How Catholic Business Owners can Cultivate Rocky Soil and Make it Fertile | Saintly CEO
Understanding Our Role in the Parable of the Sower. Not the Sower, but the soil cultivator.
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).
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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.
Is Your Project Manager Aligned with Your Faith?
How often does a church, school, or monastery project get carried out by people who don’t understand the spiritual mission of it? The fact that it’s being built for the purpose of serving The Church?
No more!
Reach out to Our Father to ensure your project is done well, on budget (or under budget), and to ensure it serves the Church for generations.
Connect with Cristian and his team by going to OurFather.US to learn more. Tell them that we sent you!
PS: Cristian is a close friend of mine who I’d entrust my family to. I’ve known him for several years, and he is the kind of guy who is very driven to ensure that God is served and the kingdom of God grows. I’d trust him with my life.
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?
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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
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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.
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 ☹️)
I’d be curious to hear what parts you think I missed? How else could we implement this ground improvement plan.