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Faith, Hope and Finances with Gabriel Saintus · Christian Business Growth Podcast

• 0:40
  hello and welcome to the Christian Business Growth Podcast.
• 0:44
  I'm here with Gabriel Santis.
• 0:46
  Tell me brother, how did God get you into business?
• 0:48
  Well, you know what?
• 0:49
  I'm always asking God to give me guidance.
• 0:52
  You know, and so I was actually promoting our other business, uh Faith, Hope and Finance came from a business called Accelerate Learning Academy.
• 1:02
  We're teaching kids about languages, French, Spanish, Mandarin, Polish.
• 1:06
  But you know, during COVID, you know, everything shut down, you know, so we went virtual.
• 1:12
  And as we reopened here in the Dallas area, I went to a small business expo.
• 1:18
  And I was kind of talking about what we do about helping kids and some adults with languages.
• 1:23
  And somebody said, you know what, what about the language of money?
• 1:27
  said, huh, it's interesting.
• 1:28
  It's true.
• 1:29
  There is a way people talk about money.
• 1:32
  You know, but with my Christian background, I said, you know what, a lot of people want to have, have a heart for ministry, but often find themselves in debt because of a lack of
• 1:43
  financial literacy.
• 1:44
  So he said, you know what, we have faith in God.
• 1:47
  We have hope that keeps us going, but a lot of us lack financial literacy and it's not our fault.
• 1:51
  ah Our parents only can only teach us what they know.
• 1:56
  And um it's not taught in school.
• 1:59
  I have a law degree, I have two masters.
• 2:02
  So I always have a very expensive wall at my house.
• 2:04
  So you would think I would have known about financial literacy, but it's not taught.
• 2:09
  It's not taught and therefore um it's something that we felt that it's important for us to teach.
• 2:15
  especially for people that have a heart for ministry.
• 2:18
  God has blessed all of us with a ministry that's in our heart.
• 2:23
  And often because of a lack of oh financial literacy, we find ourselves in debt or we find ourselves working two jobs.
• 2:32
  So if I have a heart to feed the poor, the soup kitchen, but if I'm working 60 hours a week, I have nothing left.
• 2:40
  So therefore that's where we say, you know what?
• 2:42
  Let us be the answer to someone's prayer.
• 2:45
  Someone's praying for an opportunity not necessarily to ride the Ferrari or the mansion, but they have a dream of being part of a ministry.
• 2:54
  God is calling them to do something in the body of Christ, but because they don't see a break, they don't see an opportunity, they say, wow.
• 3:03
  So I believe that the enemy is happy with that.
• 3:05
  But he said, no, mm-hmm, we have to do something different.
• 3:09
  And that's how we got started.
• 3:10
  So you know what?
• 3:11
  Let's.
• 3:12
  talk to our people that have a heart for ministry, free them up from, I believe, this chain of having to work so hard to make ends meet.
• 3:22
  know, God wants us to be the head, not the tail.
• 3:24
  He wants us to have abundance.
• 3:26
  And I believe that we can be the key of that by giving them knowledge.
• 3:31
  The Bible says that my people perish because of a lack of knowledge.
• 3:35
  So we are here to give you knowledge.
• 3:39
  That's great.
• 3:40
  And let me ask you real quick, when it comes to finances, has been one thing that surprised you that people didn't know about it?
• 3:46
  You know what, one thing that I realized is that people have the mindset.
• 3:51
  The mindset is, you know what, when I get paid, I pay my bills.
• 3:56
  Makes sense, right?
• 3:57
  But the reality is God is giving us resources and we are to multiply those resources.
• 4:05
  How do you do that?
• 4:06
  You put them in assets, right?
• 4:09
  Again, I would like the parable oh of the talents.
• 4:12
  God gave, or the Master gave five talents to one, two talents to another, and one to one.
• 4:18
  And the one with the five and the two, they were able to multiply it, get interest on it.
• 4:23
  Right?
• 4:23
  So they were able to handle the Master's bills with those interests.
• 4:27
  And when he came back, they were able to give him double.
• 4:30
  Right?
• 4:30
  So it's a mind-boggling process.
• 4:32
  But the one with the one was as worried about, look, I just need to end this meet.
• 4:35
  I'm not worried about losing what I have.
• 4:39
  God, I believe, wants us to be fruitful and multiply, not just to have a ton of children, but also with what we have.
• 4:47
  He's expecting us to multiply it.
• 4:49
  And if we don't have the knowledge, we'll find out the knowledge.
• 4:52
  Or be like Solomon, ask God, I need wisdom with my money.
• 4:57
  I think sometimes we just keep money, know, God, I got this.
• 5:00
  Thank you, God, for the money.
• 5:01
  Instead of asking God, okay, God, you've given me $10.
• 5:05
  How can I multiply those $10, right?
• 5:08
  I think we need to have God in every aspect of our lives and finances is one of those things as well.
• 5:14
  Yes, you do your tithe, you do your offering.
• 5:16
  God promises to bless you if you do your tithe and offering.
• 5:19
  But what do I do with the rest, with the 90 %?
• 5:21
  What do I do with that?
• 5:22
  Do I just waste it on things that are going to be gone the next day?
• 5:28
  Or do I invest it, get it, or find ways where I can double what God's given me?
• 5:36
  multiply but then also with what he's given me I can also bless others.
• 5:41
  I believe God gives us enough not just enough for us to survive but for us to thrive and on top of that bless others with the abundance that we
• 5:52
  I love that you say the mindset's from going from fear of money to the opportunity of money.
• 5:57
  That's the way I like to hear it.
• 5:58
  Yes, exactly.
• 5:59
  Exactly.
• 6:00
  It's an opportunity.
• 6:02
  It's a blessing.
• 6:04
  Exactly.
• 6:04
  And if you look at it that way, cause people, like you said, if they're trying to make their bills match, they're trying to make things fit.
• 6:10
  They're not saying, God, what's the opportunity you give me in between those portions?
• 6:15
  So what's God doing in your business right now, brother?
• 6:18
  Well, right now, my son, you he's heard me say this so many times.
• 6:23
  He's 14.
• 6:24
  I have two sons.
• 6:24
  I have a 14 year old and 10 year old.
• 6:26
  And my 14 year old last year said, you know what, Papa, you always say, I wish I knew this when I was younger, you when I started my presentations.
• 6:35
  And he says, you know, Papa, I want to start, write a book for teenagers about finances.
• 6:42
  So right now we're in the midst of, we have a draft, we have about 10 chapters.
• 6:47
  for young people, our plan is to have summer camps this summer, go into after school programs and start there because you know what, it starts early, right?
• 6:56
  Again, parents, can't blame parents, right?
• 6:59
  They were taught what they were taught and it's not taught in schools.
• 7:02
  Our schools are not teaching this right now, oh you know?
• 7:06
  And there are many reasons for that.
• 7:08
  But my goal is to break that cycle.
• 7:11
  You know what?
• 7:12
  You work hard, you went to school.
• 7:14
  But you know what?
• 7:14
  There's no reason that with God's wisdom that you can't flourish right now.
• 7:21
  early on, as soon as we're starting with the age of 13 to 18 year olds, that'll be a focus this summer, uh focusing on young people.
• 7:30
  And again, give the glory to God because you know what?
• 7:33
  uh God has also blessed them with a ministry.
• 7:37
  What is their ministry?
• 7:38
  Right?
• 7:39
  Is it to help the poor uh even here in Dallas?
• 7:44
  Or, you know, oh my son and I, we love to go downtown Dallas to feed the homeless, right?
• 7:51
  But you need finances for that, right?
• 7:53
  It's not like, okay, when you go to a store and say, I need to feed the poor, you might have some stores that are generous, but otherwise, you need to have finances.
• 8:02
  So I believe that God has blessed us with this knowledge and young people is really our goal this time.
• 8:10
  That's great.
• 8:11
  So I'm going to have to ask you about this.
• 8:13
  How does it feel working with your son going through this book project?
• 8:16
  What's that like?
• 8:17
  You know what?
• 8:18
  I believe that it's fantastic.
• 8:20
  um know, one of the biggest thing about being a father is really being able to spend time with your children and being able to spend time with them, you know, because life, it gets
• 8:31
  busy.
• 8:32
  And often I was reading about this, a lot of families, if you're honest, you only spend about 10 minutes per day of deep conversation with your kids.
• 8:42
  So you have to create more opportunities.
• 8:45
  And I believe this is a great opportunity where we're able to study God's word also, because a lot of our foundation for this book is found in the word, right?
• 8:58
  Again, uh God speaks about finances, Tithe and offering, but also gaining the knowledge that's necessary.
• 9:05
  And I think what's fantastic about this is that now he's gonna have knowledge that he can share with his kids.
• 9:12
  And it keeps on moving from there.
• 9:14
  That's great.
• 9:15
  That's good.
• 9:16
  So we're moving our segment talking about the business growth concept.
• 9:19
  What are some things you're doing in your business that might help someone else in their business?
• 9:23
  Well, first thing is, pray.
• 9:25
  ah Our slogan is to be the answer to someone's prayer, right?
• 9:32
  In order for your business to grow, you really have to answer somebody's issue, somebody's problem, right?
• 9:40
  Amazon became as big as it is, a trillion dollar company, because it answered people's problems of, know what, I don't want to go to the mall.
• 9:49
  I just want the product.
• 9:50
  So, pray and say, God,
• 9:52
  put somebody on my path that needs what I have.
• 9:56
  So if you're selling, I don't know, vacuum, somebody needs a vacuum, but you know what, can't keep chasing all around, because you need the vacuum, you need vacuum.
• 10:05
  But if God placed you in a position where, you know what, I was looking for vacuum, and I'm in that person's path, then it's really easy at that point.
• 10:14
  So really, you know, people look for leaves, and then there's nothing wrong with that, but I think the biggest person that can help you with leaves is God.
• 10:22
  God, you know what?
• 10:23
  I just really want to be the answer to someone's prayer.
• 10:25
  I don't need to have what they call a commission breath.
• 10:28
  I just want to be the answer to what they need.
• 10:31
  And I think that's what's been our growth is when we use that slogan and we pray about it in the morning and say, God, help me be the answer to someone's prayer.
• 10:40
  So as I go to the mall, they come to me all of a sudden.
• 10:43
  Hey, listen, I need this.
• 10:45
  I need help with my retirement.
• 10:48
  I need help with my finances.
• 10:51
  You know, I'm struggling here at the job.
• 10:53
  I'm working overtime and I'm living paycheck to paycheck.
• 10:57
  Well, then that's just an opportunity to say, you know what?
• 10:59
  Let me educate you on how you can make your money grow.
• 11:02
  So I think our biggest thing has been that, and make us grow recently has been, you know what, using that slogan, but I'm making this a slogan, but to really sincerely ask God to
• 11:13
  be the answer to someone's prayer.
• 11:16
  Sometimes the simplest things are the things we forget and prayer is one of those simple things that we can forget in our business.
• 11:22
  We may pray when we think about it, but it doesn't become part of our habits.
• 11:26
  It sounds like you have a part of your habits.
• 11:27
  Could you tell us how's that work in your business?
• 11:29
  Do you have a structured prayer?
• 11:31
  you pray with your co-workers?
• 11:33
  Do pray with your wife?
• 11:34
  How's that work in your business?
• 11:35
  Well, first, you know, there's a couple of things.
• 11:37
  think the first thing is personal prayer.
• 11:39
  You know, you need to have your personal devotion.
• 11:41
  This morning I was telling my wife, you know, Jesus spent time with his father early in the morning.
• 11:47
  So I think early in the morning, you have your personal devotion.
• 11:50
  Then you have, you bring it to your team.
• 11:54
  You know, you bring it to our team.
• 11:55
  So when we have our team meetings, you know, we say, you know what?
• 11:59
  How can you be the answer to someone's prayer this week as we go on in the week?
• 12:03
  So bring that there as well.
• 12:05
  And then finally, at the end of our meetings, we have prayer requests.
• 12:09
  You know what?
• 12:10
  I have a challenge talking to people.
• 12:12
  I have a challenge finding more business.
• 12:15
  And then we know that God will provide everything.
• 12:17
  So prayer is oh part of the whole business from the beginning, from the leader, myself praying, praying with my business partner, which is my wife, and then also praying with
• 12:28
  the team.
• 12:31
  That's cool.
• 12:31
  I love that you do that.
• 12:34
  It's intentional prayer rather than accidental prayer.
• 12:37
  Sometimes we wait for something to happen bad and then we pray because something bad happened rather than saying having prayer ahead of us.
• 12:42
  We pray behind us instead of in front of us.
• 12:45
  I think that's where we miss out on.
• 12:46
  think was it Paul says pray without ceasing?
• 12:49
  says in Philippians, it says in Romans.
• 12:51
  It's multiple times out there and it's not a matter of closing your eyes and taking that moment praying.
• 12:55
  It could be driving.
• 12:56
  It could be walking down the street.
• 12:58
  It could be in between meetings.
• 12:59
  It could be all those things that become an integral part of your life and everything.
• 13:03
  So what are you most excited about right now?
• 13:06
  Well, right now I'm really excited about the different seasons that are coming up.
• 13:12
  Right now we're talking about love and finance.
• 13:17
  One of the big, 30 % of marriages dissolve because of finance.
• 13:23
  And again, marriage was created by God and marriages are under attack.
• 13:27
  And if 30 % of marriages are under attack because of finances, we want to be the answer to that.
• 13:32
  So you know what, couples, you shouldn't have to argue about money.
• 13:36
  Right?
• 13:36
  Let us show you a way to deal with that.
• 13:39
  uh With spring coming up, know, April showers, everybody wants to be blessed by God.
• 13:47
  Right?
• 13:47
  And how about being blessed by knowledge?
• 13:49
  Right?
• 13:50
  So what we do is every season we talk about different things that are going on.
• 13:54
  May is Mother's Day.
• 13:56
  know, mothers are working extra hard, you know, to make ends meet.
• 14:01
  So we're talking about mothers, fathers, you know, in June.
• 14:05
  We're excited about that because, we're meant to be providers.
• 14:09
  So uh often, a lack of finances puts a lot of stress on you.
• 14:14
  Also, I think it leads sometimes to depression.
• 14:18
  And what's scary about that is um when you're depressed, you don't want to pray.
• 14:23
  Let's be honest.
• 14:24
  You're depressed that you're enveloped in darkness.
• 14:28
  So therefore, we don't want to get to that point.
• 14:31
  Right?
• 14:31
  We want to, you know, help people before they get to that point, say, listen, I understand it's stressing you out.
• 14:37
  You have a family, you have bills, and we, you know, and you have that, that, that weight on you as a man, you have to take care of your spouse, right?
• 14:48
  And your family.
• 14:49
  How can we alleviate that?
• 14:51
  How can we help you do that?
• 14:53
  So that's kind of what we're excited about is, know what, who can we help this year?
• 14:57
  We know that this is a need.
• 15:00
  And we're very happy to be the hands of Peter Jesus.
• 15:06
  That's a good practical tip for people is to take the flow of the year that people have an expectation of their mind, take that flow and build into that in ways you can help them
• 15:15
  during the different seasons throughout the year.
• 15:16
  That's a very smart way of doing it.
• 15:18
  Did you come up that by yourself or did you read that in a book or something?
• 15:21
  No, you know what?
• 15:24
  First of all, I came up with it with a Holy Spirit gave me that idea.
• 15:27
  um As our business grew, um I said to my wife, you know what?
• 15:34
  Let's not come up with something new.
• 15:36
  What are they talking about, right?
• 15:38
  So for example, July Independence Day.
• 15:40
  Well, everybody wants to be financially independent.
• 15:43
  So I just flow with that.
• 15:44
  You know, we just flow with that.
• 15:46
  I don't want to necessarily.
• 15:48
  be outside of the narrative.
• 15:50
  I want to be part of the narrative.
• 15:51
  What are people talking about?
• 15:53
  So again, to be the answer to someone's prayer is, what are they thinking?
• 15:59
  And I think a lot of times it goes with the seasons, the different months, the different things that people are thinking about.
• 16:06
  Just be part of the conversation.
• 16:09
  I was talking to my team this week.
• 16:11
  What's very important is that you want to have commission breadth.
• 16:14
  You want to have what I call that you care about the person.
• 16:18
  Hey, you know what?
• 16:19
  The first 10 minutes of conversation is not about your product.
• 16:22
  It's about getting to know them, getting to know their pain, getting to know their joys, their whys.
• 16:28
  And you know what?
• 16:29
  Once you figure that out, then you know, maybe what I have can help you get to your, for help your why, can be an answer to what you're dealing with.
• 16:40
  So the first 10 minutes, all right, so I talked to, told my staff, is you know what?
• 16:44
  It's not about the product.
• 16:46
  And maybe at the end of the 10 minutes, maybe our product is not what they need.
• 16:50
  But then so you end the conversation and you pray with them.
• 16:53
  But that's a planting a seed.
• 16:56
  Because they may not need you now.
• 16:57
  What I've learned in this business, you know what?
• 16:59
  I plant the seed now.
• 17:00
  And six months later, they say, you know what?
• 17:02
  What we talked about six months later?
• 17:03
  Because you didn't have commission breath.
• 17:05
  You know what?
• 17:06
  Let's talk now.
• 17:08
  So I think the biggest thing about being in business is realize it's not always about the sale.
• 17:13
  It's about showing that love that you care for that person.
• 17:17
  That plan succeeds in them.
• 17:19
  And when they do need you, whether it's six months from now, hey listen, they'll remember that you were not about the product when you were about them.
• 17:28
  Right?
• 17:28
  That's good words.
• 17:30
  Value comes from solving people's problems.
• 17:33
  And when people know you care about them, they'll let you be part of that problem solving process, I guess.
• 17:38
  All right.
• 17:39
  So as we end up here, how can people get in touch with you and what's one little bit of wisdom you'd like to leave us with today?
• 17:44
  Well, definitely we go to our Instagram page, which is faith underscore hope underscore finance.
• 17:52
  And as far as a tip, a tip that I have for you is this.
• 17:57
  When the money that you do have, God's given you enough that your job now is to help multiply.
• 18:03
  Get the wisdom that you need.
• 18:05
  How can I multiply that 90 % after my time?
• 18:08
  How can I multiply that?
• 18:10
  Not only just for myself, so that God can provide for me.
• 18:13
  but I can provide for others.
• 18:15
  The Bible says we will always have the poor among us.
• 18:18
  How can my abundance now I can help the poor among us and really demonstrate love, right?
• 18:25
  Because again, before you say something that Jesus loves me, you got to demonstrate it.
• 18:29
  They don't know who Jesus is.
• 18:31
  But by me showing love that I care about them, that's their first glimpse of Jesus.
• 18:35
  And say, you know what?
• 18:36
  When we went last time, we uh feeding the homeless.
• 18:41
  after we fed them.
• 18:42
  said, where's your church?
• 18:45
  Right?
• 18:45
  So it wasn't, okay, you know what, you're hungry, here's two dollars and let's just, you know, I'll pray for you.
• 18:51
  Actually, you guys provided and all of a sudden they're asking, where's your church?
• 18:56
  Can you come out and pick us up?
• 18:58
  It all starts off with demonstrating love, but that starts off again with how can you help me multiply Lord my 90 % that's left after I paid my time.
• 19:09
  Thank you for sharing your heart and your wisdom today.
• 19:11
  We sure appreciate you.
• 19:13
  All right.
• 19:13
  Thank you again.
• 19:14
  Appreciate you.
• 19:15
  All right.
• 19:16
  God bless.