It's Not a Tradeoff: How to Make a Profit AND Put a Focus on People and the Planet
Making Money While Being A Force for Good - A Successful Business Owner's Story
Hello, friends! 👋🏿👋👋🏽 Glad to have you with us for another edition of Generation Si! I shared the inspiring story of Miren Oca as a young, single mother and how she embarked on her journey to become a confident and strong business owner in Part One. Now, in Part Two, we take a closer look at what Oca did to make it happen.
In today’s newsletter, you’ll learn the following:
🌴What a B Corp certification is
🌴How Miren Oca is able to recruit employees and, most importantly, keep employees
🌴The power of celebration
🌴Let’s get right to learning the secret sauce in the success of Miren Oca’s business, the Ocaquatics Swim School.
BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT YOUR PURPOSE
“I guess I’m the accidental entrepreneur.”
Miren Oca never imagined becoming a business owner or even wanting that kind of life.
But that’s exactly what she became – an entrepreneur.
Still, the owner and founder of the Ocaquatics Swim School believes there’s nothing accidental about how an entrepreneur approaches their company’s impact on others and the world. It’s a purpose with intention.
“Business has the power to shape society. You know, business is so important. And business can mold society in a good way or in a bad way.”
NAME CHECK: THE IDEA BEHIND B CORP CERTIFICATION
It’s the reason Oca set out to get the Ocaquatics Swim School certified as a B Corp.
In case you’ve never heard of this special designation (it’s ok; I hadn’t heard of it, either), Oca explains that this certification means that “we work for people, planet and profit.” Note: Here are some other articles if you’d like to learn about the pros and cons of B Corp certification:
https://technical.ly/startups/pros-cons-b-corp-certification/
https://www.ft.com/content/0b632709-afda-4bdc-a6f3-bb0b02eb5a62
https://money.com/llc-versus-corporation/
MAKE IT ABOUT MORE THAN PROFIT
Oca makes no apologies for making a profit, but she says it’s so much more than that.
“We just do so much for our team members and so much for our community and so much for our planet.”
I tell her that the idea sounds great in theory, but it may be hard to put into practice for small business owners who feel they are getting squeezed every day and are just trying to keep their business going.
“It’s a very valid point. And I think that you have to have a very stable business before you can do, you know, a lot of things that we’re doing.”
BUILD YOUR COMPANY’S PRINCIPLES INTO YOUR DNA
But, she also says it’s much easier if “you build this into your DNA.”
Especially for those starting a business, Oca believes you can build it into your purpose.
You can spell out that your business is committed to doing certain things for the community.
“In our case, we donate 1% of our gross revenues… for the planet.”
JOIN ORGANIZATIONS FOR SUPPORT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Oca also suggests joining peer-based organizations, such as Conscious Capitalism, to feel supported and to learn from other entrepreneurs.
“You can talk to other business owners about challenges you have in a completely confidential setting… And I think that’s super important to hear that other people have the same challenges that you do and [learn] how they handle [them].”
DOING THE "FLUFFY” THINGS CAN PAY OFF
But there are other “fluffy” things, as she calls them, that the Ocaquatics Swim School does that many people don’t believe “count” in business.
To the contrary, she says the “fluffy” stuff pays off richly.
For example, employee recruiting and retention is a big problem in today’s world.
“I work with an age group of 16 – 25-year-olds… And I think that they will work with a business that is making a difference in the community and on the planet. And I think that really does help in recruiting and in retention of our team members. And they’re more engaged. And they’re more excited and inspired to work with us. And, therefore, they stay with us longer.”
Oca says that translates into happier families (in other words, clients) that the Ocaquatics Swim School serves.
She calls it a “win-win-win” for everyone involved.
GETTING - AND KEEPING - GOOD EMPLOYEES
Oca doesn’t have metrics but, anecdotally, she says the evidence is that the swim school doesn’t have employees ghost them. In other words, they don’t just disappear - never to be heard from again.
“People don’t just stop showing up to work at Ocaquatics. That just doesn’t happen.”
CELEBRATE - AND CELEBRATE OFTEN
Besides making sure her business is environmentally and socially conscious, she thinks a key part is the company’s culture of celebration. That’s right – celebration.
“I think celebration is really important. We celebrate a lot. You know, we celebrate when we get 5-star reviews. We celebrate when… we hit certain milestones. We celebrate all the time.”
She says the rewards aren’t huge, but they’re meaningful to employees.
“We have a meal together, or we bring in lunch for the weekend.”
HAPPY EMPLOYEES HELP ON THEIR OWN
Speaking of celebrations, the company threw a party for its 29th anniversary days before this interview. While the RSVP list was 300 or 400, she says 1400 people showed up.
Team members came from all five locations. She was struck by how, even though some of them weren’t scheduled to be working, they kept asking, “How can we help? What can we do?”
SUCCESS TAKES TIME
It’s a far cry from the shaky beginning Oca had as a small business owner.
“29 years ago, I really didn’t know if I would survive in this business. 28 years ago, I really didn’t know if I would survive in this business. 27 years ago, I didn’t know if I would survive…”
BUSINESS CAN BE “A FORCE FOR GOOD” - IF YOU WORK ON IT
Oca felt that if she could just reach the $1,000/week milestone she had set, she would make it.
For frame of reference, Oca hit that milestone about 3 years after starting the business.
Today, her five swim schools teach a total of about 5,000 classes every week. She has about 160 employees. 53 of them are full-time.
Most of all, Oca is passionate about leadership development and teaching the young people she hires that business really can be “a force for good.”
INSPIRATION FOR THIS ISSUE:
Capitalism seems to have gotten a bad rap lately.
Some people think that corporations are only out to enrich themselves, their shareholders and only care about the bottom line.
In some cases, I’m sure that’s true. In others, it’s an unfair criticism.
When business owners start a company, I would venture to say that they start out wanting to do good and, of course, make money.
The reasons why some of them go astray and abandon being “a force for good” vary.
But if you ingrain it into your culture and your mission to do good with concrete examples of how you plan to achieve that and hold yourself accountable, I tend to believe that increases the odds that you’ll try harder to be a “good corporate parent.”
I don’t doubt the pressure is even greater for publicly-traded companies to increase sales, productivity and profit because they have shareholders to answer to every quarter.
But, I do believe, in many cases, all things being equal, people will choose to shop at one company over another if they believe that that business is more socially and/or environmentally responsible.
Of course, sometimes, depending on the buyer’s personal situation, it comes down to price or service.
We all have our own pecking order on what’s most important.
For this issue, I wanted to highlight a small business owner who put a premium on doing those extra things that establish business as a force for good.
Miren Oca makes no apologies for doing “very well in the swim school business,” profit-wise.
It is, however, very clear when you speak with her that the mission that drives her is much greater.
And this isn’t something new.
Many entrepreneurs I have interviewed for Generation Si! have stressed that you cannot survive on just a desire to make a lot of money.
That simply will not get you through the difficult days, especially in the beginning.
There has to be more.
Sure, it may cost you a little more to commit to doing the “extras.”
But, as Miren Oca says, it is NOT a tradeoff.
There are, of course, no guarantees, but these kinds of “investments” should pay off down the road.
In Miren’s case, she believes it’s a big reason why her company is looking forward to reaching another milestone in 2024.
That’s when the Ocaquatics Swim School will celebrate its 30th year in business. #theskyisNOTthelimit
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🌴 Editor’s note: Your Generation Si! creator (me) will be on vacation this week. But you can count on another issue in 2 weeks. In the meantime, enjoy your week. Thank you so much for your support! 😺