Episode 12
Pitch, achieve & grow
This episode and the previous episode go hand in hand. While before we talked about sales and methods of income generation, this lesson is about the enigmatic sales pitch. We'll explore different methods of pitching so you can figure out which kind best suits your needs.
Social Entrepreneurs Discuss
Further Reading
As a social entrepreneur, it is important to celebrate moments of success. When forming your social enterprise, it can take a lot of time for things to develop, so make sure you are celebrating the milestones! These will be moments like being constituted, the first pilot project; the first grant funding; even your first set of financial accounts. With that in mind, here is some advice regarding how you can achieve and grow both the social and commercial components of your social enterprise.
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As a social entrepreneur, it is important to celebrate moments of success. When forming your social enterprise, it can take a lot of time for things to develop, so make sure you are celebrating the milestones! These will be moments like being constituted, the first pilot project; the first grant funding; even your first set of financial accounts. With that in mind, here is some advice regarding how you can achieve and grow both the social and commercial components of your social enterprise.
Social
Social goals vary massively depending on who your beneficiaries are and what support they require. Achieving social impact can often be more difficult to define than financial impact as the social impact is less tangible. However, we recommend setting some social goals to help you realise the impact you are creating. Some goals might be easier to set (such as working with X number of beneficiaries). In contrast, qualitative outcomes require more depth to uncover the difference you are making in the lives of your beneficiaries. Whilst growing the organisation will allow you to increase your reach and create more impact for marginalised adults, be careful that you are not reducing the quality of service provision. Make sure that you have the staffing, the time, and the space to be as inclusive as possible so that beneficiaries still value your service.
Commercial
Social enterprises can struggle to achieve commercial sustainability. As mentioned in previous episodes, it is pivotal that your social enterprise has trading avenues and that you are not solely reliant on grant funding. Setting financial targets can be a good way to gauge if your enterprise will create enough turnover to be sustainable. Whilst being financially sustainable is essential for your organisation to operate, commercial growth can negatively impact your social enterprise's social mission. Within the social enterprise sector, there is a concept called ‘mission drift’. Mission drift is when social enterprises begin to focus more on the organisation's financial mission, with the social mission receiving less attention. Often this change can be incremental and subconscious as social enterprises look to scale and grow. Mission drift means less time, energy, and resources are spent on the social mission. Therefore, be aware of how growth can change your organisation, and try your best to find that balance to ensure that your social and commercial missions are being met.
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Resources
The launch of the Strategic Plan for the development of social enterprise in the County of Wicklow.
Prince's Trust has some really helpful business plan packs, templates and financial tables accessible in multiple file formats. Much of the information they ask you to think about you've already got covered from completing the Summit Social activities! If it's helpful, you can use these (slightly more formal) templates to refresh yourself, revise and finalise your plans, or if you're feeling confident, you can keep what you've got already in the Summit Social format enclosed with the cover page linked in the somewhere.
A video explaining how to grow and scale your social enterprise.
The national body for social enterprises in Ireland. You might recognise this resource from the first episode, but now you're about to complete your Summit Social journey you'll likely have fresh eyes in using this resource!
Another good template is this cash flow forecast template by Start Up Loans. A cash forecast is an estimation of the money you expect your business to bring in and pay out over a period time. It should reflect all of your likely revenue sources (like sales or other payments from customers) and compare these against your likely business expenses (like supplier payments, premises rental and tax payments). Again, we've covered projections in the activities you have completed, but this is more detailed.
Activities
Your final activities are to plan, write and practice a sales pitch, and to think about what you want to have achieved a year from now. It's clear now you're at the end of your summit social journey — you should have all your ducks in a row ready to launch yourself into the first stages of opening up your enterprise to the public. Well done for getting this far.
Now that you've completed all of the activities, you can compile them together to use as a reference for your next endeavours. Just below the activities there is a cover page you can download so that you can keep all of your work together. Print it out or keep it virtually — regardless, you now have the tools and insight to move your social enterprise into the world!
Now that you've completed all of the activities, you can compile them together to use as a reference for your next endeavours. Just below the activities there is a cover page you can download so that you can keep all of your work together. Print it out or keep it virtually — regardless, you now have the tools and insight to move your social enterprise into the world!
Episode Summary
Summit Social has provided you with some of the key skills you need to launch your social enterprise, from conceptualising your idea to being able to sell your services. We hope you now have the knowledge and confidence to develop your idea into a fully-fledged social enterprise. All that is left to say is best of luck on your entrepreneurial journey. Remember that you are not alone. Speak to friends, contacts, and family members if you need pastoral support. Also, County Wicklow has many additional resources and avenues of support to help you develop and grow your social enterprise.
Finally, be kind to yourself. Building a social enterprise takes time, and the journey has many peaks and troughs. Be guided by the knowledge that by setting up a social enterprise, you are positively contributing to society and helping marginalised individuals across Irish communities.
Finally, be kind to yourself. Building a social enterprise takes time, and the journey has many peaks and troughs. Be guided by the knowledge that by setting up a social enterprise, you are positively contributing to society and helping marginalised individuals across Irish communities.
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