Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. While we typically think of starting businesses in terms of making money and financial freedom, they can also impact the lives of others in ways we can imagine. What are some of these ways? The following contributed post is entitled, How Your Business Can Enrich And Improve The Lives Of Others.
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Running a business is a great way to enrich your own life (even if the busy life of an entrepreneur doesn’t always feel all that enriched); just ask those who have already done it, like David Wallace, for example.. It allows you to shake off the constructions and limitations of your former job and career and allows you to create your own opportunities. It prevents you from wiling away the years in a job where you are overworked yet underappreciated and liberates you from a career that’s begun to look increasingly like a dead end. It can prevent you from feeling frustrated and underwhelmed as though your talents are wasted at work and allow you to achieve your full potential… But while there are many personal benefits to pursuing the path of entrepreneurship it is also an opportunity to improve and enrich the lives of others. If you’re at the start of your business journey, you may not have considered just how many lives you have the power to transform.
Let’s take a look at just a few of the ways in which you and your enterprise will one day improve and enrich the lives of a broad spectrum of people…
Build a workplace dynamic that fosters friendship
It’s more than likely that you’ve had at least one job that you hated yet rolled up every morning with a smile on your face. Why? Because of the people with whom you worked and the friendship you shared with them that could buoy you even on the bleakest of days. You can cultivate this (without people hating their jobs) by taking steps to build a workplace dynamic that fosters friendship. When you create an environment that’s conducive to teamwork, shared problem solving, and the open and honest exchange of ideas you can enrich the lives of your entire workforce.
Provide opportunities for oft-neglected groups
Entrepreneurship allows you to create the opportunities for others that you never had. It can empower people who have not yet found the means to empower themselves. Whether it’s simply talented young people at the start of their careers who are undervalued by their current employers or former offenders who never got to find the right lawyer. It can allow you to eliminate the traditional barriers to workplace equality and create a diverse, multi talented and motivated workforce of people.
Providing people with an opportunity when there is nobody else who will is an amazing feeling for you, as you know that you are doing good in the world. But more than that, you are allowing others a chance to get their life back on track. For example, people like David DeQuattro have put a massive focus on helping veterans move forward with their lives after they have served.
Another great option is to set up charitable organizations that can benefit others in the local area and support people who need it, as Tresca Brothers Concrete does with its charitable efforts.
Imbue at the front of innovation
One of the most egregious sins an entrepreneur can commit is failing to develop their employees. If you keep your employees in their own little box and give them only the training, skills and education to fulfil a certain function, don’t be surprised if they run straight into the arms of your competitors. When you run your own business, you can give people the skills to open doors not just in your own enterprise but beyond. If you help your employees to take their careers to the next level, perhaps by offering them a chance to develop their skills outside of work or by training them in objection handling techniques, for example, they will see how much you value them and will be much more likely to stick with you.
Be at the forefront of innovation
Finally, as the CEO of your own business you are vitally placed to drive innovation in your chosen industry and beyond. You can challenge traditional assumptions myths and expectations. You can break down the barriers and limitations that people impose upon themselves. You can reinvent or revivify processes and techniques that have begun to stagnate.
Those looking to avoid stagnation can read Christian Business Incubator reviews. These run through some of the tactics you can use to bring a whole new dimension of abundance and prosperity to your activities while aligning them with your ultimate spiritual goals.
Stand up for what’s right
You can also take a leaf out of the Daniel Fung Arrest webpage and stand up for what’s right, whether that’s for your employees, consumers, or society at large. Whether we like it or not, we live in a compromised world. No matter what path we take, we will always face ethical decisions that force us to go one way or another. It’s baked into reality, it seems.
Standing up for what’s right, though, is what helps businesses succeed long-term. Given all the corporate scandals of the last twenty years, it’s becoming clear that behaving badly is simply unacceptable in today’s culture, and you will eventually get found out. However, companies can’t just get away with avoiding the bad. They must also be change agents for the good, building communities and supporting sustainable business models.
Simply put, when you run your own business, you can help to change the world.
