The Purpose of Profit
I was walking to the grocery store a couple days ago and happened to run into a client and friend who runs a business in Philly. We chatted on the sidewalk, and then, as often happens in this line of work, they dropped a, “Oh, weird question for you….” on me. “How do I get rid of profit?” Now, I’ve heard this one before. Me: raises eyebrow. “Taxes?” Them: “Yeah.” My cheese buying mission temporarily on hold, we chat a bit longer while I gently steer them away from tax evasion as a primary financial driver. Look, I get it, […]
Continue ReadingShared Interest: An experimental business loan
Shared Interest: A business loan, amongst friends, that funds a community grant. Shared Interest was a grant available to the local creative community, made possible through a collaborative with our friends at Little Baby’s Ice Cream. The Story In 2016, we extended a short-term, low-interest loan to our friends at Little Baby’s Ice Cream, in order to help them expand operations to Baltimore (now open!). This loan represents not only an all-too-rare demonstration of hyperlocal cooperative capitalism, and a way to offer access to quick capital through existing business relationships, but it does not end there: we agreed that when the loan was […]
Continue ReadingControlled Burn, or the Importance of Composting Your Business
You’ve been there, on your worst days: muttering (yelling?) the phrase “Burn it all down” about your business. We’re here to tell you we think you should. The college I attended, in a small town in Minnesota, is home to one of the largest Prairie restoration projects in the country. There was a good stretch of time when I lived in a community next to the nearly thousand acres of land. Our house was further from the main campus, and the last stop before the woods. It wasn’t odd to come downstairs on a Saturday morning to find […]
Continue Reading4 Common Cooperative Pitfalls
When was the first time you encountered a cooperative business? Chances are, it was a food co-op, maybe a with a hippie or punk edge to it; or REI, the outdoor goods empire, a member-owned cooperative. As the movement grows, and more folks seek out more equitable and social justice-oriented ways of being in business, we need more education and conversation around the particular stumbling blocks that show up in these models. Because any business can be worker-owned, co-ops aren’t just for selling granola.* Below are a four common pitfalls and misconceptions particular to cooperative and democratic business models (that […]
Continue ReadingHow to know when you need a bookkeeper (and what kind).
One of the top questions that we hear all the time (like, Google search results sends folk to our website all the time…) is do I need a bookkeeper? Obviously we’re biased, but we believe this is hands down one the best investments you can make as a business owner. The biggest differentionator we see time and again between kick-ass, growth-oriented, thriving-businesses and those that are struggling along is engagement with the financial data of the business. That’s it. How do you know you’re ready, beyond you have a business and are making money? Read on, dear business owner… 1. […]
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