When was the first time you encountered a cooperative business? If you have at all, 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 […]
Why I don’t recommend Profit First
Because there aren’t really many readable business finance books out there, it makes sense that folks, if they read anything on the topic at all, are going to latch on to the most accessible of the bunch. In many corners of the business ecosystem, the one book that someone has read about finance is Profit […]
The {gnarly, beautiful} questions I’m asking right now.
The poet David Whyte talks about seeking the beautiful question: a question that resonates, begs to be unspooled, and, ultimately, leads the questioner towards a more engaged, heart-centered, aligned way of being. My questions are not always beautiful, but they are at the heart of guiding my work and ways of showing up in the […]
The essential feedback loop in your business.
Running a bookkeeping service is like having VIP backstage access to what really works and what doesn’t in business; you want to know who has the best champagne back there? Ask the bookkeepers. Now take a cross section of 50-odd different businesses – products, services, micro, million-dollar, whatever: want to know the what most often […]
Are you having cash flow problems, or are you just not profitable?
Cash flow and profit are not the same, and mistaking a profit problem for a cash flow problem can be deadly to your small business.
On Giving & Redistribution, Part 2: Defining a Strategy for Giving
To read Part 1, how to think about redistribution and giving within your business, click here. In the Part 1 I wrote about the opportunity in stewarding business resources to create more resilient ecosystems. Since businesses are set up to generate more resources than individuals, we can also use them to channel those resources into […]
On Giving & Redistribution Strategies: Part 1
A client recently asked for advice on how to think about a consistent giving strategy — they work with many non-profit clients, who of course fundraise, have galas, and all the other modes of raising money. Since the summer of 2020, I’ve been seeing more businesses with regular giving lines in their budgets, but just […]
The counter intuitive reason to distribute profit to employees in your small business.
There’s a whole mess of reasons why all businesses should distribute profits to their employees: -Redistributing money = redistributing power -You didn’t build your business to only benefit yourself -Your employees should benefit from the value they create Those are just three of many, but you get the idea! I’m not talking about the folks […]
Maybe don’t offer a sliding scale.
As more leaders are considering issues of justice and equity in their businesses the go-to, especially in the online and services business community, has been to offer lower priced spots and sliding scales. While it’s great to create access and ensure that you’re not boxing out people who, for structural reasons, don’t have access to […]
Our work is all three parts.
I was reminded in two separate meetings this week that the actual work of making our visions and values real & concrete in the world (ie, running an anti-capitalist business under capitalism) is always imperfect. In the first, I was speaking about my discomfort with where I feel like I’m falling short in my own […]