Social Entrepreneurship: Finding Your Passion and Choosing a Cause

Social Entrepreneurs establish businesses that consider the social impact of business on society before considering profits.

Don’t get me wrong, social entrepreneurs are in business to make money, they are not non-profit organizations.

But, social entrepreneurs do business differently than traditional businesses.

Social Good Stuff brings us these statistics:

In the United States, 22% of social entrepreneurship businesses have over $2 million in revenue with 89% of them having been created since 2006 and 90% focused on working to solve problems at home.

In the United Kingdom, social enterprises are more likely to be led by women from minority ethnic groups. 50% of these businesses reported a profit and 73% earn 75% of their revenue from trade.

In Australia, there are estimated 20,000 social businesses with 34% of them having been in operation for the past 2-5 years, these businesses constitute 2-3% of GDP.

What’s the bottom line?

Social entrepreneurship is the future of business

Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash

Finding Your Passion

When you are starting a business, you have to choose a passion that you will be willing to stick with through the ups and downs of business and of life.

Take classes in areas that interest you. Before settling on business in college, I took classes in many different concentrations to figure out what I really wanted to study. Life is like that so pursue multiple areas to find one that really fits you. I chose business because it gives me the opportunity to make money to support my family and to help others at the same time.
Use your existing strengths. We can all nurture our natural talents and strengths to become better at them. And starting a business in an area that we already are strong in is not as daunting task because you don’t have as much to learn.
Develop a mission and a vision. What would you do with your time if you didn’t need money to survive? What would get you to spring out of bed in the morning with a smile on your face? If you believe and have faith in yourself then you can make money doing almost anything. And money should never be your primary motivating factor for what you do in life, in my opinion.
Consider all options. If you like to cook, you could start a restaurant. But, what if you don’t have the resources to start a restaurant? Look at other options… can you start a food truck? Or catering company? Or maybe a food blog. Just because one option doesn’t work out doesn’t mean you should give up.
Look before leaping. Even if you do have the money to start a restaurant full time, you should try to get an insider perspective into running a restaurant before committing to it. Because it may not be the best option for you and you wont know if you don’t look at everything before taking the plunge.

What next?

Finding Multiple Passions

A friend of mine keeps jumping back and forth between an art business and a bakery business because she seems to love both of them equally and I feel for her.
But, she has not been able to give either business the time that it deserves so both are struggling. What I suggested to her to do is to pick one for now and get that running, then come back later and get the other on its feet.

Her question to me has been:

But how do I choose just one?

She knows that she is passionate about both of these as hobbies, but which would make the better business?

My friend has been trying for years to get her art business started and has never quite been able to get it off the ground.

Personally, I think she enjoys it as a hobby that she can do while watching a movie at the end of a long day but I don’t think she can see herself doing it full time.

Now, cooking and baking?

If you watch her in the kitchen, her whole face lights up and she is gifted naturally in the kitchen.

It’s not my place to tell her what she should do but I would choose culinary if I were in her shoes because it seems like a natural fit for her.

Follow your heart if you are faced with multiple passions.

Finding Your Cause

What differentiates you from all of the other businesses in your niche?

Why should I spend money with your business instead of your competitors?

The truth is that most consumers want to spend their money with businesses that are doing good for their community because it makes the consumer feel good.

They are getting a product or service that they needed and supporting a good cause at the same time.

So, by finding a cause to support, you are showing consumers how you are different. You are willing to put your business reputation on the line for something that you believe in and customers can relate to that.

Here’s the kicker:

I choose a local cause to support with all of my businesses and always have because I feel that people are worn out from “compassion fatigue”- being bombarded with so many different causes to support and then being guilted into supporting them.

I don’t ever guilt anyone into doing anything. I choose my own path and tell people about what I’m doing. If they want to support then they do and if they don’t then it wasn’t meant to be.

Photo by Tom Parsons on Unsplash

Seek out a personal connection with a cause. I choose homelessness or feeding children that don’t have access to nutritious foods every single time because I know what it feels like to be hungry or to lack shelter.

I have a personal connection to that cause.

Research what it would take to make a difference in the area you have chosen. Don’t just throw money at something expecting change because you might not actually make a difference, you may make the problem worse.

What is actually required in order to enact change?

If you already have staff working with you, you can ask for their opinions on what they feel could be a good fit for your company. Different perspectives can make a world of difference sometimes.

I would love to hear your opinion on finding a passion and a cause to support with your business if you are wanting to start a passion-based social cause.

Thank you for reading!

Ivy

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I love this post Ivy! I have often thought what I would do if given enough resources and time to not work for a living.

I remember running my own restaurant then and I had always wanted to do a buy a meal for someone else.

I have always been partial to people who are starving because it is one of the most basic things that a person should have because it makes all the difference in having a full belly.

I was handling the corporate social responsibilty of one company before and they were donating 10% of their profits to abused women and children and it was awesome.

I asked the owner why she did it and she said because at one point she was a victim as well so we often chose the cause we resonate with.

I like the story about your friend and sometimes we have to choose. We can't have our cake and eat it too.