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.

Where Can You Start to Make a Difference in the World?

Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by the endless possibilities of the world wide web? In the past decade, the internet has opened up the entire universe as your clientele. As my friend and mentor, Barbara Winter, Author of  best selling “Making a Living Without a Job” reminds us, your customer base is no longer limited to those who share your geography. So, your message can reach potential clients on another continent, even a different hemisphere.

But, what if you just aren’t sure where to start when the whole world is your target? Or you have a strong desire to make a difference in your own neighborhood?

An article in Sunday’s Cincinnati Enquirer featured a young entrepreneur who got her business idea from a need to borrow a ladder.  Keara Schwartz launched Share Some Sugar, a website that lets neighbors post and share items they own and borrow items they don’t.  Searching for an alternative to consuming items that we all use infrequently, Schwartz took a social anthropologist’s perspective to  create a  business opportunity out of a need she saw in her own backyard.

This business can and likely will eventually expand and go national or worldwide, but Keara started where she was, where she saw an immediate need.

Is it possible you are looking at too big a picture and being paralyzed by too much choice? When you try to figure out where to begin to make a change in the world, does it sometimes feel like trying to decide what to order in a Chinese restaurant? Or not knowing where to begin to sort through decades of clutter in your great aunt’s basement?

Try narrowing your focus a bit and reigning in your perspective. Look around your community, explore what unmet needs you notice on your own block. Where can you make a tiny impact? If you can drive change in your own neighborhood, your vision may eventually make a global difference. If you doubt the possibility, consider Craigslist was started as a local site. You can’t make any change if you don’t start somewhere. So start right where you are.

Tiny Steps to Make BIG Social Change

There’s a lot of media buzz recently about huge organizations driving social change. Almost every career change seeker I have spoken with has a strong desire to not just make money but to make a difference in their community or the world. 

For most, this is still a dream, so I began looking at what’s holding them back? It appears that while the drive is authentic and strong, the fear factor kicks in and the aspiring change agent is frozen by overwhelm. They’re intimidated by what they see as impossible. They don’t believe that they as an individual can make a difference. 

What all these aspiring entrepreneurs are missing is that no one starts big. Even the most high powered global entrepreneurs had to start right where they were when the idea became an unstoppable drive to make a difference. 

Not all social change has to be global. Is there something in your own community that just tugs at your heart or feels terribly unjust? You can have a huge impact right in your own back yard whether your interest is environmental, educational or social. You may do something in your neighborhood that makes such an impact on one life, one group or one community that it is duplicated throughout the world. Remember, every huge movement started with a single step. Stay tuned for BIG news on a small event where you can make enormous change.

“The man who moved a mountain is the one who began carrying away small stones.”  Chinese proverb

Entrepreneurs as Change Agents-Can you Make a Living and a Difference?

When friends and family ask me what I do, my description often includes the term “social entrepreneurs”. Typically, I see puzzled look and I explain that I help inspired entrepreneurs to make a difference in the world. This is frequently followed by, “you mean you work with non-profits?”. 

While some social entrepreneurs do run non-profit or not-for-profit organizations, and draw a nice salary as director, many social entrepreneurs are in private enterprise.  The terms “social entrepreneur” and “for profit” are not in conflict.  There’s a common misconception that making a difference means living on peanuts. That’s absolutely false.

Social entrepreneurs can make a substantial living, however their mission is to for “more than profit.”  Unlike “cause marketing” which is attracting customers by promoting the fact that a percentage of profit goes to a particular cause, social entrepreneurs are moved by a specific social problem and use entrepreneurial principles to aid in social change.  As opposed to a business deciding to donate to a cause, the cause is the impetus for the business.

According to an article in Business Week last fall, there are now 30,000 known social entrepreneurs producing $40 billion in revenue. The same article reported that President Obama  suggested starting a new government agency to help socially conscious startups gain more access to venture capital. 

Although we’d all love to make changes on a global scale, social entrepreneurs can make a positive impact by using their business acumen to facilitate change in their own community. 

Daily, I hear from entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs who’s priority is making a difference.  Coaches, counselors and other re-careering professionals report that the most common criteria  their clients express for an ideal livelihood is that it must have meaning. A traditional career counselor hears this and steers the client to social work or other helping professions.  The idea of entrepreneurship isn’t part of a career counselor’s toolbox. 

Do you have a strong pull to make a difference in your community or the world but no idea where to begin to build a business around it? Or are you already an entrepreneur looking for greater meaning in your business and your life but can’t figure out how to have both? Either way , you’ll not want to miss the summer “Inspired Livelihood Tele-Summit” where you’ll learn from entrepreneurs who are making a living, doing what they love and making a difference.

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

How do you Fuel your Passion and Serve the World?

People often associate Stephen Covey with organization and efficiency and while these are absolutely factors in ‘the Habits”, the line below from The 8th Habit spoke to me as someone who is a true true Social Entrepreneur. “When you engage in work that taps your talent and fuels your passion - that rises out of a great need in the world that you feel drawn by conscience to meet - therein lies your voice, your calling, your soul’s code.“  Many of us grew up with such a sense of responsibility that we forgot that serving, unless it is also fueling a passion, can be a disservice to ourselves and those we serve.  If your heart is not in your work,  the recipients of your labor feel it. But, all of us have at least one calling and when we are truly engaged in doing that “thing” and while  we may not realize the impact it has on others,  NOT doing it is with holding a gift from others. 

Over the next couple of months, we will be introducing you to Social Entrepreneurs who are not only doing work that feeds their soul but making a living while making a difference in their communities and in the world. 

Make a Difference

Make a Difference