Easy Ways to Build a Successful Social Impact Business

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Building a business that takes social change into account can feel overwhelming -- often we don't even know where to start. Guest expert Stephanie Malon-Rufi takes you through the first tangible steps and exercises to do when building social impact into your business.

Stephanie Malon-Rufi, Owner of Spark Good, is a strategic business consultant and leadership coach working with entrepreneurs who want to build their business to be a vehicle for social change.

Website // Instagram // LinkedIn // Quiz: Is your business impacting social change?

The episode:

Katrina Widener: Hi everyone, it's Katrina Widener and welcome back to the Badass Business Squad podcast today. I am so lucky to have Stephanie Malon Rufi here. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Thank you for having me!

Katrina Widener: So Stephanie is here with her business Spark Good Consulting and Coaching, and we're going to talk a little bit about how you might already be impacting social change in your business, where there are like growth opportunities to add more of that into your business. So I'm very, very excited to have you here.

Before we dive in and fully get started though, would you mind explaining to everyone a little bit more about who you are, what your business does, and how you got started in this area?

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Absolutely, thank you Katrina. So yes, I'm Stephanie Malon Rufi, I use she/her pronouns and with my business Spark Good I really work with entrepreneurs who are using their business as a vehicle for social change. So having a market based business that also is having some positive social change in our world. The work that I do tends to look at how to help develop a focused strategy that includes that social impact piece, and then also then working through. "How are you going to follow through on that strategy and implement?"

So that's really the center of a lot of the work that I do. And I also am a fellow podcaster and co-host the Social Change Leaders podcast which explores social change. Kinda the front lines, what's happening in business as well as in government nonprofit. I have a co-host, so we kind of look from different perspectives at what's happening in that arena.

Katrina Widener: I love it. Thank you so much for kind of giving everyone that glimpse into what you do. If people are listening to the podcast, they know that implementing social change and social justice into your business is something I'm pretty passionate about.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: And that like is near and dear to my heart, so I'm really excited to talk about this today. I know before we had hopped onto the podcast, we had like a little back and forth about how we wanted to approach it, and so what we're really going to talk about today is like easy ways for people to actually get started. Because I feel like that implementable part is so difficult for people.

Would you say that when people are working with you or when you're having these conversations with people that it's always just like a, "What do I even do? Or am I doing the right things?" Like...

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Yes! Exactly, and because there's actually so many things you can do, right?

Katrina Widener: Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: So sometimes it feels overwhelming to even think about that. And some people go into their business with that social change piece in mind. And others, maybe they've started their business then they... "Oh, how can I also incorporate more social change in this work that I'm doing?" So they're really interested in that, but they've already started developing their business.

So both things, you know... both sort of situations come up. And it doesn't matter where you are right now. That's what I want to say too. Wherever you are, it's where you're supposed to be! And if this is the first time you've heard about it, but you haven't done anything? That's okay, let's just get started. We'll talk about some real tangible things and ideas that people can do, but one thing that I encourage people to do if they haven't already is just to like, take a moment.

I challenge you. Maybe even take... go somewhere else for an hour and just dedicate some thinking time and thinking about what is your passion about and what's the big change you want to see in the world. Because I know also something that you're very passionate about as well is like, "Are we aligned," right?

Katrina Widener: Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: In our mission,mission/vissionn values and the work that we're doing, and that social impact piece has to get in alignment with all those things. Again, if that's not something you've really thought through... go to a coffee shop for an hour and let me give you a couple questions to write about, okay? If you haven't done this, I think it can be really helpful because it's going to bring you some clarity. If I say, "What's the big change you want to see in the world?"

Katrina Widener: Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: How would you answer that? And then why do you want to see that? Drill down a little bit, kind of where you do the "five why's exercise," right? Really drill down. "Why is that important to you?" And if you do that, that's going to really help you get a handle on what's the area that you want to even step into with some of this social change work.

And then how does this connect to your business? My guess is you're going to see some alignment already in doing that. But I really encourage people to just take time to do some of that thinking deeper work around this before they kind of get into the nitty gritty, right? So that would be the first thing I would suggest doing, if it's not a topic you've really thought too much about or even written about. Sometimes we think about it, but like when you sit down and write and focus on it? It really helps.

Katrina Widener: I think that that's such a powerful exercise for people to go through. Because I know even with my clients, when it comes to the conversations that we have around this, or when I've had experts come into the Mastermind in the past or even on the podcast in the past. Very, very often the first question is just like, "Why do you want to implement social change in the first place?" right? Like, "What is that like little spark inside of you? What is that tied to? Where is that coming from?"

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: "Why is that coming up for you?" And oftentimes people don't really know right off of the bat, like first time thinking about it. Like, "Well, I don't know cause I should? Or uh... I don't want to get canceled?" Or whatever the thought is. And it's like, Well, the way that you can really make that feel impactful and have that be a priority and a value, and like you're saying, part of your mission of your business-

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: is by making it personal and by breaking down those kind of barriers between this "other" in your life and being like, "What connects to me on a deep level and on a passionate level, and how can I then connect that to what I'm doing in business?" So I think that that's a super impactful place to start.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Yes, exactly. And frankly, it's something that I even occasionally will do, right? Because sometimes you just want to even check in with yourself.

Katrina Widener: Yes.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: And does some of that still hold true, right? As you know, time goes on, it's always good to kind of do those check-ins as well. So even if it's something you've done, maybe this will be a... a sign to to sit down and do that again. But I always think yes that's a great, great place to start. But then people always want to know, "Okay, but what... what can I actually do?" right?

Katrina Widener: Yeah.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: "Like, what are..." Ha ha! And there's really a lot of things you can do, and no matter where you kind of land with some of the work, right? Whether you're in the wellness industry and so it's like your social change, you know... has to do with maybe disrupting that industry in some way, right?

But there's still other things in how you're operating as a business that everyone can do as well. So I always like to think also about... yeah. What is that big change that I want to see that pertains to the work or the industry I'm in? And then... and then just how I'm doing business, right? So when we think about how we're doing business.

And even small business owners, right? I mean, we have some purchasing power and sometimes it feels like there aren't a lot of choices. You know, it kind of depends what you're purchasing. But sometimes there are. There are choices you can make and like really thinking about who are you purchasing from, who are you collaborating with? Are there other social business owners, maybe that there are services that you need? And so really thinking about, you know, where you're spending the money that you're spending for your business.

There's also the piece of, "If you have profit in your business," which I hope you do. All businesses should have profit, it's not a dirty word sometimes! When you get into that social impact space, sometimes there's some uncomfortability around the word "profit".

Katrina Widener: Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: But when you change your mind around, "Oh, this can be really good because if you're profitable, that means as a business owner hopefully you're flourishing. And then it also means, "What can you do with that profit?" Right? There's also some work that you can do with that as well. So... so those are just some thoughts when you're just thinking about sort of how you're spending money.

Katrina Widener: I appreciate that too, because I think even within... like what I was saying, like with my mastermind or with my podcast there's a platform that I have and there are experts, especially within the Mastermind that I'm hiring to come in and speak to the group.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: And even just like gut checking myself and like being... being open to ask critical questions of myself within my business of like, "Where am I spending this money in my business? Who am I hiring to bring in? What example am I setting for the people who I work with?"

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Hmm.

Katrina Widener: And so I love that you brought up from like a very base level just, "Where are you putting your money?"

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: Because you want to make sure like... the old adage, right? You're putting it where your mouth is. And...

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Right!

Katrina Widener: It's one thing to say that you want to implement social change with your business-

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: or within your industry. But like actually putting the money and the dedication and the work toward it is all a completely different thing. So I love it!

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Exactly, and those are things that you're doing because that's in alignment with what you want to do. No one's going to necessarily be checking that, right? But it also just comes down to like, you want to live your fullest as a business owner who is also really socially conscious and that's a value that's important. And what I heard you say too, is how you paid the experts to come in.

Katrina Widener: Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: You know again, that's not always the practice, right? Like when you think of speaking or there are different forums that people aren't always compensated for that. And so is that really a fair practice? So again, there's another example, right? Are you building into your budget. If you're asking for expertise in certain ways, are you building in some compensation for that? Maybe that's just your first thing that you want to do. "Oh, how can I create a budget that includes that?" for example.

And along those lines when we talk about money, right? People paying you! So that's another area of, "What does payment to you look like?" A lot of people have payment plans, but they're more expensive. And for good reason, I mean, that makes sense why it's more expensive. But some people to be more equitable... being able to pay without the burden of, "And I have to pay more because I can't pay it all at once." Right?

Katrina Widener: Right! Yes, love it.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: So there's another place. Or even if you have monthly draws from people... well, is there a day of the month that works better for them?

Katrina Widener: Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: You can give them a range, right? A lot of times, first of the month can be really hard for some people. So it's just taking those considerations. Again, you have to see what works for your business. So there's not a one size fits all approach, but those are some really simple things that you could look at today, right? How are people paying you?

Katrina Widener: Yes! That's something that I implemented in my business a while back because the Mastermind is a... there's an option you can pay in full if that's what feels easier to you. I have some people who are like ready and raring to get going and are like, "Just let me pay it right now!"

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: But then I also have people who are like, "It's actually way easier for me to pay month to month." And I love that you brought up that we don't need to penalize people-

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: for needing to budget on a monthly basis as opposed to not having the funds to dump it all at once. I know it's super common practice in entrepreneurship to say like, "Okay, if you pay it all at once, you get 10% off or something like that."

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: Which... it does feel oftentimes to me like something that is a burden on the client of saying like, "Well, I don't have the liquid funds to just give you $15,000 in one fell swoop."

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Right.

Katrina Widener: "So now I have to pay more money on top of that? Okay, that makes sense?"

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Exactly!

Katrina Widener: Mm-hmm! So yeah, just like thinking about accessibility in these teeny tiny areas of the foundation of our business is so impactful! I've been having so many conversations with clients lately about sliding scale options and being able to say-

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Yes!

Katrina Widener: with very clear boundaries, "This first option is for you if you are a single income household, if you fit within this like income bracket. If these are the things that you're struggling paying for or whatever. Here's the higher level. This is for you if you're making this income and are in a multi income household, et cetera, et cetera." It works for the business owner because they're able to be accessible and able to hold themselves accountable. And really when we talk about accessibility if you're opening the door to even more people and you're serving more like different ways of learning or different ways of paying, or however that looks, you're actually opening the doors to more people who can work with you.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Exactly!

Katrina Widener: And I have had so many people excited about sliding scale options lately, because it feels like, "Okay, this feels good to me to be able to cater to the person who can't maybe afford my services at this much."

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: Where I'm not also setting myself up to be underpaid by the people who really, genuinely can.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Yes! Exactly, hopefully that they recognize when yes, you can afford to pay that much as well. So okay... another... so let's have another idea out there.

Katrina Widener: Yeah.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Just so we make sure we give people a few things to spark some, some ideas for themselves. So think about your marketing and sales process, right? Like there's a term, you know, this sort of "manipulative marketing" versus "ethical marketing". And you can look up sort of definitions for those things, because a lot of marketing and sales practices can be fairly manipulative and not feel very good.

And that even plays with pricing! Like, "Oh, here's the pressure. You gotta do it by midnight or the price is going to go up!" And there's a time and place, I'm not saying don't do that. I mean, people have to figure out what works for best for them. But I would encourage you to think about, "How are you doing your marketing and sales process in terms of kind of that pressure manipulation?" that's another place that you might want to just examine and check in with yourself about that too.

Katrina Widener: I'm like very excited about all of these like little tips that you're giving because they're things that are also... no matter what level in your business you're at, whether you're new to thinking about changing your industry, whether this is something you've been thinking about for a while, there are things that everyone can implement right away.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: Right? I hear horror stories all the time of people being like, "I had this sales call with someone and then like the next day I hadn't signed up yet, and so they were like, 'Are you making 10 grand yet?'" That just like feels so gross, and like I even had someone who I was very interested in working with them and hiring them to be a coach for me, or I think it was like "join a group program" or something along those lines.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: And I reached out and I asked for more information and I was like, "Okay, thanks for letting me know. I'm going to sit on this for 24 hours and I will get back to you tomorrow."And very clear of my boundaries.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm, yes!

Katrina Widener: Not like, "Oh, I'll think about it," but I was like, "I will get back to you within 24 hours." and the person on the other end turned to me and was just like, "You know, I'm going to challenge you to trust your gut and make decisions in the moment."

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: And like, "If you're going to work with me, you're going to be pushed." And I very politely and respectfully, but also firmly responded and was like, "There is a difference between challenging me about maybe some opinions that I have or some blocks that I have, and there's also disrespecting my boundaries. And this lies on one end of the spectrum and not on the other. I appreciate your time, but I'm moving on."

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Decision made.

Katrina Widener: Exactly, exactly! And there's a lot of... I like have empathy for people who are using sales strategies like this because there's a lot of rhetoric out there of "How we need to show up," and "No one's going to convert unless you are firm," and all these sorts of things. Where like for me having a low pressure, safe space, no strings attached option for people to have a genuine conversation of, "Is this the right fit for you? Do you think that you would be able to achieve your goals at the end of this?" Or whatever it is. Versus "Are you making 10 grand yet?" Like there is room in this world to have high conversion rates without manipulative marketing.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Absolutely, yes.

Katrina Widener: Anyway, off my soapbox now.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: No, and that's a perfect example! I love the response you gave, right? And because some people would feel really pressured and like, "Uh..." you know? And then-

Katrina Widener: Yeah!

Stephanie Malon Rufi: And not make a decision that was the best for them!

Katrina Widener: Okay, so we have talked about like how people can use their money, how people can accept people's money, how we can do this in our marketing, how we can really get connected to our own purpose and our own intention with changing our businesses and incorporating social change.

So what would you say is like the the last big piece of advice that you would give people of, "If I had to say one more really standout thing that you can get started doing right here, right now," what would that be?

Stephanie Malon Rufi: So, and this actually kind of goes back to the first thing I talked about, which is where you're finding that alignment and where you're really plugged in and passionate. Because the other piece is using your voice and because-

Katrina Widener: Yeah!

Stephanie Malon Rufi: How can you use your voice and communicate the social change you're bringing to the world? And again, something that you can think about and do right away, right? How can I incorporate this more? Because chances are a lot of people who are using their business for social change, they're usually doing a little disrupting too, right?

Katrina Widener: Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Hopefully! We have a lot of systems that don't work that are oppressive and a lot of these social business owners, they're chipping away at some of that. And so use your voice and call that out! We need to have more people talking about what's not working and what we're going to do instead, and that you're part of that solution of the "instead." Of like, "This is the future." so that last piece I would say is... is start using your voice more around the social change you are bringing.

Katrina Widener: Thank you for kind of tying things off with that. I feel like people might get in their heads sometimes about "How do I use my voice? Or how do I even get started?"

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: Like and... even something as simple as when I made the conscious decision when I started my mastermind, that it was pay in full or the exact same rate at six months. It wasn't a discount if you pay in full.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm.

Katrina Widener: I just shared that on my Instagram stories, right?

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm!

Katrina Widener: That's all I did.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Yes!

Katrina Widener: I was like, "Oh, this is a shift that I can make. Cool, I'm going to let people know." Or even if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, we had Megan Pulvermacher come on a while ago and talk about how to be a little bit more inclusive to the LGBTQIA+ community. And one of the things that Megan was like, "By the way, Katrina you can just ask people what their pronouns are. You don't have to say 'preferred pronouns"". I was like, "Ooh, that makes so much sense."

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Mm-hmm!

Katrina Widener: "Thank you so much!" Put it on my Instagram story. Explained that in the podcast. Because I was like... if I can just be vulnerable enough to share when I'm learning or when I'm making changes or when I have realizations? Even if five other people see that and they're like, "Ooh, that got me thinking. Or I'm going to change my language," or something like that, that is making a social change.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Absolutely!

Katrina Widener: That is actually that ripple effect!

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Yes!

Katrina Widener: And so hopefully then other people will share about that, and then the ripple effect continues even more.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Exactly! And I love your example there just quick to say, "Oh, I was using the term 'preferred pronouns', in relation to pronouns and this is why." Because it just goes back to one of my favorite Maya Angelou quotes, "When you know better, you do better." Right?

Katrina Widener: Exactly.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: And so you really need to go in with that mindset, right? Because that's fine! You might, yeah, you might screw something up or that wasn't the intention, but that's what happened. And so, "All right. Let's change, I'll share this learning with others. You know, it might benefit them and I'll do better as I go forward."

Katrina Widener: Yes, I love that. Thank you for closing on that. I think it's very, very impactful.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Yes.

Katrina Widener: So I know that you also, for everyone listening who's like, "Okay, cool these are giving me some good starter ideas." I know that you also have a quiz on your website that I think might be super helpful for people if you want to talk a little bit about that.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Yes! So I have a quiz. It's kind of a quick and dirty quiz and it's called "Am I using my business as a vehicle for social change?" It's not like, "Oh, I don't score well, I'm terrible." Right? "I suck." No, it's not. It's just trying to give you like, "Oh, I maybe have a little work to do here." Or-

Katrina Widener: Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: "Oh, I'm doing pretty well." because it gives you ideas as you're filling out the quiz, right? There might be things you've never even thought of, cause it's asking questions about different parts of your business. So it's a free quiz. You could go ahead and take that on my website and that might give you a little bit more insight as well. Or ideas of things you want to do or think about or change in your business.

Katrina Widener: Okay, perfect! Thank you so much for sharing all of that. If anyone is listening, would like to get in touch with you or learn more about you, where can they find you on the interwebs?

Stephanie Malon Rufi: So I would say three main places. My website, which is www.sparkgood.net. I also am on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Katrina Widener: Perfect. Yes! Thank you so much, Stephanie, for coming on. This has been amazing.

Stephanie Malon Rufi: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me, Katrina. Love talking about this topic, so...