4 years ago I quit my job to try to change the world. This is what I’ve learned so far.

“Making money is hard. Making change is harder.”

By James Sancto - Co-Founder & CEO, We Make Change

It has been four years since I quit my job to start We Make Change, a startup connecting skilled volunteers with Social Enterprises changing the world. Each year I share the lessons I’ve learned over the previous 12 months to reflect on my own ChangeMaking journey while hopefully helping others on theirs.

Each year seems crazier than the last. From living through a pandemic to growing our impact as an organisation way beyond what it’s been before, this year has been no different. Although there are some lessons that come early in the entrepreneurial journey (see what I learned from year 1, year 2, and year 3), there are others which take more time to be revealed.

Here are the lessons that I’ve learned in year 4 of being a social entrepreneur. Every person’s journey is different, but I hope by sharing my experience you can learn from my mistakes and make the change you want to see, whatever that may be.

PEOPLE ARE AMAZING

Each year I start with the same lesson, because it’s one that I’m reminded of every day. We Make Change is made possible by an incredible team of volunteers. They give their time to enable people from across the world to use their skills to support the causes they care about. From legal advice to social media management, graphic design to web development, they make We Make Change what it is today.

This year we started celebrating our teams’ We Make Change anniversaries, because (amazingly to me) many people have now volunteered with us for 1, 2 or even 3 years! We come from different countries, backgrounds, and perspectives, but we all share the same purpose - to enable anyone, anywhere to use their skills to support the causes they care about.

From the literally hundreds of people who have supported us along the way to the team that we are today, I have had the privilege to work with some amazing people. It’s only when you start out on your journey that you’ll find out just how amazing people can be.

MONEY CREATES TIME

Making money is hard. Making change is harder. Doing both is the social entrepreneurial struggle. As a Social Enterprise, our focus is on making impact. Over the last year, we’ve launched more than 300 Projects connecting skilled volunteers with Social Enterprises across the world. But if we’re going to fulfil our purpose, we need to go from supporting hundreds of Social Enterprises to supporting thousands across the world.

To do so we need to be financially sustainable. That’s not to earn huge profits, but to create time. Because until this year our team has been made up entirely of volunteers. That has enabled us to put strong foundations in place. But as our team knows, we need people to be able to work full time if we are going to make the change we want to see. Because additional time grows the potential of any organisation, for whom time is the most valuable resource.

That is why this year I was delighted to bring on board our first full time member of the team. Jens, our former Community Manager and now COO & Co-Founder, has volunteered with We Make Change in various roles from almost the very beginning. His dedication to the cause and commitment to the team made it a privilege to give him the opportunity to join the team full time. It may just be the start, but it’s a big step for any Social Enterprise.

FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS

When your team grows, it can give you more time, but it can also give you more to do. I’ve sometimes felt as though I’ve got so much to do that I don’t know what to do. I’ll be left staring at my computer screen simply wondering where to start. When time is your most valuable resource, you really can’t afford to (sometimes literally).

For the first time last year, we had a strategy. I don’t mean a five year vision; I mean a 6-12 strategy with a plan of action. You might reasonably wonder: ‘It took you three years to develop your first strategy?’ Yes, kind of. In the past we did have plans, but - like many startups - in the first 12-18 months you’re trying to figure out what you’re actually going to do, so any plans quickly become redundant (unless very well formulated). Since then we have developed strategies. They would often be long documents that I’d enjoy putting together, but we’d rarely refer to or use.

At the beginning of last year, our Board and Executive Team developed a 6-12 month strategy. Each month we met to review our progress and every 6 months we adapted and refined it. The result: we grew our ChangeMaker community, Social Enterprise Members, corporate clients and revenue beyond what we’d ever had before. Having such a clear plan of action gave me, and our team, the focus we needed to direct our energy more effectively. So if I’m ever left staring at my computer screen, I know where to look to find what I should be doing.

TOUGH DECISIONS ARE OFTEN THE BEST TO MAKE

Nobody wants to disappoint anyone. As a CEO it can feel like you’re only disappointing people (including yourself). You feel like you never have enough time to do everything you want to and you rarely meet your own high expectations. That’s why when you’re contemplating a decision that could disappoint many, it may be one that’s best to make. Otherwise, you likely wouldn’t consider it in the first place!

Three years ago we set up a series of WhatsApp and Facebook groups to connect ChangeMakers in countries across the world. After they grew so quickly, we made them into our ‘National Communities’. Their aim was to mobilise volunteers and Social Enterprises to address challenges in their nations. Over two years, we tried countless frameworks, tools and models, to help them make change effectively where they are. Despite some incredible relief work during the height of the pandemic, whatever we did never seemed to work.

That is why this year we took the tough decision to close our National Communities. The decision was made even harder for me as it was my crazy scheme to create them in the first place. Although it was a tough decision, we know it was the best for the people involved, our community as a whole, and if we are going to enable as many people to use their skills to support the causes they care about as we can (which is what we set out to do in the first place).

CELEBRATE OTHERS’ SUCCESSES

As a social entrepreneur it can be easy to grow anxious at the successes others have. Whether it’s being chosen as a Forbes 30 Under 30 (having turned 30 this year, I’ve missed the boat on that!), raising large sums of money, or receiving awards. It can feel like others are making so much more progress than you are, while you’re struggling to just stay afloat.

We all know things can look very different on the surface from how they are in reality (welcome to running a startup!). But more importantly, as social entrepreneurs we shouldn’t compete over plaudits but celebrate each other’s successes. We’re all trying to make change in our own way, and we know that we can only address the challenges the world faces today if we do it together. That’s why we help social entrepreneurs to grow their impact by connecting them with volunteers with the skills they need.

So rather than getting annoyed about an award we didn’t receive or a contract we didn’t win, let’s celebrate those who did. Because it’s another step towards fulfilling our collective goals - the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals! Who knows, maybe your time will come soon enough anyway ;)

THE WORLD IS NOT YOUR BURDEN

I started We Make Change because of the increasingly urgent challenges the world faces. It was with the belief that we have the skills, resources and technology to address those challenges - if we use them effectively - that We Make Change came to be.

From climate change to poverty and inequality, many of those challenges have only grown more severe with the pandemic. I would often lay awake at night thinking about how I, and we at We Make Change, weren’t doing enough to help. Couldn’t we do more? Shouldn’t I be doing more? Am I the one holding us back?

Not only were those thoughts exhausting psychologically, but they also hindered our progress organisationally. Realising that, I’ve begun to gain comfort in the fact that if every day we’re doing what we can to enable people to use their skills to support their causes, we can lay our heads to sleep at night with a conscience that is clear. If you allow the world to be your burden, it will weigh you down. As soon as you let it go, it will raise you up.

KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SELLING

I am not a salesperson. I’ve always had the image of a salesperson as someone who is trying to sell you something you don’t want at a price you can’t afford using up time that you can’t waste. Then suddenly as a social entrepreneur, you have to be able to sell in order for your venture to be financially sustainable.

I certainly have a lot to learn when it comes to selling, but there are a few key things I’ve learned having been mentored by many successful salespeople over these years. Here are the key questions you need to know the answers to:

What are you selling? It’s pretty obvious, but for many social entrepreneurs, you spend a lot of time figuring out exactly what you are actually going to sell. Is it a service, a product, or both?
Why should people buy it? There may be many reasons that someone would want to buy what you’re selling. But what is the reason?
How much does it cost? It’s tempting to think you’ll simply adapt the price to whatever you think the customer will be willing to pay. But what is your price?

At We Make Change we deliver Change Days - online volunteering events that enable corporate teams to make change, connect with colleagues, and develop their skills by volunteering online to support Social Enterprises in a day. The revenue from these events enable us to provide our services connecting individual skilled volunteers with Social Enterprises across the world entirely for free. We’ve still got a long way to go, but after year four we’re getting somewhere.

SOME COMPANIES REALLY WANT TO DO GOOD

Companies, sometimes justifiably, get accused of not doing enough when it comes to sustainability. This past year’s COP climate conference was labelled by some as a ‘greenwashing festival’. Yet the more companies we work with, the more I realise people within them genuinely want to do good. It can just be hard for them to find the time and opportunities to use their skills to make a meaningful difference.

That is why we set out at the beginning of last year to give more companies the opportunity to enable their employees to volunteer their skills to support their causes. Having worked with several companies, including multinationals, I have seen how when given the opportunity to make impact, employees will take it. Companies after all are some of the biggest collections of skilled people in the world. When given the chance, they can do so much good.

So yes, some companies may not be doing enough on sustainability. It’s often not because they don’t want to. They’re just looking for the right opportunity. I can’t wait to give more companies and their employees that opportunity to make the change they want to see.

BE OPEN

As the leader of an organisation, it can be tempting to hide your emotions from your team. It can feel as though you need to be a constant source of positivity and inspiration (no matter how unrealistic that may seem). You might feel that if you show how you’re really doing that people might lose belief in you and your organisation (particularly because in the early days you really are selling belief).

The pandemic has made more of us aware of our mental health and just how fragile it can be. That’s partly why this year I’ve tried to share how I’m really feeling - with my team, friends and family. I’ve found the more open I’ve been, the more others have been as well. As a result, I’ve become closer with people than in the years before.

It’s not always easy to do, and I’m still very much at the start of my journey of opening up. But being open has helped me create even stronger relationships with people in our team and far beyond. Because when we know how we are really doing, then we can help to lift the burden from each other.

—————

There are many more lessons I could share, but these are the most noteworthy from yet another memorable year.

It’s not always easy, but it’s a privilege to have the opportunity to make a difference in the world. I may not always do the right thing, but as Nelson Mandela once said, ‘I never lose; I either win or learn.’

Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way. Here’s to another year of changing the world together.

A forever grateful founder,
James