Difference between revisions of "Sustainable Business Learning Community Conversations, May 2014 - June 2014"

Revision as of 14:38, 7 May 2014

Sustainable Business, May 1, 2014 Topic: Identifying Your Target Community

One of the focuses of a triple bottom line business is community. How do you identify the community you want to impact with your business? Who are you focusing on and why?

Several members of our group share their thoughts:

Karen (genealogy): Her community is made up of 2 segments: beginners and frustrated beginners.

• Beginners: Those who want to get started but don’t have a clue how to go about it.
• Frustrated beginners: Those who have begun their research but have hit those brick walls, don’t know how to backtrack in order to achieve success.
• Ages: many are in midlife, 40-60’s, and they now have the time to think about their family history and leaving a legacy for their children and grandchildren.
• People who like solving puzzles
• Children of customers, giving the gift of guided genealogy to their parents.

Eric: His target community: Business management people, decision makers, who have no training in sustainability. They may have an interest in it but don’t know how to go about it. Eric wants to intersect with those decision makers, help them to make the connections between the 3 elements of sustainability and understand how they impact their businesses.

Kim (Simply Well Communities): Was able to identify communities through mapping the ecosystem of her business seed. She measures the health of a community through its relationships.

• Microcommunity: People who are proactive about their health, they will live on site.
• Mesocommunity: Neighboring community that they are a part of; they can share information and learning with them.
• Macrocommunity: Others working in the built environment. Information can be shared with this wider community in hopes of having more healthy products on the market for community and housing. Learning how others in the built environment think and work has helped Kim to see where there are gaps that they can fill.

Tara (book store): Communities she is targeting:

• Readers who miss real book stores and wants the physical experience of searching for, holding and reading books. There are very few book stores left anymore. Wants to be able to give in-person recommendations.
• Communities in need of literacy programs. Wants to build connections with local schools, reading and writing programs as well as performance programs, possibly connect with local writers.
• People interested in book clubs

Darryl (Sidebar Black Arts Theater):

• Darryl became aware of a group that was not getting something and he stepped into the void; this was university students who weren’t getting a broader theater option. Students felt that the existing theaters kept doing the same plays over and over again, and that there was no real depth to the selection of plays.
• New playwrights: He hopes to nurture local and upcoming playwrights.
• Local school children: He would like to expose school kids to the experience of theater.

Darryl’s goals are to entertain, empower and educate. A key component is to break down walls between ethnic groups in the city and show, through theater, that our differences are our strengths, not our weaknesses - like a weaving of a fabric. He hopes that their productions will create conversations (sidebar) between these different groups in the city.

Sheila Palmer (art historian, textile artist):

• Planning to open a textile studio in Midtown.
• Her target communities will be retail customers, theater groups, those looking for indigenous design, historical design, etc.
• Education/learning component: wants to work with students from CCS, Cranbrook, and other schools, focusing on craftsmanship, culture, education.

Other questions to ask yourself:

• What are we trying to do financially?
• What are we trying to do mission- wise? What is your Seed? Your business should be a tool to help you achieve your mission.
• Who do you want to impact most immediately?