What if finding your next client looked less like a sales pitch and more like joining a roundabout?

In Episode 006 of Better Bible Business, Paul Erickson explains The Roundabout Principle: a practical approach to meeting people, earning trust, and discovering opportunities without forcing the relationship. Instead of colliding with people at an intersection, learn to come alongside them.

Three actions to remember: • Be where people are. • Be interested. • Come alongside.

“We don't trust people we collide with. We trust people we collaborate with.”

And remember: business isn't merely about turning relationships into opportunities. Business also gives us opportunities for relationships—because people matter to God.

Be smart. Be good. Be humble. Be active.

CHAPTERS: 00:00 Introduction: The Roundabout Principle 01:33 Why I Love Roundabouts 02:41 Why I Loathe Intersections 03:29 We Trust People We Collaborate With 06:13 The Three Steps of the Roundabout Principle 11:06 People Matter More Than Opportunities 13:53 The Biblical Roundabout 18:02 Be Active: Map Your Roundabouts 19:30 Closing Thoughts & Resources

🎁 FREE: 7-DAY BIBLICAL ENTREPRENEUR DEVOTIONAL Seven short daily readings designed to realign your heart, head, and business with God’s heart: https://BetterBibleBusiness.com/7days

Better Bible Business helps Christian entrepreneurs apply Biblical truth to the practical realities of business, leadership, marketing, work, and life.

Have a question about applying biblical principles to business? Have an idea for a future episode? Or a comment about this one? I'd love to hear from you. Visit: https://betterbiblebusiness.com/ask

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

The Holy Bible, King James Version Galatians 6:10 Matthew 5:41 1 Thessalonians 5:11 John 14:16

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It Chris Voss with Tahl Raz Buy on Amazon (affiliate link): https://link.amazon/B0byJKff2

Affiliate disclosure: I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through the affiliate link above, at no additional cost to you.

Do you really understand your customers—or do you merely know about them?

Demographics and psychographics are useful, but understanding your audience requires something more: getting out of your chair and sitting in theirs.

In Episode 005 of Better Bible Business, Paul Erickson explores how biblical others-mindedness can transform the way we understand and serve customers. Through real-world examples from grocery delivery, heavy-equipment repair, user experience design, and even getting fired for advocating for the customer, we’ll examine what it means to look out the window instead of into the mirror.

We’ll also consider insights from Theodore Levitt, Steve Jobs, and David Ogilvy—and a simple framework you can begin using today:

Listen. Understand. Serve.

The customer isn’t always right. But the customer is always worth understanding.

Be smart. Be good. Be humble. Be active.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 How to Understand Your Audience 04:00 Loving Your Neighbor in Business 07:12 Knowing About Someone ≠ Understanding Them 12:02 Start With the Customer 18:34 What Business Are You Really In? 21:29 Why I Got Fired 24:54 The Customer Isn't Always Right 27:13 Listen. Understand. Serve.

🎁 FREE: 7-DAY BIBLICAL ENTREPRENEUR DEVOTIONAL Seven short daily readings designed to realign your heart, head, and business with God’s heart: https://BetterBibleBusiness.com/7days

Better Bible Business helps Christian entrepreneurs apply biblical truth to the practical realities of business, leadership, marketing, work, and life.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

The Holy Bible, King James Version Philippians 2:3–4 Matthew 22:39 Proverbs 18:13

Theodore Levitt — “Marketing Myopia” Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2004/07/marketing-myopia Buy on Amazon (affiliate link): https://link.amazon/B06Qw0tHm

Steve Jobs, Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, 1997 “Start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology.” Video: https://youtu.be/EZll3dJ2AjY

David Ogilvy — Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud advertisement (1958–59), The New Yorker Headline: “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”

You can’t be great at everything—and you were never meant to be.

In Episode 004 of Better Bible Business, Paul Erickson explores specialization, mastery, and faithful stewardship through an unlikely starting point: a root canal.

What does the Bible say about developing skill? And how can Christian business owners faithfully concentrate what God has entrusted to them so they can become exceptionally useful in serving others?

We’ll look at Proverbs 22:29 and biblical examples of skilled work, along with examples from Steve Martin, Bruce Dickinson, and Steve Jobs — yes, seriously!

Three questions to consider:

• STEWARDSHIP: What has God entrusted to me? • MASTERY: What deserves deeper development? • SERVICE: Who becomes better served if I get exceptionally good at it?

Be smart. Be good. Be humble. Be active.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction 00:19 You Can’t Be Great at Everything 01:06 Lesson From a Root Canal 04:45 What Specialization Really Means 13:34 Why Specialize? 19:36 Specialization is Mastery 24:19 Specialization is Service 26:09 Conclusion

🎁 FREE: 7-DAY BIBLICAL ENTREPRENEUR DEVOTIONAL Seven short daily readings designed to realign your heart, head, and business with God’s heart: https://BetterBibleBusiness.com/7days

Better Bible Business helps Christian entrepreneurs apply biblical truth to the practical realities of business, leadership, marketing, work, and life.

PHOTO CREDITS:

Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers Photo: TriviaKing at English Wikipedia, via Wikimedia Commons Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 (CC BY-SA 3.0). Cropped/scaled for video.

Bruce Dickinson at Campus Party Photo: Campus Party Brasil, via Wikimedia Commons Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 (CC BY-SA 2.0). Cropped/scaled for video.

Steve Jobs at Macworld 2005 Photo: mylerdude, via Wikimedia Commons Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (CC BY 2.0). Cropped/scaled for video.

Ed Force One (Boeing 747) Photo: Foto-dus, via Wikimedia Commons Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0). Cropped/scaled for video.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Scripture referenced: Proverbs 22:29; Ezra 7:6; Psalm 45:1; Exodus 31:1–6; Exodus 35:30–35; 1 Chronicles 12; 1 Chronicles 25:6–7; 1 Kings 7:13–14; Romans 12:4–8; Philippians 1:10. Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV).

STEVE MARTIN Biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Martin

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life — Steve Martin https://link.amazon/B0dKtktX6

BRUCE DICKINSON Biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Dickinson

What Does This Button Do?: An Autobiography — Bruce Dickinson https://link.amazon/B05hoQPDL

STEVE JOBS Biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson https://link.amazon/B03Vwx1cJ

FURTHER READING So Good They Can't Ignore You — Cal Newport https://link.amazon/B0fHsRXsW

Some book links above are Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase through one of these links, Better Bible Business may receive a commission at no additional cost to you.

VINCE LOMBARDI “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” Vince Lombardi — Quotes https://vincelombardi.com/quotes/

Episode 003

Most businesses know what they do.

Far fewer know why they exist.

But what if even that is the wrong question?

As Christian business owners, perhaps the better question is: **For Whom am I running this business?**

In Episode 003 of Better Bible Business, Paul Erickson explores what happens when we stop thinking like owners and begin thinking like stewards—recognizing that God owns the business, we are responsible for faithfully managing what He has entrusted to us, and our work becomes a means of serving others for His glory.

You’ll discover:

• Why “to make money” and even “to glorify God” can be too general to give your business practical direction
• How changing one question transformed the way a mechanic understood his work
• Why knowing WHO you serve brings greater clarity to WHAT you do
• The difference between transactional and relational business
• What it means to treat God as the true Owner of your business
• Why faithfulness—not merely growth, revenue, or recognition—is the standard of biblical stewardship
• Three questions that can help clarify the purpose of your business

1 Corinthians 4:2 says, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”

Your business is more than a mechanism for making money. It is something God has entrusted to you—an opportunity to work with Him, faithfully serve people, solve real problems, and glorify Him through ordinary work.

So get alone with God and your journal and answer three questions:

1. Who am I serving?
2. What problem am I solving for my customers?
3. What does faithfulness look like in how I do it?

Then consider one final question: **How has God called you to serve others?**

The answer could radically change your business for the better.

🎁 FREE: 7-DAY BIBLICAL ENTREPRENEUR DEVOTIONAL Seven short daily readings designed to realign your heart, head, and business with God’s heart: BetterBibleBusiness.com/7days

Be smart. Be good. Be humble. Be active.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING Michael Jr. — “Know Your Why” youtu.be/1R2P88jKK3k 1 Corinthians 10:31 1 Corinthians 3:9 Matthew 22:39 1 Corinthians 4:2 Romans 10:17

Episode 002

Fear is a terrible business advisor. It rarely announces itself as fear. Instead, it sounds reasonable: “I’m just being careful.” “I need to think about it a little longer.” “Now probably isn’t the right time.”

But sometimes what looks like caution is really fear — fear of failure, rejection, criticism, or what other people will think.

In Episode 002 of Better Bible Business, Paul Erickson looks at Proverbs 29:25 — “The fear of man bringeth a snare”—and explores how fear can quietly distort the decisions Christian business owners make.

What if your job isn’t to protect your reputation at all? What if your job is simply to be faithful—and trust God with the outcome? In this episode, we’ll look at:

• Why fear often disguises itself as wisdom
• How the fear of man entangles our decision-making
• Why discomfort and genuine danger aren’t the same thing
• What raising your prices can teach you about fear
• Why your reputation ultimately belongs to God
• How faith frees you to stop endlessly tweaking and start acting

You don’t need certainty or perfection before you move forward. You need faith. You need obedience.

Think of one decision you’ve been delaying. What are you actually afraid of? Then take one step forward—not because you feel ready, but because you trust the One who is always ready.

🎁 FREE: 7-DAY BIBLICAL ENTREPRENEUR DEVOTIONAL Seven short daily readings designed to realign your heart, head, and business with God’s heart: BetterBibleBusiness.com/7days Be smart. Be good. Be humble. Be active.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING 2 Timothy 1:7 Proverbs 29:25 1 John (all 5 chapters)

Episode 001

Gratitude may be one of the most overlooked competitive advantages in business.

Not because positive thinking magically makes everything better. And not because saying “thank you” is a clever marketing tactic.

Biblical gratitude is something much deeper: the practice of seeing God’s reality truthfully—recognizing what He has already provided instead of allowing circumstances, frustration, or ambition to distort what is actually true.

In this first episode of Better Bible Business, Paul Erickson explores what gratitude has to do with entrepreneurship, leadership, customer loyalty, workplace culture—and even your bottom line.

You’ll hear the story of a car radiator company Paul still remembers decades later, discover why ingratitude is more spiritually serious than we often realize, and walk away with practical ways to build genuine gratitude into the way you lead, serve customers, work with employees, and even treat your vendors.

But don’t try to do everything. Choose one idea from this episode. Spend 15 minutes developing it. Then put it into practice.

Because better business isn’t merely about knowing more. It’s about faithfully doing something with what you know.

Be smart. Be good. Be humble. Be active.

💡 PRACTICAL WAYS TO PUT GRATITUDE TO WORK Here are the ideas mentioned in this episode. Don't try to do all of them. Pick ONE. 1. Write your “5 Things.” Start the day by writing down five things you're thankful for. 2. Send physical thank-you notes. A handwritten note can communicate gratitude in a way another email can't. 3. Pray for your clients and customers. Turn your client roster into a prayer list. 4. Express gratitude to your employees and team. Consider a simple one- or two-minute gratitude huddle. 5. Make gratitude part of your culture. Don't save appreciation for annual awards or special occasions. 6. Really listen to your target audience. Giving someone your full attention communicates that they matter. 7. Thank your vendors. The people who serve your business see more of your organization than you may realize. Your challenge: Choose one idea and spend 15 minutes developing a practical way to put it into action.

🎁 FREE: 7-DAY BIBLICAL ENTREPRENEUR DEVOTIONAL Seven short daily readings designed to realign your heart, head, and business with God’s heart: BetterBibleBusiness.com/7days

Better Bible Business helps Christian entrepreneurs apply biblical truth to the practical realities of business, leadership, marketing, work, and life.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Gratitude and workplace productivity: Harvard Health Publishing/Wharton — "Giving Thanks Can Make You Happier" https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier

Gratitude Journal for Decision-Making: Journal of Applied Psychology — “A 2021 Journal of Applied Psychology study found gratitude journaling boosts focus by 30%, speeding up tasks (e.g., save 2 hrs/wk).” https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/apl-apl0000903.pdf

Client Thank-You Notes: HubSpot — “A 2023 HubSpot report says personalized gratitude increases repeat business by 25%.” https://blog.hubspot.com/service/state-of-service-2024

Daily Team Gratitude Huddle: Gallup — “A 2022 Gallup study shows gratitude boosts engagement by 15%, cutting turnover costs (avg. $4,000 per employee).” https://www.gallup.com/workplace/285674/improve-employee-engagement-workplace.aspx

Public Social Gratitude Posts: Sprout Social — “A 2024 Sprout Social study shows authentic posts boost engagement by 40%.” https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-statistics/

Gratitude-Driven Vendor Partnerships: Forbes — “A 2023 Forbes study says strong vendor ties cut costs by 10–15%.” https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2023/10/04/how-to-create-a-vendor-ecosystem-that-makes-the-most-of-your-companys-it-investments/

Episode 000

Introducing the Better Bible Business podcast and its mission to help Christian entrepreneurs build profitable, peaceful, God-honoring businesses.

Be smart. Be good. Be humble. Be active.

🎁 FREE: 7-DAY BIBLICAL ENTREPRENEUR DEVOTIONAL Seven short daily readings designed to realign your heart, head, and business with God’s heart: BetterBibleBusiness.com/7days

Better Bible Business helps Christian entrepreneurs apply biblical truth to the practical realities of business, leadership, marketing, work, and life.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Micah 6:8 Luke 2:52