Having your own business is scary, and often you’ll find yourself having to do things that make you uncomfortable. But just like everything else in life, that place of discomfort or fear is where we have the most opportunities to grow.

These fears look like …

Feeling alone when you’re working from home or without a team of people around you
Looking around and seeing all the others doing (what seems like) exactly what you do and being intimidated
Wondering where your next dollar will come from
Becoming anxious about whether or not people will like you or want to buy something from you

Everyone one of us entrepreneurs has felt that way. We’ve all sat in our stores or behind our computer screens and been afraid. We cling to our faith because it makes us brave. We wait on the Lord.

Psalm 31:24 says, “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!

But I’ve discovered there’s one other thing it takes to be courageous:

Action.

We forget something important when we read verses like the one above: waiting on the Lord is an active pursuit. Every brave believer who has ever made a difference didn’t just sit still and wait on the Lord. They took action and stepped forward to move themselves in the right direction.

David waited on the Lord often, but he also took steps to build the kingdom God asked him to. He fought battles, wrote music, raised children, and ruled a kingdom. Paul waited on the Lord constantly, but he also moved forward every day to fulfill his mission by traveling, preaching, and tent making.

They took action while they waited. They saw God’s purpose for their lives and the need to have that same kind of bravery—the kind that pushes us to move forward—and we need to know what to do next.

Here are a few suggestions for you to see how you can be brave in your business today.

Brave Act #1: Ask for the sale

Most of the time the women I work with think they’re being available for new clients, but they really aren’t. I recognize it because I was in this place myself once. I thought that if I just put myself out there and not my offers then people would come, but honestly, people didn’t realize that I had space for them because I never made it abundantly clear. I was waiting for them to choose me when they also were waiting to be chosen.

So I started with just putting out an offer or connecting with a potential client and asking if they were interested in what I have available. I “opened my doors” and I marketed and overtly shared what I had to help them. With those small, brave acts I was able to see my business move forward.

Brave Act #2: Make a connection

The entrepreneur’s life can be lonely. We need community and support while we build our businesses. That’s why building your own network can be such a blessing in your business.

You can reach out to peers, potential clients, and even influencers in your industry to serve, connect, grow, and support one another. You can’t make it alone, so I encourage you to take the leap and make a new connection.

Brave Act #3: Make something new

Creation is at the heart of our identity as image-bearers of God, and service is at the heart of our mission on this earth. By putting those together to create something new to put into the world, we can serve in a new way. This can be something free, paid, or to build your community of customers and advocates, but it all hinges on you being brave enough to put it out in front of them.

Brave Act #4: Brag about yourself

The Christian life is marked by humility. So how are we supposed to balance sharing our accomplishments with the picture of humility we’re often painted? It can be a challenge to own the gifts you’ve been given and the way you can help others, but selling and sharing how we’ve helped is an act of service that we give to others. It’s a way of helping the barrier between what your customers need and how to get it come down.

It is also an opportunity to point at God and bring him more glory. You and I know that every gift and every accomplishment is from him. By sharing about results we’ve seen, we’re also able to share how God is at work in our lives.

Faith and action always go together. James said it well when he wrote, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” (James 2:14, English Standard Version).

The Christian life and the entrepreneur’s life are both lives of active pursuit alongside waiting and believing. It’s time for each of us to go out into faith and fulfill the purposes God has for our lives one brave step at a time.

4 Ways to Be Brave in Your Business Today