Women social entrepreneurs

In the quest to achieve our goals, we are always encouraged to make sacrifices and to always look forward.

Save now for a brighter future, no pain no gain ...

While I wholly agree that certain actions (such as living over our means or doing absolutely no exercise) may not lead us to our goals of being wealthy or healthy, we really must try to make the process enjoyable.  If you are going to exercise, find somethingyou enjoy or if you are going to save go all out to make the recipes fun.

Have you ever worked hard towards something, achieved it and then got a feeling of what now? That’s telling you that what you enjoy is the process.

Steven Covey in his book, 7 Habits of Highly EffectivePeople, he  defines the"habits" as "the intersection of knowledge, skill and desire". Ultimately what we need to do is develop habits that lead us to our goals.

So  instead of setting a goal that says in two years the  programme I develop would have reached 100,000 people why not consider over the next two years I will work steadily, learning from others, to develop a programme that can reach100,000 people.

Do you see the difference between the two approaches?

As a Social Entrepreneur, I often look to people who have made a big impact on social issues for inspiration and advice. One of the very first books I read, was Business Unusual from Body Shop founder Anita Roddick. I was lucky, I read this before I even learnt about conventional business properly. I credit this book for keeping me outside the box.

More recently, I read Richard Branson's Screw Business as Usual, it was refreshing to see the book start by talking about the Arab Awakening and the War on Drugs. In this book that has been highly rated by entrepreneurs, Richard shows clearly how doing social good is good for business.

Business (especially social business) does not happen in a vacuum and while we can't solve all problems we can certainly have a stab at those within our circle of influence. Steven Covey's book, Seven Habits of Highly a Effective People, is a great read for learning about how to expand our influence.

I am a #womansocialentrepreneur.

I feel so lucky. At 23, I fell in love. I found my passion in life when I set up an organisation in South London to give children growing up in social housing estates around Camberwell and Peckham similar opportunitiesopportunities to those growing up in West Dulwich. Living on a Council Estate myself, I just could not abide the thought that my own child would not have the same chance as some other child. Over the years, I have learnt that this sense of fairness and #socialjustice is what drives me.

I remember reading Education Otherwise and getting very fired about alternatives to school.

The organisation I started in 1993, Lighthouse Children's Foundation, with only 5 children in my local library became a £500,000enterprise with 35 staff when I exited in 2002.

I am a #womansocialentrepreneur