What is teamwork? Is it thinking the same? Being the same? Doing the same?
Articles
NOTICE:
AF offers all resources at no cost to those who commit to using them.
Business articles are drawn from selected business seminar presentations and best articles by others that align with our business values. Titles include general business subjects like entrepreneurship, business leadership and management, and specific areas of business practice such as accounting and employee management, etc. Individual articles are only available online. These Resources are provided at no cost.
Business Articles
Some articles may be incorporated into booklets.
Subject: Biblical Principles of Business and Work
Marvin Mast
How do we build lasting values and culture into our homes and businesses?
Jason Schrock
A Christian in business has many opportunities to apply Biblical fundamentals that run counter to the prevailing “worldly wisdom” of generally accepted business practices. Our businesses are an...
Sam Yoder
Being in business brings ethical challenges that test our commitment to be a Christian witness in the business world.
Rex Blevins
Often we are unsure how extensively our faith should impact our businesses.
Ron Border
The Christian will be a “witness” wherever he finds himself. This presentation will accent the importance and blessing of sharing Christ in the workplace.
Nolan Bechtel
Our values shape our goals, and our goals drive our businesses. For values to be conveyed effectively, they must be defined in the minds of leaders and then demonstrated for others to follow.
Gerald Wagler
We often think and strategize about how to make our business successful. But how much do we think about our personal response to success?
Merle Burkholder
What are the core Kingdom values that you want to have incorporated into the everyday practices of your business or organization? How do you communicate these values to your employees?
Terry Myers
In almost anything we do in life, our motivation is what makes the difference. The title of this article suggests the idea of responsibility or keeping after something entrusted to us.
Paul A Miller
Do personal relationships matter beyond your personal life? Are personal relations only that — strictly personal, and do not extend into business relationships?
Gary Miller
Consider your business from the perspective of being an integral part of sharing the Gospel within your community, a place where you live out Christianity as you interact and work among people.
Doug Ramer
It begins one morning when the coffee seems to need an extra shot of espresso, and you’re neck high in projects you don’t know anything about.
In our business, as in all areas of our lives, we want to be known as people who believe and practice kingdom principles.
Subject: Business Leadership
Merle Burkholder
Are being good at business and being good at ethics mutually exclusive? We want our ethics to be part of our business values and practice.
Richie Lauer
Life involves both gain and loss. Although much is risked in business, there are things you must purpose not to lose.
Larry Troyer
“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble”. Humility is not bashful and shy. Instead, humble leaders reach out and invite feedback.
Ray Troyer
Good shepherds love their sheep and lead them to green pastures and clear water.
Myron Miller
Strategic leaders start with what is known and strategically think through how things could unfold. They use well-rounded research, gather the facts and solicit feedback to build a plan.
Myron Miller
Visionary leaders lead from the front and cast a vision for the future. They inspire purpose and show how meaning is embedded in work.
Subject: Business Startup and Planning
David Bower
Except the Lord build the “business,” they labor in vain. Every business needs a plan!
Greg Wolf
Implementing the action plan is the third and most
practical aspect of the business planning process; it
follows the long-term strategy and the annual strategic
Greg Wolf
This aspect of planning is the more common nuts and bolts work of developing and documenting plans for the next annual cycle in the primary business areas of people, finances, operations, and...
Larry Troyer
Creating a budget does not need to be tough, but it does need to be done! Without it, how will you determine if you are on track to achieve the result you desire?
Wade Myers
An entrepreneur should consider carefully the many factors that will impact his business when choosing the best form of business ownership or structure.
Wade Myers
Most men in our generation leave their children pretty much on their own to make their way in the world.
Wade Myers
If you are among those who are striving to create a culture of entrepreneurship for your family, consider carefully how you shape that culture in order to nurture and encourage entrepreneurial...
Merle Herr
God needs somebody with enough internal motivation to get up at dawn, spend time in prayer, unlock the plant, work all day in production, lock up the plant, eat supper, and then go to a school...
Wade Myers
The best idea to pursue is to take a problem you know exists, experienced by a large customer set you know how to reach, solved in a way you know how to solve, delivered by means you know how to...
Wade Myers
By using a methodical process of starting a business—and with God’s guidance—you will hopefully develop a high-quality business idea that can be pursued with confidence and enthusiasm.
Wade Myers
Launch the best opportunity you’ve developed (from all of the ideas you’ve generated and evaluated) in the fastest, least-cost, and most creative manner possible.
Wade Myers
It is now time to decide the method of launch, which includes starting up from scratch, buying into a franchise, or buying a business, which may not be as far out of reach as some assume.
Wade Myers
There is hope for the less-capitalized entrepreneur: there are countless businesses that can be started with very little money. But there is a catch.
James Landis
All investments have a degree of risk. Have you lost money to scams? A godly investor avoids all speculations and seeks to use his Master’s money with wisdom and diligence.
Greg Wolf
Many business plans fail for a lack of clarity regarding the long-term strategy of the organization.
Richard Shank
Owning a business is a popular goal. But most business ventures fail within a few years.
Larry Troyer
Do you know your business’s break-even point? Understanding the difference between fixed and variable expenses is a key component in finding your break-even points.
Roy Herr
How much should we budget for marketing? What type of advertising works the best? We need more sales but nothing seems to work very well. How do you get people to open their wallets?
Larry Troyer
Financial ratios are tools to analyze how your business compares to similar businesses and to offer insight on the direction of your business over time.
Wade Myers
Young aspiring entrepreneurs should prepare themselves by creating their own roadmap to equip themselves for entrepreneurship.
Donald J. Sauder, CPA
In order to survive, every business needs to make a profit. What are good pricing methods? Is your pricing fair?
Wade Myers
In addition to wealth generation and Kingdom impact, a family business can also reform the family economy and relationships.
Julian Coblentz
This Workshop gives practical applications of Strategic Planning. Learn how to take your strategy, plans, and ideas and implement them with simplicity and consistency.
Julian Coblentz
This topic explores the What, Why, and How of Strategic Planning.
David Sauder/Merle Herr
Winning in the business “game of chess” involves strategically looking one, two, three, or even twelve moves into the future and envisioning what does not yet exist.
Wayne Wengerd
Getting ready to start a business? Not quite there yet, but preparing? Want to? Wonder if business ownership is for you? Does small business fit your Anabaptist lifestyle?
Wayne Wengerd
Our foundation of entrepreneurship will be made of three core business elements: business leadership, market need, and business planning.
Wade Myers
As men family leaders, we are constantly concerned about our ability to provide adequately.
Wade Myers
Many of us work at and grow companies that function under less-than-ideal conditions. What is the ideal company?
Larry Troyer
Every business needs a plan! While this is a given for startups, many established businesses are missing the opportunity to raise the bar.
Wade Myers
Life as an entrepreneur is a wild ride, full of ups and downs, hills and valleys, and rife with the opportunity to be sanctified by God as he uses our business challenges to sharpen us, increase...
Elam Esh
We resist change—sometimes even when we can see imminent danger—because finding a new approach or a new method is too much work, too hard on our pride, or too risky.
Wade Myers
To everything there is a season, and business is no different. Business owners and managers must learn about those various seasons and the need for diligent preparation.
Leonard Meador
A business plan serves as a type of road map to show who you are as a business, where you are, where you want to go, and how you plan to get there.
Wade Myers
What determines the success of a business venture? Wade Myers suggests the following formula: Entrepreneur + Business Model + Resources + God’s Providence = Success.
Wade Myers
Not sure what you want to do with your future? Wade Myers provides practical guidance for young men who want to learn how to become entrepreneurs.
Subject: Finance, Accounting, and Taxes
Donald Sauder
Business taxation is complex, and many business owners choose to rely on tax professionals to prepare and file their business tax returns.
Greg Wolf
Mixing family and business finances often creates a range of problems and stress.
Galen Martin
Audits are unpredictable. You don’t know if or when they are going to hit you. Some audits are by random selection, and you just happen to be the unlucky one.
Jacob M. Dietz
Farmers are not exempt from Christ’s command to render unto Caesar the taxes owed him. Farmers have their own unique set of rules and advantages in the federal tax code. Jacob Dietz looks briefly...
Nevin Beiler
Have you ever looked at your business’s financial statements and wondered if there is something you are missing as you scan the numbers?
Donald Sauder
Financial statements provide insight and financial data from which informed decisions, crucial to profitable financial activity, can be made by management. A thorough understanding of the balance...
Greg Wolf
Risk is inherent to life itself, and has the power to stress as well as to bless each one of us.
Donald Sauder
Ethics includes characteristics like empathy, understanding, consideration for others, and most importantly, complete integrity and moral values.
Gary Garber
You think it would never happen in your company. After all, your employees are from the church and might even spend time at your house.
Larry Troyer
The balance sheet is an indicator of the long-term cumulative health of your business. It is also the best starting point for reviewing financial statements.
Larry Troyer
The purpose of a cash flow statement is to show changes over a period of time, including how paying bills, buying inventory, and other things changes your assets and liabilities and impacts your...
Larry Troyer
The income statement is a diagnosis of the current or short-term health of the business. Although the income statement is limited to a specific period of time, it offers many useful insights about...
Larry Troyer
Financial Statements are the report card of your business. Understanding what the numbers represent and where they come from are essential to analyzing and improving your financial position.
Jacob M. Dietz
Business assets have been entrusted to business owners, and their calling is to manage them faithfully and prudently. Yet not all assets are the same or require the same management.
Subject: Employee Management and Relations
Nevin Beiler
Conflicts will arise. Are you prepared to respond? The Anabaptist faith teaches us to respond peacefully when in conflict with our enemies.
Steve Jones
You need engaged and happy employees if your business is going to be truly successful. Employees are a critical part of your business’s foundation.
Steve Jones
Teamwork is a method of operation in which a group of individuals submit their opinions and interests to the unity and efficiency of the group.
Sam Yoder
Whether it is direct, indirect, or non-monetary, fair compensation and benefits are a key attraction that will keep your employees with your company for a long time.
Sam Yoder
What keeps people motivated to continue coming to work for you? Fair compensation and benefits are a key attraction that will keep your employees with your company for a long time.
Sam Yoder
The effects of our investment in employees go far beyond our businesses.
Ken Nisly
Developing employees can seem like a huge undertaking when you are already busy as the owner/manager of your business.
Kelly LeCouvie
“I just want my kids to be happy and to get along.” Parents try to make sure their children are happy and get along in the family business, only to discover that the second generation is unhappy...
Dale Martin
Fully engaged employees look forward to the day and love their job. They come to work with a positive feeling. They enter a friendly and supportive workplace.
Bernard Kliska
The complexities inherent to family businesses can lead either to creative energy and generations of profitability, or into a maelstrom of troubles and premature dissolution. Family businesses...
Steve Jones
Training a new employee is an expensive and time-consuming process.
Stephen McClure
Compensation of family employees may create problems for family members in the business as well as those who are not. The journey of successful family business management and governance eventually...
Steve Jones
A daily dose of preventive medicine can go a long way towards avoiding frequent employee conflicts.
Wade Myers
To hire more strategically, site down and pla the key positions, list responsibilities for each, develop ideal profiles, create a proper compensation plan, and prioritize each position.
Steve Jones
Telling and showing is not enough to prepare employees to master new skills. Training Within Industry is a sure and dependable way that works every time if it is simply applied.
Tony Hollinger
Most conversation comes easily and spontaneously, but when we need to address a sensitive issue, conversation can be very difficult.
Wade Myers
When you hire employees, you are subject to numerous labor laws and fair hiring practices. You also open the door to federal regulators into your business.
Doug Ramer
Employees are not machines with nuts and bolts holding them together. Working with your people will be much more enjoyable if you learn to love them.
Doug Ramer
When I was in my twenties, I believed if I wanted something to be done right, I would have to do it myself. This is a very limiting and shortsighted view of life.
Dale Martin
Do you appreciate and value the people who come to work for you every day? How do you demonstrate that you appreciate and value that resource?
Merle Herr
When you meet your partner, your employee, or your fellow worker on the other side, what story will you hear about how you changed their life?
Dr. John Stahl-Wert
We know that a fully-engaged workforce is the differentiator for organizational performance.
Wade Myers
How do you know when to let an employee go? You should let an employee go if they lack either skill or will, and you are way past due on letting them go if they lack both.
Subject: For Employees
What does a key employee look like? How can I become a key employee? We have a duty to our God-given abilities to bless others and bring glory to God in our workplace.
Leonard Meador
Your customers will not care how much you know until they feel how much you care. The Bible has a lot to say about meeting and caring for people.
Marvin Wengerd
Christ is glorified when men live out His commandments in their everyday working lives, and professing Christians who fail to do so bring swift reproach to Christ’s name.
Dale Savage
Consider I Timothy 6:2, “And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them . . . but rather do them service . .
Gary Miller
It is tempting to view our occupations as a necessary evil—something we are required to do to provide for our natural needs.
Subject: Business Governance and Transitions
Gary Garber
As a business owner approaches slow-down time in his life, he might be asking, If I give the business to the one or two sons who are running it, what about the other six children?
Leonard Meador
Family business relationships are the most important part of business structure. Maintaining good relationships must be a planned process.
Paul A. Miller
Long before emotions become charged, a Family Business Agreement sets in place a process for making business decisions.
Roger Zimmerman
The need for clear family‐business governance may seem a bit unnecessary. However, effective governance is essential to a healthy and enduring business.
Rodger Weaver
Open, honest, and clear communication is essential when relating to each other, especially in a family business.
An interview with the four Zimmerman brothers from Paul B. Zimmerman, Inc.
Gary Miller
Good businessmen are known for strategizing and planning for the future. But how much thought have you given to the final years of your life?
Galen Martin
A good business transition plan only works if properly implemented.
David Bohlander
A family business is not only a financial asset, but it is a collection of values, reputation and memories.
Richard Shank
Avoid transition woes and family strife by early planning. Think realistically about your successor. Review considerations for a peaceful retirement. Smooth the difficult path for your family.
David Bohlander
Transitioning a business within a family from one generation to another has its own challenges. But what about transitioning a business through sale to a third party?
Richard Shank
Whether you plan for the next generation to take over when you retire, or you expect to sell your business to an outside person, Richard Shank recommends teaching someone who can successfully...
Gary Garber
One valley, three businesses, and three owners each wanting to step back from their businesses but each with a different set of challenges.
Subject: Business Operations
Dale Savage
Continuous Improvement is the way to deal with obstacles in your business, but where to begin? You must first determine if you are trying to solve a problem or simply improve a process or ...
Dale Savage
Solving problems is a skill that leaders need to develop. Finding the root cause of a problem is key to finding a correct and sustainable solution.
Ray Randolph
Does God give guidance for believers trying to conduct business operations in our complex, modern economy? The answer is a resounding “Yes!”
Ray Randolph
For us Christians, operational success is good, but it isn’t our highest purpose. Our ultimate goal is not to achieve something, but to display something.
Subject: Business Communications
Anthony Hurst
What does the Bible say about communication? What are you communicating to the people around you? Communication is an important aspect of all relationships.
Anthony Hurst
Beyond communication principles lies the difficult task of communicating effectively in daily business situations. Which methods work best for individuals, small groups, or larger groups?
Marcus Beiler
Business meetings are essential to making quality decisions. Employees should help provide insights, cut through confusion, and get the truth on the table.
Atlee Raber
How can we uphold kingdom values and turn a customer complaint into an opportunity to witness for Christ? Actual experiences will illustrate how addressing complaints redemptively helps avoid...
Gary Paul Miller
Serving on a board or committee requires teamwork, but effective teamwork doesn’t just happen. A committee or board can do specific things to join together as a team.
Subject: Business Agreements
Tyler Hochstetler, Esq.
The Anabaptist community has thrived in business for generations, but it has been historically underrepresented in legal matters.
Leonard Meador
Beyond communication principles lies the difficult task of communicating effectively in daily business situations. Which methods work best for individuals, small groups, or larger groups?
Subject: Sales and Marketing
Rodney Martin
Selling is not a set of manipulation techniques for personal gain; it is a servant mindset you carry throughout the entire process.
Dean Martin
Everyone knows the classic American poem about a girl and her lamb, "Mary Had a Little Lamb." What can explain this poem's longevity and effectiveness?
Caleb Crider
Good copywriting is more than stringing words together into sentences and paragraphs. We use words to describe, inform, and educate customers, and ultimately to persuade them to make a purchase. ...
Roy Herr
A customer’s attitude about your business will directly influence how much he is willing to pay you—and whether he will even pay you at all. You can influence how your customers feel by giving...
Roy Herr
You know what a thriving business looks like on the outside. You even know how it looks on the inside. However, every successful business owner needs to learn the basics of marketing.
Rodney Martin
An effective salesperson is one of the key forces behind every successful business. Before a purchase is completed, your customers will speak to an employee—a salesperson.
Roy Herr
Sometimes marketing materials just are not up to the job. They have not been equipped to successfully accomplish the mission we have sent them on.
Paul Landis
For many of us, the title "salesman" conjures up an image of someone who is smooth-talking, calculating, and deceitful.
Roy Herr
Did you know that most of your competitors will not take the time to thoroughly plan their marketing for the next year? Strong businesses don’t happen by accident; they happen by planning.
Atlee Raber
You cannot create customer service by opening up floor space and installing a desk with an employee behind it. Customer service is an attitude within the company, and it speaks for itself.
Roy Herr
There is no clear-cut answer to the question of how much to budget for marketing. Business owners must make marketing budget decisions in connection with the overall business plan.
Roy Herr
Do you know if your advertising dollars are paying off? Or like John Wanamaker said, do you know that half of your advertising dollars are wasted, but you don't know which half?
Roy Herr
Marketing channels are a key component in business, especially when several local businesses are competing for the same market.
Roy Herr
Getting an effective marketing program rolling can be bumpy, but Roy Herr demonstrates a well-rounded approach. When all three parts of the marketing wheel—branding, lead generation, and lead...
Roy Herr
Market research is the process of collecting and analyzing information that will help you make better marketing decisions.
Howard Horst
Marketing today is more complicated than simply putting out a sign and displaying fruit or vegetables on a table at the end of the lane or at a farmers’ market. As Christians, we find ourselves in...
Atlee Raber
Producing a good product is only part of the task of starting a business. No matter what field you are in, marketing the product is one of the major components to a successful business.
Leon Wengerd
Our people have always been innovators: improving their tools, their techniques, and their situations.
Roy Herr
We have a strong tendency to believe that the product is worth the same amount as the published price. Price is the single largest indicator of value.
Roy Herr
Caring for your customers and letting them know that you appreciate their business is simply good manners.
Roy Herr
Combining a strong unique selling proposition (USP) with a definition of your ideal customer brings a laser-sharp focus to your business and marketing efforts.
Atlee Raber
Your marketing people should have an organized, functional toolbox from which they can pull the appropriate tools they need to get the message to the marketplace.
Roy Herr
God gave Adam and Eve the special charge of dressing and keeping the garden. Our gardens today are the businesses God has entrusted to us to dress and keep.
Roy Herr
Clear messaging is the very heart and soul of effective marketing.
Roy Herr
A unique selling proposition (USP) is a feature, quality, or service you provide that is different from what your competitors offer.
Roy Herr
What is the key to engaging customers in a way that causes them to open their wallets to you instead of to your competitors? Customers are drawn toward businesses that emanate compassion and...
Subject: Other
John Stahl-Wert
Being a leader who is trustworthy, a leader who does what he or she says, has a measurable value for the company’s bottom line. If you choose to become the kind of leader who Tells The Truth, then...
Bernard Kliska
Sometimes the same strengths that help build a thriving family business can also become its weakness. One of the best ways to make certain that a family’s strengths do not become the business’...
James Landis
“Know well the condition of your flocks, and pay attention to your herds," says Proverbs 27:23.
Bud Handwerk
All business owners face challenges, particularly the small business owner, who is of necessity more self-reliant, with fewer safety nets, and less support than might be present in a larger...
Bill Mullet
Too often organizations are over-managed and under-led. What characteristics do effective leaders possess? All leaders should work to develop the characteristics that make them more effective.
Warren Bennis, Daniel Goleman, Patricia Ward Biederman
Claiming to be transparent is not the same as actually being transparent.
Geryll Zehr
When Jacob Nisley started JN Pallet, located in Conneautville, Pennsylvania, in 1985, he did so with the purpose of growing a family business that would provide not just a means of livelihood but...
Dale Savage
How many times has an employee been “cut down” when all he or she really needed was a little care to help them succeed?
Elam Esh
Innovation is continuously seeking a better way to reach the goal. It means willingness to change, willingness to think differently, openness to do things differently, and getting out of our...
Crown Financial Ministries
Few scriptural principles are clearer than that of keeping our vows—literally keeping our word both to God and to others.
Steve Byler
As Christians in business, we encounter the allure (sometimes subtle and other times quite overt) of money, stuff, and the power of influence.
Richard Shank
Why does the gross profit percentage shown on my business Profit and Loss report change from year to year, if the profit markup I use remains constant?
Merle Burkholder
How did we as Anabaptist people go from being persecuted refugees, and pilgrims and strangers on the earth, to being in the top 10% of the world’s most wealthy people? What does God, our Heavenly...
Geryll Zehr
Building and maintaining a business driven by positive Anabaptist values is impossible without some support from like-minded men—men who have similar values and are on a similar path.
John Stahl-Wert
Leaders are exposed to levels of hostile scrutiny and attack that most people know little or nothing about.
David Bohlander
Focusing so exclusively on the goal of profit is a terrible mistake that many businessmen are regularly making. Attention must be given to risks as well as rewards—and with just as much diligence...
