I have a feeling some people are going to disagree with today’s take, but I’m fairly certain that this is the correct take on the discussion of AI and whether or not to lay off your employees in instances where you could.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News, Updates, & Upcoming Events

• Feature Content: Catholics Don’t Do Layoffs Because of AI; We Up-skill

• Heavenly Hustlers

[read time: ~10 min | word count 2, 141]

Events:

• Tonight at 6 pm CT we have our first Town Hall. We’ll be sharing some exciting updates and recapping why we exist. This is for Guild members only so if you’re one, check your calendar for the invite (it’s there). If you don’t have it, message Oscar or Karen via admin@catholicfounders.com.

• Support us by copping some merch today. Get them here. 👕

• If you like beautiful buildings, check out last week’s podcast with Erik Bootsma.

• There are local meetups happening in Monterrey, MX (tonight), Charlotte, NC & D.C. (Thursday), Columbus, OH (Sunday), and more coming soon in Nash, Dallas, and Wisconsin. Subscribe to our Luma calendar today.

• Want to host a CF meetup? Let us know and we’ll help you organize it.

Catholics Don’t Do Layoffs Because of AI; We Up-skill

I have recently become AI-pilled. In last week’s issue I mentioned how Hark.com has been a game changer for us both at Catholic Founders and for my recruiting business.

AI Skeptic

In the past I’ve dabbled with some AI tools but never found them particularly useful except for things like taking my client’s job description and turning it into a Roosevelt Talent version of the same JD with our extra information on it. I also used it frequently as a search tool.

But other than that I wasn’t really impressed.

Tools like Lindy and N8N were too hard for me to understand or to get to work reliably.

Then I heard about Instinct and Muse on a podcast. People were saying it was incredible. So, I tried Muse given they cited the fact that Meta had less lag time because they had more compute.

With my first use, I was able to triage emails while holding my baby on a flight. So, it was useful, but not groundbreaking.

A few days later I heard that Hark dropped. A few weeks prior I heard Brett Adcock, the founder, on the My First Million pod speaking about how this thing blew his mind (he built it to serve his use cases). Given I’m a fan of his way of thinking I decided to try it.

Bam.

It felt like I was teleported into the future.

Hark started off by making suggestions on how it could help me. Unsubscribing from hundreds of marketing emails. Managing my calendar better.

It was nice. Felt cool, but then I realized it can actually go around and click things for me as if it were a human.

It really hit me how powerful it was when I asked it to research and create an event for my DC Catholic Founders meetup. I needed the mass time, and a place close by for breakfast. It did that, checked if they accepted OpenTable reservations (they did not). Then it drafted the copy for the Luma event page. I made a few adjustments and it was pretty much ready. I didn’t have an image yet, but I could have Karen do that.

Wait… maybe Hark could do it I thought. So I asked it to make an image. It was not on brand. I said, go find all the other events and make this one match that style. Boom. It was good.

Then I had it go through our database AND my LinkedIn connections and find all the Catholic Founders in DC for me to invite. It drafted emails according to my usual style to almost all of them (in some cases, after finding their emails from Apollo). I then made edits and sent out those invites.

This all took me maybe 45 min. It would have usually taken me 2 ish hours not including the lag time for Karen to make the graphic (time difference).

All this is to say, I was not the most gung-ho on AI. Now I am because I see how much time I can save.

To Replace an Employee or Not?

Fast forward to about a week after I started using Hark, I realized two of my subcontractors could be 100% replaced with Hark if I set it up to run the same tasks on a time I preset or a trigger that I pull.

But I chose not to.

It’s not the right thing. They only work very part time, but they need the work, that’s why they are working for me.

So, instead of replacing them, I am having them scale up their abilities and learn how to use AI to replace their own jobs. And then I’ve instructed them to start thinking out of the box on how they can use Hark to help them do more and help the rest of the team do more.

It will take time to train them up to start taking more agency, but this is exactly the point.

Elevated Work

Most of the tasks these two admin were doing, were wrote, repetitive tasks that I needed done and didn’t want to be doing myself. They were not tasks that required much mental bandwidth other than basic attention to detail to do it well each time.

Now, the key challenge at this junction for me was to decide, am I willing to not be lazy, and put in the time to train them up to do something even better and more valuable for the company?

There are totally other things they can do that are more valuable. I don’t have to look far. The only barrier is my willingness to take this leap. Yes, teaching them some new things to focus on requires a bit of my time, but… it’s good for them.

No longer will it cut it for them to just be doing something an automation an do. They are now required to level up. To push themselves to think more critically about how they can be helpful.

In this process I’ve noticed that when people are treated for so long just like task masters, especially at a such a menial level, their senses begin to dull. This work doesn’t light them up. How could you get excited about typing some things into a spreadsheet or entering details into a database?

Now, the key role I have is to wake them from their stupor and get them thinking critically. Recently Scott Williams from SockReligious came on the pod and shared something similar. He said their blue collar employees who are punching a clock had a very wrote mentality to how they operated. After all, they had been treated like numbers or robots for so long, they stopped thinking critically. But through pushing them and elevating them, they all start getting far more creative about their work.

It’s like starting up an old lawn mower that’s been sitting around for a year or two. It might run a little at first. But to get it to run properly you need to empty out the old gas. Maybe get a new spark plug, and get it kicking. Full power!

It’s not rocket science. It just requires a little bit of effort.

This is where you find yourself.

You can transform the lives of those people working for you. You can be the one to believe in them and mentor them into a higher plane of existence. But will you?

Remember, there are also upsides for you. When you do this, they becoming increasingly valuable to your team because they can do something even more productive. If they have been working with you for some time, you have the added benefit that they have context on how your company operates making it even easier for them to figure out how they can serve.

In the end, you’re also raising their value on the overall talent market. What an amazing thing.

Eventually they may create so much value for you that you can give them a nice raise. Or, if you’re unable they will be able to get a higher paying role at another company, thus allowing them to better provide for their family.

You may also just earn some real loyalty.

But beyond all this, you’ll be doing the right thing in the eyes of Heaven. These are humans deserving of dignity — children of God. They have bills to pay and families to feed.

You’re At a Crossroads

Before my closing remarks, let’s consider some words from Magnifica Humanitas.

“A society that guarantees employment to only a small fraction of the population, despite having a high level of technical development, risks exposing many to forced inactivity, a lack of responsibility and the absence of daily tasks and stimuli, resulting in human and cultural impoverishment. This creates a paradox of material progress and anthropological regression that undermines the foundations of a just and stable social peace. For this reason, the Church’s Social Doctrine insists that access to work for all must be a high priority for public policies and economic processes, serving as a criterion for evaluating the human quality of any development model. [155]“

Here you are. Standing at a fork in the road.

Which way will you go?

You claim to be Catholic. You claim to do the right thing.

Here — in this moment, the choice is clear.

You can elevate an employee, helping them better themselves and their family.

Or you can hurt them in order to increase your profitability margins a small percentage.

Which way? Which way?

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🤖 Luca Ambroz is building Exona Lab. Pricing and underwriting software that helps insurers insure AI risk. London, England.

• 🛰️ Danielle Nicholson is building Mira Intel. Drone-based monitoring and predictive analytics for ports, coastal and offshore infrastructure. New York, New York.

• ⚖️ Noel Bagwell is building Counsel & Clarity. Fractional legal counsel and resilience coaching for founders and leaders recovering from setbacks. Nashville, Tennessee.

• 💻 Michael Marinaccio is building Magnitude Consulting. Strategy, design and technology for causes and campaigns, alongside leading the Center for Responsible Technology. Washington, D.C.

• ✝️ JT Parker is building Five Loaves Ministries. A Catholic missionary apostolate that sends missionaries into parishes to form young people and families as disciples. Long Island, New York.

• ⚡ Cary Register is building R(2) Squared Electric. Commercial electrical contracting and backup generator installs for businesses across DFW. Dallas, Texas.

• 🌸 Rebecca Salamone is building Ambition Aligned, a community for ambitious Christian and Catholic women. Boston, Massachusetts

• 💧 Sydney Bui is building Kembali Water, a naturally sourced mountain water to local hospitality venues while eliminating single-use plastic waste, with plans to expand across Southeast Asia. Bali, Indonesia.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Happy Tuesday everyone!

Today, we are dusting off an old post (with some edits) asking the question, is your desire for efficiency and process killing your customer experience?

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Updates/Events

• Feature Content: Are SOPs Killing Your Customer Experience?

• Heavenly Hustlers

• Highlights

[read time: ~7 min | word count 1, 548]

Events:

• Guild members: our first-ever Town Hall is next Tuesday, Oct 27, at 6 PM CT. Guild updates, open Q&A, and intros. Bring your wins and your questions. You can also catch the recap of our Oct 13 call on building community across family, parish, and business

• Last week’s pod with Garren DiPasquale: he’s taking on Replit by building human-centered technology.

• Over the weekend, I hosted a CF Breakfast in DC. Check out the next DC event on the 29th. Dallas also has one on the books. Check out all of our upcoming in-person events on our Luma page.

Are Standard Operating Procedures Killing Your Customer Experience?

We’ve all experienced a rigid ‘rule’ that spits in the face of a perfectly human ask. Maybe it’s the restaurant rule allowing only one check only for parties over eight, leaving someone holding the bag (and playing Venmo banker for a week).

Or perhaps it’s being told “no tickets sold after X time,” despite empty seats staring you in the face. These aren’t malicious rules; they’re born from a desire for efficiency.

The restaurant wants to avoid splitting checks chaos; the ticket seller has a system. I get it. Streamlining is the name of the game.

Strict Systems = Short-Sighted

When systems are rigid, they negatively impact the human experience.

That restaurant policy, designed to make the waiter’s life easier, breeds frustration and resentment among your customers. That “no ticket sales after” rule, intended to create order, turns away a paying customer for an arbitrary reason.

It’s a short-sighted victory for process, but a loss in the long run.

Nowadays, the relentless pursuit of operational efficiency is praised. After all, it’s what those private equity guys do.

Shaving seconds here, pinching pennies there—anything to increase that ROI by a few points.

But at what cost?

Sure, short-term profits might be up. But what is the long-term impact on your customers?

Maybe you can justify a few lost customers per year for greater short-term returns overall. If you’re lucky, maybe they don’t even spread the word about poor customer treatment.

Everything appears good on the surface.

Empowered Employees

What is the inverse of this?

Some companies have standard operating procedures, but also understand that rigid rule following doesn’t empower their employees. Sometimes, breaking the rules is the best way to serve your customer.

Imagine a scenario where a staff member says, “You know, usually we can’t do this, but let me see what I can do for you.” This is good customer service — but more than that, it turns the experience into a memorable moment between the business and the customer.

The person on the other side feels seen, understood, and valued. Think about the word-of-mouth marketing that kind of interaction generates. And what was the real cost? Likely not much.

But these little things actually have a great impact because customers who are well-taken care of become your biggest fans.

Building a Culture of Customer Love

When you’re building a family-owned business — focused on longevity and generational success — those genuine customer connections are the compounding interest you truly want to see. If you commit to them, they will commit to you. And that relationship will get stronger every time it goes around. All you have to do is maintain that commitment.

Think how powerful that advantage is compared to a private equity-backed competitor laser-focused on a 3-5 year exit strategy.

They play a game of years. You play a game of generations.

Who do you think is going to win?

This approach isn’t just good for customers; it’s good for your employees too. No longer are they cogs in a machine, robotically following protocols. They learn to think critically, take ownership of situations, and to find creative solutions.

Imagine a crisis situation — which team will perform better? The one that has been beaten into following the rules. Or the one who has been empowered to make decisions on the go?

Love Your Customer: Christian Charity

Ultimately, it all boils down to loving your customer. As Tim Connors said on the podcast in the past, the companies with the highest Net Promoter Scores (NPS) are the ones that love their customers the most.

That sounds a lot like the core idea of Christianity… Charity. Desiring the good of your brother.

Of course, empowering employees to bend the rules isn’t without its challenges. It requires trust, a different kind of training, and a commitment to clear communication about when and how to make those judgment calls.

But don’t forget.

As they learn, they will become more valuable to you and to the world. Perhaps it prepares them for an elevated role. Either way, it’s also loving your employees to help them level up. And you have even more responsibility to your employees than to your customers.

The reward for all this is fiercely loyal customers and engaged employees.

You Choose

You have a choice in front of you. Will you build your company on the foundation of rigid rules aimed at maximizing short-term profits, or will you cultivate a customer-centered culture of trust and service that builds something meant to last the test of time?

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🎙️ Reagan Stock and Hudson Bonetti are building Better Apps. A software studio behind DebateTV, where AI trained on Thomistic principles judges three-minute debates. Washington, D.C.

• ☀️ Dan Misleh is building Catholic Energies. Helps dioceses, parishes, and schools cut energy costs through efficiency audits, solar, and storage. Washington, D.C.

• 🥔 Matthew Mach is building Fat Thins. Potato chips cooked in 100% beef tallow, with no seed oils. Minneapolis, Minnesota.

• ✝️ Michael Gentile is building The Apostles Fund. Venture philanthropy that brings investor discipline to scaling Catholic evangelization apostolates. Montreal, Quebec.

• 📡 Larry Dunleavy is building Modelithics. RF and microwave simulation models and lab services used by circuit designers in 30 countries. Tampa, Florida.

• 🛍️ Andrew Burow is building Aisles. An app that shows shoppers real-time inventory at nearby local stores. South Bend, Indiana.

• 🌿 Emmalee Banks is building a homeopathy practice offering web consultations worldwide, plus classes and marriage and relationship programs. Quebec, Canada.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Highlights: Family Business Consortium

This past weekend I attended the Family Business Consortium hosted at CUA. And I highly recommend any of you building family businesses attend their next gathering in April. It was a really impressive group of people, and we had a lot of hard to face conversations about succession planning etc.

Keep an eye out for it here.

Happy Month of the Holy Rosary!

If you are not already one who prays the rosary, I cannot recommend it enough. Our Lady promises many signal graces to those who do. And there’s no way to get closer to Jesus than through His mother.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• Updates/Events

• Feature Content: Constraint Method of Growing Your Biz

• Heavenly Hustlers x 6

• Highlight: Muse.AI

[read time: ~5 min | word count 1, 103]

Events:

• Last week, the author of Leaving a Legacy, Johann Kurtz, did a guild call with us on why Catholics should think about legacy. Check it out (paid members only)

• We just published (late last night) the monthly newsletter for the guild. If you did not get it, ping me or Oscar so we can forward it to you.

• Want to buy a business? Check out our podcast covering the topic with Zach Scardino (Guild Member).

• THE VAULT: This Catholic dentist gives away free care to the poor. Check out the interview.

• Upcoming events in, Nashville, DC, Central WI. Check out all of our in-person events on our Luma page.

The Primary Constraint Method of Growing Your Business

Folks. Today I’m keeping it super brief because it’s 10:16 and I’m just writing this (one of the downsides to having a business that is growing is that I have substantially less time to write this, don’t worry, I’m fixing it).

Alex Hormozi often references a very helpful framework, or methodology of growing a business. In all businesses, there is only ONE thing stopping you from growing. Once you remove that constraint, you’ll run into another one.

What follows is the idea, or mentality that you should focus aggressively on understanding what that one thing is, and then unblocking that bottleneck.

It’s very, very simple but it’s something I have thought about often when I feel stuck.

As we have discussed recently, there are a lot of distractions while running a business. Figuring out what is most important to work on is THE MOST important thing you can do. Followed only by doing that thing.

One note on constraints.

Alex says that there are two primary types of bottlenecks, or constraints. Your biz is either supply-constrained or demand-constrained. Never both at the same time.

Take my business for example. As a headhunter, it takes only a few client reqs (demand) to be so overwhelmed that I’m writing these newsletters at nearly midnight the day before they have to go out.

Then I get so busy focusing on delivering (supply) that I’ll end up having insufficient demand for the service. Of course the demand is out there, I just need to go connect with it.

In the long-run, I believe my primary constraint throughout my businesses lifetime is going to be supply constraint. This gives me clarity to focus on what I really need to focus on — which is finding a way to identify recruiters and train them well, and faster than anyone else can.

Okay folks - that’s all for today. I hope this short framework helps you visualize where you are in your business journey, and that through this, you can figure out where you need to put your focus and effort.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

BTW: If you’re not familiar with Alex Hormozi’s books, I highly recommend checking them out.

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 📣 Regina Bethencourt built Tenuto, a marketing agency helping universities and nonprofits increase their cultural influence. The agency is designed by and for moms looking for flexible work. Alexandria, Virginia

Get the other 5 by upgrading to a paid subscription now.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Highlight: Trying Out Muse by Meta

I recently started using Muse, Meta’s AI assistant because I heard someone raving about it on a podcast. I am now that raving person.

It is getting really really close to being able to do all the things you wish Siri could do. Book restaurants, check your inbox for missed messages, deal with customer service reps. I started using it on a short flight the other day, and in 45 min, I was mind blown at how many things I could get done. Intros made, emails sent, etc.

I heard that Instinct is also very good. And I’ve heard that the Grokbot is also incredibly easy to use.

I encourage people to check out some of these tools every so often. You are not going to have time to test them all, but you can certainly figure out when there are simple tools that will drastically save you time.

BTW, I call mine Pepper bc I hate the name Muse.

Happy Tuesday! I’m here — got this out despite most of my evening being wasted at the first part of Peter Thiel’s lecture on AI.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• Updates/Events

• Feature Content: It’s Okay To Hustle

• Heavenly Hustlers x 6

• Highlights: Weekly Mastermind Meetup Structure

[read time: 6.5 min | word count 1, 447]

• Let’s Taco ‘Bout Jesus: A Summer Social is happening tonight in Nashville. Make sure to RSVP and spread the word.

• We featured Zach Scardino for the second time in our latest podcast and we talked about the Catholic Way of Buying A Business.

• We wrapped up meetups last week across Wausau, Dallas, Columbus and Mexico. Check out all of our in-person events on our Luma page.

It’s Okay To Hustle

A lot of Catholics think that hustle culture is not for them. To an extent this is true, but it’s largely dismissive.

The modern word hustle is associated with money, fame, and hot chicks. But that’s not the point of hustle. Hustle is about putting in the work. When a generation that has been misled on what they will find meaning in hustles, they do it for what they perceived to be the real meaning in life.

Rather than a life of reporting to HR Karens1, they want a life of freedom from rules — or at least a life played by their own rules.

The issue is, this life of supposed freedom isn’t freedom if it’s a life of sin. As we all know that’s really slavery to sin.

What’s still true is that hustling is about effort. Just because moderns hustle for the wrong things doesn’t make hustling a bad thing. Certainly it’s not a sinful thing. As with many thing, the purpose and intention also matters.

Now, for those who’s aim in life is a life well-lived according to God’s terms, why shouldn’t you hustle? Do you believe that you’ve inherited truth? Do you believe you have the true faith?

If you do, how are you not at least somewhat stirred to action. It’s a very motivating thing to realize that you are an heir to an eternal kingdom. And that same eternal kingdom is available to each and every man.

You can also consider the fact that you were given a special ability to co-create with God inside the context of marriage, bringing more souls into the world. Paying for those kiddos might be a bit challenging if you’re not hustling on the side a bit. Perhaps things are so tight that more children would feel really hard financially, but with a little bit of hustle, and putting to use those skills God bestowed upon you, you might go be able to be more generous with God and welcome more children.

So, whether your goal is to hustle in order to spread the Gospel others, or to your own offspring, hustle can be — indeed it is, a good thing.

Consider St. Paul. Consider his life. Think about how hard he worked. How many letters he wrote. How much he traveled. Why he was so animated.

He was literally hustling all the time. On top of his ministry, he worked as a tent maker in order that he wouldn’t burden The Church. Sure he didn’t need tons of money because his goal wasn’t a life of comfort. But he had to work during the day, and then use the spare time to spread the Gospel.

In a way, this is a good way for us to see our own business endeavors. We can work to get the amount of money we need, and then allow our business to either fund other activities (our own or those of other passionate people), or to be in themselves a means of evangelizing. This can be done regardless if our businesses are explicitly/externally Catholic or if they are more subtle.

Don’t we all want to be more like St. Paul? At least a bit?

In my mind, one of they key words I’d use to describe St. Paul is a hustler. He was willing to put in the work, regardless of how tired he was. He kept going. Kept evangelizing. Kept pushing the boundaries.

So, if you think that hustling isn’t for you, that we are only called to a simple family life, that we have to have lot’s of leisure time smoking pipe and debating the Filioque with our Eastern Brothers, think again. Of course these are all fine and good things. But it doesn’t change the fact there is a lot of work to do out there in the world. Work that God gave us specific skills to carry out. Through acting, we can affect the world around us and make change.

As a final point, this plays very well with this past Sunday’s reading about the parable of the two sons. One said he’d do the work but didn’t, the other said he wouldn’t do the work, but did. The one who did the will of the father — the one who acted rightly — he’s the one Jesus asked us to be like.

So what’ll it be? Are you going sit around talking about the will of God, or are you going to do it?

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🎙️ Ethan Stueve is building digital growth engines and media platforms for legacy industries. He’s also a host of the Bropostles Podcast. Wichita, KS

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Highlights: Nashville 1:1 and Group Mass + Breakfast Meetups

In Nashville, we’ve started something that I think would work well for other cities.

Each week, on Thursday morning we meet for 7 am mass at the Cathedral. Afterwards we convene at a nearby coffee shop and spend an hour and a half masterminding each others’ businesses. We separate into groups of 4-6 so it’s not rushed.

We cover a recent win and a challenge + an ask. The group offers feedback with their collective experiential knowledge.

I’d like to see other cities start this too. The reason being, having this weekly cadence helps develop routine. Once it becomes routine, it helps the attendees really get to know each other. The more time we spend together, talking about hard things, the more we will have trust with each other. The more trust we have, the more willing we will be to ask for help and work together to take action in our local communities.

If you’re local to Nashville, and want to get on the recurring invite list, ping us — admin@catholicfounders.com.

If you want to start this in your area, also email us and we’ll help arrange it, and find other attendees to invite.

Happy Tuesday y’all! It’s been a bit crazy over here so I’ve decided to repost (with minor edits) an old post I made (before we had officially started this newsletter OR the podcast. When we called this a blog (🤣)

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• Events | Feature Content | 6 Heavenly Hustlers

[read time: ~13 min | word count 2,802]

• First ever Catholic Founders Men’s Retreat in Chattanooga⁩, TN this October 9-10. Hiking, Formation, Fraternity. Register here. Special Discount applies for Guild Members.

• Latest Podcast episode features Scott Williams who built Sock Religious. Learn how he brought manufacturing in-house, and actively applies Catholic Social Teaching to his operations.

• This week meetups are happening across: Dallas, Wasau, and Mexico. Check out all of our in-person events on our Luma page.

Saintly CEO: What Should Employee Benefits Packages Look Like?

We’ve spent a lot of time exploring our divine calling to entrepreneurship. But what about those who are not called into entrepreneurship? Employees — how can we answer our divine calling to them?

So what, then, is our relationship with employees supposed to look like?

We first must acknowledge that without employees, a business cannot function (unless you’re a solopreneur).

Employees are not just laborers or butts in seats; they are human beings deserving of dignity and respect.

As employers, we have a significant role in ensuring that dignity is upheld. Given that humans spend roughly a third of their lives working, it’s crucial to create a healthy work environment, especially from a Catholic perspective.

Just imagine if you had to spend a third of your life in a work environment that constantly pulled you further from your faith by its influence. Not ideal.

Even if our employees are not Catholic, they are human beings who deserve a nurturing and positive work environment.

So — what are the core parts of a healthy working environment? One key aspect is the benefits we provide as employers. While topics like just wages and workplace culture are also critical, today, we’ll focus on employment benefits. (If you believe there are more than 3 core parts, please comment below as we’ll explore each of these topics in the future).

Guiding Principles

As Catholic employers, we must ask ourselves two things.

1. What benefits would we want as employees?

2. What do we have a responsibility to offer based on God’s calling to us?

These two principles should guide our decisions and policies.

Now! Let’s get into the good stuff—the brass tacks. What benefits should I consider? Here are some. Of course, you may have ideas for others to offer, but this is a good starting point.

1. Daily Mass Flexibility: We all need to reach Heaven. Nothing helps us more than receiving The Eucharist. Daily Mass is a huge help in guiding us towards Heaven. On top of this, if our team is well cared for spiritually, if they are nurturing their soul, they are more likely to be practicing virtues. Virtues lead to better treatment of co-workers, customers, family, and even bosses.

2. Taking Off on Holy Days of Obligation: We often take off on secular holidays, so why not for Holy Days of Obligation? If you’re serious about your faith, you’ll attend mass on those days as it is—why shouldn’t your employees?
   
   I’m convinced that this is one of the biggest levers in our cultural war for God.
   
   (Pro-tip: this is also an opportunity to share the details about the Holy Day. i.e., An opportunity for evangelization.)

3. On-Site Child Care: If you employ many people with both parents working, you should consider on-site child care. If they can bring their child with them to work, it saves a trip and another huge expense. If something goes wrong, they are only steps away from being there for their family.
   
   At this point, it’s also important to ask if you can/should pay one person enough to provide for the needs of the entire family so the other parent can stay home with the children. This might be a better solution and will be discussed when we eventually cover Just Wage Theory.

4. First Home Down Payment Assistance: Having a stable home is something that should not be underrated. First, they are not subject to random eviction by a new landlord who might just decide to hike rent to clear people out. Ownership also fosters stewardship more than renting. You are more likely to contribute to your neighborhood and city if you have set roots down.
   
   It also helps them to start building equity for their own futures. Yes, they may end up moving houses eventually, but at least they have started the accumulation of equity versus just paying rent into an endless hole.

5. Comprehensive Insurance: In the present day, this is really a given. However, do not underestimate the value of providing robust health insurance to your employees. Again, as a recruiter, you’d be surprised how many people refuse to take a big promotion because they are in a role with fully covered health insurance—so it goes in your favor for retention.

6. Encouraging Openness to Life: This one falls in the right thing to do camp without a lot of apparent benefit to you as an employer. If you encourage your employees to be open to life and not be worried about taking parental leave, you’re showing your respect for the most important aspect of life and society: the family.
   
   There are even companies that pay their employees a one-time bonus for having children.
   
   Again, put yourself in the shoes of an employee; you want to work somewhere that will understand and encourage you to have a big family and not frown upon you taking parental leave again.

7. Parental Leave: In the same manner, a strong parental leave policy for both mothers and fathers is critical. The family must be respected, and the first few months after childbirth are of great importance to the family. Be generous.

8. Educational Opportunities for Children: Children eventually grow up to enter the workforce. A point of uncertainty in anyone’s growing up is what they will do for work. By allowing the children of your employees to come and learn about the work their parents do, you can help them get exposure to different careers. If you’re able, offering them work opportunities at a young age can help them earn some cash, confidence, and know-how in the workplace. Do not underestimate the feeling of accomplishment from a job well done.
   
   You might even consider using your business connections to help the children of your employees land internships and roles with other businesses in the area. Don’t underestimate the sway you have compared to an average employee. Use your power for good!

9. Family Event Attendance: There’s a soccer game coming up, of course! Find a way to give them off to attend. These moments matter far more than the business.

The hard part is building a culture where everyone understands how to navigate this. Once you do this for one employee, another, perhaps one without children, might complain of unequal treatment. These are the times when you build the culture. You can help them understand that when they are in the same position, you will have the same flexibility for them. Or if they have a different need, they are going to be accommodated while the other individual won’t have a need to do that.

This is the tough stuff! The work is really hard, but if you shape things well, you can build a strong culture.

10. Matching Almsgiving: Some companies make charitable donations, and some match the donations of their employees to different charities—why not match their almsgiving? It’s a small thing, but it also helps them feel good about giving on Sunday.

11. Financial Education: If you want to make a huge impact on your employees’ lives, teach them how to fish instead of handing them the fish all the time. There is a huge financial literacy issue, especially in America. There are probably some really cheap courses on Udemy that you can pay for so they can learn the principles of investing and financial literacy.

12. A Just Wage: You should pay someone a wage that allows them to provide for their family, one that doesn’t require both parents to work. Leaving the raising of children to daycare and schools is, in my opinion, a dangerous thing that risks the core calling we have as married persons, to bring children into the world and raise them in The Faith. Being the reason both parents need to work is not a good look, at least if you can afford to pay better.
    
    Just wage is not in vogue today, with everyone shouting about equal pay, but the truth is, equal pay would only make sense if there were equal needs. There are not.
    
    We see the rising trend of DINKs (Dual Income, No Kids) where people are making huge wages and have no kids; all the while, you’ve got two parents working minimum wage scrapping by. Many of these so-called DINKs are likely the type to complain about inequality while being the primary symbol of it.
    
    Just remember: A just wage is not just what’s acceptable; it’s what you ought to pay that person based on their family’s needs.

13. Continued Education: A main reason people leave a role is for continued learning opportunities. As far as you’re able, you should offer this. It doesn’t always mean ponying up money for another advanced degree. It often means helping find this person’s mentors and allowing them to work on new challenges.
    
    The same theme comes up again: You need to understand your employees on an individual basis so you can know what matters to them. It’s not rocket science (well, unless their interest is rocket science… I’ll leave that in your court); it just takes effort and genuine care for your employees—the same way Jesus cares for each of us individually.

14. Retirement Savings: Again, this is an obvious one, but you have a responsibility to help your employees with it. Part of this comes with financial literacy training, but providing some long-term savings benefits is huge!
    
    I’m not in the position for this yet, so I’m in the theoretical phase, but I love the idea of the employees getting a profit share and upside through the company. If the company does well, we all do well. It aligns the incentives properly.
    
    If you want to go all out, you can develop a pension system, these can be tricky to manage though so you’d want to speak with an expert about that.

15. Annual Leave/PTO: Paid time off for vacation and trips is important. Many studies show that time off actually makes people more productive. However, I don’t want to reduce offering time off to your employees to a ‘productivity hack’ for running your business because it’s more than that.
    
    The truth is, your employees are human (I hope), and the human soul also needs recreation. It’s important to provide them with the space to do that, in some instances, in larger quantities. Again, it’s not about doing the minimum but doing what is right and good for the human soul.

16. Spousal Protections: If we are going to ensure families only need one person working out of the house, we must provide spousal/family protection. This is often in the form of disability insurance, life insurance, and perhaps some of your own out-of-pocket expenses.
    
    Many households maintain both parents working because they are worried about what will happen if one person is laid off or has an accident. This is, in many ways, giving into the temptation of anxiety (in other words, failing to trust in the Lord), but it has some level of credence. Why not remove that temptation by offering explicit spousal protections in the event of something bad happening to the employee?

17. Spiritual Direction: Since our ultimate goal is to get to heaven, we ought to allow our employees to attend spiritual direction. This may mean offering time during the day to attend because priests have tight schedules, or it could mean sponsoring it. If you have a large company, perhaps you can sponsor a priest to provide spiritual direction to all of your employees on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. I’m not sure how this works in practice, but I’m sure if you feel called to it, you’ll find a way with the help of The Spirit.

One final thing I’ll re-highlight is that you shouldn’t underestimate the number of things you can do that only cost you time. As a business owner, you will have access to more doors than most of your employees. Be willing to use that influence to open doors on their behalf where you can. You were not given your position and state in life for only your own benefit. God elevated you here, and you must use that position responsibly and for the benefit of others.

The Moat to Your Business Castle

While these benefits are part of our duty as Catholic employers, they also offer a competitive edge in the business world.

(A word of warning: do not do these things simply for the ‘edge’ it will give you. Do them because they are the right thing to do and because it is a means of respecting human dignity.)

In my experience as a recruiter, I’ve seen candidates choose roles with lower salaries because of the superior benefits offered. In a tight talent market, offering a robust benefits package can help attract top talent.

Once you attract this talent, maintaining these efforts can create a strong reputation. Companies known for treating their employees well often find that more people want to work for them than they can hire. This “talent moat” makes hiring easier and helps retain the best employees.

Benefits are a key ingredient in building a talent attraction and retention machine. By treating our employees with the dignity and respect they deserve, we not only fulfill our moral obligations but also build a stronger, more competitive business.

Theme: We have seen the theme of individuality several times in today’s example. In the same way, God deals with each of us individually, we ought to deal with our employees individually as well.

In summary, Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in being generous when it comes to providing benefits. Do not do only what is common in the market; do what you believe to be right for your employees—what you believe a Catholic-run business would provide.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

PS: What did we miss? Any other benefit ideas? Comment below 💭 👇

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

Please note: to see the full list of heavenly hustlers, you need to be a paid member. Today, there are 6 in total. The first one is a freebie.

• 🤖 Julien Gustinelli is building LexAi. Custom AI agents that automate complex workflows for businesses. New York, New York

Get the other 5 by upgrading to a paid subscription now.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Hey everyone! Happy Tuesday. Welcome back to Saintly CEO.

Today, I’m doing things a little different. I’m going to write a bit of a reminder as to why we do what we do. Not only us at Catholic Founders, but all of you… Catholic Founders.

We have a real purpose, and I want to remind you all — and myself.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events | Feature Content: Why We Are Here

[read time: ~10 min | word count 2,135]

Events:

Before we start, a few updates and key things to be aware of.

• We’re hosting an exclusive men’s retreat in Chattanooga next month, focused on spiritual reflection and deep brotherhood with fellow Catholic business owners. Limited spots available.

• ARCHIVE: A while back, we had a guy on who bought and sold 5 businesses (all turnarounds). This was his first ever podcast. Check out this episode with Chris Farls of Pittsburgh.

• Two Catholic Meetups happening tonight: South Bend and Nashville. Register if you haven’t. And join one near you. Follow our calendar.

Why Are We Here

Why is such a loaded word. Made even more so in some ways following Simon Sinek’s work on the topic.

Asking the question causes a bit of introspection, and regardless of what Marc Andreessen says, this is a good thing. Especially for people like us, who are almost always on the move doing something, we need to take a moment to recall WHY we’re here.

Who are ‘We’

To be clear, I’m referring to Catholic business owners as a whole, but specifically the people who consider themselves part of Catholic Founders.

A Civilization in Ruins

Look around you.

Society has collapsed to a point that would be unrecognizable to most men of just one or two hundred years ago. Go back a thousand years, and they’d be aghast at what they see.

You might not agree. Just look at our technology you’d say. Modern medicine, etc. Sure, but despite all our technology, we have lost touch with God, and as a result, we’ve lost touch with the invisible things of life.

Honor, glory, chivalry, charity, purity, reputation, magnanimity.

I’m not sure exactly why, perhaps it has to do with our refusal to believe in anything that we can’t explain with a microscope, but we have ceased to believe in all things that we can’t ‘see.’

You can’t see honor. Reputation doesn’t exactly paste well into a spreadsheet. There are no double blind studies about charity.

We have rejected all the ‘invisible’ things in favor of the tangible. No more wonder. No more uncertainty. We’ve got this — we don’t need God.

Our society has crumbled, we’ve gotten what we deserve, because we rejected God. We have been destroyed. Only this time, he didn’t use fire and brimstone, we did it to ourselves.

Here we find ourselves, standing, looking around, inhaling the dust from the ruins. Not ruins of bombs. Ruins of decay. A lack of care led to the decay of the city. Slow and steady, atrophy did her work.

What am I going to do about it?

Each of us must ask ourselves this question. And the place to start is actually prior to this. It’s why. Why am I here now? Why am I in this geography? Why do I have the skills I do? Why do I have the parents I do? Why was I born into this particular socio-economic status?

As Catholics, we all know the answer. God chose for you to be here right now, in these exact circumstances. Ruins and all.

He created your soul exactly at the moment of your conception, with total intention. God doesn’t do things by accident. He is THE Creator. This is what He does. He creates. He doesn’t accident.

He chose for you to be born into this time of history, to your parents, in your geography, with your family network (or lack of), your inheritance (or lack of), and even your interests and your skills. These last two are formed largely by the age of 5. The influences you have at that point are primarily a product of your genetics and your environment. Two things that I don’t think a 5 year old can really do anything to change.

Those skills and interests have led you into the life of a business owner / founder. Do you realize that?

Do you realize, that it’s not an accident He gave you such a strong tendency towards entrepreneurship. Oh, and let’s call entrepreneurship what it really is… Co-Creation using the things of this world.

While we do have agency, when you look at the situation like this, it’s very clear, in a lot of ways we had no choice; becoming a founder was Divinely ordained. God did this to us by nature of our birth, dispositions, etc.

So, what are you going to do with that information? Knowing that God ordained for you to be a co-creator alongside Him, what are you going to do with your life?

Are you going to build a business so you can stack cash, have some extra houses, and buy a yacht to live peacefully? — Or are you going to lean into the good that is being a co-creator?

One Right Choice

Like all things in life, there is only one right choice. God gives us a free will so that we have the opportunity to choose the good thing; His will. Life is that. A choice between our will and God’s will.

With a well formed conscience, each opportunity we have to make a choice is only one of choosing to do the right thing, or choosing not to do good.

Most of you have already made this conscious choice to do the right thing in your lives. But do you understand what it means to choose this? To choose the path of being a co-creator, a steward in God’s magnificent vineyard?

An Agent of Change

Here is where our agency comes into play. We can just do things. We can be a force for good in the world around us. When I say force for good, I should say a force for truth. That’s why we are Catholic and why we want the world to be Catholic; because we have the truth and we want to share it.

The point of your business isn’t to stack chips like you’re at the casino. It’s not to get famous and be idolized by the masses. It is for you to be great. Great so that you can glorify God through your good deeds. The praise of men constantly directed upwards to the only one deserving of praise.

Culture Changers

At the end of the day, there are a lot of people in need of truth. And the world is arguably bleaker than ever. If we want our great grandchildren (our grand children even) to inherit this eternal faith, we should be doing everything we can to rebuild, to correct the lies. We should be changing culture.

Earlier we asked the question why.

Changing culture is the answer.

As Catholics, we have a calling to live out our faith in a way that brings others to know God through our actions. As business owners, we possess influence. Our time, our company policies, how we spend our excess income, the products and services we offer. People generally have respect for business owners.

When you put several of us in a room together, we can go out and make some real change in the world. Show up at city hall with our friends and employees to oppose something. Fund the pro family politician. Commission beautiful art.

We can, and must do things to influence the culture towards God. This is our mission. This is why He called us to be entrepreneurs. We are here to be instruments of His will in the world.

Rebuilders

We can fix the ruins around us. We can rebuild them because we have God and Truth on our side. Family life can once again be possible for our employees based on how we treat them and the benefits we provide, not to mention paying a household wage. The priority of the spiritual life can rein once again through us encouraging and making possible a work life that integrates prayer and allows for daily mass.

Genuine communities can exist when we move our employees close to the office. Then we can deepen our connection with one another, help each other out, have regular barbecues. Hopefully our children can find spouses amongst that cohort as well.

We can make time to raise our boys into men by challenging them and doing things together. They don’t have to be punished for not being more feminine in their local public school where energetic boys are forced into conformity.

Honor and chivalry can once again become part of our lives. Building up a reputation for ourselves, and for our offspring that will help perpetuate the desire to live honorable lives.

The various pillars of society can be rebuilt. We have to be the ones who do it.

A Generational Project

No, they won’t be rebuilt in our lifetimes alone. These pillars are meant to be sturdy fixtures that endure from generation to generation, meaning the next gen will have to take up the tools and continue where we left off. And so will their offspring. Once rebuilt, they will need maintenance. These invisible pillars are in so many ways, the real things that keep society on track. And we are going to rebuild them.

It’s the reason why Catholic Founders as a project exists.

There are many good and honorable Catholic Founders in the world. Many of them don’t have the language to understand and contextualize why they are here. Many still think entrepreneurship is just the way they are called to provide for their family and that’s it. Nothing more.

This is wrong frankly. The forces of evil are out there, lurking and seeking to devour souls. We are the stewards in the vineyard. We must use the Master’s resources to care for and protect those around us — those who cannot help themselves.

Together, we will:

1. Start and grow our businesses. Through this, we’ll be answering the calling to be co-creators alongside God, and we’ll have the things needed to change culture around us: prestige and extra capital.

2. Learn the Theology of Entrepreneurship. In the same way that a person cannot love God until they know God, we cannot do Catholic entrepreneurship until we know how to. This is a key reason why we are content forward.

3. Grow in Unity. Doing things alone and isolated keeps us in risk of being sniped off by the evil one. When you’re isolated, it’s much easier to give into fear. Together however, we become greater than the sum of our parts. We become a wrecking ball to knock down the structures of evil, and rebuild structures of God.

4. Change the Culture. The first three things are all in service of this. We are here to transform the world around us.

It’s not an ego thing. God gave us this calling. Yes, it can be scary. Pride and greed are real temptations, but we know He will provide us the graces needed to stay humble and holy. He called us to be real galvanizers and builders in this particular moment of history, so have confidence. Trust as the Apostles did that the Spirit is in us. God walks with us. And that the devil cannot assail us so long as we stay in the wounds of our Lord.

There are many, many souls to be saved. We have the truth. Let’s go share it with them. Let’s change the culture.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Hey folks! Happy Tuesday and happy feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary! Today would be a great day to get to daily mass.

I’m pleased to share that our son was born last week Thursday. September 3rd. The feast of St. Gregory the Great. His name is Constantine Gerard Luwaga Mähner. Advice welcome on this post. Thank you for your prayers!

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events | Feature Content | 6 Heavenly Hustlers

[read time: ~9 min | word count 1, 889]

Subscribe now

News / Updates / Events:

• 🧗🏻Upcoming Men’s Retreat/Hike: We’re finalizing the details of a men’s hike/retreat weekend for Catholic Founders in Chattanooga on the 9th and 10th of October. The cost will probably be around $150-200 to attend (covers lodging and food). Please register if you’re interested (we only have 15 spots).

• 💰 If you’ve never heard it, check out our past episode with Will O’Brien: Should Catholics Try to Become Billionaires?

• 🤝 For CF Guild members attending the SENT Summit, don’t forget we have a dedicated group chat for you to find other Guild members. Find the link to join inside the WhatsApp community.

• Register for upcoming events in South Bend (Notre Dame), Nashville, Mexico, Columbus, Wisconsin, Dallas, Washington D.C. Check out all of our in-person events on our Luma page.

Farming-Games or High-Intensity Games; Which Are We Playing?

In entrepreneurship, one can categorizing the type of game you’re playing, as a Farming Game, or a High-Intensity Game. When playing the former, Catholics have an advantage over secularists.

A farming game is one that required some amount of effort, consistently, over a long long period of times. At the bare minimum, decades, ideally generations.

High-intensity games

A high-intensity game is one played at a much faster pace. You have to win in a short period of time. The longer it takes, the less likely you are to win.

Generally speaking, building a VC-backed startup is a high-intensity type of game. VCs invested, they want returns, you’re often going up against others, and it’s a race to see who can capture the market first. This naturally occurs often because VCs tend to invest in things that just on the edge but about to become mainstream.

Farming games

Outside of literally using agriculture or literally farming as an example, most mom-and-pop main street businesses are in this low-intensity type of game. You can be intense, but if you’re not the first person to start your HVAC service company, it’s not like you’ll have no market left. There will always be people in search of a new provider. There will always be some attrition from bad service.

To win in this game, you need to be consistent. You need to be in the game longer than everyone else.

Now, being around isn’t sufficient. You need to be good. You need to be better than others, consistently for a long period of time.

Septic cleaning business example

Let’s take the example of a Catholic-owned business I know that cleans out septic tanks. They acquired the business from another person. If I recall, it was just one truck at the time. It’s perhaps one of the least glamorous jobs one could do. But, little by little, they have grown and expanded.

Most of their expansion has come as a result of customers in the area being dissatisfied with their current solution. Lack of reliability, breaking things, overcharging them, etc. Others had been there for longer, but were not consistently virtuous in how they ran their business.

20-years later, this family has now grown to be the largest septic service in the entire region of the state. All because they were consistently good. They were virtuous. They kept their word. They were honest. And they did a good job.

Word starts to get around when you do good things.

Eternal timeline

Outside of just virtue, there is another advantage we have over the secularists.

They think only in terms of this life at most, but usually they think in terms of years, quarters, or maybe even days.

In the recruiting world, it’s very common to see someone have a huge month, and then completely fall off the next. Partially because they lost focus of fore year.

However, for us Catholics, we are not just focused on hitting this coming quarterly earnings target. We are first focused on eternity for our souls. Doing things that benefit our souls — that don’t compromise our spiritual life.

Serving our children

After that, our focus for things we do in this life must be for our children. How can we build something that can help our children to better serve the Lord. I do believe in most cases, people should build businesses to last for a thousand years (or longer). Build them so your family can take them over. This compounding can (and will) lead to your family being able to fund the construction of a new church or school in the future.

If you are too short sighted, how are you any different from the secularists?

Of course, we don’t aim for earthly success of our businesses. We aim to do God’s will fully — which usually means being diligent, virtuous, courageous, humble, etc. If we do those things, it’s pretty likely our businesses will grow.

Sure, one generation can mess it up. Does that mean you shouldn’t try to raise them in a right way? No, you’ve got to give it all you’ve got and keep at it.

Your business isn’t your worth

The key benefit is, you know you’re not building that business for some earthly glory. Your worth doesn’t hinge on the financial success of your business. God will judge you for how hard you tried, and for how much you loved Him and put Him above all else.

We build knowing we can pass it down to our children, where others try and extract the value as fast as possible just to get rich.

Who is going to win in the end?

We both know the answer.

Catholics are mostly playing a farming game

It’s important to recognize, the game we are playing as Catholic Founders is largely a farming game. We are trying to transform the culture around us. This requires a life of acting upon culture, but never enough that it causes us to lose the fight with raising our own families well.

Taking lower profits to pay a living wage. Investing in the beautification of our communities. Contributing to the building of a school or church in our area.

The secularists see their life as the end. When they die, they think it’s all over.

That’s why they need to get rich quick. They need to get retired so they can actually ‘enjoy’ this life.

Sometimes you need high-intensity

It’s worth noting, I’m not saying we should never play high-intensity games. I would contend that far too many Catholics never play at the type of intensity they ought. We cannot use the fact we think in generations to do things poorly — or without attention. Low intensity is not the same as low attention. We must be diligent and focused at what we do.

There will be times when we really need a burst of intensity to accomplish something. Usually this is the case when you start your business and stays the same for the first few years. It doesn’t usually just fall into place.

So. Let’s unite in playing the longest of games — the eternal game. Where we run our lives in a way that serves our vocation. Where our business is run with real virtue day in and day out because that eternal game is front and center in our minds. Let’s do things with genuine focus so that they may be done well.

In doing this, we will build many businesses that a secularist could never build. Because their time preference for money is too short. Not for us. We don’t need to be in a hurry to spend it in this life. For us, it can compound and compound. Serving generation after generation and allowing for greater magnificence to be practiced.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

Please note: to see the full list of heavenly hustlers, you need to be a paid member. Today, there are 6 in total. The first one is a freebie.

Get the other 5 by upgrading to a paid subscription now. Discover builders in Colorado, Brazil, Dallas, Nashville, and Wisconsin today!

• 🏢 Alexander Cartwright is building HotelSHIFT to convert old, distressed hotels into affordable housing units without government subsidies. Dallas, Texas

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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My wife still has not given birth, leading me to have the time to write this newsletter late last night. Please pray for us. Her due date was Sunday. Pray for baby Constantine Gerard!

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events | Feature Content | 6 Heavenly Hustlers

[read time: ~7.5 min | word count 1, 692]

News / Updates / Events:

• Events:

  • Last Week: Mexico(!), DC, Wausau, and Steubenville hosted events. 🚀

  • Up Next: Nashville (Sep 15th) | Monterrey, MX (Sep 22nd) | Columbus, OH (Sep 25th) | Dallas (Sep 26th)

  • Hike: Mark your calendars for a men’s-only hike on October 9-10th in Chattanooga (paid event). More details to follow.

  • 📆 See all upcoming IRL events here —> Luma page.

• Content:

  • Latest: Our episode with Marty on mercy brought me to tears.

  • Up Next: The kingpin of El Segundo 👀 (tune in to the pod Thursday)

  • Guild Call: Evan Raugust dropped expert YouTube advice on us last week.

  • Vault: What benefits should you provide?

• 👕 The merch store is live.

• The Guild Only Newsletter drops tomorrow (stay tuned).

Evangelize By Being Different

When Peter rebuked Jesus for saying he would suffer and be put to death, Jesus replied with some of His strongest words ever recorded.

It didn’t compute with Peter.

Don’t ‘great leaders’ conquer with strength and power? How could Jesus usher in the kingdom without doing the same?

Jesus would go on to conquer the entire world (not just a sliver of it) and establish His Eternal Kingdom in the totally opposite way, through suffering and death. This is a total contrast to the way the world perceived great leaders at the time.

To become a sacrifice, He was as gentle and docile as a lamb led to the slaughter.

Other conquerors used strength, power, and violence — He was the recipient of those things.

This contrast is the most jarring part of the whole salvation story.

One man achieved a great victory, but in a way that no one expected. God wrote this story intentionally, in order to set the tone of what it would mean to follow Christ, “The Founder.” We follow Him through sacrifice. We conquer through sacrifice.

Business owners must do the same thing.

This pertains to both sacrifice and being ‘different’ or contrasting the norm.

Diference/Contrast

To bring others within our sphere of influence to know God, we must be different. Our way of doing business, if we are transformed by the Faith, should appear almost nonsensical to those around us. Employees, customers, and secular business owners thinking to themselves, "What in the world is he doing?”

This is the point I want to emphasize.

Difference is the key.

The same goes in marketing. Better to be different than better.

Today, many (if not most) people see business in a negative light. Greed. Extortion. Lack of care for employees. Cutting corners to save money. Customer left holding the bag while some private equity bro in a vest rides off into the sunset in his Porsche.

When our lives are transformed by Christ, the way we do business will naturally look different because the reason for doing business is no longer an earthly reason, but rather an eternal reason.

• We’ll be gracious with our employees for choosing to work with us rather than expecting them to thank us for employment.

• Encouraging our employees to exercise their co-creative abilities rather than becoming robotic clock-punchers.

• Producing things for our customers with love to serve them, rather than for the sole purpose of making a profit.

• Being flexible with our suppliers if they are late, recognizing that they are human too.

• Paying people on time.

• Being honest in our marketing. Living up to what we market about our products by making them well.

• Choosing to receive less profit so we can pay our employees a living wage. Allowing families to get by on a single income.

• Saying no to additional revenue by closing on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

• Choosing not to accept projects that would force a rush and lead to negative effects on the family.

• Having less profit by paying child and marriage bonuses to our team.

• Being flexible with them when they have family matters to attend to rather than being judicial about having them adhere to strict HR policies.

• Spending more on keeping our spaces clean and storefronts fresh in order to elevate our employees, customers, and community (again, less profit).

These are just a few ways we may appear ‘different’ to the world. But this is not an exhaustive list. You’ll naturally find other ways to do this if your Faith is real and full.

Sacrifice

Ultimately, by being different, we will be sacrificing, and thus following in Christ’s footsteps. The sacrifice is often profit. Sometimes status. In some instances, it will also mean our life. If not physical life, at least social or political.

We may be totally ostracized for making our beliefs known. Perhaps you live in a community where living out your Faith would be supremely unpopular and lead to truly negative circumstances. Do it anyway.

To follow Christ is to sacrifice.

While others are flexing their power, you can admit your weakness. Stating that all your power and strength come from God.

I firmly believe that when we as business owners accept this fact, not only will our Faith become fuller, but our businesses will look different through the sacrifices we make, and in doing so, many… many souls will come to know God.

They will come to know God through that initial curiosity sparked by seeing how different our actions are. That contrast to the way others do business will begin to make them wonder. And wonder is an openness of the mind. An open mind is a mind ready to receive a seed. The seed of truth.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

Please note: to see the full list of heavenly hustlers, you need to be a paid member. Today there are 6 in total. The first one is a freebie.

Get the other 5 by upgrading to a paid subscription now.

• ✝️ Pontus Stjernfeldt is building The Camino Company, a Catholic venture studio launching faith-aligned software and new mission-driven companies. Romania/Poland.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Highlights: Mind-Boggling Data

We have more clergy per practicing Catholic than ever, but because our numbers decreased and our parish count didn’t, it feels like we are dwindling.

That is the TLDR of the article I’m sharing today. And I think it may be one of the most important ever written on the Church’s actual current struggle, as well as the apparent solution. Please read it.

Tradition & Renewal

We Must Build

(Editors Note: This is a guest post from my friend Andrew Warfield. Seminarians in Boston and New York peaked in 1953; in Galveston-Houston, in 1959. The collapse we assign to Vatican II was underway a decade before it opened. Andrew Warfield has written a well-researched diagnosis, and while I don’t necessarily agree with everything in the essay, the e…

Read more

3 months ago · 99 likes · 23 comments · Tradition & Renewal

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today is the feast of St. King Louis IX. He was involved in the Crusades; he was known for his care for the poor and his justice (among other things). In other words, he’s a great example for Catholic business owners, who are often building ‘empires’ of our own to look up to. Consider reading more about him in the Catholic Encyclopedia here.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Updates/Events

• Feature Content: The Angelus: A Call to Accept the Word of God, and Act On It

• Heavenly Hustlers x 6

[read time: ~8 min | word count 1, 639]

News / Updates / Events:

• 📰 Check out my latest article on The Catholic Herald titled How business owners can rebuild communities to see how Catholic business owners can bring real accountability and connection back to our neighborhoods. PS: Sign up for an annual subscription using code FOUNDER50 for a hefty discount.

• 🤝 We’re getting the D.C. founders and biz owners together for another meetup. Get ready for an evening of good conversation with fellow entrepreneurs this week. ​Mike Lehmann will be leading the group for this. Register here.

• Some recap from the Nashville and Dallas gathering last week. If you want to join a meetup in your city, check out all of our in-person events on our Luma page. 📆

• Check out last week’s episode with Joe Markey (we had great feedback, so if you’ve not listened already, check it out)

A Reflection On The Angelus for Catholic Entrepreneurs

For some time now, I’ve been promoting the Angelus Bells app that our friend Daniel Egan created (add it to Chrome here). A tab pops up at 6, noon, and 6 with bells of your choice ringing. A visceral reminder to pray the Angelus.

Growing up, we prayed the Angelus very consistently as a family. But I honestly didn’t start to realize the power of the prayer until recently. I think it’s a prayer that is particularly of interest for Catholic business owners — aka, ‘doers’ in society.

If you’re like me and you’ve grown up saying the Angelus, or perhaps you picked it up more recently, perhaps this post will deepen your appreciation for the prayer, or at least refresh you on it (we can all use refreshers from time to time).

“The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.”

This is the first line. We hear words being exclaimed, and action taking place.

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word.”

Here we have Mary accepting the word of God. The angel has declared, and Mary has accepted. She’s welcomed the word into her heart. She wills whatever it is that God wills.

“And the word was made flesh. And dwelt among us.”

God becomes man. The Word becomes man. The Word becomes action.

Word —> Acceptance —> Action

This is our blueprint to imitate Mary (and all the saints).

If you’ll recall, the intro to John’s Gospel starts with this literary banger (in the Latin Mass, this is the ‘Last Gospel’ read at the end of every Mass).

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) — “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)

The ‘Word’ is God the Son. He proceeds from the Father. The words coming out of His mouth are the Son. He is a living thing coming straight from the Father. But not only is He (the Son) word; He becomes man… he becomes action.

I found this really interesting to consider as an entrepreneur. So much of our personality is tied to taking action. After all, the one with an idea for a business never makes any money. However, the one who takes action does. He is the real entrepreneur.

If we are truly in pursuit of heaven, if we desire God above all things, are we allowing the Word of God to truly enter our hearts and lead us to action?

As entrepreneurs, we know we are capable of action because of where we are now. That means we know we are capable of acting on our faith. We just have to accept it in our hearts and take the actions God is calling us to.

So today, let us take action, both in our faith and in our businesses.

If you’ve been putting off doing business development — stop procrastinating. Get out there and do it.

In your faith.

• Start acting on that ambitious project for the Church. Raise the money for the mural.

• Get together some fellow parishioners to buy the duplex next to the church so it can be rented to a good Catholic couple.

• Invite your business partner to Mass.

• Say the Angelus out loud in the office with your other Catholic employees.

• Start going to an extra Mass during the week.

• Get together a group of other business owners to attend the next city hall meeting and oppose the anti-family policies.

• Offer to match the funds for the Church fundraising effort.

There are infinite things you can do to act on your faith. Pick one and do it.

Perhaps if you start praying the Angelus consistently and attentively, you’ll be moved to action. Having heard the word of God, and accepted the Word of God in your heart, maybe you’ll become more like Mary, an instrument in the salvation of men.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

PS: Don’t forget, through receiving the Eucharist, Jesus, the Son, is in your heart. You’ve already accepted Him physically — all that’s left is for you to accept Him spiritually. The action will follow.

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 📊🌾 Lee Greer is the founder of SPECCX, a Nashville-based marketplace technology company that utilizes pricing algorithms to empower farmers and buyers in the agricultural industry. By focusing on integrity and excellence, the company strives to maximize profit for farms and wellness for buyers through sophisticated community-driven exchanges.

• 🎨👩🏻‍💻 Anna Maria Yates of .am-yates Web Design, based in Calvert County, Maryland, is a web designer and developer building digital solutions and infrastructure to give brands a creative start.

• 🏡👣 Jason Murphy leads The Martyr’s Walk, a Charlotte-based non-profit organization offering intensive three-day spiritual programs designed to guide men through profound life and faith transitions. He is also the owner of Daedalus Properties, a premier construction, real estate, and investment firm raising values in Charlotte's hottest hood since 2004.

• 👨🏻‍💻💰 Kevin Dale is an Army Infantry veteran, Vanderbilt BA/MBA, and serial entrepreneur. After leading combat operations in Afghanistan and scaling tech/software products, he’s now tackling wellness at scale. Starting with microplastic-free, all-natural non-GMO tea.

• 🧔‍♂️🪜 Todd Uterstaedt is an Army veteran, C-Suite advisor, and CEO of Baker & Daboll, bringing executive coaching and intentional mentorship to executive teams. They are based in Ohio.

• 👩🏼‍💼🎵 Bea Whitmarsh is the founder of My Holy Crescendo, a formation ministry started in Oklahoma City, helping Catholic women discover God’s unique design in their body, mind, and spirit. Through structured programs like her 15-week A Symphony of Grace, she empowers women to embrace their true identity, stop fighting themselves, and live fully as the masterpieces God created them to be.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Howdy y’all!

Hard to believe we’re mid way through Q3 already. How are you doing with your goals for the quarter / year?

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Updates/Events

• Feature Content: Build What God Wants You To. Not The World.

• Heavenly Hustlers

• Highlights

[read time: ~7 min | word count 1,591]

News / Updates / Events:

• Guys… we finally launched the Catholic Founders Merch Store in partnership with 4 Marks Printing! 👕
  A lot of you have been asking for it and now it’s live. Check out what we have and get one today (it will help keep Oscar’s salary paid 🤣)

  Get Your CF Merch Today

• Nashville, we’re meeting tonight. More details here if you or someone you know haven’t registered yet.

• 🤝 We just locked in a special partnership with The Catholic Herald 📰. More details in the Highlight Section.

• 🎙️Our latest episode on the pod is actually a crosspost of my guesting on the Great Houses Forum by Gregory Treat. Listen here.

• Don’t miss out on all the CF meetups happening by subscribing to our Luma page.

Build What God Wants You To. Not The World.

I just finished reading Wild at Heart by John Eldredge on Sunday. It’s not often I say this, but I feel that book is going to go down as one of the most transformational reads of my life.

Towards the end he quoted Gill Bailey.

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Let that sink in a bit. Re-read it once or twice.

Aside from this quote making me feel more alive instantly, a thought popped to my head. This is very different than the typical business advice you’d hear. “Do customer discovery until you know what they want to buy, then sell that.”

This has been widely accepted as the thing to do. But when you look at it through the eyes of a Catholic, and through the lens of ‘doing what makes you come alive’ it feels really lame.

However, you’ve got people on the other side who only follow their passion. We all know them. Many of them can barely pay the bills.

Despite this supposed ‘failure’ in the eyes of the world, there is something quite romantic about pursuing your passion. Chasing what makes you come alive. And truthfully, I think if each of us can discover this, we’d be a lot closer to God than we are now.

I do believe that God speaks to us through our desires. Maybe they’re there to bring us closer to him. To uncover some broken parts of our hearts at that time. But ultimately, I think if we have a robust prayer life, genuinely want to get to heaven, and have a rightly ordered conscience, God speaks to us through those desires.

There, in the messy places, we find the calling God has for us.

For some, it may be the way you provide for your family financially. For others it may be something that has to stay on the side. But either way, I want to encourage you to find that thing and do it well.

Don’t assume you have to go ‘all in’ on this or you’re being a bad child of God. Sometimes God might be calling you to diligently care for your family with a full-time job while pursuing this passion on the side. Perhaps the two together are going to compliment each other in ways you didn’t expect.

The core thing to remember here is your focus on the eternal calling. Our ultimate calling is to be with God in eternity. It’s not to stack up some amount of money. Meaning, we shouldn’t put all our effort into achieving a certain revenue or net worth.

If this is true of our personal lives, why should it not be true of our business lives.

Bottom line, don’t do business for the sake of making money. Do it for the sake of getting you, your family, and the families around you to heaven. If you discover your true calling and passion in the world along the way, praise God for that, and don’t take it for granted. Too many people never discover their true passion.

Again.

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~ Gill Bailey

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🏡 Michael Raboine is building Proto Energy, helping improve energy efficiency for commercial and residential buildings. He’s based in my home state of Wisconsin.

• 🎨 John and Ashley Noronha are Co-Founders of the Truth and Beauty Project based in Rome. They make custom, immersive, week-long formation experiences that utilize art and the ‘living classroom of Rome’ (what a line) to help people deepen their faith.

• ⚡️ Kiegan Lenihan Founded Xnilio. A tech startup that automates industrial quoting operations for large energy manufacturers. They can cut the time to quote drastically. He’s based out of NYC.

• 💬 Wes Wilke created Chat JP2. A chat bot to plug into Church websites for visitors to interact with the data on the site. He’s based in the Dallas, TX area.

• 🎙️Kyle Whittington runs Ipsum Audite. They operate the Catholic Creator Conference, which you might have heard of. He’s based in Steubenville, OH and hangs out with all the cool cats over at Newpolity. He’s also a media strategist - aka, he can help you win at social media.

• 📸 Abby Cummings runs Radiance Creative Company. She offers general marketing, social media, and photography to help her clients grow their brand. She’s based in the Charlotte area.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Highlights: Catholic Founders x The Catholic Herald Partnership

• We are announcing officially our partnership with The Catholic Herald.

  They are giving followers of Catholic Founders a 50% off code for your first year subscription. Annual subscription to Digital is $55 before discount and if you want the Digital + Print its $130 before discount.
  

  CODE is: FOUNDER50. Link to sign up is here: https://thecatholicherald.com/subscribe.

  
  If you are interested with CF Partnerships and Sponsorships contact us at admin@catholicfounders.com.

Happy Tuesday! Hopefully you’re reading this first thing to get a little closer to heaven before the day attempts to kick your teeth in.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Updates/Events

• Feature Content:

• Heavenly Hustlers

• Highlights

[read time: ~8 min | word count 1, 879]

News / Updates / Events:

• Next week is the Nashville CF meetup in Germantown. Sign up.

• 🤳🏻Guild Members, we’ll have an exclusive topic call later at 6PM CT via Google Meet with the CEO of Tridfi banking. Discover How TridFi Invests in Local Communities by Taking on Banks. Email us if you didn’t get the link.

• 🤖Discover some of AI downsides from an AI Regulation expert at the latest episode of the Catholic Founders Podcast.

• 🤝We’ve also got Dallas, Monterrey Mexico, DC, Wisconsin, Steubenville and more. Check out all of our in-person events on our Luma page.

Faith to Start and Faith to Continue

On Sunday we heard the story of Peter walking on the water. An unforgettable short story of a man with faith.

Then we get to see what happens when that faith wavers. When his attention is drawn to the world around him and his faith falters.

And then again, how dramatically it changes course when he returns his focus to Jesus, in whom he has faith. “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.” [Matt. 14:31]

In a split second, He’s there helping Peter.

There’s a lot we can take from this story as Catholic entrepreneurs. Let’s look at three that come to my mind.

Faith versus Risk Taking

A secular person who does not believe in Jesus would see what Peter did as a risk. He took a risk by stepping out.

As Christians, we only see faith. Peter has his gaze firmly fixed on Jesus. He is thoroughly convinced of his power.

When this is the case, stepping out into the water isn’t a risk because he’s not even thinking about that. He’s locked in on Jesus. His gaze is fixed directly on Jesus. He has faith in Jesus.

Only when his focus goes off of Jesus does he begin to sink. In several versions of the translation, the scripture says Peter ‘saw’ the wind. Indicating his eyes went elsewhere.

I’m bringing this up because I think we can apply a lot of this to our own lives as business owners. When you started your business, I’m guessing many of you were locked in on Jesus. Eye to eye. You stepped out on the journey of entrepreneurship with total faith. In my case, I had faith that it would work out. Not that my company would succeed. But that even if it failed, it would be God taking care of me and directing me. In some ways it was easier then, because I hadn’t built it. I had no reputation yet.

Can we bring this into our business beyond just starting? Can we start to see things not as risk-taking, but rather as an act of faith?

Continuous Faith

Notice how one act of faith wasn’t sufficient to keep Peter on the water. It had to be constant (take that protestants 😉). He popped in and out of faith in this short span of time.

As I mentioned before, it’s not enough to have faith when you start the business. You must keep that faith as you go on. In tough times (like I am), He will provide. In good times, He might be calling you to something bigger. To take another risk. At the bare minimum, to stay focused on Him and give glory to Him for what He’s blessed you with.

Don’t just have faith at the outset. Have faith constantly!

Magnanimity

When you reflect on the timing of the story. Faith once is enough to get you started, but faith throughout keeps you going. It keeps you taking more ‘risks’ as you go.

Above we discussed that risks aren’t really a risk at all, so long as our gaze is fixed on Jesus. So why do we slow down when our business starts to do well? When it gets to a place where it’s clearly working?

Are we not being complacent or lazy?

When you look at growing to the next level — of going from $500k to $5m — do you see it as a big risk? If so, perhaps your gaze is not where it ought to be.

Truthfully, magnanimity demands that we continue growing.

For those unaware, magnanimity is a virtue by which we become fully who we are called to be. Regardless of who you are and what your unique calling is, I can guarantee that you’re called to some form of greatness.

Magnanimity applies to all aspects of your life. In the spiritual life, it can be hard to quantify because it’s not ‘visible’ — but in the business world, it’s nearly impossible to ignore.

Most things are measurable, especially revenue and profit.

So if your business is at $500k a year in revenue or $1m, what is stopping you from growing it further to $5m? I ask you once again… are you being magnanimous? Or are you giving in to pusillanimity? (Yes, I know this word is impossible to pronounce. You can just say it how you think it should be said. No one will judge you. Unless you say it out loud, of course).

Pusillanimity is the opposite of Magnanimity. Small-mindedness. Often pride masked as false humility.

Ultimately, what I’m saying is, true faith will lead to becoming magnanimous.

If your gaze is firmly fixed on Jesus, you won’t even realize where He’s led you. To walk on the water, to climb the tallest mountain, to slay the enemies in battle — all that you’ll see is Him because you’re focused where you ought to be.

As you finish this read and go back into the world to face it while you lead your business — keep that idea front and center. How can I have a faith that is constant? How can I keep my eyes firmly fixed on God?

Start by asking for the grace to have such a faith.

Then put in place all the pillars necessary to remind yourself of the faith you seek frequently throughout the day.

• Start by adding the Angelus Bells to your Chrome browser. You’ll never have an excuse to miss the Angelus again.

• Create an accountability group for getting up early and praying every morning (we can probably arrange this through the Guild for you).

• When networking locally, suggest going to Mass and then getting coffee. If they are not Catholic, at least offer the coffee part, but schedule it right after Mass.

Finally, avail yourself of the sacraments. God is there with His hand out, waiting for you to take it. Ready to snatch you from the danger as soon as you cry out — just like Peter did.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 👨🏻‍💻🤝Jeremy Foxx is based in St. Augustine, Florida. He is the founder of Foxxception where he provides consulting services for business, marketing, and product strategy, specializing in full stack web development and marketing strategy.

• 🤔🔉Joseph Valentic is the man behind The Catholic Curator. He is based in Detroit, Michigan. The man leads a Fractional Executive Services and the Heroic Catholic Man platform, merging professional business strategy with spiritual direction for Catholic leaders.

• 🕵🏻‍♂️🪧Will Deatherage leads Catholics For Hire, a Rockville, Maryland-based agency serving as a one-stop shop for marketing, design, fundraising, and educational resource development projects.

• 🧐💻Josh Longbrake is a the founder of Studio Brainchild from Tulsa, Oklahoma. He builds custom software solutions for start-ups and small business from concept to launch.

• 👴🏻🧓🏻Alexander J. Hoffarth is the founder of Aquilux Partners based in Washington, D.C., a buy-and-hold firm focusing on stewardship and modernizing small businesses to navigate the massive rise of retiring baby boomers.

• 🔢📈Steve Cyboran is an actuary and founder of Humaculture He is based in Houston. His firm cultivates organizations to nurture and grow people to thrive through data-driven and culture-aligned solutions.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

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Happy, and hopeful, Tuesday to you, dear sir (or madam)!

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Updates/Events

• Feature Content: Hope in Time of Anxiety

• Heavenly Hustlers x 6

[read time: ~10.5 min | word count 2, 312]

News / Updates / Events:

• SHORT NOTICE: Andrew Whiskeyman is hosting a meetup for Catholic Business owners in Tampa this week on the 6th. Sign up now.

• Nashville founders and biz owners, we have another meetup lined up. More details here. 👀

• For Guild Members, we have launched our first exclusive Guild Members-only newsletter with Wins, Asks, and Updates shared by members. A valuable way to connect with each other more deeply. ❤️‍🔥

• On our latest episode of Catholic Founders pod, we’re joined by Lucas and Jessica Moser. They are a married couple raising five young children on an acreage in rural Virginia, building a life centered on faith, family, and hard work.

• Check out all of our in-person events on our Luma page.

• It’s the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Stay prayed up and close to Our Lady through the Holy Rosary. 🙏

• And… don’t forget that August 15th is the Feast of the Assumption. A Holy Day of Obligation. Be sure to make it special. After all, you’re a business owner, and can make your own hours.

Hope in Time of Anxiety

Today, I’m going to be pretty open. Largely because I view my own journey, with life and business, as the means by which God is teaching me things, so that I might share them with you. We all know a person can know a thing through information. But they can also know a thing through experience. When teaching, it’s best to teach from experience.

Most of you know that I started my recruiting consultancy in the spring of 2024, the same time that I started Catholic Founders. The first few months were dry. I only closed one deal, which fell through because the candidate accepted an offer from another company after agreeing to the one I had presented.

It was dry.

Then, on the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, I got an out-of-the-blue call from a contact I barely knew. That ended up turning into about 2/3 of my revenue for the rest of that year. Since then, the business has continued to grow. Quarter after quarter. Not every month was great, but as a whole, we kept growing steadily.

To the point where Q1 of this year I did as much revenue as I had done the entire first year of business. Wow. Incredible. I was on a roll. I couldn’t fail.

You might know where this is going.

These past few months — from around April till early July — things have been challenging. We’ve had clients pull the plug on us. My team and I miss delivery timelines. We've struggled to land new clients. And for the first time since starting this business, some upset clients.

Starting around June, when I’d sit down to do my financial projections on how fast we’d run out of money, it started to hit me. I’m in a deep hole and need to figure this out soon. Honestly, I started to panic. I’ll work harder, put in more hours, call in favors.

None of it worked. We kept going deeper into the hole. To the point where I had to dig deep into my savings and investing accounts to make payroll, several times.

During this time, I was struggling deeply with anxiety and trust in God. I knew intellectually that He would take care of us. That even if I ran into financial ruin, He’d still love me, and I’d still have a place in heaven.

But, expecting another child in a few weeks, and having a family reliant on me, it was really, really hard to pull out of that tailspin mindset. Each day I’d ask God for help trusting in Him and for total abandonment to His will. But the anxiety was still there. Some days I was paralyzed by it.

Then everything changed.

No. I didn’t land another big client to subdue the worries. In fact, we are still in a very tight spot. I’m probably going to have to keep dipping into my reserve cash to dig us out of this hole.

The thing that changed is God plopped in my head a reminder of the virtue of Hope.

You see, hope and anxiety are incompatible. If we have hope, there is no space for the rumination that occurs during your bouts of anxiety. How can you have anxiety when you’re focused on heaven — on that eternal reward, the endless banquet — the beatific vision.

When you have anxiety, you’re thinking about the future in terms of fear of lack of control. How can I dispel that future fear by controlling something in the present?

The Church teaches explicitly about anxiety, quoting St. Peter.

Christ invites us to filial trust in the providence of our heavenly Father (cf Mt 6:26-34), and St. Peter the apostle repeats: “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you” ( I Pt 5:7; cf. Ps 55:23).

The Church is telling us that Anxiety takes us in the opposite direction of hope. It pushes us away from trusting God’s providence and toward being stuck inside our own worries.

Hope helps us move forward in confidence. The Catechism says.

“When God reveals Himself and calls him, man cannot fully respond to the divine love by his own powers. He must hope that God will give him the capacity to love Him in return and to act in conformity with the commandments of charity. Hope is the confident expectation of divine blessing and the beatific vision of God; it is also the fear of offending God’s love and of incurring punishment.”

As you know, I’m not a theologian; I don’t have expert knowledge of all these things. I can’t perfectly translate all of this into a simple, logical argument for why hope is the path.

What I can say is, I know, deep down in my bones, that me being consumed with anxiety is not going to help me move towards the future with strength and confidence in God.

I do know that if I am full of hope, I would be unstoppable. Because God is right there with me. That hope is a trust that He will, in fact, walk alongside me. He will give me the strength to overcome any situation. To act in charity when it may be hard.

I also know that my team, my family, and all those around me will respond better to my leadership if I’m walking with hope. There is a certain vibe that exudes from a man full of hope that does not exist from a man full of anxiety. There is certainly something exuding from a man full of anxiety, but it’s not positive, and it does not inspire.

“The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.” — Pope Benedict XVI

Remember. This hope is ultimately a hope in a person: Jesus. Once we know that Jesus is always with us, and that we are granted eternal life in Him, we ought to hope.

It’s probably important to mention that this realization only happened last week. So, I am by no means well-versed at keeping this hope front and center. But I can say, ever since having this reminder from God, anytime the anxiety shows up — the worry about the future — how I’ll feed my family — how I’ll pay rent — it’s become nearly impossible to dip down into that pool of anxious thought. How can I? Knowing that God is right beside me and he’s asking me to look up? To look to the cross. To look to heaven as he ascends into the clouds. To look to the saints and Our Blessed Mother.

No. I cannot have anxiety anymore. I’m sure the devil will continue to try and lay it on. Surely one day I may even forget this lesson after the evil one lays off for some time. But deep down I know now that God is calling me to hope in His promise to me and to each and every one of you.

I know — for a fact — there are many of you reading who are not where you want or even need to be financially in your businesses. The early days are hard. It’s not easy to get that momentum going. But I want this to be your rallying cry.

“In you, O my God, I put my trust” (Psalm 24:2)

Spiritually, bring yourself into alignment with God and the eternal beatific vision that He’s promised us. Keep that as your focus. It will be like a taut rope pulling you in like a tractor beam in a space sci-fi movie. Nothing can divert you from moving towards that eternal bliss as long as you have hope. No distractions, no worries, nothing.

Place your hope in the Lord. It will make you a better leader. And it will guide you on your business journey too.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🧔🏻🤝 John Mullen, based in Columbus, Ohio, operates The Arena, a ministry project dedicated to building fraternal brotherhood and spiritual networking for young adult men. He focuses on facilitating local environments for formation and mentorship.

• 💻🔊 Vincent Roberts of Charcoal Agency, based in Cincinnati, helps other owners become known and trusted by the right buyers through organic content. In short, write content, get customers (but he does it for you).

• 🪙🔐 Teresa Suarez, founder of Washington, DC-based DiVinciX (DiVinciX = Divine + da Vinci + the eXploration of space). She is developing a FinSecOps platform that shifts cybersecurity from a fear-based model to a value-driven approach (quantifying risk).

• 🦺👷🏻 Joshua Garay of Garay Concrete Work Co in DFW, Texas. He is a hustler in specialized concrete work. If you’re looking to build, message them.

• 🛜 Kenan Wursthorn from Indiana, IN, is a Co-Founder of Signalyze AI. It is an AI engine that helps sales teams grow revenue.

• 📆📒 Jennifer Autry is the Founder and Lead Consultant of AMDG Events Co. They partner with Catholic non-profits, parishes, and schools in creating excellent and truly God-glorifying and generosity-inspiring fundraising events.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

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How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

I can’t promise you much, but I can promise you today’s newsletter will be better than Nolan’s Odyssey. Just kidding, I actually liked it. I can, however, promise you this is a lot shorter and won’t blow out your eardrums.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• Updates: My First big Speech

• Feature Content: What Humility Really Means

• Heavenly Hustlers: Spotify for Patents?

• Highlights: What CF and Sam Adams have in Common

[read time: ~8.5 min | word count 1,898]

News / Updates / Events:

• Nashville Catholic Founders, we have a meetup tonight. 🤝 If you’re coming and haven’t signed up yet, register here.

• If you’re interested, here is the recording of the talk I gave at Catholic University of America last month. I had to tell a room full of Catholic biz school professors what they need to teach the leaders of tomorrow.

• Learn how entrepreneurship in mission territories helps Catholics fight poverty and elevate communities toward holiness and prayer through our latest podcast episode with Eamonn Clark. 🎧

• Catholic Founders in NYC had an amazing celebration last weekend. 🎉

• Check out all of our in-person events on our Luma page. Or start your own meetup; we’ll be happy to coordinate with you. Email us at admin@catholicfounders.com.

Pursue Glory. Humility Requires it of You. Let me Explain.

Humility is the basis of all virtues. A priest once illustrated this to me using the Crucifix. He said (I’m paraphrasing) the heart of Jesus — the center of the crucifix — is Charity. But holding all that up, is the cross itself — firmly planted in the ground. Without that firm root, the cross can never stand, and charity cannot be displayed.

This is an important reminder for us as Catholic builders.

We are, in many ways, living in the heart of the world. It’s the domain where we must allow our charity to shine to all those we encounter. However, as stated previously, we cannot do this if we are not firmly rooted in humility.

Now, there is something interesting about humility. I recently read 1 Peter 5:5-6, and one line really stood out to me. Here’s the passage.

“In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for

‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ [quoting from proverbs]

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time.”

Perhaps this is an indictment of where the attention of my heart lies, but that last phrase stood out.

It just seems interesting to me that Peter tells us to humble ourselves, so that God may exalt us in due time.

Does that mean we are actually in fact meant to be exalted… eventually?

While I do not feel that I have in any way ‘figured out’ this passage, I have been thinking about it for a couple days, and here is what I think it means (I remain highly open to suggestions though).

We know that God desires our exaltation in heaven. This is not really glorification of us as much as it is a glorification of God through his perfected creation. But beyond heaven, I take this to mean something similar.

In this life, we can become exalted… in order to give glory to God. We can attract the praise and glory of men, but then choose to redirect that energy towards its rightful end: God.

And I believe that God is pleased by this.

His creation, using the talents and skills he has bestowed on us to do good, to imitate his goodness on earth, and ultimately to send the praise for those works up to him. Hopefully drawing more people in towards him, so that they may know his heart.

Consider the story of a musician. He’s given a talent. He decides to practice and lean into that talent. He knows it comes from God, so as he grows in popularity, he always directs that praise he’s receiving up towards God. He can only do this authentically if he actually believes that the gift is from God. When others see this authentic praise of God, they are drawn to consider it more deeply, hopefully one day, coming to know God.

The key part of this is that there is an active participation. We do put in the work. This ‘work’ is really just cooperation with the things he’s given us. The raw talent is shaped by his graces. But it requires us pursuing him.

Going back to the musician. He had the interest, the basic skill, and the resources to know about his love of music. But he had to cultivate it into a real skill. To the point where he could even be capable of receiving praise from men. If he hadn’t cultivated the gift, there would be no attention for him to redirect towards God.

We started this conversation around humility, and this is where I’m trying to get. If we are humble, we can truly recognize the gifts God has given us. Once we have done that, we must also recognize that it would be wrong, lacking gratitude, and plain sad for us not to put those gifts to the best possible use.

For goodness sake. He created us, gave us gifts, and how often do we just bury those in the sand? What if the musician just let his gift fall to ruin, or worse, what if he never cultivated it at all?

Doing this, putting these gifts to work, honing them, perfecting them, and using them to serve those around us, will undoubtedly lead to us getting attention. In a way, you could say it would lead to our ‘exaltation,’ at least in the world’s eyes.

Does this mean we should not do these things? No. Obviously not based on the reasoning we’ve followed so far.

It doesn’t mean we should not do these things; it just means that we should direct all that praise to God, where it belongs.

Again, we cannot set out in pursuit of exaltation, for to do so would be a failure to recognize the gifts are from God.

We should, however, set out to exalt God. To glorify him for the gifts he’s given us, and the things he’s done for us.

Exaltation is going to be the outcome as a byproduct… but not exaltation of ourselves. Exaltation of the Most High, King and Lord of All — God; the Creator.

So, I’m asking you, in humility, to recognize where your gifts come from, and pursue glory — glory for God. He desires that you put those gifts to work. It pleases him.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🚰 Kory Koralewski is the founder of Denver-based Optimum Field Service Solutions, a company providing specialized management software for the irrigation industry that integrates scheduling, inventory, and CRM tools for dealerships.

• 💰 Chris Da Silva is based in Armadale, Australia, and is building ‘Financial Discipleship,’ a project offering digital resources and coaching to integrate faith with personal finance. The project aims to provide financial education to institutions, including schools and their staff.

• 🪪 Art Nutter, based in Colorado Springs, leads Patent Books, a platform that helps independent inventors secure licensing compensation from major tech companies through centralized industry patent pools.

• 🚜 Michael Thomas of the Catholic Land Movement, based in Cooperstown, New York, leads an international mission to resettle Catholics onto productive, agrarian property. They promote distributist economic principles and foster community-led sustainable agricultural enterprises for Catholic families.

• 📈 Christian Esqueda operates Krux Marketing and Philanthropy based in Texas, an agency that assists Catholic organizations with advancement and fundraising. He is also piloting a SaaS product called Micro Give to help streamline donations for Catholic nonprofits.

• 🙏 Carlos Espinoza Banegas is the Founder of the PleasePray App. Through this, his goal is to create innovative faith-based solutions to connect communities.

• 🧮 Tim Thackston leads and operated a family owned accounting firm serving small businesses. He is based in Westminster, Maryland.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Highlights: A Key Part of Sam Adams’ Success in the Revolution

A group I’m part of recently read about Samuel Adams and how he is arguably the most critical man in creating the circumstances for the American Revolution.

Without getting super far into it, there is one thing that stood out to me. And that is the network that he built called the Committees of Correspondence. The name sounds innocuous, but in reality it was a form of shadow government before the union was finalized.

Hearing about this got me thinking a lot about what we are doing with Catholic Founders. The local meetups, discussing the ideas of Catholic entrepreneurship. Our WhatsApp chat, stitching these local communities together. And a shared goal: to Make Our Country Catholic.

We all need to do our part in growing these networks and fostering true community among ourselves.

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Happy Tuesday, folks!

Welcome back to Saintly CEO: the Tuesday morning newsletter for business owners whose first objective is to become a saint.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Updates/Events: We interviewed Tim Busch!

• Feature Content: Faith = Catalyst (aka: action!)

• Heavenly Hustlers

• Highlights

[read time: ~7 min | word count 1, 437]

News / Updates / Events:

• We just dropped our biggest interview yet — Tim Busch. Please check it out and give it some love. Like, comment, share around with friends. Tim’s story is really good, and he gave a lot of incredible wisdom and insights.
  

• Attention Charlotte, NC! We have a meetup happening this Thursday. Register here.

• We also have NYC this Saturday AND Wausau, WI. As well as Nashville next week.

• Check out all of our in-person events on our Luma page.

With Faith, Your Life Should Look Like an Action Movie

This past Sunday we heard the parable of the Wheat and the Darnel (weeds). Also included in the readings was the woman who mixed the leaven in as well as the tiny mustard seed growing into a great tree (where birds can dwell within).

Seed. Leaven. Growth.

The scene this paints is one of motion.

Growth... Rising… The wheat that grows to maturity. Bread rising. Mustard seed becoming a tree (and a sturdy one at that).

It’s impossible to ignore the motion.

And what is the subject of all these? Faith.

Faith. Motion. Faith = catalyst.

We know (because Jesus tells us) that the seed is the word of God. Once received, what follows immediately is growth and motion. It becomes an action scene.

The growth doesn’t take place on its own, though. It requires external factors. Sunshine, water, nutrients. Wheat, oven, heat. The external factors are God’s grace that He supplies to us (in abundance).

Growth is evidence of true faith. Actually making use of the graces God sends.

Look at your own life; do you see that type of growth? Do you feel the motion? Are you accepting the gifts of water, sunshine, and nutrients God provides?

If not… might I suggest you avail yourself of more of those graces. Maybe you don’t have faith in the first place? If this is the case, you know where to start… the (divine) word.

Okay, I’ve yapped on about the lesson and how it’s evidence of our own lives. Are we a growing, living thing — or are we a stagnant, dying thing?

But the key thing I actually want to draw out here is agency. Agency — “you can just do things” — is about taking actions. However… rather than being ‘the hero’ and saving the day, when we take action, we are simply cooperating with God’s grace.

Our action… our agency, is primarily a mental consent/assent where we choose to accept God’s graces into our lives.

• Getting on our knees to pray

• Frequent Mass & confession

• Welcoming Him in mentally

• Going to adoration

All of these things are there, but we still need to avail ourselves of them. Even if the only thing you can manage is a small prayer before work every day. That’s still something.

Practicing saying yes to those small things here and there will build up the grace. Heaping it up into your soul. Filling and filling. Until if flows over. Spilling out into the world around. Only to continue growing and flowing. One day the souls of others around will also have their cups overflowing further. The fragrance sweet, the sight wonderful. God’s grace — enough of it for everyone.

The wheat and the darnel will grow side by side to the end of time (the harvest). Will our roots be firm enough to withstand the culling of the darnel? Will our faith be mature enough that the workers could never mistake us for darnel?

Did we take agency and make use of the graces God prepared for us?

You’re an entrepreneur. I know you have agency in generous supply.

There is no excuse.

Finally, consider where God will lead you and what a beautiful, sturdy tree you can grow into if you receive these graces. If your faith leads to constant growth, how much good can you do for those around you? A branch for the birds. Shade for the traveler. Fruit for the hungry.

My prayer for you is that you allow that tiny seed to become an action scene so that you may grow into a sturdy tree — large and magnificent — firmly standing because you’re rooted in God.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🎬 John-Andrew O’Rourke is the president of Blackstone Films. Based out of the Denver area. They have produced a lot of really incredible films.

• 🎞️ Manny Marquez is the President of Remuda Pictures. He is a Tulsa-based documentary filmmaker specializing in storytelling within the Catholic and veteran sectors. He focuses on projects that aim to glorify God while supporting his family.

• 🐑 Brendan Murphy leads Leave the 99, a Florida-based non-profit organization focused on Catholic evangelization for young people through media productions, university campus chapters, and creative retreat programs.

• ⛑️ Erin Ford runs an independent health insurance business based in Frisco, Texas, specializing in customized PPO plans for individuals, families, and small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. She serves as an external HR resource, helping clients navigate insurance options while providing affordable, high-quality coverage solutions.

• 🙏 Br. Michael Seethaler is the founder of the Society of Ostians based in Beaumont, Texas (currently), a religious order that blends contemplative prayer with specialized evangelization to meet modern leadership needs. The group takes on projects focusing on internal community development and external ministry to the unchurched.

• 🏦 Louis Mayor is a financial professional at Rethink Wealth based in Houston, Texas, dedicated to serving Catholic families and professionals through stewardship-based financial planning.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Highlights: Ice Cream in Dallas

Last week, our very own guild member, Christina Rossini, hosted a Catholic Founders meetup in Dallas at Howdy Homemade Ice Cream. Jeff Schiefelbein came and spoke about their venture. Then some discussion around Catholic Social teaching also ensued.

Don’t miss next month’s Dallas meetup (they have another amazing speaker lined up). And if you’d like to start hosting a meetup on a regular basis - or just simply one-off- reach out to us, and we’ll help you arrange it. Admin@CatholicFounders.com

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Happy Tuesday, folks! I hope your summer is going swimmingly well. Please pray that our AC unit gets fixed soon - if we don’t, we might have to go swimming as well.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday Tuesday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events: NYC, Nashville, Dallas (feat. Jeff Schiefelbein)

• Feature Content: Creating Fertile Soil

• Heavenly Hustlers x 6

• Highlights: Time for Friends + Wild at Heart

[read time: ~11 min | word count 2,391]

News / Updates

• NYC friends, we have a meetup this 25th of July to celebrate the 250th year of America. 🦅 RSVP here.

• Catholic Founders in Dallas are meeting up at Howdy Homemade Ice Cream on the 18th; even more exciting, Jeff Schiefelbein will be there to share about scaling this social enterprise ice cream brand across the country (you might recall Jeff came on the podcast a while back).

• ICYM the Magnifica Humanitas discussion in Nashville last June; we’re doing another one this 28th.

• We are covering exciting themes for the Topic and Expert Call for this month. Investments Outside the Stock Market and an AI Automation Live Workshop. 🫣 Join the Guild for access (upgrade to a paid subscription here on Substack).

Can Founders Turn Rocky Soil into Good Soil?

Last Sunday we heard the parable of the sower and how each of the seeds turned out depending on the soil they landed on. This got me thinking about the soil itself. What if we as business owners can actually cultivate the ground to make it into good soil, so that when the seed (the word of God) lands, it takes deep root and leads to a bountiful harvest?

Let’s dive in!

Even if you don’t go any further on this piece, I think you get the point, but hopefully you’ll stay with me and let this idea germinate in your mind (and heart) for a bit!

A while back we had Flip Howard on the show to discuss how the space you work in dictates (or at least aids) how well you work. This is a known fact. Your surroundings — your environment — shape you in many ways.

Think about a workplace, about your company’s workplace. How could you craft the work environment (physical or digital) to turn rocky, thorny, or shallow soil into fertile, nutrient-rich soil?

Can we pick the rocks, eradicate the thorns, or plough the pathway? How can we craft the environment to transform our employees’ hearts?

Let’s consider a few ways we can do this.

Let’s look at things through the lens of each ‘issue’ or ‘reason’ why the seed didn’t bear fruit.

The Path: Birds Snatched It

The seed that fell on the path was snatched before the seed could take root. I’m no expert, but this makes me think that there is something to consider about how exposed the seed was. Perhaps the seed was laid in broad daylight, in a public setting, with many people around. Maybe someone retorted just right, or the sower was too harsh in his sharing. Perhaps we need more intimate settings in order for the seed not to be snatched away. To give the seed time to take root.

What comes to mind is the overall ‘vibe’ of the environment you work in. Is it one of peace, quiet, and silence? Where there are no birds chirping away, stealing the seed.

The Rocks: No Roots

As for the seed on rocks, it was received with joy, but was unable to take root. There were rocks in the way of the roots. One might see this as some sort of large obstacle that gets in the way as the root is growing. Perhaps an attachment to sin or the things of the world.

When I hear this, it reminds me of stories my dad would tell of his childhood, how they would pick rocks for hundreds of hours to make the fields better. It feels like a lot of effort is required. To go deep with precise tools and dislodge the obstacles. Perhaps not something we are always called to do with our team, but perhaps the peace and silence of our workplace will allow for the discovery of those large obstacles, for further action to be taken.

The Thorns: Choked by Cares of The World

With the thorns, I wonder if this is the most common. The seed took root, and grew, but bore no fruit. As the scripture says, “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.” (Matt. 13:22).

This feels like the challenge of our age. Maybe we know the word (perhaps intimately), but we are too taken by the desire for wealth, or knowledge of the world — sports, politics, technology, news.

What example are we giving in our companies? Are we setting the tone in a good way? Or is our desire for higher profits and more revenue telling our team exactly what matters most to us?

If you’ll bear with me a while longer, let’s consider some of the tangible things we can do to try and solve these three issues, to make way for good soil.

Watch Your Language

Do you personally use curse words, tell dirty jokes, complain, gossip… Yeah! The list of things we can do with our words is pretty long — this is a tough one for many (myself especially).

Once you’re watching your own language, then you can uphold the environment of your team. Don’t tolerate vulgar language on calls, in the office, the sales floor, and even the shop floor.

Spend Your Time Well

What do you spend your lunch time, weekend time, and free time in general doing and talking about? Are you discussing uplifting things? Are you doing uplifting things? Is that time spent in vice or in virtue?

What we discuss in this idle time is critical, especially in the workplace. For those who work in a more physical environment type of situation, there is a lot of time to talk while you work. Are you helping elevate or inspire your employees during that time?

It’s also worth noting, when you observe your normal discussion in these times, that tells you about your own heart and where it’s focused.

Do you speak, or perhaps dream of buying a yacht, living a worry-free life on the beach while others work? Or do you dream about helping your parents get out of debt, building a school, or perhaps funding a cultural project?

Spend your time well with your team as this is one of the KEY LEVERS to bringing them closer to God. Getting their focus off of the cares of the world and the pursuit of wealth. Helping them unearth those stones preventing the root. And keeping them in a quiet place where the birds won’t snatch away the seed.

Craft Your Physical Space

Do you have a crucifix up? Do you keep the space clean? Do you allow clutter? Do you ensure the outside of your building is tidy and fresh? Perhaps more importantly, do you show your team by your actions that the physical space matters? Reverencing it with meticulous care. Using that half-used paper towel to wipe a little extra dust before you toss it. Keeping the papers orderly on the desk.

If you know me well, you might be shouting “Hypocrite” through your screen because my desk is notoriously… a disaster. For now I’m going with the excuse that I have ADHD, but if someone calls me out, I’ll gladly start sending you a picture of it each day to confirm.

If you work remotely, consider having something in your background that acts as a little statement of faith. Something that puts a stake in the ground proudly proclaiming what you stand for. That little Easter egg might be the thing needed to help an employee know they can come to you with tough questions in their personal life, or perhaps even questions about faith.

Time For Prayer

If your faith is important to you, you’ll need to make time for prayer. As the boss, that can be visible — might I say, it should be visible. Don’t do it for vanity to show how holy you are. Try things like taking the lunch break to go to daily Mass, stopping to say the Angelus (use the Project Angelus extension to help you remember), saying your meal prayer before you eat, keep a prayer card as a bookmark. Pray when a special occasion arises — the passing of an ambulance, a passerby in distress, news of someone with a serious illness.

Give company holidays on important feast days and holy days of obligation.

Show them that faith comes before profit for you.

Remember, as you do any of these things, do them with proper intention. Because even when you don’t know the exact method or technique, having the right intention will get you there eventually. Plus, people usually notice intention. Something about it sticks out to those around us.

Start with that intention today; take a moment to speak your prayer to God — Lord, help me to create a work environment that transforms the hearts of those I encounter, but especially my employees, so that their hearts may be like fertile soil, that they may bear abundant fruit and one day see you for eternity in heaven. Amen.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🤖 Rafael Labuto, a Brazil-based entrepreneur, is a co-founder of Signalyze AI, a startup that leverages AI agents and massive data signals to optimize lead generation across diverse industries. He is committed to integrating his faith into his professional journey and developing human-centered business solutions.

• 🤝 Martin Arlinghaus leads a prison ministry initiative based in Cincinnati, Ohio, which utilizes a Benedictine monastic model and a for-profit hiring subsidiary to provide faith-based re-entry support for formerly incarcerated men. This organization focuses on structural solutions for prison ministry and the development of monastic-style environments for societal renewal.

• 💰 Matt Johns, based in Fulshear, Texas, leads Honeyhive Capital and Christian Alts, focusing on the private equity vertical and empowering Christian investors through curated alternative market education and strategic capital placement.

• 💻 Joey Di Nardo is an independent AI consultant and developer based in the USA, specializing in creating high-quality, Catholic-aligned MVP software and educational content. He focuses on projects that bridge the gap between AI technology and Catholic values.

• 🏎️ Spencer Steeves is a virtual design and construction professional based in the Northwest Chicago suburbs, Illinois, who operates Redline Motorsports Racing, a startup NASCAR marketing agency focused on sponsorship acquisition and race-day hospitality.

• 🦸🏽‍♀️⚕️Airriaunté Mercer is launching Auden Holistic, a Dallas-based initiative providing cohort programs focused on comprehensive women’s health integration. Her work is focused on women who feel stuck, overwhelmed, and for those who want to pursue deeper healing holistically.

  🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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Highlights: Time For Friends + Wild at Heart

• I got to hang out with Henry Kemme last weekend. He came to visit me. This is your reminder to make time for visitors and encourage them. While I have a lot going on, we can always make time for ‘wasting time’ together with our friends. As Pope Leo has recently encouraged us to do. Not every minute has to be perfectly calendared and spent growing your business.

• I’ve been reading Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge, and I have to say, this book is powerful. It’s especially meant for men, but I think the ladies would get a lot out of reading it - perhaps to help your men become better men!

Here is a huge list of various resources that we have complied overtime: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Hey folks! Gonna have to keep this short today since I’m writing this after watching the USA forget how to play soccer entirely against Belgium. What a sad night for the US.

Please NOTE! I am going to move these posts to Tuesdays going forward. Mainly because I would often end up writing them or finishing them on Sunday nights, and I realized I need to be honest with myself that it’s not honoring the Lord’s Day. I used to say because it’s Catholic Founders stuff it doesn’t really count, but I need to stop that.

This way I can actually enjoy a restful Sunday without the looming pressure of a Monday morning newsletter. Same content though!

Each week you’ll find…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events

• Feature Content: On Generosity in Business

• Heavenly Hustlers

[read time: 5 min | word count 1,196]

News / Updates

• 🎆Happy 250th Birthday, USA! I released a special ‘sermon’ to Catholic Business Owners' on how we can keep building the next 250 years of our country.

• 🇺🇸If you’re a paid member, we published the recording from last week’s topic call on How to Make America Catholic. Access it here.

• 👕We’re brewing some Catholic Founders merch this quarter. Watch out!

• We are now available on Amazon Music and Audible. Please make sure to follow us on your favorite podcast app! 🎧

On Generosity in Business

Hey folks! As mentioned above, I’m going to keep this very brief. Partially because I’m sad the US lost and want to go sulk. But mostly because I should have written this a lot sooner and it’s already past 10 as I’m writing this.

Generosity is one of the most important virtues that we can cultivate, especially as entrepreneurs.

God is infinitely generous to us. Creating us in the first place is a supreme act of generosity. We now exist, and by existing have the opportunity to spend eternity in the beatific vision — seeing God face to face.

On top of that, He provides us with literally everything. The earth, family, food, clothing, etc. He cares for us. Not just once or twice a month. Every moment of every day.

If He stopped thinking about us, we’d cease to exist. And no one would remember us.

As entrepreneurs, He is extra generous towards us. Giving us the grace and skill to be someone who builds something. Someone who gets to participate in His care and cultivation of creation in a special way that non-entrepreneurs don’t.

Through us, He provides gainful employment. Inventions. Provisions for families. Excess capital to build churches and schools. The power and influence to affect change around us. The care of the less fortunate. The creation of goods for the benefit of others.

He has made us his stewards and set us over many cities.

How generous our God is!

And what are we to do? Give back. Be generous towards others. Offer employment. Give freely. Pay generous wages. Benefit our community. Take care of the poor. Put our time and influence to good use.

Pope Leo XIV often quotes Saint Augustine: “If you gave a pound of coppers and received a pound of silver, or a pound of silver and received one of gold, you would be delighted at your luck. What you give will certainly be transformed; it isn’t gold, it isn’t silver, but eternal life that will come your way” (Sermon 390, 2, PL 39, 1706). And he explains why: “It will be transformed, because you yourself will be transformed”.

We must answer to the call to generosity and take part in the sharing of our gifts.

With boldness and faith, we must be generous like God Our Father in Heaven is generous. For without generosity there is no vocation. A vocation is only begun when someone accepts the invite and gives themselves to its pursuit.

First slowly, then a bit more, and a bit more. Then suddenly, we look back, and we’ve given ourselves fully. We hardly noticed because it became so fulfilling. Leaning into God’s calling. Embracing it like a long-lost friend. Time seems to slow — or speed up, perhaps because we don’t know where it goes. We’re lost in the moment. Loving what’s in front of us. Fully present. A gift to the other.

Lord, grant us the grace to desire You above all things in life. Each day, Lord, grant that I may love You more and more. Make me like You… generous beyond measure.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• ☢️ Russell Goff is a nuclear engineer and recruiter based in Iowa who operates a specialized firm dedicated to placing experts within the nuclear industry. His firm, Nuclear Talent Scout, focuses on high-quality direct placement, ensuring candidates possess significant industry experience and competence.

• 🫂 Irene Kraegel, a licensed psychologist based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She operates Dwell Psychological Services, a private therapy practice focusing on anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and faith-integrated care.

• 💳 Pietro Rea is the Co-Founder and CTO of Meadow, a Virginia-based company at the intersection of education technology and financial technology that serves nearly 400 universities. They build platforms that help students understand college costs and facilitate tuition payments.

• 📚 Michael Caffrey leads Storyteller.ai, a San Francisco-based company providing AI-powered editing and production tools for independent creators making high-quality films and series. The company focuses on supporting the evolution of modern content creation.

• 💪🏻 Keoni Sablan and John Sablan lead the Serviam Institute, a coaching firm dedicated to helping men develop virtue and habits through Thomistic psychology. The team focuses on providing 12-week coaching programs to support men in their spiritual and personal development. John is also the founder and president of World Ablaze Incorporated, an apostolate focused on evangelization and discipleship within the Catholic community.

• 👨‍💻 Joseph Markey is a Newport, Rhode Island-based senior financial executive who is currently focused on his Faith and Leadership platform. He creates case studies analyzing secular entrepreneurs to bridge the gap between business success and Christian values.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Hey folks! Hope you read this one even tho this week is the big 250 for America! If I had the ability, I’d be taking the whole week off, honestly. For those of you reading, we have something special today, specifically for America 250.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

Each week you’ll find…

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events

• Feature Content: Your Role in the Next 250 Years

• Heavenly Hustlers: 5 This Week!

• Highlights: CF Events

[read time: ~9 min | word count 1, 907]

News / Updates

• 🌐 Catholic Founders Now Has a Website. Want to actually understand what this community is about? We built it out — see it here.

  https://join.catholicfounders.com/

• 📅 Upcoming Calls (Guild Members Only) - Join the Guild!

  • July 1st: Topic Call — How to Make America Catholic 🇺🇸🇻🇦 — very excited for this.

  • July 28th: Expert Call — AI & Automation for business owners. How to use it right without losing your soul AND your team

• 🤠 Join the Dallas Recurring Meetups. Next one is on July 18th.

On America 250: Our Role to Play as Catholic Business Owners

This week is the 250th birthday of America! 🇺🇸 Just think about that. You and me get to be alive to see America turn 250 years old. Many of us will be around to see her turn 300. Well… maybe. Assuming we do our part to keep this experiment going.

As we celebrate 250 years of our country, it’s good to look at our accomplishments and the good we stand for. Taking time to recognize those things has the benefit of making us aware that they are good.

But here’s the thing. Good things don’t stay good. We need to maintain them. Positive force must be exerted to avoid atrophy. As the saying goes, if you’re not growing, you’re dying. This is certainly true of a country.

Atrophy is Winning

Unfortunately, atrophy has been winning in a lot of ways in our lifetime. America has a lot of problems. All of which could be solved by filling the God-shaped hole with… God.

Declining birth rates, increased suicide rates. Fewer marriages, more depravity. Lack of faith, over consumption.

On top of all this, we have AI ushering a huge wave of uncertainty. It’s not to say it’s all bad or good, just the uncertainty is really visceral.

Maybe this decay is here because our parents and grandparents stood idle as it happened. Blaming boomers is a favorite pastime of Gen Z, but maybe some of this decay is actually because of our own inaction?

So, how do we fix the situation? How do we ensure this country lasts another 250 years?

Most of the time, people look to someone else to solve their problems. Or rather, in the modern era, that’s what happens. The type of people who built America and held the line on her values are the type of people who didn’t look for a hero. They were the heroes.

Not one person here and there, but many people choosing to stand up for what’s right.

If we want to reverse the decay, each of us needs to do our role. We all need to be the heroes of our time.

The place to start is the family.

Society is made up of families. Period. The family is the base unit of civilization. If the family unit fails, the country fails. It’s that simple. If we want society to flourish, our guiding light must be doing what it takes to ensure traditional families can flourish.

Deep down, even the most misled people have a transcendental desire for truth, goodness, beauty, and unity. Meaning, when they see a beautiful family, living out the true calling of marriage, unified for good, they will be drawn to it.

This is the armor-piercing weapon that we have at our disposal. And we, as business owners, can make more of these armor-piercing weapons by enabling the creation and flourishing of those transcendental families. First by example in our own lives, and then by creating work environments where family is always first.

This is the core challenge of our time, and it’s no accident that you were born for this fight, in America specifically.

You were not born during the American Revolution or the Civil War. God didn’t have you born in Nigeria or Ecuador. He explicitly chose to put you here, in this exact geography, at this precise, chaotic moment in history.

On top of that, he gave you the skills to be an entrepreneur. As well as the ability to fight against the decay. You can enable family flourishing for your own family and the families who work for you.

You were put here for this exact role. Lean into it. God brought you to this society to lead. We aren’t running businesses to get rich. We are fighting to prevent the atrophy of civilization itself.

Building a Civilization of Love

A secular worldview is what got us here. Therefore, the only way to counter this is with a spiritual lens. The same spiritual lens that upholds humans over technology and families over profit.

Here’s how we do it.

• Put family first. Yours first because you set the example. Then your employees will do the same. Back up that behavior with pro-family policies. Employee has a baseball game, go. Work will be there when you get back; that moment won’t.

• Uphold Christian virtue. Even if your employees are not all Christians, pray throughout the day and don’t tolerate vulgar behavior in your workplace.

• Take political action. Give time off on voting day. Use your business to host pro-family candidates. Fund campaigns. Run if necessary. Show up at city hall to protest anti-family policies.

• Pay a living wage. Make a family-first life possible by paying a wage that covers your employee’s family needs. This is likely not ‘market rate.’

• Pray. Take your kids to daily mass, and encourage your employees to do the same. Pray together as a family. Putting God at the center of your life will bear fruit.

• Culture build. Host block parties for the neighborhood on public holidays to encourage national pride. Welcome families to company events. Have a picnic for your friends, employees, and all their families.

• Spend well. Ensure your money is spent with pro-family companies. With your extra profit, fund the local parish, schools, and pregnancy resource centers. Or build a new one if needed.

• Ensure product alignment. Do your products benefit families or hurt them in any way? You know the right thing to do, because you have your own family.

• Benefit the community. Reinvest in the community. Make your space beautiful. Hire locally when you can. Source locally. Support local projects. Volunteer.

We have a calling. Let’s be an example to the secular companies that no longer have a moral compass. All they have is ‘maximize shareholder value.’

If we want to save the country, we first need to save the family. We do this on the absolute smallest level possible first, our own, and those on our payroll.

If you love this experiment called America, resolve today to rise to the occasion, to use your business to uphold the family as the basis of society. Then determine what it is you must do in order to live that out. This is how we ensure America lasts another 250 years.

Here’s to America! May the next 250 years be better than the first!

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 🏦 Matthew Gaddis leads Tridfi, a company based near Cincinnati, Ohio, that provides banking consultancy services to optimize financial operations for small businesses. The firm also utilizes residual income to fund a charitable program that assists families with mortgage grants.

• 💻 Garren DiPasquale leads Artifact, a company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that empowers non-technical domain experts to build and maintain internal software tools using intent documents rather than traditional code. This approach bridges the translation gap between business strategy and development to facilitate stable production.

• 📨 Adam Minihan is the founder of M6 Marketing, a Tulsa-based digital agency providing high-level email, paid advertising, and consulting services to scaling entrepreneurs. His team helps many biz types (including e-commerce, service firms, and real estate investors) optimize their marketing strategies for growth.

• 🫂 Luke Johanni operates a private mental health practice in Southern Maryland that integrates Christian virtue into clinical therapy for men and couples. He is also building a professional hub to connect vetted Catholic therapists with those in need of faith-integrated care.

• 🤝 Andrew Whiskeyman is the founder and CEO of Quo Vadis LLC. A firm that does human-centric tech-savvy strategy work (exactly what we need more of). If you were like me and think with a last name like that, he might be in the wrong line of work; I’m sure you wouldn’t be the only one.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Thank you to Catholic Owned for helping us find some of these folks each week. Get listed today!

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Highlights: Catholic Founders Meetups

• Meetups Are Happening In Different Cities.

  Wisconsin just wrapped (happens monthly). Houston, D.C., NYC, and Dallas before that. More coming. Subscribe to our Luma to stay in the loop on where we’re showing up next.

• If you’re interested in leading one in your local city, shoot us a message at admin@catholicfounders.com (we make it easy by creating the invite, helping craft the structure, and wrangling up attendees).

Here is a huge list of various resources that we have complied overtime: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Hey Folks, today we’ve got a bit longer post where we are actually riffing on the key ideas discussed on our recent podcast with Juan Dominguez. The man behind the Simple Man blog (now Ad Aeternum).

It was a great episode that we thought deserved more reflection.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events: Amazing time in D.C. last week and a meetup in Houston tonight.

• Feature Content: The 3 biggest Risks Modern Young Men Are Facing This Century

[read time: ~7 min | word count 1,472]

News / Updates

• 🗣️ I got invited to speak at a conference of biz school professors The Catholic University of America. It couldn’t have happened without the insights I’ve gained from all of you!

• 🤠 Tonight, we are going to have another meetup in Houston. Feel free to join us!

• 📆 We have other recurring events taking place in different areas. Subscribe to our events here.

• 🤖 You can have access to our AI bot trained on all our content once you join the guild .

There are a lot of young men out there who are very, very lonely

And desperately in need of guidance.

This has led to a concerning number of depressed men. A lot of purposelessness and a sadly high rate of suicides. In the US alone, suicide is the 2nd most common cause of death for men under the age of 45.

There are a ton of ideologies that have gained a foothold over the past couple of years that all have their roots in relativism and a selfish vision of the world.

Which we know ends up fueling this purposelessness.

I sat down with Juan Dominguez, who is actively fighting these trends. He is building a Catholic media project seeking to restore masculinity and Christian morality in the modern world, which desperately needs strong, virtuous men.

We talked about the #1 reason why men are turning their backs on God, and the 3 biggest risks modern men are facing in this century

Most Catholic men get far away from the Church because they experience some sort of hypocrisy in its local leaders.

We know that this is a misunderstanding. The goal is not to get closer to the people in the Church. The goal is always to grow closer to God, with the Church as the medium He left for us to do so.

BUT… for the people who are having their first encounters, WE are the Gospel.

The people in the Church are the Gospel.

So any signs of immorality are enough for young men to sign off.

He was not talking about claims against the Pope or the Church leaders, but the people around them who were in charge of their own Catholic formation.

In his own words:

“I’ve gotten into many conversations with atheist friends, and almost always the reason why they don’t want to go near the Church is that they saw some form of hypocrisy in the people who claim to be Catholic.

They’ll say something like, ‘I used to go to prayer groups and rosary groups, and I just saw that people leading them weren’t really good people. So I don’t want to have anything to do with them’”

This is one of the reasons why we as Catholic Founders, have a deep responsibility

Christ commands the apostles to be the light of the world and the salt of the world. He tells them explicitly, “A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” We are meant to be out there reflecting the light of Christ.

Not in a prideful way.

That’s the constant spiritual battle: not falling for the enemy’s lies and glorifying ourselves, but always pointing to Christ.

We are commanded to be out there.

In Juan’s own words:

“We have failed in presenting men with a strong, masculine image of what it means to be a devout Catholic.

If the average Catholic man were more masculine, disciplined, and strong in his virtues, I think more lost young men might be drawn to the faith. If the Church presented a more masculine alternative to the searching, disillusioned guy, he might actually be more open to trying the faith.

The problem is that, from what I have seen in myself and in many others, people do not see that in the Church. They do not see men they can admire.”

From there, we got into the 3 biggest threats driving modern young men toward hopelessness and purposelessness

And what can we do about it as Catholic Founders:

1. Negative figures are capitalizing on the attention of broken men

A young man who grew up without a father doesn’t know what a man looks like.

And what they find on the internet is very attractive, tbh. Loud, muscular, money, status, and a compelling “follow me” message.

Young men are drawn to figures like Andrew Tate because they are broken.

But we don’t think that draw is about how attractive they are, but more related to the burden they are carrying. Product of a fatherless wound and a culture that spent decades telling them masculinity was the problem.

“What they find are messages that are very selfish in nature. Messages that tell them they are entitled to that reaction, without the necessary balance that our faith provides. Without the balance of: even then, we are loved. Even then, we need to take an approach that is Christlike. Even then, we are not to cause unjust violence.”

A young man feels the fire of wanting to become something good.

But if the only example they have out there is toxic and selfish, that fire gets corrupted.

2. AI numbs our desire for relationships

This is where many people cross a line.

“In things that are relational, you cannot ask it for relationship advice. You cannot ask it for spiritual advice. It’s not qualified, because it’s not a thinking, living thing with a soul.

Where most people fail is that they end up chatting with AI as if it were a friend. As if it could give them advice. As if it knew them. If you’re using it as a tool, like Google, you’re probably safe. When you start crossing that line and developing a relationship with it, that becomes problematic.”

A man with no real community, no close friends, no one to bring his struggles to — who then finds something responsive and non-judgmental in an AI chatbot — is in a dangerous place.

It is a false substitute for what only another human being, and ultimately God, can give him.

Even the Pope recently warned us about this threat in the most recent Encyclical:

3. Young men experiencing layoffs

A man who built his identity around his job, who has no eternal perspective, who hasn’t developed his interior life or real skills that belong to him, will have very few resources if that job disappears.

“For the men who have not strengthened themselves in virtue, who do not always keep eternity in mind, and who do not rationally know that this life is not the end, it will be very difficult to climb out of the hole they find themselves in. As time goes on, it will become harder to find jobs, harder to make professional progress.

The realistic side of me says we will end up with more depressed men, more lonely men, more suicides, and more purposelessness.”

My hopeful side says something different.

I think men who can’t find their footing professionally might turn to the priesthood.

Maybe God uses this disruption to produce more vocations than we’ve seen in decades. I don’t know. Maybe I’m the only one who believes this.

But here is what I’m confident of for the men who are building now.

Human skills are becoming scarce. The man who can think rigorously, reason clearly, lead people, create things that are genuinely his, and build real relationships will be more valuable as AI becomes more capable.

So what do we actually do with all of this?

Juan’s answer was the same one I keep coming back to: become the man that other men can look up to. In every way. Virtuous men who build businesses, build families, build cathedrals. Men who are actually out there and actually visible.

And show ourselves that way.

Become industry leaders, opinion leaders, people young men can admire. Because if they don’t admire Catholic leaders, they will admire someone else who doesn’t carry the fire of Christ the way we do.

A priest told me something a while back that hasn’t left me.

He said we are judged primarily on how we respond to the challenges of our age. Not the challenges of past centuries. The ones right in front of us. And he said the two biggest challenges of this age are: 1. Faithfulness to Christ, and 2. Purity.

But he also told me: God did not put you in this time in history by accident. You have all the grace you need. Every resource, every skill, every opportunity to navigate this is at your fingertips.

Sanctity is waiting for us to accept it. Like a halo hanging from a low-hanging branch, waiting for us to recognize it and grab it.

The change has to start with us. We’ve been given the leadership role. If we act, the culture follows. If we build visibly, with virtue, with faith that is actually visible and not just private, then the men who are searching will have something to find.

That’s the fight we’re in.

And we’ve been given everything we need to win it.

Until next week, God Bless & Happy Building!

Silas Mähner

Hey Folks! Welcome back. We’re gonna keep this one as short as I can because I just got back from a long weekend in NYC, where we hosted a discussion on Magnifica Humanitas (we’re hosting another this Thursday in Nashville. Register if you’re around).

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events: Discussion on Magnifica Humanitas, this week in Nashville!

• Feature Content: Implementing Solidarity into your Business (Part 4 of 4)

• Heavenly Hustlers: 6 People Building for the Kingdom

[read time: ~7 min | word count 1,472]

News / Updates

• 🤠 This week in Nashville, I’m hosting a discussion on Magnifica Humanitas. We will walk through it in an open discussion format. Please join us.

  📆 We have other recurring events taking place in Houston, Dallas, Wausau, and NYC. Check out all our events here.

• 📣 ICYMI, we published a commentary podcast with Zak Slayback and Edmund Mitchell on Magnifica Humanitas.

• 🤖 Join the guild to access our AI bot trained on all our content.

Implementing Catholic Social Teaching: Part 4, Solidarity

Today, we are concluding our series on integrating Catholic Social Teaching with the fourth pillar: Solidarity. This is where our commitment to our neighbor becomes a firm and persevering determination.

Solidarity: The Teaching

Let’s start with a quote from The Church on Solidarity.

“The principle of solidarity, also articulated in terms of “friendship” or “social charity,” is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood.” CCC 1939

What it is, in simpler terms, is… the truth that we all have a responsibility towards our fellow man. Regardless of our differences, we are all brothers in the sense that we are all created children of God.

As a business owner, this means having a heart for your employees and customers. Especially if you end up generating wealth and become an outlier in society, you cannot forget your connection to help your brother.

Solidarity relates to many aspects of what it means to be someone’s brother, but principally, it refers to spiritual (the most important part) and economic/financial.

We are called to ‘share’ our faith and our goods with others so that they may have eternal life and that their needs on earth may be met. Here are two more quotes from the Catechism.

“Solidarity is manifested in the first place by the distribution of goods and remuneration for work.” — CCC 1940

“Solidarity is an eminently Christian virtue. It practices the sharing of spiritual goods even more than material ones.” — CCC 1948

The Why

The why of this is pretty simple; it just requires a bit of contemplation.

Each of our fellow humans is a brother to us because we are all created by Him in His image and likeness. If God created us, how could we hate any of our fellow man without also hating God?

Of course, you may not hate anyone actively, but do your actions show that you’re doing your part to share your faith and goods in order to help your fellow man? For those who are substantially less fortunate, do we help them out through offering employment and friendship? For those who do not know the faith, are we coming to know them so we can walk with them as they come closer and closer to God?

Now, let’s talk about the subtopics under Solidarity and how to implement them.

1. Human solidarity

This is the lived experience of being responsible for the people in your supply chain, your office, and your neighborhood. It shows up in the just distribution of goods and fair treatment.

How to implement: Respect your employees as humans — as neighbors. Do not overburden people with work. Allow ample time for rest. Do not see them as ‘costs to cut.’

2. Preferential option for the poor

This is the measure of whether justice is real in your business. It asks if your company is removing obstacles for the vulnerable to ensure they have access, stability, and opportunity. ie, Not only serving the rich because they can pay.

How to implement: You can do product discovery with poor communities. Or craft a particular offering that allows the poor to access your services. Dr. Daniel Tataje has his dentists and hygienists do a day for the poor each month, where people who cannot afford dentistry services get them for a heavily discounted rate.

3. Fair wage

A fair wage is a concrete way solidarity is made real. Pay and benefits should be evaluated against human dignity and family needs so that workers can live with stability and respect.

How to implement: This one is pretty straightforward. But it doesn’t mean paying ‘market rate’ wages. Because market rate wages may be insufficient for a family to meet their basic living needs. Consider adding other benefits, such as strong healthcare options or continued education funding.

4. Right of labor to organize

Workers should be able to form associations to protect their rights and mutual interests. Solidarity supports the idea that workers should not be left isolated or powerless. Yes, it allows for the organization of labor unions. However, if we are doing our job well and have proper channels for them to open up to us and discuss their challenges with us, they may never need to unionize.

How to implement: Do not do things that prevent people from organizing a union. But in order to avoid the combative nature that unions bring, listen to your workers and treat them with respect so that they never have an interest in this.

Thanks for reading this series! If you have not read parts 1, 2, or 3 yet, please check them out and circulate with your networks. My hope is that this series will help demystify what Catholic Social Teaching actually is and help business owners start implementing it.

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• 📣 Brandon Benson is the co-founder of Leo Ads, the AI agent of Percuity AI. They ensure your business campaigns and ads are optimized.

• 🤖 Nick Stokman is the founder and CEO of Third Loop. What he’s building helps companies and teams use AI effectively.

• 💪🏻 Betsy Hoyt is from Charlotte Metro, a certified professional trainer and the Founder IntegratedCatholicWoman.com. She coaches women on how to lead a sustainable, healthy, and rewarding life.

• 📲 David Spaedy is the president of DS1 Phone Systems serving the Charlotte, NC Metro area. Before cloud phones were trendy, David was already connecting businesses.

• 🫂 Elza Spaedy is the executive director of Healed and Restored. Healed and Restored is helping women and girls who have experienced abuse, violence, trafficking, and trauma find healing, restoration, and the strength to reclaim their lives.

• 🏞️ Lance Johnson is building Groundwork Ventures. Through Groundwork, he is tearing down the million-dollar wall of traditional real estate, rewriting the rules of land development so accredited investors can fractionally back high-upside entitlement deals.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

Share

Highlight:

Nothing for you today as I’m out of time to hit send. Come back next week.

Here is a huge list of various resources that we have complied overtime: The Ultimate Catholic Founders Resource Guide.

The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

Feel free to bookmark it as we’ll continue to update it. And if you have suggestions on what to add, ping us (even if you want to promote your own stuff).

How did we do? Reply with 1 (Great 😄), 2 (Mid 🫤), or 3 (Needs Work ☹️)

Hey folks! In case you haven’t had enough about Catholic Social Teaching with the drop of the summer (aka: Magnifica Humanitas) we are back at it with part 3 of 4 in our series covering the key aspects of Catholic Social Teaching, with our takes on how to actually implement them.

Today we are talking about Subsidiarity, and don’t worry it’s a lot shorter than last week’s.

Welcome back to Saintly CEO. Every Monday, while you sip your coffee, get some tactical advice to run your business fully in union with your Catholic faith.

IN TODAY’S ISSUE

• News/Events

• Feature Content: Subsidiarity; What, Why, and How to Integrate It

• Seven Incredible Heavenly Hustlers

• Highlights: Wisper Flow

[read time: ~6 min | word count 1,172]

News / Updates

• 📆 Check out our upcoming events in NYC, Nashville, Dallas, Houston, Wisconsin, and beyond by going to our Luma Calendar.

• :🎙️ Yesterday, we published a commentary podcast with Zak Slayback and Edmund Mitchell on Magnifica Humanitas.

• ⭐ Here is our summary episode of Magnifica Humanitas.

• 🤖 Join the guild to access our AI bot trained on all our content.

Implementing Catholic Social Teaching: Part 3, Subsidiarity

Welcome back to our 4-part series on Catholic Social Teachings, and actually implementing them.

Last time we covered The Common Good (the second pillar), and today we are covering Subsidiarity, the third pillar. This might be the most practical pillar for leadership and organizational structure.

Subsidiarity: The Teaching

A lot of you have probably heard the word subsidiarity. But many of you may not know what it means. Likely because it’s one of those Catholic words that sounds totally made up. I get it. But let me explain it in very simple terms.

The idea behind subsidiarity is, that decisions should be made at the most local level possible. The reason being that someone closer to the situation likely has a much better understanding of the situation itself. They likely know the people involved. And they probably know what the consequences will look like for those involved once they make a decision.

What follows is that the higher-level authority should not interfere with the lower-level authority whenever possible.

What’s pretty mind-blowing about this is that it’s actually the key to scaling a business. If everything is centrally planned, you are naturally constrained by one person’s ability to make decisions. But when other people can make decisions, the person at the top can focus on making key decisions rather than all the decisions.

Said another way, subsidiarity is the way to scale any business.

Here is the official line from the Church, in the Catechism.

“In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, neither the state nor any larger society should substitute itself for the initiative and responsibility of individuals and intermediary bodies.”1

The Why

The why behind this is relatively simple, actually.

The Church worries that excessive state intervention could threaten personal freedom and the ability of people to take initiative. Another takeaway is that this principle opposes collectivism, where it becomes okay to trample the needs of the individual in order to ‘serve’ the needs of society as a whole.

The Church also argues that a society organized in this way is actually more efficient because everyone is doing what they can, rather than sitting around waiting for some bureaucrat to help them or approve what they are trying to do. Something none of us has ever experienced, I’m sure.

Subsidiarity in Practice

Now that we understand what the Church teaches and why she teaches it, let’s get into some practical examples of implementing it in the workplace (there are no ‘subtopics for Subsidiarity so all of this is just pure play implementation advice, yay!).

Pushing for an Ownership Mentality

In your company, you would push for each employee to understand the desired outcome and empower them to get there. Asking them to exercise their judgement on when they should raise it to their manager for support with the decision-making.

Note, this does involve proper training. You can’t just hand it off and blame them when it goes wrong.

Involving Employees in Policy Making

This one is very important, so please pay attention.

Involve your team when making decisions that affect them. Setting leave policy, bring your kids to work policy, how to lock up the store, etc. The list could go on.

Your employees have lives and families of their own. Your decisions could make living those lives very difficult. Or your decisions about how they should do things on the factory line could be really stupid because it wouldn’t work as well, or would cause danger. Would they know this? Yes.

Today, it’s become the norm that company policies are set by top-down methods. Many of us have personally experienced working in a company that gets acquired, and we see new policies come through that make no sense and hurt how we do our jobs on the front lines.

Those decisions were likely based entirely on ROI projects full of many assumptions. Had they actually delegated those decisions locally, we’d be happier and have a better outcome.

When you’re making decisions that affect your employees, involve them.

Empower Ownership

My favorite example of subsidiarity is when customer success agents are told they can do what they need to to make the customer whole. It may be very obvious how to make an angry customer whole and give them what is owed in justice, but with bureaucratic policies and procedures, they are forced to ask 6 more questions after they already know the problem, so that they are allowed to elevate to their supervisor, who will then ask a bunch of questions as well. Then, finally, after logic has been tossed out the window, and humans have been acting like robots and treated like robots, the right thing to do is done.

Everyone is frustrated. The customer success agent is just used to it. Heck, they are probably dehumanized by this point.

If you empower your people properly, they can do what they know is right. The customer gets helped right away, and depending on how pleasant the experience was, they might become an even bigger customer in the future.

Help Your Employees As Much As You Can

Before the nanny state existed, with all of the benefits it provided to citizens, how did people in need get help?

People helped each other. I know it sounds crazy, but we can just start doing this again. And we can start with our employees. If they had an unexpected medical expense, we could cover it. They are struggling to feed their kids and pay them more.

Heck, they might need help butchering a cow, make it a company weekend, and get all hands on deck to help.

Learn to make this a muscle. Help your employees locally rather than making them struggle and go to the state for help.

In Closing

One of the most fascinating things I find about subsidiarity is that, when you really engage people in this way, they are able to become more capable. And in a way, become more themselves. They are able to take the 1, 2, or 5 talents God gave them and multiply them. This multiplication means more people have the opportunity to benefit from that person’s unique gifts.

All of this starts with giving someone that ownership mentality. Then, treating them with respect and autonomy, so that they can become fully alive.

This to me, is one of the great mysteries of being an entrepreneur. That ability to affect the development of the employees under your care in such a positive way, that they can become more fully human.

To any reading this, please don’t take this part of your role as ‘boss’ or CEO for granted. Ever.

Okay, come back next week, as we wrap up our series with the 4th and final pillar of Solidarity!

God Bless & Happy Building

~Silas Mähner

Heavenly Hustlers

These are other Catholic business owners. Nominate one (including yourself).

• ✈️ Joseph Rodriguez is the Founder of Vocatio Travel. They turn your dream trips into realities, and they have experience supporting several dioceses as well as many other Catholic-owned businesses with their travel plans. If you’re in the Dallas area, reach out to him.

• 💻 Garren DiPasquale is the Founder & CEO of Artifact. They turn language into living software.

• 🏛️ Matt Salerno is building DealCompass. A software that helps the real estate industry. Fun fact: he’s a Notre Dame alum. But he’s based here in Nashville.

• 💸 Peter Scott is building an app called Plena. Think of it like Acorns but for tithing.

• ✍️ William Van de Planque (don’t you wish you had a name like that… I know I do) is launching Beloved Son, a ghostwriting agency to help people keep active blogs and improve SEO. He’s just getting started, so reach out to him if you’ve got advice or are interested in giving him a project.

• ⚖️ Teddy Malone founded his own Tax Attorney practice in NYC called Estel Law. I met him a while back at one of Luca’s Fides events. Reach out to him if you need a tax lawyer.

• 👴 Nathanael Riddle is the co-founder of OmniBand. A wearable for aging parents. Think Whoop, but built for your grandpa, and not for sleeping.

🙋‍♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.

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The Catholic Founders Resource Guide

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