It’s common to think that starting a business is a means to making money. While you can start a business to make money, strive for more than that. If the sole reason for your business is to make money, you will be more apt to give up when your business isn’t making money. Yet, if you tie a reason to why you’re starting your business, now you’re giving yourself a little extra push.

There are thousands of entrepreneurs who have started a business to not only make money, but to make an impact on the world. I like to call the entrepreneurs who also make an impact on the world while earning an income, Philanthropreneurs.

I recently had the chance to speak with Marc Angelo Coppola who is the founder behind the Superhero Academy. Marc makes an impact on others through his company in which he enables entrepreneurs and sustainable business leaders to help change the world and inspire movements of sustainability into their lifestyle!

After speaking with Marc, I asked him what he’d tell an entrepreneur who wants to start a business or already has a business and wants to make more of an impact.

Below are Marc’s 6 best actions to take when wanting to make more of an impact with your business:

1. Gain Clarity

There are a million and one businesses you can start. If you try to start too many businesses at once, you will wear yourself too thin. You’ll want to pick one business that you know more than most and one that you feel can help make an impact on others. To help gain clarity, you need to have time to yourself.

You’ll want to take a day for yourself and write potential business ideas. From there, you’ll want to research your ideas and see if there’s a viable option to starting your business or if your idea is already in a saturated market. Remember, you want the business you start to withstand the test of time and not be involved with a fad or trend.

When you pick a business idea to work with, you’ll want to make a commitment of six months to a year to allow yourself to make it through the hard times. At the end of the six months or a year, you’ll want to set an exact day where you can analyze your business which will allow you to pivot or keep going in the direction you love.

2. Understand Your Purpose

Once you have the business you want, you must determine if the business is within the realm of your purpose. Is it something you feel comfortable with? Is it something that you can see yourself doing even when times get tough?

If your business doesn’t align with your purpose, you must take another day for yourself and research your other potential business ideas. Starting a business that aligns with your purpose and makes an impact isn’t something that can be done overnight. It’s a process that can take months, even years to complete.

“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” – John F. Kennedy

3. Focus On Your Audience

Just because your business aligns with your purpose and you think it’ll make an impact, you need to be sure that your potential customers would buy your product or service. Before investing your entire life’s savings, you’ll want to test if your audience will buy your product. You can create a website, but you don’t want to blow thousands.

You can run ads but don’t spend hundreds. You’ll know within six months if you’ve created a product your audience would want. You don’t have to be perfect. Within six months doesn’t mean you are making six-figures, but it means that you have had enough people who have purchased your product that you feel in your gut could become successful if you keep working on your business.

4. Align Your Impact With Your Income

If your first business fails, don’t become discouraged. Marc said that he found too many potential entrepreneurs who give up too soon or fail without ever trying to start a business again.

There are countless stories of entrepreneurs who failed, but didn’t give up. Whatever business you end up being successful with, make sure that you always align your impact with your income. It’s tempting to start a business that only makes money without aligning to your purpose, but as stated before, when the going gets tough, you will be more likely to give up.

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” – Dalai Lama

5. Stay Focused On Your Mission

Not everything will work right when you start your business. It’s expected that you will fail, but no matter how tough it gets, always stay focused on your mission and what you’re trying to achieve.

Because you started a business that aligns with your purpose and not just to make money, you understand that your business will push you to your limits. You will go further than you ever thought was possible and in return, you’ll make more of an impact on the world and others than you thought imaginable.

6. Be Bold

No idea is too big. There’s no reason you can’t take a moonshot. Never let others tell you that your idea is stupid or impossible because it hasn’t been done before. If you 100% believe in your heart that your idea will change the world, don’t let others bring you down.

Be BOLD in your life. The bigger you think, the bigger of an impact you have, and the more of an impact you have the greater your net worth will be. The biggest takeaway I got from Marc was never to think that you can’t do something because if you believe in yourself and your idea enough, anything can be accomplished!

It was a pleasure speaking with Marc and learning how you can impact the world by starting your business. Now, don’t wait for tomorrow or the day after to gain clarity researching your potential business ideas because time moves fast and eventually one day you’ll wish you had started that business, but there won’t be any more time left and that, is not the life someone wanting to impact the world lives.

How to try to make an impact in the world? Share your ideas with us below!

Image courtesy of Twenty20.com