Conscious business
Hello, Dan here. I wanted to set up Love Decorating as a conscious business. What that meant to me was a business that was based around love and, well, consciousness!
From the way we work in your home, to the ecological products we use, from the fair wages we pay ourselves and the fair prices we charge, to which bank we use, from the way we dispose of old paint tins, to how we communicate with our customers – love of ourselves, of others and of the planet guides these decisions.
I knew that in this way, customers would get the best service and value, causing minimum impact to the environment, with the real possibility of social/planetary change through business!
Indeed, when I searched ‘conscious business’ on the internet, I came across the similar ideas of John Renesch. To quote him: “commerce holds the key to bringing about a global shift of human conciousness.”
Renesch identifies three aspects of conscious business: Environmental sustainability, social justice, and spiritual fulfilment. Listed below are some of the questions, thought processes and the intentions of Love Decorating, split into these headings:-
Environmental sustainability
- Use local suppliers who can deliver (to cut down on paint miles)
- Re-using/recycling as much as possible – paint cans, old wallpaper etc.
- Avoid doing un-necessary work
- Minimal vehicle use
- Keeping it local – jobs, sub-contractors, suppliers
- Use Eco paint
- Work van – run it on diesel, or biofuel? (We decided to keep running it on diesel, but try to work locally and use it less). Why? Read this George Monbiot article
Social Justice
- My intention – profit v social good. Getting the balance!
- Use the Co-op bank for the business account
- Quality guarantees – what’s a fair guarantee – peace of mind for clients. (working on this at the moment)
- Policy and responsibility to sub contractors
- Fair price - fair rates for workers (no-one exploited for profit)
- Business plan in the medium term to become a workers cooperative – joint decision-making, joint funds sharing
Spiritual fulfilment
- Work practices aligned with beliefs
- Doing the work with love, care and attention to detail. Creating beauty!
- Working efficiently without rushing or stress – so not bringing these energies into your home (that may sometimes make us a bit more expensive than I used to be!)
- Honesty, trust and transparency in all we do
- Work as part of deeper life-purpose
- Working with clients to transform space into nurturing home
- Distribution of abundance creation to support others. (From September 2007 a percentage of all profits will be donated to charities supporting those in developing countries)
All the above are intentions and offer targets to work towards. We at Love decorating are not claiming to be a perfectly enlightened conscious business! If you have any ideas or suggestions, please use our blog to let us know. Thank you!!
Contact us
We're based near Glastonbury in Somerset. For free estimates and friendly advice, call Dan at Love Decorating on 07787 740100, or email us.