MBA1185 Q&A Wednesday: Should I share my religious beliefs as an entrepreneur?

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Hey O. Welcome to the dollar because your business is not going to build itself. That's why we deliver daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of the $100 MBA, a complete business training and community online and today's episode is a Q and A Wednesday episode. On our Q and A Wednesday episodes, I answer a question from one of you, one of our listeners. If you have a question you want to ask, just email us over at omar@100mba.net Today's question is from Jules and Jules asks, should I share my religious beliefs as an entrepreneur? A solid question, not an easy one. You know, it took me a bit longer than usual to kind of formulate how I wanted to put this together. In today's episode, things get sensitive when people talk about politics and religion because both tend to have very strong feelings behind them. In today's episode, I'll be answering Jules questions and we'll be discussing this whole topic of sharing your beliefs, sharing your values as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, and how much do you want to share or how much should you share or incorporate in your business and products? We get into all of that in today's episode. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. So Jules writes in and asks, should I share my religious beliefs as an entrepreneur? Now, she's obviously talking about, you know, sharing with her audience, whether it's via her blog or her podcast or her videos, or on social media, for that matter. Now, before I get into my answer and get into this topic, I want to make something super clear. Whatever your beliefs are, whatever your religion is, whatever you believe or not believe in, whether you're agnostic or atheist, understand that these are strong feelings. These are strong opinions. Just like you have your own opinion about your own religion and what you believe is the right course of action in terms of your belief system. Understand this is about strong feelings, strong beliefs. Understand that other people have strong beliefs, too, about their own religion, their own way of life. Sometimes we forget that. Sometimes for us, it's like, no, this is how I feel. This is how I believe. This is what I do. And we forget that the world is filled with people just like us, but may not share the same beliefs. They'll feel just as strong about their beliefs. So it's good to be aware of that. Okay, the second thing I want to say is, obviously if your business is centered around a religion or a way of life or a belief, then that's just a core part of your business, and you're going to have to share those beliefs, right? If you're a Buddhist and you write books and blog posts about Buddhist tradition and Buddhist beliefs, then of course that makes total sense. That's your business. That's what people come to you for. So expressing your beliefs is going to be part and parcel of what you do and how you do business. But what Jules is talking about here is not that she's talking about she has her own religious beliefs in her own life, her own personal life. And for many people, these religious beliefs have a big part of how they live their life and how they make their decisions in business and in life itself, in their personal life. And some people feel like, hey, maybe I should express that side of myself, but maybe I'll be alienating people if I do. So that's what we're going to get in today. Number one, there's no right or wrong answer. It's about what you want. Okay, ask yourself this question before we even go any further into this episode. Why? Why do you want to share your beliefs with other people? Do you feel it's going to add value to the actual business? Do you think it's going to add value to the customer's Experience. This is an honest question, like, why do you feel compelled to do this? And a good way to kind of evaluate this answer is, say, for example, you worked for your company and you wanted to express those beliefs as an employee. Would it add value to the work you did? Now, that answer is going to be different for everybody and everybody's business. So you have to just take a look at your own situation and answer that question next. A lot of people say, hey, I want to express everything about myself, including my religious beliefs, because I have a personal brand. My business is built around my personal brand, and that's a good decision you may want to make. Okay, so there are personal brands that do that and incorporate religion and their beliefs into their personal brand. But there are huge personal brands that don't. You don't know their religion, you don't know their beliefs. And I know for a fact because they've shared it with me in their books, in their blogs, why they do it. I should say why they don't do it. Why don't they share their beliefs? Big brands, personal brands like Gary Vaynerchuk or Tony Robbins or Oprah Winfrey, they don't overtly tell you in their business, in their brand, what they believe in. And a big reason why they do do that, and it's a common answer, is they don't want to make it a distraction. They want you to focus on the value that they're actually offering, whether it's personal development, whether it's business advice, whether it's entertainment like Oprah Winfrey. So. So you may decide to go down that road or say, hey, I'm going to keep my beliefs to myself and keep it on a personal level. But you might say, hey, I want to make it part of my personal brand. That's your choice. But understand that when you do that, there is going to be a reaction. There's going to be some sort of reaction, and that's why you're choosing to do that. Either you think it's going to be a positive reaction. I'm guessing you're going to do it because you think there's a positive reaction, but a negative reaction may happen as well. People that don't agree with your personal beliefs, don't agree with your religion or whatever it is, and it will polarize you. Now, that doesn't mean you don't choose to, you know, express your religion or your beliefs in your business. If you do choose to do that, there's a professional way to do it, and I've seen it Done. And I'll give you an example. In 2015, the team at Entre Leadership invited Nicole and I to be VIP guests at their annual conference. If you don't know Entre Leadership, it's one of the businesses and brands of Dave Ramsey. Dave Ramsey is a personal finance coach, and he actually spread his business and his message through the Christian church. If anybody has read anything from Dave Ramsey or have listened to his program or anything like that, you know that he's a Christian. You know that he's a religious Christian, somebody who's a practicing Christian. So his beliefs are expressed and shared with his business and his audience. So when we went to Entre Leadership, one of the first things Dave did when he opened the conference and when he started to speak on stage is he said, hey, I'm Dave Ramsey. This is who I am. I am a Christian. I believe in the teachings of Christianity. And sometimes those teachings will influence my message, meaning that it's a part of who I am. And I might reference some things from the Bible, things like that. And it doesn't mean. And he's clear about this is it doesn't mean I don't respect who you are if you're not a Christian. I actually respect all people from different backgrounds. He talked about his friends and people that he shared stages with and had people at his conferences from different beliefs and different religions. He just says, this is just who I am. And I wanted to make it clear. So, you know, as we're moving forward, as we're moving forward through this conference now, by doing this, what Dave is saying when he's sending a message is like, this is for me. This is who I am. This is good for me, maybe not for you. And I respect that. And I'm not going to push my beliefs onto you. And that's where people get upset, where people push their understandings or their beliefs or their values onto other people. He says, this is who I am. I may say some things that are Christian centric, and if it's not for you, that's okay. You can leave it on the table. And I love the fact that he addresses it. Now, you don't have to agree with Dave Ramsey on his beliefs or who he is or any of that stuff, but you have to respect the fact that he is being transparent and telling other people, this is what you can expect from me. He also mentions that everything he's going to be talking about can be used by anybody, no matter what you believe in. And that just opens the door to everybody and says, Hey, I accept everybody who wants to learn what I have to offer. Now, having said that, this is not easy. What Dave pulls off and does very delicately is done very gracefully. So know that if you're going to do this, you got to do it right and you're going to, you know, have some challenges fine tuning your message. Again, like I said at the top of the episode, this is a big reason why people steer away from speaking about religion and politics. It's super, super sensitive. But I wanted to answer this question with options. Hey, you have options. This is your business. This is your life. You could do what you like and you could do things in a way that minimizes, you know, the headaches that may occur.

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To wrap up today's Q and A Wednesday's episode, Jules's question Should I share my religious beliefs in my business or with my customers? This is entirely up to you. But how you do this, whatever you choose, yes or no, is going to determine how people will resonate with you and your business. What you say matters, what you communicate matters. I mentioned Gary Vaynerchuk before. People that don't like foul language don't listen or don't follow or don't read Gary Vaynerchuk's work because he curses a lot, a whole lot. And if more than colorful language hurts your ears, then he's just not your cup of tea and he's going to have to sacrifice a big portion of the the marketplace. But he's fine with that. He is okay with it. He's accepted that. At the end of the day, he understands that he can't speak to everybody directly. And the people that resonate with him will resonate with him. All right, thank you so much for listening to today's podcast. If you have a question you want to ask, just email me over@omar00mba.net. I'd be happy to answer it here right on the show. And don't forget to hit subscribe on whatever you're using right now to listen to this podcast for whether it's Stitcher, whether it's Overcast, whether it's Apple, podcasts, Spotify, we're on everything. By hitting subscribe, you automatically get your episodes right to your device so you don't miss a beat. Before I go, I want to leave you with this if you decide not to share your religious beliefs in your business, understand that doesn't mean you can't share who you are and your values. Most belief systems and religions around the world have the same core values, the same core beliefs that are universal, and you can express and model those values in your business so you can still be yourself. All right, thank you so much for listening. I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care. Of.

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