A few weeks ago - at about 2 in the morning, I had one of those “ah ha!” moments - and then I got so excited that I just couldn’t go back to sleep!
Quick background first…My first year of service as a VISTA was in the early 90s, and I worked for a small women’s organization that no one had ever heard of. We worked on a lot of women’s and family issues and poverty issues. What I loved about this organization was that the real experts on the issues - the women who were experiencing them - were the ones who figured out that they had power - and could change the system! We rocked a lot of worlds back in those days…
Anyway, one of my assignments was to put together research about microenteprise programs in the U.S. and interview people who were running successful programs, and then create a program from the “best practices”. I quickly became passionately committed to the idea that the best way to defeat poverty was to teach women how to become economically self-sufficient. And the best way to do that was through entrepreneurship. I created one heck of a program (if I do say so myself!)
Unluckily, my project never did anything with it, because then the fight moved to Bill Clinton’s welfare reform. But the idea stuck in my head. And in 2005, I created MAPS (Microenterprise Answers to your Personal Success) - my first Website. It took 8 months of research to find the programs, information and free resources that are on that site. And it was the first step in my long-term plan - which is to (someday) create a program that provides small business grants and microenterprise loans to entrepreneurs.
And that’s when I had my “ah ha!” moment! Last night I realized that I don’t have to wait until “someday” - when I’m rich enough or successful enough, to start working on the rest of my dream! I just sat down with the publishing company of my book, to get down to brass tacks and see how much everything’s going to cost, for creating a paperback version of the book. (Based on the feedback and pre-orders, it’s also going to be available in an instantly available, pdf. downloadable version). Using that estimate, I decided that I’m going to make “someday” happen now!
I’m going to take a percentage from every book I sell, and put it into a special account - and set up the first annual “MAPS Small Business Grant!” (Woo hoo!) I want to start the program right now, and make some money available for an entrepreneur who needs a hand up.
What do you think?! (By the way, if you’ve got ideas, suggestions or feedback, I’d love to hear it!)
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