What do Microsoft – Bill Gates, Harpo Productions – Oprah Winfrey, and SnackNation – Sean Kelly have in common? They all truly Give Back!
Giving back is important for any business (and career), that’s undeniable!
Many people talk about the positive impact that giving back can have on your reputation, your sales, your marketing and your ability to grow your business, and all those are great, yes! They can help you set up your biz to an exponential growth, and even connect with the hiring manager of your next job, leverage the impact of your products and services and grow your audience and customers (sound awesome right?).
But there’s so much about giving back that goes beyond the numbers and reputation, there’s a responsibility component on retributing to society all you’ve received to a point on time, and about creating a ripple effect among other people who, like you, have the skills, art, passion and a gift to give to the world. And that can really be the biggest legacy you can provide, ensuring that by leading by example you can do something good but also inspire others to follow your path and continue to give back in any capacity they can.
In the 21st century, not only this is one of the reasons why customers are loyal to your brand (or peers recommend you as a professional), but it is also becoming a standard by which many companies operate and looks like will increase in the future.
If you don’t believe it is true, look at the major companies and their billionaire owners like Microsoft and the Bill Gates, or startups like SnackNation, and Sean Kelly are doing to create a meaningful business, while helping others in areas they believe they have a heart or an edge on.
These companies, in their own niches and scale, have helped improve the life of so many others, and so can you!
How have they done it? They have included philanthropic projects within their core business, redirecting part of their revenue to cooperate with non-for-profits, or use their business to presence to create awareness in a specific cause, fundraise, cooperate with other organizations and further their impact in society. At a personal level, they have partner and advocate on regular basis to get more people aware of the causes they care about and taking actions to create change.
But why should I, as an individual or business, give back, you might be wondering?
Because it makes you grow! It improves your business and the overall quality of life and human experience of the society you are surrounded by and doing business with! Remember those people who you do business with? Your customers, your peers, the hiring managers?
Giving back is so important that it enhances your creativity process because you learn from the experience and connections with other people too, your business and career grow than when you work only to pay the bills or to save money for a nice, well-deserved vacations.
Most importantly, and sometimes without even noticing, giving back provides meaning to what you do. It is so powerful, that prevents you from potentially getting bored of doing the same thing over and over, because you are constantly changing, growing and adapting to new ways of leveraging that impact and new opportunities to give back.
How can you give back? There are many ways in which it can impact your business (and your career): it can give you an increased exposure to new audience, reduce your taxes, help you build a good reputation with your customers and promote employment engagement, but it is much more than that!
Need ideas of how to give back or inspiration?
You’ll probably remember entrepreneur and millennial musician Dan White from our last post. Throughout our conversation, Dan shared how giving back has become a core value for The Huntertones band, a project that started in College and it’s today Dan’s main source of income, yes, his main business (I know, artists don’t like to see their art as a business!).
“Giving back is an extension of the performance, is about being honest and giving something you are passionate about to people”
Dan White
For Dan and The
The impact this has had on Dan’s career and his band goes without saying. It has increased the exposure and visibility of the band, but also feeds back their creative process and their product too!
At every presentation there’s always a source of inspiration to create new pieces or to improve the already existing songs. It is part of the feedback they take to make their songs and shows (product) better while they promote music and all the positives effects this has on people, specially on young people and children. And that, my friend, is priceless!
Even for me and my business, giving back is always present. I not only donate hours of my time and skills to non-for-profit projects to create awareness on social issues and promote connection and capacity building among millennials in my city. I also provide pro-bono mentorship to entrepreneurs and people seeking a career change, because we all need a hand at some point!
And I cannot tell you how much I learn in every single interaction to serve better my clients and nurture my own toolkit, business strategies, and soul.
Giving back needs to become a core value for you the same way your business driving values are. After all, our business or career wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t to solve other people’s problems, so why not helping to solve someone’s problem or bring a little happiness to his/her life for free?
Watch the conversation with Dan and the product of his inspiration after talking about why giving back!
Did you like it? enjoy more of the Huntertones music at https://open.spotify.com/artist/3tv8xMO0AkcqN9Th8KHyGd
I am curious to know, do you give back, is there any cause that you are interested in, how do you think you can serve your community and the people you care about?
Leave me a comment at osmary@osmarytorres.ca