Creating a business that serves the greater good for yourself and those around you.

You have a unique opportunity to make money while also making a positive difference in the world. Because why would you want to start a business that doesn’t have a higher purpose? Here are some considerations for aspiring and new business owners to create better businesses that serve all mankind.

Aligning Missions to Motivations

When I started Lets Collaborate, I didn’t really think much about the money. My core question was “there has to be a better way to live”. That became “why do I have to live like this when there are other business professionals struggling like I am. I could start a business to address those struggles”. My mission was to help other business users that were struggling like I was, my motivation was to live a better life in the process. I achieved both very successfully.

Your business should fill a need you genuinely care about and you need to be able to empathize with your audience. To do that, you had to have be your own client at one stage. That would help you remember where you came from and keep you laser focused on where you want to go.

Leverage Business as a Force for Good

You have the freedom to build a commercially viable business while still making a positive impact on the world. You can manufacture eco-friendly products, celebrate diversity, implement sustainable operations, provide services to minority groups, donate a portion of proceeds to social causes, volunteer your expertise to community organizations, learn to manage people and treat them with the utmost respect, etc.

Set specific impact goals to hold yourself accountable to build a business for the greater good. Do you want to live in the old world of vicious competition, exhaustion, and kill or be killed? Or do you want to see a future of cooperation, collaboration, communication, balance, and heart-centered businesses working together to fix the galactic mess we put ourselves in? This is a conscious choice you need to make in your head now. Make conscious decisions.

Communicate with clarity and conviction

It's hard to succeed at a purpose-driven business if your team don't truly believe in that mission. It is your job to ensure that vision and mission is communicated with clarity, passion and conviction. You need to lead from the front and demonstrate the world you wish to live in. This is no time to be vague in what you want. Be opinionated! I, for example, am fanatical about seeing a world where people work together in harmony and uplift everyone around them. I am sick to death of the slave system, kill or be killed mentality. I am crazed about finding a solution to the retirement trap. I am even more fanatical about people living their best lives. I just want to shake them awake so they can start living! What do you stand for? Speak your truth with confidence. If your vision is vague, you will attract all manner of people that will pull you off your path.

Be a Conscious Leader

Your mindset and actions set the tone for the rest of the company. Commit to personal growth that reflects your values. What do you stand for? Do you lead from the from the front? Stay grounded and open to feedback, stay hungry to learn. Know your weaknesses and work to make them better. Uplift others through encouragement and empowerment. Approach difficult decisions with compassion. Be transparent to build trust. Hold yourself accountable to live the values you want your business and people to embody. This is true even if you are a one-person business as these values will be felt by your customers and suppliers. No man is an island. Make self-development a daily habit. Meditate daily to calm the mind and get clarity on what to do next.

Imagine a World Filled with Conscious Leaders

Imagine a world filled with conscious business owners instead of raving lunatics obsessed with power. How different would our experience be if it was filled with self-aware business owners determined to make the world a better place and still make money in the process. Kind and generous businesses that understand how we are all connected. That is the kind of world I want to see.

Also Choose Suppliers and Partners that Align to Your Vision

Bring consciousness into your supply chain by partnering with like-minded, purpose-driven suppliers who have ethical practices and use environmentally sustainable methods. Become aware of their true cost of business and then make decisions. Polluting the environment, abusing the labour force is the old way of doing things.  As an aspiring business owner, you can actively change the course of humanity for the better.

Pay it Forward

If you are still reading this, you will be one of the people that will succeed in running a successful business. You will have many blessings along the way. Regardless of your business model, make paying it forward and giving back to the community a priority. Build it into your budget and planning. Consider how your business skills, resources and platforms could address local needs. Develop partnerships with nonprofits. Dedicate proceeds from certain products or services to worthy causes. Provide in-kind donations of your products or services. Organize volunteer days for your team. There are endless creative ways to integrate social impact into business as usual.

Keep Evolving and Improving

Fulfilling a big vision requires ongoing improvement on yourself and your business. Notice areas where things fall short of your ideals and dedicate yourself to ongoing improvement. Ask for honest input from your family, friends, employees, customers and community. Ask the hard questions with curiosity and humility, not defensiveness. Keep purpose and humility at your center as you scale and expand.

The path of conscious, mindful, purpose-driven, heart-led entrepreneurship requires determination, care and love. The rewards are immense. We can create economies that serve humanity and preserve the planet for future generations. Because there is no greater (or more needed), work we could devote ourselves to in today's world.

You have a choice. What will you choose to do?