The Story Behind Influence
Every ministry has a story.
Every mission has a beginning.
Influence was born from a personal journey that taught me the power of stewardship, discipline, faith, and intentional decision-making.
Stenell — The Money Therapist
The Story Behind Influence
Influence did not begin with a website.
It began with a question God was asking me.
For years, I thought stewardship was mostly about money.
I thought it was about budgeting better, paying off debt, avoiding wasteful spending, and making wise financial decisions.
Those things matter.
But God showed me stewardship is much bigger than money.
Stewardship is about everything He entrusts to us.
- Our time.
- Our gifts.
- Our businesses.
- Our relationships.
- Our opportunities.
- Our influence.
- Even our peace.
Like many parents, I spent years sacrificing for my children. I wanted to help. I wanted to provide. I wanted to make their lives easier than mine had been.
But somewhere along the way, I stopped asking a hard question:
Was I helping them, or was I preventing them from becoming good stewards themselves?
That realization broke me.
I began to see that stewardship is not only about knowing when to give.
It is also about knowing when to stop giving.
Not because you don’t love people.
Because you do.
I realized I had been protecting others while failing to protect what God had entrusted to me.
- My peace.
- My purpose.
- My calling.
- My future.
Influence was born from that revelation.
This website is not about getting rich.
It is not about perfect budgets.
It is not about accumulating more.
It is about learning to steward what God has entrusted to you so faithfully that it can grow into everything He intended it to become.
Consumer. Owner. Investor. Legacy Builder.
This is not a money journey.
It is a stewardship journey.
And it begins with one question:
“Lord, what have You entrusted to me?”
The Lesson
A closed door does not always mean no.
Sometimes it means build it yourself.
What Influence is really about
Influence was not created to teach people how to get rich.
It was created to help people become better stewards.
Through my work as a mental health therapist, educator, entrepreneur, ministry leader, Realtor®, real estate investor, certified AI consultant, and community advocate, I have learned that money is rarely just about money.
It is often connected to mindset, habits, leadership, purpose, and stewardship.
Influence brings all of those lessons together into one journey:
Consumer → Owner → Investor → Legacy Builder
Awareness → Stewardship → Multiplication → Influence
My prayer is that this website helps you pause, think differently, and ask a better question:
“Lord, what have You entrusted to me, and what am I doing with it?”
If this journey helps one person make a better decision, build a stronger future, create a legacy, or walk more confidently in their purpose, then Influence has accomplished exactly what it was created to do.
Welcome to the journey.
— Stenell The Money Therapist