I woke up like this...and other lies about entrepreneurship

The Nonprofit sector is an unlikely place where one would expect to grow more business savvy. Inspired? Yes, but the nuances of this sector and the roles I’ve had the opportunity to fulfill have challenged me to grow better at identifying and addressing operational inefficiencies, working within diverse market segments, and developing metrics to measure social impact. My experiences in the nonprofit sector have given me opportunities to collaborate with the public, and private sectors. These experiences led me to realize that the three sectors still operate in ways that reinforce a disconnected version of philanthropy and promote systemic issues that undermine the nonprofit sector. Businesses can re-invest in how they support and carry out social impact initiatives. This observation, alongside my personal interests catapulted me into the world of entrepreneurship. 2015 was a transformative year for me because I brought two of my business ideas to life. As I continue to refine and focus on one of those businesses, I’m often reminded of how my experiences in the nonprofit sector have helped shaped my approach to entrepreneurship.

One of the things I’ve learned is that entrepreneurship requires an openness to consistently revising your process. It’s about understanding your audience and the existing supply chain or in some cases creating one.

Nonprofits are for the most part service-oriented. They address a need through providing a service to underserved communities. The great thing about nonprofits is that their solutions are not always formulaic. How a nonprofit provides a service changes depending on the resources of said nonprofit at the time, and the community itself. For this reason, there’s not really a prescriptive approach that will work for all nonprofits. In light of this, nonprofits must have a strong understanding of the audience they are serving in a way that facilitates their delivery of services.

In the for-profit sector, a supply chain helps businesses operationalize how they will deliver their services. By definition, it resembles the sequence of processes involved in the production of a commodity. In the nonprofit sector, I liken a supply chain to outlining the processes involved in the delivery of a service. This speaks to mapping out how services are delivered or identifying how certain outcomes are met (also known as a logic model). Thinking this way has made me a lot more process oriented.

As I continue to develop my business strategy, I’ve taken more initiative in mapping out and refining my “logic model”. Who are my customers and how can I engage in market research now?  My experience in the nonprofit sector has uniquely positioned me to focus on the operations of a start-up and think about how to create a supply chain with my customers in mind.

Nonprofits have pushed my ability to tell a good story. My decision to start a business was in large part motivated by my story. My ability to convey that story will help me build my brand.

Advocacy is a huge component of the nonprofit sector. We become vociferous advocates of the missions we support.  Through helping to write grant narratives and even forming a 501(c)(3),  I continue to learn about ways to help organizations sell their impact. This has helped me answer the question of how I want to tell my story. More importantly, working in this space ensures that my entrepreneurial aspirations are grounded within a social impact framework. I’ve always been motivated by doing work that feels humanizing.  Serving communities that justify the need for the nonprofit sector has left me more committed to incorporating a social impact perspective into my business.

Survival of the fittest requires a willingness to collaborate.

A nonprofit’s lifespan grows longer when it takes advantage of the opportunity to collaborate. As someone interested in entrepreneurship, I’ve taken collaboration to mean a willingness to venture into other spaces and refine my process as a result of the things I discover. Sometimes the best ideas I’ve had were influenced by others and/or traveling outside of my comfort zone. For me, collaboration in this space also implies a willingness to listen to customers, employees, and yes, especially colleagues and other aspiring entrepreneurs or leaders in the social sector and lean on their knowledge to help influence my concept.

The ways in which we collaborate in entrepreneurial spaces forces us to take a deeper look at our process, and really listen to people who benefit from our services or products.

I’ve learned to flat out ask for things.

This has made me a lot more decisive, and clearer in how I communicate my needs. It has also made me more persistent every time I hear “No”. I have translated that to mean:  try again later, or go ask someone else. Whether you’re applying for grants in the nonprofit sector, looking for free or discounted event space, or trying to secure Oprah as a guest speaker for an event (still working on that one), you may hear a lot of “Nos” but in a lot of ways it has pushed me to find another way to get that “Yes”.

Beginning this journey towards entrepreneurship encompasses many freedoms but it necessarily comes with the idea of sacrifice in the beginning. The extent to which you will sacrifice is entirely up to you. You don’t have to live off ramen noodles (it will probably help your budget in the short term), but you may want to consider the reality that eating out consistently at five star restaurants will have to be a foregone luxury.

Entrepreneurship is not an overnight process, it's one that requires much introspection, a willingness to embrace the transformation your ideas and a commitment to seeing those ideas through.