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I am coming to the end of a personal journey – wrapping up a year that I have spent dedicated to exploring Social Entrepreneurship, namely about how to build a socially-driven company.
The next chapter for me will be about starting that company.
But for now, I am spending the next 42 days hanging question marks on the things I have learned. Wondering aloud about the ways we think about how to make a positive impact in the world.
This is a celebration, and an invitation for you to come with me, as I spend 6 weeks reminding myself what a heart-stirring experience it has been to live in Cambodia, to travel Southeast Asia, and spend every day in conversations about how we are going to solve our planet’s greatest problems.
There is so much for us to discuss.
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What to Expect
Excursions. Passionate people. Curiosity. Mind-shifts. Business plans. Tuk-tuk rides. Deep discussions. Moral dilemmas. Temples. Storytelling. Culture & language. Food! Islands + beaches. Helpful tools. Rain. Maybe an elephant. Probably a few monkeys. Definitely some mosquitoes. Challenges. Reflection. Alignment. Collaboration. Velocity.
Who This is For
You.
–> You care about the world. REALLY deeply care.
–> You lose sleep over the problems our planet is facing. And you are convinced we have the opportunity – and responsibility – of a lifetime in our hands.
–> You like to write your own rules.
–> You have been restlessly pondering, plotting, searching for ways to change the system.
Because you believe in better.
And you intend to do something about it.
–>You want to do work that is purposeful. Prosperous. To make your living from using your unique gifts. To spend every day of your life doing your passion, contributing to meaningful projects.
–> You want to build – a life, an organization, a world – on a foundation of…
Gratitude. Dignity. Abundance. Adventure. Enjoyment. Excellence. Integrity.
Does that sound like You?
Fantastic – we already have a lot in common.
Welcome aboard.
Who Am I?
I am not a teacher. Not a professor.
I am no expert. I will always have so many more questions about the world than I have answers.
I am an inquirer. A listener. A wonderer. A storyteller.
I am a passionate beginner.
I have been on a quest to find out how to ask better questions about the way we do good in the world. I have learned a lot over the course of 1 year+ in Southeast Asia. And I have learned a lot during the course of a going-on-six-years obsession with the social entrepreneurship movement.
About one year ago, I came to live in Cambodia to start or join a philanthropic project.
I found out Cambodia doesn’t need my help.
It turns out what the world actually needs from me is this:
To figure out what it is on this earth that makes me feel exceedingly alive.
The world needs me to go and be that.
I found out that I could do more good by committing to learn first – to learn who I am, to learn what I stand for, to learn what I have to contribute, to learn how to receive before I try to give. To figure out which direction I’m headed before climbing on the bus. To learn that when I thrive, others around me thrive.
I want to learn how to serve.
So I have spent a year of Learning Service.
And have fallen – increasingly and wildly – in love with Cambodia.
I have been blessed with rich, enlightening experiences.
My passions are unfolding…I have four: writing, travel, restorative health, and social entrepreneurship.
So – these 6 weeks of a Personal Social Entrepreneurship MBA – these are in fact the days of me wholly living my passions. All of them.
Life seems to work out quite well when we devote ourselves to pursue our greatest passion in the spirit of service.
Why This?
Why am I talking about an MBA in Social Entrepreneurship?
Well, because, I thought I needed one. I thought there were a lot of things I needed to do, to be, to have before I could go after my dreams.
I have spent years of waiting, wanting, preparing, praying to join this movement of amazing entrepreneurs – people who make it their business to produce lasting solutions to the problems in our communities.
But I thought I was unqualified. I felt like I couldn’t get “in.” I thought a lot – too much – about my resume, about who I thought I needed to be (i.e. not myself) in order to be qualified and ready.
Right around that time was when I started to have a revolution of self.
Trying to get ‘in,’ trying to be qualified – it made me feel so miserable. It made me feel like who I am is not good enough to go after what I deeply wanted out of life.
And, as it turns out, me trying to be someone else is the exact opposite of me tapping into my own unique passions, my gifts, my skills, my affluence, my ability to contribute to the world. It is the opposite of me being qualified and ready.
So with the help of amazing mentors, I tried a new idea on.
Enough.
I started asking myself a different kind of question.
What would I do with my life if I felt like I was already enough? (and that’s right around the time that I decided to retire).
I realized that I already had everything I needed to begin.
Because the only thing I needed to change was my mind.
I didn’t need another degree, and I didn’t need more time.
I needed to decide.
I am enough.
I am already ready to begin.
That is why I am absolutely going for it.
Why Not?
Not everyone will get to do this in their lifetime. Spend weeks of open-ended exploration, in a beautiful and challenging country, dedicated to thinking solely about how we as a generation can make the world a better place.
This is truly a gift. Why not share?
What a better way to celebrate the culmination of this chapter of my learning-journey than to share some of these lessons.
I hope it will be valuable and meaningful to you, as it has been to me – and I also hope to be learning from you and your experiences along the way, too. Please please share.
Why Now
“If not us, who.
If not now, when.”
In terms of calendar days – right now I have exactly six weeks remaining before I will be wrapping-up my year of Learning Service. Then I am going to be launching my first socially-driven business.
It is the perfect time to be talking about entrepreneurship and ideas worth spreading.
Here in Cambodia, the coming six weeks kicks-off with StartupWeekend on September 9. Then 5 weeks later, this course schedule will be book-ended with TEDxPhnomPenh 2 as the finale! taking place on October 15.
In between, I will be moving around Cambodia to continue exploring and learning, and taking care of myself.
I am anticipating that starting a business keeps a gal pretty busy. I want to use these precious weeks of pre-startup freedom to do things I have been craving to do, but have not made the time for yet.
Things like…
- Trekking in the jungle.
- Cambodian cooking lessons.
- Visiting Mondulkiri and learning about traditional medicine.
- Coffee dates with new faces I have been keen to meet.
- Self-reflection at a Buddhist meditation center.
- Practice reading and writing Khmer language everyday.
- Yoga on the terrace in the mornings.
- Writing postcards home to my Grandparents on Sundays.
Now is the time.
Viva la vida.
Let’s do it.
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Tomorrow is INDUCTION DAY.
We’ll pass around a slightly unconventional Syllabus and get this thing started.
Hope to see you.
