Day 10 Goal
Your goal this week is to determine where you are volunteering your time for free right now.
This may include community service, church, service organizations, etc. It may also be the free advice you provide to family, friends and others.
How to Make it Happen
We all have 24 hours in a day, and I imagine you’re filling your days with both work and non-work stuff. In a world that is increasingly driven by busy-ness, your time is more valuable than ever.
Today, I’m asking you to look at your day-to-day schedule and find every place where you’re spending time on projects or people without being paid. The point here is to figure out whether you can combine your volunteer work with your efforts to build your brand and business.
There are two basic types of volunteer work: (1) “pure” volunteering with a church, service organization, non-profit, etc.; and (2) providing your business products and services for free.
Pure Volunteering
First, “pure” volunteer work is very important. No matter what kind of business you operate, these groups need human volunteers to keep them alive. Your volunteer efforts help positively impact lives and communities, and you should definitely keep up the great work.
If you do this kind of volunteer work, write down:
- the name of each organization you serve;
- how you volunteer for them; and
- with what frequency you volunteer.
Once you create this list, consider whether you can leverage your expertise by not only donating unstructured time, but by teaching people within these groups about your expertise.
For example, if you’re starting a new financial planning business, and you’re a member of a fraternity, sorority, or church, perhaps you can volunteer to host a workshop on the basics of saving money. This allows you to volunteer your time, give people information for free, practice delivering what you know, and possibly gain future (paying) clients.
Giving Free Advice Away
Second, you can provide your skills, products and services for free to other people. With your expertise and reputation, you likely receive those “quick question” and “can I pick your brain” emails/texts often. Write down the most common instances of this.
You can find a good balance of free and not-free when it comes to unsolicited requests for free help. Check out the below episode of The Shontavia Show for suggestions on how to get out of the (unpaid) friend zone in business.
Listen to the Shontavia Show in audio form instead!
In summary, my suggestions from the Shontavia Show are to:
- Create a website and add common questions there as blog posts;
- Create content regularly that addresses high level questions people ask all the time; and
- Send that information to people who want free advice, suggesting that additional services can be purchased.
After you’ve had a chance to answer your Day 10 questions, share your answers with me on social media by tagging me @shontaviajesq on all platforms and using the #VisionChallenge hashtag so that I can see them. Or, you can comment directly below.
If nothing else, take a picture of your completed workbook page(s) so that I know you’re doing the homework!
Join my support network
In addition, studies show that you’re more likely to meet your goals when you have accountability partners! To work together with a supportive community of other side-hustlers, creatives and entrepreneurs, you can join my private group by clicking this link or via the Mighty Networks App.
Download the Mighty Network app by clicking here. Once it downloads, click “Find a Mighty Network” and search for Shontavia Johnson. You’ll find accountability partners and other content there that I may not share elsewhere.
New to the #VisionChallenge? You can learn more about it, and sign up to take the challenge, by clicking here.
Sometimes I will refer you to other books, products or services. While I may be an affiliate of these companies, creators, or authors, these are all things I have used and trust. I would not recommend these things to you if I hadn’t experienced them myself.