Diligence in Business

A look at the bible shows that God himself is a diligent business person (Gen. 1:1-31). This means that diligence is needed to succeed in anything worth doing at all.

Proverbs 22:29 says, ‘Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.’ Understanding the key words in this scripture will give us a better understanding of God's mind concerning our succeeding in business.

Diligence
Diligence means to show care and effort in your work or duties. The care you show will make you give your very best to achieve desired results.

Business
This can mean anything that is a sort of responsibility for a person- a trade, an event, an assignment etc. Whatever it is that you find to do is a form of business. The size does not matter.


Kings
From the business sense, ‘kings’ refers to customers/clients. Economists all over the world agree on this- the customer is the king of the market place. ‘Sam Walton’ says, ‘There is only one boss, and whether a person shines shoes for a a living or heads up the biggest corporation in the world, the boss remains the same. It is the customer!...’ Everything we do to build our business is because we want to please the customer. In your business, no matter how small, you must do everything to satisfy your customers.

Mean Men
This phrase, as used in the bible, means Unknown men. A businessman who only stands before unknown men will end up with a zero balance sheet at the end of the day.

Diligence in business means...

1. Committing your life to your job as an employee, and execute your responsibilities with joy. Desire and pray for the success of your organisation. Learn in order to be better at what you do.

2. Remembering that doing well as an employee will bring you opprtunity of starting your own business. As a self-employed, commit your allto your business, and be ready to always exceed customers’ expectations. Treat your customers/clients as kings.

3. As a business owner treat your employees as equals- this will make them do more than they are paid for.

4. Putting honesty as your watchword in the business you do.

5. Going the extra mile. The difference between a failure and a success is the extra mile!