Business makes the world better. That concept gets Daniel and me out of bed every morning. Daniel Stafford and I are the Co-Founders of Shopanova, a modern growth media buying agency for eCommerce shops. I say TGIM (Thank God It’s Monday), and I want my teammates to feel the same way. Most people hate going to work, but I want the people who work at Shopanova to be proud to work somewhere that they believe is good and that adds value to their lives.
Business is fundamentally good because it is based on value creation. If you do not create value and make life better in some way, your business will not survive. Business is based on the voluntary exchange of value, so, by definition, it is ethical.
“Fundamentally, capitalism is good,” said Adam Goodman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Goodmans Interior Structures. “Capitalism is good because it creates value. And capitalism is ethical because it is based on voluntary exchange. Capitalism is noble because it gives people purpose and meaning. And capitalism is heroic because it lifts people out of poverty.”
Here, I break down my thoughts on conscious capitalism as a vehicle for positive growth and explain why these tenets will help and not harm your business.
Business is Inherently Good and Creates Value
Businesses elevate our lives. We can achieve the extraordinary potential that is within us because of businesses. We can buy products and experience services that change our lives for the better.
Businesses recognize specialties in certain people. We are all good at something. We can use our talents to make the world a better place, and where we are lacking, there are other people to pick up the slack.
Business is Ethical and Noble
Society has this bogus narrative that business is a selfish endeavor. The story goes that greed pushes businesses to lift the few at the expense of many. Certainly, that can be the case, and where that becomes an issue does need a spotlight. But the few examples of unethical business practices give the rest of capitalism a bad reputation.
Did you know that IQ rises three to four percent per decade?
We are cumulatively smarter now than we were in 2010. Feels true, doesn’t it? We better understand the consequences of our actions; we have a finer sense of right and wrong. And we are seeking truth more now than ever before.
We have the opportunity to invest in things like Exodus Cry, an organization that seeks to abolish sex trafficking, which is sadly alive and well in today’s world. We have the opportunity to take the resources generated from business to help the greater good.
Business is Heroic
Business is heroic because it lifts people out of poverty. Government and religion do not do this. They pretend to, but government and religion are technically business. Business gives people jobs. Transactions give people jobs.
Use These Tenets to Your Benefit
“The incoming generation of business leaders has been shaped by the failures and breakdowns of capitalism, and they’re deciding there’s a new definition of wealth,” said Goodman. “We all understand wealth as financial wealth, absolutely, but there’s other kinds of wealth too. There’s ecological wealth, there’s emotional wealth, there’s spiritual wealth, there’s physical wealth, there’s social wealth, there’s intellectual wealth. And so now this new generation of leaders gets to decide what kind of wealth they want to create in their company.”
The way people buy and sell products is never going to be the same after the Covid-19 pandemic. Everything seems to change overnight these days. The landscape and goalposts continue to move just out of reach – and it should keep you motivated.
As a business owner, you must strive for all of these trends to work in your favor; that is a pressure that has never been there before. People are smarter, hungrier for meaning, purpose, and passion. You need that level of value, or your business will not survive. Create an environment where you contribute good things to the world.
Foster a work environment where employees can be proud of their work without the fear of feeling cheesy. Employment takes up so much of people’s lives. It doesn’t have to be hated and compartmentalized. As a business owner, you need to start with a higher purpose for your business plan. Empower and liberate people. Be relatable. Provide a meaningful community for the people who work for you.
Empower and liberate your clients too. Make it possible for them to grow their revenue, live better lives, be happier, or have fun, whatever it is they want to do. Do not make it about yourself. By making it about them, you will reap benefits.
Make everything your business does benefit everyone involved, from the labor workers to the creative thinkers to the conscious customers to yourself. People used to grow their business at the expense of a huge labor force offshore somewhere. That is just not acceptable anymore. Today’s world might not be perfect, but we are moving in the right direction.
Be motivated by the creation of goodness rather than money. The money will come if your intentions are genuine. And anyway, beyond a certain level, money doesn’t get you that much more. Integrity and empowerment that inspire the working community are so much better.
Trust the New Way
These new principles don’t come at the expense of performance and efficiency! The opposite is true. The companies that do well today are doing so because they focus on a culture of empowerment and safety. Those are the companies keeping high employee retention, high performance and productivity, and making the money.
“What happens when you have a noble, higher purpose like this… it unleashes this creative spirit in people and they get excited and there’s energy and it’s electric!” said Goodman. “And the company becomes a vehicle for people to pursue their own aspirations.”
People used to think business policies had to be super rigid and strict to motivate performance. This old way of thinking has permeated many businesses, but some people are scared that having these qualities causes underperformance. In actuality, the market outperformed 10 to 1 because of financial, spiritual, cultural, and physical wealth. Businesses are responsible for all of this because they impact all of these areas whether we realize it or not.
We use the words, ‘human resources,’ but humans are sources. They do not get used up. Conscious capitalism empowers these people to be meaningful, competent parts of today’s market. I am blessed and privileged to be in a position to amplify this message, and I hope those reading this will continue to spread this message of seeking the true value of business.
Being an entrepreneur might look like a selfish pursuit, and there is a bit of that within entrepreneurialism. But at its core, it is a privilege and a blessing to be pursuing our dreams, better outcomes for ourselves, and better outcomes for our family. A step further, we are pursuing the betterment of society as a whole. That is progress.
About Shopanova
Shopanova is a modern growth media buying agency for eCommerce shops. They have been able to grow their clients’ monthly revenues from 5-figures all the way to 7-figures and beyond. Shopanova has been featured in Yahoo! Finance, Bloomberg Business, NBC, and more. For more information on how to build a generational online brand and scale your business to millions, please visit https://shopanova.com
