Running A Business is Hard
Jesus offers a simple solution
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Annually, the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet holds a shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. According to Forbes, Buffett is worth $87.3 billion in 2020 [1]. Over the years, investors gather to listen to his wisdom regarding investment. Unlike many other investors, Buffet’s investment philosophy has not changed. They are simply: do not speculate, invest in quality companies, and hold them for the long term.
Strangely, we find these three simple strategies challenging. We would rather follow investing gurus who preach, “The trend is your friend”, “buy low sell high” and others who coin catchy phrases. Well if these gurus are right, why aren’t the world full of millionaires by now? On the contrary, the business world is resplendent with stories of greed and failures. For those businesses that succeed, they have kept their focus on their key competencies and do them well repeatedly. Indeed, one of the pieces of advice that Buffet offers is to “learn how to value businesses and know the ones that are within your circle of competence and the ones that are outside.” [2] To put it simply — invest in what you know.
Even though we understand simple ideas, why do we make our lives complicated?
Well, it is human nature. We have been like that since the dawn of time. Instead of following simple truths, we hold ourselves in high esteem and think we can “beat the odds”. We complicate things by our poor judgment and blame others for our failures. Our pride does not allow us to admit our mistakes. Then we make further decisions that only make matters worse. From then on, this goes into a downward spiral. This human nature applies to the way we make investments, our work, our relationships, and our lives in general. Daily, we see and hear more bad news than good ones. That is why, to hit the reset button, we need someone to show us how to get back up.
The Good News is — Someone did.
Convey A Simple Message
Two thousand years ago, John the Baptist appeared in Judea to prepare the Jews for the coming of Jesus who would come to save the world. To the people in that region, John the Baptist was that guy who wore clothes made of camel’s hair and a leather…
