Boundaries and Community Development Work
The following two books were the main texts for a college class I took in Negotiation and Conflict Management. They are both research based.
- Getting to Yes is short and a quick read. I highly recommend it as an introduction to the subject.
- The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator is much meatier. I highly recommend it if you already know some basics and want more advanced understanding.
Get it clear in your mind what you want to accomplish and what you expect to get out of it. There are a zillion ways things can go wrong socially, from innocent misunderstandings to incompatible expectations to much more nefarious bad acts from people.
I recommend against positioning yourself as a do gooder. If you are genuinely kind and competent, that can open the door to ridiculous demands from people likely to pretend they have no idea they are being completely ridiculous.
Businesses are valuable and often overlooked pieces of the fabric of a healthy community. Feeding people has value whether you make a profit or do it for free. Don't let anyone convince you that it doesn't count if you aren't being outright bled for the benefit of other people.
Some reasons you might choose to do things for free:
1. You want to lower the crime rate so you get to live in a safer neighborhood.
2. You want to get people off the street and back into housing because homelessness tends to be a community health threat for everyone, not just those without housing.
You may find that you must guard against people asking for ever more from you. You will likely find a shocking number of people are abusive to you for being kind and helpful rather than grateful and respectful to you.
If you want to "feel like a good person" or something like that, let me suggest therapy as a better use of your time.