Business: On Purpose - 405 Magazine

Business: On Purpose

Business can be about more than profits.

Business can be about more than profits. Use your skills and your business as a platform to do good.

Why in the world are you in business?

“I am in it to make money!” Some might say.

Others: “I got a business degree in college and just followed in my parents’ footsteps.”

Most people think of business as a job which earns a good salary to pay for a good lifestyle to raise a good family. And that is not bad. It is honorable.

Yet, there is more. What if you viewed business as a platform for good? What if it was more than just a job, more than just to-do lists and more than company politics? What if your work was a platform for impact – for doing good for others?

For decades, I have had a mantra to let the world fund me to impact it. What that means is that I use business to help people, and I know hundreds who are doing the same. Let me give you some examples:

  • Suzi uses coaching and consulting to help people get healthy in their marriages and their work. They pay her well and she makes people better.
  • Mark gets paid well by a few large corporations and takes a portion of those funds to apprentice young leaders with a program they can’t afford.
  • Lance is on boards and works with clients to make a living but gives himself to people who wouldn’t have the chance to receive his counsel normally for free.
  • I know of one company that gives more than 70 percent of their profits to help a myriad of charities.
  • Tim uses his restaurant to employ people who might not get a chance in other places.

Does this motivate you in any way?

Please don’t feel guilty that you might not be doing enough. The world doesn’t need the guilty to do things half-heartedly.

Instead, I want to inspire you to think about business differently. The truth is that there are millions of us business owners and business people who are using our work to do good. We just need more people to become more intentional and creative.

What has always been in your heart to do for others with your work?

  • Could you tutor a young student through a program through your work?
  • Would you be open to creating a fund to use to help those who are mentally or physically challenged?
  • What if you create an apprenticeship program and train young leaders on the ropes so they become liberators in our city?
  • Would you be willing to match certain dollar amounts to give to something important to your family?

It doesn’t take much to make an impact. It might be this simple article that unlocks the dream that is inside of you.

That is the best of business – providing a service or product that people need to make life better. Make that personal. Add to it your superpowers so that you can turn your work and your business into a platform for good. It will do as much for you as it does for others.

Jeremie Kubicek uses his businesses (GiANT, billion, Six Summers, Culture Wins, etc.) as platforms for good. He is a seasoned author and his fifth book, The Peace Index, launches this fall.