Two Key Ways to Be More Strategic As a Social Entrepreneur
First, let’s define social entrepreneur — A social entrepreneur is a person who pursues novel applications that have the potential to solve community-based problems. These individuals are willing to take on the risk and effort to create positive changes in society through their initiatives. (Investopedia)
Have a Profit Plan – Yes, Make Money
As the definition states, social entrepreneurs set out to solve community-based problems and have the desire to create positive changes within their area of genius or deep passion. Often the desire to serve, change and create impact take us (yes, us, I’m right there with ya) away from “money mode”. It is easy for us to get deep into passion and deviate a bit too far from the profit.
Come in close fellow social entrepreneur, “we have to have a profit plan, yes, we need to get paid or it’s community service.” — some of us begin our efforts as side-hustles, projects or initiatives done while simultaneously working 8 – 4, 9 – 5 or the similar. Nothing wrong here, right? Money is flowing from elsewhere but what if you want to eventually leave your job? Or hire help for the social enterprise? Or invest in coaching, systems, resources, etc. to propel the brand? Takes money, right ?! Yes! And shouldn’t all come from you pouring in, you need a profit plan.
“we have to have a profit plan, yes, we need to get paid or it’s community service.”
Develop a plan for generating revenue for your social enterprise. If you need help doing this consult with a business coach, financial coach or CPA. Someone besides yourself who can help you generate profitable ideas that still correlate with your social mission while also allowing you to bring in moolah!
Stop Over-sharing Other People’s Content
Someone’s going to get mad at me for this one but stop over-sharing other people’s content, especially without a plan. There are several other ways to support your friends, families, colleagues, etc. without hitting the share button. Why Tab? Why can’t I share all the posts and flyers on my feed? Well think about it, as a social entrepreneur you want to be known as it relates to your initiative, idea, passion, etc. You’re constantly bringing new people into your sphere of influence and you only have about 90 seconds to make an impression, especially online; maybe less.
What do the first 6 squares on your IG feed say about you? What about the last 3 posts on your FB page? Your last 4 tweets? If you have been sharing other people’s content, does it correlate with what you’re working on? If not, why are you allowing it to take up space on your platform?! But Tab, I want to support them — consider liking, commenting, sharing in your stories (you can pick a day of the week where you “highlight” others or set a limit of how many posts you share from others for every one post you make) — there are alternatives! Trust me!
Take some time this week to audit your social sites, what do they say about you? If you did not know yourself, what would you think? Would you know how to connect? How to support? What to support? Where to go next? Need help with this — contact me, I stopped sharing other people’s posts on my direct feed over one-year ago and it has been transformative for connections + conversion!
Be strategically, social; you’ve got this!
Conclusion
Social Entrepreneurs, we have to be more strategic, more mindful, more goal-oriented and data-driven. Why? Not only will it make us more money, it will also help us to be more impactful and isn’t that what we desire?
Let’s Connect: Instagram, Facebook, Website
Click here to connect with Tab via LinkedIn