The Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast Episode 96: Finding Strength as a business owner 3 Encouraging Bible Verses for Solo Business Owners

So today’s episode is a bit different from the majority of my episodes and you may choose to skip this episode entirely, but honestly, I hope you will stick around mostly to be encouraged. It can feel like a discouraging time for small business owners right now, but I wanted to share with you some words of encouragement that help me get through rough times in business.

I know that being a solo business owner, heck even an online business owner, can feel and be so incredibly draining and lonely at times. The comparison game is a real thing. Assuming everyone else “has it together” is a real negative thought most of us struggle with. Fearing that you won’t “make it” as a small business, is a real fear that is pulsing through so many business owner’s minds, but no one talks about it because we all want to present ourselves as “having it all together” on social media.

That’s why I truly want to slow down and share three bible verses that I have to repeat over myself in seasons of waiting, in seasons of frustration, and in seasons of loneliness in my business! I hope this is an encouragement to you!

Read The Shownotes + Transcript Here

Dolly DeLong: Hey, and welcome back to the Systems and Workflow Magic podcast. I am your Systems and Workflow Magic BFF and guide, Dolly DeLong. And I am just so thrilled and honored you are joining in today. Just to let you know, today’s episode is a bit different from the majority of my episodes, and you may choose to skip this episode entirely.

But honestly, I hope you will stick around mostly to be encouraged. Right now, I know that owning a small business can not only feel discouraging, but it can also be very overwhelming. I share this because the economy feels very overwhelming. I have heard from countless other business owners that they are experiencing a lot of distress and planning out for the financial health of their future and just the future of their business and nobody’s buying. Or stress is just really high because of the stress of being online.

There are so many different factors of putting yourself out there that can cause anxiety or depression or just feeling like you’re failing. Feel like you can’t keep on top of anything and if you are anything like me, you’re most likely running the show on your own. You might feel isolated at moments. Even though you know that other people are in the same boat as you, just like that feeling deep within you, you feel you are feeling at life.

That’s why I just want to dedicate this episode to give us all some breathing space and some time to truly calm down and find experience maybe some peace and joy in the only one who can give that to us, and I believe that source can only be found in God.

I know I will have some people who will instantly turn this off because I am declaring that my joy and my sources of peace do come from God. But I want to just take this week to truly encourage you, the listener, because I know that there is so much heaviness happening on so many levels, and going into, like, when this podcast episode airs, we’re going to be going into quarter four, and you’re going to hear the message from, online we’re going into Q4, finish strong, push on, and you can do, finish this race meaning the year.

And there can feel that heaviness. So I just wanted to slow down and share three different uplifting bible resources or bible verses that resonate with just what the challenges are of running a solo business and addressing three different emotions that I attached to those three different resources or bible verses.

Again, I’m truly hoping that this can serve as a reminder to point you to the one who is the great provider and to point you to the one who knows literally every type of emotion you may be facing in your business right now. All right.

So the first verse that I want to share. It speaks to the emotion of waiting. And this has been, this verse has helped me out a lot, especially right now in the season of life. And so this verse is from Micah 7:7. And it says,

“but as for me, I watch and hope for the Lord. I wait for God, my savior. My God will hear me.”

Now I know that there is so much deeper context and meaning to this bible verse, but I have been clinging to this verse in particular, since I have been pregnant with Jack. So last fall of 2022, I was, I was facing a very miserable pregnancy journey. I hated it because I was sick. I felt so big. Obviously, I was pregnant, so yes I was growing. But I had some health complications. Also because of poor eating habits combined with having gestational diabetes all of these little things are adding up.

And so I was sick and I was tired. And I was also trying to keep up with a toddler on top of it all. And the icing on the cake in concerns with my business. Cause I want to bring this back. How, what does this have to do with business? I felt like I was at a crossroads. What I felt like, is that I had to niche down even more because I was listening to outside voices that were trying to influence me to lean into just one specific type of service.

And although I liked that service, it didn’t align with what I wanted to do with full-time. Not because it was bad, it was a really good thing. But, I just didn’t want to just focus on that. I wanted to offer that service. Yes, but I didn’t want it to be my bread and butter like it was for the people who were trying to speak into my life I know what they meant but I was putting so much unnecessary pressure on myself coupled with what I was hearing what success was for them that I literally thought I was a failure because I couldn’t replicate other people’s successes.

I couldn’t replicate what was working for them in my life. And then on top of that, I was miserable. I was like growing a human in me, and I just felt miserable and sick emotionally and spiritually. And I was drained. And for months I was so miserable trying to be something I wasn’t.

And then one evening at church, I go, sometimes I go to church in the middle of the week. One of my bible study peers shared a verse. She’s older than me, but she just shared a verse, she didn’t realize she did this, and I needed to share this with her, but she shared a verse that stuck with me and I instantly knew that I had to highlight this verse and look at it every single day. Because at the moment when she read it, it just, sounds so weird, but it gave me peace, even though I did not feel any peace. Like there was no Heavens didn’t open up and all my prayers were answered Like I knew I still had a waiting period but I felt peace and it was that verse from Micah 7:7. And I knew that I was not only experiencing a season, a long season, of waiting not only to meet Jack, but I also was experiencing a transition season of prepping to be a mom.

Not of one anymore, but of two. So that was stressful for me. I also was experiencing a transitional season of not honestly, not earning as much money as I was used to because of so many different factors, and so many different transitions. So it was making me feel fearful, and it was making me feel like, oh my gosh, I have to start replicating what’s working for everyone else, and this season was also a season of waiting just waiting and refining and seeing, Just, and waiting is so hard for me, you all.

Waiting… I hate waiting. I want answers yesterday. I. Hate. Waiting.

And I shared this, but I love answers, and I love knowing things like yesterday. Like most humans, alright? This verse stuck with me. And I, to this day, still cling to it. And if you go to my I have two Instagram profiles. One is for the education side of my business, which is Dolly DeLong Education, which is the Systems and Workflow Magic brand. And I also have an Instagram for the photography side of my business. So I try to keep those two separate because I don’t like confusing my clients.

Anyway, for this verse stuck out to me so much, I share this, the two Instagram stories, cause I instantly just decided I’m gonna, I’m just gonna put that bible verse down on my photography side, even though I know I’m not optimizing my profile.

Like everybody says, you have to optimize your profile for your business. And, but I just decided, you know what, I’m going to just put that bible verse down, not to showcase, like how much, like I know about the bible, but maybe this verse will stick out to somebody else. Another mom or another client of mine who is in the season of waiting, and also needs to be reminded as we wait, let’s look to God.

So if you go to, I’m laughing because, again, if you hear, if I put on my Systems and Workflow Magic hat, my strategy hat, I would say from an Instagram standpoint, you should optimize your profile for business. So that’s definitely not optimizing your profile. It is, just be encouraging. All right. So anyway, this verse stuck with me and I still cling to it daily because I know my role as a believer is to watch in hope for God as I go through each and every day.

So not just as a business owner, but as a wife, as a mom, as a human. And it’s not easy, but I will, and I willingly hope in Him, meaning God. Because I know God is where my peace is. And even if I don’t know the answers to everything I will still look to Him and be like, Alright, I’m waiting, God, and I will just continue to put one foot in front of the other as I wait.

And if you’re wondering, I did get through that weird transitional season. And I feel like I have a little bit more clarity about things for my own business. And again, I have to still lean into God’s wisdom and strength to guide me. But, like I, as I look back, I am grateful I had a season of growing jack inside of me to refine more of what mattered to me and my business.

Looking back now, I can be like, Oh! I’m glad I had to wait, but when I was in the middle of it, I hated it. So I’m letting you know, that I like, sometimes I hate emotions and that was not a fun emotion, but that verse really helped refine some things within my business and it continues to. So again, that verse is Micah 7:7.

Okay, so the second emotion I want to address is the emotion of seeking wisdom In an oversaturated and overcrowded world that shouts for our attention. And that can cause like, when we are in an oversaturated world and overcrowded world that shouts for our attention, that causes a lot of confusion in our own business journeys, like any type of journey, but especially our business journey.

And I know this second point is not necessarily a bible verse, but it is about the importance of finding peace. For me, I found peace and structure in a bible study called the “Bible Recap with Tara Lee Cobble”. And I’ve actually been consuming this bible study for over three years now. Yes, three years.

It’s like I’ve, it goes through the bible from front to back, like Old Testament to New Testament. And I’ve read, it’s so strange to say this, but I’ve, in the last three years, I’ve read the bible three times and I learned something new every single time. And yes, like reading through the Old Testament can be pretty boring.

I’m going to say that, am I allowed to say that? I think I’m allowed to say that I’m human. But I’ve learned so much about just about God and about Jesus and about just like how Jesus is weaved all throughout The Old Testament and how God has so much love for us like since the beginning of time. Even though we as humans suck and continue to hurt Him and so I before I like really dive into that because it makes me like tear up thinking about it.

So Tara Lee Cobble, who’s the host, does a recap of what the current bible I guess study reading passages about for the day and she talks about the historical aspects of it. And the importance of not taking it out of context.

So she talks about, okay This is what was happening back then. So this is why they’re talking like this. Because sometimes we as humans, just want to see it through our own cultural lens.

And I’m guilty of this I’m like, I want to see everything through my viewpoint. Which is fine to a certain extent, but if I’m just like, trying to understand it. I don’t know, just to serve me, it’s not, I believe that’s not healthy. And so I really want to see it from a historical context and not take it out of context and look at the bible from different perspectives.

And how to actually apply it with God’s wisdom and not some feel-good emotion or man-made wisdom that serves just me. Again, I bet I’m going to step on some toes in this episode, but I crave to be led by God. And I know that there are a lot of deceptive teachings about God’s word only to be used, for example, I don’t want to just lean into God’s word to be used to benefit me financially, like a prosperity gospel.

I don’t want to serve God to give me things all the time. I want to serve God because I love Him, and I want to know Him, and I want to honor Him. And that, for me, is a blessing. That is a journey that has many ups and downs, and I won’t always get my way. And sometimes that also means I won’t always make a certain financial month that I’ve been aiming for but I still lean into God.

And what does this have to do with leaning into reading the entire bible, Dolly? What does that have to do with anything? Just like the emotion of seeking wisdom and knowing, just like knowing when to be quiet and knowing just what, how to talk to God, and when to talk to God will actually is, He wants us to talk to Him all the time, even when we’re mad at Him, even when we’re disappointed.

And He wants all of those emotions for me. Because I feel like I experienced a wide range of emotions. Like I’m on a wild rollercoaster every day owning a business. And I know you feel like that too. Even if we don’t feel the same way, biblically, we both can agree as humans, that owning a business is like being on a rollercoaster.

And so all of these rollercoaster emotions, I want to take, I want to take to God. And I want Him to guide me. And because of that, that will impact the way I treat others. In the long run, I know it, and I want to treat other people with dignity and respect and kindness, even if they don’t believe the same things that I believe, I need God’s wisdom in knowing, like, how to handle working with others and navigating my business all alone and trusting that you feeling like a failure.

So the best structure I’ve found for myself has been reading the Bible Recap Daily. Actually, to be clear, I listen to it via podcast because I’m at a stage in life where if I open up my bible, I’ll fall asleep. So now I read it, listen to it. And then I listened to the Bible Recap Podcast. So I listened to this app called, oh man, it’s like a bible app.

I need to look it up. I’m looking it up right now. It is called the YouVersion. It’s called YouVersion. It’s a free app. And then within YouVersion, they have like different versions of the bible for you to read. So if you don’t like NIV, you can do NLT, or KJV, or message, or whatever speaks to you.

And then the Bible Recap is actually a plan within the YouVersion, which I really like. And then they also have the Bible Recap podcast. And so normally what I do is I listen to the reading and then I listen to the podcast that talks about the reading. So that if I got a little lost or glazed over, I must admit some things in the Old Testament, I’m like, what is the point of this? Like, why do I have to listen to all of these old rules that don’t apply? But still, Taralee Cobble has a way of weaving in isn’t it wonderful? She weaves in something about the Word of God. I’m like, oh, okay.

Anyway, I am rambling, but that has been trans Like formational and refreshing for me. And it has been an answered prayer for me. Because three years ago, like ironically 2020, I was asking God a lot of questions and I was pretty much, I was like, like a human, like any true toddler human, I was demanding answers to all my questions. Which I think is normal.

And I was asking God to help me navigate the bible and to find His truths in scripture and not be so murky about things. And He slowly started opening my eyes to things. Like being very clear about certain things that I was asking about. And I believe He’s been using this like my journey reading the bible from front to cover with the Bible Recap and yeah do you think I have it all figured out if you do I’m gonna laugh at you I’m still struggling with understanding everything, and that’s why I want to continue to read and lean in on His wisdom.

And I’m hoping, and I know, I don’t hope this, I know I will just have continued peace as I pursue His word. Even if I feel down one day, I will lean into His word. I just, I will continue to do that. And again, I just want to say, I know everyone’s walk with God is different, but my life has been impacted by actually pursuing His word through the Bible Recap and that has had a positive ripple in how I treat my business.

It has had a positive ripple with how I treat other people, how I interact within my business with people whom I do like collaborations with, who I market with, or who I just talk with. And even if they may not be believers, or, I don’t have to necessarily I don’t necessarily say “Hi, I’m a Christian” or ” Let’s talk, sometimes I don’t even say anything, but I want my words, my actions, even my tone to be very uplifting and encouraging and that’s been really helpful for me.

All right So the third emotion of running a business that I want to address is the emotion of fear and this verse is this verse I’m about to share with you has been a guiding point for me for my entire life. So it’s not just for my business, but my entire life I’ve always leaned on this verse to remind me okay, like nothing can separate me from God’s love.

And so it comes from Romans 8:31-39, and the author shares this verse. He shares nothing can separate this from God’s love.

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since He, meaning God, did not spare even His own son, Jesus, but gave Him up for us all, will He also give us everything else?

Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one, for God Himself, has given us the right standing with Himself. Who then will condemn us? No one. For Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. So can anyone or anything ever separate us from God’s love?

Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity? Or are persecuted, or are hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death. As the scriptures say, for your sake we are killed every day, we are being slaughtered like sheep. No. Despite all these things, overwhelming victories are ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below. Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”

OK, I know that was longer. And I know the more I put myself out there online as a business owner, there is a risk of, being canceled because someone may not agree with the point that I share, all right, or that someone may decide to, I don’t know, malign my name because again, everyone has a strong opinion.

Everyone has opinions, even me, we all have opinions, but sometimes these strong opinions can cause so much personal and emotional drainage for people. And for me, through the years, especially being online, I have been so fearful. I never want to voice anything to make people upset. Mostly because I’m like so fearful of like men not like men I’m fearful of other people’s opinions.

All right But every time I read this verse it literally empowers me to remember that even if someone may try to cancel me, and try to malign my name, they can’t hurt me and can’t separate me from the love of God. Like their words will hurt me, yes, and it will sting but do human words have the final say, no?

Are they going to actually kill me? That’d be weird if they got so mad that I shared a bible verse and they’re like, we’re going to kill you. No, like God’s words have the final authority and power. God’s love literally is with me every single day. And for me, that empowers me to be kind to everyone.

Even the mean trolls on the internet. And it’s not like I’ve ever had a really bad experience, but sometimes at the back of my mind, I’m like, oh, am I going to be canceled because I love God or am I going to be canceled because, I don’t know, some reason? Because you see so many draining things online.

Now, let me just say this. I don’t think the internet is the best place to post your fleeting feelings about, let’s say, politics or other things. Things that come and go, alright? Things change on a daily basis. And you most likely won’t see me ever posting a scathing thing about something. Unless somebody tried to attack Ty or one of my sons.

I’m like, oh, you better believe it Dolly is coming out. Dolly Mama is coming out. But, for the most part, okay, I try to keep things very lighthearted, funny, and encouraging, alright? Because again social media should be social, okay, and encouraging. But we humans have made it a platform to attack each other.

And then there is that aspect of, oh no what if somebody cancels me? And I again, just always have to remind myself not to be afraid. of people’s opinions, because everybody has opinions. But in the event, somebody decides, you know what, I hate Dolly. I hate that Dolly loves God.

And I’m going to cancel her because she shared a bible verse that I don’t believe in because I don’t believe in the bible. And now I’m going to cancel her because she’s against my belief system. And that is attacking me, even though I’ve never met her. I just think people should hate her because I hate her.

Like that could happen to you all and that happens to other people like not maybe not in that ridiculous context, but that happens daily and we see that online and that makes us like scared of everything, and honestly, like to me, I’m like, come on people. That’s laughable.

We all should know that everybody has opinions about things, and it’s okay to have differing opinions it’s okay but that should never, as me, being a believer I want to continue to share my faith and be kind and loving to everyone. and I will continue to push on with my faith.

And even if other people malign me and make fun of me for loving God, I’m not gonna waver. And I will continue to show up and be joyful. Okay? Because like their words, again, their words may hurt, people’s words may hurt you, and they will hurt you. Words hurt. All right, words hurt, words sting, you may remember things said to you from years ago, and I will attest, yes, that could really hurt you, but nothing could ever separate you from God’s healing power and healing love. That is more powerful. And so that is what I choose to cling to.

All right. As I wrap up this episode I just want to say, I know it’s not my traditional systems and workflow type episode, but I want to say thank you for sticking with me through the end. I truly want to be a strategic voice for systems and workflows like how they pertain to your creative business every single week. I want to be known for that.

But I also want to be an encouragement to anyone else who may be in the same stage as me. You may be a believer. You may own and operate a business. You feel like you’re walking, you’re doing this alone, but you’re not. And so I wanted just to take this episode, specifically as we’re going into Q4 I want to help you finish the year strong and to be encouraged and to take a breather and know you’re not alone and just to, if you allow yourself, to lean into God.

Alright? Now again, If you are a believer, too, I want to encourage you to continue to press on, continue to press into God’s word, and let it guide your business and let it guide your decisions. Even in the hard and confusing times, because that’s the best thing you can do while you wait. And especially as you finish off this year.

So next week, don’t worry, I’m going to show up again with a systems and workflow-related podcast, I had it in my notes to joke around I’m gonna show up with a sermon and then baptize everyone and then I, but I’m laughing about that because I’m, I know somebody is like, she’s not, is she really, you guys, I’m joking.

I’m joking. That’s a Nacho Libre reference for those of you who watch or have watched Nacho Libre. I just wanted to do a Nacho Libre reference, but what I will do, I promise you, what I will do is show up with a systems of a workflow-related episode. We will get back to regular episodes, but until then, I hope that you have an encouraging and streamlined week, you amazing muggle. And don’t forget how much God loves you. All right. Bye.