I have been slowly dipping my toes into a business stream in the entrepreneurship industry, to see if it might be a good fit for me. I have two NDIS clients who wish to build additional income streams. Their chosen business models are e-commerce. My job is to support them by helping them by building websites that will allow them to conduct some of their business online. And to help them to gain the skills to manage and promote their e-commerce websites.
It is harder than it sounds. There are so many hurdles and distractions. I have to be so patient and consistently keep my eye on the destination. Hours can pass in the tangled strings of the web. Particularly in those tricky chasms where old technology and data loss can create account ownership issues and black holes.
This is just one of the challenges. It feels like quite a responsibility to be trusted with the role of helping my clients develop these income streams.
I love the opportunity to work in this way with my clients though. It has been wonderful to get to know some truly colourful and vibrant personalities. I love going out into the world and getting an intimate appreciation of the lives of people I would never otherwise meet. (And to see their wonderful living spaces!) I have a great deal of respect and admiration for my clients’ aspirational values. And I can relate to this desire to create financial freedom because it has been something I have been working towards for some time.
It is also a rewarding process because I feel like I am being effective and helpful in this role. Significantly more effective than in my role as a support worker in the mental health industry. In those psychosocial roles, I am not sure that I am making any kind of real impact. To do so, I would probably need to study Mental Health or Social Work, and I am not 100 % sure that it is a role I want to dedicate myself to. I know that being a supportive companion and providing social opportunities is a great contribution on its own, but I feel frustrated by the lack of progress in my clients’ lives sometimes, and I feel responsible for it on some level. I am not sure that I have what it takes. Or if that is valid. (As an untrained support worker, I expect I am at a disadvantage to some extent).
When working with NDIS participants who want to start up their own businesses (in this case, online shops), I have a lot more expertise that I can offer. So, it feels like I am making steady progress, even if it is slow. I feel that helping people with disabilities to build businesses they love would be such a worthwhile contribution to society, so I am keen to spend some of my week engaging in this business activity.
It will be so interesting to watch my two clients’ businesses grow!