I was asked a few questions the other day, and thought that I would share my answers, as I normally do.
What Do You Love Most About Being a Woman Entrepreneur?
What Benefits Do You Receive Which Make It All Worthwhile?
Have These Answers Changed Over Time For You?
Would You Have Answered Them Differently When You Started?
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What Do You Love Most About Being a Woman Entrepreneur?
It was easy to first answer this, because when you think about what you love, it goes right to the heart.
I love building a team and creating a culture that honors people.
And that culture most certainly extends beyond our immediate team. It includes people within the organization, or people who are outside: from corporate clients we work directly with, to impoverished people just starting in microfinance in a local community outside of Kampala.
I love growing people on our team, which is a key part of our values. Life is about learning, growth, renewal. That\’s a commitment we make to ourselves and others, in order to live a most fulfilling life.
What Benefits Do You Receive Which Make It All Worthwhile?
An essential mainstay is a supportive, mutually positive team. At this point, I feel we are all helping and listening to each other. We emphasize teamwork and a consistent flow of communication. It\’s so inspiring when everyone contributes their own unique voice and skills, so that they personally, and we as an organization, are constantly striving for a greater manifestation of excellence, together.
Right after team, I want to see results and impact. It\’s vital to be doing something valuable for the community. Ultimately, it\’s about providing a service that truly helps, and helps improve others\’ lives.
Third — scale. I want that service to have as high an impact as possible; in fact, to have an impact on a global level. Our goal at UniversalGiving is to positively affect millions of people, country to country, all over the world.
Have These Answers Changed Over Time For You?
Perhaps at the beginning I especially loved creating the operations, and starting something from scratch. That was exciting! I loved creating processes of excellence which help ensure a smoothly run company. And I still do! But people come above processes for me now — I find operations and building an organization important; I find building people exciting.
Would You Have Answered Them Differently When You Started?
That\’s very hard to say. I love new ideas and bringing them through to fruition. I want to create a viable, enduring, long-term company that will exist and serve indefinitely. That still holds true today. I am not about to create something and move on. I want to commit, recommit, and stay long-term. It\’s a constant \’renewal\’ process of my commitment to UniversalGiving and the world we are serving.
I\’m not usually a \”full-time\” serial entrepreneur. I happened to have a lot of small entrepreneurial side projects because I see things that can be improved. But as my life calling, I commit to grow an enduring organization. In some ways, I feel about my organization just as I feel about people — it\’s important to commit, grow, renew, regenerate and build to higher levels of excellence over time.
Both in the past and now, building both people and the organization are essential. When we get this right, we are building a life of meaning and value for ourselves and others.