You’re on a mission, or starting a small business. You don’t have any extra income yet. Maybe you need more income. I certainly have, over and over. A lot of people are starting up small businesses in this decade, and it’s only going to increase.

So perhaps you do have a few other things more valuable than money: a dream, energy, time, passion, an openness to change, a resiliency to take a risk. All you’re looking for is a plan of action.

We don’t need a budget to start. We’ll create value by doing something, and then get paid for it afterward.

We don’t need authority to start helping. We just need to be honest and real about ourselves, and about the people we serve. And we need to own the power of our own story and experience.

We just need to show up, stand up, and volunteer.

And then the results will stun you. They have for me.

If you feel you don’t have any spare time because you’re crushed in a 9-5, with no room to breathe, and all you want is to collapse at the end of the day… I feel your pain. I’ve felt that too. I hope something in this book gives you an opening, a permission, or a new outlook.

Everything in my field-tested plan of action here has worked for me, over and over again. Not because it’s a genius secret sauce. Because it’s all basic human effort and creativity. With enough trial and error, you’ll figure it out. You may be already doing it.

As you skip chapters and skim through it, or as you take hard notes and join along my brainwaves, I hope this acts as permission.

Permission to be yourself. I’ll come back to this a lot. This book is like a letter to my younger self, with everything I wish I’d known. I don’t mean that from a ‘marketing’ and ‘do-better-business’ standpoint.

Doing great business makes you into a greater person.

All that falls into place when we have a solid sense of self, and believe deep down that our own approach to doing good and being leaders is as important as anyone else’s.

As you read through these pages, you’ll learn more about my own story, all the insane ups and downs, and all the creative energy I’ve put into exploring my skills and how to serve people with them. Each time, I never had an advertising budget, and no way to get certified by a professional board. It’s been hard. And worth it.

And I’ve changed a lot since I’ve started this process. As I’ve grown, I’ve become more willing to swallow my pride and own my mistakes. To see them as lessons. Things I thought were important, parts of my identity I was sure were set in stone, melted away. That’s the point of life, isn’t it? To melt away, or grind away, the rough edges and reduce suffering, to help people live better lives and know a measure of peace.

We can’t forget ourselves along the way. A burned out leader will default to old habits and survival-based thinking, instead of serving people from a place of calm and purpose.

This book works best if you do have some kind of financial baseline. Some people say that you grow wings on the way out of the nest, as you fall to the ground. Because that’s when you actually need them.

That has been my own experience, over and over again. I don’t recommend it. It’s lonely. Hard. Scary.

Start growing those wings now. These chapters will help you get the basics of branding, marketing, and audience connection - by setting you up as a leader.

What’s more valuable than money?