Small business can change the world (and this is how) wrap up chat with Fiona Johnston
Key takeaways
Wrapping up her content series on how small businesses can change the world, (and this is how), Fi discusses some of the amazing thins she has seen in 12 years of business. These are small practical things that you could implement in your small business.
2.4 million small businesses in Australia
Marketing and communicating with an inclusive approach
Elevating other voices, so that they can be heard and scholarships
The power of musicians and artists
Recycling, reusing and reconnecting.
Audio
Transcript
Fiona Johnston 00:00
Hello, it's me Fi. And I'm presenting solo tonight, which feels a little different after being joined by so many wonderful guests in my last few lives. I don't know if anybody is joining me yet. I'm pretty sure I'm live. Yep. Okay, awesome. Hello. Hi, Amy Skincare. Sorry if I said that wrong. Hey, Boo. Hey, Mia from Campaign Del Mar, so nice to see some faces. Well, you know, I imagine the faces. So tonight, I'm going to be talking about how your business can change the world because I am just so passionate about the idea that small business can change the world. And I want to give everybody plenty of tips to see, you know, how could they change the world. So the first thing I'm going to do is an acknowledgement of country. So tonight's broadcast is coming from the lands of the Wurunjeri and the Boonwurrong people of the Kulin Nations, and I wish to acknowledge them as the traditional custodians and traditional owners and custodians of the land and water and place that I am on. I'd also like to pay respects to elders past and present from those communities, as well as any First Nations community members who might be watching this on the replay. And I stand with you and noting that sovereignty was never seated. It is incredibly important that we do an acknowledgement of country at any important conversation because we do not have a treaty with our First Nations of this amazing continent that we all get to live on. So that's something I'm really passionate about. So tonight, I'm going to be sharing with you some ideas. Hey, John, from Money Jar. Nice to see you. Hello.
So I want to talk to you about first of all, I want to tell you a little bit about small business, because I think some of you might be surprised by some of this. So do you have any idea how many small businesses there are in Australia, it is ginormous. So as that 2020 are June 2022, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were wait for it 2.4 million small businesses in Australia. So their definition of a small business is a business that is turning over or earning $2 million or less per year. So that means there's 2.4 million of us. Or more than that, who are actually able to affect change in this country. We're also Australia's biggest employer. So we really need to, like, give ourselves props. And I think that it's really, it's really important for us to think of ourselves as a collective, we're not just small businesses that exist in these little silos, we are part of a collective of 2.4 million other Australians who are small business owners, you know, the percentage of businesses that earn above $2 million in a year in Australia is about 7%. So 93% of us are in this category called small business, which I'm very proud to be a member of. And that makes us so well placed to change the world that we live in. And there's so many reasons why I think that small business can change the world. A couple of reasons why I think we can is we are such great communicators. And communication is absolutely required to cause change. We are passionate and driven. We know our customers really, really well. We're small and agile. And we can have an idea one day and have it in the world the next. And that is something that big business will never be able to do. And it's something that we should feel really proud of, that we have this agility and this speed to be able to affect change really quickly. We also see things every single day that we can improve, that is going to change the world around us. Because our clients and our customers are really close to us. Hey Chrissy from That Sounds Nice. Yeah, because our customers are so close to us. We know them intimately and we know intimately what their problems are, and their challenges are so we're so much closer to being able to solve problems than anyone in a kind of big corporate is. We're also the masters of our own destiny. And I think the biggest reason why we are so well placed as small business owners to create change is because we care. We really care about our businesses, our clients, our communities, our teams, we care hear about the problems in the world and we really want to solve them. And, you know, I could spend a lot of time trying to identify what I mean by changing the world or what I mean by business as a force for good. Hey, Chrissy, she says, this is very timely live for me. Awesome. Love it. Thanks for contributing. Yeah, so, you know, when we think about what is a business as a force for good? Or what does it mean to create positive change? I think, you know, there are many ways that we could consider, you know, what is an ethical business? Or what does it mean to be a purpose led business, hey, ba furniture, so cool to see you guys to welcome. You know, when I think about what is a business, what is a business that is changing the world, I think that they are addressing these kinds of topics, they're thinking about the environmental impact of their products, and their business and their supply chain, hey, oh, Ella. They are inclusive. So they're inclusive of, you know, a business that is inclusive is thinking about, including people from many different demographics, body sizes, abilities, neuro divergence, all of these kinds of factors. I think a business that is using itself as a, an agent of change is promoting health and wellbeing for all and that could be through being an employer, it could be through how they treat their suppliers, how they think about their customers, what sort of, you know, services or products, they're actually delivering that increase, you know, improve people's lives. And I think it's really interesting to me to think that everybody has a different definition of what an ethical business is, everybody has a different definition of what the word good is. So I think it's really important to at least sort of clarify that, from my perspective, the sort of issues that I care about are equity and equality. Fairness is my number one value, and it's also my number one skill. And by some freak coincidence, fair is also what my name means. So Fiona is the fair girl, I really, really get passionate about seeing things that are unfair, and trying to think about how I can change them. So yeah, important things for me are the rights of refugees, the rights, and then, you know, sort of tapping into the wisdom and knowledge of indigenous and First Nations persons, I am really excited about anything to do with sustainability and the environment, I'm really interested in businesses that are inclusive, whether that's body size, inclusive, which is something that impacts me, as a plus sized person, or whether it's being inclusive around, you know, considering who will be using their products and making sure that they're accessible. So that's what I think of as a business that is doing good things in the world or creating positive change. And perhaps you have something really different that you think of when you think of ethical or good or, you know, changing the world. So, now I want to give you some fairly simple kind of threads that you might be able to pull together in terms of what are some things that you could do as a small business owner to create change in your world? Mia from Campaign Del Mar is saying she's proud to work on Larrakia country amongst our indigenous friends love it. I have had the pleasure of being to Darwin and also to Ireland, a country, which I went to last year had the pleasure of being in all the Alice Springs. I don't know how to pronounce it properly. But Alice Springs is known as one way in r&d language, which I loved learning when I was there. So yeah, I think here are some really simple ways that I think that you can make an impact on your world as a small business owner. And something that I want to preface this with is that anybody who knows me will know that I am absolutely obsessed with live music. I am obsessed with music. I'm obsessed with guitars, beautiful lyrics, screaming lyrics.
Fiona Johnston 09:31
One of my favorite musicians is Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam, I'll just never get over hearing 10 which was their first album when I was in the early days of high school. And I think what artists and musicians have taught us is how to use our voices for change. So a lot of my ideas for these live and I'm reading them off a little list over here if it looks like my eyes are darting around. Yeah, I've been inspired By thinking about how musicians and artists have used their businesses, because artists and musicians are small businesses, how they have actually used those to create change. I've also drawn on the the stories that I hear from my clients every day. So yeah, I'll start. So the first thing that I think we can do to change the world for the better is to collaborate. So when we are doing collaborations, whether that's choosing to do a live with somebody, whether it's choosing to present a workshop together, bringing out a product range together, or any other type of collaboration, choose partners that will benefit from your platform. And some musicians that I, a musician that I want to call out in this regard is Paul Kelly. So Paul Kelly has always been somebody who shines the light on other artists. And, you know, one of the most famous collaborations that he did was with Kev Carmody, a song called from little things big things grow. And I know that a lot of people associate that song with Paul Kelly, but it's actually a Kev comedy song too. And I really love thinking about how Paul Kelly, who, you know, has the privilege has some privilege and as also, of course, walks through some pretty dark times in his life. He has used his platform to shine the light on so many musicians, and Kev Carmody was one of the kind of first artists that he did with that with that I know of I think that was in the early 70s. Another artists that I want to call out is Kate Winslet. So of course, she's an actor, and absolutely a business owner. And I want to call out a collaboration, which really does show how she was trying to use her influence for good. And that was, there was a show that came out a few years ago called stateless. And it was a really interesting show. It was based on some true stories, but it was a fictional kind of show. And it was about a refugee center in in the middle of Australia. And my understanding is that Kate Winslet decided to do, sorry. Yeah, Cate Blanchett, sorry, decided to be in that movie, because she knew that her name would allow that, that TV series to actually get better traction, and be able to bring in sort of better funding and those sorts of things. So we can really learn from somebody like Cate Blanchett, sorry, I said, Kate Winslet about how to actually use our platform or the spotlight that we have to shine it onto others.
Another thing that I think we can do as business owners is to think about how can we reduce? How can we recycle? Or how can we refit things and an organization that I want to call out that is a small business is called reground. So they're an incredible Melbourne or noun based business that goes around and collects coffee grounds. So you know, use coffee grounds from coffee, you know, retailers and cafes, and it uses that waste to create amazing compost and, and products that are available for sale. And they are a small business that has, I don't know how many tons of coffee waste, they've stopped from going into landfill. But my understanding is it has made a pretty big impact. So that's one really great example of a small business thinking about how can we reduce or reuse something of value.
Another thing I want to mention is another idea for you is to think about how can you solve social problems through innovation and people power, because I know that you just like me see problems that could be solved in your business every single day. And one organization that I want to call out, which is a client of mine and very beautiful friends of mine. They're called Project rocket. Hello, cats Downing and little printables. Welcome. So project rocket was started by two sisters in their 20s. It's now been going for, I think, around 15 years. And they noticed a problem which is bullying in school. And what they knew was that at the time, this statistic said that one in six children at school or young persons at school will be bullied. So they thought about it and they thought, well, of those six people, one person is the victim in inverted commas. One person is the bully. So what are the four people that are standing around doing about it? And they designed a whole curriculum for schools built on the idea of how How to be a great bystander when you see somebody being bullied. And of course that applies online and in person. So they started a business and they've now you know, run these incredible workshops that kind of feel like being at a music festival in high schools. And in the last 15 years, I've worked with over half a million Australian school students. And their whole message is about being Australia's youth driven movement, youth driven movement against online bullying and hate. And they started as 20 year old girls who were passionate about this issue. Another thing I think we can do hasted strategy is to speak up for what we believe in. So I'm going to call on my definitely one of my favorite musicians, which is Eddie Vedder. And I love him for many reasons that I'm sure many other people will understand. So Eddie Vedder is somebody who has spoken out about issues that matter to him his whole career. He, you know, in his sort of early career, which was in the early 90s, he started being really proactive about also really speaking out about abortion rights, and he's quite famously known for on a live TV broadcast on MTV, I think it was MTV Unplugged. He stopped at his point in his song, which I think was porch. And he actually wrote on his arm pro choice, which is a pretty ballsy thing for someone to do at quite an early stage of their career. He has since gone on to use his voice to campaign for many, many issues, all around the world. He's a surfer, and he's really involved in the Surfrider Foundation as well. He, you know, has done protested against big ticketing companies, you know, he's just done, he's been such an activist in his position as a, you know, really famous musician. And, yeah, I think that's someone to really, you know, aspire to be like, I also think that what we can do as small business owners is shine the light on others when you can. And a really great example of this from really recent times is Lizzo. So, at the recent People's Choice Awards, Lizzo, chose to highlight 17, activists from marginalized with marginalized voices. So she is already a marginalized person in many respects. And she's absolutely my hero for so many reasons. And not only did she get up on that stage and own her, you know, place there, but she also brought 17 activists along with her onto that stage, and shared their stories with the world. Now, how many times have you seen somebody who is in a position of influence, get up on a stage and actually highlight other people, rather than just taking the spotlight for themselves? Yeah, John, from Money Jar concept is saying shine a light. And, you know, I'm sure that that, you know, what Lizzo did actually took quite a lot of planning and preparation. It's not like she just got those 17 activists together that day, and kind of put them all on there. But there's so many award ceremonies, and whether those are happening online or in person where small business owners could actually do exactly what Lizzo did, and get up there and actually share others that are doing great things, you know, in a similar space. Another thing that we can do is provide scholarships to people facing different challenges from us.
So this is something that I'm really proud to be able to do in my business. I provide scholarships for people from different backgrounds for me, whether that might be a marginalized person or somebody doing something for a community that is in coming from a different place of hardship and than I am, I don't talk about it publicly very often, because I think for me, it's a really personally rewarding thing to be able to do. And I really think that pretty much every small business owner out there would be in a position to provide some form of scholarship to a marginalized community member without too much thought or hardship for them. Obviously, when you're in the first couple of years of your business, it's really important that you focus on you know, surviving, but once you're through that really tough period of knowing whether your business is you know, kind of has traction or not. I can't really think of too many businesses that will wouldn't be in a position to provide at least some kind of scholarship. So that's a really easy thing that you can do as a small business owner. Another thing that you can do is be inclusive. So the example that I want to use for this point is one of my clients, I actually still can't believe that I get to work with this company, because they're one of my favorite fashion brands. They're called made 590. They're a Sydney fashion label they've been around for, I think, 18 years now. And they are a size inclusive business that has not only not only are they manufacturing in Australia, which is a whole nother thing on its own, that I am just absolutely in love with. But they actually have, I think about five years ago, they extended their clothing range to be able to go up to I don't know exactly what the size is, but I think it might be a five XL, so people of all different body sizes are able to access this incredible fashion. Because this small business made a choice that they were going to be inclusive in terms of how they offered their products. Another thing that we can do as small business owners, if we are makers is to manufacture locally. An organization that I want to call out here is again, one of my clients, they are called middle child, and they make incredible, mid-century modern and ritual-inspired jewellery and, and other jewellery and mainly earrings. And they make in Geelong. They make these beautiful earrings that could be manufactured overseas, but they choose to make them here because they're really passionate about being able to create bespoke designs and adapt to you know, the market around them. And I think it's a really simple in some ways, manufacturing local can be really simple. I know for other businesses, it can be really challenging, but I think we're we're able to manufacture locally or choose companies that manufacture locally, we absolutely have to. Now I had something sent in to me before this live Hello, Marcus Dan Webb, coming your way. They're welcome. So yeah, I had a contribution from one of my clients before this live who wanted me to talk about a particular issue that she sees. And she says, we've been conditioned to think that changing the world means positively impacting every person on the planet, or at least large scale change, for example, something like Live Aid. For many small business owners, we want to be a force for good, but we feel like the movement we want to change, or create or be a part of won't actually move the needle much. Can you give examples, you've seen a small business making lasting impact in and change? I think a lot of the examples I've already given have, you know, Project Rockit has has worked with 500,000 students in the last 15 years. I've also have a client who's started a recycling business in the construction space, who has recycled somewhere around 2 million tons of construction waste. And they started as you know, five friends who saw that the construction industry in Victoria has a huge waste problem, and they wanted to do something about it. I think if we look at a company like made 590, the clothing company, they've existed for 18 years, they employ people they manufacture in Australia, which means that they're creating positive change all around them. And keeping you know, are those fashion skills that we really need in Australia, keeping those alive.
And I want to give a couple another example of creating change as a small business owner that I was personally involved in and really proud of. And I think this falls under the category of contributing when you can. So last year, there were the terrible floods in Lismore, which were absolutely heartbreaking to see from Melbourne or from anywhere, and I was approached or I found out about a group called bees for floods. And it was started by Fiona from My Daily Business Coach and Kylie from Of Kin. And they started an auction they asked small business owners to contribute different items that could be auctioned, and then all of the proceeds went to they actually split the proceeds between three different not for profits on the ground in Lismore so that they could you know, stretch that money as far as possible. Now I donated a spot in my group program, which I was extremely happy to do that raised $1,700 alone. For the Lismore floods. Now, I wouldn't have been in a position to make a $1,700 donation. But doing it through this is for beautiful floods, which was a collective of I think about 100 business owners sort of banded together to make that possible. And as a collective, we raised $36,000 in about two weeks. And of course, you know, that money was desperately needed on the ground and Lismore, so I'm really excited to have been a part of that, you know, small but impactful movement for change. I also think something that we can do as small business owners, which almost goes without saying, but not quite. And that is to find a way to serve people that makes their life better. So small business owners, every small business owner that I've ever met, is absolutely passionate about either solving a problem that their client has, or improving the life or business of the clients that they work with. So really thinking about how can I be of service to these clients or audience or users that I want to work with? And how can I make sure that what I do makes their life better, because the ripples that that can create from having those small improvements in somebody's life can actually have ripples that stretch out well beyond anything that we'll ever see. The last point that I want to make in terms of what we can do as small business owners to change the world is make a profit. So many of you have heard me before talk about the fact that if we want to make a positive impact on the world, we need to be profitable, we need to be cashflow positive, because we need our business to be able to continue operating to continue doing what it does, in order to be able to make positive change. So something that you really need to do as a business owner, if you want to have a positive impact on the community, is to make sure that your business model is profitable, and that you are managing your money. Well, it might seem like it's not a bit of an unexpected thing for me to raise as a way of changing the world. But it's absolutely essential to be profitable if you want to make a positive impact on the world. So really, this whole campaign that I've been running, or this content series that I've been running is all about this idea that small business can change the world. I believe it's possible because I only work with businesses that are changing the world I have worked with, I think it's 1000s of businesses in my business in the last 12 and a half years. And I've worked with other businesses as an employee before those years that we're also operating in this kind of, you know, social enterprise or business as a force for good or ethical business. And I have seen with my own eyes and experience in real-time, that small business can actually have a huge impact on the world. There's 2.4 million of us all in the small business category in Australia. And if you think about what 2.4 million business owners could do, if we actually got together and address the same issues at the same time, we could have ripples that a big business or a big organization couldn't even dream of having. So my final thing that I want to say to you is that really what we want to do in this space is get money into the hands of good people.
Fiona Johnston 29:06
And that is what my whole mission with my business is. So thank you so much to everybody that's here. I see Move Pilates studio has just popped in. If anybody has any questions or comments I wanted to drop. I'll just wait a little moment to see thank you so much for joining me on this Tuesday night. It's quite dreary here in Melbourne. It's been a little bit wet, wet and grey. Okay, gang, thank you so much for joining me. I hope I've inspired you with at least one idea that you might be able to take into your small business so that we can get money into the hands of good people doing good things in the world. Thank you so much. Bye
Fiona Johnston wrap up chat on how Small business can change the world.
