Living Open-Handed: How Christian Entrepreneurs Can Redefine Wealth, Impact, and Sales
For Christian business owners, the tension between faith and commerce can feel like walking a tightrope. How do you scale a business while remaining generous? Can you charge for your gifts and still serve with a ministry mindset? Is it really possible to build wealth without feeling like you're serving two masters?
These are the questions that many Christian entrepreneurs wrestle with—and they’re exactly the kind of conversations Nick Garofalo, founder of Open-Handed Wealth, invites us into.
In a recent interview on The Emboldened Entrepreneur, Nick offered practical wisdom for reframing how we approach money, generosity, and even sales—all from a deeply biblical foundation.
Here are five powerful takeaways for Christian business leaders ready to make an eternal impact.
1. Steward More Than Money: You Have More to Give Than You Think
Most conversations around generosity begin and end with money. But Nick reminds us that Scripture paints a much broader picture of what we’ve been entrusted with.
“You have time, talents, treasures… but also attention and relationships,” he says.
In an age where everyone is fighting for our focus, our attention is a sacred resource. So is our relational energy—the people we serve, the clients we pour into, the way we show up in our teams.
Generosity doesn’t start when you hit a certain income level. It starts when you realize you’re already holding more than enough in your hands—time, talent, focus, and influence. The question is: Are you stewarding them with intention?
2. Work Is Worship
Nick points us back to Genesis 2, where God gave Adam and Eve two commands: be fruitful and multiply, and exercise dominion. Business, he argues, is one of the purest expressions of that dominion mandate.
“Christians bring eternal perspective to ordinary work,” Nick explains. “We bring order, beauty, creativity, and structure to the chaos of the world—and that’s deeply spiritual.”
Too often, entrepreneurs separate their “ministry” from their business. But your business is a platform for kingdom impact. The clients you serve, the culture you create, the systems you build—all of it is worship when surrendered to God’s purposes.
3. Sales Isn’t Selfish—It’s an Act of Generosity
If there’s one fear most entrepreneurs don’t admit out loud, it’s this: I hate selling myself.
Nick gets it. As a financial planner, he avoided the sales conversation for years—until God flipped the script.
“Sales is the act of helping people overcome the obstacles between where they are and where they want to go,” he shared. “It’s value creation. It’s service. It’s generosity.”
When you believe in the transformation your work provides, sales stops being a selfish act and becomes a sacred invitation. It’s not about persuading—it’s about partnering. Not about pushing—it’s about solving.
And when you see it that way? You’ll stop playing small and start showing up.
4. Build a Business That Funds Your Generosity
Many Christian entrepreneurs confuse business and ministry. But Nick makes a key distinction:
“You can run your business like a ministry—for a little while. But eventually, it has to sustain you in order to sustain others.”
His advice? Design your business to support your ministry, not replace it. That might mean:
Charging for your services and reserving a few pro bono hours per week or month.
Following a “barbell” approach—some high-revenue clients, some high-impact clients.
Budgeting time and money for strategic generosity instead of reactive burnout.
One powerful mindset shift: it’s okay to build revenue on purpose so you can give on purpose.
5. A Budget is a Spiritual Discipline
If you’re ready to step into greater generosity, you need clarity—not just good intentions. Nick recommends starting with what he calls a “cashflow plan” (a friendlier way to say “budget”).
With simple tools like Monarch Money or You Need A Budget, you can see where your money is going—and reclaim 10–15% just by eliminating leaks. As Nick puts it:
“Awareness is what unlocks change. Once you see it, you can steward it.”
This isn’t about rigid frugality. It’s about creating margin. And margin is what empowers generosity—with money, time, and mission.
Bonus: What’s Holding You Back Might Not Be Money—It Might Be Fear
In a candid moment, Nick shared his biggest fear: being perceived as salesy. That fear had kept him from showing up fully in his business.
Sound familiar?
Whether your fear is visibility, rejection, or not being “good enough,” here’s the truth: you are not your performance. Your identity is not tied to your income or your job description. And when you start operating from that place of freedom, everything changes.
Final Thoughts: You’re Probably Doing Better Than You Think
So many faith-driven entrepreneurs walk around with low-grade guilt that they’re not doing enough—giving enough, serving enough, earning enough. But maybe the most spiritual thing you can do today is pause and ask:
“God, what have You already placed in my hands?”
And then: “What would it look like to steward this open-handedly?”
Whether you're just getting started or scaling with purpose, your business can be a vessel for impact, generosity, and eternal significance. And that starts with owning your role, releasing the guilt, and stepping into the bold, Spirit-led leadership you were made for.
Ready to Lead with Courage and Clarity?
If you’re a Christian entrepreneur who knows you're called to something more—but you’re tired of spinning your wheels alone—The Emboldened Entrepreneur is here for you.
It’s more than a membership. It’s a roadmap, a community, and a coaching space for purpose-driven founders ready to lead from identity, not insecurity.
👉 Learn more and join today at build.emboldenedentrep.com.
