I’d like to think of  the 60+ hours a week I volunteer as the work of an aspiring social entrepreneur, having labeled myself as such is rather vain of me when really I’m just a very proactive volunteer.

Volunteer or social entrepreneur ~ either way, it works for me.  I get to do what I love in my own way, on my own time, in hopes that the work I do now, will eventually pay off in terms of actually helping other people.

For me, volunteering is as much a part of my life/work landscape as my friends and family. I am immensely grateful to be surrounded by talented, passionate people that encourage and inspire the journey.  That said, I would not suggest I have a traditional outlook on volunteer work.

While I do collect for the Red Puppy Appeal, attend charity music events for the likes of Sea Shepherd and volunteer my social media skills for 350Aotearoa ~ volunteering is about the 60 hours+ a week that I invest as work experience in order to create my own future work/life path.

my talent and time | pursuing the dream

It is as true for me as anyone else on this planet that our most valuable personal resources are our own talent and time.  Importantly, you get to decide how you value yourself and how you apply your time and talent. What we have to give and gain from this life is up to us to decide.

On that basis,  I’m going with a “priceless” valuation on my time and talent:) I work because I hope that what I do is of much greater value to me than a monetary value might prescribe.  From Worknow to Augmented Reality to Social Development Banking & Funding models to communities like the Distiller and the Social Innovation Hub as well as work on the board of trustees with KUMA ~ the Southern Maori Business Network and The Malcam Charitable Trust Foundation. It may seem eclectic, but all this unpaid work caters to my aspirations to help people using technology to connect and harness our collective potential

the highs and lows of being “unemployable”

One could point out that I am unemployable ~ which in the traditional sense of a 40hour work week would be an understatement.  No “employer” would pay me to do what I do, there is no job description that would comprehensively cover what I set out to achieve or my methods for doing so.

The stigma attached to the label of being  “unemployed” is sometimes a challenge. It’s difficult to explain what I do in any quick way except to say that I volunteer, a lot. To quickly  summaries my work life often strips from my description all the passion and well being I enjoy. To explain in even basic detail often means a five minute spiel all about me and the amazing talented people I know.

I sometimes struggle to share with the fact that I love my job, that I don’t get paid and actually could achieve nothing without the many many people that I work alongside. Some days I feel like a fake and it’s easy to see why no one pays me.  Other days it all just comes together, it makes sense and I absolutely trust that I’m on the right path.  If it is about the journey vs the destination, then I’m loving the ride.

Project based work life

Although only one of my current projects Worknow, is all  about supporting my project based work life. Perhaps through determined belief and in living the lifestyle we promote I can show that volunteer work experience ~ choosing what you love and applying your talent to achieving your dreams ~ does pay. Perhaps not immediately, perhaps never in terms of cold hard cash but in so many other ways, that money could not buy.

If you aspire to entrepreneurship and work life freedom, if you seek to discover and live your talents and life with passion and joy then potentially, we can help.  Your talent profile here will help you connect with the growing number of people that share our work life outlook . Tell us about your talents and skill your interests and values, and we’ll match you with work opportunities. What do you have to gain? that is up to you to define.

“The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation.  You are not discovering yourself, but creating yourself anew.  Seek, therefore not to find out who you are, seek to determine who you want to be.” ~ Conversations With God

Absolutely! I believe we create our own futures and I live the belief that one of the best ways to determine who we want to be is by focusing on our talents, interests and passion. At the same time though I cherish the fact that life is a process of discovery, discovering truths and purpose, talents and passion, discovering the joy of other people.

Augmented Reality

Over the last couple of weeks I have begun work on a project involving the deployment of an Augmented Reality showcase of Dunedin’s heritage, arts and culture.  Our project is inspired by immersive heritage experiences like  Museum of London | Street Museum with so much potential for the platform we propose, I feel amazingly blessed to have discovered collaborators to help create and share this vision for our City.

In order to create my own future,  I’ve committed to this project the most valuable resources I own, my talent and time, passion and energy. I wholeheartedly believe that this project will serve our City for years to come, providing not only a fun and engaging, compelling and immersive user experience but also establishing an open access platform that many members of our community can contribute to and potentially monetise.

Collaboration & Gratitude

I am inspired and encouraged by the range of support I have discovered in bringing together this collaborative. I see this project as a catalyst for on-going and future collaboration, spanning many of Dunedin’s most talented and creative industry sectors.

Most importantly, Thanks to my Great Omnipotent Deity for blessing me with talented people to work with. Thanks & massive respect to my talented collaborators Stu Fleming Tim Calder Pierre-Emmanuel de La Bussière and community support from:-

• Tourism Dunedin
• The Southern Heritage Trust
• Samuel Mann at Otago Polytech
• Applied Design Research Centre
• Otago Settlers Museum
• Taieri George Railway
• NZ Sports Hall of Fame
• many folk within the DCC &
• As always, my crew at The Distiller

Arohanui xo Renee Lee

July 2010: Another year older, wiser and closer to living out some childhood dreams

Ever since the Jetson’s introduced me to holograms I’ve looked forward to the day that a similar type of technology would be within my reach. Over the last month several things happened that bring me closer living this dream. It’s exciting times.

Instead of going into the detail about how my life rocks what I would like to say is that the freedom I have gained ~ as an aspiring social entrepreneur ~ to choose how I apply my talent and time to this life, is my pursuit of happiness. I am blessed to have in my life many talented, beautiful people that inspire, challenge, support and love me.

Life is beautiful | live your talent | pursue you dream

I’m not saying that applying your talent to pursue you dreams is  easy, where would the fun in that be? And  although I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t envy my income at the moment, as cliche as this is, happiness is not something money can buy.

You can choose the work that you want. By creating an online talent profile with us and sharing your talents, your values and your passion with the world you too can begin to discover the beauty of living your dreams.

Born 1979 outside or upper end of the generational “age bracket” does nothing to change the fact that I identify most strongly with the Y Generation. While I can see in many friends my age, a stronger tendency to Gen X some of us never had the new generational “stereotypes” to qualify our actions.

Generation Y on Careers

I had to live my “traits” before they became widely touted indicators of our generation. My work career for instance in which I’ve had more than 10 jobs in the last 10 years. Inevitably, there were interviews in which I was asked to justify my job “hopping” to which my response involved learning, challenge, personal circumstance.

Now, in retrospect I can claim this as normal for an entire generation of people. No longer such an outlier, there is some reassurance to the fact that the following opinion is as true to me, as it is Amanda and probably millions more like us.

I don’t think that staying at one company for 20+ years necessarily correlates with building a career. Gen Y’s are more adaptive and willing to jump companies if it means advancing their career and lifestyle goals. I believe that this is a strength of our generation, not a weakness. I would rather change jobs many times to advance my career than allow my career to stagnate due to “corporate loyalty.” ~ Amanda, Tustin, CA : July 8, 2010 4:24 pm

Gen Y on Opportunities

Granted, I can understand that a CV of contract research and 6 – 12 month “career” efforts probably looked disconcerting to potential employers. And probably well it should because each job was for me about discovering something new about what I wanted to do with my life.

In some cases I learnt lessons about what I would do and what I could achieve but in most I learnt more about what I didn’t want. It was a process of discovery that has lead me to the clear realisation that as an employee other people were never going to allow me to challenge the status quo, learn and grow by testing limits.  I was not made to fit the “employee” mold, a fact which I believe will prove true of many of our generation.

Ancient wisdom. As true today as it was when Confucius – China’s most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist 551-479 BC – wrote it some 2500 years ago.

Here at Worknow we believe you can find a job you love by connecting with work opportunities that match your talents, skills and interests, passion, values and experience.

It’s taken four times longer than first thought and although still under testing and development we now have [ pause for drum roll & trumpeting fanfare to sound in my head ] Version 1.0! of our website live! Basically, this means a couple of new but important features & changes.

New Types of Talent Profiles

People can now register a talent profile as one of different types of entities:-

• Individuals: Can post requests and offer services on all work
• Business: Can post requests and offer services on all work

• Community Group : Can post requests but can not offer services
• Charity Organisation: Can post requests but can not offer services

With only a single field now for keywords we hope this change will help people focus keywords around the talents, skills and values relevant to the dream job they want to work toward.

We will work on improving profiles, without adding complexity, in the next round of development.

New Volunteer Marketplace

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Anyone can now request volunteer help.We are working to populate the marketplace with volunteer work opportunities. Please if you know of anyone that needs volunteer help tell them that they can list with us at $0. If you are interested in volunteering or finding volunteers please include “volunteer” in your keywords, for now.

New Workspace Workflow

We’ve implemented a new work flow to make it more clear – for each party to a trade – where progress stands. We’ve integrated a flow chart to highlight which stage the trade is at and applied colour indicators:

• Green represents work requiring your attention
• Blue suggests it is pending attention from the other party
• Dark Grey finished / closed.

A summary of your activity – Number of Trades; Number of Invites: Work Requiring your Attention vs Pending – is visible at all times in the top right corner of the web page : We hope this makes it just all the more easier to respond to work invites, requests and keep everything progressing

Changes to Time Trade

We removed the time offers section because it doubled up on the information required on people’s talent profiles. Basically all your skills and talents, strengths and passion, values, interests and experience need to be listed as keywords on your talent profile because

the keywords on your profile are how we can match you to work opportunities and the “job you love”.

Previous Development Changes

• Invite to Trade: Matching talent & work opportunities: Now each time you post a request Worknow can suggest people for you to invite to view your trade by matching keywords on your post with the keywords listed within their talent profile.
• Invite to Trade: You can also invite people you know to view your trade by creating a simple email invite. We’d like to invite you today to start trading & earn time credits simply by signing in and responding to our request for people to help test the trade functionality
• Group Marketplace: We’ve established Groups functionality to enable existing communities to self organise and build community specific marketplaces. At this stage groups are created on request by providing a group name and contact email to renee@worknow.co.nz
• Trade Status: We’re testing a new format for the Workspace to make it easier to understand trade status and actions pending on open trades. And we’ve updated the my posts page to provide a little more detail on the trades you have posted.

Worknow Start Up Tips & Tools

This is a copy of the email sent to member following the recent development update. I use and would highly recommend Mailchimp At start up stage Mailchimp provides all the email capabilities and performance measures you’ll need free of change when you have < 500 subscribers and send < 3000 emails. Brilliant!

In the lead up to this week Volunteering  NZ has again released statistics that testify to the generosity of our nation. Some of the outstanding facts and figures include:-

• More than 1,000,000 of us were actively involved in volunteer work in 2004
• New Zealander’s contribute 270 million hours of formal, unpaid work for non-profit organisations annually.
• The 270 million hours has been valued at almost $3.31 billion in the year ended March 2004.
• The highest number of  volunteers worked in primary/secondary education sub sector (16.1%),  sports clubs (13.5%) and in religious activities (11.4%)

For more information you can download a copy Facts & Figures on Volunteering in New Zealand or visit the Volunteering New Zealand Website

Volunteer Your Time and Talents

Volunteering is integral to the way of life we enjoy here in Aotearoa and we are all reliant on the generosity of volunteers on a regular basis; be it a sporting or cultural event, the church you attend or the community groups and activities we participate in.

HOW TO: Find Volunteer Work & Pay It Forward

1. Register as a member of our talent community
2. Create your talent profile, entering keywords and phrases that describe your interests & values, skills & talents.
3. Technology connects  you with volunteer work opportunities that match your talent, skills and interests (keywords).

Register your talent profile today

As we put our plans in motion however, we have talked to people, tested our service and developed means to continually question our assumptions

In doing so we recently discovered we were off target so we changed our plans. We haven’t changed our destination but we have re-prioritized development within the scope of our long term vision and purpose.

We decided to make this change in order to provide what we understand will be a more simple solution to matching people’s talents and skills to volunteer and paid work opportunities.

And then this evening via twitter I come across an article Venture Capital 101 for For-Profit Social Entrepreneurs. We are bootstrapping this journey but I aspire to implement new financial and business models for social enterprise so I was compelled to read further and view the presentation below.

Although most of the Venture Capital talk does not apply to us,  I discovered two slides #10 #11 that allay some concerns because although I intuitively trust that our decision is on track, it is a little at odds with recent sage advice concerning the importance of executing on plans.

The “execution paradox”

#10 Start ups need to be adaptable: Changing directions used to be a near-death experience for startups.  Now, it’s common fare.

“The pivot – what do successful startups have in common?Pivot is the ability to change directions quickly. The difference between a successful and an unsuccessful start-up is the number of pivots a start-up makes before it dies.” [Eric Ries]

“[...] some things that startups that aren’t run well do: You don’t change direction fast enough. Every startup should be looking at its direction every month or so.”  [Robert Scoble]

“In the average Y Combinator startup, I’d guess 70% of the idea is new at the end of the first three months.” [Paul Graham]

The “execution paradox”

Those startups who are adapting and changing like they should, are not “executing” against their prescribed milestones.  Consequently, they will get eaten up by VC with all the “downside investing”.

Those startups who are not adapting and changing like they should, are apparently “executing”.  In a high R-o-C environment, these are statistically likely to be failing.

Agility needs to be an intrinsic part of VC/startups.  Was: “execute, execute, execute”.  Now: “pivot, pivot, pivot”.

It is organic, collaborative business community at it’s best, one which provides a shining example of an environment “…overwhelmingly governed by the trust/reputation/community approach…”

Throughout the year we hold 12 week “Sprints” as a primary means of sharing with and supporting one another. Each sprint is made up of six fortnightly “therapy sessions” : a forum to discuss the stepping stones towards our end goal.

Basically it’s about answering the question: where do you want to get to over the next 12 weeks? and then breaking this goal down into smaller action orientated tasks.

It is a practice in planning, intended to instill a sense of urgency and keep us focused on putting our plans into action. It is a great model and planning is an excellent disciple but a plan is only ever as good as it’s execution which of course comes back down to having the right people, as I discussed in lessons from an Angel

Failure to execute was seen as the number one reason that companies fail and for this reason – People – the management team is the number one factor influencing the angel’s investment decision.

I aspire to one day be in the position of Mr Bill Payne – being able to invest time and money in talented, entrepreneurial teams – but I’ve got a long way to go and in the meantime I will glean as much learning and insight as I can from the experts in order to execute the plans we have for Worknow.

Mr Payne’s insights into the world of new venture financing are summarized in the presentation he offered The Capital Food Chain but in addition to taking notes it is necessary to reflect upon the knowledge imparted. Therefore, the following are some of the key points I took from  Mr Bill Payne’s talk, which I feel are important to the new venture journey.

People: the management team is the number ONE factor influencing the angel’s investment decision.

People make or break a company. We were advised the primary difference between company’s that succeed vs. those new ventures that fail is simply the people and their ability to execute on plans.

“Better to invest in and A team with a C idea than a B team with an A idea”

Failure to execute was seen as the number one reason that companies fail and for this reason – People – the management team is the number one factor influencing the angel’s investment decision.

Important characteristics of the entrepreneurial individual / teams

• Integrity
• Industry Experience
• Experience working together
• Willingness to “let go” of control in the best interests of the company
• Passion
• Commitment

On the Investment process

If you don’t need money then don’t waste your time seeking investment. Bootstrap as far as you can. You’re better investing time executing on your plans than pursuing investors. That said…

Absolutely the best way to connect new venture teams with potential investors is to network. Talking to and learning from people is key to finding the best investors

Even before you need investment seek to learn from those with the knowledge, experience and connections to help, mentor and advise.  Join entrepreneurial communities or clubs. Attend events, seminars and lectures.

Look for “smart money”: Experienced people offering both time and cash.

Be prepared to pitch your idea with the view to attracting interest

Mr Payne advised that there are four key communication tools that those seeking investment will require:-

1. Elevator Pitch [60 seconds]
2. Executive Summary [2 - 4 Pages]
3. Presentation [10 slides / 20 minutes / 30 font size]
4. Business Plan [Due Diligence]

People often make the mistake of focusing too much on the product or service offering. They key is to ensure each form of communication provides a balance between product or service offering / opportunity / differentiation.

Five Mistakes to Avoid

For more information including the five biggest mistakes to avoid when seeking investment check out the full presentation The Capital Food Chain

Worknow & The Distiller

We hope that the tools we provide may help connect talented entrepreneurs with those seeking to invest in New Zealand’s next generation of start up teams. Thanks again Otago University, this time the Masters of Entrepreneurship – for inviting The Distiller Crew to attend.

I support the belief that failure offers a wealth of positive learning outcomes. I believe in collaboration, building shared intelligence and I recognise that we will always have much to learn.

Indeed, I welcome support for environments that nurture entrepreneurship, that offer networking and growth opportunities and increase resourcing options for young entrepreneurs.

“The industry knows where the opportunities are, and these young guys have the capability and capacity. We need to go to a forum where we can bring these elements together and allow the market to decide where the solutions are and where the investments happen…If government doesn’t do it, if the software industry doesn’t do it, if the investment industry doesn’t do it, it’s going to happen generationally…within the next 20 years as these kids grow from college to business, they are naturally going to get entrepreneurial understanding and experience. We can either do nothing and wait for that to happen or we can interject and start to facilitate a sort of collaboration, ” Source CIO

20 years vs 2012

Fortunately,  NZ will not have to wait 2 years let alone 20 to begin seeing the value contributed by it’s next generation of entrepreneurs.

I am a member of a brilliant web start up community called the Distiller. We thrive on collaboration and continually seek ways to connect with industry.

We would welcome government, business, community and industry investors to “interject” but  – so you know – the collaboration you speak of facilitating, the forums for connecting that you suggest, we are working on this already, perhaps even ahead of you on this one. Investment welcome:-) watch this space….