Wendy’s Wisdom

April 5, 2017
Business Start-up, Entrepreneurship Training, Inspiration & Perspective
PTA
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As the coordinator and teacher of Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center‘s Business Planning Class, I help small business entrepreneurs create solid business plans focused on management, marketing and money. Students learn, struggle and grow through the process… and many return to Renaissance to share their lessons learned as guest speakers, consultants and mentors.

At the last Business Planning Class graduation, Wendy Lieu, graduate of the Fall 2012 Business Planning Class, shared her wisdom. As of owner of Socola Chocolatier, Wendy Lieu handcrafts delicious artisanal confections.

Sustainability in Business

We frequently teach and meet with entrepreneurs who want to run sustainable and responsible businesses. For them, it’s not just about the bottom line but the triple bottom line – people, planet and profit. How do we care for our employees? What kind of impact are we having on the environment? Can we build a good business that is also profitable?

Financial sustainability is a must for any small business’ survival and long-term success. But socially and environmentally responsible business practices are also essential if we want our businesses and communities to thrive.

What does “sustainability” mean for a small business?

It could mean…
• Offering employees great working conditions, paying competitive wages, and/or providing educational options and opportunities for advancement.
• Creating and/or selling products produced in ways that minimize harm to the environment and preserve resources.
• Sourcing materials locally and supporting local industries.
• Operating transparently – sharing data and treating competitors as colleagues.
• Giving back to the local community – donating profits to a charitable purpose, mentoring other small business owners, etc.

Sustainability has certainly become a buzzword in business. Yet when implemented in real ways, it not only benefits the wider community but can have positive benefits for your business directly – attracting new customers and committed employees and increasing efficiency and profit.

We asked some of our clients and colleagues about their sustainability practices. They shared their advice for other small business owners who want to incorporating sustainable practices into their businesses.

Rachel Lewin of RxOrganics

Sustainability is central to Rachel Lewin’s business RxOrganics, which locally manufactures “green” kitchen and medical garments. Rachel’s sustainable business practices give her a competitive edge by distinguishing her products in the uniform/professional wear marketplace.

For Rachel, sustainability is not just a marketing tool. She is always thinking about the environmental impact of every decision, from her supply chain to her end products. Tracking and measuring those practices is also central to her operation.

“It is integral to maintaining our “green” certification status with the city and various accrediting agencies to have all of our efforts clearly documented. We are constantly checking our systems to make sure that we can confidently sell our values to our customers and end users, and seeking additional certifications related to sustainable and socially responsible business practices. We are currently seeking a Higg Index score for our manufacturing practice.”

Rachel’s advice to other business owners: Be sustainable from the start and track what you do!

“It is much easier to scale responsibly if you build your foundation sustainably. Keep it simple and clear and document all your steps and actions — even the little unglamorous ones, like changing your toilets and water faucets to low flow. It all adds up! Ultimately the customers appreciate a mindful organization over a cheap one. You’ll see!”

Melissa Joy Manning of Melissa Joy Manning Jewelry

When jeweler Melissa Joy Manning started her business, Melissa Joy Manning Jewelry, in 1997 she wanted to create jobs for other artists: “I distinctly remember being told that I could never operate a business in such a competitive market with on-shore labor. Thankfully, I followed my heart and built a business around a local community. Now “American Made” is a driving marketing force in our industry and we lead the fashion industry in responsible practice.”

Sustainable practices are central to both jewelry production and packaging at Melissa Joy Manning. They use only 100% recycled metal sourced from a “green” certified US refiner, their precious stones follow the Kimberly Process, and they are buying more of their stones directly from mine owners to have true clarity on their gem chain of custody. Additionally all MJM packaging is recycled, jewelry pouches are made in the US from certified responsible felt, and MJM carbon offsets every box shipped to neutralize their carbon footprint.

For Melissa, though, the most important sustainable business practices relate to the reason why she went into business in the first place. All Melissa Joy Manning jewelry is hand made in her own studios in New York and Berkeley by artists earning a living working wage, with full benefits, competitive bonuses and retirement packages.

Melissa’s advice to other business owners: Start small!

“Make little changes that can be easily incorporated into your business practices. You can then add or change your practices to increase your sustainability. It can be incredibly intimidating to try and change everything at once. Starting small, however, leads to greater, more successful cumulative change that can be grown as the business can afford it. In the long run being responsible is not only more efficient and sustainable, it is cheaper and leads to greater profit and stronger ties to your market.”

Gwen Kaplan of Ace Mailing

Gwen Kaplan, CEO and founder of Ace Mailing, has been focused on sustainability since founding her direct mail business almost 40 years ago. When she was president of the Small Business Commission in the late 1980’s she started the Green Ribbon Panel which provided small businesses with sustainable or “green” solutions and recognized San Francisco green businesses. (This panel ultimately became the San Francisco Department of the Environment.) Ace Mailing was the first company in the US to sell recycled paper retail in bulk cartons for copy machines. Since 2007, Ace Mailing has been carbon neutral through TIST and the Institute for Environmental Innovation.

Gwen’s advice to other business owners: Evolve!

“Ace Mailing is continually living, breathing and changing to meet the needs of our clients.”. Sustainability requires strategic evolution of your business. Focus on your target market and meet their needs to achieve long-term sustainability.

Ultimately, it is important to remember that…

There are many ways to create a sustainable and responsible business. The sustainable practices that you decide to employ will be unique to your type of business and your style of doing business.

Instituting new business practices may not be easy or quick to implement. Changing how you operate takes commitment, and often time and money to get new ways of operating established.

Creating a more sustainable business is a process. As Mark Dwight, founder of Rickshaw Bagworks in San Francisco says in this Inc Magazine article, “Sustainability is a journey, not a destination.”

The first step is to just take a step! As Melissa says, choose one small way to improve your practices. Implement that practice into your business and see the results. (This is what business action planning is all about.) You will learn from it and build on it!

How is YOUR business embracing sustainable practices?

Business Exit… have you thought about it?

Many tech entrepreneurs think about their business exit from day one. Acquisition is central to their business model. But most small business owners don’t think about it… they are too busy getting into business! An exit plan should be a part of every entrepreneur’s business planning process — though this is the least understood part of the business plan, and often ignored.

Don’t wait. Think about a business exit now.

No matter how successful you are in business and how much you love our work, you should think about what will happen to your business when you no longer actively manage or run it. At some point down the road—a couple of years or decades from now—you will leave your businesses (or your businesses will leave you). Personal circumstances might change or burn-out could happen. You may be ready to pursue a new endeavor or want to retire. Or someone could approach you about buying your business.

Business exit options

You may not be able to predict your business’ success, your future interests, or the direction of the marketplace. But you can start thinking about the business exit options that could be a good fit for you.

There are a variety of ways to exit your business. You could pass it to a family member, partner, employee or other business stakeholder. You could sell it to an outsider. You could liquidate it and sell the assets, or you could file for bankruptcy.

How will you figure out what is best for you and your business?

Envisioning the future

We encourage you to think about the future of your business and what it might look like when you are not at the helm.

Is your goal to create a legacy business that will last forever?
Do you ultimately want to pass the business on to a family member?
When you are ready to stop running the business, do you hope to sell it?
Would you want the business taken over by an employee(s), partner or other internal stakeholder or would you want to sell to an outside party?

The vision for your business will change as your business develops and circumstances change, but thinking about your business’ trajectory, including your exit, is a key part of strategic planning and business growth. (If you are in a business partnership, it is important that you have an ownership agreement, from the beginning, that spells out what will happen if one or more partners wants to exit the business.)

Planning your transition

When you are ready to think seriously about transitioning away from your business, you need a business exit plan. Just as a good business plan is an important part of business start-up, a good exit plan is key to a smooth transition away from the business.

We help our clients through the transition planning process. This includes identifying or clarifying your motivations and goals, assessing the current strengths and weaknesses of the business, and creating a role transition or business sale timeline with clear benchmarks. We then help business owners stay accountable to their plan.

Our goal is to help small business owners feel ready for their next steps, with a feasible and straightforward plan to guide them through their transition. Learn more about our ownership transition consulting services.

A new beginning

At the start of a new year, many of us want to make a change. Can we change a bad habit into a good habit? Can we make our diet more healthy? Can we start that exercise program we let slip? Can we start meditating or journal writing regularly?

At the start of a new year, we make resolutions. We will volunteer with a local non-profit. We will be active in a political campaign to get our favorite people elected to office. We will engage with our neighbors and become more a part of our community. We want to change our habits and improve our relationships and have a larger impact on the world around us. There is so much to do!

In business, the beginning of the year is a great time for long-term planning – which essentially means planning for growth or positive change. Our planning process may entail making or modifying a to-do list with key tasks and timelines or creating financial projections. For most of us who run very small businesses, the best thing we can do is sit down (either alone or with a trusted support person) and decide on a specific goal or outcome that we would like to reach by year end. We can then make monthly commitments to get there. We are now just 12 steps away from a completely different place!

That is the crux of how PTA helps clients. We help them create attainable goals, outline the steps that are needed to get there (with realistic deadlines), and hold them accountable to their plan. We help many of our clients navigate management transitions and growth. This may involve adjusting the ownership structure, adding partners/investors or improving management systems. Whatever the transition, it will definitely include creating a realistic plan to reach the goal.

As we move into the year, let’s resolve to make a plan and let’s be sure to hold onto the beginner’s mind. That’s the mind full of possibilities. Setting a goal and a particular path does not mean you have to close yourself off to other directions. Keep your eyes open, connect with others, test your assumptions, learn and be influenced. Here’s to a year of change!

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities…”
– Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki,

Taking Action

At Paul Terry & Associates we help small business owners build successful and sustainable enterprises. Our consulting process is focused on clear assessments, careful advice and taking action. Central to our approach is business action planning.

Your passion and a strong vision for your enterprise launched you into small business ownership but a great idea alone won’t make you a successful business owner. You must turn your initial ideas into realistic goals with a specific plan for action.

Whether you are an emerging entrepreneur or an experienced business owner entrenched in the complexities of running a business, business action planning can help you identify measurable goals and create specific steps to reach your desired outcomes.

Every area of your business – customer/client relations, marketing and sales, business operations, ownership expansion, and your eventual exit from the business – can benefit from action planning. So how do you begin?

DEFINE YOUR GOAL

Put it in writing. Writing down exactly where you are today and where you want to be in the future will force you to think concretely. Taking the time to write down your goals may spark some new ideas, too.

Be S.M.A.R.T. – that is, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely/time-bound. You need to be able to clearly state what you want to achieve and your goal needs to be concrete and doable. Initially, steer clear of goals that might take you three to five years to achieve. Once you get comfortable with the action planning process, you can use it to tackle bigger, longer-term goals. For now, stay focused on something you can attain within a year’s time, or even less.

SET YOUR ACTION STEPS

Take it one step at a time. You are much more likely to attain your goal when you identify specific steps to reach it. Each step needs a realistic deadline and an estimate of how much it will cost you—not just in dollars but in your time and other resources.

GET SUPPORT

Everyone needs someone to lean on. Trusted advisors and people in your business support network are essential during this process. They can be a sounding board while you create your plan and they can keep you accountable once you have a plan… every step of the way.

USE YOUR PLAN

Long and pretty it ain’t. A business action plan isn’t a fancy document—it’s a usable one. It needs to be accessible and referred to frequently. It might help to set reminders on your calendar to review it so that you can stay on track and make adjustments if necessary.

Still feeling daunted by action planning? We support clients through the action planning process every day –helping them create goals relevant to their current stage of business, identify specific action steps, and stay on track. How can we help you?

Wisdom from Melissa Joy Manning

Design Sponge recently posted a great profile of jewelry designer Melissa Joy Manning, a graduate or Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center’s business planning class. She talks about why she started her own business and she shares some of her lessons learned in running a sustainable artisan jewelry enterprise.

Melissa says that it was with my help that she learned about the importance of setting well-defined goals:

“I was lucky enough to have an amazing teacher, Paul Terry, at the Renaissance Center in San Francisco, who taught me the importance of vision. He taught me to envision my success and what it would encompass. I used these goals as benchmarks when building my brand. Every time I reached one, I would sit down and create another. As the ‘visions’ kept coming true, they emboldened me to think bigger and more creatively each time.” (Thanks Melissa!)

Here is some of Melissa’s great advice for others considering a small business of their own:

Make sure it’s what you want to do. If you really love doing something consider how it will change when it becomes a business. I meet a lot of people who loved a hobby but when they had to economize it on a daily basis, found that they lost all joy in it.

Know that your life will change: your friendships, relationships, how you view the world…everything. When you take charge of your life by forging your own path, a lot of lessons will come forward that you didn’t consider. In some ways, it’s like a veil lifts in how you see the world. Remaining true to yourself and your passion will carry you through any unexpected reaction or loss that success may bring to you.

Always, always, always listen to your heart. If you are true to yourself you will always succeed.

You can read Melissa’s full profile here.