106: How to Go From Good Intentions to Reality with Blake Canterbury of Purposity

Summary:

The path to launching is often riddled with failed attempts and disappointments, and sometimes those new to launching start to lose heart when they’re met with obstacles at every turn. But don’t get too discouraged just yet: Sometimes the obstacles you face are an indicator you’re on the right path.

When Blake Canterbury came up with the idea for Purposity, he didn’t set out to save the world. Two years ago, he started helping kids in Georgia’s Forsyth County schools with whatever needs a school’s homeless liaison saw among students, from providing new shoes to new clothes. Then, more schools got involved, which ultimately led to the creation of Purposity, an app that makes generosity easy to do by linking users to needs in their local communities. To date, the app has more than 25,000 users and 10,000 transactions of giving in communities across the country. In today’s episode, Blake shares his thought process behind taking what originally started as a personal intention to a national philanthropic reality.

Welcome to episode 106 of the Launch Youniversity Podcast.

Links + Resources:

The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph

Purposity

096: Scott Harrison of charity: water Finds Purpose, Success Through His Non-Profit

Three Takeaways:

• Start your launch with a real problem. Look around you — what are the needs of your community? Whatever your answer to this question is, your product or idea should align with this need. When you address needs — and not just your desire to see an idea through — your idea is on the right path.

• Some investors won’t invest in your idea until you’ve failed. There will be obstacles every step of the way of your launch — this is to be expected. But take heart: Your next failed step might be what you need to get an investor to buy into your idea. Investors want to see trial and error, growth, and projected outcomes.

• Inspiration + education = action. Whether you want to inspire behavior change among your team or your potential customers, you need to first inspire and educate them through your well-communicated mission.

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