SECTION ONE: SOCIAL ENTREpRENEURSHIP BEGINS WITH YOU

Transcription

1 SECTION ONE: SOCIAL ENTREpRENEURSHIP BEGINS WITH YOU a b c d f g h Clos to th Hart Traits and Charactristics Rol Modls Wighing Things Up My Lif As a Pi Tim Machin Th Gnius of You Summary of Sction On

2 SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP BEGINS WITH YOU Som popl say lif is complicatd and hlping to chang th world to a bttr, mor balancd plac is almost impossibl. Lik anything in lif it dpnds how w look at things. Lif can b complicatd or incrdibly simpl. Whr do you sit? If you s hop and possibility for chang it is quit possibl you hav th spark ndd to mak a positiv diffrnc in th world, whthr it is within your nighbourhood, across your country or vn in a virtual community. As on might xpct this dosn t happn ovrnight, howvr it almost always starts off with on prson, an ida. Each prson will b motivatd by thir xprinc as wll as thir uniqu natur, and will undrstand that it is not about bing right or wrong, but rathr utilising thir strngths for th bnfit of othrs. Th opposit of sharing in this way is xploitation taking away somthing with a dtrimntal ffct. Evry day thr ar xampls of somon or somthing xploiting othrs, xploiting living things, xploiting groups, communitis or vn socitis. You ar rading this guid for a rason; somthing has lad you to want to chang somthing, prhaps somon or somthing is bing xploitd? Somthing dos not sit right with you and you want to mak it bttr. So lt s gt startd.

3 CLOSE TO THE HEART To bgin your journy of social ntrprnurship lts first look at what you valu and what xprincs hav shapd you as a prson so far. Draw a basic outlin of a prson rprsnting you on a larg pic of papr, at th cntr of your figur draw a small hart. Using post it nots, writ down things which ar most important to you i.. family, rligion, music, human rights, loyalty, football, your ducation, frdom, bing crativ tc. Anything that you valu highly, writ it down on a postit. B honst with what you truly valu most. How oftn do you spnd your tim focusing on th things that you valu most? Could you imagin th post-it nots changing? Bcoming mor or lss important to you? What ar th vnts in your lif that hav had an impact on what you valu? What hav you larnd? You can tak a pictur and stick it in this book, as a usful rmindr of what you valu most. Onc you ar finishd, plac th post it s on your prson. Plac th things that ar most important closst to your hart and things that ar lss important furthr away from your hart. Whn you ar finishd rflct on som of th following:

4 Traits and Charactristics Ovr th yars UnLtd has workd with thousands of social ntrprnurs. In that tim w hav found that thy shar som common traits and charactristics that hav hlpd thm driv thir idas and ovrcom obstacls. Blow w v listd som of th traits that might strik a chord with you. Espcially you if ar srious about starting up a projct. Not all of thm will rsonat with you but som of thm might. Tak a momnt to s if you idntify with any of ths traits in th tabl. Writ it down and rmind yourslf of xampls of whn you hav dmonstratd som of ths, or add to it with som of your own. Do som things gt on your nrvs so much you v just got to do somthing about it? Do you fl passionat about changing th status quo? Can you gt th bst out of othrs? Can you mpathis with othrs situations? Can you hlp popl fl undrstood and not alon? Hav you got an ntrprising spirit? Hav you got a can do approach? Ar you willing to try and mak somthing out of nothing? Can you b rsourcful with limitd rsourcs? Can you think diffrntly about th problms lif throws at you? Hav you got th nrgy and driv to s it through? Social ntrprnurs hav a dtrmination to stay focussd, ovrcom obstacls and not put thm off th nd goal. You may find that you ar thinking about your projct and its challngs all of th tim. Thy oftn tll vryon about thir projct somtims thy don t shut up about it. Larn by doing, can you roll with th punchs? Do you larn from your mistaks?

5 Traits and Charactristics On our wbsit w hav a host of storis from a rang of individuals, just lik you who startd with an ida and workd hard to grow it. For som insights and inspiration hav a look- Blow ar just a fw mor xampls of organisations that hav bn st up tackl a problm, look at th divrsity of th projcts and think about what xprincs might hav lad ths individuals start up thir vntur. Ths organisations wr all st-up by individuals or a group of lik-mindd popl to mak a diffrnc to th world. Thr is no rason why you couldn t b on of thm. What is it about thm that you admir? Do thy shar your valus? rol modls Think of 3 organisations, companis or popl that you admir. In addition to words, us symbols or drawings to xplor why you rgard ths organisations and/or popl so highly. Ask som of ths qustions bfor you bgin: B Collctiv Activ Minds GivMTap FoodCycl Is it what thy hav achivd? works with and for London bkprs to procss thir hony and hlp sustain bkping across London. dvlops and manufacturs activity products for popl with dmntia. Thir rang of 71 products provid ngaging activity that bridgs th communication gap btwn popl with dmntia and thir familis and carrs. incrass accssibility to tap watr whn away from hom and raiss mony for clan watr projcts in Africa. runs voluntr-powrd community projcts working to rduc food povrty and social isolation by srving tasty, nutritious mals to vulnrabl groups. Is it thir idntity? Is it th way thy oprat? How do thy trat customrs/staff? Rapanui crat highly fashionabl and cool cloths for th youth markt using co-matrials lik bamboo, ucalyptus and organic cotton whil rducing unmploymnt in a vry disadvantagd ara. Bikworks rcycls, rpairs and slls bicycls whilst training homlss popl to gain skills and gt jobs. Rubis in th Rubbl mak handmad chutnys and jams from discardd fruit and vg and provid mploymnt for thos that nd it most. Thr ky words, symbols or picturs to sum up your admiration.

6 WEIGHING THINGS UP Entrprnurs ar oftn portrayd as, highly drivn oftn a bit isolatd risk-taking mavricks. If this dosn t sound lik you don t worry. Currnt rsarch is tlling us that many young social ntrprnurs almost stumbl across thir first ntrpris. It is thir xprinc of somthing not working that spurs thm on to crat a solution. (RSA Disrupt Rsarch) Looking at th comparisons blow, rflct on som of th pros and cons, and add to th list your rasons for going out on your own. Rmind yourslf of som th traits/bhaviours and valus you hav xplord that will support you in starting up. ula Rg somon ls ing for Work g r wa yo up m g n i Stt bu Th You r your own b ing wn th to ck s ith ps w Stab ility isation organ h t d by snt r p n Opportunitis oft oss Coll agu s you 24/7 Som on l s d cids Flxibility s/ o c s w pr Follo ing r f or m p r on how wll you a Dfin d job Jack of al l tr a 9-5 ds Cr ati v to innovat/xpr im hanc nt Th c MY LIFE AS A PIE Changing th world, making a diffrnc - hang on a minut.hav you got tim for all this? Think of th cntr of th pi as 0 and th outsid as 10. Lt s gt a quick snapshot of your lif using th Pi of Lif. 0 mans not at all happy and 10 vry happy. Divid th pi up into ky aras of your lif such as Exrcis/Crativity-tim alon/larning/ spiritual/partnr/community-voluntring/ family/social-lif/work/anything ls. Tak a momnt to look at your pi. How balancd is your lif? Ar thr aras you want to spnd mor tim on? Hav you got th tim to commit to tak on somthing ls right now?

7 TIME MACHINE To hlp improv th probability of your succss w ar going to us a tchniqu calld positiv rharsal. Imagin you hav found a tim machin. Hop into it and lt it whizz you down th portal of tim to a point in th futur whr you hav achivd total succss. Stp outsid and what do you s? What is going on around you? Who is thr? What activitis ar happning? Spnd som tim rflcting on what succss looks lik. B as spcific as you can about your ida of succss by asking yourslf lots of qustions such as who ar you working with?, How did you start out?, What was your first succss?.

8 What s your nam? Do you know why you wr calld that? How is th world now diffrnt from what it was lik whn you wr a child? Whr wr you born and whn? As a child, what did you want to b whn you grw up? What is your hritag? Has this playd a big part in your lif? What was your favourit subjct in school and why? What kinds of books do you lik to rad? What s important to you? What wr th hardst choics that you vr had to mak? Whr hav you livd? What things hav you mad that othrs hav njoyd? Whr ar you living today? What brings joy to your lif or inspirs you? If you could instantly chang somthing about yourslf, what would it b? Do you fl lik you mad th right choics? What is missing from your lif that would mak it mor fulfilling? Whr wr you and what wr you doing? Is thr a prson that rally changd th cours of your lif by somthing that thy did? Who wr thy and what did thy do? Nam 3 hros or popl you idntify with and why What was your first job? Whn ar you at your bst? What is th most amazing thing that has vr happnd to you? What was th most strssful xprinc that you vr livd through? What hlpd you gt through it? THE GENIUS OF YOU You will find that as you bgin your journy as a social ntrprnur you will hav to talk to popl about your ida a lot, it might b to gt popl to buy your product, to us your srvic, to invst in you, or to hlp you dvlop a brand idntity. What w know for sur is a story can mov popl to action much mor so than dns PowrPoint slids, or spradshts packd with figurs. Popl ar movd by motion. Having practic in tlling your story is an xcllnt way to captur popl s imagination and to communicat your idas. As it so happns, th story of you is vry uniqu and with th right dlivry, passion and prsonal touchs you can ngag an audinc by rvaling a fw uniqu xprincs that you v had. You dcid how much or how littl you want to shar. Lt s look at som qustions that can hlp you build your prsonal story.

9 Summary of sction on Nam: You will hav noticd that Sction On was about you, your motivations and what you hop to achiv. You xplord what you valu most and what traits you hav that will s you through som of th challngs ahad. Also, you lookd at how you balanc your tim, what your vision of succss is. Now it s tim to consolidat this information and s if you can bgin to build a profil of yourslf that you can shar with othrs whn you ar talking about your ida. Profl Drawing on th activitis and xrciss from Sction On complt th following summary. Thr ar no wrongs or rights, just an xprssion of what you bliv and how you could mak a diffrnc. Locality: (.g. community, rgion, country, collg) I bliv that (your philosophy) Thr is a nd in th world to (your vision) I bliv I can mak a diffrnc by (your spcial/xprt charactristics)