Julaine Smith

[00:00:00] I was born and raised in Oakland, California. Uh, as far as my church background is concerned, I was raised in the Presbyterian Church. Uh, spent all of my youth and development years in that denomination. Jesus was portrayed to me as being very meek and humble and actually poor. But I interpreted it as being, if I wanted to be in his favor, I needed to be poor.

Okay. Now that was a problem. I just decided I’ll keep Jesus over here and I’ll keep my desire for success in the workplace over here. And never the two shall meet. I remember the time when I started working for Pricewaterhouse and um, I can remember [00:01:00] walking the halls of that firm and and having this internal voice of conflict.

If you really loved Jesus, you would desire to go into ministry. Bottom line, that was the general school of thought that I had embraced as truth. Over that period of time, the tension and the stress of my work just went to another level until one day I get to work. My boss, Luxen, that morning, she closes the door to my office, sits down in front of my desk, and she says to me, What’s the matter?

I said, nothing’s wrong with me. And then as I’m having this conversation with her, God’s having a conversation with me. And he says, tell her the truth. I said, Lord, I can’t tell her the truth. He said, I said, tell her the truth. And when I tell you, I don’t know where it came from other than [00:02:00] I opened my mouth and the words that came out were, I hate my job and I hate this place.

Oh boy. And then the floodgates open and the tears started to flow and I left there and I came home and I told my husband. I think I quit my job today, but I remember the day I was in the kitchen and it was probably two weeks after I had left and I just lost it because the reality of my decision hit me.

I had walked away from the best career I ever dreamed I would have and now I’m a nothing. I didn’t know who I was, but I wasn’t a finance officer anymore. I didn’t work in corporate finance. I didn’t have a job. [00:03:00] And I didn’t have an identity because my identity was connected to the work I did. So I’m on the floor.

Literally. Balling my eyes up. By myself. And feeling like I needed comfort and some soothing words of it’s going to be okay baby, don’t worry, um, I got you, all this is going to work out for your good. And instead I hear, get up, I’ve saved

the best for last. God said, I told you to leave that. I put you in this place and you are not going to have a pity party on me right now.

You’re going to get up and you’re going to keep going and you’re going to do each day what it is that I’ve called you to do. And oh my goodness, I said, if you save the best for last, then I’m next. So just to set the stage with this a little bit, in [00:04:00] the world of business today, there is a move around purpose that is bubbling up.

In the marketplace, if you are in the marketplace, whether you were an employee or a business owner, you have probably heard people talk about purpose and having purpose beyond profit as a motivator for doing business, aligning the profit motive with, um, mission that’s designed to make a difference in the world.

That started a whole nother season of life for me. Instead, God started speaking to me about starting businesses. I want you to show my people how to start and run businesses and do it in a way that brings me glory. The Lord did not change my desires. He just consecrated them. What I do today is I help people to become what I call G corporations.

G corporation is a term applied [00:05:00] to a leader, not a legal entity, and it’s a leader with a soul plan. And what that means is this leader has aligned their desire to create wealth with their desire to serve the purposes of God. And they use business as a means of fulfilling that purpose. Through understanding of who God is and who he wants to be in all of our lives, not just ministers, not just evangelists, not just missionaries, business people, who he wants to be in our life.

And that if we just allow intimacy. See to happen in our relationships. He will show us who we are in the kingdom. He will open up a revelation, an understanding of why we have these desires that we do in the marketplace. What’s the purpose for them. And look, can I just say this? It’s not so we can write big checks.

It’s not so that we can fund the, the ministry of the [00:06:00] local congregation. Yes, that is a benefit. But the bigger reason is culture. Changing the environment of the workplace. Well, she told me about this group she had, which essentially was a business incubator for entrepreneurs. You’re constantly surrounded with people who have accolades and all these, um, achievements and sometimes you can second guess what you’re doing or why you’re doing it.

And I think she’s just really taught me to step into what God has for me unapologetically and go for it. And it’s made such a difference, even just her affirming that there is value in what I do and why I do it. And because of who I am and who God has created me to be, there’s, there’s nobody else who can do it the way I do it.

We wouldn’t necessarily say that we’re a You know, a Christian business, we don’t, you know, operate that way, but we love people. So I think it’s a new [00:07:00] awakening that there’s a kingdom purpose and just daily dealing with companies that, um, it’s important as well. And it can be, it can be a mission field just as much as anything else.

And Julaine is all about structuring business practices in a way that brings a different kind of wholeness through finding your purpose and your passion with your profits. Working with Jelaine has just put in myself, like my own. Wow, I am gifted. God, God, I am called. I am anointed. I am able to do this. I am fearfully and wonderfully created.

So having someone like Jelaine, who’s an expert, be able to call out the things within you and look at you and be like, you are so worthy. It’s just really powerful. And I think that what the Lord wants to do is he wants to take the church and he wants to manifest it in the marketplace. How can our Lord and the principals So the kingdom of heaven be used in the marketplace for good in a way that not only makes a profit, but also makes a [00:08:00] difference, a difference that will ultimately improve the quality of life for those that we do life with.

That’s what I’m all about. And that’s what I’m going to do.