The Old Man and the Starfish: It ALL makes a difference....

For the last little while I have been working with PeoplePlus on a project called My-Biz.

What is My-Biz?

MyBiz has been created to help the next generation in Manchester start up their own business. We don’t just offer advice and guidance; we offer practical skills development, hands on training and a network of tailored support.

MyBiz is the first of its kind in the Greater Manchester area, formed by the combined experience of the private and public sectors. The service is a collaboration between PeoplePlus, a training and employment support provider, Nu-Traxx and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Whilst on secondment from my agency, I am doing the startup and enterprise training for them. Hopefully helping as many young people, in Manchester, aged between 18 - 24 who are not in work and want to start their own business.

In just over 6 months we have helped more than 200 young people with 1-2-1 help and started many of them on a journey of discovery around starting their own business. It's something I am really quite proud of.

However, we can help many, many more. 

And today someone asked me why I bothered helping them at all - considering the millions of other young people unemployed or underemployed.

Literally - they asked me that... 

My answer was this story below. 

Which I hope my daughter Mia will read when she is able. 

More importantly, I hope she takes the story to her heart and makes a difference to the world....

The Old Man and the Starfish
Author: Unknown

There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a frail old man. As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea.

The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand to the water. He asked, “Old man, why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?”

The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. ” But there must be thousands of beached and millions of starfish!” exclaimed the young man. 

“How can you make any difference?”

The old man looked down at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it into the safety of the sea, he said, 

“I made a difference to this one.”

Worth thinking about...