I recently wrapped up another semester with a group of Kingdom-minded business leaders, and I’ll admit — I’m already missing my Friday mornings with them.

Each week, we came together to talk about business through a different lens: stewardship.

Not simply, “How do we grow?”

But:

How do we use what God has entrusted to us well?
How do we serve people with integrity?
How do we build businesses that honor God in the way we treat our customers, our team, our finances, our opportunities and each other?

Those conversations have made me think a lot about Kick It Junk Removal & Hauling and why Paul and I were equipped so differently for the business we now run together.

Jenn Graham with Kingdom-minded local business leaders discussing faith, stewardship and business. — Jenn with fellow Kingdom-minded business leaders from our Friday morning group.

We Were Given Different Gifts for a Reason

Paul and I each came into Kick It with more than 20 years of professional and trade experience — but in completely different worlds.

Paul spent more than two decades working in the trades as an ironworker. He can build, repair, fabricate, demolish and figure out things that would have most people staring at a project wondering where to even begin.

And his work ethic is unlike anyone I know.

I spent more than 20 years as an electrical engineer working in automation and controls. My strengths have always been problem solving, systems, organization, numbers, planning and figuring out how all the pieces fit together.

Neither one of us started those careers thinking, “Someday this is going to help us run a junk removal company.”

But looking back, it is hard not to see how those skills prepared us for exactly what we are doing today.

Kick It is where those two very different sets of gifts came together.

Stewardship Is More Than What We Own

One of the passages we discussed recently was the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25.

The lesson that stuck with me is that stewardship is not simply about money.

It is about what has been placed in your hands.

Your abilities.
Your time.
Your relationships.
Your opportunities.
Your business.
And the people you have been given the opportunity to serve.

For us, that includes every customer who trusts Kick It with their home, property, belongings or project.

Sometimes we are helping someone clear a garage.

Sometimes it is an estate cleanout after losing a loved one.

Sometimes someone is downsizing, moving, preparing a home for sale or dealing with years of accumulated belongings.

Other times we are tearing down a shed, deck, pergola or another structure so a property can move into its next chapter.

The physical work may be junk removal, cleanouts or demolition.

But very often, what is happening in that customer’s life is much bigger than the stuff we are hauling away.

Your Time Matters. Trust Us With the Rest.

That realization has shaped a message that has become increasingly important to us:

Your Time Matters. Trust Us With the Rest.

It is more than a line on our website.

It represents how we believe people should be treated.

When someone hires us, they are trusting us with something valuable — and not just their money.

They are trusting us with their time.
Their home.
Their property.
Their schedule.
And sometimes a situation that already carries a lot of emotional weight.

Our responsibility is to make our portion of that experience easier.

Show up when we say we will.
Communicate.
Treat the property with care.
Work hard.
Charge fairly.
Do the job the right way.
And leave the customer feeling like they made the right decision when they trusted us.

Experience Matters — But Character Matters Too

Between the two of us, Paul and I bring decades of experience to Kick It.

That experience absolutely matters.

It is why we emphasize that we are licensed, insured and bonded and bring more than 20 years of trade experience to the work we perform.

But experience by itself is not enough.

Character matters too.

Doing the right thing when no one is watching matters.
Keeping your word matters.
Taking responsibility matters.
Treating customers the way you would want your own family treated matters.

Those are the things we want Kick It to be known for.

A Business Can Be a Way to Serve

I used to think of business primarily in terms of providing a service and earning a living.

I see it differently now.

A business creates an opportunity to serve people.

It creates jobs.
It creates relationships.
It creates opportunities to give things a second life through donation and repurposing.
It creates opportunities to help people through difficult transitions.
And it gives us another place to use the abilities God gave us for something larger than ourselves.

We certainly do not do everything perfectly.

We are still learning, growing and figuring things out as we go.

But one thing we want to remain constant as Kick It grows is the way we steward what has been placed in our hands.