This is an excerpt from my upcoming book Get To Know Your Backyard Opportunity, a guide that shares my story of interviewing small business owners in Austin, Texas, and a guide to help anyone anywhere interested in doing a similar project in their own local community. For updates of the book, go here.

I’ve Got To Find A Way!*

The days were lengthening as I thought more and more about leaving. The gig was getting more and more uncomfortable, and though I enjoyed the physical and interactive part of it, it was nearing an end in my head.

At night, I would wake up and think it all over. I prayed, and prayed, asking for directions. “Should I do this?” I asked God.“This,” meant leave. “Father, where is this headed?” I kept seeking. But my rent is due, and I have to keep up my end of the bargain. There’s no way I would want to go through the pressure of coming up short on rent.

This went on for a while, and it drained me. There’s got to be a way to get out of this, I thought, and thought. I’ve got to find a way.

I decided to start writing, writing out what I could do. I needed a change, and I have to find a way to create it. To change things I need to create a different path. Exactly what path I didn’t clearly know. In some ways, I have to replace my income, yet I don’t want to do it doing something I didn’t like. I want to do something that engaged me, and used my skills.

Walking home one day, I thought of an idea. To start something that could possibly replace my income, I have to go out there and create value for other people, I reasoned.

I have to sort of solve a problem for someone. Yet to solve a problem, or create value, I have to use what I have. But what do I have? What do I have that I could give to someone else? Yet on what grounds do I give it to them?

I thought some more. I have to go out there and do something for someone that they can’t do for themselves, or don’t have the time nor the desire to do, though possibly useful to them, valuable to them.

Also besides creating value, I wanted to go about it in a way that was comfortable for me and that I enjoyed. I have come to value joy so much after going through the discomfort of working a job I didn’t like. Sure, I have worked jobs I didn’t like in the past, but this one did it for me — I didn’t like it a lot. So having the opportunity to create a new start, I will definitely strive for joy to be a good portion of it.

What do I love and have?

To be clear on this, I got clear on what I didn’t like. I don’t like to do anything that requires me to sit for long hours. This is why I don’t like driving a lot, as it keeps me in a single position for a while. Also, I don’t like work that disconnects me from other people. Neither do I l enjoy work that does not challenge me. Nor work that takes creative control out of my hands. I have to be able to determine how valuable what I am doing is. I don’t want to leave it in someone else’s hands.

With that clear, I sat and began writing out the things I loved. One, I loved meeting and chatting with people. Two, I enjoyed walking, moving about for a big portion of the day. Three, I loved learning about business and from other people. Four, writing was a joy for me. Five, I want to share my experience with others. Six, I like to challenge myself, sort of walk into the unknown from time to time and test myself. And seven, I want to help others. Good.

Next, I listed a few of the things I know I could do: Interviews, copy-writing, profiling, help others people find their by-products, and blogging. This was just a few things that I was sure I could do, and some business owners would find this useful, I reasoned, if not at all. Yet, I will like to take my chances out there, and see what happens. With this clarity of sorts, I decided what I would do.

I would combine all of this — what I loved and what I could do — to help small business owners right where I live, in my local community. I would go out there in faith and share with business owners what I can do for them.

Also, since I want this to be focused and definite, with a beginning and an end, I decided to make it a short project. A project that has a stated goal, a plan of sorts, and would start and end on a certain date.

With this plan, I committed the next 30 days to my project. I will take this one month project and make of it what I will, I resolved. I am even willing to go out there and fail at this. That’s fine with me. I believe that’s better than succeeding at something I don’t enjoy. Sometimes, you have to take a dare.

Who exactly can I help?

Now to approach this thing, I have to decide who exactly I will be helping. Surely I want to learn about business. But exactly what kind of small business, and how do I go about it?

I remember doing a similar summer gig for a trucking company, a few summers ago. In this gig, I put up signs for career fair on bulletin boards and doors of many small business owners throughout Austin. I got to talk to small business owners of automotive shops, coffee shops, barber shops, and others. I remember enjoying that. I could approach it that way by talking to business owners of that kind about what I could do for them.

So here’s what I would do. I would go out there and talk to them. I will make them an offer that is useful to them, and on a win-win basis. But in this case, if the scales tilt in anyway, even if I have to take the shorter end of the stick, I will take the loss. I am willing to lose in the beginning to gain another man’s trust.

And that’s how I started.

Early Adjustment

With the internal prep done, somewhat, I put up the announcement above on my blog to set the table. Keep in mind, I simply went out there to make a difference with the little I knew how to do.

Yet after the first week, out of 5, I realized I needed to change something. Though I was handing out survey sheets and had some owners fill them out as a way of finding out how I could be of help to them, I knew I had to go in a slightly different direction, I had to make a change, a change that sets some sort of foundation for roots to take hold. I need to create relationships.

With this dawn, I decided to sit and listen first, I need to seek first to understand and then to be understood, in the words of the late Steven Covey of 7 Habits fame. Why? I would prefer that first if someone wanted to help me with something in my business. Let’s chat a bit first.

Notice, here I was, just starting out, with very little experience in some of the things I wanted to do for the owners. Though I was fairly confident that when push came to shove I will deliver, I chose to play the long game, think long term. This is my community, and I don’t want this to be touch and go, or one and done. I want it to last. Let’s get to know them, I told myself.

So out of the short list of things that loved to do and could do, I chose to focus on only four of them — meeting new people (business owners, in this case), learning from them, and doing interviews, and writing all about it. Only those four.

And with this change came a breath of ease to the whole project, my joy increased, and so did my energy for the rest of the project.

This is an excerpt from my upcoming book Get To Know Your Backyard Opportunity, a guide that shares my story of interviewing small business owners in Austin, Texas, and a guide to help anyone anywhere interested in doing a similar project in their own local community. For updates of the book, go here.

Who Is This For?

New Bloggers

A project like this gives you something worthy to write about. Something that’s real and that others could learn from, and could lead to freelance income. In 21 days or less of blogging about your journey and sharing it, you will have created real relationships, strengthened your writing skills, and given yourself a chance to help someone.

New writers/Journalists

Get basic reporting skills, learn to interview people, and document the whole process for your portfolio.

Young Entrepreneurs

Build people, pitching, and public speaking skills as you go out there and present your rationale for whatever you are working on, and invite others to join you while helping them at the same time.

Non-Profit Starters

You get to do something for free, publicize your new non-profit, learn from the experience, build skills, and gather contacts — -most non profits are supported by local business)

Idea Testers

You got an idea you want to test out? Go out and talk to people about it and validate your idea. This could lead to a bigger problem-solving opportunity.

Students — High school, College & Recent Graduates

Learn how to start something in your own local community that gives you creative control, builds your skills, and helps you find your voice, while making a difference at the same time.

Folks Looking For Work

It’s okay to look for work, but looking could take long, and why not take a personal initiative to get busy and improve your skills with a short personal interviewing project. In 21 days or less, you will have a better resume, and this could lead to something worthwhile.

One interesting thing: All the folks on this list live in local communities around the country, and the opportunity to engage other professionals in an engaging, exploratory, and educational short term project is right there.

Benefits?

Let me start with a hypo example: Let’s say you want to build a school for low income children in your community. Sure you know a few people in your community. But you don’t have much money, and not many significant relationships to help you make it a reality. Where do you start?

You must at least get the idea out there, right? Why? Because you can’t do it alone. So a good way of giving yourself a chance to succeed is to start a conversation about it among people who know something about what you want to do, care about it, know other people, and could help.

Is it a bad idea, then, to start an interview project with these people about what you want to do and how it could be useful to them? Can you discuss with them what your plans are and how you may need their help, and what they will get out of it? Can you put the conversation in win-win terms, to make it equal more than the sum of the parts — synerygy: 1+1=3? And to make it more earnest, make it a good use of your time, their time? And to assure yourself of results, and to give it a good focus, package it into a short term project with a defined goal and a definite time frame — with start and end dates?

Yet you cannot do this with the current range of relationships you have, if the project is sizable enough. This is where you will have to step outside of your comfort zone and approach people you do not have prior relationships with but know have knowledge and resources that could be useful to you. So in a sense, go out and talk to ‘strangers.’ So it is with interview projects, and that’s the value of this book: People, communication, and writing skills that will come in handy for many useful causes.

An interview project gives you an opportunity to pick up some valuable people and communication skills that are rarely taught at schools: stepping out of your comfort zone and engaging with others for a good cause. What’s more? If you document your journey, you also strengthen you writing and communication skills along the way.

What Else Is An Interview Project Good For?

If you were to start a project like I did (which was definitely not to build a school) and document your experience and share it online, here are a few things that you could come away with.

Initiative

It’s a show of initiative. This is good for all work positions. But if you were looking for work, this is a good notch on your resume. This doesn’t mean you should not look for work, but it gets you in a position to add to your skills besides a show of initiative, which almost all job ads require from applicants. What’s more? Write about it, document it, share it online, and when an employer were to ask, simply point them to your site (and you can get a site up in 10 minutes for free to use to do this). How many of the other job applicants can say that?

A Good Word

When your project is done, providing you conduct yourself well, and provide value to those you interviewed, they’ll likely speak well of you when you ask them to give you a recommendation on how you did your project. This is not to fake it, but when you go out there with a sincere desire to learn from others, add value to your community, learn from the experience, and possibly teach others by sharing it, you’ll definitely have a few people say a few good things about you when you need it.

Find Your Dream Job

Looking for work? Why not turn the tables and interview employers instead? Rather than wait to get calls for interviews, why not go out and interview people who could hire you, or know others who could?

During one of my interviews — -the one with Mr. Matt Lacey — -at the end, he jokingly remarked on his desire to offer me an application to work with him. I didn’t take the offer, but the reason he offered is not far-fetched. He saw my joy in talking with him, the value of my questions, and my initiative to do something like this. The same opportunity could be next door in your community, while you may be looking for work.

Discovery Opportunity

As the interviewer, the ball is in your hands, since you will be the one asking the questions: One of the questions you want to ask is what they are currently having a difficult time with. Out of 10 employers who answer this, one of them most probably will have a challenge that falls right in your wheelhouse of skills or desire, and you can offer your skills to the employer to help them solve it. You can do this after you have completed the project, or start a side gig to help them out.

Improve Your Writing Skills

I recently read in Basecamp’s book, Rework, on how they’ll recommend that business owners hire writers. Why? Life is all about communicating, and without effective communication, nothing will be done effectively. Copywriting, essays, books, even web design/programming is all language based, an ability to clearly and creatively get a point across. So write.

You may say, I’m not that good at it. Yeah, no one starts out excellently, but how do you build a skyscraper? A brick at a time, right? What about eating an ‘elephant’? A bite at a time? Okay, so is writing, as with walking, one step after another.

Also, as the saying goes, writing makes a man exact, and refines your thinking. So keep a daily journal of what happened. Few people can do this, and of those who can, few will take the trouble to: this separates you from a lot of people.

Startup Chance

Again, you’ll come across problems that some of the people you interview may be struggling with, and if you have the skills, offer it to help them solve if for a fee. If you come across a problem, you can’t solve, see if you can find someone else more qualified than you are to help solve it. But probably more important than all of this is, if you find out that you will like to turn this into some sort of start-up, you can. Simply figure out how you can turn it into consistent revenue through more marketing or referrals.

Volunteer Spirit

Since you will not charge anyone anything for your time and effort, this demonstrates a good degree of a volunteer spirit — the ability to do something for another person for free. Who doesn’t like a person like that? Most employers want someone like that on their team, who can take something upon themselves without asking, and do it without asking for anything in return. Remember, almost all worthy professionals did many things for free when they first started out. Everyone would like someone like that for a friend, a coworker, or even a boss — A generous spirit is a great treasure.

Relationships

If you do something like this, you’ll end up with relationships with people you did not know previously. Life is all about connecting, and most will come in handy later, if you genuinely set out to help them, and they in return.

Finally, this means you are giving something, and it’s more blessed to give than to receive. Give instead of receiving: Many are waiting for someone (an employer) to give them a job, but you package a value and give it to employers instead.

Skill Gathering & Demonstration

This also gives you a chance to demonstrate some of the skills employers are looking for — email writing, copy-writing, diligence, follow up skills, packaging ( in packaging the project), people skills, audacity, initiative, leadership, and others. This paves the way to easily show some of these skills and gather others while you are at it.

Take Advantage of Time

Most folks are left in the job-hunt for a month, 3 months, 9 months, sometimes years, and often are left without work for want of initiative. 21 days is less than 30 days, and definitely less than a year. So why not take the 21 days (or less, if you will) and do something with it? It’s a win-win either way you look at it. It improves your value, exposes you to employers, gives you people to turn to for recommendation if you need it, and afterward you’ll have a better resume.