For quite some time, you have been waiting for the follow up to my voluntourism posts! I wrote the post and the day I was supposed to post, my computer did nothing. Literally nothing. I turned it on and the light beside the power button said it was on, but that is it. When I brought it to my computer guy, he informed me that it was no longer working. SO, I go him to take out the hard drive for me and let him keep what was left of the laptop to use the parts – I asked before leaving it because e-waste is a thing and I was not going to give it to someone who was going to just add to the problem! Many months passed before I finally chose and bought a new computer. At the same time I began a new project, so even to this day, I have not opened the old hard drive.
What is this project, you ask? Before I tell you, let me explain how I got to where I am. While searching for a computer, I was thinking about what I wanted from my career. I realized that to achieve certain goals, I needed to change my path a bit and so I did some research to see what options I had. Specifically, I was looking into the possibility to work from anywhere and have a more flexible schedule. Having already worked on 3 community projects (possibly on hold, possibly not happening, time will tell), I already had some entrepreneurial skills and experience; something that my career coach had found to be a very strong trait for me (along with social and environmental justice guiding every aspect of my life), even if it was not something I saw for myself. Suddenly with this search, I realized that being an entrepreneur might actually be the best thing for me at this time!
When I told my career coach about my research and my thoughts, she sent me the link for the Lise Watier Foundation‘s s’Entreprendre program. I registered, did the program in the fall and am now finishing everything up in the lead-up to launching my project; my business.
BUT FIRST I have a few more details to hash out! So if you currently make decisions at a nonprofit or social enterprise, or if you have done so in the past, take less than 9 minutes to fill out this form!
Obibini Bruni 