Having been in many conversations with other men who ask how they can raise their sons to be Providers and set them on the path to working in their own businesses, I am compelled to share the following story.

I was 13 years old and my brother, Jay, was 10 years old when we first went into business for ourselves. We considered our 8-year-old brother, Steve, not to be partner material due to his tender age. We didn’t believe he could pull his share of the workload, but we were convinced that he could drink as many sodas as us big boys. Steve was out; too much of a drain on capital! Our first hard-nosed business.

the decision was behind us. Jay and I had prior experience as newspaper delivery boys and babysitters for hire. However, lawn mowing was to be our first bonafide entrepreneurial venture. We had a business plan, business cards, working capital, and equipment. The business plan consisted of going door to door through the neighborhood handing out our business cards and promising to mow lawns with our dad’s mower.

Our market area was limited to the distance we were willing to push the mower down the street. Our working capital was sufficient to buy gas for the mower and keep us supplied with sodas on those hot summer days. What else did two young brothers need in order to strike out on their own? Have mowers, will travel. The world of mowing lawns for profit was ours for the taking.

Dad told us that we were to conduct ourselves as gentlemen, start and finish on time, and complete any job we agreed to take, period. We picked up a few mowing jobs, managed to get the work done and collect the money without any serious workplace injuries or accounting scandals. Sweet success!

We would indeed be entrepreneurs, though lawnmowing was not to be our life's work.

A couple of years later, as enthusiastic, young, apartment and house painters, we landed the contract to paint the interior of a grand old three-story mansion in downtown Denver that served as the headquarters for a major nonprofit association. We got our feet in the door by leveraging our vast network of contacts: the Director of the nonprofit lived in our apartment community. Cha ching! We had linked our first major deal.

Our actual experience to that point consisted of helping Dad paint two and three bedroom apartments at his side job as Property Manager of the apartment community where we lived. We were 16 and 13 years old, long on energy, and short on wisdom.

Accordingly, the thought of asking our dad to look at the job before we submitted our bid did not cross our minds. The magnitude of our error became evident to us shortly after work began. The grand old mansion was huge. Several of the apartments where we lived would fit inside the place. It was the Goliath of grand old mansions, and we were no Davids. Bummer. Serious miscalculation. Dad’s wise counsel was simple and predictable. We would complete the job as agreed. In a display of mercy, he helped us do the work and paid for many of the supplies out of his own pocket. Although the job was a financial disaster and would have sunk our painting company had our angel investor not intervened, we had a great time working together. Father and sons (and mom and younger brother) labored far into the night, ate fast food, and slept on the floor at the mansion to save on driving time to and from home. The customer was pleased with the job, and my brother and I learned some terrific lessons in the process. During our formative years, Dad was not self-employed. Nonetheless, he was involved in the development and execution of our plans. The fact that Dad had a full-time job did not keep him from working with us. He missed some sleep, used his influence, and we found out later, spent some of his money on our ventures. He was an encouragement to our dreams and aspirations. Dad let us know that he was excited about what we were doing, that he was proud of his sons, letting everyone else know it, too. His praise, encouragement, and wisdom gave us the confidence to proceed. Dad saw to it that we kept our word. Whether our mistakes were big or small, he demanded that we finish the job. In the grand old mansion painting caper, he helped push us over the finish line.

Sometimes he let us struggle and fail. I don’t think we would have learned the lessons very well without experiencing the full reality of the consequences of failure. There were no green participation ribbons handed out. We succeeded or we failed and, when we failed, we fixed it.

Somewhere along the way, my brother and I started property maintenance and handyman company. We built that business by calling on real estate management companies and homeowner associations. While nurturing our newest enterprise, we each worked other jobs. That company had some success, growing to 12employees and a small fleet of vehicles. Later, my brother opened a plumbing and heating service company, and I entered the real estate business. He recently sold his company. I am still in the real estate and property management business. Eventually, Dad became self-employed in the real estate and property management business. Like sons, like father. We parents are commanded to engage and invest in relationships with our children(Deuteronomy 6). That is to be the basis of our raising them up. Investing in relationships is a difficult thing because of the transparency and honesty involved. The older your children, the deeper the relationship goes, and the more everyone’sshortcomings are exposed. Plan to do a lot of confessing and repenting. Plan on enduring the pain of spiritual and emotional growth. It will be worth it.

I am grateful that my dad has been engaged in my life for as long as I can remember. Whether coaching or cheering me and my brothers in little league sports

or in our business ventures, he has been there to counsel and correct us. The key resource he invested in us was time. I do not remember any special meetings or“quality time.” I only remember “quantity time”: thousands of hours along the path of life where he was then and is with me today. He made sure we just did life together. That continues to this day. A major downfall in our world is that work has been given a low place, if any place at all, on the list of things that are important. Sadly, it seems to be much the same in the Christian community. The catch phrases for this have become icons in the lexicon of our day (hump day, TGIF, the weekend, the highly treasured three-day-weekend.) Nowadays, work is reviled as something we must do so that we can eventually do what we want to do. When the true purpose of work is taught according to God’s purpose and plan (Genesis 1 and 3, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, etc.) it is restored to its rightful place in the hearts of men. The Bible tells us that we are stewards of His resources. Because we love the Lord, we are to proceed with diligence and joyful obedience to direct, increase, manage, and protect them on behalf of the Owner. As your children proceed to work with God’s purpose in mind, they will develop the character traits of diligence, faithfulness, and perseverance. Their reputations will increase in the eyes of other people. The Bible is very clear about the blessings, mandate, and purposes regarding work. Be not afraid to start!