Being inspired and called to action is vital to a Life Entrepreneur. What if you could design your sabbatical to fully engage in some volunteer activity that you have secretly dreamed about? What if you could find a group like this one and be more involved on a regular basis? Wouldn’t it make sense to take a break from your routine to explore what really interests you?
I just spent the last couple of days at the annual conference of Social Venture Partners International, held in Dallas. SVPI is the largest individual donor network in the US, with over 2000 partners committed to capacity building for non-profit organizations in 24 cities in the US, Canada and Japan, and is growing each year, adding more chapter affiliates. I would call each person I met a Life Entrepreneur, even if he or she isn’t aware of being one.
These amazing people have carved out time in their lives to focus on using a combination of business skills, life skills and money to ensure that organizations in their communities are able to fulfill their missions. Each year a “grant cycle” is initiated, and local non-profits apply for “investee” status to gain the support of the SVP. Once that happens, we partners volunteer to work with them to help solve the internal problems that are keeping them from growth. I love this! I get to bring my coaching skills, my business acumen, and am welcomed with open arms by people who are prepared to accept the help we offer and actually do something with it! What a concept!
What inspired me about this conference is the variety of people I met, the wealth of experience they bring, and their willingness to share ideas, listen, and learn from each other. The value of belonging was clearly expressed: as individuals, we can do a little; as a group we become a force of nature. We challenge each other along the way to bring our best to the table, to live up to our principles and continue to learn to work together.
So, after a little more than a year of being a member of the Dallas Social Venture Partners, I see even more reasons to stay involved, and do what it takes to make sure that our chapter fulfills its promise. As a Life Entrepreneur, I thrive on new opportunities, new challenges and making new friends along the way.
That’s a lot to be grateful for!
Margery Miller, owner of PeopleBiz Inc. is a coach and business consultant and is currently writing a series of blogs encouraging people to see themselves as Life Entrepreneurs. For more information see margerymiller.com, or write to her at margery@peoplebiz.com.
2 Responses (add yours)
Hi Margery
Great to hear of your time with SVPI. I agree they are all life entrepreneurs. If you haven’t seen it already you might be interested in the book we wrote, “Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Leading Extraordinary Lives” (Jossey-Bass). Many of the themes should resonate with you and might be helpful for your coaching practice.
All the best,
Christopher Gergen
I just wrote a response to Christopher. I read this book and found it to be a great companion to what I’m writing about. They took a sort of micro approach to show various people who are living more fully as Life Entrepreneurs and I am exploring what it feels like on the inside, things to think and learn about as we go along.
I highly recommend this book–it truly inspires us to think bigger and really get out of anyone else’s box and explore our own paths.
Margery