How I Chose Between Starting a Charity and Building a Business
I always knew I wanted to help animals in a significant way. Little-known fact (but one that won’t surprise anyone): As a kid, I would arrange all my stuffed animals into a fort constructed out of blankets around the computer desk and play “animal shelter.” Clearly not knowing what an animal shelter even looked like out in “the real world” at the time.
I completed a program in my early 20s that gave me a college certificate that said I was educated in how to manage a vet clinic or similar venture. I figured this was a career fit that my fort-building former self would be proud of.
Yet what I really wanted to do was start an animal rescue, as I worried about the animals who couldn’t or wouldn’t receive vet care.
I knew nothing about business, entrepreneurship, or marketing back then, but I quickly realized how daunting starting a charity (and keeping it going) appeared compared to starting a business (and then donating the profits).
So I shifted gears to investigate what I thought might lead me to understand (and name) the root cause of animal suffering, or at least what might motivate people to help reduce the suffering. I wanted to know how to motivate others to help rather than hurt others.
That led me to be deeply curious about how people think, why they act the way they do, what motivates them, and what causes suffering, joy, or bewilderment. Maybe this was a better route to a career or venture that would create a positive impact and reduce at least a small amount of suffering in the world.
So, I did what any adrift kid working at a local animal shelter would do (at least in the social climate of the early 2000s). With no clear career trajectory with the organization I was at and no “can’t pass up” employment opportunities, I took on student loans to go back to school to study the mind and behaviour.
Cue more drifting and wrestling with that niggling feeling that entrepreneurship (a word I didn’t know at the time) was what I needed to be doing. It seemed to be a much clearer path to what I wanted to accomplish with my life. This whole school thing was interesting because I was studying a fascinating subject, but by mid-second year, it was clear that the types of jobs it set me up for were ones that frankly weren’t for me.
So, back to the drawing board … at the back of the classroom while appearing to take notes on the lecture. Who am I kidding, the professor was probably keenly aware that I wasn’t paying attention (my apologies to all the profs I had during the second half of my degree).
Looking back now, I can see that my degree was one epic (and expensive) side quest in an attempt to satisfy my curiosity, get answers, and then move forward with a plan to make the world a better place.
Building a Mission-Driven Business From Scratch
During my meandering, I had also deeply investigated a solution to my decade-long struggle with inflammation and chronic acne breakouts. An entrepreneurial predisposition blended with maker tendencies and a solution developed for my own skin all came together into a business that served as a container for helping people through holistic, natural skincare solutions, as well as animals through corporate giving and social enterprise.
It was a full-circle moment when I became a (co)founder of a nonprofit and animal welfare organization.
Now, fast-forward to a few years ago, when I first watched this TED Talk. In less than 19 minutes, Dan Pallotta articulates something I felt in my early 20s that is still problematic today.
Charity vs Business For Impact
While starting a business wasn’t easy, there were far fewer barriers to going into business, and once established, I turned around and donated any revenue left after expenses to causes I cared about. The nonprofit model seemed exponentially more difficult. And if you’ve seen that Ted Talk, or you’ve been around the nonprofit block for more than a hot minute, you’re acutely aware of why.
As the (co)founder of a charity, I see firsthand how the constraints placed on the nonprofit sector can hinder meaningful impact at every turn. Charities are quickly seen as “greedy” when they aspire to be as well-resourced as a for-profit venture. Despite the charities using their resources for their mission, they are held to an unreasonable standard (aka meet your mission even if you have no program staff, infrastructure, or secure funding). Yet for-profit businesses do whatever they like with those same resources, produce additional resources by design, and nobody would expect them to run without staff, a place to operate out of (or the tech infrastructure in place to run remotely), etc.
What I’ve Learned About Impact, Identity, and Business Models
So, where do we go from here?
Well, I started this by saying I wanted to help animals, figure out how humans think, and make the world a better place for those who are suffering. This combination has been a constant in my life. I’ve approached it through business, philanthropy, and a grassroots movement.
As someone who values flexible strategy in all areas of my life and business, I’ve done things the easy way and the hard way, and after a couple of decades, I continue to learn what tips the scales in either direction.
Right now, I’m choosing to lean into my curiosity again. Mostly, I’m exploring where my right fit is between for-profit and nonprofit, personal fulfillment and collective aid, time-tested models and innovative approaches to entrepreneurship.
I’m in that weird space of shaping and refining my identity. I want to lean into who I am, here and now, and who I want to become in the future. This is nothing new – personal identity is the concept you developed about yourself that evolves throughout your life. And as I feel several chapters are coming to a close, the book of my life is far from over.
In this chapter, I’m helping those who could benefit from what I’ve learned through my lived experience as an introverted solopreneur in the area of business model design.
If that sounds like you, The Strategy Studio is where you’ll find me.
