Sustainable Business Learning Community Conversations, Jan 2016 - Feb 2016

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Sustainable Business Conversation, January 14, 2016 Topic: Abundance and Scarcity

Stephen Covey and the Abundance Mentality:

  • What if all of the win/lose situations in our lives were an illusion?
  • Covey’s fourth habit involves a win/win philosophy.
  • A Scarcity mentality is based on fear and the idea that there’s not enough to go around.
  • Abundance teaches that there is enough for everyone.

Sharing the abundance mentality: The El Moore Lodge and the Inn on Ferry Street are both small hotels in midtown. You might expect them to compete but they have decided to cooperate. We want to work together to make both venues successful and to help a client get the room(s) that best meet their needs. What we can achieve together is more than we can do alone. The culture of competition is based on false ideas.

What if all the resources we need are here all around us? We need to be open to the world and be ready to receive help.


Working on the new retail spaces at the El Moore project – there are so many ideas. It’s hard to sort them out – we’re going forward anyway. I’m surrounded by great people. The limitations are in myself, not the people around me. I don’t need to have all the answers to start to go forward. The more fear, the fewer answers. Trust the process, keep having conversations. The answers will come. I need to step up and not be afraid to succeed. People tend to think narrowly. You may need to expand your ideas and talk to more potential allies. It can’t be just your idea – others need to buy in as well. 90% of the work is showing up. You need to put yourself in position for abundance. Don’t kill your own ideas. There often is an answer that does not involve sacrifice. This is different from the world I grew up in. It’s OK to need other people. The whole idea of the Commons is based on abundance. If competition sets in (building fences where not needed), that can destroy everything. I have had a long career as a finance guy – and that was always about scarcity. I’m trying to get out of that mentality. Does it make more sense to spend more money for special roof tiles that are beautiful and authentic? Maybe it does, but financial issues are also real. I worked my way through school; bachelors and masters degrees. I think how lucky I am to have been able to do that. Everything I needed came to me. I never planned. This is abundance. You need to keep yourself up. Mindset is so important. Look at all the good in your life, not the one thing that is a loss. I find it hard to pass along the abundance thought process to my children. Life has changed. Grandma raised 12 children in a 3-bedroom house with one bathroom. At one point 8 kids and 10 grands were in the house. You shared everything. Every corner was used and shared. If you had one plate of food, you shared with everyone in the room. Kids today have trouble understanding and valuing this kind of sharing. When I moved to Detroit I had a plan I believed in, even though I didn’t know how the finances would work. People asked, “Why are you going to a city that’s dying?” They didn’t see what the city has to offer. It’s worked out. Everything I needed has been provided. Sharing is a central part of abundance. Limits are also a request for abundance. All living systems have limits. A cactus just won’t grow in a Michigan wetlands – that’s the wrong place. You have to understand who you are and what you need. Trees have limits. One oak tree supports 5,000 species of living things. The seasons matter – oask trees have no green leaves in the winter. You need to find a balance between limits and limitlessness. I can’t be available to receive abundance if I don’t have limits. Other people are not responsible for your limits. Also your limits may shift over time. Is it self-indulgence to stay home and read a book? Or is it a good way to take time for yourself? It’s better to share your ideas for a food business start-up. No one will come to help you if you don’t tell the story. People told me to patent my business idea before starting. I didn’t do that – it could still be stolen during the patent application process. So what if someone else is first to market. Does that matter? Topic for next time - How can you work with someone who has a scarcity mentality?



Sustainable Business Conversation, January 7, 2016 Topic: 2016 - A Look Forward

Looking to future.png

We asked the group what they saw for themselves and their business in the coming year? Here are some of their thoughts:

  • Reinventing work and finding ways to stabilize income.
  • Several ideas in the hopper. Not sure what to commit to….
  • Choosing between low-paying jobs for a good cause or high-paying work that’s not so idealistic. I need to earn money, but I also want to do good in the world.
  • Learning to use my new tablet – Microsoft Surface.
  • A year ago I was making the decision to leave a well-paying corporate job. Seemed like a crazy idea – but I made the leap. Now I’m in the middle of renovation projects aimed at living sustainably. Lots of great connections at Green Garage – I’ve been changed by the conversations here.
  • We all have passions – we should go after them. In the past, I lost a lot of sleep worrying, but that’s behind me now.
  • Value your art: Artists are taught not to value their work in money. We love our work and must do it to sustain ourselves and feed our souls. Many of us need a day job to pay the bills. I’m applying for full time faculty positions again this year, but I’m less stressed about it. I don’t care as much whether they call or not.
  • We lived well below our means when I had a big corporate job. We saved up and have a cushion now to try something new.
  • Work takes work! There is often sacrifice involved in setting a new direction.
  • I’m serious about limits this year. I need to set priorities. What if there are 10 projects that all look right? If it’s too much - you need to say no sometimes. I’m sending shorter responses to emails – and it seems to work just as well.
  • Need to go with the flow but not overload myself. When one house flip became three houses to flip; we decided to hire a contractor since it’s too much for me to take on.
  • I quit a corporate job a year and a half ago – and it’s taken me that long to decompress. I was miserable – too much travel. I was spending too much time with high maintenance people and they sucked energy. Two colleagues committed suicide – which shocked me. We saved a lot when I was working. Now I’m de-cluttering my life. Saving is golden.
  • Blind consumptive thinking is destroying the planet. Having and acquiring stuff is not the best mindset. If we’re miserable and its killing us, you’ve got to look at that.
  • I was laid off in 2009 and it was a problem finding a new job. I was in a world I didn’t know. I applied for a lot of jobs and heard nothing back. I learned to just show up and introduce myself. I walked up to the second floor of a commercial building near me, and found a “room for rent” sign. The owner was shocked – no one walks up to the second floor – I guess I was meant to be there. I rented the room and started my own practice. This worked well for some years, but being a therapist is draining and a new balance became needed. Just showing up is 90% of life. I’m working on faith and trust again.
  • In starting a new path, you need to allow yourself to fail sometimes. Most new ideas start out with failure.
  • People get flooded with emails and crave soul contact. Be grounded in who you are and what you are seeking. A handwritten note mailed with a special stamp can make an impact.
  • Money is a tool to get better outcomes. I’m getting over my bean counter mentality. Money is just energy and a means to an end.