Beginning with only a handful of people who were passionate and determined to bring positivity to the planet, It.Starts.With.Us has now grown into the thousands, is shared throughout a vast number of countries and even has two more spin off projects; Love Drop and Love Bomb. With the aim to change the world in small steps, each week Nate sends out a mission that consumes only 15 minutes of our hectically packed lives, but with thousands of members taking part, those steps no longer seem so small.  

From these weekly good deeds and acts of generosity, the ISWU Empire has grown into a movement that touches people throughout the world; and what a movement it’s becoming.

How did ItStartsWith.Us begin?

ItStartsWith.Us began about two years ago, when I was going through some leadership training for my old job and realized that I wanted to stop using my talents to simply coast through life, and actually do something positive with them. During this training there was a portion where I had to write down a list of my interests, skills, and passions. After that was a free-form page where I had to write down what I was going to with that information in the upcoming year. At the top of the page was pre-written: "Next year, I will . . . " I finished that sentence with " . . . change the world." I didn't mean it as a cliché - I was quite serious. So that's exactly what I set out to do, and now, two years later, we are well on our way to that goal.

 What is the ethos and inspiration behind ItStartsWith.Us?

The general thought is that we all want to change the world, right? But whenever we hear that phrase, we start thinking about world leaders, celebrities, pioneers, etc. When in fact those people are the veryrare exceptions and most of us are never going to end up like that. Which is totally fine, because realistically every one of us has a small circle of people around us whom we can directly and strongly impact by our actions.

The idea behind the team is that we can expend just a very small amount of time and effort in a positive way to make a meaningful difference for those people. And if we get enough of us thinking this way and working together to make this kind of impact on a consistent basis, the chain reaction we produce literally can change the world.

 What do you hope to achieve through ISWU?

I want to show people that it is entirely possible to change people's lives (and your own) in 15 minutes a week. Literally. I want to give people an easy way to make a difference for the people around them, build a community that cares, and transform their way of thinking.

 Can you give us some examples of your weekly missions?

The weekly missions are things that anyone can do in 15 minutes or less to make a positive impact on the lives of the people around them. They're specific enough to be a tangible goal, yet open-ended enough that anyone can take the idea and use it to do something meaningful to them. Each week I send one email to the entire team telling them what we'll be doing, and it's totally optional to do it or not - no one keeps track. It's just a way to keep your eyes open to the good you can do as you walk through life. I won't go into the details here, but some of the titles of our missions include: Fix It, Make an Introduction, The Gift of Time, Face Your Fears, Teach

Someone, and many more. We do one a week, usually in ways we can do things for people in our own lives, and sometimes we all work together to do something for one person or group.

 You also have various projects under ISWU, can you tell us about these?

 Sure. Here's a little blurb about each one:

 Love Drop

Spend a dollar, change a life 

Love Drop is a micro-giving network of people who unite as a community to help one person or family a month. By subscribing to the team for as low as $1, we make it easy for our members to change lives in a fun and tangible way. Each month Love Drop delivers a unique combination of unexpected financial gifts, personal encouragement and the support of local and online communities.

 www.LoveDrop.us<http://www.lovedrop.us/>

 (Love Drop is our biggest new project, launching 1.1.11 for our first family in Chicago. We're looking for individual members, as well as partner businesses or online networks)

ItStartsWith.Us

Changing the world in 15 minutes a week

Join us as we work together to change the world! You'll get one email per week with an assignment that takes just 15 minutes or less to complete. With thousands of us working on it together, we accomplish some very big things.

 http://ItStartsWith.Us<http://itstartswith.us/>

(The father of them all, ISWU touches literally thousands of lives a week, and I also have a business side, where I lease out the platform to help large organizations or networks mobilize their members to give back.)

Love Bomb

Changing lives in 5 minutes a week

Once a week we come together to drop hundreds of love bombs (in the form of blog comments) for those who need it most. We find people going through a difficult time and envelop them with a community that truly cares.

 www.dropalovebomb.com

(Easy, easy thing to do once a week - guaranteed to make you realize that your life really does not suck as much as you thought it did. Gives you the chance to do something for someone that they'll remember the rest of their lives. And you may just make a new friend.)

 How many members do you now have on ISWU? What has the response been from the public?

I started this group in summer of 2009 with 18 people who wanted to work together to make a difference for others, and now, a year and a half later, we have over 6,000 members in 80 countries. The response has been great, because most people wantto help others and improve their relationships, but they just don't know exactly how when their lives are so busy. The ItStartsWith.Us family of projects helps us utilize those small snippets of time we all have for maximum impact, touching hearts and changing lives in just a few minutes a week.

What are your thoughts on humanity today and how do you think we can improve our world?

I think that people are busier than ever before and more distracted than ever before, as a result of the vast amounts of information and large number of connections available to us at any given time. Never before in the history of the world has there been this much . . . noise, I'll call it. But along those same lines, never before has there been this much opportunity, either. I believe we can effect massive positive change in this world on a very personal level if we just shift the way we do things a little bit. Instead of fighting against the way things are going in the Information Age, let's adjust our methods and adapt.

 There are a huge number of people aware of the problems we face on this planet, yet not as many do something to bring change, what urged you to make a difference?

I've been told my whole life that I had all the potential in the world, but wasn't doing anything with it. When I turned 30 I decided I wanted to work hard at something. And if I was gonna work hard at something, it should probably be a project that would be world-changing. But I knew I could never do something like that alone, so I built a system that would provide others with an easy way to change the world.

 What advice would you give to others wanting to get involved in making a change in the world?

Start small. That's the absolute best advice I have to give. It's okay to start small, as long as you start somewhere. You'll get the hang of it as you go, and you'll find ways to do bigger and better; if that's what you want to do. But never underestimate the value of the little things, whether you're helping out individuals or building a large project.

 What other blogs/sites/projects inspire you and why?

 I'll give you one of each. :)

Blog: 1000 Awesome Things <http://1000awesomethings.com/> -

1000 Awesome Things is just a time-ticking countdown of 1000 awesome things.

Launched June, 2008 and updated every weekday. Neil has a beautiful way of putting into words the things that really matter to all of us. I smile every time I read this site (or his book).

 Site: Gives Me Hope <http://www.givesmehope.com/> -

GMH is where people share with the world their most hopeful, uplifting moments and allow others to draw strength from their experiences. This one's like crowd-sourced optimism about the current state of the world - love it.

 Project: GiveForward <http://www.giveforward.com/> -

GiveForward makes it easy for people to raise money for loved ones during times of need. It's a for-profit project, in the business of doing good, run by a couple of great people.

 Who is/are your IDOL/s?

I'm inspired by creative teams who stick together for a while and build something unique and inspiring (using a broad definition of inspiring). I'm thinking Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, Peter Jackson with the Lord of the Rings franchise, and everyone at NASA.

 What is your idea of success?

 Success for me means I'm making a living doing what I love, which right now involves building out projects that utilize the concept of micro-giving to help people make a meaningful difference for others, and ultimately change the world.

Illustration and Interview by Jesisca Duffin