I was asked why I do what I do recently which prompted me to do some god forbid...thinking! I do find the motivations of others extremely interesting so here's mine if anyone wants to follow!
I am the Development Director of Network 2012 and also work part time in a consultancy capacity at the House of St. Barnabas in Soho.
The last 10 years of my life I have worked in the homelessness sector in a variety of jobs but for the most part have been involved in motivational and personal development programmes helping others turn their lives around for the better.
My ability to do this for the most part stems from my own experiences in life and learning how to put those experiences to good use.
To understand my motivation and to explain it I suppose I need to start in my somewhat chequered past. A past that involves, criminal behaviour, anger, violence, drugs, alcohol, compulsive gambling and finally a period when I was homeless myself.
Suffice to say that within all of that there are acts that I am far from proud of.
I was 38 years old when due to a number of factors both internal and external I began to face up to myself and who I had become and although that was a painful and personal process that took place over a number of years I can safely say I would not be doing what I am now without going through it.
So I went through the process, took stock, acknowledged my mistakes and wrong doings and through some good fortune (a term I never thought I would be able to use in relation to myself) came to look at my skills and talents and the positive parts of me I could make use of to atone for the past. At that point in my life the main question for me was a very simple one; how could I be useful?
It was about this time that I began to volunteer in the homelessness sector. I began as a “service user” a term used to describe those people like myself accessing the services of homelessness organisations, on a 12 personal development programme. It was on this programme that I realised I had skills I could use and that with the right attitude those skills could actually prove useful to others.
I soon became a volunteer with the same charity, moved on to employment with them and within 2 years I was managing one of the charities personal development programmes.
I really began to think deeply about homelessness and social exclusion in general during this time, particularly I have to say through the lens of my own experience. I had been an angry young (and not so young) man. I saw the world as unfair and unjust but instead of doing something about it I simply opted out. I socially excluded myself! Not only that I was proud of it too! I wasn’t going to be a part of “their unjust system” I would step out and make my own way in life. Quite delusional considering I was claiming benefits but nevertheless it was the way I thought.
It was only when I was 38 years old (quite sad really) and with a somewhat increased confidence in my own abilities that someone said to me there are other ways of making a point than stepping away from something and that I could step into something and by stepping into it make a real difference. This inspired me and gave me something to work towards. Roughly 10 years on and without blowing my own trumpet I know I have changed people’s lives for the better and I also know I’ve saved lives.
Network 2012, founded by Tom Howat and I in early 2007 has become for me part of a longer term vision to continue my work in the last 9 or 10 years but on a larger scale.
When I think of myself, and my past I try not to focus on regret but I do find myself wishing at times that change for me had come earlier in life. I wasted my talents for far too long. As little as 15 years ago I would have laughed if someone had said that I would be running my own business now.
I know from my work in the homelessness sector that there are many people like me, many people with talents they don’t know they have and many people who are struggling to find a use for themselves. So that is why I do what I do; I do it to find them and to give them the opportunity to make a bigger and better contribution to society.
At Network 2012 we are in the process, through our own efforts, of developing a fund to help those people who might never otherwise get the opportunity to set up their own small business or social enterprise; to give them an opportunity to contribute to the greater good rather than sitting out their lives not exercising their talents and quite frankly (as I was) being a drain on themselves, their families and the rest of society.
Social exclusion and homelessness is a drain on all of us and it reduces the efficiency and productiveness of the country as a whole. To quote a well worn phrase; “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” As we view it, homelessness is only the tip of the iceberg of social exclusion in the U.K. There are many wasted lives around us, many people without opportunities and many with skills and abilities they do not recognise in themselves.
What I love about using business and social enterprise to address these issues and I will talk more about this in further posts on this blog is that it can give a higher vision, drive, an outlet for long suppressed creativity and an ability to contribute to the bigger picture as well as a degree of independence and self sufficiency to the individual.
My business partner Tom Howat has a very different history to my own. An ex member of the British Armed Forces he is motivated by helping those that have served their country, yet found themselves homeless. I’m unsure of the figures as accurate figures are hard to come by but there was a time that the figure bandied about was that 25% of all the people homeless in the U.K at any given time had a forces background. Again, a huge waste of talent and expertise!
The fund we are about to develop will give both of these groups and a mixture of the two the ability to make a new start in life and we are going into an exciting phase of the development of that fund where we will develop an income through a new Network 2012 initiative called Save & Give.
This initiative should be ready for launch towards the beginning of July and involves a number of partners selling high quality and cost effective goods and services through a specially dedicated page on our website. Network 2012 earns a commission on these goods and services and our members receive a discount. Half of Network 2012’s commission will go into our business development fund for those we seek to assist.
As part of our Save & Give initiative in July we will be running the first in a series of special training events delivered by highly experienced professionals, where participants learn practical self-confidence skills whilst helping towards Network 2012 dedicated Social Fund.
We are kicking off this new initiative with a series of special two-day training courses to teach members of the general public how to protect oneself and others in a dangerous situation.
These courses will be delivered by world famous special forces soldier and military author Robert Stirling. Robert trains Paratroopers and Elite Special Forces Units of armies across Europe in unarmed combat.
The first training course runs over two days on July 10th and 11th. It will cost money but by participating we can guarantee that you can help yourself and help others at the same time!
Motivation
