Inspiration Junkie: Sharing Wisdom Through Stories

This Week the Social Impact Level Up Collective has been gaining traction as a community and a movement! We're so excited that you're here as a subscriber and part of the community.

As the newsletter approaches 1,000 subscribers (wow!) it's clear this circle has gone beyond my personal network on LinkedIn. Which is great! BUT that creates a new problem...

How do we all connect?

ICYMI- We Did An Awesome Thing This Week

The leaders of our collective hosted a LinkedIn audio event focused on networking for social impact professionals. We did this for a few reasons:

1. We want everyone in our community and collective to have a voice and space to connect with other like-minded and like-hearted people.
2. We genuinely want to create space for community leaders and professionals to share in thought partnership to solve the world's problems with authentic and first-hand perspectives as part of the solution.
3. We see the power in storytelling and connecting to create the collective impact movement we want to see. And the good news is... it's happening!

The LinkedIn members got a taste of what it's like to be in our social audio spaces on other platforms and what our podcast is like. It's all about sharing stories, wisdom, and deep inner truth that needs to escape. Through these shared experience some very cool things happen.

We connect as humans. We build bridges and understanding into what it's like to be someone else and go through their trials and tribulations.

We benefit from their wisdom and solutions. When someone offers you their story, you benefit from the healing they did through the experience and the story can share light on something that you've experienced too.

We build community where trust and shared values are the core of how we connect and ultimately, how we crate massive social change.

Shared Wisdom and Shared Stories Change Lives

It's difficult to find spaces where you can talk without judgement. For me, social audio has been that refuge. In turn I create spaces where you can talk without judgement, within reason.

Conversations still need to be respectful, fact-based, and in-line with the community's values and principles. That's the power of social audio, you can create spaces that you don't see and have conversations that others aren't daring enough to host.

That's why Social Impact Networking is so important. There aren't enough spaces where people who are mission and passion-driven can have honest conversations about the things that matter to us. Including how to keep moving forward on social change agendas with momentum and ease.

The Who, Who, Who Are You event gave our community members a space to lift up everyone's voice, but gave us an opportunity to especially amplify black and brown voices. By having a diverse group of people share their life experiences, we created an open door for connections and synergy between our collective members.

Partnership is one of the cornerstones of sustainability . By hosting this event, we hope that community members will connect with others and move their collective agendas forward. That's why we'll be hosting more in the future!

Yes you can expect Social Impact Networking every month!

Because we had so much wisdom shared in the room, it's hard to capture it all with notes. I'll leave you with a few bullet points and an excerpt from a blog post that sums up a good chunk of the discussion.

Remember! Social Audio Events are LIVE, you have to be there to be there. You cannot get the same effect if you are not part of the conversation. We want you to be there for the next one so you can hear the wisdom from community members in their own words.

A Few Words of Wisdom from The Community:

• Values over value- as a social entrepreneur you can choose who you work with and how you work.
• What happens to us is not for us, it's for us to help others through our experience. We need to share those stories so others can benefit from what we went through.
• Stepping out and sharing your gifts can be scary. It's important not to be jealous of others who are doing so, instead be inspired by them to step out on your own.
• No one is interested in saving you! You will need to step out be seen if you want to follow your passion. You have to take inspired action.
• As people of color, and specifically Latinos, we have a lot of power and wealth that can drive social change. Especially for BIPOC business owners. We need more vehicles to get on the same agenda and use our collective impact to move forward.
• When you've been around a while, you've seen a lot of things and can offer a lot to others who are in a similar situation.
• Lastly, be an inspiration junkie! Go to spaces and places where you'll find inspiring people and discussions so you can continue to grow as a human.

A Few Closing Thoughts

When I heard the conversation in the room, it reminded me of a Podcast Episode and Blog post that I released a while back. This particular conversation focused on the gifts of social entrepreneurship.

One of the gifts of being an entrepreneur is being a leader. Stepping out on your own, with your vision and your responsibility driving you. It takes courage and tenacity to be bold and share your voice no matter what.

More importantly, are the moments when someone says "I heard you and it mattered to me."

You never know who needs to hear something that day. But if you don't say it, they won't hear it. It's like the tree in the forest, if you never talk about how you fell will anyone ever hear it?

Here's an excerpt from the blog post. You can read the full blog post on my website WendieVeloz.com .

The Gift: 10 Surprising Reasons You Need a Social Business

Leading Yourself and Leading Others

As an entrepreneur, you have to learn to fend for yourself because no one else is going to wake up and make sure you are ok. Especially because business can be very competitive.

A good way to think about it is "You have to own your career”. No one is going to rescue you. It's up to you to lead yourself down the path you want to take.

As a business owner, you can choose to be the leader that you didn't see in the corporate world. This gift is a very enticing one for me because I always feel like leadership was lacking throughout my career.?

When you exist within a corporate culture where you know your talent and work aren't being groomed for the next level, you can feel constrained. Creating your own venture can help you break free from the bureaucracy. You can truly take your work to the next level without being constrained or restricted.

For woman business owners, having the power to hire women and help empower others to build their own ventures is a huge gift. Not all women want to lift up others, but for those who want to use their business as a platform to empower other women- this gift is a big one.

Want to Know More?

This post is an excerpt from my blog-The Gift: 10 Surprising Reasons You Need a Social Business.

You can leave a comment on this post or on the LinkedIn Audio Event: Who, Who, Who Are You?? If you want to share after reading this post.

Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for the next Social Impact Networking event, we will host them once a month. We'd love for you to come, share, and come back with a friend!

SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE THIS POST!

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT GROWING THIS NEWSLETTER! LET'S GET THIS THING TO 1,000 SUBSCRIBERS TODAY! YOU CAN HELP BY SHARING THIS AND ASKING YOUR NETWORKS TO SUBSCRIBE.

TO SHARE THE NEWSLETTER USE THIS LINK

SHARE ON YOUR OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AS WELL!