The Debrief: A Soap Company

Welcome to The Debrief. This week we interviewed Chris, a recovering addict who set up a soap business to help give other addicts a purpose and a sense of community on their journey to becoming clean. If you didn’t catch it, feel free to check it out here before diving into this edition.

In this mid-week newsletter, we are going to investigate what we covered in our interview and breakdown the key takeaways and share some actionable advice for you to work on in your business venture.

Each debrief is designed to give you something to work on each week based off the advice given by our featured entrepreneur.

Let’s get into it!

Getting Clean

Key takeaways:

1. Finding Your Reason Why: Establishing a clear purpose is crucial when starting a business. Understand why you’re starting and outline your goals. This reason is unique for everyone. For Chris, it was about creating a supportive community for people in recovery, giving them a sense of belonging and focus.

2. Embracing Decisions and Flexibility: Chris reflects on his journey with Getting Clean and acknowledges that changing past decisions wouldn’t benefit the business’s success. Embracing challenges and allowing the business to grow organically at its own pace has been beneficial. He also recognises the importance of teamwork in achieving success.

3. Navigating the Growth Journey: Growing a business is not a straightforward path. There will be both good and bad days. The key takeaway is to stay committed and believe in the process, as growth happens gradually over time. Additionally, don’t hesitate to talk about your business—word of mouth and organic growth are invaluable.

My thoughts:

Getting Clean is an exceptional business concept that prioritises personal improvement over profits. Unlike traditional business models aimed at escaping the rat race, it operates as a Community Interest Company (CIC). A CIC differs from a charity in that it is designed for social enterprises or not-for-profit projects, structured similarly to a limited company, and limited by shares or by guarantee. Fundamentally, a CIC is shaped and driven by its community purpose, outlined in its constitution from the beginning.

With that in mind, I’d like to breakdown the feasibility for someone wanting to quit the rat race by starting a CIC.

Starting a CIC requires meeting different criteria than a limited company (or an LLC in the U.S.). You must demonstrate that your business is community-focused. The CIC Regulator must be satisfied that your constitution meets the ‘community interest test’—meaning your activities should benefit the community, avoid political campaigning, and not solely benefit members of a particular company. For Getting Clean, the primary goal is to support addicts in recovery, funded through the production and sale of soap. Once this is established, getting started is relatively straightforward.

Due to the nature of the business, time requirements will be significant. Building the community, participating in events with members, and selling products to fund these activities will demand considerable effort. Time is the most valuable commodity for charity-like businesses, and it is always finite.

The demand for your CIC’s offerings depends on the nature of your project. While there is always some level of demand for community-driven initiatives, the product you sell to fund your charity must also have market appeal. Typically, customers buy these products to support the cause rather than out of direct necessity.

Scalability can be challenging due to the time-intensive nature of the business. Without expanding your team, growth will be limited. However, as a non-profit, you must reinvest profits back into the business, which can be allocated to hiring additional staff if needed.

Getting Clean is a fantastic initiative, and Chris is doing an admirable job of improving his community. However, Chris’s motivation for running this business is unique, and this path may not be suitable for everyone. If your goal is merely to escape the rat race, a CIC may not be the right choice. But if you seek success in other meaningful ways, this could be a perfect opportunity.

Do you agree with my assessment? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please reply to this email!

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👇️ Now it’s your turn to answer a question:

If you’d like to read last week’s debrief, covering an interview with Rahul, a newsletter operator who writes about the digital economy and entrepreneurship. Check it out here.

Thank you all,

See you on Sunday! 👋