Aspiring Social Entrepreneur | Proactive Volunteer
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.
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.
It had been a while since the game of generation bashing has had a look in but the floor is open again to generational commentary, stereotyping and general whinging following a research report on the values, attitudes, behaviors and demographic characteristics of American Gen Y | Millennials: A Portrait of Generation Next
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.
Being a part of “Gen Y” and soon to be a graduate of business school. I see my generation as one that will not sit in the corporate world to be told what to do when we know it is out dated. We want to be entrepreneurs and create our own opportunities. We will be a generation that wants social responsibility and making our communities better ~ Fletch, Omaha, NE : July 8, 2010 10:00 am
Gen Y Entrepreneurs
Love us or hate us by 2020 we will represent almost 40% of the New Zealand workforce. Maybe it’s time to accept that aspects of our work ethic, our ability to adapt quickly and easily to change for instance, are more suited to modern living.
Our entrepreneurial spirit makes us increasingly willing and able to take risks, our education has armed us with knowledge and insight and today’s technology allows us to connect, share and collaborate in new, more effective ways.
Today we recognise that we always have the option of working for ourselves and at Worknow we encourage this entrepreneurial spirit, the challenge of directing your own future and employing your talent, skills and interests to discover your dream job
“…Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it’s beauty…” Albert Einstein
If you are interested in working with animals a good place to start would be your local SPCA
The mission of The Royal New Zealand SPCA is to advance the welfare of all animals in New Zealand by:
Preventing cruelty to animals
Alleviating suffering of animals
Promoting our policies through education and advocacy
Volunteering with Animals
Do you have some spare time? Your local SPCA is always looking for more volunteers to help. Each centre will have different needs; you could help to man the phones, or walk the dogs, or even get right into it by cleaning out cages. The jobs are varied and the work is rewarding.
If you’re interested in volunteering with animals and you have the following knowledge and skills:-
1) respect for animals
2) basic animal care knowledge or willingness to learn
3) ability to work unsupervised at times
4) use your initiative
Tomahawk Smaill’s Beachcare Trust is a non profit organisation that aims to develop community supported environmental restoration, education and awareness.
TSBT started in 2000 with the aim of replenishing the local environment by replanting, dune stablisation and catchment care. Since then the trust has been active with dune clean ups, planting days and community engagement.
The nursery, managed by Gaileen Ross will produce around 4000 eco-sourced native plants each year and is the hub of the Beach care movement. As a charitable trust TSBT is always keen for volunteers. As an environmental volunteer with TSBT you can:-
gain hands on learning in horticulture
gain hands on learning in plant propagation,
learn about local native dune species.
Aramoana Conservation Group
The community volunteer team cares for Aramoana beaches and the salt marsh. People are welcome to join the relaxed volunteer team during Spring – Autumn. As an environmental volunteer with TSBT you can:
build team work skills
improve your botanical knowledge
learn about local eco-systems
nurture an appreciation for nature
Orokonui Eco Sanctuary
In less than 10 years, the Orokonui Ecosanctuary has become the only place on mainland South Island of New Zealand where native birds, animals and insects can live a life safe from predators.
Volunteers are provided with direction, a safe walking environment and any equipment and materials needed. Contribute to a project that provides a legacy to future generations, gain new skills and meeting like-minded people. At the moment we need new volunteers for:
Planting and weeding
Pest and fence monitoring
Track building and maintenance
Regular care of habitat areas
Conservation Volunteers Needed, Dunedin NZ
If you’re willing to learn and happy to work outdoors then gather your friends and workmates and come help out as a conservation volunteer. For more information on volunteer work opportunities check out our volunteer marketplace.
If the right job is not here yet then simply create your talent profile and receive volunteer opportunities that match your talent, skills and interests as they are posted.
If your a community or charitable trust that needs volunteers please register a profile to promote volunteer work on our website.
“Chose a job you love, and you will never have to Work a day in your life.” Confucius
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!
Volunteer work experience is a testament to one’s willingness to work and one of many steps towards your dream job
We support volunteering because it can help people explore new fields of work, develops a service orientated work ethic and gain valuable work experience which in turn expands your work horizons.Some of the skills volunteers can develop include:-
* Leadership & team building skills
* Relationship building skills
* Communication skills
* Negotiation skills
* Creative thinking skills
* Organisation & time management skills
New Zealand is a leading nation in contribution made by volunteers.
A 2008 study of the New Zealand non-profit sector estimated that volunteers make up 67% of nonprofit workforce equal to 133,799 full time positions.
This represents 6.4% of the economically active population.
Research indicates volunteering can offer mental health benefits. In fact it may even help people to perform better in their paid work role. The many benefits of volunteering include:
* Volunteering offers an intrinsic sense of achievement and personal reward
* Volunteering builds peoples confidence through new challenges and experiences
* Volunteers will meet new people by actively participating in their community
* Volunteer work experience can help people explore new fields of work
* Volunteers can learn and develop transferable work skills
* Volunteering develop work ethic and looks great on your CV
You’ve got a great education, you’re keen to learn, you want to work and contribute to society yet it seems that to get the job that you want you need work experience, which first means you need to get a job
The transition from study to the workforce can be difficult even when you know exactly what is is you want and how you plan to get there.
Yet it is the minority of students that emerge from study that well prepared. More often than not, our work prospects and aspirations are about as clear as mud.
Talent vs Degree
I worry that our education system does not adequately prepare people for the realities of the workforce and that the career guidance taken up does little to inspire in young people the pursuit of the dream.
In fact in some cases, being sent off to talk to the local branch of some national or multinational company that has a internship programme that matches your degree, might be the completely wrong direction in terms of matching one’s talents and values.
As was indicated during a conversation I recently had with a final year commerce student (FYCS) – Majoring in Economics
Renee: So you’re final year right?, what do you wanna do next year? Work?
FYCS : Not really sure yet,
Renee: You can do anything you want, you know
FYCS: I’m kinda interested in writing…
Renee: Yeah cool, I majored in journalism. What do you think is you greatest talent?
FYCS: I’m not really sure…
Renee: Everyone’s got talents [usual expectant pause] ok then …how about looking at it like this. If you could have any job in the world what would you do?
FYCS: Writing, or design, maybe advertising?
Renee: So I’m hearing, something creative right?
FYCS: Yeah, but its not really my major”
Renee: Your major doesn’t really matter, it shows that you have discipline and you’ve already learnt the most important lesson, how to learn. Being able to learn, being able to solve problems you can take those skills anywhere. You can choose to do a job you will love.”
FYCS: But I worry about my grades”
Renee: Your grades won’t matter what matters is work experience. Find a company that you want to work with and offer to volunteer. It’s a foot in the door and I reckon volunteer work experience will trump your grades
FYCS: Thinks about this for a nanosecond and smiles
FYCS: You’ve just made me shift my idea of what I could do from here to here (indicating with hands an expanded vision)
While the above tale is unlikely to be a completely accurate replay – there were umms & ahhhh’s, frequent head nodding and gestures - it’s the outcome that mattered.
It’s amazingly encouraging to have seen and heard someone gain even just an ounce more hope for the future. Score 1 to me! in favour of the pursuit of talent vs degree based career paths.
Volunteer Work Experience
We see volunteering as a highly effective means for young people to gain work experience, develop work ethic and build work skills.
Some of the skills volunteers can develop include:-
* Leadership & team building skills
* Relationship building skills
* Communication skills
* Negotiation skills
* Creative thinking skills
* Organisation & time management skills
Most importantly it is a testament to one’s willingness to work which, in my work experience, counts for a whole lot more than grades ever will. Welcome to the workforce people.
Four Simple Steps Towards Your Dream Job
It may seem too simple and idealistic but it’s worked for me. I love my job and would like to see more people living the work life balance that we enjoy
Identify you talents, your passion, your interest and values as it is these qualities when combined with work that will put you on the path to a job that you love!
Create you talent profile and list your talents, passion, interests and value and using the magik of the interweb we will match your talent profile with volunteer work opportunities
Put yourself out there to work and learn more about what motivates and inspires you
Gather references that testify to your work experience so you can expand your options & pursue the dream then repeat
Pretty simple really. It’s about mindset and taking action don’t let others define your future for you. Start working towards you dream job, begin now.
It’s taken us a year, and four times longer than originally planned (luckily there was that recession) but we now have V1.0 of the online community marketplace live!
Now that our design and development team have provided a marketplace the job becomes mine to find the people and groups that will benefit from our work and talent matching tools.
I hope, in collaboration with others to encourage more young people to volunteer
As life would have it, we live in a university town that is full of talented people pondering their future and with the support of brilliant teams like OUSA & Ignite perhaps the challenge to attract young volunteers will be shared.
If you are interested in volunteer work experience please create your talent profile today. N.B: we match you with all forms of work or potential new teams based on the keywords you include in your profile so list talents, interests, skills and passion because it’s time to start creating you dream job.
I found Sir Ken Robinson’s Ted talk immensely inspiring and encouraging but it leads me to wonder why did it take me so long (15yrs) to choose my passion and talent over my need for achievement?
…we make very poor use of our talents…I meet all kinds of people who don’t think they are really good at anything…who don’t enjoy what they do they, they simply go through their lives getting on with it, they get no great pleasure from what they do, they endure it rather than enjoy it… but I also meet people who LOVE what they do…it isn’t what they do, it is who they are…their most authentic self… Sir Ken Robinson”
My talents and aspirations didn’t align because I was self centered and vain. Now, I was blessed to be raised in a family that nurtured my talents, surrounded by people that assured me that I could do anything I wanted. The education system, with which I am now thoroughly disenchanted was – up until I was about 15 years old – an environment in which I thrived upon learning and the ongoing recognition of academic, sporting and cultural achievement.
Yet for a long time now I have not lived up to the potential, that others saw in me. Despite the fact that I studied, worked and strived to become a better person, I was so self centered and focused on my own goals and achievements that I could not see opportunities to do what I most aspired to – help people and effect change – passing me by.
Over the last year, working as an aspiring social entrepreneur, I’ve recognised that I had things round the wrong way. Even as lately as January 2009, I thought that if I could make myself “a better person” then I could help others. Yet it now seems so apparent that only by helping others first will I ever be the person I aspire to.
The How: Helping Others Employ Their Talents
Using social networking to create a community in which people can feel OK about promoting and sharing their talents
“…natural talents: human resources are like natural resources, they are often buried deep. You have to go looking for them, they’re not just lying around on the surface you have to create the circumstances where they show themselves…” Sir Ken Robinson
This is not going to be an easy cause to gather people to and therein lies the challenge: to effect the national mind set.
We kiwi’s are not known for our self promotion, why would we when tall poppy syndrome is so alive and well in this country, ready to cut back down to size those that are too confident, too successful or aspire to lofty goals. One way I have found to overcome this barrier of talking about talents and strengths is simply to ask:
what are your interests?
what do you like to do?
what are you passionate about?
what interests would you want to share with other people?
By creating a talent profile and sharing you passion, talents, interests and values with the world we can match you with opportunities to LOVE what you.
Gen Y Entrepreneurs
Love us or hate us by 2020 we will represent almost 40% of the New Zealand workforce. Maybe it’s time to accept that aspects of our work ethic, our ability to adapt quickly and easily to change for instance, are more suited to modern living.
Our entrepreneurial spirit makes us increasingly willing and able to take risks, our education has armed us with knowledge and insight and today’s technology allows us to connect, share and collaborate in new, more effective ways.
Today we recognise that we always have the option of working for ourselves and at Worknow we encourage this entrepreneurial spirit, the challenge of directing your own future and employing your talent, skills and interests to discover your dream job