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Business Karma- Stakeholder Management

Now is the time of year that we as a society tend to place emphasis on expressing gratitude for those we appreciate and contributing acts of charity for those in need. In business, when we start thinking about how we are giving back or expressing gratitude we consider the stakeholders of our company. 

Do you know who the stakeholders of your company are? According to Investopedia, stakeholders are “parties that have an interest in the company and can either affect or be affected by the business”. Begin to consider the questions:  

Who are my stakeholders?  

and  

How do I serve the stakeholders in my business? Can I improve? 

If you do an internet search on stakeholder management, you will probably find a lot of articles discussing management from the perspective of working on a project having to manage stakeholder input and needs. In this blog, I intend to describe a form of stakeholder management that interacts with each stakeholder on its own. In this scenario, stakeholders are not coming together, you are ensuring your individual business relationship with each is nurtured.

Using the source articles cited at the end, I compiled a list with some information of three internal stakeholders and three external stakeholders that could be involved in your business. I also offer some considerations when appreciating stakeholders. 

OWNERS (Internal) 

Naturally, owners of the business are stakeholders- people that can affect and be affected by the company. Owners affect the business by supplying capital and equity into your business, deciding how operations run, and having a percentage of financial interest in the company. If the business is yours, this means you. This also means anyone else who is named in the Operating Agreement or Corporate Bylaws as having any percentage of ownership-interest in the company. 

How does your company serve the Owner stakeholders?  

On the surface, this can mean that your business is financially supporting you (and any other owners) and you can live comfortably. Dig a little deeper and you might consider the free time or family time you may be able to choose to have because of how you manage your own business. Take it to another level and maybe you own your own business because the work you do is meaningful to you. People who utilize their natural skills and talents can be fulfilling their life purpose by adding more of their skills and creations with their talents into the world. 

Also, have you ever considered what your legacy will be? How will people remember you after you are gone? Many think about their children, other family, or friends being their legacy.  Memories, property, or accumulated wealth can be left behind for your loved ones to be enjoyed or buoy their successes. But when you consider your business, is there more to leave behind? A financially successful business can allow you to make tax deductible charitable donations to causes that are important to you. You can also create alliances with other businesses or non-profit organizations to improve or influence your community. Using accumulated clout with your business can transform you from small business owner to agent of change for your community! 

INVESTORS (Internal) 

Investors are another stakeholder. Money is not the only investment that can be made into your company. Investors can also be those people or organizations that supply your business with ideas, advice, promotions, connections, or motivation. Who does that mean for you?  

Naturally, financial investors make the cut on the appreciation list. But who else potentially could be recognized for their investment? Perhaps a free consultation with someone provided you with some advice or ideas that helped you take the next step or solve a problem you were having.  Maybe you have an intern that does side work for you for experience or you have a close relationship with a local or social media group administrator that helps promote you in the group. Friends or family members that listen to you during a hard time and keep you motivated also fall into this category.  Any of these could be situations where someone invested their interest, time, or knowledge into you or your business. 

How does your company serve investors? 

For any of those situations, tokens of appreciation are valued. If your business can afford it, set aside a budget for such tokens- a bouquet of flowers, food treats, or tickets for some form of entertainment make great gifts and can be expensed through your business (another tax deduction)! Can’t afford to spend extra money? You can gift out products you already sell for free or customize them, offer up your time to reciprocate help you received, or set up an agreement to cross-promote your businesses to boost each other’s success. 

Generating profits also puts a smile on investors’ faces because (depending on your agreement) they receive payments based on your success. Quality financial management can ensure you are retaining the largest percentage of revenues you can. But another perspective to consider is how you or representatives of your business engage with other stakeholders. If your business is in good standing and has a reputation as being trustworthy and respectful, your investors will feel good about investing in you and feel well-represented.

EMPLOYEES (Internal) 

Employees or independent contractors are the people that work for your company but do not have ownership-interest in the company. They expect benefits and incentives for their work. You fulfill this in the form of their wages, insurance, and retirement benefits you may offer them. Are you financially fair and industry competitive with their compensation? Consider that, but also know that serving them as a stakeholder goes beyond financial compensation.  

How can you commit to showing your employees or contractors your appreciation for their hard work and contributions? 

Tokens of appreciation or bonuses are appreciated this time of year. Also consider how you can demonstrate your appreciation for this group year-round. Are you able to be flexible with their time for family emergencies or important family events? Are their ideas heard or implemented allowing them to feel heard and valuable? Do you extend the same employer-employee loyalty you expect from them?  

Employees also appreciate, if not expect, career growth and job satisfaction from their employment with you. How do you contribute to your employees’ career growth? Do they feel connected to the company’s Mission Statement, giving their work meaning and purpose? Do your employees understand how their work connects or contributes to the greater value of your community? 

SUPPLIERS (External) 

Suppliers are stakeholders that sell you goods or otherwise provide you with resources for your business. You should be able to compile a supplier list by printing a vendor list out of your Quickbooks reports. 

Suppliers affect your business and they are also affected by your business relationship with them. You know this if you ever have had to deal with one of your suppliers being out of stock. Have you ever considered what might happen if their business did not exist anymore at all? Is it possible to conceptualize how many people employed by the supplier might be affected by your purchases?  If you were to switch from a national supplier to a local supplier, how much would that affect your bottom line? The supplier’s bottom line?  

How does your company serve its suppliers? 

An internet search on “how to improve relations with suppliers” yielded this “listicle” addressing strategies for Supplier Relationship Management but specifies that any of the strategies required both parties to have “mutual respect, an understanding of the mutual benefits of the relationship, trust in each other, fairness, and honesty.” Each relationship will be different. How can you promote these things in your own supplier relationships? 

CUSTOMERS (External) 

Customers are very directly affected by your business! These are people impacted by the quality of your product or service. Who are your customers? Know who your customer really is. What demographics would they fall under? What are their needs? Their expectations? What can you do to learn the social or consumer habits of your customers or clients? Understanding who your customer is enables you to know how you can customize your products or services to serve them best. 

How do you let your customers know they are appreciated and valued? 

If you as a customer like to receive discounts, coupons, or freebies from places you shop, chances are your own customers would enjoy those perks, too! Aside from these tangible “thank you’s”, the source articles listed below offered some other ideas to communicate your appreciation. These ideas include being authentic in your dealings and communications, responding timely to messages and phone calls, and listening to customer feedback. Also, following up with customers, taking ownership of mistakes or problems, and not letting the size of the sale influencing how you treat a customer or potential customer. These non-tangibles not only communicate appreciation, but respect and trust. All three are necessary components in any relationship- business or personal.  

COMMUNITY (External) 

As mentioned before, your company can allow you to become an agent of change in your community. Having employees, as listed above, creates jobs. Your business, and those jobs, contributes to the growth of wealth in your community. Becoming an agent of change means you can also, if necessary, contribute to the health, safety, and the environment where you live and conduct business. What social issues does your community face that your company could provide a solution for? How do your business skills and offerings match up? Answering these questions can help you determine what segments of your community population you can serve best. 

How can your business participate in serving your community? What can you do to hear your community’s needs? 

Check your local government offices and community boards for town hall, school board, or other meetings where people or organizations are discussing or even voting on problems your community is facing. Learn what is being done already and discover the gaps that you might be able to fill. Once you know where you can fit in, you can start initiating alliances and creating partnerships to become an agent of change or productivity for your community! 

Owning a small business is more than just the day-to-day transactions that cycle the flow of money through your company or your home. Your business is your social presence in your community. Stakeholder considerations and management promotes a courteous and responsible social presence. We encourage you to review your own stakeholders and how you can show your appreciation gratitude year-round. After all, your stakeholders are the puzzle pieces that provide you the big picture of your business! 

Thank you for reading!

Kirsten

Sources: 

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stakeholder.asp

https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/types-of-stakeholders

https://bizfluent.com/info-8397448-key-stakeholders-organization.html

https://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/bank-relationship#:~:text=Bank%20Relationship%20Definition%3A%20The%20rapport%20you%20establish%20with,bank%2C%20many%20entrepreneurs%20are%20taking%20a%20different%20tack

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/relationship-banking.asp

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/customer.asp

https://www.mycustomer.com/community/blogs/margaritahakobyan/6-strategies-to-make-your-customers-feel-valued

https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2017/06/19/22-ways-to-make-customers-feel-valued/

https://supplychain-academy.net/strategies-improve-supplier-relationship-management/#:~:text=%2010%20Strategies%20for%20improving%20Supplier%20Relationship%20Management,channels%20of%20communications%20open%20and%20strong…%20More%20

Photo Credit:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/303007881151287140/

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Responding to COVID-19

I have been hesitant about writing a blog about this because of the permeation of emotionally charged responses the COVID-19 circumstances have presented. However, I feel there is still a level of communication we can achieve throughout these dividing times. As a consumer, I want to still be able to do the things I did before when shopping. As a business owner, I understand that due to the social and political climate, business atmospheres are experiencing an unavoidable change in their operations landscape. How can we help reconcile the two? I have some ideas.

An unavoidable change that businesses and other institutions are experiencing are the Executive Orders that were put out by the Governor’s of the states. These outlined the restrictions placed on business, emergency infrastructure protocols, and directives for the populace at large. The Orders were an emergency response to the federal announcement of the COVID crisis. According to the National Governor’s Association website, during an emergency, states focus on the four stages of emergency management: Prepare, Prevent, Respond, Recover. The governor’s role is largely “communicating with the public, providing advice and instructions, and maintaining calm and public order”. In the effort to manage and mitigate the effects of a new widespread health threat, decisions were made based on the information available.

Whether we, as the populace, agree with the decisions, restrictions, and protocols or not, they are there. However, there are exceptions to every rule and that is why it is important to read for yourself any Executive Order implemented where you live and strive to understand it. Do not rely on a news report of the order or what you hear from other people. Read it for yourself to understand which parts of it actually affect you- personally AND professionally. Read it to understand what the exceptions are because at the very least professionally, you will encounter people within your community that will need or want to be an exception. You can best be of service when you have a first-hand understanding of what the rules and exceptions are within your community.

This kind of brings me to my second idea- customer service. As a customer or consumer, I have a positive experience when I feel heard. It doesn’t matter if it is in a retail situation like at the grocery store or service-based like getting my hair done or oil change. If the person helping me is not listening to me, I walk away dissatisfied and I most likely do not go back. In these times, this goes beyond the actual product or service. During these times, how we experience getting our products and services has completely changed. For example, if a person falls into the category of the exception to the rule, they risk social stigmatization because the majority is following the rule. But the information that protects a person who is an exception is protected by laws that preexisted the Order. Should it be the responsibility of a client/customer, potential client/customer, or lead to prove their exception? Or should you as the business owner (or your employees) assume that if someone who is not following the assigned guideline that they meet the qualifications to be exempted from the Order’s protocols? Quality customer service includes listening to your client/customer needs, addressing their concerns, and (as much as you can) assuring their comfort during their time with you. During these COVID times, business owners may need to act on some understandings or assumptions that are different from their personal preferences. But we still need to respect our client’s/customer’s right to hold different perspectives or take advantage of a seemingly counter-intuitive exception because it is in their personal best interest to do so. For quality customer service, be transparent about why you are adhering to the guidelines of the Order(s); how the guidelines benefit business operations, employees, and/or clients/customers; and what the list of exceptions are to illustrate your understanding of the Order(s) and promote an accepting atmosphere.

With an understanding of any Executive Orders that have temporarily changed your community life, you as a business owner are now equipped with a tool to help you advocate for your business! As mentioned before: whether we, as the populace, agree with the decisions, restrictions, and protocols or not, they are there. I am sure that the majority of us want what is best for the recovery of any of our ill population and those at risk for illness. However, a generalized application of some practices in the name of that effort can unnecessarily hinder people’s ability to operate their business as necessary for their survival. For many, their business is their livelihood, not a side income. If they cannot operate, they cannot earn money, which means they are at risk for not having necessary money to pay for their living expenses and put food on their table. As a business owner, if there is a restriction that affects your ability to do this, you have a responsibility to advocate for yourself and your business. This is deeper than just morally disagreeing with a practice.

To advocate for your business, you will need to understand exactly how you are being restricted. What is it about the recent changes implemented through your local Executive Order(s) that affects your ability to work your business? Are they necessary? Are they realistic when put into practice? Can you find an example of another successful solution that was implemented in a similar situation that you could use? How far are you willing to go to collect evidence that supports your business’s opposition to a newly proposed social practice? Would you present your case to the necessary authorities (if necessary) to gain clearance or an exception for you to operate? How necessary is doing such a thing for the survival of your business? If you can prove that the guideline is not supported by other respected authorities you would be able to speak up on behalf of yourself and others like you!

Maybe you do not have to go that far. Sometimes there is an interpretation of the legalese that can allow you to still operate while complying through creative interpretation. Go for it! The idea is that you still operate your business while simultaneously being socially responsible but also in alignment with you. Understanding the relationship between your business and the law or government puts you in a position of empowerment to know how to advocate for your business when you need to.

I hope that these ideas help you make the most of these uncertain times. We may not be able to control the circumstances around us but we can control how we respond to them. We are all just trying to get through this time together and even though some emotions may be high, we can remember that we all have the right and privilege to advocate for ourselves. If we can respect that about others as well, any ordeal can become an opportunity. I believe our opportunity through the COVID crisis is growth- personal, professional, societal…I foresee that we grow and learn from this experience.

What do you hope to learn?

Kirsten

Sources:

https://www.nga.org/consulting-2/powers-and-authority/

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Integrating Family Life & Self-Employment

I believe it is safe to say that a lot of our culture is concerned with competition. Competition for objects of enjoyment, resources (food, housing, money), grades/education, jobs, recognition, promotions/power, friends, and so on. 

In the early days of our entrepreneurship, we also implemented this way of thinking because it was what we were used to. We asked ourselves, “How can we differentiate from the rest? What makes us unique? Are we offering something that people want?” We had already accepted that by nature of being in business, we were automatically in competition with everyone else offering a similar service. When we began homeschooling, we asked ourselves, “What are we supposed to be teaching? Does our curriculum still somewhat match what others are learning?” We knew we would be teaching some different facts than what the public schools taught, but we figured we would still have to teach the same type of subjects. After all, the girls will one day enter the world of adult competition for work and resources, they need to be as prepared as possible.

In hindsight, we were giving away our personal power by deciding our worth and how we educated our children based on what others were doing, achieving, and deciding.

As uncomfortable as that was to face, it became really empowering to realize that we actually did not have to compete with anyone! We only needed to get used to reevaluating our perspective. Instead of being concerned with what others were doing or what we thought we should be offering, we asked ourselves if we were offering what we wanted to and if it aligned with our skills and where we saw ourselves in the future. We asked ourselves what we felt was important for our children to learn and we still ask them often what they are interested in learning about. 

Sidenote: I am only describing what our evaluation of integrating family and self-employment looked like. A lot of people are self-employed and send their children to public, private, or other organized schools or do not have any children at all and are perhaps within the category of the “others” I mentioned we were comparing ourselves to. Not everyone has the same type of people they compare themselves to. I do not intend any disrespect against any group, I only intend to illustrate our transformation. I encourage readers to self-evaluate whether you compare yourself to others, who you tend to compare yourself to, and whether that comparison is serving you.

If the girls went to public school, it might be simpler to plan daily work days around that regular schedule. However, it is our priority to homeschool and so we cannot spend every single week day working during the day like other professionals in our field. We also learned the hard way that it is impossible for us to spend every single week day focusing on homeschooling attempting to accomplish that goal as well. So instead of trying to make our homeschooling days look like or sound like what was expected, we had to make a change to the calendar.

We decided to split the week- three days focused on learning, three days focused on work, with the last day of the week available for rest, play, or work- whatever might be needed. Aside from recently coming to appreciate the need for additional, independent learning activities the girls can do as “homework” on non-school days, this schedule has served us for quite some time now.

If you have children, how do YOU blend your self-employment schedule with their educational needs?

In recent months we also made a huge life change for the sake of both our family AND our business. We sold our home and vehicles, bought a truck and a pull-behind camper, and put our family on the road- we are all so excited for this! From a business perspective, we open ourselves up to be in contact with more people wherever we can travel. We broaden our potential client base. We look forward to being able to be of service to as many people as possible! When we first talked about doing this, we knew we had to consult everyone in the family about how they would feel about that. That decision could not only be about the business. Our children have friends that they would have to say goodbye to, learn how to maintain long-distance friendships with, and have the challenge of making new friends during travel. It was asking a lot, but with the efforts we have made and lines of communication we have opened up have been serving us so far. Though some tears have been shed, they have been happy with the transition!

When we considered the family in our decision, we became excited with the opportunities we would have for quality experiences together, field trips, extending our children’s independence and range of life experiences, the sights we would see, the people we would meet, and how it might be different living as people of the nation not just of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

If you have children, how do YOU combine attending to your business with attending to the social, emotional, and other needs of your children?

We also knew that going on the road meant less opportunities than we already had for quality time together as a couple- no trusted babysitter, family friend, or family member for hundreds of miles. It is important to us to separate our work schedule from our family and personal schedules. This is where we reevaluated and restructured what extending independence to our girls looks like and making sure to take advantage of quiet moments, cuddle opportunities, and our morning walks which we enjoy using to talk about last night’s dreams, an article we read, or where we might want to travel next.

We wear many hats as homeschool parenting entrepreneurs- it is easy to get lost in all the roles! However, we are also still partners and individuals . As I mentioned, it is important to us to separate our schedules and to also honor who we are as individuals. The more we fill our cups with what we need to be our best, the better off we will be to share ourselves with others.

How do YOU fill your own cup or still find time for your spouse or significant other when you are self-employed?

When it came to talking about responsibility, we found that we used language that focused on individual responsibility. “You need to learn to do certain things and be responsible for these other things because that’s yours, not mine, and eventually you will be responsible for yourself so you should learn” sort of language. We learned it wasn’t getting the results we were expecting and through the frustration we decided we needed to change our approach.

One of our recent homeschool lessons addressed differences in Individualist value systems versus Collectivist value systems. Basically, in the Individualist value system the Self is independent and separate from the group; in the Collectivist value system the Self is defined in terms of the relationship to the group. Before, the majority of our language reflected the Individualist value. Without enough emphasis on the Collective value, the motivation for action could not be nurtured. Now we aim for the best of both worlds. We changed our language to stop referencing responsibilities as individual “chores” and started focusing on how the tasks we were each responsible for were an important personal choice as well as a benefit for our family group as a whole.

For us, Nathan is our preferred chef. First, because he prefers to cook. Second, because we all prefer him to cook also! So he is largely responsible for preparing and cooking meals. I am taller than our girls and can handle the larger dishes better with larger hands; so it is easier for me to be largely responsible for washing the dishes. The girls can reach the dry dishes and where they are stored, so once the dishes are dry, the girls are responsible for putting them away. We all like to eat and have a dish to cook or eat on, so we accept our roles and perform them for not just our own good, but also for our group, our family.

Before, we addressed chores such as helping with the dishes as an expectation to help because the task had been assigned to them. Now, we explain how they fill a role in the process of having clean dishes and point out how they personally benefit from them putting the dishes away so they have started to become personally vested in performing their dish task. I think that for them to see how we as parents are also active participants in the process, it fits the kid criteria for “fair” which reduces the amount of interpersonal friction.

Within our family, we aim to not lead ourselves to believe we can do everything alone nor do we want to see anyone lose themselves in sacrifice just to be a part of the family. A blending of both personal and group identity is healthy and a healthy ego is important to develop confidence and recognize that you can achieve what you put your mind to.

How do YOU manage personal and household responsibilities?

I hope these questions help you to think about the ways to blend family life and self-employment. I wish for you blending success!

Kirsten

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How Minimalism Found Us

When Nathan and I were operating our farm, one of our favorite things to do was attend the local craft and artisan shows to sell our homemade foods. We baked fresh bread using a family recipe. We made jam and other products from what we grew, berries we sourced locally and/or organically, and would have other specialty treats like muffins, cookies, or fudge. Folks would ask how long we had been farming and how we got started. We would smile and explain that “It all started with a compost pile.”

We used to have this old diesel truck we bought from our old employer, an oil company. It was a service truck and it had built-in toolboxes on the side. Also, attached to the bed of the truck was a homemade bed cover. The structure was wooden and there was hardware cloth wrapped around it so as to create an enclosure. We had removed that wooden monstrosity to open up the bed of the truck and the cover sat like an eyesore in our front yard for quite a while. One day, while chopping vegetables for dinner, I looked at how much food waste I was throwing out and felt the pang of responsibility as I knew that the waste could be doing something much more useful than sitting in a plastic bag to rot. Then a light bulb turned on in my head and I thought, what if I took that bed cover, turned it upside down so the sides came up for support and started a compost pile?

It was a while before I brought the idea up to Nathan because I didn’t think he would want to entertain an idea like that. When I did, I was right. He wasn’t really that into it and we didn’t even know what we would do with the compost material anyway. I am not a good gardener, as my somehow over-watered (and dead) cactus would tell you if it could. The only garden we did have to speak of at the time was really just the row of flowers we planted along our front porch, but even those grow back every year without me having to do much of anything except keep the weeds out. But they still grow even when I slack off on that anyway! We love to eat vegetables, so we expected we would make too much compost material to do anything with. I have heard in the “old days” of neighbors asking for sugar or eggs, but not compost. So thinking of ways to market this compost to them to share, seemed like a task that might do more harm than good to any relationship we might have already had.

So I sat on the idea and continued to toss the vegetable waste in the garbage, trying to ignore the sense of responsibility I ascribed to the task before. One afternoon I had just gotten home from the farmer’s market with more vegetables and saw that hideous bed cover once again. I couldn’t take it anymore! I took the food inside, marched right back outside, flipped that bed cover over, and dragged it over to a low corner of the yard, out of sight. We became composters that day and never turned back! The more I looked at our backyard and how much space we had, I knew we could put this compost to better work. We love fresh market vegetables so much, what is better than just growing it yourself?! I started looking at how much people were growing on small land lots because our entire property is just around 1 acre, including the house. Would we be able to make enough food for ourselves for the entire year? We planned on canning or freezing vegetables after the harvest and cutting down on what we had to buy at the store. I consider this our introduction to the minimalist lifestyle.

According to popular minimalsts Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, “Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.… Minimalists search for happiness not through things, but through life itself; thus, it’s up to you to determine what is necessary and what is superfluous in your life.”

We didn’t necessarily choose considering this perspective as part of our life; more like it chose us. I didn’t make myself feel those pangs of responsibility, it just happened. It’s like it was my Inner Self was doing their part to guide me to what was necessary to do to minimize waste and be more conscious of how much of it we create as a family. Something inside just felt like it was what I was supposed to do. Once I recognized that waste, I started to notice the other ways we were being wasteful: we all had tons of clothes that we didn’t wear half of; despite our efforts, our children had still accumulated more toys than they could keep track of; and excessive trips to Costco with all the plastic, time, and financial waste that went along with all of it. We had services on auto-pay that we weren’t really using much either, so little by little, money was being siphoned from our account that wasn’t adding any value for us. We also started to feel the time cost of our home. We would need to spend hours maintaining and cleaning it when we really only used a few of the rooms anyway.

No change happens overnight, so we started little by little, and still work at it a little at a time, creating a space that honors our responsibility to the Earth, while also honoring our personal needs, and making the most of what we have. Here is a short-list of some of the “little things” we have done with this “minimalist” perspective in mind:

  • We used the compost material to fortify garden beds we installed in order to grow our own supply of vegetables for the entire year. We combined this practice with buying what we can’t or don’t need to grow (because it is already offered locally) from local farms with similar growing practices.
  • Both Nathan and I joined “Buy, Sell, Trade” type of groups on Facebook to connect with people who might need or want to buy the items we found that we no longer needed.
  • I found a local consignment group that organizes 2-3 times a year for a big sale. We both bought and sold items with that group and it has been great to upgrade clothes and shoes for growing kids and make some money back for what they cannot use anymore!
  • We decided that instead of giving so many gifts, we would focus on experiences instead; like going to the movies, a sleepover, or a special day trip. We still give some gifts, but because there are fewer, they become more personal, something that is needed, or are homemade.
  • By planning our meals every week, we saved money at the store by only buying what we needed, not what we think we might use (and then not use it).
  • We took the time to look at our finances and cut out the services or expenses that were unnecessary or superfluous.
  • We posted our 2 spare bedrooms on AirBnB so that we could host guests to make money on rooms we were cleaning anyway. This also became part of our business income for operating the Farm.
  • gift for a yoga student
  • gift for one of our daughters
  • gift for our other daughter

Not only were we noticing the waste in our personal lives, Nathan and I were also feeling the “waste” in our professional lives. The waste of some of our time, efforts, and talent.

When Nathan was first working in the education industry, he was excited to be able to be helping people. We were both raised with a high value placed on education and he was happy to help people on their path to improving themselves and their life prospects through gaining more knowledge and a degree that so many employers require now for employment. “Knowledge is power”, right? The higher on that ladder he climbed, the more respect and responsibility he was awarded by his hard work, and also the more he realized the little ways he was sacrificing his goal of helping people. It became defiled by the pressure of being expected to meet certain “goals” (quotas). He told me once that in consulting a potential student over financial aid, he advised that person that enrolling at the University at that time was actually not the best decision for them. It would have put them in a financially precarious situation and he just didn’t feel right about enrolling the person. When it came up in conversation with his superior, he ended up getting scolded for it. When that month was over and the enrollment goal was missed by 1 or 2, naturally, the superior brought up that incident again in order to “prove his point”.

When I was teaching yoga, I got a lot of experience teaching in a studio. I am forever thankful for that experience, especially because that was my first teaching job after my teacher training. I had to audition for it and everything and I was so stoked I had gotten the position on my merits! However, after a couple of years, I knew that it wasn’t for me. I didn’t feel as useful as I could be. My relationship with yoga was deeper than simply getting on the mat every week and I wanted to bring that into my yoga teaching style. Instead of contracting myself out to a studio to teach regular asana classes and the occasional workshop, I wanted to go out on my own offering private sessions where the client and I could really dig into the deeper dimensions of yoga that can aid in personal emotional or spiritual healing. I also wanted to bring this significant experience to those who had little or no access to yoga. So I left the studio to travel and teach at places like the local library and an assisted living community to introduce yoga to families and folks who might not otherwise be able to get to a yoga studio regularly. I set up a special “yoga room” in our house to take private lessons and shoot videos I planned on offering online. Fast forward and now I do not even have that business anymore. I realized that even though I had set out with the goal of assisting people with radical, personal change and introduce various demographics to yoga, I was still mainly focusing on the contents of asana practice in order to keep people interested and thus, keep the business going. All of this began to take away from all of the blissful hours and experiences I had logged since I began practicing yoga. Eventually that business dissolved and I now retain my efforts of yoga healing for myself and my “demographic” includes Nathan and our 2 daughters when they are interested.

Both of these experiences forced us to take a hard, close look at what we were doing professionally and make a decision. Eventually Nathan got so frustrated by being taken advantage of at work and unable to feel helpful and useful, that we devised a plan for him to make the transition to be self-employed so he could put his talents to work for himself, earning a living he could be proud of. For me, I learned that my yoga training was (at least for now) meant for me to use for my own personal healing and maybe my version of that isn’t right for someone else.

Lesson Learned: Don’t work to make everyone else happy, it probably won’t happen anyway. Empower yourself with your own natural talents and desired skills and put them to work for you!

When we decided to take that risk- to take our breadwinner out of the corporate work force and gamble on our own skills and wits to make ends meet- it took a lot of talking, planning, “strategery”, personal will, and hard work to make sure that we could make it. There was a lot at risk. We had a mortgage, 2 kids, and only enough savings to last 1 year.

https://tenor.com/view/strategery-snlskit-will-ferrell-strategy-gwbush-gif-5390559

THREE YEARS LATER…we are still self-employed and loving it! Not every month is easy. Operating a farm and doing people’s taxes covers certain parts of the year, so we have to make sure to maximize the income we get and make it last until the seasons come around again. But we have over the years learned the patterns, adjusted our focus for income earning when current strategies weren’t benefiting us anymore, and learned to simplify. What remained the same with every strategy was that we had to figure out how to maximize the income potential. We are always fair and we also know and feel the importance of getting paid our worth because we know what we need to live and how much that costs us every year. Nathan calculated it down into knowing how much income we needed to bring in on a daily basis to “make it”. When we met that requirement for that day or that week, we knew we could rest easy because what we needed to live was covered by: the yoga client that bought their 5-class card, the farm table we operated that week selling food, that client that needed 3 years worth of taxes done, or that restaurant that consistently bought jam or vegetables every month.

It’s not enough to just know about how much mark-up you need for each product or service, but also knowing how many products or hours of service you need to sell or put in to know you can afford to pay yourself.

Lesson Learned: Know your financial worth and charge it. Don’t feel guilty for requiring a living wage to, you know…live.

Knowing how much we need to live is so helpful. However, did you read that list I generated a couple of paragraphs ago? Those income generators are great, but what consistency is there? When we organized ourselves into business, we took our skills and passions and created 3 different businesses. We spread ourselves too thin. The administration, marketing, execution, product creation, research and development…all of the components of a business are a lot to consider for 1 business, let alone 3! Oh, and did I mention that somewhere in there we also tried to start a non-profit that would utilize and connect our businesses through projects we planned to initiate within the community?! We learned the hard way to consolidate our efforts down to 2 businesses (to start) and perhaps it goes without mentioning we weren’t able to get that non-profit up and running either. C’est la vie, we learned. And we (foolishly) decided we could still operate the farm in the Spring and Summer and focus on consulting in the Autumn and Winter.

What actually happened was after we closed down our farm for the season, we were still able to offer products at local craft and artisan shows. We calculated that we would need to take advantage of the holiday craft shows coming up in order to meet our income goals for the year. In doing so, this took valuable time away from marketing for tax season and one-on-one consulting. Not to mention that if we wanted to start the farm again to be profitable, halfway through tax season we would have to take time away from that to start seedlings, market and network for the coming farm season with restaurants and artisan shows, not to mention administrate all this flow of information and revenue sometime! We were forced to look (again!) at how we valued our time, which skills we wanted to utilize the most, and how that fit in with our long-term goal of being a full-time RVing family. (Yes, that is totally our family dream!)

As much as we valued growing CNG quality produce, distributing it through the community, and offering education on how to do-it-yourself, we had to realize our talents are best suited for our consulting work and our consulting work is what will help us achieve our family dream.

Lesson Learned: Minimize and streamline your overall effort by figuring out how to maximize your skill set.

If we revisit the definition of minimalism mentioned earlier: “Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.… Minimalists search for happiness not through things, but through life itself; thus, it’s up to you to determine what is necessary and what is superfluous in your life.” Let me tie that in with the examples I discussed:

  • By growing our own food and buying from local farms, we were able to reduce the carbon footprint created by how far our food traveled to get to us, stimulated the local economy by supporting other business in our own community, and ensured a better quality of nutrition for our physical health. Stimulating the local economy is important to us because we know it supports other individuals and families like ours trying to use their skills, talents, and resources to make a living and contribute to the community. We reduced waste, ate healthier, and felt fulfilled contributing to our community in a way that was important to us.
  • By selling unneeded or outgrown items, planning meals, and cutting out unnecessary expenses, we began to better manage our financial cash flows. This helps to provide more opportunities for a special experience that we would value.
  • Posting our spare rooms on AirBnB put the time cost of the effort spent cleaning those rooms to better use. At least if we were cleaning the rooms someone else could enjoy the space and we enjoyed how we could contribute to the “share economy” idea, further fulfilling our goal to contribute to our community. People came from all over to visit our town and the surrounding area for various reasons- from tourism to vending at local craft shows and graduations to marathon races!
  • By reorganizing our businesses in a way that situates us to become a full-time RV family, we look forward to a certain sense of freedom. We feel weighed down by the responsibility of our house and want to have “less house” to take care of. By having less house, we can focus on spending more time with each other, with less space we will be more selective of the items we allow in our space, and by being able to travel we can enrich our lives with more experiences in a variety of places.
  • We can also broaden our clientele and become available to help more people make the most of their own money. By empowering more individuals across communities nationwide, we are able to help stimulate local economies all over! We know how valuable people are to their communities and it is fulfilling work for us helping others achieve their version of freedom and self-actualization. We believe every person has a special talent, skill, or artistic expression that is unique to them and worth being shared.

The question my Inner Self posed to me was: How can you be less wasteful? Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus ask: How might your life be better if you owned fewer material possessions? Our goal by sharing how we stumbled upon incorporating minimalism into our life- both personally and professionally- is that it will stoke the embers of your own curiosity to explore what is your excess? Is there anything you can live with less of? How much more personal power do you feel when you are aware of the flow of your resources? And perhaps most important of all, what is necessary for your happiness, fulfillment, and freedom?

We hope you enjoy exploring!

Kirsten

UPDATE: I wrote this blog right before it all happened and just haven’t had a chance to finish editing and posting until now, but…we sold our house! We sold our house and have transitioned into a full time RV family! We are so excited and look forward to sharing our adventure with you!

*featured image credit: https://pin.it/43colapvjjzggo

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Welcome!

Hello and thank you for stopping by our website. We are Berezan Consulting, welcome to our blog!

As a consulting business, our clients know us best for our quality tax preparation, knowledgeable business consulting, and helpful personal financial guidance. Through our blog, we hope to offer you an opportunity to get to know us “behind the scenes”, see how we also practice or have experience with the consulting guidance we offer, and share our adventure of self-sustaining freedom! We would love to see everyone be able to achieve their own version of self-sustaining freedom!

Both Nathan and I used to work for companies, climbed corporate ladders, and navigated the workforce. Working for other companies, we were always tied into their schedule, their goals, their needs. Nathan and I share a personal and professional goal of using our natural skills, continuing education, and powers of creativity and reasoning to earn an income for ourselves to support our family. We enjoy the feeling of reclaiming our personal power through both self-employment and homeschooling when we exercise our ability to schedule our time how we need to, to meet our goals and needs. If we need to take a few days off because the family is sick, we can do that. If we need to lighten the homeschool load in order to adjust for more work hours during tax season, we can do that. Sometimes, homeschool math is practiced operating a farm table selling homemade food. Being able to live with and respond to the rhythm of your own life on your own terms IS personal freedom!

Our lives weren’t always this way. Our journey to where we are now actually began several years ago with my yoga teacher training. As I write this blog and reflect, I have been practicing yoga for about 13 years. A few years in I got my teacher training and have been certified to teach since 2012. I wanted a way out of the corporate workforce and thought my passion for learning and experiencing yoga could be shared with the world through teaching. Along that journey, my definition of yoga has been changed and shaped through practice, study, and experience; not to mention frustration, persistence, and courage. Yoga is much more than getting on the mat for asana practice. Allow me to share my perspective.

There are four main branches of yoga. Some yoga schools say six or otherwise count differently. From my perspective, there are, in general, four. They are: Raja, Jnana, Karma, and Bhakti. Those are Sanskrit words that are interpreted as: Royal, Knowledge, Selfless Action, and Loving Devotion- respectively.

Branch of Raja yoga

There are actually many parts to Raja yoga. This branch of yoga constitutes the implementation of Ashtanga yoga. This is not to be confused with the asana sequence practice of Ashtanga yoga created by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. I am referring to the Ashtanga Yoga discussed in the Yoga Sutras, the ancient practice of the Eight Limbs of Yoga.

The Eight Limbs of Yoga can be an entire blog in itself, but I will mention them here. The Eight Limbs are Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratiahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi. If you notice, Asana (getting on the mat for posture practice) is only one of eight pieces of this yoga pie. Dhyana is meditation so if you also practice this you practice two of eight pieces. The Yama and Niyama Limbs each have 5 components (10 altogether) and offer guidance on sustainable ways to treat yourself and others. A quality meditation also utilizes Pranayama (Breath Control practice), Pratiahara (Sense Withdrawl), and Dharana (Concentration). Samadhi is the peak culmination of all these practices realized together.

Facing yourself, your circumstances of life, and relationships with others is not always easy. These Limbs offer a daily practice, guidance for making everyday decisions, how to treat any person you may come across, and how to manage your own physical, mental, and emotional health. I invite all readers to brief yourselves on this topic. I expect there will also be a future blog to offer my perspective.

By implementing the disciplines of Ashtanga yoga, we become improved, healthy versions of ourselves. By practicing how to love and respect ourselves and others, we are able to approach each day, each encounter, each situation or circumstance with a healthy body, clear mind, and an open heart.

 

Branch of Jnana yoga

Practicing Raja yoga can lead to discoveries in Jnana yoga. Jnana yoga is the yoga of knowledge. The type of knowledge is the self-study we pursue and experience in order to grow as individuals. We learn about ourselves, our limits, what excites or depresses us, our boundaries. We can include academic knowledge here as well, but more so within the context of how that academic knowledge led to an understanding of the Self- for example, discovering capabilities, interests, and natural skills and aptitudes.

Through the lens of Jnana yoga we start to see ourselves more objectively. We can see both our strengths and our weaknesses, accept them, and use them to our advantage or plan for their support. It is how we are able to adapt; using what we know regarding our natural skills, continuing education, and powers of creativity and reasoning to earn an income for ourselves to support our family. When we can see ourselves objectively, it also helps us see others more objectively, without the filters (rose-colored or otherwise) we may usually apply.

When we personally put this into daily use, for us, my strength is creativity and Nathan’s strength is reasoning. So when we team up on how to approach achieving a goal, we establish who would be the best leader to make final decisions and talk it out. I believe the key is deciding from the beginning to maintain the objective perspective and leave the ego out of the discussion.

 

Branch of Karma yoga

Karma yoga is a phrase within the yoga community that, in my experience, means an act that you do for the sake of doing it, without any expectation of reward. Sometimes it also means volunteer your time at the yoga studio in exchange for free or discount classes- a service exchange.

When I practiced this within my yoga business, I volunteered my time at the library and offered free classes to anyone who wanted to attend the regularly scheduled class. I cannot deny that also by doing this there was an opportunity to gain private clients, but that was not the energy I brought into the class (nor did I gain any private clients!). It was my goal to simply give back to the community. Nathan would practice this every day at the office by saying “Good Morning” and “Good Night” to his team of employees. He didn’t always get a “Good Morning” or a “Good Night” back, but that’s not why he did it. He did it to let his team members know that they were noticed and appreciated. I believe these examples speak to the energy exchange that also occurs with Karma yoga. When attempting to exchange either services or energy for personal, professional, or whatever reason- however it pertains to you living your life- it is the intent of the actions that matters most.

Professionally, what this means to us for Berezan Consulting is essentially implementing the practice of Right Livelihood from Buddhist tradition. Right Livelihood pertains to the quality of intention that is associated with the actions you consider your “work” or livelihood- how you earn money or trade services for acquiring what you need to live. Is your work honorable? Are you honest and respectful while you work? Are you aware of how your work affects others (within your team, company, community, or your own home)? What is the spirit behind your work?

Karma yoga means offering a life of service to others. Practicing this branch causes us to keep an awareness on how we “do” for others and the fact that we should be “doing” for others in the first place. Why do we want to do things for others? Why should we want to have an awareness of the intentions behind our actions? Why should we care what “others” want or need and how we can be a part of delivering that? I believe the answer lies in the next branch of yoga.

Branch of Bhakti yoga

The loving devotion of Bhakti yoga refers to how we honor and connect with The Source/God/The Cosmos/The Universe- whatever it is that you call That Which Is Larger Than Myself that you cannot explain but you know is there (or not there) throughout your life. I believe it truly does go both ways- I have myself experienced both. You know when the Spirit of Source is with you because you notice it- synchronicity, “random” occurrences, coincidences you might call “signs”, direct channeling/hearing/seeing your spirit guides; there are so many ways to experience the Spirit of Source. Yet, there are also many ways to experience the lack of Spirit of Source- abandonment, despair, chronic loneliness, “bad luck”, feeling misunderstood. When you feel lost, without options, desperate, I have come to learn that these, too, are lessons to learn.

My current perspective has grown to be: If we are to credit God or The Source for when things go well, we should hold Source equally responsible for when things go wrong. If we believe that The Source is indeed a merciful, compassionate, and loving guide and teacher, then our negative experience is only rubbing our ego the wrong way. We are not being punished, we are having an experience to teach us something about ourselves. However, if we believe that The Source is controlling, merciless, and unforgiving, then our relationship with The Source becomes much more submissive and powerless. Perhaps, like anything, it is the union of this polarity that creates the foundation for our relationship with That Which Is Larger Than Myself.

Since Bhakti yoga refers to our relationship with That, our practice of Karma yoga is intertwined quite a bit here; as well as pieces of Raja yoga. When we maintain awareness of our intentions behind all of our actions- towards ourselves and others- we find ourselves treating all creations of The Source differently; with respect and kindness. Is this not how we would treat The Source directly if it were to materialize into a tangible creature you could interact with? We, in fact, do have an opportunity to interact with The Source as a tangible being every single time we encounter a person, animal, insect, plant- anything and everything that comes from God, The Source. Living this component of your yoga is appropriately regarded as the yoga of devotion.

Also, what rituals or celebrations are used to deepen that personal connection to The Source? Is it daily prayer or meditation? Weekly gatherings with your spiritual group? Recognized celebrations that mark significant occasions in your spiritual model? Maintaining these rituals and celebrations offer an opportunity to keep your spirit centered on your personal honor code that you keep between you and The Source.

 

Life is a complex experience that we negotiate every moment of every day. These four branches of yoga and how we live them guide everything we here at Berezan Consulting do on a daily basis- personally and professionally. We accept that we are continual works in progress; learning, stretching the boundaries of comfort, and growing into the best version of ourselves every single day. I hope this helps give you some insight to who we are “behind the scenes” and how we approach our work with you as our client.

 

Namaste,

Kirsten