There have been more businesses started already this year then in any other time in history.  Why?  It’s because people are realizing the need to take control of their own financial future.  And, with your own business, you get to choose what it is, what you do, who your customers are and what you stand for in the world.

It’s also an opportunity for you to create positive change in the world.  Here are three quick strategies for doing that:

(1)  Set up your business so that you leave people better than you found them.  Your business itself is a force for good in other people’s lives.

(2) Earmark a portion of your profit to support causes that speak to your heart.

(3) Rally your clients, vendors, employees, ICs, anyone associated with your business around your causes to give part of their time and most importantly, their talents, to causes you support.

When times are hard, it’s tougher to find the time, money and heart space to do anything other than take care of yourself and your family.  And it’s never been more important.  When you pledge money, and honor that pledge, you are making a promise to the future.  It’s demonstrating a belief in yourself and your business beyond today.  It’s truly a wealth belief that transcends time.  You will be empowered when you do!

Here’s what we are doing:  My businesses have always been about empowering others to take control of their own wealth, to keep more of what they earn.  That means creating and implementing powerful tax strategies that control when and how much you pay in taxes.

On a personal note, we’re emotionally connected to charities related to children in Mexico.  We adopted our son David from a Mexican orphanage and ever since that time, we’ve seen each child as just like the son we love so dearly.  

We’re now living on the coast in Baja California.  We’re trying it out for a year and we’ll see what happens after that.  We’re in a more affluent part of Mexico, so there isn’t the crushing poverty and hopelessness you see in cities like Juarez where David came from.  But still, there isn’t a great support system.  School is free, but very expensive uniforms are mandatory and the children have to pay for standardized tests.  Plus, the kids have to be immunized and have birth certificates.  Those requirements keep hundreds, perhaps thousands, of kids out of school each year in this area.  

Our family toured schools in our area this past year.  We saw the free public (class sizes of 30-50 kids), the lower cost private (class sizes of 20-30) and the exclusive private.  The exclusive private are phenomenal, by the way.  Best I’ve seen anywhere.  

Kids aren’t starving in the orphanages here and they have clothes, but not all get to go to school.  So, that’s how we’re helping.  We toured a school along with two girls.  One was going to start this year if she could get the money for uniforms, books and get her immunizations caught up.  The other should have started last year, but didn’t have the money.  They were evaluated, met the teachers, got a tour and got to play on the playground.  When it was time to go, the youngest started silently crying.  She didn’t want to leave.  I think the monkey bars might have been more of a draw than the library, but I was still touched by how much she wanted something a lot of us take for granted.

The two girls start school, for the first time for both of them, on 8/25. 

What moves you?  What difference do you want to create?