Three Criteria for the Ideal Socially Responsible Business Venture

If you are a regular reader of Inspired Livelihood or Craft Biz Blog, you know that I have three criteria for the ideal business venture:

• It is profitable
• It improves lives
• It utilizes a local workforce when possible

Frequently, when someone comes to me for help creating a socially responsible enterprise, they are initially thinking non-profit. They are surprised that they can create a business in the private sector that makes a difference and they think they have to  manufacture product oversees to make a profit. Of course they can have the item made more cheaply in sweatshops that do not pay fare wages but what good is building a business to help people and then taking jobs oversees that could be creating local income and helping unemployed Americans create a livelihood?

I try to encourage the use our own labor force whenever possible so I was absolutely thrilled to read about what I think is the perfect sustainable model.  Darr and Tom Aley founded Mojo, (short for Moms and Jobs), a hand made apparel company that hires and trains single mothers living near or under poverty level. They provide child care, health care and career training to help these women get off social services like food stamps and welfare and create sustainable livelihoods to improve the lives of their children.

If you know of other businesses that are profitable, improve lives and use local workers, please post in the comments below. I’d love to share them with our other readers. What can you think of that you can do to meet the above three criteria in your own business?

What can you bring from the outside world to make a living AND help your own community?

In this age of technology where we are able to exchange ideas and currency with a worldwide audience instantly, we are encouraged to take our small businesses global. While there’s a lot of merit in being able to sit in your home office and do business all over the world, bigger isn’t always better and some of us still crave face-to-face time with our customers or clients.

Sometimes turning things around and looking at them from the opposite perspective can be enlightening. Rather than just thinking how you can expand your little home business to a universal scale, consider how profitable and rewarding it might be to bring something from “out there” back into your own world.

Maybe it’s time to think local, to look for opportunity to make a living and a difference in your own community.

Reading this week about a start-up, BigBox, who delivers Costco Items to small businesses in NYC, I recalled reading a couple of years ago about Modernash who delivers Ikea to customers in Nashville. (The closest Ikea to Nashville is 250 miles away in Atlanta).

As a proponent of shopping local and supporting small business, my initial reaction was. “Why would a local merchant (Big Box was started by a restauranteur) want to encourage buying from big box chains?”  Having lived and owned business in a small village 40 miles from the nearest big box chains, I am sensitive to the issue of people traveling to purchase what is available locally. It bothered me that local merchants would spend time and gas to purchase office supplies and hardware from Staples or Home Depot rather than spend a little more and support their fellow merchants. That is until I realized it wasn’t a matter of saving a few dollars. The local office supply and hardware store had limited selection and the prices were sometimes double or triple. I recognized they didn’t have the buying power to enable them to sell at the same prices as the big box stores or the cash flow to stock as much inventory, so a service that delivered from the chains wasn’t taking business away from the local merchants.

When I look at any small business concept, I ask myself a couple of questions right off:

What differentiates this business that makes someone want to chose to spend their money here?

How is this business making a difference in someone’s life, the community or the world?

In the example of Modernash:

I’m not aware of a local Nashville business that sells inexpensive KD (knocked-down or flat-packed) Danish Home Furnishings so they are not taking business away from a local.

Every trip ModerNash makes to Atlanta saves Nashvillians an average of 750 gallons of gas, thus cutting down on harmful emissions and pollutants.

In the case of BigBox:

They claim that: On average, your daily household items are 147% more expensive at local New York City stores

Local solo entrepreneurs frequently run their shops alone, therefore would lose revenue if they had to close and do their own shopping in the suburbs. Also, many merchants in NYC do not own cars so have no way to transport items even from local vendors.

I feature these business not because you’re necessarily interested in starting a delivery service but to demonstrate how you don’t have to be feeding starving children in an underdeveloped country to make a difference in people’s lives. Nor do you have to come up with a totally new concept for your business to stand out and succeed. Delivery service has been around forever. (Think ice man or milkman.)

The key is to do it better or different. More efficiently, higher quality or better customer service.

Now that we are able to get our message out to the world instantly, we are encouraged to look at the market place globally. That doesn’t mean some of the best ideas aren’t right in your own neighborhood. Try something new. Actually, it’s something ancient. Think local! Look around your community. What is lacking? Walk or drive around your immediate area and observe. What are people spending time, money and effort on that could be done faster, easier, most cost effective or more fun? (Yes, people will pay more for something more exciting.)

What service or product is not available in your local community that you could bring in to save people time or money that isn’t taking away from a local business?

AS always, your comments are welcome and appreciated.

Is FEAR behind your drive to change the status quo?

At a Summit on Social Entrepreneurship at Yale University last week,  “Sandbox” community members were asked to share their thoughts on “Fearless Leadership”. Interestingly, the young change agents argued that if you wish to change the status quo you must fear something.

Sandbox members identified three fears necessary to drive change:

1. The fear of not having an impact.
2. The fear of doing something they are not genuinely passionate about.
3. The fear of being ‘normal’.

Had I been asked the same question, I’d have cited discontent or anger at an injustice, but this got me thinking about what is at the core of my own drive to want to make a difference. Does it really stem from my fear of leaving this earth without having made an impact? Is it the fear of not doing something more meaningful. Is it a fear of mediocrity? Maybe. Probably. What about you? What fuels your need to create change? As always, you are invited to share your views here.

Creating More Meaning in Your Work

The late Anita Roddick knew “if you can create an honorable livelihood, where you take your skills and use them to earn a living, it gives you a sense of freedom and allows you to balance your life the way you want. ” As founder of The Body Shop, she created a business that was  wildly profitable while remaining socially responsible.

There are many ways to make a difference and they don’t have to be limited to volunteer or non-profits. If you’re like many of us, you dream of doing something more meaningful and making an impact but you do still need to earn a living.

As  social media specialist Jeff Korhan noted in his lawnandlandscape.com post yesterday,  “Social entrepreneurship isn’t philanthropy. It is augmenting your business model to include social needs alongside traditional profit needs.” Contrary to the beliefs of so many aspiring entrepreneurs, it’s not only OK to make a solid income from a socially responsible business, but your business is more likely to make an long term impact if your company is profitable. If you are continually worrying about adequate charitable donations to drive change, you aren’t going to be able to focus on the greater good.

If you’re searching for a way to create more meaning in your work, check out  the upcoming Inspired Livelihood workshop in beautiful Sedona, Arizona with Barbara Winter and Alice Barry, where you’ll learn how you can make a living and make a change in society.

Is it OK to make money while doing good?.

Not only Ok but vital to your livelihood and your cause.  I’ve heard people complain about the salaries paid to  directors of non profits.  They say things like “if she really were in it for the better good, she would do it for free.” Or,  “I resent that part of my donation (to a particular charity) goes to paying a director’s salary.”

Do these same people believe that their doctor shouldn’t charge a fee or that public defenders should do their jobs pro-gratis? I don’t believe that the people who research cancer treatments or those who develop cleaner fuel sources feel the least bit guilty about getting paid well to do good in the world. 

So why is it that many entrepreneurs who want to make a difference by addressing social issues feel they shouldn’t command a reasonable income to do what they feel passionate about? 

The truth is, non profits do pay nice director’s salaries and as a result attract the best, most effective staff. If everyone who wanted to make a difference had to be a full time volunteer, we would not have the effective leadership to make positive change.  Most of us need to make a living and it takes the brightest, highly driven and most dedicated executives to direct change. If those people couldn’t make a good living as change agents, they’d have to be corporate leaders and just do what they can for a cause in their spare time. I, personally, am thrilled to have the best and brightest heading up causes I feel strongly about. and I am happy to see them making what they are worth to make changes in the world. 

If your dream involves making a difference but you don’t see how you can make a living as a social entrepreneur, the first step is to examine your attitudes about wealth and adjust your mindset around money. You likely have a gift to share with the world and it has monetary value. If a corporation was to hire you to use your talent to set up and run a particular department, you’d expect to be paid well for your expertise. As a social entrepreneur, you have even greater value. 

As you are dreaming of making a difference,  think about what special skills you have that you’ll use to implement change. Then consider what you’d expect to be paid to do this job in corporate America. That is the value you should place on your new “job” and figure that into the overall plan. It may involve some creative financing or grants, and you won’t make that salary overnight, but it is your “value” and you have no reason to feel anything but generous about giving your time and talents in exchange for income. 

Are you an Art Snob or Craft Connoisseur?

I admit it. I was an Art Snob. I didn’t consider crafts an art form. Yes, glass blowing, metal smithing, maybe even pottery, but I turned my nose up at cropping, stamping and needlework. I saw them as “housewife” or ‘granny-crafts”, color-inside-the-lines for those who had no imagination. And collage, well, that was just something for people who couldn’t draw or paint.  That was, until I saw some of the amazingly creative things artists do with fiber, paper and glue. Now, I’m a convert.

My old attitude came from a misguided background in fine art. Actually,  I was a misfit in a competitive Design , Art and Architecture College at a large university.   It was immediately apparent they’d made a mistake accepting me into the art education program. I’m a creative idea generator but this was pre-computer and to say I’m not a perfectionist is an understatement. Several of our design courses were combined with architecture and industrial design students and, well, let’s just say,  I didn’t fit in.  Another part of the curriculum was classic training in the fine arts of drawing, painting and sculpture. It was unacceptable if not laughable to even consider creating anything functional. The only time I felt in my element was the one semester we got an abbreviated sampling of jewelry and textiles.

Decades later as I walked the aisles of the Buyer’s Market in Philli or the ACC show, I thought, “Why didn’t I know in the early 70s that this was a option? And as I looked around my gallery full of  delighted customers purchasing “functional” art (craft), I visualized the disapproving face of my old college professor and smiled, happy I that I’d followed my heart and opened my mind to the world outside of fine art.

Yes, I’m still in awe of painters and sculptors and I do have fine art hanging in my home. I’m also proud of the funky, fun, functional craft I own. It makes me happy and I know that the crafts people I purchased it from are artists as well.