Carolyn Tate gives us some practical ways to kick off your conscious journey as a business. Knowing your purpose is the first step to harnessing it. Allow some of our favourite pointers from her book lead you!
Your conscious marketing plan
There are no accredited conscious marketing mentors (yet); however, there are many conscious companies already practising it. Study the companies and the leaders you admire. Perhaps they (or someone in their company) would be willing to mentor you. Perhaps you already know people in companies who are doing this? Make a request for them to mentor you or contact us about it. If you don’t ask, you don’t get!
Be observant
Conscious and unconscious business and marketing practices are taking place all around us. Keep your eyes open and take notice of the good, the bad and the downright distressing. Observe what you love, what makes you feel good and what makes you feel bad. Your greatest inspiration will come from observation and intuition. Keep a journal handy and jot down ideas as you go about your day.
Hold a staff meeting
If you’re working in a marketing division or are a business owner with a team of people, why not hold a team meeting to discuss the concepts introduced in this book. The book was written so you could share these stories. Pick the parts most relevant to your company, discuss them and see what ideas you can come up with. Meet regularly to keep people accountable.
Ask your customers
Ever wondered what your customers really think of your business and marketing approach? Before revamping the lot, take the time to ask your customers. What do they love? What don’t they love? How could you improve the products, services and experience you offer? Do this research really, really well and you could find yourself with customers for life.
Do the B Impact Assessment
See where you are now and how far you have to go by using the B Impact Assessment tool. Assess how your company performs against dozens of examples of best practice on employee, community and environmental impact. This will give you a great gauge on the areas you can start to take action on and improve right now. Once you’ve done that, if you think you’d be right to become a Certified B Corporation, go for it. Many of the case studies in this book are Certified B Corps, so get inspired by them.
Join the Conscious Capitalism movement
Conscious Capitalism chapters are springing up all over the world, from New York City to Arizona to Chile, Mexico, Brazil, New Zealand and Australia. Read the book Conscious Capitalism, join a chapter and get connected with other like-minded businesspeople on the same personal and professional journey. You are not alone!
Start working on your manifesto and vision board
Who do you need to be to change what you do and have what you want? Your manifesto is a declaration of how you wish to behave, while a vision board is a declaration of what you want to have. Having what you want is not possible without a change in behaviour. Write your own manifesto. If you’re not great at writing, say it straight first and find someone else to say it great for you. There are many tools and courses to help with vision boarding for business (and it might even be on the Slow School agenda!).
Join a co-working space
There are now more than 125 co-working spaces in Australia and thousands around the globe with members from both the corporate and small business worlds. I’d thoroughly recommend you consider spending some time in a co-working space. These places are hotbeds of creativity where ideas are generated and deep connections are made. I’m a member and avid fan of Hub Australia, which has co-working spaces in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne and partners in over 40 other cities across the world. And I’ve personally worked at Hubud, a co-working space in Ubud, Bali, and also The Hub in San Francisco. Most of these spaces offer the opportunity for you to trial the space as well as access great social and learning events.
Build conscious connections
Jim Rohn famously said that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. If you want a conscious business that practises conscious marketing, you may need to reassess the business (and personal) relationships currently dominating your life. Take a stock-take of those relationships or people that are not currently having a positive effect on you. Don’t try to change them, just be aware. By changing yourself, either these people will change too or your relationship with them will change. At the same time, seek out relationships with others who inspire you and who are on the path you want to be on.
Become a dedicated learner
I’ve written a lot about learning in this book. The reality is, you won’t change your behaviour or have what you want if you’re not dedicated to learning. Formal tertiary qualifications are one thing; informal, self- directed, passionate and experiential learning is quite another (and is the future of learning). Avoid destructive learning that doesn’t serve (for example, the mainstream media). Develop a positive learning plan for yourself. Go to a short-course, attend a dinner, watch a TED talk each day, read one business book a month, join a conscious business club.
This is an excerpt from Chapter 9, ‘Your conscious marketing action plan’ of Conscious Marketing by Carolyn Tate.