Find More Meaning in March

My friend Alice Barry  (www.entertainingtheidea.com) calls March the Month of More Meaning.  Throughout the month of March she’ll be focusing on  and exploring the many ways we can contribute to the world in meaningful ways through our businesses.  As you know, the mission of “Inspired Livelihood” is to  support, inspire and encourage artists, musicians, authors and aspiring entrepreneurs to make a living while making a difference in their community or the world.

As Barbara Winter, author of  ”Making a Living Without a Job” said in her recent Joyfully Jobless newsletter the “search for meaningful work that makes a positive impact in the world is a huge motivator” of the successfully self employed. If you are ready to activate your inner activist and add the meaning/purpose piece to your bottom line, the “Inspired Livelihood Workshop” is for you. .

Join Alice, Barbara and me f in Sedona, Arizona on April 16 & 17. With this exquisite community as our backdrop, we’ll explore what it means to create a business that is both profitable and meaningful. Read about this exciting event HERE

Are making a living and making a difference separate parts of your life?

The old idea of philanthropy as writing a check or volunteering after you’ve made your fortune in a high level job is  20th Century thinking.  A trend we’re seeing at universities worldwide is to prepare graduates to build a business that makes money and embraces social change. A business degree is definitely not necessary to start a business, but it’s worth noting that major business schools are turning out a new breed of MBAs who want to make a buck while also making the world a better place. The old MBA model turned out graduates with the goal of landing a solid corporate job. If a student’s goal was to make a difference, they’d go into social work or the non-profit sector.   In a recent article in the Independent, a UK publication,  Pamela Hartigan, director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship was quoted as saying that “rather than separating where they (new MBAs) make their money from where they do good, they are convinced that it is possible to live comfortably and dedicate their careers to pursuits that are fundamentally innovative, philosophically positive and morally compelling.”

Are you ready to join the ranks of 21st Century Entrepreneurs who are creating businesses that improve the lives of individuals, families, communities and countries by using their passions and creativity to solve local and global problems and create social change?  If you’re ready to learn how you can create a profitable business that means something more, I’d like to invite you to join Barbara Winter, best selling author of “Making a Living without a Job” , Idea Artisan, Alice Barry of “Entertaining the Idea”and me, Terri Belford, self-employment muse for a life and

career changing event.

Creating More Meaning in Your Work

The late Anita Roddick knew “if you can create an honorable livelihood, where you take your skills and use them to earn a living, it gives you a sense of freedom and allows you to balance your life the way you want. ” As founder of The Body Shop, she created a business that was  wildly profitable while remaining socially responsible.

There are many ways to make a difference and they don’t have to be limited to volunteer or non-profits. If you’re like many of us, you dream of doing something more meaningful and making an impact but you do still need to earn a living.

As  social media specialist Jeff Korhan noted in his lawnandlandscape.com post yesterday,  “Social entrepreneurship isn’t philanthropy. It is augmenting your business model to include social needs alongside traditional profit needs.” Contrary to the beliefs of so many aspiring entrepreneurs, it’s not only OK to make a solid income from a socially responsible business, but your business is more likely to make an long term impact if your company is profitable. If you are continually worrying about adequate charitable donations to drive change, you aren’t going to be able to focus on the greater good.

If you’re searching for a way to create more meaning in your work, check out  the upcoming Inspired Livelihood workshop in beautiful Sedona, Arizona with Barbara Winter and Alice Barry, where you’ll learn how you can make a living and make a change in society.

Rediscover Forgotten Dreams, Rekindle your Passion, Renew an Old Relationship

Bookstores and the internet are chock full of resources to help you find your passion and  rediscover yourself. Most of us over a certain age have shelves lined with “rediscovering yourself in the second half of life” and bookmarked sites for “finding your true direction”. They’re all valuable tools and combined with live workshops and one-on -one coaching, people do often discover what makes them tick and develop a mission. But if you really want to get back in touch with forgotten dreams, the best source is an old friend, someone who knew you before you unlearned  what you already knew, before you traded in that innate wisdom for the knowledge of conformity.

I’m not talking about a sibling or life long friend you’ve kept in touch with over the years. Their image of you is who you’ve become. The most valuable source for getting back in touch with your core values is someone you shared secrets and dreams with before you you became the responsible, practical adult who put your own dreams on the back burner. If you’re fortunate enough to renew that relationship, you’ll likely uncover some precious pieces of the YOU that have been eluding you.

In the past year, thanks to the internet, several friends from my youth have contacted me. Since  I use social networking sites mainly for business relationships,  I don’t expect to see faces from long ago and definitely don’t go searching them out, so it’s a delightful surprise to hear from these long lost friends.

Because I had supportive parents and wasn’t pressured into being something I’m not, I believed I’d stayed pretty true to my core values and hadn’t really lost touch with my dreams. But decades of marriage and motherhood do change our focus and I also put everyone’s happiness and well being ahead of my own. I think it’s genetic programing. Even self actualized, liberated women can lose a piece of themselves while holding together a family. And connecting with people who knew you before career, mortgage and taxes skewed your life view, can trigger memories of buried dreams.

In recent months, I’ve had the fortune of hearing from a childhood friend, a high school buddy and a college room mate, all people I was close to but lost touch with in adulthood. These are people who knew me when listening to my heart and holding fast to my convictions was still a given. 

Two weeks ago I returned from “Follow Through Camp” with Barbara Winter, Alice Barry, Sandy Dempsey and my tribe of inspired change agents, fired up to recharge the part of my business I’m most passionate about.  As if to confirm that it’s time to focus on that dream, I found in my mailbox a Facebook  message from someone I hadn’t spoken with in over 30 years, a friend who knew me when I still thought of myself as an artist, a teacher and saw life as an enormous canvas on which I would color a better world .  The most valuable insights have been though late night emails about what mattered then. 

I’m not referring to romance here but to two people who are reminding each other of who they each were when making a living, making a life and making a difference was a given not an option. 

If you’re fortunate to have had a friend who knew you then, when your goals were to live from the inside out,  find that friend. If they don’t offer it up, ask questions. What do they remember you talking about?  Do they remember something you got so excited about that you could think of nothing else? Ask then to describe the essence of the YOU they remember. 

Short of finding your childhood diaries, this is the sharpest lens on who you were and the most direct road back to finding your true north.

My Ideal Client is a Social Entrepreneur

While discussing my ideas about a new series of “Inspired Livelihood” Workshops that I am planning, Alice Barry asked me who I see as the ideal seminar attendee. This question got me thinking about my ideal client, who I’ve always described as an aspiring entrepreneur who knows her purpose but needs guidance in turning her passions into a profitable business aligned with her values. But there’s more. 

I realized that my closest friends and ideal clients share a common mission. They don’t just want to start a business and make a living. They know they are here to make a difference in one life, one community or the world. They are called to be an agent of change and they are ready to start NOW. 

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Ghandi

Where to Get the Money to Launch a New Product, Open a Shop or Buy more Supplies

 

If successful entrepreneurs share one common trait, it’s resourcefulness. When we need for something to happen, we don’t sit around and wait for someone else to do it, we make it happen. A resourceful entrepreneur knows that a small business loan isn’t the best way to fund a new project. Some develop an info product, others have a sale of existing inventory. to generate cash.  

My friend Alice Barry is one of the most creative entrepreneurs I know and she continues to astonish me with her resourcefulness. When Alice needs funds to launch a new idea, she creates an EVENT. And Alice’s needs money to launch something BIG-she’s holding us in suspense and won’t say what -so she’s planned an event to fund it. 

If you’re anywhere near Minneapolis on May 28-30th, you can’t miss the ‘Superchicks Stimulus Sale. http://superchickssale.wordpress.com/.  Friends and crafters from all over the country have sent their goodies to Minneapolis and Alice will be holding a flea market, craft fair, and party.  We’re not talking a garage sale here. Items range from handcrafted jewelry, purses and “Fascinators” by Margaret Winter of Santa Barbara, California http://overthetopfascinators.com/ to a 1958 Ford Fairlane, Police Interceptor Special Edition. Knowing that when Alice plans an event, it’s  bound to be a blast, it may be worth heading to Minnesotato check it out. 

http://superchickssale.wordpress.com/