Dan Martell - How To Create a Business That Gives Back To The World

00:00:00.080 Hey there, Dan Martell here,

00:00:01.040 serial entrepreneur, investor, and creator of SaaS Academy.

00:00:03.360 And in this episode, I'm gonna share with you

00:00:05.080 how to create a social impact giving process

00:00:09.400 for your business.

00:00:10.240 If you've ever heard of a B Corp

00:00:11.800 or a way to align not only doing well,

00:00:15.240 but doing good by doing well.

00:00:17.280 So I'm gonna share with you guys how to dive into this.

00:00:19.120 And at the end, I'm gonna share with you a resource

00:00:21.120 that I created with my good friend, Melissa,

00:00:23.000 to really help founders understand how to align

00:00:26.480 the impact side of their community and giving back

00:00:29.640 as well as the financial areas of their business.

00:00:33.300 Let's get into it.

00:00:46.920 So one of the things that happens often as a coach

00:00:49.820 is once I've helped people achieve incredible results,

00:00:54.400 things that I feel super lucky to work with founders

00:00:58.080 that not only meet but they surpass their wildest dreams

00:01:01.440 when they start working with me

00:01:02.280 only because I allow them to expand the possibilities.

00:01:05.260 While I was working with one client

00:01:06.900 and they actually hit their number, right?

00:01:09.400 It was a million a month in profit every month.

00:01:12.600 And as a founder that bootstrapped for nine years

00:01:16.700 of literally just grinding, grinding, grinding, grinding,

00:01:19.820 it just was unfathomable.

00:01:21.360 Here's what's crazy is when they got to that level,

00:01:23.780 they realized that they weren't as driven.

00:01:26.700 It wasn't like there was any problem solved anymore.

00:01:28.900 We built up their executive leadership team.

00:01:30.640 We got clear on their scorecards,

00:01:31.940 their cadences, their rhythms.

00:01:33.140 We really built a, you know,

00:01:34.880 a growth engine for their business.

00:01:36.820 And now they were kind of asking themselves,

00:01:38.880 what is the purpose?

00:01:40.300 Why are we doing this?

00:01:41.560 What is, you know, if we make more money,

00:01:43.460 if we grow more, what is the reason for that?

00:01:46.740 And that's when I shared with them this framework.

00:01:48.840 So I actually have a very good friend

00:01:51.140 called Melissa Calixte, C-A-L-I-X-T-E.

00:01:54.800 You can find her online.

00:01:56.180 Melissa is the person that I've always called in

00:02:00.240 when I've had founders like my client

00:02:02.380 that was struggling with aligning

00:02:04.120 and finding a way to make their business

00:02:07.520 not only do well, but do good in the process.

00:02:12.240 So you've seen this trend of B Corps.

00:02:14.180 You've seen a trend of the, you know,

00:02:16.840 the buy one, give one kind of offers

00:02:19.240 like the Warby Parkers or the Tom Shoes.

00:02:21.880 That's kind of the concept.

00:02:23.340 I've always had it part of my life

00:02:24.860 because I realized a long time ago,

00:02:26.800 what drives me is not making more money,

00:02:29.460 even though I'm super blessed and lucky

00:02:31.720 to have become financially wealthy when I was in my 20s.

00:02:35.300 It's about just giving back.

00:02:37.320 It's about understanding that the more value

00:02:41.200 I create in the world and I capture,

00:02:43.020 the more good I can do.

00:02:44.760 So in the days of Spheric, it was Kiva. 0.97

00:02:47.020 We used to donate for our clients every year,

00:02:49.540 we would make a huge donation to Kiva

00:02:51.700 in their name on their behalf.

00:02:53.380 Same thing with Flowtown,

00:02:54.580 Another, so if you've never heard of Kiva,

00:02:56.080 it's an online site where you can support

00:02:58.160 entrepreneurial women and men all over the world

00:03:01.260 in third world countries, you know, by doing microloans.

00:03:03.980 And then more recently, my creators program

00:03:07.000 where I work with at-risk youth

00:03:08.240 and help them build their confidence

00:03:09.900 and, you know, build businesses

00:03:13.380 through that entrepreneurial journey.

00:03:15.580 So that to me has just always been part of it,

00:03:18.280 but I wanted to kind of break down

00:03:19.680 what I learned with Melissa, share it with you

00:03:21.400 so that you can start kind of coming up

00:03:23.220 some creative ideas of aligning, not only the revenue growth, but your impact potential for

00:03:28.960 your business. Number one, connect your core at the essence of impact. I think it has to be aligned

00:03:35.300 with who you are and what matters to you. So the question I like to ask my coaching clients is

00:03:40.680 what wrong do you want to write in the world? What's broken? What pain maybe did you go through,

00:03:48.740 you know as an adolescent as a teenager as a child that you would love to help other people

00:03:54.060 avoid and or if they're going through it get through it easier right I think that it's really

00:04:00.180 important to align with that and you know I just feel blessed that I'm I actually sit on the board

00:04:05.660 of a company called Pila PilaCase.com incredibly fast growing company Jay-Z invested so I'm a

00:04:12.680 co-investor with Jay-Z and that's why I joined the board and through that organization we actually

00:04:18.100 went through the process of becoming a B Corp

00:04:20.900 because at their core, that is part of their mission

00:04:24.120 to kind of rid the world of products

00:04:27.200 that don't have a graceful end of life. 0.83

00:04:29.500 And I think that if you can connect the core

00:04:32.840 of what drives you in your business

00:04:35.120 and your mission statement to the activities

00:04:37.680 and revenue drivers in your business,

00:04:40.060 that's where you start to build really an unfair advantage.

00:04:43.640 Number two, select the give.

00:04:45.620 So as I mentioned, we want to align whatever thing we're doing.

00:04:50.200 So whatever area of the business we want to give with our business.

00:04:53.420 So if it's, you know, 1%, you know, Mark Cuban, Mark Cuban, Mark Benioff, the other Mark from Salesforce.

00:05:00.180 He wrote an incredible book called Compassionate Capitalism.

00:05:03.120 And in there, he talked about the 1% solution.

00:05:05.060 So that's a framework.

00:05:05.980 There's a bunch of different frameworks that I'm going to share with you later on.

00:05:08.580 That's going to allow you to understand the different ways to give back or selecting the give.

00:05:12.780 The 1% is a great one where you say 1% of our profit, 1% of our resources and 1% of our time, we're going to donate it to charities or organizations in our community that can benefit from that resource, right?

00:05:27.020 That's clear alignment.

00:05:28.180 You know, as I mentioned, Tom Shoes, buy one pair of shoes, give one pair of shoes.

00:05:31.660 Many companies have gone down that path, but you want to ideally align what your business does.

00:05:37.480 So for me, I coach entrepreneurs, right?

00:05:39.580 I coach literally some of the best B2B SaaS founders,

00:05:42.420 very blessed and lucky to do that across the world,

00:05:45.080 pretty much clients in every continent.

00:05:46.800 And that helps fund our creators program

00:05:50.140 so that I can help at-risk youth.

00:05:52.020 That's a very near and dear area of my life.

00:05:55.140 If you don't know my story,

00:05:55.920 you can search The Power of Belief on my YouTube channel

00:05:59.020 and you can kind of watch that.

00:06:00.580 But being able to know that the work and the impact

00:06:04.160 that I get to have with my coaching clients

00:06:06.480 directly affects my ability to give more

00:06:10.640 to those at-risk youth.

00:06:12.140 It's just a winning combination

00:06:13.720 that I can't encourage you enough to explore

00:06:16.040 if this speaks to you.

00:06:18.360 Number three, DIY versus partner.

00:06:21.300 So there's really two options.

00:06:23.160 If you're thinking of doing some kind of charitable component

00:06:25.400 or impact component community, et cetera,

00:06:27.300 there's either do-it-yourself or partner.

00:06:29.900 The two ways I think about this is,

00:06:32.540 one, if something already exists

00:06:33.820 and there's an opportunity for partnership,

00:06:35.260 but really there's two things.

00:06:36.660 It's, do you want to go fast?

00:06:39.980 If you wanna move fast

00:06:40.760 and really just add something to your business right now

00:06:42.940 so you can align your interests, then just partner.

00:06:45.820 And then if you want to be more focused

00:06:48.740 and be more involved in the creative aspect

00:06:51.280 and it's really near and dear to your heart,

00:06:53.340 then go DIY, do it yourself.

00:06:56.800 But those are kind of the two areas

00:06:58.320 that I think you can either partner,

00:06:59.680 find somebody currently doing

00:07:00.540 and really amplify and support that.

00:07:02.280 And I'll talk more about that in a sec.

00:07:03.260 or you can do it yourself and focus

00:07:06.480 and make it part of even your operations of the business

00:07:09.380 and have somebody dedicated to that component,

00:07:11.760 even if it's halftime.

00:07:13.180 Number four, partner path.

00:07:15.100 So this is something I work with Melissa on

00:07:16.680 to really understand,

00:07:17.520 but if you're gonna go down the partner route,

00:07:19.300 some of the key lessons learned there

00:07:20.800 is to make sure that you align your expectations.

00:07:23.100 Too often, I've seen this,

00:07:24.320 one of my good friends partnered with a charity in Haiti

00:07:28.520 and over time he realized that the charity

00:07:31.720 that they partnered with were just,

00:07:33.020 they weren't aligned with his specific outcomes

00:07:36.020 and even how he treated the process of fundraising.

00:07:39.480 It just, the values were misaligned.

00:07:41.540 So number one, if you're gonna go down a partner route,

00:07:43.820 it's important to talk to the person in charge

00:07:45.880 who owns or runs the executive director

00:07:48.340 and really have a conversation about like,

00:07:50.320 here's what our organization is willing to do.

00:07:52.360 We're looking for a partner like yourselves to do this.

00:07:54.840 Here's our expectations.

00:07:56.080 Do you expect to sit on the board?

00:07:57.720 Do you expect to have recognition?

00:08:00.520 Do you want to be, do you want to do it anonymously?

00:08:02.560 There's a bunch of different options.

00:08:04.580 But if you go the partner path,

00:08:05.980 you need to make sure that you have that conversation

00:08:09.000 to not only set the expectations,

00:08:12.140 but also make sure that you're measuring the impact.

00:08:14.700 So if you say, look, we're gonna contribute on average

00:08:17.420 this amount of capital every year to your organization

00:08:19.680 through our operations,

00:08:21.400 we wanna make sure that you're measuring these things.

00:08:23.760 Here's what we wanna know.

00:08:24.700 We wanna know how many people were fed.

00:08:26.260 We wanna know how many people were clothed. 0.78

00:08:27.640 We wanna know how many people were sheltered.

00:08:28.860 Whatever charity or community give

00:08:31.700 you want to align yourself with,

00:08:33.200 if you're going the partner path,

00:08:34.740 you wanna make sure that you set the measurements,

00:08:36.420 set the expectations, set the involvement

00:08:38.400 that you're looking to have with that organization

00:08:40.600 before you even start to go down that path.

00:08:44.260 Number five, influence and inspire, the double I's. 0.71

00:08:47.340 Here's the thing.

00:08:48.600 Most people, especially Canadians out there,

00:08:51.560 you know, my home country,

00:08:53.000 people will want to not brag.

00:08:55.660 They want to not share their giving

00:08:58.780 and the impact they're having

00:09:01.340 because they just feel like it's against the essence

00:09:04.340 of why they're doing it.

00:09:05.280 Here's what I know.

00:09:06.500 When we shine our light,

00:09:08.180 when we share with the world,

00:09:10.060 the community involvement,

00:09:13.360 the donations we're making,

00:09:15.220 the impact we're having on a pure give,

00:09:18.680 then it will influence and inspire other people.

00:09:21.800 So one, it influences key members

00:09:23.840 to potentially join your team.

00:09:24.860 That is probably the highest ROI.

00:09:27.180 When you can get somebody says,

00:09:28.300 hey, I love the fact you guys are involved

00:09:30.040 in this organization and I dug into what you guys do

00:09:33.380 and I'm currently doing this,

00:09:34.580 but I think I would love to join your mission,

00:09:36.460 your vision, your values because they're aligned.

00:09:39.240 That is huge.

00:09:40.260 So having, leveraging that activity

00:09:42.920 because it's really supposed to be a flywheel.

00:09:44.880 It's an impact component.

00:09:46.300 We wanna have both impact on the community,

00:09:48.420 but also impact on the business to drive positive outcomes.

00:09:52.140 Hiring is one of those.

00:09:53.340 partnerships is another, right?

00:09:55.040 So make sure that you share that and then inspire.

00:09:57.780 I mean, if you don't share your message,

00:09:59.460 if you don't share with other people,

00:10:01.260 the incredible work you're doing,

00:10:02.840 if you start donating tens of thousands,

00:10:04.940 hundreds of thousands of dollars to these charities,

00:10:08.920 then you're doing it in a vacuum.

00:10:10.500 And I think you're really not even allowing those charities

00:10:13.740 or those community partners to leverage your involvement

00:10:16.720 to get more people on board, right?

00:10:19.440 So it's very important for me when I've been involved

00:10:22.140 and capital campaigns, you know,

00:10:23.680 raising capital for different outcomes

00:10:25.120 in my local community.

00:10:26.260 Having my name involved, sharing it on social media,

00:10:29.440 letting the organizing committee use that

00:10:33.200 in their marketing material so that they can say,

00:10:34.980 hey, you know, if you're a notable person

00:10:36.900 in your community, let them use that

00:10:39.560 to pull people into that capital raise.

00:10:42.640 That is influence and leverage.

00:10:45.140 So quick recap, how to create a social impact

00:10:47.700 giving model for your business.

00:10:50.060 Number one, connect to your core.

00:10:52.480 Number two, select the give.

00:10:54.040 Number three, DIY versus partner.

00:10:56.640 Number four, partner path.

00:10:58.380 And number five, influence and inspire.

00:11:02.040 As I mentioned at the beginning of this episode,

00:11:03.820 I wanna share with you my impact giving flywheel.

00:11:06.580 I co-created this with my friend, Melissa,

00:11:09.180 where we talk about the different strategies,

00:11:11.880 the different fundraising models, et cetera.

00:11:14.780 So I give you the list for you to start thinking about

00:11:17.100 and answering the questions.

00:11:18.240 What is close to your heart?

00:11:20.460 What things do you wanna get out of this impact model?

00:11:24.300 So the worksheet will walk you through the questions

00:11:26.540 you answer it will also give you the strategies

00:11:28.900 and the considerations to think about

00:11:30.420 how you wanna go partner versus DIY.

00:11:32.620 And at the end of it,

00:11:33.460 you'll at least get closer to making a decision,

00:11:35.580 maybe something you can share with your team

00:11:38.040 to get alignment,

00:11:39.700 to just really make this part of your business model.

00:11:42.160 I think that it is one of the coolest things

00:11:45.700 when we can not only build an incredible business,

00:11:48.920 create a lot of value for our customers,

00:11:50.300 but align all of that effort and energy

00:11:52.740 with also having a positive impact in the world,

00:11:56.440 in our community, the way that aligns

00:11:59.100 and resonates with us at our core.

00:12:01.040 So if you liked this video,

00:12:01.980 be sure to smash that like button, subscribe to my channel.

00:12:04.420 If there's anybody else you think

00:12:05.480 that this video would resonate with,

00:12:06.640 feel free to share it with them directly.

00:12:09.160 As per usual, I wanna challenge you to live a bigger life

00:12:11.560 and a bigger business, and I'll see you next Monday.

00:12:13.760 Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Dan Martell - July 20, 2020

How To Create a Business That Gives Back To The World

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript