I’ve been “Superpoked” (a.k.a. Jamie, Seth, The Beard, Kiva, and Serendipity)

My friend Jamie’s response to my blog entry “So, where to now?” was like a giant Superpoke from across cyberspace. His answers and examples reminded me again of why I made the leap from employee to entrepreneur, and why I sincerely believe that this country needs to develop a social entrepreneurial mindset.

For a while there, I felt ashamed of how I had felt and reacted, until I reminded myself that it’s perfectly normal to feel the way I do. I’ve been hurt and disappointed, I still feel frustrated, and I’m still looking for answers. These lines from Jamie’s post, though, gave me hope once more:

“The difference between the world of self-sustenance and making a difference is actually artificial.  It’s like a ‘head vs. heart’ decision which feels like two forces tugging at each other. But in reality (biologically), all those emotions all come from the head and they’re just not fully sorted out and thus feel like they come from different places.  But when you stop, think and figure out what it is you’re really feeling, you see that all your thoughts and decisions can be focused on what you really want to do.”

My head tells me to make as much money as my potential allows; my heart tells me to make a difference in as many lives as I possibly can. Jamie reminds me that I can do both through the social entrepreneurship path. And, to be very honest, I’ve been racking my brains for the past few months now (since March, to be exact), trying to develop the perfect “Big Idea” for a social enterprise that I could fall in love with and grow as my own child. There have been a couple that really had me enamored and raring to begin–two of them I submitted to Google’s Project 10 to the 100th–but the most recent iterations of our ideas have got me feeling a huge gap still, making me feel “bitin” and half-hearted about everything. And I don’t want to go into my own venture half-heartedly! I want to be deeply, madly, passionately in love with it so I can be inspired to go all the way for what I truly believe in. I’m someone who can’t quite compartmentalize who I am and what I do, and passion is a key ingredient in my causes and ventures. If I can’t be passionate about it, then I don’t want to devote significant time, energy, and resources into it.

So, in search of inspiration, I logged in to Seth Godin’s blog. To those who don’t know him yet, Seth Godin is a demi-god in this age of Web 2.0 and out-of-the-universe marketing, and his ideas have been embraced by millions across the world. His latest book, Tribes, discusses the centrality of leadership in marketing, and vice versa. Check out his bio here.

Seth Godin as a bearded pirate, as seen on his blog.

Anyway, Seth’s blog entry for today features a cool photo of him as a bearded pirate. Is it some Halloween prank that he wants to play on his readers? Not quite; it’s something that he did for the social enterprise Kiva.org, with the help of a cool site called Build a Beard Workshop. So, sensing serendipity fully at work here, I visited Build a Beard Workshop, and their premise is simple: For every person that downloads a beard and sticks it to their photo for the whole wired Web to see, they will donate $1 to Kiva.org “for at least half a year, but probably forever.” Why?

“Because we think Kiva is great and we’d like to have a bit of fun while giving them some money.”

It’s as simple as that. They’re having a bit of fun, they’re allowing other people–like Seth, and maybe even later on, me–to have a little bit of fun, too. And they’re helping people from around the world. I love it.

What makes this even more significant is their choice of organization to support. Kiva, as described in the website, “is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.” It allows people from anywhere in the world to lend–not donate–even just small amounts of money that are pooled into a fund that can be accessed by entrepreneurs with  great ideas. And because people are lending money instead of giving it away, they do get repaid, and they have the option to lend their repayments to another organization, donate it directly to Kiva, or withdraw their funds. It’s a superb model for people helping people from all over the world, in an almost hassle-free way, through the power of Web 2.0.

THAT is an idea I could fall in love with. (In fact, I am in love with it, which is why I’m posting it here. Kiva.org has been one of my inspirations ever since I got into this whole social entrepreneurial mindset. Please do check it out and give it a shot.)

So what does it mean for me, my frustrations, and my dilemma? For now, I think it means that the Universe is superpokin’ me to not give up on my dreams for a social enterprise that fuses innovation, creativity, empowerment, and Web 2.0. It’s what I put in my scholarship application a few months ago, and it’s been the driving force behind a lot of the projects that I’ve embarked on these past few months. In my head and in my heart, I want to make a big difference in a way that people of this day and age will appreciate.

If there’s a “Facebook for social enterprises”, that’s the kind of project I’d want to be involved in. I want to create online gaming platforms to help bridge learning gaps and drive up students’ ability to understand important lessons that they will use throughout their lives. I want to make technology as accessible and as usable as possible so that the playing field of education and opportunities can be leveled out. I want to empower bloggers from everywhere to be responsible “citizen journalists” so that they, too, can help shape the way the world works–in the same way traditional media has. I want to get behind cameras and capture images that people will never forget. I want to bridge cultures and help people see and understand that the world can be a much better place with their help. There are so many things that I want to do, so many ideas that I’m already passionate about, and I just need the right combination of partners and resources to get me there.

I know there’s a reason why my studies are being put on hold. I know I’m being told to put my ideas to work already–right now–instead of waiting ’till after grad school to let these dreams take flight. I already know the whys, and what frustrates me is that I don’t yet know the hows. But, today being a Saturday and the first day of the penultimate month of the year, I will leave it at that first, and thank Jamie, Seth, and the folks at Build a Beard Workshop and Kiva.org for shining some light into my personal tunnel of darkness.

Who knows what else the month can bring… right?

~ N

P.S. Do you want to see my beard? :)

~ by ninaterol on November 1, 2008.