This Saving the World Thing is Hard

photo by jaygoldman

Orlando is beaming with excitement right now. In the midst of an NBA title run for the first time in 15 years, we are a few shots and stupid, stupid mistakes from being up 3-1. The town has been painted blue and white. There are posters, signs, huge wall murals, Superman capes and cheezy t-shirts everywhere you look. And while Orlando and Central Florida are optimistic about a title run (even though Kobe might have us in check now) the city is still not ready to accept social change.

With the launch of Talk For Hunger publicly 2 weeks ago, it has been eye-opening and humbling to hear the stories of the vendors in their first weeks of changing not only their lives but the views of the homeless in our community. The vendors, along with Chris and the interns, have heard everything from "I don't support the homeless, they are all lazy panhandlers" to cold shoulders, fake cell phone conversations to down right "NO."

The Struggle For Local Social Change

It has been a bitch to get people to listen and open their minds to new ideas of improving our community. The local Orlando Chamber told us to get a membership and call the Coalition. When pursuing local advertisers we have heard words so downright awful it makes it hard to go into the next establishment. Here's a quote you can use

I hate the homeless, they come in and fuck up our bathrooms.

So how does anyone begin to implement new ideas and change society?

It starts "one by one." One person that opens up and walks in the door, goes out in the world and talks and then that talking, over time, becomes a tribe.

With blogging, we all work hard, write cool stuff and promote our posts to gain new readers one by one. Some achieve this feat faster than others and some just like finding one new reader a day, a week maybe even one new person a month who wants to hear their views, opinions and ideas.

With a business it starts with one patron at a time. You can't pack the house until that first customer walks through the door. That first customer brags about the service, food, products, etc, and that spreads to the best kind of business you can possibly have.

With your career, it starts with one job at a time. You get that entry level BS job at the firm that is supposed to suck out your life for 40 years, only to see that you are gaining skills, building relationships and preparing yourself for your next career move. Then you start building your career, your brand and your life based on one opportunity at a time.

With Talk For Hunger we only sold more than 10 issues in 1 day once. That's a shot in the gut for us, when we looked at models from South Florida and Chicago where individual vendors were selling 100-200 a day. But one-by-one we are building the brand, spreading a message and letting the readers, businessmen and women and everyone in between know that we are there making a difference.

Being the New Kid on the Block

photo by miskan

It doesn't matter if you are starting a business, helping the homeless or becoming a rock star, the beginning is both fun and shitty. It is exciting to see people like Jun Loayza stay on track despite living week to week. It is inspiring to see someone who panhandled his way to $20 a day, go out and create a life for himself while only making $10 a day. It is awesome to see someone challenge themselves to quit their day job or travel the world all while paving the way for others to do the same.

It's scary to see people leave conformity and comfort in the pursuit of an ideal lifestyle. It's hard to start a mission to save people the world has forgotten about. It's tough to give attention to anyone but yourself when faced with economic stress.

Being the new kid on the block with a mission to enhance lives, including your own, takes some balls, it takes character, planning, determination and will power to see the outcome to the end. That's a lot to ask of anyone, especially one with so many ambitions.

This year I made it a personal goal to employ 50 homeless in Orlando. I made it a goal to make a living doing the stuff that I love to do with the people and companies that I choose. I made it a goal to go overseas and teach technology and communication to the people that can benefit from it most. It is still going to be hard, but who the hell said saving the world was going to be easy?

I'd like to meet that guy.

-Greg Rollett

Makings of a Rock Star - Talk For Hunger Article

The following is my contribution to Issue #3 of Talk For Hunger. To learn more about Talk For Hunger and watch the sales process, please check out the Rock For Hunger Blog. If you would like a 12 issue subscription to Talk For Hunger, please click here.

The Makings of a Rock Star

Let’s start off by looking at our good friend Wikipedia and checking out the definition of a rock star. They say a rock star is “a member of a rock band, or a solo artist in the genre (the term usually implies celebrity status, or ‘stardom’).”

Let’s tweak that a little and give a better sense of the term. I define a rock star as someone who has the qualities to live their dreams, the skills to devote to the actions of those dreams and the confidence that comes with living and believing in those dreams.

Modern day Rock Stars include Oprah, Bono, Jay-Z and Barack Obama. You may attribute these individuals to their celebrity status, but it is in the believing that they can change the world through their dreams that makes them the rock stars that we know and believe in. None live a perfect life and some have even been taken off the positive path throughout their journey. All have traveled different roads with different backgrounds, but ultimately have followed their dreams to get to the position in their lives today.

Rock stars do not have to be celebrities. Anyone can dream and anyone can take action to turn that dream into a reality. Whether that is attaining financial security, career development, climbing the corporate ladder, bringing a product into society or helping another in need, we all have the abilities to be rock stars. Becoming a rock star is not an overnight process. Daily tasks and motivation are key factors in the process to attain “rock star status.”

Musicians practice diligently in their garage to perfect their craft. Then they spend months in studios recording it. Then comes playing shows, winning over fans and ultimately leveraging their network to attain their “rock star status,” it is no easy feat.

You too can become a rock star or help someone become a rock star. Help a child to read or solve math problems. Teach someone a new skill or learn a new one yourself – playing an instrument or learning how to use a new tool. Build a personal brand and put yourself in the same room and playing field as the big guys.

Dream big and take action on the little steps to start seeing that dream come to fruition. Our community is full of rock stars; they just need a stage to shine upon. How can you build the platform and life that you want?

Through Rock for Hunger, we have been able to create Rock Stars from our own community. Finding inner passion, training for skill sets and rediscovering dreams that impact an individual’s future are the types of missions and agendas that lie in our ability to impact the community.

Contact Greg at greg@rockforhunger.org and help make someone a Rock Star today!

Please consider buying a 12 issue subscription to Talk For Hunger. For $20 you get 12 issues mailed to your home, the electronic version of all 12 issues and a small donation to help pay for uniforms, badges and other operational costs. Stop Talking about the problem and be a part of the solution.