Dictionary.com defines a steward to be a person who manages another’s property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others. In short, a steward is one who serves. As a Christian business owner, you are a steward over God’s business – a gift to provide solutions to problems. 1 Peter 4:10 tells us that each of us have received a gift (an ability) that we should use to serve one another as good stewards of the unmerited favor of God. But what defines a good steward?

Do you remember the parable of the Ten Minas found in Luke 19:11-27? The parable describes a king who charged his servants to put his money to work (in our case, God’s business). The result of the good servants who put their master’s money to work was that they received more. The servant who was not a good steward of his master’s money, that money was taken away and given to the most responsible, successful servant.

Ask yourself, “Is what I’m doing worthy of putting God’s name on it?” If the answer is yes, then you are well on your way to becoming a faithful, responsible steward. Part of being a good steward over God’s business is doing what it takes for the business to grow and become successful. As a business owner, you have to nurture your business in order for it to grow. One aspect of nurturing your business for successful growth is effective marketing. In the business world, we often get tangled up in ‘to-dos’ and forget about what is important as Christians, our service to God. The Almighty has bestowed great gifts to us as Christian business owners, but are we being responsible with what He has freely given us?

Many business owners simply stick their company’s name, rank, and serial number on a postcard and mail it out to everyone within a geographic area. Other business owners throw together a Google Adwords™ ad and expect a flood of people to their website. The result of both to business owners is disappointment. These real-life examples are no different than the person who slaps together a presentation to capital investors two days before the meeting. The result is ineffective marketing, an irresponsible use of resources and the business owner loosing a much larger client base.

Responsible stewardship in business is vitally important to the business’ success and as a service to God. A business owner who goes above and beyond the average by implementing successful business strategies is a responsible steward. In the marketing world, the typical business owner thinks that everyone is their potential customer. The reality is that everyone isn’t. Not everyone wants or even desires your products and/or services. Discovering who is interested in your products and/or services is the difference in overflow of success. The steps needed to be a responsible steward in the marketing arena are as follows:
1. Discover who is interested in your product and/services
2. Create a specific marketing message just for this select group of people
3. Determine how to best get that message to this select group and mail them
4. Follow-up with multiple mailings until a sale is obtained

The steps mentioned above are the bare bone elements of an effective marketing system. Yes, a system. A two step approach to marketing isn’t a system. It is a waste of time and money. All successful businesses, weight loss programs, acne treatments and so on all use systems. It is an essential element to their success.

One can serve in many capacities – a parent serves a child, a teacher serves her pupils, a brother serves his sister, a business person serves his clients. Regardless of how you may serve or what capacity you may be serving, it is vitally important to be a good steward. Responsible stewardship isn’t limited to anything. In all that you do, your service should be as such that God can say well done my good and faithful servant!

Get your FREE copy of R.E. Plaskett’s most recent book Peculiar Marketing at http://pushingkingdombusiness.com/peculiarmarketingbook. No obligations, no risks, just FREE! R.E. Plaskett is not a pastor nor a marketing guru but an avid practitioner of the Word of God and effective marketing. He is the “Maverick Christianpreneur” who has spent several years consulting on effective marketing strategies to grow/develop/expand businesses whose owners are Kingdom-minded.