A Man’s Gift Makes Room For Him, Brings Him Before Great Men, and then what?

“A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men”  Proverbs 18:16 Amplified Version

For more than fifteen years, I have written and published poetry, business plans, proposals, business correspondence letters, one memoir, a blog site with about 250 articles/posts, and I have countless notebooks filled with unfinished work that needed a resting place outside of my head. I have obeyed God in pursuing a degree in massage therapy- a medical discipline with healing principles and practices that solve many mysteries to the untrained medical eye.

And, I have gotten on the microphone attacking ear drums with the vibration of my tongue hitting the insides of my mouth in rhythmic syncopations changing lives one word, one revelation at a time.

The Attraction of Money

As an Entrepreneur, I have put myself around Black owned businesses and White owned businesses. I have spent time with Entrepreneurs who own these businesses. I am a gifted entrepreneur and I know it. I breathe it like air, and my writing is as fluent as my gift for creating, and implementing organizational structure. The problem is I am at the end of the food chain, the first to be sacrificed because I did not start my life with a cushion. I did not have a savings to develop my companies or a rich uncle. That is not my excuse in fact this has been a muse if you will.

I have fashioned my life to answering the unique question of how one who is humanitarian focused, whose purpose is one that is often viewed as not payable, become a sought after paid interest to companies and individuals who can and write a check for others. In fact, without being humanitarian focused, living life with an inventor’s heart- creating business systems and organizational structures, dreaming of the day that you will be able to hire one hundred workers, and build a reputable household name that can change the world and leave a family legacy; this is the pull on the heart strings of an entrepreneur.

For someone called to the life of entrepreneurship, there is no other way. Whether your life is destined in for profit or non-profit work exclusively, they should interchange, and you must learn how to generate income that will support you, and your family. For many, this obvious plight still suffers inadequate explanation. The restriction of a job impedes on your very being; the creativity and vibrant strengths within. I applaud the entrepreneurs who did not get degrees, who were hands on learners and used their gifts that refused to stay silent, tucked under their soul or subconscious.

How do we attract money to us? I believe that money is currency. It is a fluid movement of exchange. There is no absence of money you are just not attracting it. As Christians, we stand on scriptures, and sew seeds. There are various ways to attract money, a little here and little there, but what about the kind of money that you want to attract in order to create, and manifest the glory in your life that has yet to be revealed?

My Gifts Make Room for Me

One of the benefits of my gifts making room for me is the access that I have had to very prominent famous, and successful business men and women who have reached a certain level of financial stability that many of us aspire to. On one hand, it is frustrating because my life doesn’t seem like it has accomplished much.

I dread writing my bios, yet I always forget things like speaking inside of the Capitol – which is pretty awesome, or traveling to perform poetry, or getting awards and other recognition for work that I have completed. The average Joe would say, “So, what you know a lot of people, what are they doing for you?” And, my response is that this is a very valid point.

Last year, I met this woman- wealthy who I think has a beautiful spirit. She likes to hear herself talk, and despite my pitch she wanted to create me. She wanted to take my ideas, and make them her own. She wanted my words on her t-shirts, to put me in theatre and have actresses, act out my work. This is fantastic, but how much will you pay me, to use my work?

Once she found out that I was homeless, she felt that becoming stable was more important. Claiming to support me in overcoming financial challenges, she disappeared- made promises and disappeared. In other instances, I have not been transparent about the fact that I was homeless three years when talking to an investor.

Being homeless doesn’t mean that you lose all of the knowledge and wisdom you once had. You lose your material possessions, but not all lose their mind. And, I’m sure it is evident that I still have sound mind if you are reading this. My gifts always make room for me, and yours make room for you. You will have doors open, but will they write a check?

Sometimes, we start down a path of giving our time, and only attract those who want to take it. Just like personal relationships examine the give and take tug of war, the professional relationship should examine the same. Are you are giver, in relationships with only takers? Are you a taker who are manipulating others that give, and give without restrain or remorse- never compensating them?

If giving is our currency, than your compensation is seed that will reap a harvest as well. It is our responsibility as the great stewards of our gifts of currency, to figure out how to give with authenticity and to be paid handsomely for our DNA printed brilliance that reflect our essence to the world.

Put me before Great Men

In the holistic sense of this proverb, our gift does in fact make room for us. In fact, this has been a favorite scripture- for many years. And, over time, as my wishes, prayers and expectations seemingly lay dormant despite my resilience, my recital of this scripture waned.

Our gifts make room for us. Doors fly open when you have something to say, and there is an audience who need to hear what God has gifted you to share. Doors fly open when you are amazing at what you do, and who you are. Our gifts make room for us, to do what? The rest of the Proverbs 18:16 scripture says that it will bring us before great men, and then what?

I am going to be honest with you- I love and appreciate this scripture, and every time I pray this scripture, it comes true- however, my life has been filled with meeting great men that are a dead end. I have met billionaires. I have had impromptu meetings by Jacuzzis, and pools. I have had lunch with multi-millionaires over and over again, over many years.

I have a few cell phone numbers, and ways to follow up however, all the meetings, all of the networking and the connections have lead to dead ends. One thing has been very clear, if you do not have any money, or collateral, you cannot pay to play. So, how do you bridge the gap?

If your gifts make room for you, then you should be able to earn income at what you do, right? But, how will people who will pay you, become interested in you without you developing a great website that can drive your sales. But what if you’re not a great salesmen. That is why business owners have employees- they build a team. And, so do famous public figures who build their companies around branding themselves. What about photo shoots, and graphic designers, auto responders, and fantastic marketing? The easy answer is to go get a job, right?

Well, I want you to put that out of your head for this conversation because if your gifts are making room for you, and you are an aspiring Entrepreneur, you have to stretch your faith with me to understand the truth about this process. My Gifts Make Room for Me, and Put me Before Great Men… AND THEN WHAT? Being put before great men is a subjective view. What is a great man?

The great man could be someone who is financially great, or has great character. Perhaps I’ve been praying the right thing with the wrong mindset for the last few years. I have been praying the exact scripture, but in my mind, I have assumed that I needed to meet people who had money that would fund my work because they believed in me. I have met many people who believe in me- not enough to put money on it, but they will verbalize it.

I have also met Dave Duerson, who became a friend and sat on my board of directors for a previous company. I thought that he would be an investor initially but what he gave me was much more than any money could have ever given. He had tremendous character and restored my faith in the process of achieving greatness.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I can admit when I have missed the mark; lacked wisdom and understanding. Actually knowing that I have completely missed the point explains a lot about not attracting money or the right relationships into my life professionally. In my mind, my gift was the thing that would get me before great men, who would then make me great, through contacts, resources, connections, investment capital or some other way that God would orchestrate.

In short, I have been put before great men, and I have been among them- they haven’t helped me, and the revelation came through Deven, below. He talks like this all of the time, and I have learned to be near a computer when he is talking because his wisdom flows so purely.

At some point, my thoughts became distorted. It could be that I went from great faith to need and because of this change, my mindset made the adjustment in my beliefs about this scripture as well. Great faith did not become absent because of the presence of need, but my focus was on what was needed to survive – and this discourse in my mind, lead me to compromising the subtle things that one learns when invited to commune with greatness.

The answer to the question behind the scripture is in the next paragraph.

“The gift is the bridge. The great men are not going to open doors for you, they are just there. They got there to that level because of their gifts. The key is to follow the scripture and the word- at the end of the day everything lies in God’s hands. Your gift is for you to become great yourself. That is what bridges the gap to you becoming a great man or a great woman. The gift is the bridge that gets you across to where the great men or great women are. Your gift is your power.“ – Deven Smith

Lastly, investors have different creeds because they are people. Some investors say that they do not invest in people, because they only invest in products. Some invest in people, unique people. I have had small investors who believe in me. But investors are looking at your gifts as currency. Whether a product that you have invented or a service that you provide.

However you write the business plan, investors want to see a Proforma- whether the Proforma is based off of projected numbers or past revenue. An investor’s interest is peaked by your passion, and in some cases your testimony but there decision is made on whether they will make money, and how much.

So my exiting questions for you are:

1. Do you know what your gifts are?

2. Have you been using your gifts so that you can see them make room for you?

3. Have you been put in front of great men or among them?

4. When will you believe that your gift is currency?

When will you believe that your gift is currency? You will only charge what your self-esteem says you’re worth. You are great, now- whether people know it in masses or not, is not an indication that you are less valuable or great.

When you look around you, consider who you have met, had lunch with, made positive connections, learned from, taught, loved, all that you have done in life professionally and your secret giving in life; you are great.

Selah.

Ressurrection Graves

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