This is my final instalment of articles about our experiences at Make Hay of working to be a green and ethical company. This article is related to my previous posts where I talked about using ethical suppliers and encouraging others with your ethical policy.

Just to recap, the previous articles were:

Part 1 - Powered by the Wind
Part 2 - Waste? What Waste?
Part 3 - Be a Smart Consumer
Part 4 - Live your Policy

PART 5 - MAKE ETHICAL FRIENDS

Starting out with an ethical business was sometimes an isolating experience for us. At that time there was not the huge number of like-minded entrepreneurs around us and we were often told that what we were trying to do was a bad idea.

If it wasn’t for the enthusiasm of the people we met via green blogs, directories and networks life would have been much more difficult.

Making ethical business friends does not necessarily mean you are running an ethical business but it certainly motivates you to keep learning and working harder to improve. Seeing more and more new ethical businesses appear shows that the market is growing and consumers want more responsible services. I strongly believe that there’s power in unity and making links with these businesses allows us to share ideas, good practice and collectively raise the profile of ethical entrepreneurship. If, collectively, ethical businesses can influence business practice as a whole then eventually ethical business won’t be unusual or alternative but just the way things are done.

Community Working

Another way that we have made friends here at Make Hay is by getting involved in local community groups and activities.

Some businesses align themselves with a charity and donate a percentage of their profits to that charity. This can work well for larger companies but for small businesses like ours there is another, more creative way to provide useful, substantial support; and that is to volunteer your expertise.

We are actively involved with a few community groups in this way. For example, we provide free Green Hosting and voluntary web designs services to All Ours. This is grassroots service which holds social sessions and cooks healthy, organic meals for people experiencing mental ill health. For the Gedling Fairtrade Group we provide voluntary web services and work on the steering group to raise awareness of Fairtrade issues in the local area. Additionally, we are currently providing voluntary web consultancy to the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust with a view to building them a new, accessible website this year.

Whatever type of business you run it is highly likely that you have a product or service that you can donate to someone who needs it. You don’t have to have lots and lots of spare money (and most small businesses don’t) just be able to give up a little of your spare time.

Making friends with individuals and groups within your community allows you to make tangible changes by doing what you do best - your ethical business.

What do you do?

Well I’ve talked quite a lot about Make Hay and the things we do to be an ethical business but there is always room for improvement and new things to learn.

I’d love to find out about other business owners’ experiences (good or bad), practices and ideas. Contact me at Make Hay, I’ll look forward to hearing from you!