A couple of years before joining the reNourish Studio, I recall being a participant in a regenerative food and soil conference. It was 2020 and we were online and just beginning to navigate what it meant to present and engage interactively with what was a remedial version of Zoom. The keynote speaker captured my attention as she promised not to answer our questions without us first answering them for ourselves, reflecting on the source of our thought process. That woman was Carol Sanford. Little did I know, 2 years later I’d be fully immersed in a lineage of her regenerative work in reNourish.

It was in these early stages of regenerative thinking that I was introduced to a new way of perceiving what we call “capital” in business. Carol’s approach to valuing not just money, but also resources including human capital, social capital, natural capital and produced capital felt like a powerful ah-ha moment, especially for those of us wanting to avoid the societal entrapments of business as usual.

As a startup solo entrepreneur I can find myself lost in a sea of rights and wrongs of doing business. It’s easy to recognize the detrimental effects of profit-only focused corporations. With a vision of doing business differently I want to ensure that money isn’t my sole focus, and that my business will indeed become an agent of change. The introduction of the 5 capitals gave me great hope that my business could indeed encompass a broader scope of success. What I didn’t expect was that my financial investment into reNourish would be returned to me in the form of these very same forms of capital. 

As I reflect on how I’ve grown to appreciate building a business that can focus on expanding the definition of success into the 5 capitals, I can also see how my personal investments into the studio have already been returned to me. Specifically, I am extremely grateful for the return of social capital into my world.

Being a part of reNourish studio has subdued my fears of being alone in this work, has opened doors to greater opportunities, offered a team like atmosphere and most assuredly enhanced my personal life with deep friendships.  I am fairly certain that if I hadn’t found reNourish when I did, that I would be sitting at a desk by now grinding out my daily energies in exchange for a paycheck while my sense of purpose sat weeping in a dark corner of my soul.  

Many mission based entrepreneurs are perfectly comfortable with their current beliefs and assumptions of what’s right and wrong. We’re attached to our subconscious conditioning that tells us that we know best. It’s comfortable and safe to stay in this zone. Until you realize – it’s not working. It’s not creating systemic change and is likely just contributing to the existing ways of doing business. 

When you realize that you need to deeply consider all that you once believed in and the source of your conditioning, having a community to both support and challenge you becomes an absolute necessity. Being in a regenerative thought challenging environment like reNourish provides me with support and encouragement not only in my own work, but in the knowing that others are taking different paths towards the same destination, and that it is all very powerful. In a sense, my fellow reNourish members have become my team. Together, this community represents a much more powerful wave of energy towards a food system that supports all of life, and no one is alone, no matter how varying our paths may be. It’s as if the community itself is fueling my will to keep moving forward, regardless of my status as an individual. 

Inevitably, when you spend time and space with intelligent caring people, bonding happens and we grow our desire to support one another. This too has become a saving grace in my work. Within the studio, especially at our in person events, we get to experience each other’s minds and hearts. As we grow and learn about each of our missions, we lean into supporting each other and we embrace opportunities to connect one another to people we know. I have been blessed to receive more invitations to connect to people within the industry than I could have ever imagined.  These connections have led to collaborations, industry exposure, referrals and a clearer understanding of what my business needs to create within this field of work. I consider all of these exchanges to be beneficial social capital energies that I have received as a member of reNourish. 

As a caring individual who often wears her heart on her sleeve, I must admit that the choice to become an entrepreneur years ago was not an easy one.  I can’t tell you how many times in my life I’ve been told “It’s not personal, it’s business,” implying that we cannot have a heart if we want to be successful in business. What a choice. I know that without the ability to be personally connected to that which I create, I will no longer carry the will to be in business. The  greatest example of personal capital return on investment within the studio has been the formation of amazing relationships  woven within the fabric of building a successful business. I’m sorry to say, this IS personal and without the social capital support of this community, I would likely be serving you your favorite latte from behind a counter wearing a green mermaid embroidered apron.

Be inspired. Be supported. Be a part of the social capital invested movement. Join us. 

Social capital ROI for the win!