For the last three years, I’ve been travelling around the natural wonders of Australia, in and out of wi-fi so I can build my business whilst maintaining my connection with nature. So much of what I teach is inspired by the success of our natural world, specifically how we can grow in harmony with all of creation, without sacrificing our health, relationships or our planet. It all begins with pace…
You may have heard of the emerging ‘slow business’ movement, which some progressive organisations and even well-known technology companies are adopting by choice. It urges people to reduce the pervasive fast pace of our economy and instead reap the rewards of organic growth. I call it living in ‘Earth time’.
Mind time versus Earth time
Our economy has been created largely from the mind, driven by the ego’s need to feel secure, overriding our innate sense of natural rhythm and timing. When the mind tries to control timing, life moves too quickly for our bodies and our environment to keep up with. It pushes us to create more and more, without looking square on at the side effects of maintaining such a high level of growth.
‘Mind time’ has yielded technologies that we as humans can barely keep up with, it’s left local communities without natural resources, people with permanently high blood pressure, and eroded intimacy in relationships. All because ‘there isn’t enough time’.
Living from the mind alone has resulted in much noise and distraction from what really matters: co-creating with each other and our planet from peace, not fear.
What’s more, we are so conditioned in our society for ‘overnight success’ – we only see the pinnacle of people’s work when it’s in the spotlight of (social) media. When we watch an athlete win a medal at the Olympics, we are not privy to personal, financial and physical sacrifices over many years that made it happen. We take it for granted and worse, become programmed into thinking ‘that’s all it takes, I can do that’. We’re only evaluating what we see. In my view, underlying all true success is slow progress.
Slow business allows time for what needs our attention now
To me, the concept of ‘natural timing’ is really what underpins slow business. It is the natural rhythm of life that supports all our actions day-to-day. As the seasons inform how we grow food, natural timing guides us in taking the right actions when the time is ripe, no sooner and no later.
It means we avoid being busy, exerting excess energy on tasks that don’t yield THE optimal result.
From the simplest thing as responding to an email from a prospective client, there is a time to give your best response, too soon and it may be under-distilled, too late and you may lose an opportunity to truly connect. There is an optimal time for everything, but first we have to deconstruct the ‘business rules’ that don’t serve us.
Natural timing, ‘nature’s time’, is the most efficient use of your energy
As you are growing your business, you have two choices: to grow your business beyond you, or to grow along side your business. One is in mind time and the other is in Earth time. With your human body, you are essentially growing in Earth time, ageing according your external and internal environment. If you choose to grow your business faster than Earth time, you have to apply force, which has an impact on yourself, the people around you and the Earth.
If you grow a business with force, pushing and hustling for results, there are inevitable side effects.
When you apply force to grow your business:
- You don’t have time to give your body what it needs to function well, such as eating ‘on the go’ means you can’t digest your food properly
- You don’t have time to truly listen to the people in your life and business, which is needed to create understanding and cooperation
- You don’t have time to celebrate your achievements, release the old, and pause to consolidate growth in preparation for what’s next
- You don’t have time to rest your mind and body, listen to your soul and gain perspective on your life from the bird’s eye or long-term view
- You don’t have time to consider people before profit, because ‘time is money’ and therefore profit wins
Slow is not sexy, but it is sustainable. And when you consider what you sacrifice for speed, slow can pay off in ways you can’t foresee. As the ancient philosopher Lao-tzu once said:
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
How Slow Business Is Different
The good news is that as a business owner, you get to set a more Earthly pace for growth than the norm. Without typical organizational pressures, there are various ways you can incorporate slow business as part of your mode of operating.
One of the overarching features of slow business is the focus on long-term benefits, such as making investments to pay off over decades or leaving a legacy for generations to come. This focus is what fundamentally distinguishes a slow business from the rest that are driven by short-term profits above the wellbeing of people and the natural environment.
Would you like to be a champion of slow business?
I’ve listed some ways I’ve found to support slow business in practice. I should mention here that I have a commitment to simplicity in my business, and I am constantly reviewing the grass roots of how I manage backend functions like administration, finances and technology. Simplicity and slow really do go hand in hand.
1. Timing Online Responses
In the ‘United States of Anxiety’, the digital landscape of our world is a major contributor to anxiety, which is now 800 times more common than cancer. And, as humans, our thinking is compromised by the shallow fragmentation and immediacy of the internet, so we need to handle our online selves with care.
In my own weekly schedule, I aim to take at least 2 days per week offline, when I don’t access the phone or internet. I also employ natural timing with my responses on email and social media, I respond when it feels spacious to do so, rather than immediately or with set times each day. Sometimes I’ll be sitting on an reply for a while, beyond typical turnaround time, so I can deliver my best response. I often take several days to respond to social media comments. There are many other healthy online habits you can apply, all stemming from the decision to take regular time offline and not having to respond immediately.
2. Following Profit Rhythms
Traditionally, there is an expectation, or at least a strong desire, that a business maintains a consistent level of profit year-round every year. It reminds me of the pressure of our culture to be ‘on’ at all times, smiling, happy and productive – it’s unrealistic (you only have to look at the stock market to see that ‘what goes up must come down’). So while constancy helps us to feel good and secure, it is not how nature works because it’s not sustainable.
I’ve deliberately chosen not to grow Sacred Business in the fast lane. I’ve experimented with multiple seeds (tested different offers and markets), nourished its soil (provided the knowledge and resources) and expanded its roots system (grown lateral networks). The non-profit nature of some of these activities has meant that my profit hasn’t grown exponentially over the last three years. In fact, there have been times of famine where I’ve had very little money flowing in.
What I’ve learned is the value of having no expectation that my business will sustain a particular profit level at all times. This relieves the pressure I put on myself and tends to avoid snap, scarcity-driven decisions to boost profits out of sheer discomfort. Instead, I advocate money flow, which in principle means that money is free to flow in and out of your business without the need to expect or force it to be a certain way. Rather than having expectations around money, I focus on servicing the true needs of my tribe, adjust my business model and revenue streams as I go, and tend to my finances regularly.
Side note: I’m aware that this ‘no expectations’ approach to money doesn’t work for everyone. You may like to read my previous blog on not being motivated by money, which explains more about my perspective on money flow.
3. Celebrating Milestones
There are certain rites of passage in business that really deserve acknowledgement, such as serving your first customer, launching your website, retiring an existing business, number of years in business and meeting major money milestones. I recently celebrated the third birthday of Sacred Business with my mailing list and my business family, which helped me to pause and appreciate what has been and what is coming next. I really felt a sense of peace and gratitude from doing this, which I don’t think would have been the case if I didn’t stop to celebrate. I am also slowly incorporating rituals that honour the birth and death of certain cycles in my business.
4. Planning in ‘Earth Time’
Since Sacred Business began, I have been planning by the natural cycles of the Earth, moon and seasons. As a project manager by trade, it made sense to me to apply the same planning and tracking skills in conjunction with a cyclical, pattern-based methodology. The results for me and for others has been a low-stress, more cost-effective to business growth; in other words, we are able to have a greater impact with the time and resources we have, simply through knowing what actions to take and when.
Personally, the natural cycles slow me down to make more considered choices that allow the ripening of my creations which leads to more fruitful results. For example, when I finish writing a blog article, I let it sit for days or even weeks before publishing, observing the optimal time for its release, to allow myself to distill, embody and refine what I’ve written. This is the ripening process, where your creations have more impact on you and others because they have matured to just the right amount of sweetness.
5. Pricing for Downtime
If you run your own business without the usual employee leave allowances, there’s an important shift in perspective to make – that you are paid for your downtime. You are not paid simply for the hours you are working, your customers are paying for your reflection and rejuvenation time as well. Slow business is holistic, which means that it allows for all of you to grow at the rate that your business does.
If you are responsible in taking good care of yourself emotionally and physically, it is realistic and fair to incorporate your downtime into your pricing structure. In other words, the time you realistically need to rest is just as valuable as your ‘uptime’. For example, when a client pays me for an hour of my time, there is at least one more hour that I spend in preparation, rest and reflection. Without this extra time, I can’t provide the same amount of value to my clients, therefore it is just as valuable to them and to me, as face-to-face time.
6. Nurturing Long-term Relationships
From the start of working with a client, I see the potential of a long-term relationship that serves us both. It doesn’t always turn out that way, but I treat each person the same nonetheless. Here’s the catch which turns most people off – even viewing people as potential long-term customers, takes a lot more of your time. It takes care and nurturing which may or may not ‘pay off’ financially over time. It is worthwhile knowing whether you want a business culture that is relationship-based or task-based as your priorities will be different.
I touch base with previous clients every now and then to see how they are, make a suggestion or referral in relation to their work. I make sure I have the time in my schedule to give them a thought and drop them a line. Quite a few of my current clients are long-termers, and I still keep in touch with others that I served years ago. It not only feels good, but over time, staying in touch with customers can lead to referrals that would otherwise go by the wayside – it helps elevate your brand to ‘front of mind’ without having to do any formal marketing.
7. Minimizing Imported & Unnatural Resources
In an economy fuelled by fast pace, we are swamped with products that are made from unnatural materials that don’t biodegrade, a side effect that is growing in the form of landfill every day. A slow business avoids the use of imported, unnatural or non-renewable materials as a means to saving time or money. As a consumer and a business owner, you have the power to choose products and services that support slow business, such as:
- Handmade and fair-trade items;
- Products made from natural materials instead of synthetics; and
- Retailers that use local over imported goods.
For instance, the Slow Money movement aims to heal the economy through the promotion of local, organic farms. Personally, I’m always on the lookout to buy from other businesses that go out of their way to reduce human/animal harm and eco-footprint, even if they are more expensive (as is often the case).
8. Honouring Individual Roles
When people come together as equals in co-creation, such as matrix-style teams or organisations, a slow business approach can work well. Each person has a role, a contribution to the whole, that they are naturally equipped to fulfil according to their innate talents. It takes time to allow these natural roles to emerge; it’s a process that can’t be forced, as the group needs to go through its development process before it can be truly productive. People need time to adapt their natural gifts to what’s valued in each group scenario.
In our new learning community, True Abundance Oasis, each of the teachers and members have a role or specialty that they contribute as part of the whole. It’s taking time for each of us to find our place in the group, just as a tribal community forms over years as individuals become known for their unique contribution. By contrast, from my experience in traditional management positions, job descriptions assigned based on skills alone, does not honour natural talents or the team dynamic which can result in poor group performance. Knowing your role and the roles of others in your team or community is the foundation of everything you will accomplish together.
9. Sustaining Team Results
With the emergence of social enterprise and conscious entrepreneurship, the lines between business, social justice and community development are blending. At Sacred Business we say, ‘we can all rise together’, which flies in the face of the ‘every man for himself’ belief about livelihood. It means that there is a drive to find ways for everyone to succeed and this requires us to look at business through the lens of community development.
It is a principle of community development that growth or change happens at the rate of the slowest person; the perspective of each individual is taken into consideration when making decisions. The intention is that the results achieved are more sustainable this way because buy-in is higher and change is happening at the rate that each person can assimilate, not to mention the collective wisdom that can be generated with this approach.
I’ve been in groups before where members become frustrated with the person who’s not keeping up and they subtely become ostracized from the rest of the group. Once again, this is the ego expecting a certain result within a timeframe, that is not honouring of the group or all of its members. In order to sustain the results of a particular team or group, everyone needs to participate and be invested in the outcome. I have much to learn myself about this and that means spending more time in ‘sustainable’ groups!
10. Valuing True Abundance
Finally, a big part of slow business is how success is measured. Obviously in some cases, we’re not measuring immediate profits or tangible results, so what are we measuring? Things like employee satisfaction, customer good will, long-term profit potential, environmental impact (clean water & organic food), sustainable livelihood for local communities, are all valuable in terms of true abundance. These things demonstrate promise of wellbeing for the future, which may or may not yield a direct, short-term or even medium-term profit.
As a business, you may wish to become formally B-Corp certified, which assesses companies against a range of social and environmental performance indicators. At Sacred Business, we’re in the early stages of distributing the Sacred Business Seal, which endorses businesses that align with the Sacred Business Manifesto. I recommend integrating the principles of true abundance into your business gradually over time and taking note of how much richer your life and livelihood becomes.
How does slow business win?
Like the tortoise and the hare, slow business trumps fast business because it has the endurance to weather change over time. Progress isn’t always obvious. After all, can you see the roots of a tree grow?
I know myself that slow business can be uncomfortable for the ego that wants to control results, specifically how and when they happen. Slow business asks us to trust in the natural ebb and flow of life, that we will have what we need when we need it. Here’s to a deeper sense of trust in business, and most of all, to natural timing.
{ Photo by Earth Dreaming }
Sacred Business teaches slow business…
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing more about sustainable growth in my free training, How To Know What Your Business Needs To Grow. To join us, make sure you’re on the mailing list below.