Helping Christ-following entrepreneurs scale businesses for God's glory and their joy.

While we do work with non-Christian business owners, here are two of the many reasons we primarily work with Christian business owners:

1. We believe businesses have incredible power to impact and bless others. Christian business owners have the greatest ability to do that because they want to glorify God with the way their company operates and serves others. We want to help those business owners grow so they can have an even greater impact. Learn more about the AboundCycle.
2. Businesses are getting more and more political, so providing marketing services and promoting companies that champion unbiblical things has presented a challenge to Christian marketers.

And to clarify, the Christian business owners we work with don't necessarily need to run a "Christian" company focusing on only serving Christians. Although we do work with companies using business to solve challenges the church is facing, many of our clients operate businesses serving the entire marketplace.

1. Purpose (“why” & core values)
   • Whether articulated or not, all businesses already have their bottom “why” and core values in their business because it’s ultimately how their shareholders are making decisions. Even worldly wisdom recognizes that having strong articulated “why” and values are needed to make a great company. 
   • For the Christ-follower, seeking to glorify and enjoy God by loving others is their greatest pursuit. The bottom “why” in their business then should be to glorify God and love others above all things. Their core values would align with this and be based on God’s revealed will in the scriptures. Christ-following business owners who actually seek God’s glory at the bottom have the foundations needed to build a truly great company.
2. People
   • Often businesses look for certain people to fill certain roles based solely on their skill or experience, without considering whether they align with the companies core values. As a company grows it’s easy for a company to shift from it’s original purpose. Finding employees who align with the purpose of the company is the key to maintaining the DNA of the company as the company grows. 
   • For the Christ-follower, their bottom “why” of glorifying God by loving others will likely not be public, but their public facing mission statement and core values will be. The companies mission and core values should be their guiding measure in finding employees and serving their customers/clients.
3. Data
   • It’s easy to want to skip over data and jump to strategy, but great companies prioritize gathering and analyzing data before making any decisions. Great businesses use data to inform every area of their business.
   • Christ-followers see data as a tool to better understand how to love and serve others. Data points are simply facts about reality. The more strategic data you have, correctly analyzed, the greater capacity you have to make wise decisions, meet tangible needs, and ultimately love others.
4. Strategy
   • As mentioned, every business has a strategy of how they will accomplish their “why” through the sale of products and or services. Great companies have goals and a documented plan that guide the other areas of business operations. 
   • Christ-followers have endless ways of blessing others through business products and services. Once they identify their unique way to serve others, they should come up goals and a roadmap of how they can serve more and more people.
5. Structure
   • Many companies start growing without the right processes and technology in place, resulting in frustration, unhappy customers/clients, dissatisfied employees, and often times a failed business. With the right structure in place as the business is changing, companies can continue to serve customers/clients through the changes. 
   • Since Christ-followers are seeking the good of others over their own personal wealth, they don’t pursue maximizing profit at the expense of others. They care more about putting the necessary structure in place to bless their staff and customers/clients, which ultimately will result in greater profits in the long run.
6. Marketing
   • The best companies focus not on selling the “what” they are selling, but the “why” the company exists. If the “why” truly meets a need and blesses them, then they will be more likely to purchase.
   • Christ-followers desire to reach and impact as many people as they can. Strategic marketing helps connect the service or product with the person that can blessed by it. Marketing is also important to attract the right employees that align with the core purpose of the company. 
7. Execution
   • Once a business has customers/clients, execution is the process of delivering the promised service or product to customers/clients. 
   • Christ-followers find joy in meeting the needs of others, and desire to do all things with excellence to the Glory of God. Their staff need to be reminded to serve their customers/clients in alignment with their core values, which will result in happy customers/clients. It is incredibly important to gather data and reviews during execution to better serve customers/clients. 
8. Cash
   • Where some see cash as the goal, great companies see cash as a tool to accomplish their core purpose. Great companies focus on having enough cash to fuel continued growth and maximize impact.
   • Christ-followers recognize the dangers of the love of money, but also the amazing opportunity money can have for good. More cash increases their ability to serve more customers/clients and bless more staff with employment. Cash can also be used outside the business to expand the kingdom by giving to the local church, missions, and other God-honoring organizations. It’s so important to be good stewards of the cash generated through the sale of products and services.
9. The Cycle
   • If you notice, the 5 components of business operations integrate the why, people, and data. 
     1. The purpose should inform each piece of business operations.
     2. People are involved in each area of business operations, in making decisions and implementing the decisions.
     3. Data is generated through all business operations and should be used to make all decisions.
   • The cycle starts “building” in the 5 core areas of the business operations (Strategy, structure, marketing, execution, and cash). Building in these areas generates data that needs to be captured or “measured.” Analyze or “learn” from the data to further “build” and continue the cycle. 
   • As you go through the Abound Cycle your 5 operational areas (and business) will grow, requiring additional people that align with your core purpose. As your business grows in alignment with your core purpose of glorifying God by loving others, your influence and impact grows.