by Dr. Elaine Suderio, DNP, FNP-BC, founder and medical director of Vivash MedSpa
Business success and community service are not mutually exclusive. The same customer-facing skills that help entrepreneurs grow a successful business with a base of loyal customers or customers are essential to fostering stronger communities. Practicing your skills in serving people outside of work hours can only improve you once the workday begins.
What is consistent is this: When you help someone feel better about themselves, whether physically, emotionally, or mentally, you are not simply providing a service. You give them confidence. And confidence has a ripple effect. It changes the way people show up in their own lives. This energy comes back to you and your business in a meaningful way.
Community service also keeps you honest. As soon as you step outside of your usual environment – your neighborhood, your clientele, your comfort zone – you remember that growth doesn’t happen where things seem easy. Comfort zones can quietly lead to complacency. But when you immerse yourself in different communities, you hone your empathy, adaptability, and purpose.
This isn’t just true for small business owners who operate in a specific community. The world’s most successful entrepreneurs offer countless examples of giving back, not only financially, but also with their time and presence, that can inspire anyone. This reinforces the idea that success cannot be measured in dollars, but in the impact you have on others.
And that’s really the big picture. If you stay grounded in why you started – helping people, uplifting others – then business success becomes the byproduct of something much more meaningful.
Here are five ways community service fuels business success:
1. Serving others creates inspiration.
Being able to have a positive impact on others – whether by improving their self-confidence, promoting wellbeing, or creating a space where people feel valued and cared for – gives work a deeper meaning. Sometimes this positive impact is realized quickly; other times it takes days, weeks, months or years. Either way, it’s a critical North Star for determining how to allocate your time and money.
2. Be uncomfortable.
Reaching out to communities that exist outside of our comfort zone teaches a valuable business lesson: comfort zones breed apathy. When you grow up in a socio-economic environment with limited resources, it fosters the values of hard work, resilience and perseverance – and being comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Apathy is not an option when comfort is not a choice.
3. Profits can never be the driving force.
Success must go beyond personal or local gain and contribute to something greater. This balance between growth and giving back is what truly defines success. To maximize your impact, don’t put profits before people. When you think that your hard-earned money is saving you time that you can give to others, it gives you extra motivation.
4. Get inspiration from other entrepreneurs and professionals.
Many of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs have used their fortunes to achieve incredible things for diverse underserved populations. Before they could make widespread change, they had to build a business from scratch. Their stories remind us that success is rarely linear and that perseverance, adaptability and vision are essential. Use their lessons as motivation to continue learning, growing, and pushing beyond your comfort zone.
5. Stay focused on the big picture.
Don’t dwell on the daily difficulties of life. There are millions of people who will face greater difficulties than you today; meeting them where they are helps us put our own problems into perspective. Build a life and career that aligns with your values while helping as many people as possible along the way. View challenges as opportunities to learn and refine your approach, rather than obstacles that slow you down.
Elaine Suderio, DNP, FNP-BC is the co-founder and medical director of Vivash MedSpa, a full-service medical spa known for bringing elevated Manhattan-quality aesthetic treatments to the sophisticated neighborhoods of New York’s Westchester and Putnam counties. Dr. Suderio brings over 30 years of clinical experience, with a specialization in aesthetic medicine.
