A Path to Success

Before I get started I want to make it clear that I hate cheesy “click-bait” titles. But if you fell for it, I’m glad you’re here!

I’m going to discuss a very simple business rule that they don’t teach you in school..

THE RULE: Build your community up, and your community will build you up.

It pays to be neighborly.

Have you ever looked at your business plan, or strategic objectives for the year, and thought to yourself; “how does this help improve my city?” Most of the business owners I work with never thought to ask such a question. Cities are so peculiar… they’re a machine that hums in the background of your daily life, and over time you don’t even hear the noise. The problem is that most of us become numb to our environment, we grow accustomed to the way things are, and forget to think of ways to make them better.

The truth is that anyone can make their city better. The sub-truth… is that the truth can be monetized. Do people become wealthy and then give back to their city, or did giving back to their city make them wealthy? I argue the latter. Here is my quick and dirty heuristic: looking out for your community makes you wealthy.

Businesses can fit into two categories:

(0) those that directly give back

(1) those that indirectly give back

Businesses that directly give back:

To be a business that directly gives back to the community you need to think about the following: Who can you hire, Where is your brick and mortar, Who can follow you. Hire upstanding people who need work. Rent space or buy from someone who is proactively developing new property in your city, not from the passive rent collector. Start a business that other businesses in the area need. Think about how your existence in the community might provide meaningful supply or demand of a product or service that didn’t exist before. Now that you brought “it” to the city, what new companies might be able to flourish? With new companies comes new jobs, with new jobs comes increased population, with increased population comes more money for more products and services. City progress is a flywheel… all it needs is a push.

Businesses that indirectly give back:

Most businesses or business owners can succeed at building up their city, even if it isn’t directly. When business owners think of donations, they think of tax write-offs. The best way to indirectly give back to your city is to think of giving as it truly is… an investment. As a business owner, you may not make a lot of money. However, it should be a high priority to give whatever you can to a cause that you have thoroughly vetted. Let’s pretend that you are very fond of parks with lots of trees in your city. If you, as a business owner, direct some of your profits towards a foundation developing parks in your city, then you win in two ways. First, when your parks are built, they may attract other park loving people - bringing you like minded neighbors and friends. Second, an increased population will bring you customers. Here is the caveat — I said giving is an investment, it is not a guarantee. Be smart with how you give, playing to your city’s strengths, and align the mission with your own values. If you do it right, you will build the city up.

I could write a book on the benefits of trying to make your city better. Instead of giving all the answers, I suggest you try it out for yourself. The fun of business is experimentation — you never know how it is going to end. Give this one a shot and don’t forget me when you’re super successful.

Cheers,

P.S. Here is a fun example. Think of a rapper on your top 10 of all time list. Where are they from? Do you know where they are from because they became successful rappers, or are they successful rappers because they rap about where they are from? If it’s chicken or the egg, I say rappers rap about their city first.. get famous after. They give their city a voice, and represent where they are from — often with both pride and criticism — and their city rewards them by listening in. It’s no surprise that most famous rappers give back to their community in a big way. Chance the Rapper stands out to me the most here.

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**All images produced by DALL-E (MINI)***