If you've spent any time in church, you probably know the Parable of the Talents. A master gives three servants money before leaving on a trip — five talents, two talents, one talent, each according to his ability. The first two put their money to work and double it. The third buries his in the ground out of fear, and when the master returns, that's the one who gets in trouble. Not the one who risked and lost — the one who did nothing at all.
I think about this parable a lot as a bookkeeper, because I watch business owners do the exact same thing with their books. Not because they're lazy, but because they're afraid. Afraid of what the numbers will say. Afraid they'll find out they're not as profitable as they hoped. So, the bank statement goes unreconciled, the spreadsheet goes unopened, and the "talent" — the business, the data, the opportunity to actually know where you stand — gets buried in the ground.
Matthew 25:14-30 isn't really a parable about investing. It's a parable about faithfulness with what's already in your hands. And for a small business owner, what's in your hands is usually a business bank account, a stack of receipts, and more information than you're currently using.
What this looks like practically:
You don't need to "double" anything to be faithful with your business finances. You need to actually look. Open the account. Reconcile the month. Know your numbers. That's it — that's the whole first step, and it's the one most business owners skip because looking feels scarier than not looking.
From there, faithfulness looks like:
Reconciling your accounts monthly instead of letting them pile up
Knowing your actual profit margin, not just your gut feeling about it
Making one small improvement a month instead of waiting for a perfect system
None of that requires you to have it all figured out. It just requires you to stop burying it in the ground.
Verse to sit with: "Well done, good and faithful servant... You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things." — Matthew 25:21
If you've been avoiding your books out of fear of what you'll find, that's the servant with the shovel. Open them anyway. Whatever the number is, you can't be faithful with it until you know it.
Need a hand actually looking? Moikeish Business Solutions handles bookkeeping and admin for small businesses across Palm Beach County and virtually.
