Peer in episode #53 of the De Gebakken Peren Podcast.
1. Profit isn’t a dirty word
Mission and profit are two words that are often put at odds.
Too often. Because, if you want your business to sustain itself in the long run, you’ll have to make a profit.
To build up the necessary reserves to weather the storms that’ll inevitably come. Or, to generate money to invest in even more impact.
Because, can you accomplish the mission in the time you can last in a sprint?
What about the participants in your programs? What will happen to them if the business fails?
The fact that businesses cán make money (and that money can be given to the shareholders) isn’t the problem.
(Although, perhaps it is, systemically, due to capital accumulation or properties currently inherent to our monetary system. Let me know if you have an opinion on this or required reading!)
The issue is that ány business can do so. Mission or scruples optional.
But that’s not you! Right?
Personally, I’d rather have you making money from your business, than someone with a soulless business.
2. Self-care is Other-care
Just as there is no business without profit. There can be no care for another without self-care.
Helping can feel incredible. You might feel compelled to help others.
You might even feel obliged.
The best thing is that the most important things to give don’t cost you anything.
But, you need to be given those same things as well.
How long can you last, if you don’t nurture yourself as well?
Btw, this is just as true for paying yourself a fair wage, pension, and profit.
You can’t put the mission first and only. Not in perpetuity!
It’s simply not sustainable. You’ll need to find a balance.
3. Order + Chaos = Magic
Order taken too far is stifling, boring, and empty.
Chaos taken too far is destructive, unproductive, and unsafe.
The right balance though is magic.
They need each other.
Create a supporting container of clear rules, protocols, and care, and ideas, inspiration, and accidental mishaps can flourish into something new.
Creativity. Innovation. Growth. Those need both order and chaos, in balance.
