Often I hear women who own/operate small businesses make statements such as, "It is not the money that we are about."  The bible states clearly, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (1 Timothy 6:10) God warns us about falling in love with anything that may distract from or tear down our relationship with Him. If you operate a business,  sell a product/service and are apologetic about making money, you are not a threat to the enemy in this area. If anything, he's won you over in this because he knows that you believe his lies and if you never make a concerted effort at making a profit, your business will have little, if any monetary impact on the Kingdom. He has a checklist of what your business will never accomplish and here is a sample of what Mr. Ugly's list looks like:

• Her offering to that ministry she supports in India...it will never be more than $100 a month. Yay!
• Great! There's a cap on what she can give to the campus minister  who disciples college students.
• Awesome. The women's clinic in Uganda; excited because it will take longer to build.
• Oh, and that family that needs another $10K to adopt the Down's Syndrome baby, she can't make a dent.

If you run a business, any kind of business,

making a profit should be at the forefront of your objectives. In the absence of a focus on profit, what you have is a hobby not a business. Businesses make money. Hobbies cost money.

As women, there is a tendency to apologize or dismiss the impact of making money. We are by nature, nurturers, so some women believe that by focusing on making money, a contradiction exists that we cannot be caring, loving, generous if we have an intentional focus on making money. Having a profitable business does involve sometimes saying no to friends, raising prices, etc. and therein lies a conflict that we prefer not to deal with. Ugh. This is stinkin' thinkin' ladies.

Examine the monetary goals of your business, ask God to redirect your thoughts about money and entrepreneurship, and get your name off Mr. Ugly's checklist.