Six ways to turn you mission into a career that pays the bills
Part 3 of my Mission Clarity Series: Connection your mission with money.
Hello there, my hopemaker! I hope (repetition intended) you’re well.
If you’ve been with me the last few weeks for the Mission Clarity Series parts 1 & 2, you should now have clarity of:
✅ A cause you care about (Part 1)
✅ An understanding of how your past personal and professional experiences connect to it (Part 2)
What you may not have yet is an idea of how to turn your mission into something that pays the bills. So that’s where we’re going today.
As you and I both know, this work isn’t easy and there’s a lot more to building a sustainable, mission-driven career than fits these newsletters.
That’s where my 1-2-1 coaching comes in (psst, you’ll find a special offer for that at the end of this letter).
But treat these letters like a picnic basket: it’s not a full meal, but enough to fill you up for a while before you get a chance to sit at the table.
So, here we go.
The mental shift: Being broke doesn’t make you more noble
Before I go into the actual meat of this post, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge an important mental shift that needs to happen in most people who start to build something around their mission: accepting that mission-driven work can and needs to also make money.
I often come across the belief that because we’re doing good, we shouldn’t ask for money for it.
Yes, I agree, this can be a shaky territory to navigate but let’s look at the options:
We make money for money’s sake and forget about our mission.
We sacrifice our mental and physical health by working full-time on a job that pays the bills and do charity work on the side until we’re stressed and exhausted.
We make money only from things that do zero good for this world.
I don’t know about you but I’m not exactly excited about any of those options.
The world will never be perfect but we can still try to direct our efforts into things we care about. Even when we also need to make money.
So, making this mental shift is the first step to turning your mission into a career.
Say it with me: I can make a change and make an income. Building a sustainable financial situation for myself will help me make a lasting impact.
Thank you. Now, let’s move on to some very concrete examples of mission-driven work that pays the bills.
Six paths to making an income from your mission
Path 1: Offer a service in exchange for money (eg. consulting/coaching)
How you serve: You work 1:1 with individuals or with organisations
Who you serve: Social impact leaders and organisations in the social impact space
How it connects to your mission: Your mission guides who you work with and how you work
Example: Leadership coach who only works with social impact organisations
Revenue: Client fees
Pros: Very minimalist setup, doesn’t require more than your expertise and networks to get going, high adaptability to the clientele’s needs
Cons: You’re trading time for money, difficult to scale
Path 2: Teach and inspire others
How you serve: You share your message through talks, workshops, courses, books
Who you serve: Companies, associations, the general public
How it connects to your mission: Your mission IS your product
Example: An ex-journalist who teaches about cross-cultural communication
Revenue: Speaking fees, workshop fees, course sales, books
Pros: Every activity reinforces the other, message ties everything together and keeps things simple even though you have multiple activities going on
Cons: Requires strong commitment to a single message, may become boring/repetitive if you’re a deep thinker who is constantly developing new thoughts
Path 3: Build an online universe
How you serve: You build an audience around your mission and monetize through multiple channels.
Who you serve: An audience who shares your mission.
How it connects to your mission: You speak directly to the people who care about the mission and want to support your work.
Example: A content producer who speaks about a zero-waste lifestyle through a publication. They also offer memberships for people who want to get access to all of their DIY hacks and recipes, consult homeware manufacturers on what consumers in the zero-waste movement are missing, and have an ongoing collaboration with a water bottle brand focused on circular economy products.
Revenue: Subscriptions, sponsorships, affiliate marketing, services, products.
Pros: An online universe is highly scalable in terms of volume and width so the sky’s the limit.
Cons: Requires a solid online empire with several technology costs.
Path 4: Build a portfolio
How you serve: You combine several approaches that can involve consulting, coaching, content production, public speaking etc.
Who you serve: Organisations and individuals.
How it connects to your mission: Your mission is what connects the different domains.
Example: Designer who does client work for female-led businesses, speaks about the importance of female leadership, builds an online community of female leaders and coaches women in pursuit of leadership opportunities.
Revenue: Multiple income streams.
Pros: Allows for a very versatile career (perfect for multipassionates!), multiple income streams offer financial security, possibility to do some gigs that pay more and others that pay less or are even pro-bono.
Cons: Can be chaotic if not managed properly.
Path 5: Set up a non-profit
How you serve: You set up an organisation around your mission.
Who you serve: Individuals and/or societal stakeholders.
How it connects to your mission: Your mission is your strategy.
Example: A social work generalist sets up a non-profit dedicated to helping immigrant families. They organise events and courses to help families integrate into society, advocate for immigrant rights on the policy level and engage in dialogue about immigrant rights to healthcare.
Revenue: As a non-profit, you’re not really making revenue but funding the activities of your organisation. This usually involves fundraising and/or applying for project funding. Your personal revenue is your salary.
Pros: Allows for larger-scale operations, you can build a bigger team, more credible than one-person businesses if you want to influence political decision-making, built for longevity.
Cons: Usually tightly regulated, comes with a certain degree of bureaucracy depending on your country, requires commitment to your mission because creating impact can take time, managing multiple projects requires leadership skills, so that’s something you might need to develop if you don’t yet have it.
Path 6: Find a career at an existing non-profit or company
How you serve: You work in an organisation that addresses the mission you care about.
Who you serve: The clientele and/or stakeholders of your employer organisation.
How it connects to your mission: You choose the organisation based on its connection to your mission.
Example: A project manager joins a non-profit that does sustainability certifications for its clientele to ensure high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
Revenue: Your salary.
Pros: You get to join something that already exists and has a proven track record instead of building it from scratch. No financial risk since you’re an employee.
Cons: You’ll likely have to make some compromises regarding the way you go about things since the strategy of the company is in the hands of someone else.
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How to choose how you move your mission forward?
You’ve now gone through some examples. Did any one of them light you up? Did some of them feel like a definite no? Give yourself some time to reflect on these different options. Go back to your earlier notes from the previous letters and see how they look against these examples.
Remember that building a mission-driven career takes time and effort. You will often need at least a year to build momentum, depending on what type of model you choose. And within that time, you’ll likely finetune your mission a little and learn a lot.
Here are a few pieces of advice that I’ve put gathered after working with several non-profit leaders, innovators, academics and solopreneurs building mission-driven careers:
Don’t quit your day job or your other income streams before you have at least a solid plan for how you’re going to replace that income. Desperation can kill a mission very fast.
Consult people who have done what you’re about to do, use AI and do research. The more you know about the different paths to success and the possible pitfalls, the softer your learning curve will be. If you’re really patient, you can even work for someone who’s done what you want to do before venturing out on your own.
Prepare for some level of messiness. Building things is always an iterative process so make sure you’re open to taking a few sidesteps, refining your mission, refining the people you’re trying to reach and/or collaborate with, and tightening your strategy and messaging.
Admit when you’re wrong and ask for help when you need it. Nobody builds miracles in solitude.
Remember that even though it may take effort, it’s not impossible and the rewards will be high when you really throw yourself into it. So take some concrete steps forward even if it’s scary, even if the future looks uncertain, even if you’re unsure of exactly how you’ll go about it. Taking action will teach you more than years spent just thinking about taking action.