Welcome to the Christian Business Growth Podcast where faith meets entrepreneurship. Each episode, we uncover the strategies, stories, and spirit-led insights that help Christian business owners align their goals with God’s call. From practical tips to real-life testimonies, we explore what it takes to build a business that honours Christ, serves others, and impacts the Kingdom.
Episode Summary
When Provision Isn’t Enough
In this episode of the Christian Business Growth Podcast, Martin Howard shares a powerful story of transition, responsibility, and calling. What began as a difficult season with his wife’s illness became the catalyst for stepping away from a misaligned job and into a purpose-driven coaching business.
Martin explains how God had been preparing him long before the moment of decision. From starting a website years earlier to building financial discipline and gaining new skills, every step became part of a larger plan.
A central theme of the conversation is redefining what it means to lead as a Christian man. Martin highlights the four roles many overlook: pastor, protector, provider, and pursuer. While many men focus on provision, he challenges listeners to show up fully for their families in every area.
The episode also addresses belief. Not just belief in business, but belief in yourself through God’s design. Martin shares encouragement for those who feel stuck, reminding listeners that their story is not finished and that growth often comes through pressure.
This conversation is both practical and deeply personal, offering a clear reminder that preparation, faith, and action work together.
💬 Sound Bites From This Episode
🔹 Lisa Costa
Martin:
- “I didn’t have a backup plan… but God started putting the pieces together.”
- “God had been preparing this long before I ever saw it.”
- “Most men provide… but they forget to be the pastor and the pursuer.”
- “My job isn’t to show the path. It’s to help them recognize it.”
- “Your story isn’t finished.”
🔹 Rev. Lyle:
- “God put your purpose in your heart long before you ever saw the outcome.”
- “Sometimes just hearing someone else say ‘I made it through’ makes a big difference.”
- “You don’t build the life perfectly, first you build the foundation, and God builds the life on top of it.”
- “What feels like a setback is often God repositioning you.”
Episode Highlights
Starting a coaching business can be a daunting venture, especially when faced with personal challenges and uncertainties. In this post, we draw insights from Martin Howard's journey, a financial coach who transformed his life through faith and resilience. Here, we explore five crucial lessons that can guide you in establishing your own coaching practice.
About Martin Howard
Martin Howard is a financial coach and the founder of Instruct and Grow. With a background in finance and a passion for helping others, Martin provides guidance to Christian men seeking to improve their leadership and financial skills. His journey into coaching was shaped by personal struggles and a desire to empower others.
Insight 1: Embrace Your Journey
Martin's story emphasizes the importance of recognizing your unique path. He highlights how his wife's illness catalyzed a shift in his career, leading him to pursue coaching.
Key Takeaway: Your struggles can pave the way for your purpose. Embrace them as part of your growth.
Insight 2: Build a Strong Foundation
Before transitioning to coaching, Martin focused on paying off debt and building savings. He understood the necessity of financial stability to support his new venture.
Key Takeaway: Prepare for your business by ensuring you have the necessary financial groundwork laid out. This will give you the freedom to focus on your clients.
Insight 3: Continuous Learning
Martin invested in his education through certifications in life coaching and financial coaching. He believes in the value of lifelong learning and staying current in your field.
Key Takeaway: Never stop expanding your knowledge. It not only enhances your credibility but also equips you to serve your clients better.
Insight 4: Believe in Yourself
A core message Martin shares is the significance of self-belief. He encourages aspiring coaches to trust in their gifts and abilities, reminding them that they are capable of achieving their goals.
Key Takeaway: Cultivate confidence in your skills and trust that you have what it takes to succeed.
Insight 5: Prioritize Your Family
In Martin's view, being present for your family is vital. He stresses that financial provision is important, but emotional and physical presence carries more weight.
Key Takeaway: Balance your professional ambitions with your family responsibilities. Show up for your loved ones.
Wrapping Up
Starting a coaching business requires resilience, preparation, and faith. Martin Howard's insights serve as a powerful reminder that personal challenges can lead to incredible opportunities.
By embracing your journey, investing in your education, and prioritizing your family, you can build a successful business that reflects your values and passions.
📝 Full transcript here
Rev. Lyle:
Hello and welcome to the Christian Business Growth Podcast. I’m Rev. Lyle, and I’m here with Martin Howard. So Martin, how did God get you into business?
Martin Howard:
Yeah, so there’s a long story. I have so many different God stories throughout my life that it’s difficult to point down one, but let me discuss this.
One of the most instrumental ones that has led me to become the coach I am today was in July of last year. My wife got sick. Unfortunately, nine months later, she’s still not any better. To say it’s been a struggle would be an understatement.
At the time, I was working in a job that I hated for a company that I didn’t align with my beliefs as a Christian. So when my wife got sick, I took a lot of time off from work, taking our kids to their appointments, taking her to appointments, school activities. Whatever she would normally be doing, I was now doing instead because she could no longer do that because of her condition.
Even though I had over 200 hours of sick time available, it didn’t sit well with my boss that I was gone so much trying to take care of my wife and our kids.
By October of last year, my wife’s condition hadn’t gotten any better. By that time, she had actually been hospitalized twice. With how much I couldn’t stand my job, my wife’s condition, and the fact that I had to commute an hour and a half each way, I knew my time with that company was coming to an end.
Now at the time, I really didn’t have a backup.
Then God helped me start putting the pieces together.
In 2018, I started my website, instructandgrow.com, as a place where I could write and post my work. In 2021, I began writing and creating YouTube videos to expand my skills beyond writing into video editing and content creation.
At the end of 2024, I started a financial coach master training program. I didn’t even realize that this was all going to come together.
Initially, I was taking that course just because I love learning. But then I realized something.
Since I have a background in finance, and I was going through this program, I could actually become a coach.
At the beginning of December, I put in my two-week notice. Two weeks before Christmas, I no longer had a job.
That freed up my time to finish the program and learn everything I could about the coaching industry.
Because of my wife’s condition, I knew I had to do something that would allow me to work from home. Coaching allows me to do that while helping others.
Long before we moved to Florida in 2022, and long before she got sick in 2025, God had already started this path.
I knew I wanted to help others. I knew I wanted to work for myself. I just didn’t know what it would look like.
That’s how God wove everything together to bring me to where I am today.
Rev. Lyle:
It’s amazing how God uses a tragedy to put you where He wants you to be. You already laid the foundation, and God built on that foundation.
He gave you the skills and talents, and then opened the door and said, “Here’s where I want you to be.”
It’s unique that God put that in your heart back in 2018, even though it didn’t fully come together until 2025.
So what is God doing in your business right now?
Martin Howard:
Right now, I’m still working on getting my first client.
But God is helping me lay the groundwork. He’s putting people and groups in my path to learn from.
Because I’m a Christian, my coaching program is Christian-based.
My upbringing and my struggles led me to want to coach other husbands in leadership and finances.
I grew up in a household where my dad worked three jobs. He was gone all the time. I never really saw him.
As Christian husbands and fathers, we are called to be the pastor, the protector, the provider, and the pursuer of our families.
Many of us get the provider part down. We work and provide financially.
We work on being protectors when we’re home. But we forget about protecting our families in other ways, like what they’re exposed to online.
Are we pursuing our families like we pursue our careers?
Are we being the pastor, teaching God’s Word at home? Or are we leaving that responsibility to the church once a week, if we go?
That’s our role.
Before becoming a coach, I started paying off debt and building savings to prepare for leaving my job.
Financial Peace University gave me tools to prepare.
But it goes back even further.
In 2009, I was injured while on active duty in the Army. Because of that, I receive VA disability income, which helps support my family while I build my business.
This didn’t happen overnight.
God has been preparing this path for years.
Rev. Lyle:
That’s great. So what are you doing right now to build your business?
Martin Howard:
I’ve been getting certifications. Life coach, Christian life coach, and now I’m working on neuro-linguistic programming.
I want to help men break through limiting beliefs.
As a coach, my job is not to show them the path, but to help them see it for themselves.
If I only show them, they’ll get lost again.
But if I teach them how to recognize the path, they’ll know where to go next time.
Rev. Lyle:
That’s powerful. You’re empowering transformation.
So what’s a business growth tip you’d give someone?
Martin Howard:
Never stop believing in yourself or the gifts God has given you.
God gives each of us different abilities. When we use them for His glory, we will prosper.
Deuteronomy 8:17–18 says it is God who gives us the ability to produce wealth.
Money isn’t the goal. It’s a tool.
When you believe in what God has placed in you, you’ll move forward with confidence.
Rev. Lyle:
Let me ask this. What would you say to someone who has lost belief in themselves?
Martin Howard:
We all go through that.
The enemy wants to keep you down.
But Scripture says we are more than conquerors.
Your story isn’t finished.
God is using everything you’re going through.
James tells us to consider it joy when we face trials, because we are being strengthened.
Sometimes we are our own biggest obstacle.
But God doesn’t give up on us.
So don’t give up on yourself.
Push through.
You’re stronger than you think.
Rev. Lyle:
That’s great. Sometimes just hearing another man say he made it through makes all the difference.
So as we wrap up, what final wisdom do you have, and how can people connect with you?
Martin Howard:
Your family needs you.
Providing financially is important, but your presence matters more.
Show up for your family.
If you do it right, they’ll still be there long after your career.
You can find me at:
- Website: instructandgrow.com
- Coaching: instructandgrow.com/coaching
- Email: martin@instructandgrow.com
- Podcast: Clarity for Christian Men
- Social: Instruct and Grow on Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook