumbo jumbo. There is hard science underneath every word that Paul wrote in Romans 12, verse 2. This is what it says do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It's one of my favorite verses of all time. So for centuries, people would read that verse as purely spiritual instruction, and it is. But in the last several decades, neuroscience has actually caught up with what God already knew. So the brain is not fixed, it can be changed. It can be literally rewired. And the process that Paul describes, which is transformation through the renewing of the mind, is exactly what neuroscientists call neuroplasticity. Okay. So for most of human history, scientists believed that the adult brain was essentially fixed. Like you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Okay. So you got the brain that you were born with, shaped by your early experiences, and that was it. But research actually, over the last 40 years, has completely overturned that assumption. And that's where we come into neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. So every thought that you think, every belief that you hold, every habit that you practice, these things physically shape the structure of your brain. So neurons that fire together wire together. Okay. The more you think a thought, the stronger that neuropathway becomes. The more you repeat a behavior, the more automatic it gets. So here's what that means for you practically. Okay. Every time you've told yourself, I'm not a business person, that thought got a little more hardwired. Every time that you felt guilt about charging for your wisdom, That neural pathway got a little more deeply carved. So every time you've defaulted to giving everything away for free, your brain reinforced the story that money and ministry don't belong together. But here is the extraordinary hope of neuroplasticity, okay? And the extraordinary hope of Romans 12. Those pathways can be changed. New ones can be built. The brain that learned one way of thinking can learn another. You are not stuck with the mental patterns that you inherited. Okay. So let me introduce you again. I told you we're going to nerd out a little bit. I want to introduce you to one of the most powerful and underappreciated structures in your brain. It's called the reticular activating system or RAS. Okay. And it's a bundle of neurons at the base of the brainstem, and it functions like a filter for your reality. Okay. So this is so fascinating to me. Your brain receives approximately like 11 million bits of information per second from your environment. But your conscious mind can only process about 40 to 50 of those bits at a time. So your brain has to decide constantly and rapidly what to pay attention to and what to filter out. And the RAS is what makes those decisions. So let me break it down for you on how it works. So the the the RAS pays attention to what you tell it to pay attention to. Okay. It's trained by your dominant thoughts, your beliefs, your expectations. So if you believe that building a business is hard and that you're not cut out for it, your RAS will find all the evidence that confirms that belief. Okay. It will surface every obstacle, every failure, every reason to doubt, not because the obstacles are the only things there, but because that's what you told your brain to look for. But the reverse is equally true. When you start to believe, I and I mean really believe, not just intellectually affirm that you're called, equipped, and capable of building something that serves people and generates income, your RAS starts to find the evidence for that story instead. So you can actually listen to this. I'm going to give you a quote here. If you can change your thinking, you can change your story. If you can change your thinking, you can change your story. Okay. So what happens is it surfaces opportunities that you were walking past before. It highlights connections that you were missing. It draws your attention to resources, conversations, and moments that align with your new belief. Friend, that's not the power of positive thinking. That's brain science. And it is also, I would argue, actually and exactly what faith looks like from a neurological perspective. Hebrews 11, verse 1 says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Okay. So faith, I know this is going to be hard for some of y'all, but it's true. Faith is the act of directing your RAS toward a future that doesn't fully exist yet. It's training your brain to look for what God has promised rather than what you fear is rather than what fear is showing you. Isn't that powerful? So here's one of the most important things I can tell you about lasting change, okay? And it's something that the self-help industry gets wrong constantly. Most people try to change their behavior first. They set and we do the same thing in religion, okay? We set new goals, they we create new habits, we download the app, buy the planner, join the program, and for a few weeks it works until the pressure of real life hits, and we we, you know, we revert back to exactly where we were before. Okay. And the reason is that they try to change what they do without changing what they believe about who they are. And the brain will always default to behavior that matches identity. I'm gonna say that again. The brain will always default to behavior that matches identity, always. So if any of you've ever heard of Dr. Joe Dispenza, okay, neuroscientist, okay, describes it this way. Most people think that they need to change their life in order to change their mind. But the truth is exactly the opposite. You have to change your mind first, okay? The inner transformation has to precede the outer transformation. And this is why Paul doesn't say change your behavior and your mind will follow. He says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Boy, this is powerful. So the transformation is the result of the renewal. Okay, I'm gonna say that again. The transformation is the result of the renewal. The mind goes first. So, what does that mean for you as a kingdom entrepreneur? It means that all the strategy in the world, the funnels, the content plan, the DMO, the software will produce limited results if the identity underneath that hasn't shifted yet. You have to start seeing yourself as a kingdom business owner before you ever are going to actually start acting like one. You have to internalize that belief before the behavior becomes sustainable. So, how do you actually rewire the brain? That's what we're going to talk about here for a second. Okay. How do I get my brain rewired so I can start actually thinking like a business owner? Well, neuroscience gives us a very clear answer and it maps almost perfectly onto ancient spiritual practice. Okay. Three things that drive the formation of new neural pathways. Ready? Write this down. Number one, repetition. Okay. Repetition. Okay. New neural pathways are built through repetition. The more frequently that you think a new thought, you speak a new declaration, or you practice a new behavior, the more quickly it becomes wired into your default operating system. This is why scripture commands us to meditate on the word day and night. See, meditation is not a passive reflection, it's active, repeated rehearsal of truth until that truth becomes the lens through which you see everything. Boy, that's strong. Okay. Second part, emotion. Write that down. Emotion. Now, some of you are like, really, Mark? Emotion? Yes, God gave you emotion for a reason. Okay. So neuroscience has confirmed that emotional states dramatically accelerate the formation of new neural pathways. Okay. So whenever you encounter a truth in a moment of genuine emotional engagement, when something hits you in the heart, not just the head, but hits you in the heart, the brain releases neurochemicals that literally strengthen the neural connections formed in that moment. That's why worship accelerates transformation. That's why prayer is in genuine surrender, creates breakthrough that intellectual study alone cannot. The heart, right here, and the head were always designed to work together. Okay. Write this one down. Ready? Environment. Write it down. Environment. Your environment is constantly signaling to your brain what is normal. Okay? What is expected? What is possible. So when you are surrounded by people who are building digital businesses, creating content, generating income from their calling, your brain begins to normalize that reality. It stops treating it as exceptional and starts treating it as achievable. Okay. And this is one of the most important reasons this community exists, not just for the information, not just for the accountability, but for the neurological effect of surrounding yourself with people who are living proof that what you're building is possible. So show up here consistently, engage, read the wins, celebrate others, because every time you do, you are feeding that RAS evidence that this is real and rewiring your brain toward the future God has called you to build. Isn't that powerful? Come on, man. You better you better drop something in the comments and say, Mark, that was strong. Okay.

Your DMO And Daily Non Negotiables

31:45

Now let's get into the practical here because I don't want to just inspire you. I want to equip you. Okay. So I want to to walk I literally want you to walk away from this training with a clear picture of what your day should actually look like. Okay. This is what I call your DMO. Okay. What does DMO stand for? Write it down. DMO. Daily mode of operation. Okay. And I want to start by saying something that a lot of people in this space don't talk about, and they don't talk about it near enough. Okay. Where you are in your journey determines what your daily focus should look like on every level. Okay. Not everyone in this community is in the same place. And trying to do everything at every stage is one of the fastest ways to get overwhelmed and quit. And many of you are in this community and you're jumping around watching this lesson and this lesson and going to where you think you should be instead of where you should be. You got to work the steps, okay? So there are three non-negotiables in your DMO, regardless of where you are in the journey. These three things done consistently will move the needle more than anything else you could do. Number one, you've got to start making content. Long path creators are content creators. Okay. Content is your voice in the marketplace. I want you to write this down. Content. This is non-negotiable. Number one, you've got to make content. Content is your voice in the marketplace. It's how people find you, how they get to know you, how they come to trust you before they ever spend a dollar with you. See, content is the foundation of everything in the digital space. Okay. And I'm not talking about the sake of posting for the sake of posting. Okay. I'm talking about creating content that comes from the four pillars that we teach inside this community. Content that creates niche clarity for your audience, content that builds long-form trust. Content that uses social media as a feedback loop to tell you what's resonating. Content that invites people into a digital community where they can go deeper with you. See, your goal is three to four pieces of content per week: value posts, story posts, question posts, teaching posts. The rhythm matters more than the volume. Okay. So consistency builds trust and trust converts. Okay? Non-negotiable number two, write this down. Okay? What's that old country song? Baby, write this down. Take a little note, just to remind you in case you didn't know. Okay. Number two, engagement. This is this this really is the thing that separates the people who grow from people, um, separates the people um who grow from the people who just post into the void. Okay. Engagement means you are actively showing up in conversations. Remember, it is social media. Okay. You are responding, like if you want to do this right, you need to be responding to every comment on your post. Guys, until you get a viral video that goes to millions of people and you get thousands of comments, hopefully you get our software and you'll have an automation that can respond for you for a viral video. But for right now, those of you that are just posting and you've got a small audience, you need to be actively showing up. You need to be responding to every comment on your post. You are commenting on other people's content. You got to be doing that. You got to be present in this community, liking, responding, celebrating wins, asking questions. Your engagement in this community is actually training you to be engaging in your own social media. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to set aside time every single day, even if it's just 20 minutes, could be 30, okay, to engage, not scroll, engage. There's a difference. Scrolling's passive, engagement is active, okay? One drains you and the other one builds a business. Now, listen, um, this is a different situation. If you've got a video going viral and millions of people are watching it and thousands of people are commenting, hopefully at that point you are smart enough to sign up for our software where it can automatically message thousands of people on your behalf without you touching a single thing. But for most of you, you're starting with a small audience and you should be able to respond to your comments. And most of you are posting and then you're ghosting. And that's not a business strategy. That's avoidance, and you're never going to build a business or trust that way. So you need to be showing up in that way. And matter of fact, I'm encouraging you, even in this community, when you like and you respond and you celebrate wins and you're asking those questions, you are training yourself to engage. So I want you to set aside time every day to do that. Here's non-negotiable number three. Write this down. You ready? DM conversations. Your DM conversations are not sales pitches, they're they are trust moments. For many of you, they can be pastoral, they can be caring, they are the digital equivalent of a conversation after service or a follow-up call or a cup of coffee where you get to know somebody a little better and find out what they're really dealing with. So when somebody comments on your post, reach out to them with a DM. When somebody new joins the community, welcome them with a genuine message. When somebody asks a question that tells you that, you know, hey, I'm struggling with something. Can you help with this? Show up in their inbox, guys. Not with a link, not with a pitch, with a question, with curiosity, with genuine care. Ask them where they are, what they're working on, and what's holding them back. And then only after you've actually listened, share how you might be able to help. Friend, that's how trust becomes transactions. Okay. Not manipulative, not manipulative transactions, but kingdom transactions, where someone gets real help and you get compensated fairly for providing it. Okay.

Working In Versus On Business

38:32

Now I want to talk about something I think this is really important as well. Working in your business versus working on your business. Okay. Working in your business means you're doing daily tasks. Okay. You're doing the daily work. You're creating the content, you're responding to messages, you're showing up to calls, you're delivering your service, right? So this is the operational work, and it has to get done. Working on your business means you're doing the strategic work. You're building the systems, you're improving the offer, you're mapping out the funnel, you're studying what's working, planning the next season of growth. That's working on your business. This is the developmental work. This is the work that most people never get to it because they're so deep in the operational. So if you only work in your business, you'll always be busy but never growing. And if you only work on your business, nothing gets delivered and no one gets served. So you need both. The question is how much of each, and that really depends on where you are. So

How To Use The Free Community

39:45

let me talk to the people, and I want to speak directly to the people who are in the free community right now. Okay. Your job right now is not to build everything at once. Your job is to learn, to get clarity, and position yourself to take the next step. That means you need to be showing up here in the group consistently. You need to be engaging with the content. You need to be asking questions. You need to be participating in the conversations. Don't just lurk. The people who get results in communities like this are the ones who show up, who interact, who get invested in the process. Okay. More than anything, more than anything, I want to I want you to show up for the free coaching calls. Okay. This is one of the most valuable things available to you right now. And it costs you nothing except your time and attention. So these calls are where you get to interact with real people who are on this journey. You get to hear real questions being answered in real time. You get to bring your own challenges and work through them out loud. You get to build relationships with people who are walking the same road that you're walking. So why am I saying that? Don't skip the calls. Don't watch the replay three weeks later if you can possibly help it. Show up live, be present, engage, ask your questions, and take notes. Okay. If you're in the free community, use this season to get absolute clarity on your niche. What do I mean by that? Get clarity on who you're called to serve, on what problem you solve, on what makes your voice distinct in the marketplace. Use this season well. Learn everything that you can. Show up to the calls, get the clarity, and let this community give you the confidence to take the next step. Because here's what's waiting for you on the other side of that step. When you join our inner circle program, you stop just learning about the strategy and the tools, and you actually start using them. The runway you've been preparing now becomes the launch pad. And that is a powerful moment. Okay.

Inner Circle Focus On Infrastructure

41:59

Now let me talk to the people if you're in the inner circle. Welcome to your building season. Your daily focus looks different now. Okay. You still have the three non-negotiables, content engagement, DM conversations, right? Those never go away. But now you have an additional priority that moves to the top of your list. You need to be building infrastructure. That means you've got to get into your software and you got to get it set up. It means building your funnels. It means setting up your automations. It means taking the curriculum seriously. Okay. Not just watching the modules, but implementing them module by module, week by week, building as you learn. And on the other side of that setup is something that most people in the traditional ministry business slash world never experience. Funnels that run at 2 a.m. in the morning, automations that follow up while you're in a meeting, a digital product that someone purchases on a Sunday afternoon while you're sitting in your own church service. Okay. That's what we're building. Okay. And your DMO is in this season. Okay. It's a little different than the free community. Your DMO in this season needs to reflect that. Work in your business. Work on your business and build your system so that eventually the systems work

Digital Products And Leverage Vision

43:27

for you. Now, I want to close with this vision, okay? With a vision, okay. Because I think a lot of people get into this space with a general sense that they want to make money online. Okay. And that's fine as a starting place, but I want to give you something more specific, a clearer picture of what you're actually building and why it matters. Okay. A digital product is any piece of package wisdom that can be delivered electronically. Listen to this, without you having to physically show. Show up every single time. It can be a course, it can be a coaching program, a membership community, which is what we primarily promote is start a digital community. It can be a workshop, it can be a digital download. But what makes it powerful is the delivery model. Okay. You create it once and it can be sold and delivered an unlimited number of times. There's no inventory, there's no shipping. Someone finds you on Monday, goes through your funnel on Tuesday, purchases your product on Wednesday, and starts going through your content on Thursday, and you were sleeping through most of that transaction. Now, I want to be honest with you. Digital products are not purely passive from day one. Okay. In the beginning, there's real work. You're building. You are doing real work, but here's the difference between what you're building and a traditional job. A traditional job pays you once for the hour that you worked. Okay. What you're building here in Longpath Creator Academy is completely different. Every hour you invest in building your digital product or your funnel or your community, the that hour, that one hour compounds. Okay. The email sequence that you write this week will keep working for you for the next two years. The course module that you record this month will be watched by people who haven't even found you yet. The funnel that you build in this season will be generating leads while you're on vacation or at your kids' ballgame or sitting in a Sunday morning service. Friend, that's the leverage I'm talking about. And that leverage is what starts helping you create freedom. So, friend, you have a message. You've been developing that message for years, whether it was behind the pulpit or as a mom or whatever job you've been working at, maybe it's in your writing, in your own walk with God. You've been developing that message. Okay. Now imagine packaging that message into a digital product that someone in another state, in another country, in another time zone can access at any time, day or night, and experience that same shift. That is what you're building. Not a money scheme, a delivery system for your wisdom. So for me, the goal is not getting rich. The goal is getting free. Free enough to serve at the highest level, free enough to say yes to the right things and no to the wrong things. Free enough to give generously, live fully, and build something that outlasts me, a legacy for my children. But none of this, listen to me, happens without a DMO, daily mode of operation. None of this happens without the discipline to protect your time for the things that matter. So the vision that I just cast for you, the income while you sleep, the funnels running at 2 a.m., the digital product changing lives around the world, all of that lives in the important but not urgent quadrant. Okay. Nobody's gonna call you tomorrow and remind you to build your funnel today. You have to decide every single morning. You have to, you have to decide that your future is more important than your distractions, that your calling is worth protecting time for. Priorities, purpose, profit in that order. When you get your priorities right, your purpose gets expressed. And when your purpose gets expressed consistently and strategically, profit follows. Not as the goal, but as the fruit. Okay?

Core Takeaways Priorities Purpose Profit

47:51

So let me bring this home. You ready? I know this has been, but I promise you I give you an hour every week. So this is top-level training here, okay? So here's what I want you to take away from today's training. Ready? Your priorities determine your progress. Not your talent, not your calling. There are people less talented than you. There are people that are not as smart as you, that are changing more people's lives and making way more money and making an impact because they have good priorities. So it's not your talent, it's not your calling, it's not your good intentions. What you protect and what you schedule, what you show up for consistently, that is what gets built. Okay. Secondly, you have permission to think like a business owner. That doesn't make you less spiritual, it makes you a better steward of what God's placed in your hands. Thirdly, your brain can be renewed. Neuroplasticity and Romans chapter 12, verse 2 are pointing at the same truth. Change the mind first, and the behavior follows. Okay. Check this out. Use repetition, use emotion, make sure the environment's correct because that's building the new neuropathways that are aligned with your kingdom identity. Okay. Then your DMO, it's your daily act of faith, it's your daily mode of operation. Every time you sit down, you create a piece of content, what you're saying is, I believe this message matters. Every time you show up to a coaching call or you open your laptop to work on your funnel, you are saying, I believe the vision that God gave me is worth working for. Now,

Invitation To Join The Inner Circle

49:34

I want to be direct with you for just a moment, okay? Because I care about where we're headed and I care about where you're headed. If you're in the free community and you've been here for a while, showing up, you're engaging, you're attending the coaching calls, you're getting the clarity you need, and you can feel that pull towards the next level. I want to invite you to take a serious look at the inner circle. The inner circle is where we're learning, where your learning becomes building. Okay. It's where the vision becomes a reality. It's where you get access to our software, the group coaching, and then we walk you step by step through building out your niche clarity and building your content engine and your social media strategy and your digital community. Guys, it's $147 a month, or you can pay $1470 for the year if you want to go all in and save a couple of months. Okay. Listen, all you have to do is go to markcastro.co backslash enter dash circle. Take that next step. Guys, where else are you going to build start a business for $147? Where else can you start a business for a year for $1,500? It's it's an insane opportunity. It's an incredibly powerful tool. And Andrew and I are going to coach you through this process. Now, before we close out this training, I want to give you something practical to do. Please

Three Step Identity Declaration Practice

50:52

do not skip this. This is not homework for later. This is practice for the next five minutes, okay? Because everything that I've talked about today, the neuroscience, the identity shift, the renewed mind, it only works when you actually do the work. So once you get out a piece of paper, please do this. Open up your notes app if you want to do it that way. And I want you to work through three steps. You ready? Step number one, I want you to complete this sentence honestly without editing yourself. Without editing yourself, okay? I want you to write this down. And if you got to pause this during this, that's totally fine. But pause and then and keep moving. I want you to write the statement. When it comes to building a digital business around my calling, the story I keep telling myself is dot dot dot. Finish the statement. I want you to write whatever comes up. Don't judge it. Don't clean it up. Just write. And it might be for some of you, I don't feel technical enough, or people in my world won't take me seriously, or I've tried before and it didn't work. Or it might be, I feel guilty charging for what God gave me. Whatever it is, I want you to name it. Why? Because you cannot renew what you failed to acknowledge. Okay. Hit pause if you need to and finish that statement. Step number two, I want you to replace what you just said with a what I call a kingdom identity statement. Okay. So I want you to write this on the next part of your paper. This is a new statement, not a wishful affirmation, a kingdom declaration that's grounded in what God says about you and what he's placed inside of you. So here's here's what you write. Here's the sentence. Okay. I am, and then put your identity in there. I am identity. First sentence. Second sentence, I carry specific wisdom or gift. Put in there what that specific wisdom or gift is. So I am identity. I carry specific wisdom or gift, period. Next sentence. I am called to then put in who you serve and what you help them with. Put a period and last sentence. And I am building, then put in there what you're creating because, and then give your kingdom reason. Okay. So let me give you an example that I wrote earlier. Okay. And this is not about me, it's just an example. I'm a kingdom entrepreneur. I carry 20 years of pastoral wisdom about navigating grief and loss. I'm called to serve people in ministry who are walking through seasons of transition. And I'm building a digital coaching program because people who need what I carry shouldn't have to wait until they can afford a private session with me. Okay. Take that as an example, write your version, make it specific to you, and make it real. Hit pause again if you need to to finish this up. Step number three, I want you to anchor it with a daily declaration. This is important. Now I want you to take that core statement and I want you to condense it into one or two sentences that you can say out loud every single morning. Before you check your phone, before you open your emails, before anything else gets access to your mind, this is your declaration. And I want you to say it with emotion. Remember what we talked about in the neuroscience section, okay? Emotion accelerates the formation of new neural pathways. So, friend, this is not just words. This is rewiring or what Romans 12, verse 2 calls renewing. Okay. And I want you to listen to this, I want you to do this every morning for 30 days. Not because it's a magic formula, but because repetition, emotion, and consistency are how the mind gets renewed. And a renewed mind is what produces a transformed life. Friend, this is the work that changes everything. Not the funnel, not the software, not the strategy. It's about renewing the mind that operates all of this. Okay? Now,

Share Your Declaration And Closing

55:09

if you did that practice and you feel comfortable, I want to hear from you. So I want you to drop that kingdom declaration statement in the comments below. Don't just watch this training and move on. The people who get results in this in this community are the ones who actually engage, the ones who are putting stuff in the comments, the ones who are letting the community see where they are and helping cheer them forward. Friend, I want to remind you you're not building this alone. That's the whole point of being in this community. So show up in the comments. Let us know where you are, and let's build this thing together. I'll see you guys inside the inner circle.