Guest Blog by Karen Wessels, co-founder and COO of VA Connect
Haley Joel Osment stole our hearts in the beautiful movie drama Pay It Forward. Young Trevor McKinney (played by Osment) is assigned the task by his social studies teacher of coming up with an idea to make the world a better place. The actions put in motion by McKinney’s idea has a positive ripple effect on his immediate family and community – their lives improve by paying it forward.
The concept of paying it forward is that a recipient benefits from a favour as done by you and they continue this positive gesture by showing a favour to someone else and so forth.
Why not take time this festive season and give back to your immediate community?
Volunteer Your Time
As an entrepreneur you may not realise that your business know-how and drive is a gift to those in the start-up world. Perhaps consider volunteering your time as a mentor to show new entrepreneurs the ropes and share from your knowledge base.
Teach at the Local University
Contact your nearest university and offer to teach entrepreneurship with real-life lessons and valuable experience. Give back now and in so doing give back forever.
Speak on Panels
Another great way to give back to the community is to volunteer to speak on panels in front of young entrepreneurs and students who are looking at starting their own business. You never know, you may just meet your future CEO or Product Design partner at such an event who may want to learn from you directly!
Offer What You’re Good At
If your business is good at marketing for instance, then offer your service to charities for free. You will feel good about helping them get the word out and at the same time you get to meet really amazing people who may be well connected.
Use Your Business for Social Good
Create a non-profit charity arm to your business and use this to do good within your community. Giving back creates good energy and possible synergies for future growth.
Random Acts of Kindness
Generosity and acts of kindness don’t require huge fanfare and grand gestures. Maybe bake a cake for family members who have less than you, leave a generous tip the next time you eat out, or deliver food to the homeless in your area.
When you look for it, small opportunities of kindness will present themselves to you.
Remember, you don’t have to wait for the holiday season to give back. Start now and continue paying it forward throughout the year.
Karen Wessels is the co-founder and COO of VA Connect, a South African virtual assistant platform that provides outsourced administrative support. Prior to establishing VA Connect, Karen spent over 10 years in different sales, marketing & admin support roles. Having worked with MDs, SMEs and professionals, she is very familiar with managing different workloads within tight deadlines. This has equipped her with the invaluable skills required to run a successful VA business. Follow Karen on her Personal Website | Twitter | Facebook | Google+
Read more of Karen's blog posts....
