Sustainable Business Learning Community Conversations, May 2014 - June 2014

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Sustainable Business, May 8, 2014 Topic: The Greater Purpose: Why We Do What We Do

Topic this week: The Greater Purpose - Why do we do what we do?

Why are we creating a job for ourselves rather than working for someone else?

Here are some of the comments made by individual members of our group:

  • Many of us have a belief in purpose and in doing what you were born to do. There has to be something more to life than school, college, work, retire.
  • No glass ceiling when you work for yourself.
  • The more we open up other avenues/types of business, the more we are opening up opportunity for other people.
  • Bringing hope to depressed communities could be one’s purpose.
  • Desire to buck conformity, see and do things in a different way. Demonstrate to young people that they can take an alternative path, think differently.
  • The need to be involved in meaningful work and to leave a legacy, inspire others.
  • Turn the tide on health and epidemic of chronic disease.
  • Live an exciting life - not ever boring.
  • Don’t want to be told what to do - desire to have control of work and schedule.
  • Don’t want to have any regrets at the end of one’s life that you didn’t do something you always wanted to.
  • Desire to improve Detroit and it’s community through a love of gardening.
  • Ready for a new challenge; a desire to test oneself and start something entirely new.
  • A need to let go of past work and find a new life through coaching others in business.
  • A desire to leave the world a better place than you found it.
  • Desire to uncover the truth, especially the truth about Detroit. Wants to break down the misinformation about this city and expose people to the truth about Detroit.
  • Continuous learning - through enlightening others, one is enlightened.
  • Wants to combine art with a positive (Christian based) message.
  • Desire to not have a “real job” anymore, that is, having to be somewhere at a specific time, work for someone else, deal with bureaucracy.
  • Combining areas of passion (teaching and business) and turning that into her work.
  • Most people start a business because they are passionate about something.
  • It’s about passion, learning, sharing, having fun and having control over your own life and work. Money generally figures lower down on the list of reasons to start a business.
  • People who start businesses with only money in mind are often not successful.
  • Values matter: It’s good to sit down and define the values that you want your company to hold - everyone has to be on board with those values. If you can’t define your values, you can’t grow.


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?
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