PickYourCause.com

The Founder’s “I am” Statement

I am a person who acts in many capacities. As Melissa, I am a woman, mother, wife, entrepreneur, friend, sister, daughter, runner, aunt and artist; depending upon the moment. My life is full and rewarding and my actions in all of these roles reflect this fact. I love the many facets of my life and all of the people in it. I am happy, but I want to do more to make a lasting difference for humanity. I want to make a positive difference in the world now-not later when I retire or when the kids are grown. As a business woman, I am driven to create a profitable business enterprise which also allows for helping people on a continuous, sincere basis. I am launching PickYourCause.com to empower a community where people can share their voice to change the world.

I feel vulnerable and exhilarated developing and launching PickYourCause.com. Starting new endeavors in unfamiliar areas is frightening and causes one to question the soundness of the dream and concept. But I am confident that PickYourCause.com is a sincere effort to build a community which will hopefully make all of our lives better. As idealistic as it may seem, if one person suffers less, if one person gains insight or if another finds support for their cause, then this business effort will prove to be a success.

When I see both the triumph and suffering mixed together in the causes that affect our lives, I must reach out through the efforts of PYC to you. Think about what your “I am” statement might say and how you could reach out. Perhaps you can share your voice and change the world.

Melissa Mattice
Founder
PickYourCause.com

Sincerely Running

Running under the trees of the historical Murphy Bridal Path in Central Phoenix, I passed a woman spending Sunday afternoon waxing her black Lexus sedan.  This in itself was not a bad thing.  I am sure she worked hard for her car.  She deserved it and should enjoy it.  Luxurious things can be good.  Luxury can be rewarding.  But even though I appreciated her satisfaction, I thought, “there must be more to life than just acquiring neat things and aspiring to luxurious living”?  I couldn’t help thinking about the company Melissa and I launched, PickYourCause.com, which offers stylish t-shirts, while promoting shared voice, community, education, humanity, sincerity and responsibility for others.  Life should not be just about getting cool stuff.  Neither should business.

As I listened to our ipod, I felt good.  The sun was warm and I ran in and out of shadows cast by the Arizona Ash along Central Avenue.  My thoughts drifted from the principles of PickYourCause.com to making a difference in the world for my family- for me.  My legs felt strong. My mind and body felt pretty good.  I ran faster. 

I shuffled songs and ran on.  I thought about PickYourCause.com and why Melissa and I started the business.  I am not a do-gooder wearing causes on my sleeve and I’m not a radical.  Neither is Melissa.  But we are two people who want to embrace our work with pleasure and sincerity while we take care of our family and help others.  We are moving forward to make a profit.  But we are also willing to be and feel responsible for the welfare of other people.  We move forward on our work with sincerity and can feel good about working hard and reaching our goals.  We want to succeed at creating community, selling pieces, sharing, learning, empowering others and helping humanity.  Sounds idealistic and cliché- maybe.  But we’re moving on it anyway. I realized in our personal lives and in our business ventures, we sought to express ourselves in a sincere way.

The more I thought about our core beliefs as I ran, the more I felt comfortable about the spirit and goals of PickYourCause.com. 

Later on that day, I realized my weekend turned out to be one of those really incredible experiences.  I was grateful to live a couple of perfect days even though I knew I was not perfect. 

Even though the days were not full of fighting for big causes or doing high profile charity work, I laughed, worked hard, helped friends and family and enjoyed life.   We worked in the yard planting grass seed. I helped my neighbor move heavy boxes. We spent time with my parents and wished my father a healthy 69th birthday.  I taught my son a few cool soccer moves.  My son and I played catch.  We had friends over for dinner.  We eat dinner with my in-laws.  We spoke to our cousins in San Diego.  We laughed.  We watched an inspirational movie.  Our daughter returned from California.  I even saw one of our charitable partners, Feed the Children, campaign to help hungry families on cable television.  At the end of the day, we were healthy, safe, warm, loving each other and feeling good.  That felt sincere.  It sure made for a treasure of a weekend, maybe even a weekend worthy of being called a cause in itself. 

Perhaps the secret to life is simple.  It is sincerity-expressed by words, thoughts and deeds.

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