Just Start!

I came across two quotes recently that resonated so deeply with me.

The first, which I shared on my Instagram feed was “You’ll never be 100% ready. Just start.”

I believe this wholeheartedly and this is the story of how I started my social entrepreneurship journey, which I have shared a few times.

I had worked in a nonprofit for 4 years at the very start of my professional career. Then I moved into consulting for 2 years. While in consulting, I taught young women how to set-up and manage their own blogs, which expanded into computer appreciation classes, when I realised how uncomfortable they were using computers.

After I received funding to expand this project, like most people are wont to do, I tried to do this while holding down my full-time job. However, I found that trying to build-up this project while in paid employment was shortchanging both. And since the plan had always been to set-up a project or organisation to teach girls and women to use technology, I thought,

“Well, no time like the present.”

I quit my job and my social entrepreneurship journey was born.

I jumped in with both feet and nothing below to catch me should I fail. Or so I felt at the time.

I was determined to give it my best and I certainly did that. Thankfully, it all worked out, but the first few years were constant, unrelenting hard work, planning and re-strategising. My mind was always on the move, assessing situations, taking decisions, calculating and re-calculating.

And that’s how most major projects in our lives will pan out.

I’m a huge believer in preparedness. Before setting-up the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC), I had the experience of working in an extremely well-run nonprofit organisation. I already had a passion for the work, but there I developed research, project management, and proposal-writing skills. I learned how to conduct myself in meetings, how to work as part of a time, how to craft professional emails (I discovered that crafting a simple email could take 30 minutes or more to articulate my points clearly and read well).

I also read copiously on gender and technology related issues, as well as nonprofit management. But there gets to a point where you just need to take that first step and move from there.

The second quote I saw that speaks to this situation is by Mark Twain, “Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.”

If I had waited to get to that point where I was an expert on all things gender and technology related or about how to run a nonprofit, I would never have done anything. I would never have set-up W.TEC. I would never have applied for that initial grant. I would never have started that first project. And you know whey? Because today, even after 14 years of running a nonprofit, I still learn new things all the time. I still make mistakes. I still make decisions that haven’t panned out so well.

So I would never have gotten to the stage where I felt comfortable initiating a project or setting-up an organisation, because I would have never felt ready to do so.

And after 14 years of being a founder, I can most confidently say that the most important learning comes after you start, not the pre-reading you did ahead of time. It’s getting through the trials that teach you the biggest lessons and build-up your confidence that you can do (almost) anything. It’s the sleepless nights that somehow build resilience. It’s the “Thank You”s and “Well done”s that lets you know that you are doing something right after all.

So, I think that whatever your dream is, you should just start. Fling yourself into the thick of things or dip your toe in the waters, but start one thing towards achieving that life-long ambition.