community builders

6 Simple Practices for Community Builders

As we all know, it’s one thing to have the heart to want to make a difference in your community. It’s quite another to actually express that in a way that others can understand.

In the last post, I wrote about the mindset it takes to have an impact in your community. Essentially, if you want to grow your community, you have the community in mind as you’re working.

Meaning if you’re working with a nonprofit, for example, you want to be working with those people the nonprofit is meant to help to reach solutions. Same could be said about developing an online following. If you want people to engage with you, you have to reach out first.

But what does it mean to reach out? To be someone who cares? What are the actions that this person takes?

Here’s 6 simple practices to help you reach out and start impacting the lives of others.

6 Practices of a Community Builder

Listen and Examine

The first place you want to start when making an impact for your community is to simply listen. What are some of the problems that aren’t being addressed? Out of these problems, are there some issues you could personally help with? Is there something that sounds like it’d be fun, but maybe you don’t know that much about?

If so, get good at asking questions and digging deeper. This process, called Idea Extraction, is a skill just about anyone can put to use in their work.

Skill Up and/or Branch Out

Once you learn what the issues are in your community, it’s time to figure out some solutions. In the entrepreneurial space, this could be anything from coming up with a service of some sort to creating some software, or even creating a course that people can take on a particular topic.

If you’re in the nonprofit space, maybe you find out that a group of people aren’t being addressed the way you’d like. What would be the solution to that which would be beneficial to everyone in the community? How can you make it a win-win-win?

In either situation, you can choose to do the work yourself (or learn to) or you can team up with someone who’s already well vetted in the work you’re looking to do. A great skill to have is one where you find problems and plug people into them who are naturally gifted at fixing that kind of issue.

Act like Nick Fury and find your team!

Plan Together

Now that you’re starting to put together your own group of Avengers, it’s a good idea to get their input as far as decision making goes. Forming a council or a board of these early folks is a great idea so that you can regularly bounce ideas off of each other.

One thing you don’t want to do is to be the one constantly making decisions for the entire group. If you find yourself in that role, then there might be some things you don’t see and people might inadvertently keep info from you that would have helped make a better decision.

So make sure this group of yours plans together regularly to avoid these issues. Also, there’s the added benefit in iron sharpening iron… if you’ve selected the right people.

Oh, and make sure that these meetings are kept to a minimum. Idea people love to think things out, but if you include implementers into this meeting, they might just lose interest.

Mobilize and Implement

In the US military, there are two distinct groups of people. There are enlisted folks and then there’s officers. Officers are the supervisors of the enlisted. While they think about what needs to be done, the enlisted people have to figure out how to actually get it done.

In this new group of yours, it makes sense to plan. However, great plans don’t lead to great results on their own. You’ll need to take action to get the desired effect you want.

What’s great is that usually your implementers are usually not the idea people in your group. So make sure you let them figure out how something will actually get done once you figure out what that something is!

Adjust and Re-adjust When Necessary

Here’s the thing about implementing a plan. Sometimes it might not work out the way you thought it was going to go. In fact, most of the time, it’s not going to work out the way that you first expected it to. However, that’s not a problem. You’re not a sniper. You don’t have to calculate all the things that can go wrong with your one shot before you take it. Instead, you should think of yourself as someone who’s in control of a machine gun. Fire, then adjust your aim until your bullets start hitting the mark.

So, for example, what does this mean in the nonprofit world? Let’s assume you’re working with people who have a specific kind of health related issue. It’s your job to get them the care they need or connect them to people who can. However, they’re not showing up to their appointments with you or with the other people who can help them.

Why? Why is that not happening? It’s NOT your job to blame them for not seeking the help. It’s your job to reach them where they’re at!

Celebrate Wins

I’m sure there’s people out there that say that they don’t like taking the time to celebrate a job done well. However, those people are few and far between.

Truth is, people like being rewarded for their efforts. And sometimes, the work might be hard, and sure the outcome was worth it, but it might feel a little empty to some of your group members. They might feel like they’re being taken advantage of.

So make sure to celebrate the successful campaigns, the stressful events, and the big launches. Your team will feel like you actually appreciate them and will want to continue to put the effort into this meaningful work.

Action Steps

Now that you see what kind of work it takes to build a community, it’s up to you to fit in the details. This is simply a formula that works for just about any kind of mission. If you have any questions regarding some of the specifics of any of these steps, ask below. I’d love to tell you how we handled something for Amplify.

full stack designer

Sagi Shrieber – Mindful and Ruthless: Going from Full Stack Designer to Full Time Dream Achiever (AoL 146)

Having success in work you love doing can take awhile to actually happen. There’s certainly a Gap we all have to cross. In that Gap, we tend to ask ourselves different questions ranging from “Why am I still struggling?” to “Should I give up and do what I know I could get paid better for but not like to do as much?” to even “Why am I having so much trouble growing my audience?”.

I know I’ve had these questions myself.

In this session, our guest, Sagi Shrieber, talks to Veronica and I about his career in design and how he was fairly successful right out of graduation. But after awhile, he found himself at a point in his life where he was $50k in debt and still having to support a family.

In our conversation, we learn what he did to start climbing out of this funk as well as why he spent over $70k in improving himself in 2018.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • What led Sagi to school to be a designer? 9:40
  • How was he able to have as much success with his career after getting out college? 13:58
  • After having success early on in his career, how did things take a turn for the worse and how did he find himself getting out of his funk? 22:08
  • What did he learn from this experience that he’s still using to this day? 31:50
  • When it comes to the way that Sagi uses it, what does it mean to be “full stack”? 38:17
  • What are some pointers he recommends when someone is building their first business website? 42:56
  • Where can we expect to see Sagi in 2019 conference wise? 55:55
  • What are his favorite top three books he tells others about? 58:12
  • Is there a gift he likes to give? 1:03:31
  • What message is out there that’s a disservice to youth? 1:05:22
  • What one travel tip does Sagi have to share? 1:06:59
  • How can someone be a difference maker in their community? 1:10:23

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Russell Brunson makes $3 million on stage at 10X Growth Con

How to Network with Influential Entrepreneurs

Interview with Pat Flynn

Interview with Paul Jarvis


Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on CastboxiTunesStitcherPodBean, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

out of curiosity

Out of Curiosity… Why Asking More Questions Leads to More Creativity and Solutions

When I was growing up, I remember that I was always curious about how things worked. “How does a controller send signals to the TV to control Mario?”, “How could people build things as big as the pyramids?”, or even something like “Why is the Great Wall of China still around after all these years?” were examples of questions I’d find myself asking.

Little did I know that when I found an interest in Leonardo Da Vinci, I’d learn that he too was a curious mind. And what I’ve come to find out since is that creatives, especially creative leaders, are curious in general.

In this post, let’s dive a little deeper into this idea that curious minds (and understanding them as a leader) lead to better results for your team and business.

Curiosity at Play

I often to think of myself as a gatekeeper when it comes to information – a natural advisor. When it comes to the social circles I find myself in, I’m usually the one that knows random pieces of information that actually help find the solution. When I look at this characteristic and how it plays a role in my life, I don’t think I can find a better example of it in play than when I was on my high school’s Quiz Bowl team.

Quiz Bowl, if you’ve never heard of it, is basically a game where two teams compete through answering trivia. The team that answers a particular question correctly first, gets the point. On a well rounded team, the members know info about all kinds of topics. And interestingly enough, it’s often suggested that players watch Jeopardy to get practice in when we’re not practicing together.

That being the case, the members of my team were all over achievers. In fact, at times, I felt a little out of place. There were your typical book worms, sure. But there was also a few players who didn’t care about grades nearly as much as they cared about art, music, or their other usual extracurricular activities.

We were all curious. We all had great imaginations (we often referred to Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Star Trek on bus rides). And I have to admit, many members of the team were pretty damn creative.


Curiosity Yields Opportunity

While I don’t remember what each member of this team went off to do after I graduated high school, I do remember that I felt at home at Purdue when I started on my engineering degree. Not only were my friends and I focused on our school work, but we were constantly having conversations where we were asking “What If?” or “How Can I?”. We were always asking questions. And later, when I got involved with various student organizations, it was because of these brainstorming sessions that we were able to come up with all kinds of tasks and question.

Truth being, to get anything done in a particular group, you had to think outside of the box. Be it finding new sensors for a robot that was being built in IEEE to finding funding opportunities for projects in Alpha Phi Omega, thinking outside of the box was the norm.

So, from my perspective, the more questions you ask, the more options you get. And because you have more options, you’ll have more answers or solutions.

Roadblocks of Curiosity

Education

If you follow this blog at all, you might know that I’m not a huge fan of the current formal education system. Main reason? It’s hugely out of date. It’s not designed to be super flexible and frankly, most students are being left behind because they’re being told what to think, not how to think.

I started realizing this in grad school when I figured out that college wasn’t for everyone. I’d often find myself asking “Why are these students even in this class?”. Sometimes because there were some who didn’t put effort in their work, but others because they simply just didn’t seem to fit. Their personal gifts were more artistic, more EQ driven, and sometimes even more “real world” friendly.

These students were forced to think that formal education was the only way to get ahead. And 10 years later, I’ve realized that these students should have had education crafted more towards them as an individual than a one size fits all solution.

That’s what formal education is and it simply doesn’t work for everyone.

Training Managers vs Leaders

Another thing I realized during this time is that the traditional business world – the corporate world –  is the only other place where it’s frowned upon to be creative. While I was teaching in OLS, we would make it a point to remind students that an MBA is typically focused more on managing processes while our department was more focused on managing people.

It’s because of this that I think the corporate world sponsors more employees to seek an MBA. They don’t necessarily want leaders, they want managers.

These are two big hurdles in today’s world that prohibits people from being more creative.

Action Steps

So, at this point you might wondering “Ok, I have a team that could possibly be a bit more creative in their work. How do I help them get outside of the box when it comes to problem solving?” Here’s a few ideas to keep in mind:

Let Creativity Flourish!

I think, the first thing we have to realize is that creative people are inherently risky. Because they’re outside of the box, there’s going to be times when they’ll cross boundaries or simply be a bit rebellious. So you have to be willing to give them some space to work in their own world and come up with ideas. When it comes to these individuals, you’ll have to be comfortable with leaving the rule book at the door.

Help Flush Out Ideas

Speaking of ideas, another thing you want to do with creative types is work with them as they’re developing new ideas. As a business owner, you have to see them as your scientists or scouts. They’ll have many hypotheses or a half baked ideas, but they might not have thoroughly tested them. Instead of waiting for the entire process to conclude, it should be part of your job as a servant leader to help them through. Not only will you be able to sniff the idea out and determine if it’s useful for not, but if it is, you can implement it in your business quicker. Of course you have to work on your own curiosity to help them out!!

Be a Servant Leader

And finally, again as a servant leader, it’s your job to not do everyone’s job all the time, but make sure that every part of the business is working smoothly.

Take a restaurant manager as an example.

It’s not their job to just sit in the back and have the other employees come to them with issues. Sure, there might be some time in doing this, but they also need to be able to check in with those who are cleaning tables, dispensing ice cream, working the drive-thru, and serving food regularly. If they wait for something to actually go wrong until they address an issue, that’s not being proactive – that’s reactive. And we know that leaders can not be reactive!!

A quote I saw this week, goes like this:

“If you look at the people in your circle and you don’t get inspired, you don’t live in a circle, you live in a cage.”

– John Maxwell

In that same instance, don’t be the one creating the cage.

patrons only

Patrons Only! – Making Past Seasons of the AoL Podcast “Pay to Listen”

As I mentioned in the last podcast, I’m going to start putting past “seasons” of the podcast behind a Patreon paywall. Don’t worry, I don’t plan to flip the switch until late December… and I’ll only be asking $3/mo to have access. 🙂

It’s a result of a lot of strategic reorganizing I’ve been doing recently.

This week, I’ll be pushing out session 134 with Antonio Smith, and as I said in the last session with Dom Brightmon, it just feels with all that’s going on with New Inceptions and Amplify Indy – I feel like it’s time to actually get over the hurdle of going from strictly FREE to PAID content.

Personally, I feel that $3 is a good number for a monthly patron fee. It surely isn’t going to break the bank, and frankly, one typically can spend more on drive thru food. Since what the show has to offer is comparably more beneficial, I think it’s a fair starting price.

That said, you might be wondering what has taken me so long to pull the trigger on this decision.

Well, I’ve been struggling with what’s called the FREE to PAID hurdle.

This hurdle involves a few questions:

  • How do you make something that starts off free into something you pay for?
  • Will the audience still be there once it goes behind a paywall?
  • What’s the right price point?

In this post, I’ll give you a few of my thoughts after hearing a podcast over Fizzle awhile back.

 

Marketing Plays to Our Buying Habits

When it comes to what we think of the “traditional” offline world of business, NOTHING is free. However, since the mid to late 2000’s, the internet has revolutionized how marketing is done. No longer do we first hear something on a show or commercial on a major network or channel, then determine if we want to buy from there.

Instead, when we hear a name, product, or service we go look to see what’s on the web about said item or person. We look for reviews in Angie’s List. We look to see if they have any other content. Or we go to Amazon to see what others have thought about the item in question.

Usually, the more content this person has out there or the more good reviews they or the product have, the more we pay attention to it.

Eventually, there’s a good change we will buy whatever is being sold.

Podcasts in the past have been a part of this marketing. Inherently we think that most shows are free. But are they?

 

Monetization of Efforts

No content or work is free. It takes resources to produce a good or service. Shows that are on TV are powered by the sponsors of the network through commercials.

Big podcasts are typically sponsored by ads as well.

Heck, even when you look at big channels on YouTube, they’re doing some sort of monetization – even if you can’t tell up front how they’re making an income doing what they do.

When I thought about how I was going to monetize Angles of Lattitude, I originally thought that affiliate marketing was going to be the best way to do it. But as online streaming of podcasts has become more common, we’ve all grown accustomed to skipping past parts of interviews we don’t want to hear – including the pitch at the beginning and end. (For example, I know Lewis Howes and Tim Ferriss usually take 5 minutes to get into their conversations!).

Because I’m not a fan of midrolls, I’ve opted not to use them in the show. Yes, I know they’re the only marketing that people don’t always tune out during podcasts – I just personally don’t care for that jump in the conversation.

So trying to think of an alternative to doing midrolls, I thought about how people on Twitch make their income.

And what I found out is that it typically is done through two ways:

  • A handful of large sponsors or
  • many individuals supporting the show through donations. Many times those donations are through a Patreon or a similar service.

After checking with a sample of listeners, it sounded like that last one was something you guys would prefer. A show for the listener powered by the listeners.

 

Action Steps

So there’s my reasoning for getting my account started on Patreon. Again, when you go on there you’ll see that there’s actually 2 categories of support. The first one is for supporters of the show and the the second is more for partners.

Remember, that I’ll be implementing this change before 2019 rolls around. So make sure you binge on shows older than a year before Christmas. I’ll let everyone know through the show when the official landing page is up.

Also, be sure to check out the post from Fizzle called The Hurdle Between Free and Paid if you’re thinking about making something you now offer for free into something you collect money for.

podcast interview

Do-It-Yourself Publicity – How to Land Your Next Podcast Interview on Your Own with Millette Jones (AoL 130)

When you’re first starting out as a thought leader or creative entrepreneur, it can seem pretty daunting. Where do you even start? Do you build a few products that illustrate who you are and what you can help others with? Or do you start creating an audience right away and then make a product for them later?

Likewise, when it comes to getting your name out there, there are many paths one can take. You can hire a publicist, a booking agent, or in the case of today’s guest, you can utilize the knowledge of someone who can help you do it all yourself.

This session’s guest, Millette Jones, is host of the Unstoppable Coach podcast. Through her work she helps entrepreneurs learn how their story is important and understand how sharing it can propel their business to success.

On top of her podcast, she supports entrepreneurs with podcast publicity coaching, a membership site for DIY podcast interview marketing and her signature program: Podguesting for Profits.

In today’s conversation, Harrison and I speak with Millette to find out about her ups and downs as an entrepreneur and how you can use your own story to rise above the crowd.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How did Millette become a coach? 10:21
  • How was she first exposed to the podcasting world? 16:08
  • What are some ways that she suggests that can help people rise above the crowd? 17:27
  • What are some tips to stay focused as an entrepreneur? 22:54
  • How does someone overcome broken business relationships? 26:38
  • What’s first? Creating awareness or building a product or service? 28:43
  • How can a guest best prepare themself for being on a podcast? 33:50
  • Where does Millette see her work in the next couple of years? 39:48
  • What are 3 podcasts that have helped shaped her as a podcaster? 43:47
  • What’s something that she has gotten better at saying no to? 46:00
  • Is there something in the podcasting world that Millette is excited about? 47:45
  • What’s it mean to live a life of abundance? 53:11

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

 

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Dan Lok Interview (Full Length)

Chris Gardner Interview (Full Length)

Shane Sams on Recording a Podcast in a Car

Pat Flynn on Starting Your Podcast in 2018 (Equipment and Software)


Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on CastboxiTunesStitcherSoundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

the junto

The Junto – 10 Month Update

So, almost a year ago, I thought that things were progressing smoothly with the New Inceptions sphere of influence. The podcast was seeing more and more listeners, I had met several people in town who I partnered with, and I had just recently started the Junto. We had a pretty good weekly plan – including doing weekly videos discussing the life of an entrepreneur.

Well, fast forward a handful of months, we lose the building we were doing our videos in (Collaborate 317). We also lost several key people who were building the community – due to, well, life, really. (The aliens got them!)

So, after these changes, those who were left of us in our local group started wondering – “What’s next? How do we do the things that we set out to do with C317?”

Well, long story short, the heart of C317 has been transplanted into Amplify – which we now refer to as Amplify Indy. It’s a prototype of what we want to help other cities do around the country.

For the last 2 months, we’ve been holding monthly events where we highlight nonprofits, business, artists, and musicians.

However, because it’s been so Indy focused – I wasn’t sure how to capture it in a group like the Junto that is for anyone across the globe to be a part of.

Also, I got burnt out of Facebook for awhile. (I think I touched it once or twice a week for marketing purposes.)

 

So, if you were wondering what happened. There ya go.

 

Lessons Learned

There was a couple of things I learned from this experience.

1. Don’t Be Vague

When I originally set out in creating the Junto, my idea was to create a safe space where people could “debate questions of morals, politics, natural philosophy, and to exchange knowledge of business affairs.” I was looking to make it a place where people could come together as opposed to being segregated into silos. Facebook is very good at separating us.

What I found out is that having these types of talks are much easier to have in person. Not only because it’s a bit more intimate and people feel safer in real world settings. But also because finding groups on Facebook is all about keywords. And if people aren’t looking for things they’re not aware of, they’re not going to find the answers, let alone ask the questions, about those topics.

In other words, to do what I wanted to do on Facebook might not have been the best idea. Facebook isn’t a platform designed to create an organic following while talking about somewhat vague topics. People don’t know what they don’t know. And they’re not going to search for things they’re not thinking about or even aware of.

 

2. Don’t Make Busy People Admins of a Vague Idea

They simply don’t have the time.

If someone is hugely busy offline, then they don’t usually have the time to do things that aren’t directly impacting them. They especially don’t have the time to put the time and effort into an “online experiment” such as the Junto.

I’ve noticed that as other groups have gotten to be more populated, the founders usually promoted those who were already contributing. Or they hired someone to be the community leader.

When you’re first starting out, you don’t have that.

Tied to the vagueness of what the group was intended to help people with, people weren’t ever sure if their content was helpful to the group.

So that was a failure on my end.

 

3. Play to Your Strengths

While I make a great connector, I’ve come to realize I’m not the best when it comes to promoting things to the masses. Thankfully, I’ve come to know people who are. They’re much better at being online more regularly, whereas I tend to randomly disconnect from the online world as a whole. Sometimes, a couple days at a time.

Considering that none of my content is made beforehand (I like to stay current and keep you guys informed on what’s going on NOW!), sometimes it’s difficult for me to get content out. Last week was a good example. I was starting on a course that I’m excited about finishing. It fits into my strengths and I’ll be able to serve local folks in a different manner than I would have ever considered.

 

Where do WE go from here?

While New Inceptions’ main focus will always be to help those who have missed the mark on their personal mission, I have personally started focusing much more on local things.

This is something that I really didn’t pay attention to when I restarted this entrepreneurial adventure in 2015 – engaging with local established folks.

Sure, I had Laila as cohost of the podcast and yes, we lead the local Fizzle meetup for over a year. But really, we weren’t making much, if any, of an impact outside of ourselves!

However, with these new events and the doors that are beginning to open up locally (including some REALLY good opportunities) my focus has shifted to being more of a local impact.

Why? Because it’s pretty fulfilling to be part of something that is bigger than just me!

So where does that leave the Junto as a group?

 

A Few Options

After having my second 12 minute conversation with Engel Jones (on Facebook) I realized that there were a few options that we could run with:

  • Shut it down all together and restart with something new. (Not my favorite choice. I love the idea of the group still.)
  • Just start off again as if nothing happened (Yeah, that’s not going to work.).
  • Or, we can rebuild it with a some new admins but refocus on what we’re really helping people with:
    • Help people find their personal mission and
    • Excel as an influencer once that mission is found.

The third choice seems to be more practical.

However, this time around, I’ll be looking for some admins that are in the same niche as NI and Amplify AND that can actually contribute.

So, for the foreseeable future, the Junto is going to be going through some under the hood reworkings – but I think they’ll be for the better. I’m really looking forward to bringing what we’re doing here locally in Indy to the rest of the world.

 

Action Steps

If you’d be interested in working with me on the next iteration of the group, connect with me on or offline. I want to make it a great experience for all. And I know I’m going to need help doing that!

teach a man to fish

Teach a Man to Fish – How Creating A Business Opportunity Can Make A Real Change

In 2014, a study came out that suggested that Americans want to give back with their purchases, not charity.

The results of the survey, conducted by a socially responsible marketing consultancy Good.Must.Grow, show these trends for the second year in a row. In a poll of 1,010 Americans, the group found that about 30% consumers planned to increase their purchases from socially responsible companies in the coming year (compared to 29% last year). Meanwhile, only 18% plan to increase charitable giving in 2014, a decline from 21% in 2013.

Here’s a graph of these findings from Fast Company paired with those from 2012 and thosethat were projected for the previous year in 2013.

teach a man to fish

Furthermore, the Midwest was actually the most prone to buy when they knew that part of the proceeds were going towards a good cause.  

teach a man to fish

If you want to check out more about this study here’s the article in Fast Company.

 

Anyhow, keep this in mind for a second. I have a couple of other things to share with you.

 

Direct Trade: A Form of Cause Centric Commerce

Now why do I bring this up? Well, you might remember a book that I started when I was in Honduras, which I’ve since finished. It was called Meaningful Work: A Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul by Shawn and Lawren Askinosie.

In its pages are several key points.

One of which is their use of direct trade in their business.

Now when I say direct trade, that’s not to confuse it with fair trade. Totally not the same thing. And in fact, fair trade isn’t as great as it sounds. In the book, Shawn says the farmers aren’t compensated as much as we’d expect them to be.

teach a man to fish

Direct trade, on the other hand, is a much better deal for everyone involved. Farmers get compensated more and the actual trading agreements are determined by those involved – not a third party.


Because of this, Askinosie Chocolate has the ability to have a hand in helping a couple of developing countries get off the ground. Not only do they help the farmers themselves by doing business with them, but they also help their communities. This is done through numerous programs.

Shawn has a saying (or perhaps a company motto) that goes “It’s not about the chocolate, it’s about the chocolate.”

Without the farmers that he trades with, his business simply wouldn’t be the same.

It’s the cocoa bean farmers that give his company a heart. But it was Shawn and his company that gave the farmers purpose and a way to actually improve their way of life.

Business On the Border

In Mexico, they don’t have government programs that pay for livelihoods. If you want food, you’re going to have to work for it.

Most of the rest of the world is like this – including those countries that Shawn does business with.

This past weekend, I saw first hand what this situation does for people. It drives the market and stimulates the local economy.

Specifically, in this instance, it was in the border towns of Calixico and Mexicali.

On both sides, people were selling goods to those of us who were waiting in line to cross the border. These goods were anything from fruit and pastries up to small digital devices, carvings, as well as NFL and NBA themed blankets.

teach a man to fish

By far, though, the Mexico side had more of these true entrepreneurs.

I think there’s two reasons for this: 1.) They HAVE to make an income because they’re not relying on the government for a handout. 2.) They probably don’t have as many restrictions as we do on the US side.

 

Regardless, while we were waiting in line on the Mexican side to get across, Maria and I noticed that a good majority of these vendors were young people. And when I say young, I mean anywhere from 6 years old up to folks in their mid 20’s.

By the end of our 2 and a half hour wait to cross, we ended up buying items from a couple of the kids.

 

One, I have to say, was a great hustler already at age 10.

This kid was awesome. He was was selling chopped coconuts with the water in a plastic bag.

We watched him perform the entire prep process. From chopping the coconuts, to pouring the water, and then slicing the coconut flesh itself. Once he had a couple cut up, he’d come out into the street with everyone else.

Not only did he help us buy from him by giving us great value with all the prep he had done, but he was a heck of a salesman.

The coconuts were priced at 4 dollars. However, we didn’t have exact change.

As I was looking through my wallet, he apparently noticed that I had a 20 in there.

He said “Oh hey, I have change!” He even wanted me to count it when he gave it to me!

I love it. Not only did he show hustle to prep the coconuts as well as he did, but he was aware enough to help us get over the obstacles of making the sale.

 

The Magic of Hustling

Now, the reason I brought up the study at the beginning of this post is because I want to illustrate something.

The farmers that Askinosie Chocolate works with and the folks that were selling items on the street in Mexicali – they have something in common. They’re not looking for handouts – they’re not beggars. Instead they’re out making things happen by being members of the free market.

I’m guessing that they’re both getting more of an income from being part of this free market and solving problems then if they were simply asking for money.

Not only that, but they probably have a bit of pride in the work they do. They’re able to actually help provide for their families.

As someone from the midwest, I can understand why our socially responsible buying habits have gone up. I’d sooner help contribute to someone who’s working towards something meaningful (even if it’s just selling items in the street) than give to a charity. For one, there’s direct impact there (like Shawn does with his farmers).

But the other thing is people increasingly want a return for the money they worked for themselves.

 

Action Steps

So here’s something I’m going to challenge you guys with. Instead of rewarding those who need help through charity, help people figure out a way to generate income through their own skills. Help them figure out a way to bring in additional income to build themselves and potentially their community.

In the states, that might be something like helping homeless people become produce vendors. Or perhaps, you can help set up an organization where you rehabilitate these folks to be productive members of society. (This is actually being done by a nonprofit at C317.)

Heck, maybe it’s helping farmers with their digital marketing and helping them sell to customers on the other side of the country.

The thing is, there are people who you could help that want to work their way out of their situation. They’re simply looking for the opportunity to do so.

Look for those people and help them up! I believe that you’ll get more fulfillment than you would if you were to simply donate.