5 Skills You Can Take From Volunteering to Running a Business Applying your drive to running a business in your community expands the reach you offer through volunteering, increasing your life satisfaction through a rewarding career.

These past few months have provided most of us with more time to spend around family and more time looking at the world around us. Communities have come together, and many people have increased their level of volunteering—you may have helped coordinate the fostering of pets or a new food distribution center. If the satisfaction you get from volunteering (and the state of the world) has you rethinking your career, we've pinpointed five remarkable skills you've been building that can easily transfer to running your own similarly rewarding business.

1. Leadership

Warren Bennis said, "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality," and participating in community projects has helped you do just that, increasing your ability to lead others and successfully meet goals. Bring this skill to running your own business, and you'll find that the ability to guide and mold your employees will add to your (and their) job satisfaction.

2. Communication

Volunteering takes a lot of communication on the part of the people involved, not just between each other but in getting the word out about the cause. Basically, you've developed marketing skills you can use in building a business, but it's important to find a business that aligns with your values as much as the cause you volunteer for. When people hear you speaking sincerely about how your business can benefit them, they'll feel they're being cared for rather than sold to. This is what has led to the success of many Kumon Franchisees as they observe kids in the program and share stories of how kids become not just excellent students, but students who are curious, want to solve world problems and gain the skills to do so.

3. Organization

Throughout your experience volunteering, you've seen how important it is to keep a project organized. This ability gives you an upper hand when running a new business in which there is so much to learn about your product, maintaining a customer database, finances, marketing and more. Hint: Choose to work with a franchise rather than starting a business from scratch and you'll have a head start on systems that are already proven to work!

4. Problem-Solving

Whether you're organizing a fundraiser or doling out responsibilities at a nursing home, efficient problem-solving is key to making a business run smoothly. Being able to think on your feet and find solutions that will work for your customers and your business is a fantastic skill that not everyone possesses. This pandemic has been a perfect example—some restaurant owners started offering meal delivery kits, while personal trainers jumped on Zoom to keep their businesses going. This is where working with a franchise like Kumon is so helpful because you always have a team supporting your success and providing extra guidance during difficult times.

5. A drive to help others

So, this isn't really a skill, but it is an invaluable trait. It's people like you who help our communities thrive, and when you throw that same drive into building a business, people recognize your sincerity in everything that you do and can become very loyal to you and your business. Applying this drive to running a business in your community expands the reach you offer through volunteering, increasing your life satisfaction through a rewarding career.

At Kumon, our franchisees come from different backgrounds—business, medicine, caretaking, engineering—but they all possess skills like those you've learned from volunteering. Take a moment now to learn more about Kumon by visiting KumonFranchise.com, attending a webinar, or calling us at 844.509.2644. Investment starts at just under $75,000, and Kumon provides up to $36,000 in subsidies. Plus, veterans can qualify for an extra credit of $10,000.