As entrepreneurs, we have the opportunity to transform the world. Individually we drive growth, value-creation and innovation. And collectively one Maverick community of 21st century entrepreneurs can change the way business is played and the rules we use to measure success.

The guiding North Star for our group of Maverick companies is “To Change the Way Business is Played”.

That means changing the “rules” of the game and even how we keep score. And we use ‘play’ very deliberately to incorporate more fun and joy into business as well. That intersection of play and work is getting more and more blurred all the time. And then when you throw in your own core values added to your business you create an integrated whole.

And each one definitely impacts the others…

I’ve always said the more impact you create – the more profits you’ll generate. Or the more joy and happiness created, the more profits you’ll have. These are totally interconnected. You don’t have to hold on to the standard excuse of, “Oh, once we have more profits then we’ll make a bigger impact or create more fun.”

A Potentially Radical Idea…

I have something interesting for you. What if you can focus your team and customers on a compelling and engaging mission that would automatically create a byproduct of more meaning, greater happiness and even a stronger bottom line?

Sounds good, right?

I think you can, and it’s something we are working on with the introduction of our updated 2015 Maverick Mission.

From the top down, each of the mission points hits a piece of what the key aspects of each of the companies is all about – from adventures to greater impact to empowering and transforming entrepreneurs, but it’s not at the expense of profit.

My friend and Maverick1000 member, Robert Hirsch, really helped me think through this process and how each piece supports everything else. For instance, take a look at the first mission point about re-inspiring 1,000,000 entrepreneurs.

This ties directly into our just released 3% Forward movement – with the goal of 1,000,000 entrepreneurs taking the pledge of providing 3% forward to causes or ways that can have a multiplier effect of good.

Then the next one is to Impart 100,000 scholarships. (Part of the way is over-delivering on internally being in alignment with the 3% forward pledge.)

I made a public vow at last year’s Underground® 8 event that we are going to step up and provide 3 scholarships for every educational course/training we sell. This was inspired by the TOMS shoes motto “buy one – give one” but with an even bigger impact. Here’s how it works:

Entrepreneurs or business owners who buy the training programs automatically sponsor 3 educational scholarships, at no extra charge, provided to:

1. Young entrepreneurs (ages 13-23)
2. People with disabilities
3. Returning military veterans

The scholarships will be provided in partnership with highly regarded non-profit partners like NFTE, Dreams for Kids and Wounded Warriors. Aside from just giving away education, we want to make it a bigger benefit by having these scholarship recipients optionally become “virtual interns” to apply what they’ve learned back to their “patron” business. Truly a win-win-win because these scholarship winners will gain in-demand, 21st century skills and real-world experience applying them. Even better, in the long-run this will create a skilled talent pool of providers other entrepreneurs can work with to help them with their businesses too.

[Update: Our first course from Maverick CORE with the 3-for-1 scholarship will be coming out next week! And there are quite a few other surprises and new enhancements like combining on-demand learning with a light-weight project management interface to make it completely action oriented content. No longer will information simply sit gathering dust on a shelf.]

Did you notice something here?

Our team’s focus is on the 100,000 scholarships but as a direct by-product we need to sell 33,333 courses. Those 33,333 courses are where the profits come in on the Maverick MBA educational component of our business units. But the “scorecard” is the 100,000 scholarships. Cool, right?

And this continues down the line. i.e Ignite 1,000 game-changing entrepreneurs – that correlates to our Maverick1000 global network.

Let me give you two more quick examples – both from Maverick1000 members. The first is from Tim Schmidt, founder of the U.S. Concealed Carry Association.

A Mission Worth Fighting For…
And now for something REALLY exciting.

We’re on a mission, and I need YOUR help to make it happen. My mission is to:

Teach One Million People.
Equip 250,000 Members.
Stop 5,000 Crimes.
and Save 250 Lives.

To reach this goal, I need your help. All I ask that you do is personally recommend the USCCA to your friends, family and relatives. You don’t have to ask them to send us any money or join our association.

If you believe in what we’re doing, I simply ask that you spread the word.

As you can see this directly impacts his business but also creates a significant impact in the world. Tim also received help from our mutual friend, Robert Hirsch, creating this mission.

And I want to show you one more mission – taken from Craig Ballantyne’s personal rules: http://www.earlytorise.com/12-rules/

Rule #9: I will not stop until I have helped 1 Million men and women transformed their lives – physically, financially, or emotionally.

So Why Do This?

There are so many reasons. If your mission is authentic you’ll automatically create more engagement with your team, partners and vendors. Many people mistakenly believe that simply paying employees more equals a greater commitment. That’s wrong. Go read Daniel Pink’s book “Drive” or watch the TED talk because his research shows there are 3 main things that lead to people being intrinsically motivated – Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.

Once employees have a base level of money or salary for their needs – they are motivated by those 3 areas and “purpose” is served by your bigger mission.

How about customers?

Oh most definitely! You’ll also build stronger ties with your customers and get them recruited to work together with you on these big goals. Plus, it’s been proven that consumers actually have a preference for doing business with companies with strong values and integrated values.

If you haven’t read it, please pick up Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal or watch her TED talk. It might change the way you think about a few things. One of the big elements of gaming is “keeping score”. So why not create a scorecard that inevitably leads to your success?

Another key insight from the world of gaming is everyone wants to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves. We’re all wired that way. One of the big takeaways is how much gamers will collaborate together to reach an epic, larger than life goal.

Personally, having a big mission interwoven with your successful financial goals also gives you a bigger reason “why” for what you’re doing in business. And if you want to see why the why is so important, check out Simon Sinek’s TED talk.

So think about your business…is there a big enough and exciting enough mission to attract the right people to you? What’s your why and how does that translate to what you’re sharing with your team and customers or clients?

Let me know what you think.