If you had 15 minutes to speak to 50 inmates at the Federal Prison Camp in Butner, North Carolina what would you tell them? This was the situation I found myself in today.
Several weeks ago I opened my Inc Magazine and read an article about the Inmates to Entrepreneurs program started by Brian Hamilton, CEO of Sageworks. Not only did the program seem interesting, I knew a little about Sageworks since they are in this area and we (KeySource Bank) use their financial software. So I attended a meeting about the program at the Sageworks office in Raleigh a couple months ago.
Then Amy at Sageworks invited me to attend a session at the prison led by Brian scheduled for today. I showed up at the appointed hour and found out that Brian was running behind. Here I was in front of 50 inmates who were waiting to be taught. Our prison contact turned to me and gave me the go ahead to speak. It was humbling to say the least.
After sharing some of my background and outlining my responsibilities of helping business owners sell their companies, I attempted to paint the picture of them entering the workforce upon release from prison. Getting a job in today's market is not easy even with a clean background check. Their greatest hope of success is to start their own small service business such as landscaping, painting, car detail, etc. Plus those that work hard have unlimited opportunities and will not be held back by the politics of companies. I seem to at least sparked some interest since several inmates began to ask questions and we had some discussion.
After about 15 minutes Brian showed up and spent the next 90 minutes outlining a plan that will change their life if they will follow it. As I looked into the eyes of these guys I felt hope that they can change and come back and add value to society and I look forward to helping.
As I look back I think all of us can relate to those inmates since 99% of the time corporations will never pay us what we are worth if we are good.
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