Are sustainability values limiting your growth as a start-up?
"Small is beautiful"
"Prosperity without growth"
"Growth within our natural limits"
These are all significant messages in the fight for a sustainable planet, society and economy and I take them all VERY seriously.
However, how many of us as social entrepreneurs take these messages to heart and to the extreme in our businesses, so that they damage our own success.
I believe business should be all of these things:
limited by and operated within our natural planetary constraints to ensure sustainability and not deplete our natural resources, that goes without saying
about empowering people through employment and giving people purpose and equal opportunity, not trapping them in a cycle of poverty, hardship and poor health
that business shouldn't just be about growth, growth, growth without any consideration for what is truly needed for our collective wellbeing (e.g. a planet of abundant resources), we've proven that this kind of growth is in no-ones best interests when it's taken to the extreme (because incase you missed the news, we're at the point of destroying our planet completely)
that small business can be beautiful, prosperous and impactful without needing to be some monstrous multinational conglomerate.
BUT I also don't think you and your social enterprise shouldn't limit yourself before you've even got started.
There's a HUGE difference between you struggling along on less than £25k a year, to generating £250k and running a sustainable social impact business, to the multi-billion pound businesses you're comparing yourself with when you think about uncontrolled growth.
So check in with yourself.
Are these valid and important sustainability messages, of living and working within our planetary limits, stopping you from even getting in the game and building momentum to change the status quo?
Is your perception of growth skewed by your own limiting beliefs about what's neccessary to run a sustainable, impact for good business and tarnished by the thought of "becoming like them - greedy, money obsessed, growthers" (btw this is a new term "growthers" I've literally just coined to describe people who pursue limitless growth regardless of the consequences, it probably won't stick but you know what I mean).
I know growth and limitless wealth doesn't align with your values for sustainability, I'm with you on that 100%!
But what if these messages are subconsciously stopping you from even giving your business a chance at being sustainable?
What if they're subconsciously or consciously stopping you from charging what your worth, from reaching out beyond your comfort zone, from stepping up beyond a "hobby" business you run on your own to one that can run on it's own without you in it all the time.
Small is beautiful, but its not when it's so small that nobody knows about it.
It's not prosperity without any trading income to cover your time, costs and resources.
And you can't change the world and teach others about the importance of living within our means if you're not established, at the table, generating a turnover that means you're sustainable and able to do the powerful work you desire (whilst earning a decent wage yourself).
So don't use these valid values for sustainability, as excuses not to grow your income and generate a profit in your social enterprise where you can seriously start to create change.
We all have a tipping point where sustainable change is really possible. We all have a tipping point where impact starts to accelerate.
Use these values for sustainability as reasons to challenge the status quo and do business differently. To do business sustainably but not in a way that also depletes your personal resources, energy, wellbeing and spirit.
It is possible to live within our planetary limits and create a business for good that pays you, your suppliers and colleagues a decent wage, that respects their rights, doesn't work them to the bone, and creates prosperity along the way.
There's examples all over the world of businesses doing exactly this.
We just have to think creatively and get out of our own way.
Are you interested to learn more?
There's more to come in my following emails.
In peace and prosperity, Kat x