No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Oscar Wilde. Do good deeds and the people that do them get smashed? Is it worth intervening in somebody else's life or not?

1. Volksrust Recorder - Column/Rubrieke10 Recorder 1 July 2016
Change
Your
Story
With Jacques de Villiers
No Good Deed
Goes Unpunished
Volksrust Seme
Business Chamber
Forfurtherinformation:
Jacques de Villiers 082 906 3693
www.jacquesdevilliers.com
I have one of the worst habits in the world.
I’m a fixer, or more to the point, a “people-
fixer”. I believe I can take a broken wing and
mend it.
So, being a fixer, I stick my fat nose into
situations that I should rather stay out of.
Of course, I’m not so crass as to call myself
a fixer. I couch the word differently. I like to
say that I want to make a difference in
peoples’ lives. Heck, I even chose a career
where I can fix people, sorry, “make a
difference”. I’m a professional speaker and
trainer helping other people fix their lives
and improve their situations. I think I even
put it on my website
www.jacquesdevilliers.com once: “I want to
make a difference”.
It’s taken me a while (like 33 years) to realise
that trying to fix things is an exercise in
futility and can lead to a world of pain.
It’s taken me a while to get that I’m more
broken than those I try and mend. That I try
and mend others because it is easier than
dealing with myself.
Oscar Wilde said that “No good deed goes
unpunished”. I think he’s right. I recall
having a girlfriend whose father was killed
in Soweto. He was killed by the very people
he was helping. You’ve been around long
enough to have heard about religious
preceptors who have been killed by someone
in the community they serve. Teachers that
get beaten up by their pupils. Parents that
are killed by their children. Yeah, yeah, I
know the Bible bangs on about the Good
Samaritan. I dunno. More often than not it
doesn’t turn out too well for the Good
Samaritan.
I’ve pondered why the Good Samaritan gets
smashed up. Even the ultimate fixers don’t
get out unscathed - next time you pray, why
don’t you ask Jesus, Mohammed, Moses,
This is how many people South African
start-ups employ
By News24Wire June 29, 2016
For more information, please call
Willem Hussel-mann - 082 415 7725
Freddie Kapp - 017 735 4444
Ashraf Moola - 082 588 5515
Nearly 50% of start-ups say they created a
business out of an idea that came to them
from the environment in which they live,
while 85% of all start-ups are self-funded.
These are two findings of South Africa’s
largest start-up survey announced on
Tuesday by Donna Rachelson, chief
executive officer of SeedAcademy.
The survey was conducted this year by Seed
Academy when the views of almost 1 500
start-up entrepreneurs in South Africa were
gauged.
Nearly 50% of the entrepreneurs surveyed
said creating a business out of an idea that
came to them from the environment in which
they live, work and play was their main
motivating factor. Only 4% of respondents
started a business because they were unable
to find a job.
Rachelson said this is a positive sign for
SouthAfrica’s entrepreneurial ecosystem as
most entrepreneurs are starting businesses
for the right reason. “But only 4% of
entrepreneurs surveyed employ more than
10 staff.
As many as 38% of start-up entrepreneurs
do not employ anyone at all. Job creation
should be a key outcome of entrepreneurial
activity, yet a large portion of our
entrepreneurs have no employees.”
Employee numbers for SA start-ups:
* 0 – 38%
* 1 – 16%
* 2 – 15%
* 3-4 – 19%
* 5-10 – 8%
* 10+ – 4%
The 2016 start-up survey explores the
challenges start-ups face and the support
they need to increase success rates. “This
year we sought an understanding of
grassroots entrepreneurs, focused in on
youth and women entrepreneurs and looked
at the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in
key sectors. We also gauged the progress
made in funding for entrepreneurs,” said
Rachelson.
The survey revealed that entrepreneurs are
taking long periods to gain traction.
Rachelson says it is concerning that there
are businesses five years and older that are
not making sales.
The survey found that business survival
rates are on the increase, female
entrepreneurs remain in the minority and that
the ethnic footprint of entrepreneurs does
not mirror SA’s demographics – black start-
up entrepreneurs are underrepresented.
“While the percentage increase in the age
of the businesses is small, the fact it is
increasing is a step in the right direction,”
said Rachelson.
“Our entrepreneurs are resilient. They are
primarily working from home and funding
themselves with small amounts of capital
while facing the well-known challenges of
finding customers and raising finance.
“The majority of entrepreneurs (59%) are the
sole founders of their business. But they
are optimistic, especially women business
owners.”
The majority of entrepreneurs reported
starting businesses in the information
technology (22%), creative (12%), wholesale
and retail (9%) or social and community
services (9%) sectors. Mining and
Automotive were amongst the least popular
sectors for aspiring entrepreneurs.
A significant outcome was the fact that prior
work experience is a major contributing factor
in business survival. Business owners that
have been in existence for more than 2.5
years reported having more than 10 years
prior work experience.
Rachelson recommends that entrepreneurs
starting a new business may wish to do so
in parallel with full time employment.
Rachelson outlines recommendations that
all players in the small business ecosystem
need to consider:
* Enhancing the funding ecosystem by
improving the effectiveness of Development
Finance Institutions (DFIs), developing the
angel network, working with banks and using
seed funds
* Preparing entrepreneurs to be funding-
ready
* Elevating marketing, access to markets and
soft skills development for entrepreneurs
* Fast-tracking the development of women
and youth entrepreneurs
* Facilitating stronger public/private sector
collaborations and
* More aggressively embedding a culture
of entrepreneurship across the country.
"Things are going to
turn out as they will
without any interference
on our parts. Tomorrow
the sun will rise in the
east and set in the west".
Noah and Abraham amongst others, how
they fared in the fixing business. They’ve
been spat on, cursed and endured untold
suffering at the hands of those they’re
supposed to have helped. So, if they can’t
get it right, how arrogant is it to think that
mere mortals like you and me can pull it off?
Maybe the human is an arrogant, ungracious
and selfish moment in time.
Maybe when someone helps us we feel that
we owe them a debt and that makes us feel
extremely uncomfortable. So, much so that
we get up to the most unimaginable mischief;
lashing out and generally behaving badly.
Or maybe it’s as simple as feeling shame.
Being ashamed that we haven’t cracked the
code to living a life of elegance and
eloquence. Having to get help from someone
else is always an inelegant solution because
it feels as if one owes a debt to the Good
Samaritan.
Of course, the fixer also needs to go inside
and figure out his or her intent. Is their help
conditional? Is the fixer trying to get some
reward? Does the fixer think that mending
others gives him or her extra points to secure
his or her place in “Heaven”? Is the fixer
cowardly like me and doesn’t want to deal
with his own brokenness so he distracts
himself by mending others?
I’m starting to lean strongly to an aphorism
from one of my spiritual teachers, Etsko
Schuitema: “We are not here to fix things.
We’re here to witness that they work”.
I think that’s about right. Things are going
to turn out as they will without any
interference on our parts. Tomorrow the sun
will rise in the east and set in the west.
Tomorrow people will still be murdering,
stealing, cheating and behaving appallingly.
Tomorrow people will still be loving, gentle,
kind and behaving benevolently. Our fixing,
cursing and anger won’t make an iota of
difference to this cycle.
But, if you are afflicted by the “fixer” curse,
then direct your benevolence and focus to
where it will be the most useful - to yourself.
I suppose I can’t really say it better than
Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change you wish
to see in the world.”
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