Talking to a potential business partner over the last few weeks I found that the question of how they make their money came to my mind. It’s an old chestnut for me, partly because I am interested in different business models but, more importantly, I don’t want to enter into a contract with a company that won’t be here in a few months or has dubious practices. Understanding where the money is coming from is important, not in detail but in principle. Also, if the person in front of you cannot explain how their company earns its crust then I’m not sure they will be there that long.
How businesses work fascinates me. My short time working at Middlesbrough football club gave me an amazing insight into how football finances work, or don’t, and the complex ways that footballer revenue and general revenue are kept separate and accounted for in different ways. It also gave me a chance to walk through the press briefing room and I still smile every time it appears on the local evening news.
My time working with an estate gave me a good grounding in how visitor attractions are financed as well as a brief look at how house building and commercial property rental can be made to pay, along with the fickle nature of the public and the swings and roundabouts of business confidence.
My time within the public sector taught me how completely different public finances are, focussing on budgets, grants and estimates rather than generating income per se.
I have also been involved in four community interest companies (CICs) which bring their own challenge of keeping costs as low as possible and reinvesting any surpluses into its community purpose. Non-profits is one thing but I have never been directly involved in a charity. There is still time.
Back to the company in front of me. They are set up as a B-Corp, a profit making company for social good, yet another variant. They want to operate in the educational sector, generating revenue from large businesses from their corporate social responsibility pots, raising their profile and having access to potential future high quality candidates. Our role will be to help them connect to the different stakeholders in the region.
All of this chimed with me. The explanation gave me sufficient understanding as to how they intended to get this to work and has given me the confidence to engage with them further.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 