We took a pause for Easter, but we're back in the business series and this is the one I've been building toward.

We talked about Building Under Authority. About how God doesn't call the qualified. About what He looks for before He opens doors. And about why money can never be the sole goal.

All of that matters. Every bit of it. But I know some of you have been reading these and thinking the same thing.

Okay Josh, but how do I actually get started BUILDING the thing?

This is the newsletter where we stop talking about the heart posture and start talking about the business itself. Because here's what I believe with everything in me:

God did not design you to spend 40 years building someone else's vision while yours collects dust.

That doesn't mean your 9-to-5 is evil. It's not. Some of you are exactly where God has you right now and that job is the training ground for what's next. But if there's a fire in your gut that won't go away — a business idea, a service, a product, a skill that people already come to you for — then at some point you have to stop rehearsing and start performing.

I remember the exact moment I knew it was time for me. I was sitting in my office at a $100M Nonprofit, barely making enough to almost cover the bills on a good month. My pastor Craig Groeschel had preached a sermon that weekend and said this haunting phrase: "To step towards your destiny, sometimes you have to step away from your security."

Right. Between. My eyes.

I prayed over it with my wife and got to work building. No investors. No business plan. No safety net. Just a fire that was igniting inside and that ever so subtle feeling that God had made me for more!

That decision turned into a thriving agency serving clients across the country. In fact just last year ONE of our clients reached 6.6 million people with the Gospel across 183 countries.

But the business itself was never the miracle, it was the fact I could be used for a purpose so much larger than myself.

Isaiah 64:8 says it like this: “…we are the clay, and You are our potter; we are all the work of Your hand.”

Over the last few months we’ve been laying the internal groundwork for our lives to reflect authority, calling, faithfulness, and motivations that align with the Lord.

Now let’s get to work in the era that is being upheaved by new technologies and skills that are needed for the next phase of our futures.

Here's what nobody tells you about leaving your 9-to-5. You don't quit and then figure it out. You build and then you transition. The goal isn't to make a dramatic exit. The goal is to build something so solid on the side that walking away becomes the obvious next step, not a leap of faith into the dark.

When I started Soulheart I didn't quit my job on Day 1. I built at night for years. It started with a few hundred bucks then turned into an extra $20K/yr. I built on weekends. I built on lunch breaks. I treated those hours like they were sacred because they were. But eventually I knew I would have to leave my job in order to go all-in on the thing that God was calling me to.

Here's the framework you can use today and the same one I’m using to coach men just like you inside the Soulfire Brotherhood.

1. Solve one problem for one person and get paid for it.

Stop overthinking this. You don't need a website. You don't need a logo. You don't need an LLC on Day 1. You need one person who has a problem you can solve and is willing to pay you to solve it. That's it. That's a business. Everything else is just infrastructure you build around it over time.

When I started I had ONE client paying me to manage their website. One. I did that really well and then asked them if they knew anyone else who needed the same thing. And that's how it began to grow.

2. Set a replacement number.

Most men have no idea what it actually costs to leave their job. So they never leave because the unknown feels too big. Sit down this week and write down the exact number you need per month to cover your family's needs. Not your wants. Your needs. Mortgage, food, insurance, utilities, giving. That's your replacement number.

When you’re consistently hitting that number for three months straight, you can have a real conversation with your wife and trusted friends about taking that next step. Unless your burden is so deep that you can’t sleep at night and truly know this is the direction God is calling you, don't jump before the bridge is built. You have all the tools to double up and figure things out and I have countless friends who have done it well.

Side note: I did not play it safe. I left everything and took a full leap of faith. Not recommended and even then, I had a couple of years that I made 50% of my salary on the side with just a handful of projects so I technically had a proof of concept.

3. Build systems, not just skills.

Here's where most men get stuck. They start a business but what they actually create is a job for themselves. They trade a boss for clients and still can't take a day off without everything falling apart.

From the beginning, document what you do. Write down the process. Create templates. Build a repeatable system that someone else could eventually step into. Your business should be able to run a Tuesday without you in it before you try to scale it into something that runs a whole week.

I heard a good quote once that I took to heart: “If you want to find the entrepreneurs see who is golfing in the middle of the week.”

I love to golf and my Father in Law is retired so we’ve been able to enjoy a lot of courses from AZ to CA to FL to HI, all during the middle of the week when they’re not busy because I built my business to handle itself.

This is biblical stewardship applied to business. The Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 isn't just about money. It's about multiplication. The master didn't reward the servant who just maintained what he was given. He rewarded the one who multiplied it. You multiply by building systems, not by doing everything yourself.

4. Protect the runway.

Dave Ramsey says it and I fully agree: do not build a business on debt. I started with an $80 desk and a $1700 iMac that we paid cash for. Most of you can do the same. Keep your overhead low, save aggressively during the building phase, and stack at least three to six months of expenses before you make the full transition.

The goal is to walk out of your 9-to-5 with peace, not panic.

Remember, you will not end up headed towards your goals unless you actually make a plan and build your trajectory to achieve the plan.

You know you’re winning when you have moments where your wife says, "I’m so proud of you and how hard you’re working for us" instead of worrying how the bills get paid next month.

But, you will not end up headed towards your goals unless you actually make a plan and build your trajectory to achieve the plan.

"The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty." — Proverbs 21:5

Most guys think freedom means no alarm clock, no boss, and working from a beach somewhere. Frankly, that’s what I pushed hard into my first couple of years. We traveled through 42 states with three kids 5 and under. It was amazing building the life I had been dreaming about. I did work from all four corners of the states, from mountaintops and ski slopes to beaches and rolling hills.

It is possible. But real freedom is building a life where your work, your faith, and your family are no longer in competition with each other.

Monday shouldn’t feel like a punishment and Sunday night shouldn’t fill your mind with what lies ahead when the grind begins again. Build something that serves people, glorifies God, and actually funds the life He's called you to live.

When I finally left my job and went full-time to build Soulheart, I thought I'd feel relief. And I did, for about a week. Then the real work started. Because freedom doesn't remove the pressure. It gives you different pressure. A better pressure if you ask me. The kind of pressure that comes from building something that's actually yours under God's authority.

Freedom is being at your kid's game on a Wednesday afternoon because you built a business that doesn't require you to ask someone for permission to be a dad.

Freedom is tithing generously and giving beyond what's expected because the ceiling on your income is no longer set by someone else's budget for your role.

Freedom is taking your wife on a trip not because you need to escape your life but because you love the life you've built and want to enjoy it together.

Freedom is saying no to a client who wants you to compromise your values because you've built enough margin that you don't need every dollar that comes through the door.

Freedom is discipling other men or serving your church because you've got the time, the resources, and the credibility that only comes from someone who's actually walked the road.

That's what I want for you. Not just a business, but a life built on purpose that funds your calling and gives you the margin to be the man God designed you to be.

I've watched men inside the Brotherhood go from zero to replacing their paycheck in under a year using this exact framework. Real men building real businesses with real results.

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." — John 8:36

Paul said it this way in Galatians 5:1: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

My question to is, Are you experiencing freedom?

Some of you have been living under a yoke that was never meant to be permanent. The job that was supposed to be temporary became a decade. The side hustle that was supposed to grow got buried under excuses. The dream God put in your heart got quieter and quieter until you almost forgot it was there.

It's still there.

And I'm telling you as a man who's lived this out — the other side is real. It's hard. It's uncomfortable. It will test every ounce of your faith.

But it's worth every single second.

First: Calculate your replacement number. Write it down. Put it somewhere you'll see it every day. That number is not a dream. It's a target. And targets are meant to be hit.

Second: Identify the ONE skill, service, or solution you already have that someone would pay you for. Not the perfect business plan. Not the five-year vision. Just one thing. Then find one person who needs it and offer to help them. That's the first step of building the machine.

If you need accountability, hit reply and send me your replacement number.

Just the number. I want to know what you're aiming for — and if you're already building, tell me where you're at. That's exactly what we go deeper on every week inside the Soulfire Brotherhood.

👉 Pray this: "Lord, give me the courage to build what You've put in my heart. Give me the discipline to start small and the faith to trust that You will multiply it. Show me the one person I can serve this week. Keep me grounded in my identity that You have given me and give me the wisdom I need to build what You’ve called me into."

"Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established." — Proverbs 16:3

Rooting for you always,

Joshua Brown
Chief Firestarter at Soulfire

PS: If you've been on the fence about the Soulfire Brotherhood, this is the content we go deeper on every single week. Real frameworks. Real accountability. Real men building real businesses for the glory of God. We just opened spots for our next cohort and Elite 1-on-1 coaching is limited to 6 men. If it's not for you, full refund, no questions asked.

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