"Ask John Anything": why did I start Social Focus Consulting?

"Ask John Anything" is an opportunity for our team members, the Social Folks, to ask our Founder/Managing Director, John Paul de Silva, pretty much anything with the goal of increasing transparency, communication, and collaboration.

"Would be interested in why you started SFC from completing your MBA. Why not get industry experience first? Would love to hear your career path." - anonymous

Fresh out of the MBA, I was looking for marketing roles and while doing so, took the opportunity to participate in a case competition involving a non-profit. Although I thought it would be a great networking opportunity and resume builder, more than anything, I felt it would be fun to finally work with non-Queen's MBA people again.

In working with this team, and eventually getting 2nd place out of 12 teams, I recognized how effective it was to apply a business approach and strategies to a non-profit problem. Solving a non-profit problem really is no different from solving a corporate problem - simply, there are revenue issues and there are resource issues. What was great about solving this case is that due to the resource constraints of this non-profit, as it is in most non-profits, we had to be very creative in the solutions that we developed. That was very exciting to me as I highly value creativity.

After the case competition, I followed up with the case competition client and approached the organization to do a full consulting project. I formed a team consisting of my Queen's MBA classmates and we developed an innovative monthly giving program that featured exclusive on-line volunteer opportunities for members.

Eager for more, I began work on a corporate sponsorship valuation and acquisition strategy project. While working on all these projects, I was still looking for full-time work and felt that it would be best to group all these projects under one banner, so I formed Social Focus Consulting in December 2011.

Why I stopped looking for work and concentrate on SFC is best saved for another time :)

I'll end off all "Ask John Anything" entries with a song that best reflects how I feel about the above:

Naughty by Nature - Everything's Gonna Be Alright