Do You Have Time To Volunteer?

Life as an entrepreneur can get crazy busy. You are working on developing your latest service offering, meeting with potential clients and taking care of the day to day administrative operations. Where in the world does volunteering for anything fit into this picture? Well, quite honestly it won't fit unless you schedule it in. And your probably laughing hysterically to yourself and asking the question, "Why would I spend some of my very little and very hard to come by time doing volunteer work?" I have two very good reasons:

You Need A Mental Break

Have you ever noticed that if you were dealing with a struggling situation that if you put it aside to go do something else like help out a friend or family member that when you returned the issue was much more solvable.  This is because we all need to gain clarity at one point or another. Steve Pavlina, states in his post 11 Ways To Gain Clarity that ,"If you want to experience more clarity, you must disengage yourself from that which has an adverse effect on your clarity." Giving your time to a worthy cause via volunteerism is a great way to give back and get your focus back.

It Is a Great Way To Make New Friends

I know what your thinking.....I already have enough friends! Well you can never have enough good positive people around you. As a volunteer you are sure to meet these types of kindred spirits. These are folks that you maybe able to go on to build lasting personal and professional relationships with. In my previous post about networking I spoke about how important it was to build relationships and connections before you need them. Going out and volunteering gives you a great avenue to do that.

So now that you have the right attitude to get out there and be a do gooder your probably asking where can I go to get started? There are great places on LinkedIn to go get started as well as VolunteerMatch.org. Wherever you begin just go with a good attitude, have fun and know that volunteering is the gift that keeps on giving. There is always time to be of service to others.

Are you a do gooder? Share one of the most rewarding volunteer experiences that you have had. 

 

I Don't Have Time To Volunteer!

Photo Courtesy of David Castillo Dominici|Freedigitalphotos.net

What are your thoughts on volunteerism? I will guess that most people think it is a good thing and that it is awesome when other people do it. But I know as a busy entrepreneur time is not in abundance. So volunteering may seem to be unimportant.

Time Well Spent

I have volunteered in the past at women shelter's and at the Boys & Girls club. I found it to be very rewarding. You're probably thinking what does this have to do with business and being a small business owner?

 Social Goodwill vs. Your Bottom-line

According to a survey shared in the Huffington Post "40% of a company's reputation is determined by volunteering and corporate social responsibility." Moreover, customers come to expect that company's have some sort of social impact on their community. Finally, corporate finance experts agree that "maintaining a good corporate reputation or brand equity is the most important way [volunteering programs] create value." 

Making time to volunteer can give you a more tangible footprint in the community that you serve. It helps out your fellow citizen who is in need and in return it can help you to see that some things in life are truly priceless. As a fellow small business owner, I think we can have a social impact on our community in many ways that go beyond the bottom-line. We may not have the resources of large corporations, but we can still make an impact. Next week I will go over a few tips that can help us achieve this goal.

What about you? What are your thoughts on volunteerism and corporate social responsibility? Share with me in the comments below.

Keep It Sunny!