Business people has the opportunity and capacity to make some money in order to gain financial freedom. Others make some quick money with a less effort and then get out. But what this people leave behind is a distinct distaste in the mouths of their friends, employees, customers, and suppliers.

This get-rich-quick mentality can be seen throughout the American Enterprise today in the takeovers and sell-offs of thousands of companies. Employees are treated like so much chattel, and creditors often are left holding the bag when valuable assets are sold off and the proceeds are absorbed within the parent company. Then the shell of the original company is thrown into bankruptcy, within the creditors and employees getting virtually nothing for their efforts.

There is nothing wrong or unscriptural about becoming  wealthy but the point is what becomes the overriding drive behind every decision.  When lust for riches is the motivating factor then the business will become unscriptural.

What often separates the true Christians in business from the unsaved or even carnal Christians is how they value the people with whom they interact.

Are your real motives me-first or other first? All get-rich-quick schemes are based on greed, and all agreed has me-first at its core.

I have often said that if I could convince most Christian businesspeople to save a small portion of what they earn and avoid all get-rich-quick schemes, they could cut the prices of their products and still end up with more money at the end of their careers.

How many doctors, dentist, or attorneys do you know who have made money doing anything other than what they trained to do? A few, perhaps, but for every one that made money in a get-rich-quick scheme, 100 lost money.

Alex’s case is a good example. Alex was a Christian businessman who had developed a thriving restaurant concern in his community. He ran a specialty fast-food service that catered to the lunch crowd during the week, then totally changed its cuisine to attract the dinner groups during the weekend. Each of this children had worked in the business as they were growing up, and most of them had stayed in it.

Then, in the midst of the franchise mania of the late nineties and early 2000, Alex decided to establish franchises. His driving motivation was a desire to build a national franchise business, sell out, and then become a venture capital entrepreneur: He had a brother who supposedly was making millions in the franchise business.

The first store Alex franchised in a nearby city did extremely well. Its success encouraged him to link with a promoter to sell limited partnership shares in the parent company. This capital would allow Alex to develop the franchise business and, he was sure, acquire instant riches.

The first store Alex franchised in a nearby city did extremely well. Its success encouraged him to link up with a promoter to sell limited partnership shares in the parent company. The capital would allow Alex to develop the franchise business and, he was sure, acquire instant riches.

The promoter sold 20 franchise in several cities, but the project began to go sour even before the first stores opened. The legal fees register the partnership offerings were nearly double what had been expected, and the law prohibited the offering of more shares. This forced Alex to borrow heavily from his local bank, using his operating restaurant as collateral.

Expenses continued to pile up as building costs escalated and store openings were delayed. Several of the franchise had quit their jobs and borrowed heavily against their homes to get in on the ground flood of this new business. With each delay in the store openings, their chances of success dropped significantly.

After several months of delay, three of the franchisees sued to recover their investment, claiming fraud on the part of Alex and his company. The court agreed: Alex was required to refund the franchisee’s money which he no longer had. The net result was that his business, home, and virtually all other assets had to liquidated to pay his bills. For a time it even appeared that Alex would be prosecuted for criminal fraud, but his willingness to make total restitution helped convince the prosecutor not to file charges.

Alex could have continued to make a very comfortable living for himself and his family for the rest of his life, except that a get-rich-quick mentality caused him to take excessive risks.

Two (2) Basic questions you need to  ask yourself to avoid get-rich-quick thinking:

1.    Do you understand their business – how it runs and operates?

2.    What are the specific risks associated with their investment?