Why do I care so much about Profitable Idealism?

Because turning your dreams into reality can be a long, rocky road.

As a struggling idealist, you’ve walked the tightrope between your values and your bank account. On the one side, you’ve got the pressure of paying the bills and keeping a roof over your head. On the other side, you’ve got your heart constantly whispering to you, nudging you, calling you to do work that really matters.

It can feel like you’re being pulled in two directions, pulled between the fear of being stuck forever in a meaningless job and the fear of living in a van down by the river.

Yearning for a comfortable living. Yearning for a meaningful life.

What if it were possible to have both?

What if it were possible to not just scrape by, but do well — and to do well while doing meaningful work that fills you up?

That’s why I care about Profitable Idealism. Because I want to show you exactly how it’s not just possible, but doable.

THE STORY OF PROFITABLE IDEALISM

I’m Pace, and this is my story.

Three years ago, I set out to change the world. My partner Kyeli and I had big dreams, but we didn’t know how to turn them into reality. I got caught up in the “Quit your soul-sucking day job and follow your heart” frenzy and actually gave notice at my day job before realizing that there was no way we’d be able to pay our bills if I quit.

Sometimes “leap and the net will appear” turns out to be “leap and the floor will appear.”

We slowed down. We grew our business in a way that was sustainable for us. I went down to half-time at my day job, but I didn’t quit.

Three years later, we have helped thousands of people, launched four successful products (and two flops), and we’re happier than we’ve ever been in our lives.

Now it’s time for us to give back.

We made a lot of mistakes on our path to profitability. We learned the hard way. We studied business and marketing and bought a bunch of information products, but a lot of the lessons didn’t stick because they were coming from a business perspective instead of an idealist’s perspective. Much of the advice we read felt too slimy, and we didn’t feel 100% great about implementing it. So we didn’t — and our business suffered.

Eventually I figured out how to translate all that business advice into a language that resonates with my heart, and with the hearts of our clients and customers.

I’d love to teach you how to translate it, too. I’d love to teach you everything I’ve learned about turning your world-changing idea into an ethical and sustainable world-changing business.

But I need Johnny’s help.

I asked Johnny to co-teach this course with me because we work well together, because his perspective will provide a healthy balance to mine, and because frankly, he knows more about the business side of things than I do. Even though he acts like a badass, he’s got a good heart.

Even though we came from opposite directions, Johnny and I ended up in the same place — a place where we’re making a profit and helping others by doing so.

The melding of a search for profit and an idealistic vision isn’t the jamming together of opposites, even though many of us have been trained to think that way. This course isn’t about taking a selfless mission and cheapening it by finding a way to “cash in” on it. It’s not about taking a functioning business and tacking on a token charitable donation. It’s not about selling out, and it’s not about giving for the sake of a better public image.

This is about taking a business and a mission and weaving them together like a braid. It’s about creating an entity that both gives and receives — and that does both as an essential part of its identity. It’s about building a business that doesn’t just do good things and make money, but that makes money because it does good things.

You don’t have to choose between making money or changing the world. You can have both.

---

Questions? Curious? Join us for the free Profitable Idealism teleclass, today, Friday (Feb 18) at 11:30 Pacific / 1:30 Central / 2:30 Eastern.

You can listen in online (streaming audio with a question type-in box), or you can call in at (303) 390-0043 and enter the PIN code 734346#.

We’ll post the recording this evening.

Hope to see you on the call!