The (Not-So-Secret) Secret To A Successful Social Enterprise
As fabulous folk who are interested in making the world a better place with the help of dogs, I thought you might want to be let into a little secret.
I was asked to be a Dragon.
Ok, so that sounds more dramatic than it was, but I liked the title. I was asked to be on a Dragon’s Den style panel where budding social entrepreneurs came in to pitch to us about their idea. Successful pitchers were then invited to join a year-long funded programme with the School for Social Entrepreneurs. I’m a graduate of the programme so I know, first-hand, how valuable it is.
It was an awesome day. I heard pitches from approximately thirty people. Every single person had something in common. They were PASSIONATE about their idea. I was completely engaged by every speaker. Even though I didn’t always understand their area of work or exactly what their project would involve. I was sold by their enthusiasm.
It’s infectious. Being around people who are excited about what they’re doing raises your own energy levels. Learning about the motivation that drives other people is inspirational.
On the way home, I was exhausted yet completely fired up with ideas coming to me quicker than I could write them down. Don’t worry; I was on the train so I could scribble to my heart’s content.
Here’s the (not-so-secret) secret.
Spending time with people who raise your energy levels is vital. They don’t have to be people who are working in the same field as you and in all honesty, sometimes it’s better if they’re not! Enthusiastic, driven people will raise your energy levels and make you believe that anything is possible. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather be around people like that than people who adopt the opposite approach. I would also love to be one of those people.
Believing that anything is possible doesn’t mean that life is a breeze and things come easily, far from it. It does mean that you can enthusiastically follow your dreams, quite often you can enthusiastically fail, learn from the experience and then you can pick yourself back up and try again.
I have been actively choosing to spend time with people who love what they do, encourage the people around them and raise those energy levels to a point where you only have one option. TAKE ACTION!
Try it!