The Reluctant Business Person

As a business school alum, I often wonder what I was thinking when I chose this path. I don’t care for business all that much, at least not the way modern man conducts his business, too often focused on only one thing: the bottom line.

Yet here I am, a small business owner. Why?

Because I want to share herbal medicine with the world, and make a living while I’m at it. Although I may be a reluctant business person, I know I am exactly where I belong, doing exactly what I was meant to do.

Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia (as read in “The Art of Power” by Thich Nhat Hanh), said it perfectly:

“I’ve been a businessman for almost fifty years. It’s as difficult for me to say those words as it is for someone to admit being an alcoholic or a lawyer. I’ve never respected the profession. It’s business that has to take the majority of the blame for being the enemy of nature, for destroying native cultures, for taking from the poor and giving to the rich, and for poisoning the Earth with the effluent from its factories. Yet business can also produce food, cure disease, control population, employ people, and generally enrich our lives. And it can do these good things and make a profit without losing its soul.

I’m a very reluctant businessman. I’m a kid from the sixties and I rejected all of that stuff. And so because of that I feel a bit like a samurai businessman. If you wanted to be a samurai, you couldn’t be afraid of dying, because if you flinch a little bit your head gets cut off. Since I never wanted to be a businessman, I could take a lot of risks and I could break a lot of rules because I didn’t care whether I lost my business or not. That gave me a lot of freedom.”

Here’s to the power of freedom, soul and herbs.

Do you know a business with a soul? Please share in the comments section.