What you need to know to start or grow your social enterprise
Two tips for fellow and aspiring social entrepreneurs from my lived experience
Tips number 1 and 2 to fellow and aspiring (social) entrepreneurs, from my lived experience.
I often speak to social entrepreneurs. The most common questions they ask me include: What do we need to know in creating our own social enterprise? How did you do it? Where do we start? This is the first in a series of articles where I try to answer these questions and more.
Dear fellow and aspiring social entrepreneurs,
Here are some of the things that would have been helpful for me to know at the start of my career as well as throughout my journey as the founder of Micro Rainbow, a not-for-profit social enterprise:
Tip no1: Develop a coaching mindset, nurture positivity.
The process of starting a social enterprise can be littered with obstacles and setbacks. I recall a time when I spent countless hours and many late nights preparing a tender for a foreign government. The funding could have been transformative for the social enterprise, taking our work to different countries and significantly increasing our impact.
Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful, and the disappointment was immense, feeling like a slap in the face and a blow to our aspirations. I was fortunate to have a coach who shared something that stuck with me. He said “I am wondering what good will come out of this?” I remember thinking, “What good?! Nothing at all, this is a disaster!”. Surprisingly, good did emerge from the situation. We had to summon the inner strength to continue our work amidst uncertainty, financial pressures, and one of the biggest rejections we had encountered so far.
More than that, the process led us to deepen our connection with our passion and the people we serve. As a result of this organisational soul-searching, something remarkable occurred: we developed our ground-breaking safe housing scheme that went on to win several innovation awards, establishing Micro Rainbow as one of the top 100 social enterprises in the UK. That setback became a defining moment.
When confronted with a challenge now, I immediately think, “I wonder what gift it brings”; when faced with conflict, I ponder, “I wonder what I will learn about myself”; and when feeling exhausted, I contemplate what my body is signalling me to do. We have the option to choose how to react to obstacles and setbacks.
I call this as adopting a coaching mindset. In this frame of mind, we become curious, open to constant learning, willing to connect with our dark sides, we live authentically and in harmony with our ecosystems. Embracing a coaching mindset is akin to being wrapped in a warm blanket or savouring a cup of tea — it is comforting, positive, and keeps you cosy. My coaching mindset infuses positivity into my life, offers me hope, sparks curiosity, and ultimately assists me in becoming a better person and a better leader. I did not have it when I started my social enterprise, although I wish I had. It would have made me more resilient and the journey more comfortable. Perhaps I would have been more hopeful at times, and I believe it would have supported my mental health as well.
As it happens, part of my passion these days is to help others (especially social entrepreneurs and those in the LGBTQI community) develop a coaching mindset. I practice as a coach in parallel with being a social entrepreneur. I want to support more social entrepreneurs to be well-resourced, more LGBTQI people to achieve leadership roles, and to help others who might be stuck and want to live more closely in line with their values.
Tip no2: Working 12 hours a day only goes so far!
When creating a social enterprise, there is a lot to do and little time to rest. In a company, there is always more money to make. In a social enterprise, there is always that one additional person you could reach if only you work a little harder. You do not really want or feel the need to rest; your passion and determination are so strong that you feel you can keep going and going. You have to be the strong one to help others.
In the beginning, there are many pressures on your time: from financial responsibilities (how will we pay salaries in three months’ time?!) to managing teams (there is more to do than people who can do it) to building a strong foundation that can propel the social enterprise forward (long meetings with lawyers, accountants, HR professionals…). However, in my experience, an emotionally intelligent and well resourced social entrepreneur is much more effective and ultimately successful.
It took me more than 10 years to learn that. During that time and with the help of my incredible team, we did build a successful social enterprise that attracted multi-million pounds of social investment. But it came at a cost. My focus on “doing, doing, and doing” as opposed to “being” damaged my well-being, both physical and mental. Burnout affects us in different ways. For me, it manifested as body pain and chronic fatigue. I am on the path to recovery. It is a lengthy process where I need to create more time for “being” and less for “doing”. Working 12 hours a day really only gets you so far!
Based on my experience, my advice to you, fellow and aspiring social entrepreneurs, is to establish self-care practices early on (Lunch walks? Drinking less? Using that yoga class that your partner got you for Christmas?). The temptation (as it was for me) might be to neglect your well-being because there is so much to do, so many people to help. If you are young, like I was, you may feel invincible and have the stamina and physical strength to work endless hours. However, your body will remember every time you neglected to take care of it, and eventually it will stop serving you.
Prioritising your well-being does not detract from the cause. On the contrary, it brings something very valuable to the cause and the social enterprise movement: a social entrepreneur who is more in tune with their instincts, more effective in achieving their social impact, and better equipped at staying positive and applying a coaching mindset.
With my very best wishes for your social entrepreneurship journey,
Sebastian
To know more about me, you can check my profile on medium or connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter.
