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Find Balance or Bust
In days not-so-long past, one of the more popular circus acts included tightrope walking. Although the daredevil art isn’t practiced quite as commonly today, there are still occasions when performers will attempt the feat – defying gravity while crossing gashes of space between landmarks such as skyscrapers, the cliffs of the Grand Canyon, or the outcroppings abutting Niagara Falls. For some of the viewers, myself included, it’s a simultaneously wondrous and fearful spectacle. One wrong step and the performer risks being snatched by gravity into the empty abyss below.
Ask any busy businessperson, and he or she will likely agree that the act of managing family and entrepreneurship often feels like balancing on a tightrope. Each day consists of carefully navigating the tenuous path of nurturing customer relationships while filling business responsibilities – all while maintaining time for the family members whose interests the business has been built to serve. One wrong step and a cherished relationship crumbles into dust waiting to be scattered by the slightest breath of wind.
For a budding entrepreneur, the process can be even more frustrating. You don’t know what you don’t know, and the most readily available option for education is painful trial and error. Most of us would rather not subject our families and businesses to this kind of experimentation, so let’s see what we can learn from the practices of the Proverbs 31 businesswoman.
Life At Home
Before we can study her approach to family life, it would help to have a clearer picture of who the Proverbs 31 businesswoman is at home. Fortunately, the description of her personal life is relatively straightforward.
In addition to providing a detailed description of her business, the author of Proverbs 31 tells us that the lady at the center of the passage is a wife and mother. She’s identified as being married to a man who is respected as an elder in their community (verse 23), and the couple is described as having at least 2 children (verse 28). The family also owns at least one piece of real estate because the Proverbs 31 woman is identified as purchasing land for a vineyard in verse 16. If she uses savings to buy land for the second phase of her business, it seems highly probable that the Proverbs 31 woman and her husband would have already secured ownership of their family residence. Thus, the passage seems to allude to the fact that her family owns at least 2 pieces of real estate.
As a Spouse
When it comes to her life as a wife, the Proverbs 31 woman is described as being a trustworthy partner who treats her husband with care and respect for their marriage vows (verse 11, 12, 15). She is consistently described as seeking out and purchasing quality items to serve the needs of their household (verses 11, 12, 14, 21, 22). It is easy to believe that the thoughtfulness that she shows for her husband would only help to contribute to the level of respect shown him by their neighbors (verse 23). In return, her spouse is described as joining their children in praising his wife’s contribution to their family and community life (verses 10, 28-31). In verse 29, they gratefully declare, “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” His commendation makes it clear that her husband is proud to have the Proverbs 31 wife as his partner in life.
As a Parent
Early in her description, the Proverbs 31 businesswoman is identified as being a thoughtful parent. She rises early to manage the provisions for her household (verses 15 and 27), and despite working busy days, she takes time to share her knowledge and experience with others (verses 26 and 27).
It isn’t stated directly, but one has to wonder if part of the education that she is providing would be aimed toward teaching her children the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. As discussed in earlier chapters, a bit of reading between the lines indicates that the Proverbs 31 businesswoman may have learned her entrepreneurship skills from a family member during her youth. As a responsible parent, why wouldn’t she institute a system for passing this knowledge on to her own children?
Whatever the actual subjects of their education, her children appear to realize as they mature that they’ve been blessed with an exceptional parent (verse 28). They join their father in commending their mother’s efforts toward supporting their household and community (verses 28 – 31).
As an Individual
With all of the energy that she directs toward caring for others, one might expect the Proverbs 31 woman to have little or no time left for herself. With a schedule that requires early rising and working late, this mompreneur is explicitly described as having no time for “idleness” (verse 27). Despite this fact, the passage author takes pains to show that this businesswoman takes time to care for herself.
In addition to selecting the materials for her fabrics, evaluating potential vineyards, and weaving cloth for sale, our entrepreneurial maven is described as being a robust worker with arms that are “strong for her tasks” (verse 17). Is it me, or does this sound like an archaic way of saying that our lady works out?
The author goes on to describe other aspects of our entrepreneur’s system of self-care. In addition to investing in quality items for her household, the Proverbs 31 woman is specifically noted to purchase high-quality items for herself. She dresses her household in scarlet clothing (verse 21), which would have required high-end dyes during her time. In the very next verse (22), the Proverbs 31 businesswoman is noted to enjoy fine linens and purple clothing. Purple-dyed fine linen would have been among some of the most expensive clothing of her day, but that doesn’t seem to stop the Proverbs 31 woman from planning it into her budget.
The clothing choices of our lady seem to reflect her valuation of herself. The author of Proverbs 31 indicates that this is a woman who has the confidence to see herself as strong, dignified, and capable of handling future challenges (verse 25). It’s clear from the description that the Proverbs 31 woman has a positive self-image and appreciation of her intrinsic worth. Despite the fact that she works hard to split her time between home and business, the entrepreneur of this passage is identified as being both joyful and hopeful for her future (verse 25).
Her Secret Sauce
If you’re anything like me, you might find yourself thinking that it’s great that the Proverbs 31 woman demonstrates such balance between her business and personal life, but that doesn’t actually teach you how to do the same. I couldn’t agree with you more. Let’s see if the passage offers any hints about her system for achieving this mythical level of life balance.
Although it isn’t stated directly, her description strongly hints at the fact that the Proverbs 31 woman chooses to implement systems for the management of her household. Rather than leaving things to chance, she sets aside regular time to review the pulse of her family and household affairs (verse 27). Earlier in the passage, she is identified as having arranged for household staff to assist her in caring for her family (verse 15). It’s clear that our entrepreneur takes an approach to her personal life that is just as intentional as her systems for managing her business.
At the same time, the personal life of this ancient entrepreneur would have directly benefited from her systematic approach to managing her businesses. By running her entrepreneurial ventures in a lean and organized manner, the Proverbs 31 businesswoman frees herself to enjoy more personal and family time. As discussed in prior chapters, her ventures have been designed to function without her constant involvement. By using regular oversight and standardized procedures, our businesswoman would have positioned her team to manage the daily activities of the business without requiring her direct supervision. She has grown her business to the point that she is able to function in a managerial role.
It also appears that a key portion of our mompreneur’s strategy is the use of time-block scheduling. In verses 15 and 18, the author notes that the Proverbs 31 woman schedules managerial work during off-hours. Although the reason for her choice isn’t directly stated, it probably involves the fact that her daylight hours are split between family activities and working in her business. The passage seems to be hinting that the Proverbs 31 woman uses off hours of the day to decompress, review strategic positioning, and engage in aspects of her own self-care.
The Relational Profit
So we’ve examined how the Proverbs 31 woman systematizes the management of her family time, self-care, household management, and business responsibilities. Not surprisingly, her feat is strongly reminiscent of the delicate balancing act of a tightrope walker. But is the effort worth it? Is she successful in the end? The author of the description seems to indicate that she is.
The final verses of Proverbs 31 describe our businesswoman as being happily content and hopeful for the future fortunes of herself and her family (verse 25). Rather than resenting her business prowess, her spouse is proud to have chosen her for a life partner (verses 11 and 28). As her children come of age, they are openly grateful of the dedicated care and instruction invested in them by their entrepreneurial parent (verses 26 – 28). Her wisdom and efforts garner the respect of her community for herself and her family (verses 23, 26, and 31), and she is openly thanked by her family and colleagues for being a woman of exceptional character and abilities (verses 29 – 31).
We’ve already discussed that the self-valuation of the Proverbs 31 woman is such that she doesn’t appear to rely on the commendation of others (verses 21 and 25). Nevertheless, she likely appreciates the gratitude expressed for her years of diligent care and effort – as would any other businessperson.
The ability to manage a business in such a manner as to build personal and community relationships is just as praiseworthy a skill set today. Join me in the next chapter where we’ll explore how the Proverbs 31 businesswoman approaches serving her community!
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Thank you for reading! If you’d like access to this section’s author notes and assignments, click here to purchase ebook access.
Until the next chapter, good luck with the growing!
D’Loreyn