Confessions of A Social Entrepreneur

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About a month ago I had gotten to the place where I was working long hours, just busy, busy, busy! Being a very intuitive person, I listen to my body when it tells me it's time to take a break. I've learned over the years that my world won't fall apart if I don't accomplish every task today, right now.

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The question was once asked of a highly successful businessman: "How have you done so much in your lifetime?" He replied, "I have dreamed. I have turned my mind loose to imagine what I wanted to do. Then I have gone to bed and thought about my dreams. In the night I dreamt about my dreams. And when I awoke in the morning, I saw the way to make my dreams real. While other people were saying, you can't do that, it isn't possible, I was well on my way to achieving what I wanted."

As Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the U.S., said: "We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day, or in the red fire on a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nourish them through bad days until they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true." So please, don't let anyone steal your dreams, or try to tell you they are too impossible. "Sing your song, dream your dreams, hope your hope and remember, ultimately, nothing is impossible."

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On my journey, I've learned to focus on the present task; not to be all over the place, but to build one business idea at a time. I have a dream jar that contains a good handful of future business endeavors I'd like to pursue. For now, I must maintain focus on nurturing my current business and cementing the foundation for it. Once success has been achieved I can then move on to the next bright idea. Being a jack of all trades makes me a master of none.

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Successful and notable social entrepreneurs have been referred to as business-social venture-ers, world changers through entrepreneurship, and social changers. Although not a new term to those who work and practice in the nonprofit field, social entrepreneurship is not a concept that is widely used among the mainstream. In fact, although the term seems understandable at face value, many people don't know what it means, and they should. Aspiring entrepreneurs most often have no frame of reference or contact with these types of successful venture-ers and when attempting to start a social-based business, usually in the form of a charity or nonprofit, they neglect to incorporate business principles in their model and instead take the outdated, traditional profit-less charity approach.

The term 'social entrepreneur' has been in used since the mid 1900s and describes someone who uses business principles to accomplish some social purpose or impose some social change, rather domestic or abroad. According to the IRS.gov Master File, of the approximate 727,000 plus registered charities eligible to receive tax deductible gifts, the majority, approximately 55%, are reported as having earned $0 income for 2009. As evidenced by the sheer number of registered nonprofits, people have the desire to develop social enterprises. What they lack is the knowledge and financial capital to make them successful.

With the advent of unprecedented unemployment and worker dissatisfaction, social entrepreneurship as a home based business has the potential to be a viable employment alternative while simultaneously solving some of our biggest social problems. Although often associated with the term nonprofit, social entrepreneurs don't have to be consumed with the hassles of corporate legal structures, reporting, and documentation. These businesses can operate as sole proprietorships and Limited Liability companies.

Social entrepreneurship is the model that existing and newly formed charities must use if they are going to survive. It requires a shifting in the way we have generally thought about charity delivery. In my work as a nonprofit business coach and trainer, this idea is a difficult one to accept. People instinctively want to give their services and products away for free, with no real plan for generating revenue. They think they'll get grants and that these grants will finance their work. Nine times out of ten, this doesn't happen.

The concept is dramatically different in terms of product and service delivery. Wherein charity work is often thought of as a lack, or absence of profit, social entrepreneurship merges the science of business entrepreneurship with the science of social change. This business model offers people the opportunity to earn a living, living one's passion. More than likely developing such an enterprise or project requires starting from the ground up, or starting from scratch. There are numerous best-practices that entrepreneurs can use to build successful, profit generating social-based businesses. Here are a few:

1. Project revenues and expenses first; if a profit is unlikely, don't bother or go back to the drawing board.
2. If a profit is likely, develop a full business plan with market research, SWOT analysis, and marketing plan.
3. If you decide to form as a 501 c 3 nonprofit, don't include grant revenues in your projections until you've been in business for about two years.

So before deciding to launch as a nonprofit, explore a for-profit venture with a social twist. You may find this structure to be the best fit.

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In a previous discussion that probed into why more people don't take the entrepreneurship leap, fear seemed to be the #1 deterrent. Having started several businesses that failed, I've learned to take baby steps. You don't have to take the leap all at once. In fact, I tell my clients to not plan on quitting their day job for several years. There's nothing worse that working a job that has no real purpose or meaning. I started my company 2 1/2 years ago in my home working a few hours in the evenings and on the weekends. I transitioned out of the workforce 15 months later and started working my business full time. When you do what you love, it's not work at all. Take a chance and see what happens.

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1.  You will receive a body. You may like it or not, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.

2.  You will learn lessons.  You are enrolled in a full-time, informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3.  There are no mistakes, only lessons.  Growth is a process of trial and error, experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works."

4.  A lesson is repeated until it is learned.  A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it, then you can go on  to the the next lesson.

5.  Learning lessons does not end.  There is no part of life that does not contain lessons.  If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6.  "There" is no better then "here."  When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that will, again, look better than "here."

7.  Others are merely mirrors of you.  You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

8.  What you make of your life is up to you.  You have all the tools and resources you need; what you do with them is up to you.  The choice is yours.

9.  The answers lie inside you.  The answers to life's questions lie inside you.  All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

10.  Whether you think you can or can't, in either case you'll be right.  Think about it."

This excerpt was taken from The Leadership Experience by Richard L. Daft.

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The last four months for me, have been an emotional rollercoaster of uncertainty. I laugh at myself because the journey of an entrepreneur is the one I've always known I wanted to travel. It's where I'm most comfortable. I'm always uplifted when I talk with other people who are on the same journey and making progress toward their vision. Just hearing their story, I'm inspired to persevere. It reminds me that my passion is a living, breathing thing that's worth pursuing, at all costs; even when it hurts. I'm learning that success takes time and means working a plan. I may not be where I want, but where I am is good too. When I focus on the good instead of the not so good, the journey is more enjoyable. I can take comfort in the fact that I'm not where I was two years ago. Please share your thoughts on my confession and/or share one of your own.

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Happy New Year! It is my hope that 2009 was, for you, as adventerous and prosperous as it was for me. I am grateful to still be in business despite recent economic events that have negatively affected so many. Grant Source was fortunate to realize success for its second year and in order to ensure our survival for a third, we're going to have to make significant changes to our business model. The model that emphasized grant writing fees as its only source of income is in need of a facelift.

The mantra that I preach so often, "Diversify Your Fundraising Strategy" applies to forprofits and nonprofits alike. Whether it's maintaining current levels or reaching new levels of success for our businesses, we must evolve with the market. If your programs are no longer working, change the model. Our survival at the end of 2010 is going to require of us greater mental tenacity, perseverance, and innovation. Our ability to be resourceful and efficient during this economic evolution will determine our existence or nonexistence at the end of the next 11 months.

Good luck and don't give up! I know I won't. If you're an entrepreneur and you either have a story to share or you could benefit from hearing others' stories, please contribute to our our facebook fan page (search Grant Source) or check out the new videos on our YouTube channel. The website also has lot's of new features. Please let us know what you think.

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After countless hours of brainstorming messaging, business models, color schemes, and designs, the new and improved Grant Source website is now live! A word of advice, business planning takes time and patience. When you have a new idea, think it through. Don't act on emotions alone. This can result in costly mistakes.

Grant Source is testing the waters of social media. We're now: on Linked In, have the newsletters archived for on demand viewing, and manage a discussion forum for new nonprofits on Facebook called Chat 4 Charity. You can also follow Grant Source through our Facebook Fan Page, through which I've even begun to share my entrepreneur insights in a test YouTube! I'm still playing around with this one (smile).

Now that the branding project is complete, I'll be tackling the marketing now. Developing the communication tools is only the beginning. Driving the traffic is the next step. Wish me luck, and thank you for your support. Please share your feedback regarding the new site.

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