The Saintly CEO: Is Discussing Your Success Boasting or True Humility?
The Millionaire Saint + 6 Other (living) Heavenly Hustlers
Happy Corpus Christi! It would be a great idea to get to adoration at some point this week. Let’s ensure we honor Jesus’ sacred heart.
Welcome back to The Saintly CEO. A free weekly newsletter from Catholic Founders.
Each week, (1) learn one tactical way to integrate your Faith with your business, (2) a curated list of Catholic biz owners (Heavenly Hustlers), and (3) some miscellaneous resources to help you grow your business.
In Today’s Email:
CF Role Model: This Saint Made a Big Impact with $240m
+ 6 more Catholic entrepreneurs (Heavenly Hustlers)
Is Discussing Your Success Boasting or True Humility?
Miscellaneous Resources
[read time: ~7 min | word count 1,481]
Heavenly Hustlers
Looking to find more Catholics who share your ambition? Each week, we curate a short list to do just that.
Huge shout-out to Catholic Owned for partnering with us to aid in this curation experience. Catholic Owned is building the Catholic Economy — currently it’s a huge database of Catholic business owners, so we can buy from each other.
Some of those listed each week were discovered through Catholic Owned.
We encourage you to get listed in Catholic Owned today if you’re not already.
CF Role Model:
💰 St. Katharine Drexel, the founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, had inherited about $7m (~$240m today) from her father, who was a prominent banker in Philadelphia.
She was taught from an early age that all their wealth was only lent to them by God. She put it to good use, giving away a reported $20m over 60 years of her missionary work (I couldn’t find great sources to verify this number).
To me, her story is an incredible example of what we can do when we take stewardship seriously. You can make an incredible financial impact on this world AND become a saint. Maybe you don’t have $240m to give away, but take this as permission to get that much and use it accordingly.
Other Heavenly Hustlers:
🐕 Ryan Ewart is growing Poop Troop, a dog waste removal business in San Diego. Proof that there are infinite ways to make side income if you’re not too proud.
📸 Chris Baker runs Catholic Stock (authentically Catholic stock footage) and Chris Baker Multimedia (digital ad agency).
Lucas Wollschlager recently launched Veritas Copy — a human-first ghostwriting service to help you reach your customers (he keeps popping off on LinkedIn so you should probably hire him)
🧼 Lindsey Baillie is building Salt of The Earth Skin, a skincare brand.
💩 Ron & Chris Vieceli own Northwest Sanitary and run it with several of their sons. Another incredible business that requires humility to run, but provides a good income for many families.
🙋♂️ Nominate a Heavenly Hustler (including yourself) - It takes 1 min.
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Is Discussing Your Success Boasting or True Humility?
Recently, I’ve realized that successful Catholic entrepreneurs are not talking about their success enough.
Most cite humility and ‘no need to flaunt.’ Honestly, I think it’s a lack of humility.
Why? Glad you asked. Let me tell you my main point.
The Main Point
Entrepreneurs often have an ego. ‘I started this business’ — ‘I’m beating the competition’ — ‘we’re the best in the market.’
Truthfully, that’s all false.
God did all of this. He created us. He gave us skills. He gave us interests & impulses to start a business. All of our so-called success comes from and belongs to God. We wouldn’t even exist without Him.
Here is the principle: Be willing to discuss your failures and successes openly because all of this comes from God, and by doing this at all times, you’ll be glorifying the kingdom of God (if you acknowledge He is the source of your success).
Now that we have that established, let’s cover 6 things to keep top of mind when discussing your success.
Sharing, when done properly, gives witness to the things God has done for you and through you.
If you acknowledge (properly) that your very life, and therefore all your success, come from God, discussing it will glorify God in the world.
They’ll understand your motivation (to do God’s work) and likely be drawn closer to Him.You can share in quiet settings, too.
You don’t have to go on MSNBC to discuss your relationship to money. You can share it one-on-one over a coffee or with a small group at church.
Even if it’s on a small scale, we must share so God can be glorified.Sharing inspires the next generation.
We often overlook this, but there are people who look up to us. Hearing our stories of success and failure can be deeply inspiring.
Consider Tom Monaghan, who was deeply inspired by Abraham Lincoln, who became president despite starting out as a farm boy in rural IL.Being a good steward of your wealth includes sharing your story.
Most of the Catholics I’ve heard of who achieve great financial success focus only on financial stewardship. But don’t forget about the story you’re able to tell because of God.
It would be a shame not to share those unique stories of how God acted in your life. God gave you this gift of a great story so that you could share it.Sharing leads to quick feedback.
If you were a billionaire who spoke openly about your success, you’d rightly be criticized if you were only donating $100k a year to charities. Getting called out is a good thing because it forces you to receive feedback.
Sharing is a way of getting feedback if you’re being generous enough with what you’ve received.
If you were giving a lot more, it’s unlikely people would critique you (as much).Fear didn’t stop you when you started. Why let it stop you from sharing your story?
Some are worried about their family’s security and privacy. I understand. But it’s not an excuse. You can still share prudently and have a secure lifestyle.
God took care of you up to this point. Why would He stop?
TLDR: Gratitude is the Answer
If you need help remembering that God has done all this for you, develop an attitude of gratitude.
Gratitude is the best virtue you can develop because it constantly gets you thinking of all the people who helped you get to where you are. This naturally takes the focus off of self.
A challenge for you this week.
Spend some time reflecting on one way God’s hand has played a role in your success (big or small). Once you identify it, write it down.
Remember, you don’t need a platform. Only a willingness to witness.
God Bless & Happy Building
~Silas Mähner
Misc. Resources:
Groups:
Events:
TONIGHT!!! — We’re having a Catholic Founders Guild call tonight. If you’d like to join, become a paid subscriber today, and be sure to message me so I can get you added (I do screen everyone before adding them, FYI)
Sign up for the SENT Summit (Sep 8-11, 2025, in Notre Dame, Indiana)
Content:
Check out this incredible exegesis on Matthew 6: 24-34 (the lilies of the field passage), which is really helpful for understanding some of the psychology of how we pursue money as Catholics.
If you care about teaching your children the principles of money (I know many of you do) this Alex Hormozi episode was the best I’ve ever heard on this topic. “What the Wealthy Actually Teach Their Kids | Ep 910”
On those same lines, here is the best book I’ve ever read on this topic. Family Fortunes by Will & Bill Bonner
Services:
Hire a Catholic Virtual Assistant through ParacleteVA to help you scale. Email us at dearcfpod@gmail.com
If you’re looking for affordable web design services, hit up Zachary Eilers (CF Guild member), who is doing some freelancing work on the side currently.
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