Flush the Toilet: Young Entrepreneurs

Remember that movie Pay it Forward? I don’t remember all the details of the movie, but I remember the main idea: a young student comes up with an idea for a class project. His idea is called “Pay it Forward” which means that every time he helps someone, that person doesn’t pay that person back, but pays someone else “forward” with an act of kindness or help; hence, paying it forward.

I absolutely love this concept and I have lived my life in that manner for as long as I can remember. As a young child, my mother instilled a sense of compassion and willingness to help others in my brothers and me.

I have since taken my mother’s wisdom with me as an entrepreneur and have never stopped giving and paying forward. As a new entrepreneur who endures the ebb and flow of making money and not, it’s not always easy to pay forward financially. However, I have always made the conscious decision to always help people financially no matter my own financial situation may be. Sound stupid? Oh well, not to me.

There have been many, many times when my parents have helped me out when I’ve ran into financial difficulties and there have been times when I have had the fortune to land good clients for various web-related projects. When good things like that happen in my life, I always make sure to “pay forward.”

I’m the person who gives that dollar to the homeless person on the street begging for something to eat; I’m the person who will always donate to the charity helping to cure world hunger; and I’m the person who’s going to help you up when you have fallen.

In no attempt am I sharing these traits of mine to make myself look “big” or to boost my ego in your eyes. I share these qualities of mine so that you may start paying forward in your own life.

As an entrepreneur, hopefully you’ll be around true people who will be willing to help you out spiritually, financially, and emotionally when you are in need. It’s very important to be around people like this – these people are your support system and if they’re truly your friends, they’ll be by your side unconditionally – no matter what.

Sure, you should practice reciprocity and seek ways to help those whom have directly helped you, but please never forget about paying forward. Use the same compassion that you have received to help someone else; someone as random as a person you meet on the street; perhaps a relative in need of your guidance; or maybe another struggling entrepreneur who can really use you in his or her corner for whatever reason.

Just keep on passing along those positive acts unto others – do that and you’ll not only become a better person and a better entrepreneur, but your contributions will help create a better world. Never stop paying forward.