I have been an entrepreneur for 15 years but have been a social entrepreneur for about 6 years now and I would never choose to go back to what is considered "normal business practices." Social entrepreneurship for me has been a huge blessing so I am so grateful to my accidental business mentor for introducing me to this world.
I get to pursue my passion every single day and help people while making money in order to pay my bills. Life really doesn't get any better than this!
My Accidental Business Mentor
Let me preface this by saying that I have had many business mentors the past 15 years and have learned so much from each one of them. But nothing beats your first mentor, especially when they are family and you look up to them your entire life.
My father has always been an inspiration to me and accidentally mentored me from childhood to be an entrepreneur and then to be a social entrepreneur. We would discuss business around the dinner table from the time I was 4 years old and those lessons would be the pivotal point of my entire life.
Our church had plenty of volunteer opportunities on weekends where we learned to help others and to show compassion for them no matter what their life circumstances were. Teaching children about compassion at an early age can set the precendent for your child for the rest of their lives.
Even now, Dad and I spend hours on the phone every week going over business news, investments, and challenges in business. He is one of two people in the world that I trust to go to for advice on business or money, as well as how to add more of a socially conscious aspect to my businesses in order to help more people.
Dad has been a manager as long as I can remember but never owned his own business. My aunts and uncles all did but he never did. Then, Dad bought rental property and started on his journey of running his own business. His wife (my stepmom) has been so supportive but it has definitely been a challenge for him.
Making the jump from manager at a respected state run establishment to part time business owner is a big leap and requires a completely different frame of mind.
I have to laugh because my dad has studied business extensively for years for his role in management positions but has never been out on his own. He was smart and still has his day job that he draws a paycheck from so he manages rental property on the side. I would recommend to everyone that you bootstrap your business while full time employed so that you can still make sure your bills get paid while you start your business.
Teaching Children the Right Things
From an early age, my dad and I created businesses together. It was always my brain child but he supported my dreams and used his business acumen to help me start businesses. Yes, this is the first time he has started his own business but I have been with him every step of the way, guiding him like he guided me for so many years.
The lesson from this story is that parents should teach their children at home the valuable lessons that they want their kids to know. Relying on the public education system to teach your children what you should be teaching them as a parent is not the best way to handle things.
The public education system doesn't teach business and they don't foster an environment within the school that encourages children to build businesses, let alone socially conscious businesses. Socially conscious businesses are often frowned upon because there is a negative stigma that socially conscious business owners don't make enough money.
Schools seem to discourage children from starting businesses or being creative at all in their lives, but especially when it comes to ways to make money to pay bills. Parents that foster a creative environment at home and teach their children about entrepreneurship are setting their children up to have a broader range of thinking.
I love that my father opened up new doors for me and gave me the opportunities that he did. I hope that I can give my own children the same gift that he gave to me.
Social change starts at the dinner table and in the home. I would love to hear your thoughts and thanks for reading!
