We were lucky to catch up with Joseph Gallucci recently and have shared our conversation below.
Joseph, we’ve been so fortunate to work with so many incredible folks and one common thread we have seen is that those who have built amazing lives for themselves are also often the folks who are most generous. Where do you think your generosity comes from?
I started my business when I was 24 years old just 9 days before my first child, my son, was born. Bootstrapping a business with a wife and a new baby was no easy task. I had a focus early on to work hard for my burgeoning family and business and it also cultivated a character of stinginess within me.
10 years later as my income and business (and family) had grown substantially, I was still no more generous than I was before. Even though I had excess money coming in, I would still save it away or maybe indulge in some nicer household luxuries. I had charities I’d give to but it was a paltry amount.
Several years later and I found myself at a difficult time personally, and my church was there for me. There was a group of men who were faith-driven business leaders in the community. They helped me to activate my faith in a personal and tangible way.
Jesus once said: “Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?”
You see, at the root in my heart, I was fearful of not having enough, and not being able to take care of my family. But I began to learn that there was someone who always looked out for me and that the weight of the world wasn’t on my own shoulders. As I prayed daily for God to “give me this day my daily bread,” I began to realize how blessed I already was and how much God had already given me. I was far past the point of worrying about where I would get my next meal.
I had already seen God come through for me in my personal life, so we decided to take a step of FAITH and start giving 10% of our income. I have to admit, I was scared. I had a lot of financial worries about the future and possible things that could go wrong, but I trusted that Jesus would look after me and my family if I was obedient to him. After we setup the autopayments to start giving, 3 business days later I got a call from a business colleague indicating that an indiscriminate business event would lead to a significant increase in business without any additional work on my end. I quickly did the math after the call ended, my income would go up 20-30%!
We’ve been giving faithfully ever since, and as I try my best to be a good steward of the business, I see God’s many blessings multiplying in my life. Besides the obvious joy of getting to contribute to my church and give to the poor and needy, I notice a huge difference in my own heart. It is no longer plagued with the fears it used to have, but I live each and every day with peace, joy, and a confident faith that my Savior and Lord will provide, care, and direct me.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
At PayFrog, we are focused on serving businesses, non-profits, and government agencies by finding unique payment processing solutions to fit their needs.
We help new businesses get launched and setup their merchant account and credit card processing systems and discuss their processes for payment acceptance. We also help existing businesses reduce or eliminate their payment processing fees and we’re very adept at finding the pain points they are having with their current provider and working with them to find creative solutions to solve those issues.
I’m most excited when I see existing clients grow their businesses or expand new sales channels or purchase new businesses and I get the opportunity to help them as they continue to grow their business. Every time a client calls in for some level of support, I see it as an opportunity to further our relationship.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Here are 3 qualities that I think will help any entrepreneur:
1) Humility – “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Humble people are learners. They seek wise counsel and mentors. They ask advice or experts and people who have more experience. They take vigorous notes at conferences. They’re willing to apologize to a customer and take responsibility if there’s been a mistake. They can also pivot more easily if a business decision turns out to be a bad one.
2) Perseverance – Everyone goes through tough times, both professionally and personally. Perseverance has more to do with getting up every time you get knocked down. Nobody is perfect. There will be challenges, mistakes, and occasional mayhem, but when you have a noble purpose you will find the strength of heart to keep going.
3) Vision – Within every person are endowed the seeds of creativity. When you have a clear vision, you will see the necessary steps along the way to get you to your goal. Things will become clear to you and as possibilities enter your view you will be able to quickly identify them as opportunities or distractions. It is a beautiful thing to see people use their God given abilities to imagine what might be and then to create it into existence.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
I once hear it said, if the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy. Business called busy-ness for a reason! While many small business owners wear a lot of hats, it can be overwhelming at times as you juggle work which can be never ending as well as family and personal life.
The feeling of overwhelm can happen anytime we feel like there is too much to be done and not enough time. However, we’re all given the same amount of time everyday. Have you ever wondered how some people get to be 10 or 100 times more successful than others the same age? It’s not because they’ve had more time, it’s because they’ve used their time more effectively.
In addition, social media, the news, and our cell phones have a way of constantly trying to interrupt our thinking with loud and frequent notifications. We need to turn down the loud in our life and seek time in silence.
I also wanted to address margin. Many business owners go full-throttle and they avoid necessary margin in their life. They may work 80 hours a week and then wonder years later why they are burnt out, why their health is in jeopardy, or why their relationships are suffering.
Margin is the extra space or time in their life to think clearly, to think of what’s really important, to have a day of rest once a week to recharge, and have time for your family or friends or serving your community. It’s about having time in between appointments so you’re not always rushing or stressed or behind. It’s about stating each day with a quiet time whereby I read and pray and journal and get guidance and set my priority for the day instead of the day setting the priorities for me.
“Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands.” – The Apostle Paul
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