Sustainopreneurship is the future

It is encouraging to notice that the combined focus on sustainability and innovation is clearly intensifying. This is more than logical since behaving sustainably requires innovation, and innovation is no good if it creates problems of any kind, including those related to sustainability. But reaching logic is sometimes quite demanding!

Since so much depends on how entrepreneurial we are, it is essential that entrepreneurs (being able to find the ways to resolve their challenges) exclude any approach which would generate issues for any of the three aspects of sustainability – because that would not be a solution, but a new problem. This is of course the global, responsible approach, also the only socially responsible one. But in everyday reality, we often tend to think in terms of solving “our problem” and take advantage of “our opportunities” – ignoring problems of “others” and “the environment” – as if we would be living on another planet. Read more at wsimag.com.

Social Entrepreneurship: 10 Ways to Make a Difference Through Business

What is social entrepreneurship? Does the term refer to social media businesses? (No.) Is it something to do with networking? (Nope.)

In short, social entrepreneurship is an exciting way to make a positive difference in the world while also making a profit. 

It almost sounds too good to be true, right? Thankfully, it’s not.

Social entrepreneurship is the process of doing business for a philanthropic cause. Social enterprises seek to maximize profits while growing their positive impact on a particular social issue. These organizations are legal businesses that make money. However, much like a charity or non-profit, social enterprises focus most on benefiting society. Read more at oberlo.com.

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

― Henry David Thoreau

How mayors can lead the way for entrepreneurial ecosystem building

Supporting entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses is key to economic mobility, opportunity and growth. But it’s one thing for city leaders to “talk the talk” and quite another to implement a strategy that will spark and sustain entrepreneurship.

A report called “Dynamism in Retreat” (Economic Innovation Group, February 2017) stated, “From 2010 to 2014, just five metro areas – New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Houston and Dallas – produced as big of an increase in businesses as the rest of the nation combined.” In fact, across the rest of the United States, many cities were seeing major declines in new business starts.

Since the report was released in 2017 more and more city officials, especially mayors, are embracing the role of “entrepreneurial ecosystem builder” and actively working to create – through policies and programs – an environment within their communities that supports entrepreneurship. Read more at joinsourcelink.com.

Are You an Entrepreneur? The Answer Might Surprise You!

They don’t wait to be told what to do, or for conditions to be perfect, or to be handed the resources they need on a platter.  In the spirit of a famous slogan, they just go out and do it. End of story. Sounds simple, right? But it’s not an easy process by any means.

It’s this kind of spirit that sees success as inevitable after hundreds of failures, rejections and setbacks. It’s this kind of spirit that enables the entrepreneur to pick themselves up off the floor, dust themselves off, and start all over again, even where the outcome is uncertain. It’s this kind of spirit that can hold a dream in perfect suspension in the imagination, believing in it even in the face of all odds, until the day it’s there in solid reality. Read more at addicted2success.com.

A Message from Acceler8Success Founder, Paul Segreto

Today’s Entrepreneurs

The world around us has become so noisy that it’s easy to not hear opportunity knocking. In the past, opportunity presented itself in only a few ways… a job offer, a referral, an ad in the paper. Business was regimented… 9 to 5, straight forward processes, slow to change, staying inside the box.

Well, technology along with our lost feeling of security, job and other has provided us opportunity and reason that we must keep our eyes open, explore beyond our comfort zones. We must maintain an open mind to create things of value, to control our own destiny, to diversify our income, to take calculated risk, and to think and act outside the box (of complacency, fear and procrastination).

We’re in an environment where the visionaries continue to create the playing field but it’s only doers who will win.

Acting swiftly, yet decisively, albeit deliberately, often throwing caution to the wind, caring little about what others think of them and their decisions, maintaining a laser-focus to not only succeed, but to thrive.

21 Reasons to Start a Business Today

Freedom is the golden promise of entrepreneurship. Over and over again, entrepreneurs that we interview for Foundr Magazine point to autonomy, to independence, as a key driver of their decision to start a business.

This isn’t just a little anecdote I’ve noticed. It’s a huge reason that people become entrepreneurs.

In 2008, the academic International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal released stats from a global survey of early-stage business owners. Independence was the most common reason these people gave for starting their business:

• Within the 25 countries, the study looked at, an average of 38% of beginning business owners cited independence as a motivation.
• Independence served as a reason for 35% of entrepreneurs in the US and 39% in the UK.
• In Australia and Japan, 57% of beginning owners pointed to independence as their motivator.

Why does this fervor for freedom move people to hurl themselves into the crazy world of business? Freedom is having more control over the course of your life, having the power to direct it in the ways that you want, rather than working for the whims of others. Read more at foundr.com.

How Motivation Determines Success of Your Small Business

Does motivation play a part in the success of your small business? The answer is “yes!”

Motivation determines the success of your small business in many ways. It plays a part in everything from how you approach your day, how you make decisions, and to your health.

When we say motivation, we don’t refer to the sort of excitement that gets you fired up to do random things– things that don’t ultimately matter to your business. And it doesn’t refer to how excited you are about life in general. No, real motivation is the powerful force that pushes and justifies your daily actions towards something reaching a goal.

If you don’t have that motive pushing you, your days will probably be filled with stress, frustration, endless obligations, and most likely a lot of procrastination.

Without having it in both your personal life and business, it becomes increasingly hard to strive for success, fulfillment, and internal happiness. Read more at snapreads.com.

6 Ways to Stop Working So Hard and Like Yourself More

Urgency. Competition. Measure up. Improve. More. 

We’ve been conditioned to believe that if we work hard enough and optimize ourselves, we’ll get “there” sooner. 

There is no there.

We think we’re evolved human beings in charge of our destiny. In truth, we’ve been conditioned to work long, fast, and hard to earn the right to feel “good enough.” 

There is nothing empowering about it.

Collective unworthiness is the fuel that feeds our society. Humans have turned self-worth into something we need to hunt for, and our careers are a powerful way to pump up our inner metrics. We’re desperate for someone or something to validate our existence. 

Grinding to the bone has a glaring limitation: self-worth requires no work, is readily available, and free.

Not very catchy, but it’s true. 

Reclaiming your self worth starts with understanding where you’ve created dependency models, or are hunting for your worth externally. Then it’s time to dismantle the systems of oppression. Read more at entrepreneur.com.

Overthinking Everything? Use This Strategy to Get Out of Your Head

Overanalyzing every decision you make is a terrible habit to fall into. We’re all guilty of it. Our feelings of uncertainty drive us to overthink. Collecting more data and noodling about every potential outcome might make you think you are advancing toward a goal when you’re really just spinning your wheels.

Our subconscious drives 95 percent of our decisions, according to Gerald Zaltman, a Harvard Business School professor emeritus, who studied consumer-buying patterns. How you feel about the decision stalls your progress. If you feel uncertain about choosing, guess what? You’ll just keep thinking about it. The project or business doesn’t start until you do.

The first step is taking control. Despite what you might think, you are always ready to start. If you make the wrong decision at some point, you can adjust. You don’t have to know all of the answers, you just have to start and then you’ll figure them out. Read more at success.com.

9 Mindful Ways To Add More Self-Care To Your Routine

If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the last year, it’s that stress is pretty dang inescapable. While it’s impossible to totally remove worry from our day-to-day (after all, some stress is actually good for us), there are ways to minimize its impact and find harmony with it.

One such way is to weave more moments of self-care into our day. These moments allow us to make a conscious effort to ground ourselves and re-establish control over anything that may be increasing our anxiety, particularly throughout the workday. To figure out where to start, we tapped our friends at Boxed Water who know a thing or two about prioritizing one of the most essential elements of self-care: staying hydrated!

Ahead, we share nine mindful ideas you can tap into today to bring some zen to your 9-to-5. These self-care swaps will help infuse a spa-like feel to your everyday routine and help you feel relaxed from the AM rush to your midday lunch break, all the way through to your wind-down bedtime routine. Read more at brit.co.

The Shortest Guide to Dealing with Emotions

Imagine you are sitting in a car, and you are driving down a lonely highway. Suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, a warning light goes off. Your oil pressure is very low. If you just ignore it and continue your drive, you run the risk of doing serious damage to your engine. You know you can get a tow, but this is going to take a while.

As you are considering your next step, you suddenly remember a trick about how you can short circuit the warning light. This would not change anything about the engine—it would still be starved for oil—but the low-pressure signal would no longer be blinking on your dashboard, and you could ignore it more easily.

Here’s the question: Should you do it? Read more at psychologytoday.com.

Entrepreneurs Who Sleep More Are Better at Spotting Good Ideas

It is time to put the myth of the sleepless founder to bed. Too many entrepreneurs think skipping on sleep is the heroic path to success, and a badge of honor. But in a recent series of studies, we found several specific deficits among exhausted entrepreneurs that demonstrate that even the most dedicated founders could best serve their fledgling venture by resting up. Read more at hbr.org.