As the autumn season approaches my inbox is littered with invitations and applications for funding, which is all great and exciting. One application for start-up funding particularly stood out when it said ‘Make a Life Not a Living’. That got me thinking, not only about the application but also about how what we in our sector aim to do. In our own individual way we all want to make a difference. Be it through working at an NGO, not for profit org or Social Enterprise, we want to make a life where we can look back and feel we have really made a difference and accomplished something, not necessarily financially, but have somehow impacted and improved someone else’s well-being.
For most of most of my career I have worked in or around charities. Large, small and everything in between. Working at the ‘business’ end of the sector it is sometimes easy to forget what it’s all about. Not just doing good, but trying to make a difference, an improvement, change someone else’s life for the better even though you will probably never meet them. Don’t get me wrong, the charity sector is, as with many other business areas littered with its own issues and problems, but in times of adversity at least, on the whole, we pull together and try to help each other through. As far as I am aware, this is unique to the social sector.
I count myself lucky, I do what I enjoy and can follow my ideal career path. I know many others feel that they don’t have that luxury. But sometimes I think you need to make your own luck. Sometimes you need to be brave, take the gamble and do what you feel your ‘calling’ is. I have written before about how I think life is too short and this is why the phrase ‘make a life not a living’ rang true. Ask yourself, do you have a life or are you just making a living?
If you want to find your ‘calling’ and are interested in working in the Social Sector (NGO’s, Not for Profit Orgs, Sustainable Businesses or Social Enterprises) please see Beyond Profit Solutions. It is a practical hands-on course on how to make the move and start to create your life!