(Side Note:  I realize, of course, that it may be difficult to understand exactly what I mean, as I am still being exceptionally vague about what I’m up to. I hope you can understand and go with the flow for a while, because I don’t think I can reveal the concept until I have it firmly pinned down and am a little farther down the road.)

So, this morphing of my original idea into a larger idea is leading to some trepidation on my part. Having accepted a new, full-time job, can I really pull off the launch of an idea that is getting bigger? Does this “bigger” idea even make sense? Should I keep the “merging” ideas separate after all?

While I work on answering these questions for myself, I plan to continue my background research. Because my plan involves launching a nonprofit organization (that’s about as specific as I’m going to get for a while), I decided to find some helpful resources related to launching or finding support for a nonprofit. I’ll include a full list of what I found in my next post, but I wanted to point out one in particular:

Stanford Social Review Article on “Creating High Impact Nonprofits”

This article is a precursor to the book Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits by Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant. I’m sure some of you are well aware of this book or own a copy. If not, however, this article is a great (and free) summary.

Next week:  Back on schedule, I will share some advice and insight I’ve received during my recent research and background interviews.

No matter how committed you are to carrying out a vision, sometimes you have to pull back a bit and take care of the day-to-day concerns (like paying the bills). I’ve been caught up in these concerns and I’ve fallen behind on the plans I laid out in my first post.

For me, the past few months have been a time of transition. Until April, I had been working at a job that took me to Baton Rouge four days a week. It was exhausting.

When I left that job, it was to begin contract work here in New Orleans. The idea was that working on contract would provide me more time to focus on developing my idea and launching the venture. Well, for a time, things were generally going according to plan (though the contract work kept me busier than I thought it would) and I was proceeding with caution. But then, a funny thing happened:  My contract work led to a full-time offer. A good offer.

While I certainly had to think about it, in the end, it was a no-brainer. I’ve been enjoying what I’m doing and the people for whom I’ve been doing it. I accepted.

Now, don’t take this announcement the wrong way. This doesn’t mean that my blog here is wrapping up after only two posts. That is definitely not the case. I’m proceeding with my “side venture” one way or another and that means I will still be stumbling through all the standard start-up stuff, conducting all the background research I discussed in my previous post, and posting about my various struggles and (hopefully) successes. I hope you stick with me and, if you feel so inclined, chime in with advice when you see the need.

I suppose that’s a natural question to ask as one sets about writing something, whether it be a blog such as this, an article, or a book. But that’s not how I mean it.

No, for me, the question is about business. Specifically, it’s about the business that I’m about to start. That’s right, I’ve finally decided to take a step (a major one) that I’ve been considering for a long time:  Becoming an entrepreneur.

My name is Rob Anderson, and before I go into the specifics of my plan, I should explain that I don’t have an MBA or a typical “business” background and I’m not an inventor. I’m just a guy with a passion for New Orleans, a desire to make at least a tiny difference in this community, and an idea. The idea involves the development of a (hopefully) unique and engaging way to address a problem that has long plagued this city and, indeed, our entire country. It’s not so much a “money-making” idea, but an idea that is based on bringing about social change.

In other words, I’m starting a non-profit. And this gets me back to my initial question:  Where to begin?

To me, it seemed like the best idea would be to do some basic research on what it takes to launch a new nonprofit. It seemed like a logical first step, and I knew it might be a relatively easy one, as I’m not going into this project completely blind. Almost two years ago, I was part of a group that launched a local, free medical clinic and outreach program called Luke’s House and I currently serve on its board of directors. This experience provided me with a taste of what it took to get a nonprofit organization off the ground.

Still, I knew that going it alone would be a completely different experience and would require more knowledge of the particulars. That’s why I began to seek out organizations or individuals who could provide me with the information and guidance that I required.

An initial round of Web searching led me to several potentially helpful sources:  the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations (LANO), the New Orleans-based Nonprofit Central, and a national group, the Foundation Center. I also found helpful information on GeauxBiz.com, a new site produced by the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office, and LegalZoom.com.

In my next update, I will describe some of the specific information I gleaned from these resources and provide snippets of advice I received from one-on-one conversations. I will also address the question that came to mind after I finished my initial research: What’s next?

In case you simply can’t wait to know what my next step will be, I’ll give you a little teaser:  More research. I know, it doesn’t sound that thrilling to me either, but it makes sense. After talking with several people who have knowledge of such things (including an LSU business professor, another entrepreneur, and SENO’s own Andrea Chen), it has become clear that I need to examine the “market” to determine exactly where my little non-profit will fit in the bigger picture. More precisely, I must determine how much of a need there is for an organization such as mine (if, in fact, there is a need at all). More on this in the weeks to come.

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