Aspiring Social Entrepreneurs Need to Face Up to the Reality of the Grind

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There is a fantastic short essay in the latest Stanford Social Innovation Review that provides lots of food for thought for aspiring social entrepreneurs. Several times a month I meet young 20 somethings who are interested in developing a particular social enterprise and want advice. I think the biggest fight they have is the internal one to grind it out when social enterprise loses its sexiness as is the case in the hard work of every start-up. I love this quote by Mathias Craig
There is no app for this. You have to get out there and do it—and you have to have the staying power to be at it long enough to have a real impact. Leading people on with the idea that there is a widget or a model or a process that will short-cut this leads to quick burnouts, ineffective allocations of funds, and ultimately less impact...What seems to be lost is that creating meaningful long-term impact in the social space is still really about the people [who] are willing to stick with the hard work and bounce back every time they get knocked down along the way, which is an almost daily occurrence.
Between the Quick Exit and the Long Sojourn, SSIR, June 19, 2013

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