Community Service
On our way to a Santa Cruz community event featuring a smorgasbord of local small businesses, I half-joked to a friend that I’m terrible about showing up for my local community.
He replied, “You have a space where hundreds of people gather every day to have fun, tell stories, and share laughs. The community is better because of your shops, it seems to me like you’re doing plenty.”
He was articulating something I already believed. That our work, when done with love and intention, is a form of community service.
Most of our social interactions day in and day out, revolve around businesses. Going out for coffee, a lunch date, grabbing a drink after work, not to mention work itself. This is why businesses are so powerful—they shape the world around us (sometimes for the worst).
So if you’re feeling the pressure to run a solid business and also do good on the side, a better strategy might be to get clear about what you do and don’t do, and integrate the change you hope to make into your day-to-day work.