August 9, 2025 • 12 mins
Strategic Planning Like Multimillion-Dollar Corporations (Part 1)
As Christian entrepreneurs, we have incredible kingdom advantages, but we often approach business planning like we're running hobbies instead of enterprises. In this first part of our strategic planning series, we're exploring how corporations with multimillion-dollar budgets plan their success - and how you can apply these same principles to your kingdom business.
Prefer to watch on YouTube? Click here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdq33BsrTLKqCgsV3HnNIDxPzMoPAmo4t&si=qimNIy-oOIPjD2zS
Essential Episodes to Listen to Before Part 2:
- Episode 48: How My Business Made More Money Than Ever Before Part 1 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/48-how-my-business-made-more-money-than-ever-before-part-1/id1683499298?i=1000700999019
- Episode 49: How My Business Made More Money Than Ever Before Part 2 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/49-how-my-business-made-more-money-last-year-than-ever/id1683499298?i=1000703267766
- Living Your Priorities Unapologetically - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1-living-your-priorities-unapologetically/id1683499298?i=1000610524283
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Position Podcast.
I am your host, kimberly Knight, and I want to ask you a
question how are you planningfor your business for the
remainder of the year?
You know, if your answerinvolves that you're just
trusting God and you have nostrategic action to it, we need
to talk, because faith withoutworks is dead, and that includes
(00:24):
our strategic planning for yourkingdom business.
So today I'm going to start atwo-part series on strategic
planning for Christianentrepreneurs, and I am going to
show you that the way that wehave approached planning may not
be giving us the outcomes thatwe expect or that we want.
So let's take a look atProverbs 20.
(00:46):
It says that the plans of thediligent lead to profit as
surely as haste leads to poverty.
So God expects us to be goodstewards, and in being good
stewards, we should planstrategically.
Now, this isn't about lackingfaith.
This is really about stewardingwell and in excellence what God
has called us to do.
(01:07):
Remember, my friends, that weare not just building businesses
.
No, we are building kingdomenterprises, and that requires
strategic thinking and excellentstewardship.
So for a moment, I want to diginto how my clients, which are
corporations, nonprofits andgovernment agencies, how they
(01:31):
plan versus how most smallbusiness owners plan, and I
think you're going to see why,as this unfolds, that we're not
getting the outcomes that wewould like to see like to see.
So one of the things thatmulti-million dollar entities do
when approaching strategic planthat a lot of Christian
entrepreneurs do not is thatcorporations plan with data and
(01:54):
systems Data and predeterminedsystems, so it's not fly by the
seat of your pants or build itas you fly.
They don't plan with emotion oraccording to circumstances.
So just look at it this way Ifyou really want to make money
with your business, if youreally want a deeper impact with
(02:14):
your business, then we need toshift to making strategic
decisions and not emotional ones, and that means learning to
operate from predeterminedpriorities and not feelings or
circumstances.
That said, most corporationsknow their numbers and plan
around concrete data and not howthey feel that day.
So I want to encourage us tonot just get confused with.
(02:40):
Some of us say we're air quotes, trusting God, but we're really
just unprepared and calling itfaith, and at best that is
assumption disguised as tryingto be deep.
At worst it's just a hot mess.
But it's time to start treatingour businesses like businesses
and not just hobbies.
Understanding that our kingdomenterprise is part of our
(03:00):
calling and we call to stewardthat well and with the
excellence that God deserves ispart of our calling, and we call
to steward that well and withthe excellence that God deserves
.
Also, keeping in mind thatstrategic planning is going to
help you shift how you approachplanning and decision-making
right.
Corporations invest in theirtraining and growth before they
need it.
They invest in training at thelevel they expect to reach, not
(03:22):
where they currently are.
One of the things that you willnote with corporations is that
in-service training is veryimportant and they invest at the
level that they intend to reach.
It is one of the things that Ihave now incorporated into my
business and I am seeing myselfmove ahead by leaps and bounds
once I started doing that.
(03:42):
I cover that more in theepisode that shares how I made
more money in a year than I everhad before, to leave in the
show notes a link to thatepisode.
You should go back and listento that one because there's a
lot of good stuff in there.
Okay, now, in addition toinvesting in training at the
level they want to attain,corporations also have
(04:04):
contingency plans mapped outbefore they need them.
Now, what's a contingency plan?
They have plan A, plan B, planC, sometimes plan G, h, I.
We may not need that manycontingency plans, because for
most of us we're not doingthings that are that complex
that we would need that many.
But we do need to make surethat we are not moving by
(04:27):
circumstances and shiftingaccording to circumstances.
We don't want to make things upas we go.
Stuff is going to happen, right?
The Bible says that it rains onthe just and the unjust, so
let's have some umbrellas.
That's not a lack of faith tohave a contingency plan.
It's not a lack of faith to say, well, if X, Y, z doesn't go
(04:52):
the way I want it to, I'll movein this direction.
I consider that a good level ofstewardship.
That's just another level ofreally good stewardship.
Here's the thing.
The difference with us is thatwe can also include in that any
prophetic utterance we get, anytype of spiritual guidance that
(05:13):
we receive, because I am tellingyou, stuff is going to happen.
That is just the nature of life.
Life is life, but God is stillGod and he will help us to plan
accordingly, all right.
So contingency plans are afriend.
Another thing that corporationsdo is that they plan in quarters
(05:33):
and years.
We are right now in, as of this, recording quarter three.
Quarter three and quarter fourare already planned for the
corporations that I deal with.
They were planned back inJanuary and we just tweak as we
need to or insert ourcontingency plans as we need to.
They are not flying by the seatof their pants, just doing one
(05:56):
thing this week and anotherthing next week and not having
any direction.
This is not about a to-do list.
This is about having realgrowth and understanding that
real growth is going to takestrategic, long-term planning.
I'm thinking about an entitythat I'm working with, a
nonprofit, and I've been workingwith them for almost a year.
(06:18):
It took six months for thismultimillion dollar, almost 200
employee institution to completetheir strategic plan process.
Why?
Well, they're pretty complex,they're very large, they have a
lot of moving parts, they havemultiple funding sources,
multiple streams of income, andI'm not talking about just two
or three.
They have about 20 streams ofincome.
(06:40):
So it was a lot of planning, alot of moving pieces, a lot of
people that we had to planaround.
For most of you listening tothis, you might not have that
level of staffing, so it may nottake you nearly as long, but
(07:03):
the point here I want you tounderstand is just doing a
weekly to-do list is not a plan.
It is not a plan.
This organization that I'mtalking about and most of the
organizations I work with wehave a five-year plan with
contingencies, and thosecontingencies take into account
changing markets, politicalclimates and the like.
I'm encouraging you to do thesame.
I'm also going to tell you that, for a lot of us and I'm just
(07:25):
going to give you this as a word, do with it what you will For a
lot of us, we think too smalland too short term for the
calling that God has placed onour lives.
Some of us are called to do verybig things, and until we learn
to stretch and think longer termand to cooperate with the
vision, we're not going to seeit come to pass.
This is not magic.
(07:46):
This is going to take effort.
Faith without works is dead.
So, that said, you know we havea kingdom advantage, right, and
there's no way I was going toclose this episode without
talking about our kingdomadvantage.
As entrepreneurs, we have anadvantage that secular
(08:07):
businesses just don't have, myfriends, they just don't have it
.
We serve a God who knows theend from the beginning.
Nothing takes Him by surpriseAbsolutely nothing and we have
access to the same divine wisdomthat the world does not.
So, as we seek God's guidancein our strategic planning, we
can actually build for eternalimpact and not just profit.
(08:29):
Any business entity that youhave right now is actually God's
calling you to solve a problemor meet a need for someone else,
and in turn, they give yourevenue.
So you're called to meet theneed and you meet the need for
that person, and in exchange,that person meets your need.
You meet the need for thatperson and, in exchange, that
(08:50):
person meets your need, which isrevenue.
Right, it's a great exchange,and so but, but, but.
But.
But hear me out.
Our businesses aren't justabout making money.
They're also about kingdomadvancement.
So God is right in the midst ofthat.
We have a higher purpose thatdrives our planning.
We have a higher purpose thatdrives our decision-making and
(09:25):
even our revenue.
And how we utilize that, andremembering that our businesses
are the answers to someoneelse's prayers and petitions,
really will give us a strategicadvantage and access to
information, wisdom, knowledgeand understanding that we
normally wouldn't have.
We also have supernaturalprovision that is available to
us.
So I don't want you to limityourself to just the natural
resources.
I mean we incorporate faith inour planning, but we also make
sure that we are practical aboutits execution.
We can plan like corporations,but we can also have Holy
(09:47):
Spirit's agenda, and that meansthat money is not our only goal,
but strategic planning is goingto lead to greater kingdom
impact and money and revenue.
And having these advantagesdoesn't mean that we sit back
and do nothing.
It means that we planstrategically and seek God's
guidance in that planning and inthe execution of saying it's
(10:08):
one thing to plan, it's anotherthing to execute.
We'll talk about that inanother episode, but we also
have to make sure.
So in my next episode I am goingto walk you through some of the
framework, some of the processthat I actually use with these
larger organizations, so thatyou can begin to get an idea of
how to plan for your business.
I'm going to break down thoseprocesses and also look at how
(10:33):
you can transform and succeed inthe next quarter and beyond.
I also want to encourage you,as I mentioned before, to go
back and listen to the episodetitled how I Made More Money
Than Ever Before, as well as theepisode on Priority Protocol.
I'm going to encourage you tolisten to both of those before
you listen to part two of thispodcast, because I am going to
(10:56):
do a part two, and those twothat I just mentioned are going
to give you some of the tactical, practical strategies that
you're going to need.
So I'll leave the links forthose in the show notes and also
prepare your heart and mind inprayer for part two so that you
can begin to catch some of thosenuggets and incorporate them
into your business success.
(11:19):
All right, dear ones, I reallywant you to remember that
strategic planning does not mean, under any circumstances, that
you're lacking faith.
It is actually excellentstewardship, and excellent
stewardship requires excellentplanning.
Remember that we serve a Godwho has limitless access to
wisdom, resources and knowledge,that the family does that, the
(11:41):
family that the world does nothave All right family.
If this episode blessed you,please share it with another
kingdom entrepreneur who needsto hear this message and leave
me a review on iTunes.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel.
I'll leave those links in theshow notes as well, and we also
are using some hashtags, whichI'm going to put in the show
(12:03):
notes so that you can make surethat we see you out there right
Until next time.
Be wonderfully blessed and staypositioned Bye now.
Welcome to the Position Podcast.
I am your host, kimberly Knight, and I want to ask you a
question how are you planningfor your business for the
remainder of the year?
You know, if your answerinvolves that you're just
trusting God and you have nostrategic action to it, we need
to talk, because faith withoutworks is dead, and that includes
(00:24):
our strategic planning for yourkingdom business.
So today I'm going to start atwo-part series on strategic
planning for Christianentrepreneurs, and I am going to
show you that the way that wehave approached planning may not
be giving us the outcomes thatwe expect or that we want.
So let's take a look atProverbs 20.
(00:46):
It says that the plans of thediligent lead to profit as
surely as haste leads to poverty.
So God expects us to be goodstewards, and in being good
stewards, we should planstrategically.
Now, this isn't about lackingfaith.
This is really about stewardingwell and in excellence what God
has called us to do.
(01:07):
Remember, my friends, that weare not just building businesses
.
No, we are building kingdomenterprises, and that requires
strategic thinking and excellentstewardship.
So for a moment, I want to diginto how my clients, which are
corporations, nonprofits andgovernment agencies, how they
(01:31):
plan versus how most smallbusiness owners plan, and I
think you're going to see why,as this unfolds, that we're not
getting the outcomes that wewould like to see like to see.
So one of the things thatmulti-million dollar entities do
when approaching strategic planthat a lot of Christian
entrepreneurs do not is thatcorporations plan with data and
(01:54):
systems Data and predeterminedsystems, so it's not fly by the
seat of your pants or build itas you fly.
They don't plan with emotion oraccording to circumstances.
So just look at it this way Ifyou really want to make money
with your business, if youreally want a deeper impact with
(02:14):
your business, then we need toshift to making strategic
decisions and not emotional ones, and that means learning to
operate from predeterminedpriorities and not feelings or
circumstances.
That said, most corporationsknow their numbers and plan
around concrete data and not howthey feel that day.
So I want to encourage us tonot just get confused with.
(02:40):
Some of us say we're air quotes, trusting God, but we're really
just unprepared and calling itfaith, and at best that is
assumption disguised as tryingto be deep.
At worst it's just a hot mess.
But it's time to start treatingour businesses like businesses
and not just hobbies.
Understanding that our kingdomenterprise is part of our
(03:00):
calling and we call to stewardthat well and with the
excellence that God deserves ispart of our calling, and we call
to steward that well and withthe excellence that God deserves
.
Also, keeping in mind thatstrategic planning is going to
help you shift how you approachplanning and decision-making
right.
Corporations invest in theirtraining and growth before they
need it.
They invest in training at thelevel they expect to reach, not
(03:22):
where they currently are.
One of the things that you willnote with corporations is that
in-service training is veryimportant and they invest at the
level that they intend to reach.
It is one of the things that Ihave now incorporated into my
business and I am seeing myselfmove ahead by leaps and bounds
once I started doing that.
(03:42):
I cover that more in theepisode that shares how I made
more money in a year than I everhad before, to leave in the
show notes a link to thatepisode.
You should go back and listento that one because there's a
lot of good stuff in there.
Okay, now, in addition toinvesting in training at the
level they want to attain,corporations also have
(04:04):
contingency plans mapped outbefore they need them.
Now, what's a contingency plan?
They have plan A, plan B, planC, sometimes plan G, h, I.
We may not need that manycontingency plans, because for
most of us we're not doingthings that are that complex
that we would need that many.
But we do need to make surethat we are not moving by
(04:27):
circumstances and shiftingaccording to circumstances.
We don't want to make things upas we go.
Stuff is going to happen, right?
The Bible says that it rains onthe just and the unjust, so
let's have some umbrellas.
That's not a lack of faith tohave a contingency plan.
It's not a lack of faith to say, well, if X, Y, z doesn't go
(04:52):
the way I want it to, I'll movein this direction.
I consider that a good level ofstewardship.
That's just another level ofreally good stewardship.
Here's the thing.
The difference with us is thatwe can also include in that any
prophetic utterance we get, anytype of spiritual guidance that
(05:13):
we receive, because I am tellingyou, stuff is going to happen.
That is just the nature of life.
Life is life, but God is stillGod and he will help us to plan
accordingly, all right.
So contingency plans are afriend.
Another thing that corporationsdo is that they plan in quarters
(05:33):
and years.
We are right now in, as of this, recording quarter three.
Quarter three and quarter fourare already planned for the
corporations that I deal with.
They were planned back inJanuary and we just tweak as we
need to or insert ourcontingency plans as we need to.
They are not flying by the seatof their pants, just doing one
(05:56):
thing this week and anotherthing next week and not having
any direction.
This is not about a to-do list.
This is about having realgrowth and understanding that
real growth is going to takestrategic, long-term planning.
I'm thinking about an entitythat I'm working with, a
nonprofit, and I've been workingwith them for almost a year.
(06:18):
It took six months for thismultimillion dollar, almost 200
employee institution to completetheir strategic plan process.
Why?
Well, they're pretty complex,they're very large, they have a
lot of moving parts, they havemultiple funding sources,
multiple streams of income, andI'm not talking about just two
or three.
They have about 20 streams ofincome.
(06:40):
So it was a lot of planning, alot of moving pieces, a lot of
people that we had to planaround.
For most of you listening tothis, you might not have that
level of staffing, so it may nottake you nearly as long, but
(07:03):
the point here I want you tounderstand is just doing a
weekly to-do list is not a plan.
It is not a plan.
This organization that I'mtalking about and most of the
organizations I work with wehave a five-year plan with
contingencies, and thosecontingencies take into account
changing markets, politicalclimates and the like.
I'm encouraging you to do thesame.
I'm also going to tell you that, for a lot of us and I'm just
(07:25):
going to give you this as a word, do with it what you will For a
lot of us, we think too smalland too short term for the
calling that God has placed onour lives.
Some of us are called to do verybig things, and until we learn
to stretch and think longer termand to cooperate with the
vision, we're not going to seeit come to pass.
This is not magic.
(07:46):
This is going to take effort.
Faith without works is dead.
So, that said, you know we havea kingdom advantage, right, and
there's no way I was going toclose this episode without
talking about our kingdomadvantage.
As entrepreneurs, we have anadvantage that secular
(08:07):
businesses just don't have, myfriends, they just don't have it
.
We serve a God who knows theend from the beginning.
Nothing takes Him by surpriseAbsolutely nothing and we have
access to the same divine wisdomthat the world does not.
So, as we seek God's guidancein our strategic planning, we
can actually build for eternalimpact and not just profit.
(08:29):
Any business entity that youhave right now is actually God's
calling you to solve a problemor meet a need for someone else,
and in turn, they give yourevenue.
So you're called to meet theneed and you meet the need for
that person, and in exchange,that person meets your need.
You meet the need for thatperson and, in exchange, that
(08:50):
person meets your need, which isrevenue.
Right, it's a great exchange,and so but, but, but.
But.
But hear me out.
Our businesses aren't justabout making money.
They're also about kingdomadvancement.
So God is right in the midst ofthat.
We have a higher purpose thatdrives our planning.
We have a higher purpose thatdrives our decision-making and
(09:25):
even our revenue.
And how we utilize that, andremembering that our businesses
are the answers to someoneelse's prayers and petitions,
really will give us a strategicadvantage and access to
information, wisdom, knowledgeand understanding that we
normally wouldn't have.
We also have supernaturalprovision that is available to
us.
So I don't want you to limityourself to just the natural
resources.
I mean we incorporate faith inour planning, but we also make
sure that we are practical aboutits execution.
We can plan like corporations,but we can also have Holy
(09:47):
Spirit's agenda, and that meansthat money is not our only goal,
but strategic planning is goingto lead to greater kingdom
impact and money and revenue.
And having these advantagesdoesn't mean that we sit back
and do nothing.
It means that we planstrategically and seek God's
guidance in that planning and inthe execution of saying it's
(10:08):
one thing to plan, it's anotherthing to execute.
We'll talk about that inanother episode, but we also
have to make sure.
So in my next episode I am goingto walk you through some of the
framework, some of the processthat I actually use with these
larger organizations, so thatyou can begin to get an idea of
how to plan for your business.
I'm going to break down thoseprocesses and also look at how
(10:33):
you can transform and succeed inthe next quarter and beyond.
I also want to encourage you,as I mentioned before, to go
back and listen to the episodetitled how I Made More Money
Than Ever Before, as well as theepisode on Priority Protocol.
I'm going to encourage you tolisten to both of those before
you listen to part two of thispodcast, because I am going to
(10:56):
do a part two, and those twothat I just mentioned are going
to give you some of the tactical, practical strategies that
you're going to need.
So I'll leave the links forthose in the show notes and also
prepare your heart and mind inprayer for part two so that you
can begin to catch some of thosenuggets and incorporate them
into your business success.
(11:19):
All right, dear ones, I reallywant you to remember that
strategic planning does not mean, under any circumstances, that
you're lacking faith.
It is actually excellentstewardship, and excellent
stewardship requires excellentplanning.
Remember that we serve a Godwho has limitless access to
wisdom, resources and knowledge,that the family does that, the
(11:41):
family that the world does nothave All right family.
If this episode blessed you,please share it with another
kingdom entrepreneur who needsto hear this message and leave
me a review on iTunes.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel.
I'll leave those links in theshow notes as well, and we also
are using some hashtags, whichI'm going to put in the show
(12:03):
notes so that you can make surethat we see you out there right
Until next time.
Be wonderfully blessed and staypositioned Bye now.
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