Going From Lean Man to Green Man: Can A Freelancer Go B-Corp?

Badger Balm provides not only natural,
but also ethical products. 

It's hip to be green, right? 

With more and more businesses around the world joining the ranks of the B-Corps, the future of for-profit environmentally sustainable and socially responsible businesses is looking brighter and brighter. But what about the little guys - like me? 

There are millions of freelancers, sole traders, artists, writers, designers, journalists, and IT professionals around the world who aren't part of a company. They are just themselves. What can they/we do to make a difference?

In my other life, I work in a health store. while all our products are natural and contain botanically-sourced ingredients, that doesn't necessarily mean that all the companies that manufacture the various products we stock are sustainable or responsible.

Recently, however, one company did stand out to me. 

Badger Balm is an American company that produces natural balms and ointments. It has become famous around the world for the quality of their products, as well as for their mission and principles. 

I'd never really paid them much attention, but the other day after a conversation with a customer about Badger Balm, I decided to go online and see their website. I was impressed. Their integrity, what they do for their employees as well as their customers, was astounding. They give money to charities, give their employees paid lunch breaks, and even have community workshops you can attend by giving a donation. 

No wonder they are in the top 10% of B-Cop businesses around the world. 

So I thought, right. I want to be like them. 

I may not have employees I can spoil with health insurance or free workshops, but I do have a computer, freelance skills, and a buttload of determination. 

So here's the plan.

I have turned down a recent offer on a project that would have earned me $2000 USD. For writers, that's good dosh. Don't get me wrong, I need the money, badly. But I really have to search my soul during projects like this one. The sort of project that demeans your skill as a professional, that make you feel like a dirty, ghostwriting SEO writer, formulating articles not on the basis of good content, but to maximize Google search hits. 

• I am going to earn the same amount of money ($2000 USD) in 8 weeks;
• I will only write articles that teach, inspire, empower, and free readers;
• I will work by the the ethos that earning money by doing what you love can and will result in both personal and public healing;
• 10% of all my before-tax earnings will be donated to selected charities;
• At least 5 articles will be given away for free to local community-based publications in my area;
• If I don't love it, I won't do it;
• I will take the opportunity to both eco-friendly my office, my house and my life.

 

So here, I go, wish me luck. 

I have 8 weeks to get there. 

Who knows, maybe at the end of all this, I can even make my freelance writing business B-Corp certified.

If I make it, not only will I be able to pay off my credit card (following my expensive midwinter wedding), but I will finally be able to put to rest the age-old question: can you really make money by being a complete idealist, a dreamer, and a fool? 

Let's hope so. 

The Need for Creativity

It's been a while since I last posted, but I have been a busy bunny.

In the past few months I have taken up full-time work at a natural health store in the city where I live. It is a mixture of retail and something close to pharmacy. People come into the store and tell me what their problems are, and I see if I can help.

They have a cold, I recommend some supplements or nutrients for their immune systems. They are stressed, so I recommend maybe some Bach flower essences or herbal medicines to relax the nervous system. They are getting muscle cramps at night, so I advise magnesium tablets, etc.

It's good work.

Unlike writing, you have constant face-to-face contact with the people you are trying to reach and support. You get feedback too. I love feedback. It lets me know if what I am doing is working or not.

Though I have recently been published in The Art of Healing Magazine, Organic NZ Magazine, and The New Zealand Journal of Natural Medicine, these articles go out into the void and I never know if they have made a difference to the readers. But I do hope.

Asides from this good work, I am focusing once again on my poetry. After a long string of rejections in 2012, I am picking myself up off the kitchen floor and getting back into it. Rejections are hard. Every creative knows this. While at times it feels like a slap in the face, it is good for us. Or me, I should say. It reminds me that whether I am successful or not, good or not, publishable or not, I still have to write.

Why do I have to write?

Not long ago I had coffee with a friend of mine who is currently in employment by the local council. It's a good job and she worked long and hard to get there. But now she has little time for her creativity -- her botanical painting, and her knitting and sewing.  She told me, though, that she can't just give up because she has no time. Creativity, the will and drive to make something out of nothing, is in her -- and it is not going away.

I was glad to hear her say this, because I feel the same!

For the last few years the drive and passion for writing and storytelling has gripped me. It will not let go. And please God, don't ever let it. After a few weeks of no creativity, I start to bunch up inside. I snap at my partner, bark at our dogs, snarl at customers (well, on the inside, sometimes) and just feel downright cantankerous.

A few moments of pure, unadulterated writing is all it takes to transform me back into the zen-like creature I like to imagine I am most of the time.

Recently this all took place. After a few very long weeks of working over-time at the shop, I was feeling rather Orc-ish. One night after hissing at my boyfriend over something significantly trivial, I took myself off for a late night coffee and a session with my notebook.

Instead of writing about how bitter and terrible my life was, I started writing a story. It was a small story, a cute story, about nothing in particular, just a man searching for something -- I have yet to finish the story though, and find out if he reaches the end of that journey.

But that one night opened up the dam again. Ever since I have been writing pages and pages of notes, poems, stories, quotes, lists, etc. It helps. It helps so so much. I need it, the way a bubbling pot of newt eyes and bat wings needs the lid taken off once in a while to let off some steam.

I don't write because I want to be a writer. I write because I have no choice.

If it doesn't make life easy at times, it makes it interesting.

And isn't that better?

Tricksters and Folklore

Just a shout out that today eHow has published my first two articles on folklore - "Types of Tricksters in Folktales" and "A List of Fables and Fairy Tales". Following the recent bout of natural disasters in New Zealand I was taking a wee hiatus from writing for pay, however with bills looming on the horizon I know I must get back to it. And to tell the truth, I am enjoying it. Being active, being creative, being productive - it helps. And to have an article of mine on the subject of myth published is very exciting.