If you’ve made the decision
to live more sustainably and have left the Rat Race
in order to
set up in self-employment,
it makes sense to incorporate sustainability into the
new business plan. That way your business is run in alignment
with your interests and values and working in it ultimately
leads to a higher level of enjoyment, fulfilment and
meaning.
So, what is a “sustainable
business”?
One official definition goes something like this:
“A Sustainable Business is a constituted organisation
that takes full account of its triple bottom line – i.e.
managing and contributing to social, environmental and
economic improvements in its business practices.”
Simply put, a business’s “triple bottom
line” can be expressed in terms of the
three Ps – People,
Planet, Profit, and, most importantly, in that order.
So now, rather than taking the conventional view and
running our business primarily for profit, we are running
our business primarily for the welfare of society and
of the environment as first priorities.
Let’s face it, for most of us there are a host
of different ways in which we are capable of earning
money, even if some of those ways, we believe, wouldn’t
generate “enough” income for our current
needs. When we set up our own businesses, hopefully there
are reasons other than money and capability that prompt
us to do so. These reasons form our Business Purpose
and they stem from our Business Values. They are what’s
most important to us in our business lives: the non-negotiable
parts. Examples of business purposes might be “providing
enjoyable education programmes for adults”, “helping
others to improve their health”, “enhancing
the lives of children/the elderly/new parents”, “making
marketing ethical and easy”.
Let’s look at the elements
of the triple bottom line in more detail:
People
Think about all of the people
who are involved with your business. Even if you don’t directly employ
anyone else, who else do your actions affect? Who else
does your business depend on? Your answer might well
include your suppliers, your clients, your associates
and colleagues. A sustainable business treats all of
these people in a way that’s in keeping with its
business purpose and sustainability, for example, by
employing staff who live locally and sourcing from local
suppliers. You could reduce your clients’ needs
to travel by providing your products and services local
to them rather than centralised wherever possible.
Planet
Many of you will be familiar with
the term “Reduce,
Re-Use, Re-cycle”. Maybe you are not aware that
those instructions are stated in order of priority. That
is, it is more important for us to reduce our consumption
than it is to re-use items and re-using items is more
important than re-cycling our waste. So, uppermost in
the sustainable business owner’s mind will be minimising
the negative impact on the planet of running that business
by reducing consumption of energy, fuel, water and toxic
substances.
Profit
Just because profit has now been
relegated to third in the business’s bottom line
does not make it any less important as a concept. For
a business
to be
sustainable in the sense of growing and surviving long
term it will need to generate a profit (unless it was
set up as a not-for-profit organisation.) What the triple
bottom line does is to remind us to keep profit generation
in perspective with the other elements. With our business
accounts, as with our personal finances, if we keep our
costs to a minimum and minimise our consumption, the
income we need to generate to cover our costs and pay
ourselves is reduced.
To help you in your business planning,
I’ve produced
a “Sustainable
Business Checklist."
Do let me know your thoughts and comments on this and
how useful you find it.
Communicating your Sustainability
Once you have incorporated sustainable
business practices into your everyday business operations,
it
is worth considering
how you can use that information to communicate your
sustainable approach with the outside world. For example,
on promotional leaflets you could include the words “printed
on recycled paper”. If you are providing refreshments
for visitors to your business, you could let them know,
for example, that the food they are eating is organic
and locally sourced wherever possible.
How will this benefit you?
Other people who are endeavouring to lead sustainable
lives and run sustainable businesses will be attracted
to doing business with you if they believe doing so will
make a positive contribution to their triple bottom line.
They will feel more comfortable in your company and better
able to establish a relationship of trust with you. In
short, it will strengthen your business connections with
similarly minded people and contribute to your business
not only being a financial success, but inwardly rewarding
and meaningful for you too.
2.An
Interview with Tracey Smith.
Tracey Smith is a
writer and broadcaster and the founder of National
Downshifting Week.
You can “tune in” to Tracey on Radio
Apple AM on Wednesdays from 10am
until 1pm.
Sally: At what point did you realise that downshifting
was the right thing for you to do?
Tracey: I think the idea of 'downshifting' was something
we (husband Ray and I) had been courting for ages.
He was doing the big commute thing and working in
London. He kissed the kids when he left in the
morning - they
were asleep in bed. Then he kissed them when he got
home
in the evening - they were back in bed; it was an
unfulfilling time as a family.
I was at home bringing up our 3 little ones and on
Saturday, I volunteered in a charity shop. I'd go
in with 3 bags
of stuff (easy to do with 3 under 3's) and come out
with different bags.
I figured if I could relieve Ray of some of the financial
pressures on his shoulders by using the charity shops,
he wouldn't have to be out as much to earn the money
needed to keep us.
The major downshift we did was just a ramp up from
many other areas of simple living we were trying
to reach
that goal.
Sally: Was there a particular event or moment of
revelation that prompted it?
Tracey: Yes,
9/11. Ray was working in London and on the phone
at the time to a colleague
in New York, who
matter of factly told him, "A plane just flew into
the WTC..." Both of our feelings of mortality were
brought home that day and we realised how tragically
short our lives can be cut. Our plans for a simple life
were put into concrete that day and we shifted everything
up a gear.
Sally: In what ways are your contributions to the downshifting
movement authentic for you?
Tracey: What a great question! Well, I really am everything
it says on the tin! Simple, green living all through,
but not to a manic and unrealistic degree. I'm not one
of the great sandal wearing unwashed, I am a regular
chick, very passionate about downshifting and the benefits
you can get from it. I am excited and enthused about
taking the next step that will help me save money by
using less energy for example, or finding a great recipe
to preserve my abundance of fruit and veg. So many things
ring my bell these days and striking the work/life balance
is central to it all. Time with my man, time as a family
and embracing simple, green living - it's fantastic!
Writing and broadcasting is my way of spreading the message
and helping others to find their comfort level of downshift
and their slow, green groove.
Sally: How do you see yourself living in 30 years'
time?
Tracey: By the time I'm 70, I think there will have
been a marked change in society. There will certainly
be a more prevalent 'green' streak running through it
and being more conservative and careful with our consumption
across the board will be quite normal. I hope I am living
in my dream house, a sustainably powered little eco-build
with a nice veggie garden and some chickens and ducks
flapping about. With lots of people floating through
on training courses for bread and soup making, or chemical
free cleaning, or how to connect back with your kids
without using electronic games!
Whatever I end up doing, I'm sure it will have its
roots in the life I live right now.
