Escaping the Economy of More

Escaping the economy of more

LESS IS MORE

Ok.  Let’s get this out of the way before we start.

I generally don’t relate to the sentiment ‘less is more’.

Clearly!

 When it comes to my day-to-day life I’m literally piling the accessories high, spreading the butter thick and ordering yet another shot at the bar.

 So, it’s a bit tricky when the inevitable point happens whenever I’m in the middle of a conversation with someone I haven’t seen in a while, and they ask me ‘business good?’ – I have a nail bar called Tropical Popical – and I respond ‘yes.  Great.  It’s all going superb, we’re having a ball’, the next question is always… and I do mean ALWAYS ‘When are you going to open more?’

NOT ENOUGH

 Now, I understand why they always ask that question. 

Getting bigger, expansions, more shops – it’s billed as the ultimate marker of success. 

We’ve been conditioned for years and years -ever since the industrial revolution - to equate success with getting bigger.  (Maybe with men it’s a biology thing?)

But when people do ask me ‘when are you going to open more?’, what they’re essentially saying is that what we’re doing is not enough.  That what we are is not enough.  That to be successful, we need to get bigger.  To be more.

 Well I say, RAM IT.

 At this stage you’re probably thinking that I’m clearly the worst businessperson in the world.  And by today’s standards you’re probably right.  But I’m just not hungry for more, simply for the sake of more. 

 But goddamn I am thirsty.

THHHHIIIIIIRRRRRSSSSSTTTTTY.

I’m thirsty for excellence.

I’m thirsty for community.

I’m thirsty for change.

I’m thirsty for creativity.

I’m thirsty for global recognition.

I’m thirsty to be the best.

I’m thirsty for success.

 But why does that have to taste like more?

I’m so tired of hearing people say they’re ready to take over the world.  Well I’ll stop you there honey… cos it’s not yours to take over.

COUTURE SUCCESS

 Imagine however if we all stopped for one second and instead of focusing on taking over the world, we put all our energies into perfecting our very own little world.  I use the word little perhaps wrongly there because even though my world is pretty small in the grand scheme of things, from my perspective, it’s the biggest thing going.

 Imagine we stopped subconsciously absorbing the definitions of success that are constantly being pushed on us, essentially other people’s definition of success that we see on their beautifully curated Instagram, and instead of doing what we think we SHOULD be doing, we started doing what we actually wanted to be doing.

 My favourite piece of advice I try to live by and never stop dishing out (never unsolicited of course! ok maybe a bit) - is always ‘create the life you want to live.’ 

 Well that’s what happened to me when I opened Tropical Popical. 

WHAT KIND OF SOCIETY

 When I was writing my business plan, and even now 5 years later when I’m making any decisions, the question I always refer back to is ‘Does the decision I’m about to make fit in with my idea of the type of society I want to live in.’

 And this was mostly inspired by this quote:

 “We must abandon the idea that a better society is purely about offering individuals more dollars in their pockets. What we desperately need is a conversation about the lives, jobs and communities we want for ourselves and our families.” – An Economy Is Not A Society, Dennis Glover

 And the more I reflected on this, the more it became clear to me that the point of an economy should be to facilitate a society and not the other way around. 

 We’re not just here to fuel an economy; we’re fueling the economy so that it can fuel US.

 The economy of more has allowed wealth and power to be funneled up and concentrated in the hands of a minority and we justify it with the explanation that it’s ok, because success equals bigger. expansions. more shops.  MORE.

 It feels like every time we read another one of those articles, you know the ones… ‘grow your business’ or ‘sell your business for millions and billions in a year’, we lose sight of the most important principle of being here.  To live.

 I’ve seen people give up everything, absolutely everything, because they were working so hard on leaving a legacy behind.  When they were dead.  They were giving up living for what they’d achieve when they died.  I don’t know about you but that just sets my head into spin.

 We’re becoming so focused on growing and selling our businesses for more that we’re losing the ingredients for creating a business that sustains a soul for a lifetime.  We’re losing artisan & highly skilled trades.  We’re losing community.

 For me, I wanted each day to count in TropPop.  Not one day.

 I wanted to enjoy the day-to-day experience of actually being in there and chatting, laughing, growing, learning and creating with the girls and our dreamy clients. 

MORE THINGS

 Once I took away the pressure to get bigger, the floodgates were wide open for me to start focusing on how we could make it better.  What could we add?

 The most obvious addition as a nail bar was nail polish.

However, much to my accountant’s dismay, the ethics of more hit once again.

Unless we opened up our own production facility, the potential to create a new polish range was limited to curating the colours and branding it up.  Not creating.

We’d literally be repackaging a product that already exists, without bringing anything new to the world.  We’d be using our name to make it worth buying.

We’re back to the more for the sake of more, rather than more for the sake of excellence.

 Just selling things.  Any things.  Not creating.  Just selling.

 Now before you write me off as just a hippie….DON’T!

EXAMPLES OF BRANDS WINNING

 I discovered that you can have

excellence

community

change

creativity

global recognition

success

You can be the best….

All the things I’m thirsty for

Without being hungry for ‘more’

and still turnover millions.

 Whenever I start to question myself, which is inevitable when you consider all the messages of growth and apparent success thrown at me everyday, I look at the sadly soon to close Colette. 

One store in Paris.  28 Million turnover. 

Yet the best collaborations, projects, products and parties run by a mother and her daughter.

 Closer to home you have a gorgeous brand like Barry’s Tea – still run as a family business with a turnover of millions down in Cork.

 You see, we’re now in a position thanks to the digital world, that we can access global knowledge that can be used to optimize the local experience.  We can create world-class situations and products in our local villages, ideally created and provided by the people of the village.

 Business can become less about the bottom line and reaching targets and more about community; creating great product & experiences, changing landscapes; joy and excellence.

 It is possible to dream & achieve big but stay small.

That by being excellent, you are enough. 

You can escape the economy of more.

 So today, right now in fact, I want you to start thinking…  not about how you’re going to take over the world (that doesn’t belong to you), not how big can you grow, not how you’ll be more… I want you to think about creating the life you *actually* want to live by making decisions that are in keeping with the type of society you want to live in.  That we all want to live in.

 Thank you.