Starting a social business? Here’s why we’re not giving you advice.
People love to give advice…especially when it comes to startups. The real challenge is finding useful advice. We want to help.
At SoJo, we often think of an entrepreneur’s journey like traveling in an unknown country. When you’re traveling it’s easy to get advice. Friends, family — even Joe from Albuquerque on a travel review site — all have their own advice for how to get the most out of your trip. “You HAVE to eat here” “Do NOT eat there!” “You can’t miss this” “Meh, don’t waste your time with that”. The suggestions are usually based on personal opinion and often contradictory. If you’re not careful, that good advice could have you spinning in circles. So, who do you listen to? How do you prioritize the advice?
You’ll probably gravitate to those you trust most. Seasoned travellers who often travel far and wide and have a broad knowledge of the options. Your peers who enjoy similar kinds of vacations and know what you’re looking for. Tasteful connoisseurs who can refer you to the secret, hidden gems in each city.
But getting really useful advice isn’t just about finding knowledgeable people with a lot of experience in certain areas — it’s about finding the right person who can help you based on what you need in order to plan the kind of vacation you want, based on your resources. Nothing is more frustrating when you’re trying to travel on a shoestring than to have someone suggest only five star restaurants to eat at.
Connecting with the right people to give you the right kind of advice for the stage you’re at can feel even more challenging when you’re starting a new social business or initiative. There are lots of people out there who want to help you and don’t hesitate to give you advice (even when you don’t ask for it!) and you can quickly feel like you’re drowning in recommendations.
In order to receive great advice and support that makes a difference on your journey, it’s important to connect with people who understand you — what you’re trying to achieve, what makes it unique and what stage of the journey you’re at — so they can tailor and deliver their support in a way that actually propels you forward.
The help you’re seeking when you first have the inspiration to start a social business is probably a low-stress friendly face — just like in travel, you gravitate towards the people you trust. They aren’t going to hammer you to death with the “how are you going to make money?” question (at least not right off the bat). They will help you navigate how you’re feeling about what you want to do and help you build your confidence to actually do it — which is really what you need. Finding people who understand you and the help you need at this stage — whether they are peers, mentors, advisors or funders — is key to helping you move further along in your journey.
SoJo is an online education platform that finds, prepares and connects people who want to use business to improve the world (think Khan Academy meets LinkedIn for aspiring social entrepreneurs). At SoJo, we focus on bridging the gap between having an inkling of an idea and launching a wildly successful and high impact initiative by supporting people who are just starting out and helping them get ready for the next stage.
We are a trustworthy travel companion through the beginning of your social journey. We help you get started, build confidence and when you’re ready for the next stage of support, we help you navigate and connect with the programs and opportunities available — smoothing out what can otherwise feel like a very rough transition in your social journey.
In order to succeed, you need someone who understands you and the kind of support you need. We want to help. Find out about SoJo’s new offerings rolling out throughout this Fall at mysojo.co.
