Why talk about sustainable and honest business growth strategies when everywhere I turn these days, there are articles like “How to make 5,000 USD in 4 weeks” “How to become a graphic designer in 2 weeks” “How to make money from your blog within 1 week” type of headlines?

Now don’t get me wrong. I am all up for fast growth, innovative ideas which provide solutions, and smart techniques which deliver good results. I love experimenting with marketing and business ideas that I learn from other business owners and seeing how they work for me. I WANT fast growth, and want to become a millionaire etc. Who doesn’t?

BUT. I want to do that in a sustainable & honest way.

Those two things are incredibly important to me. If they are values which are important to you too, then read on.

1. Sustainable Business Growth Strategies & Methods

Sustainable strategies are those which help your business grow, without being short lived in nature.

These are strategies which you can implement for the long term, and are often the smallest of things which have the most powerful impact.

For example, trying to launch 5 products a week – while it may give me many sales quickly – is not sustainable for me. It will leave my customers also wondering why have I disappeared if I don’t launch those 5 products say on a week when I’m just too tired to or don’t have the inspiration to create something unique.

I’d much rather stick to a sustainable strategy of launching one product every week. Sometimes even this is hard to do because it takes a lot of research, hard work & days to create a truly wonderful product (and I want to release nothing short of that on my shop). To give you an example, it took me a month to create the Neutral Florals Watercolor Kit from scratch to launch. Now, yes I wasn’t just working on that one product that time, but that’s the kind of effort & creative energy that I need to put into something.

I might as well share my pitfall in this arena.

A few months back, I had tried to be active (or well, overactive), on Instagram to try & increase my followers. I used to post three times a day (all in real time, and then I used a scheduler too). It left me exhausted and I suffered from severe Instagram burnout. I got headaches, wrist aches and even my thumb and index finger hurt the way they never have before. It was so bad that I decided to detox from Instagram completely for 2 months. Those 2 months really helped me refocus & rechannel my energies, and implement a better strategy for Instagram. Now, I try to post only three to four times a week. Because this is sustainable FOR ME.

Now, if you’re sitting there going “Lady, that ain’t gonna work for me because my audience NEEDS to hear from me twice a day“, then great. And if you are managing that along with all the other tasks your business demands of you, I truly admire that. But, if you have moments of exasperation and overwhelm, acknowledge it. Implementing sustainable methods will help you stay in business longer than going all out and then burning out. Listen, I was a corporate lawyer before I started Essem Creatives. I have done those 14 hour days – and I now acknowledge that that style of life is just not for me.

We all have the freedom to decide what is sustainable to our own lifestyles and we should encourage ourselves and others to make that choice. Simply because it feels good, right? And operating from that good feeling space will do marvellous things for your business too.

What’s more is that, sustainable practices means that you will simply do the things you need to do most most of the time. It will compel you to prioritise and focus only on the essential. Doing one or two things right and consistently is far better than trying to do ten things all the time and never getting anything done. You will start reaping the rewards of consistency by following this method.

2. Honest Business Practices will Bring in Exponential Rewards

Honesty in business can mean many things – honest practices, honest communications, setting honest client expectations, honesty in pricing (honesty to both yourself and your client) honesty in respecting others’ copyright & license terms, etc.

One thing that’s for sure is that honesty is like red ink – it is very difficult to hide it if you’ve got it. It simply reeks.

Now that’s a good thing for honest people, and not so good if you’ve been less than honest about your offerings / practices.

Every potential customer / client out there cares about whether the person they are about to do business with is honest in their dealings with other people. This is because that is an indicator of whether they will be honest with them.

I know, it sounds bizarre that I am here trying to make a case for honesty. It should be obvious, right? This is the stuff we are taught in kindergarten. But, I feel compelled to because we live at a time when not too many people are talking about these basic values.

When your business reeks of honesty, it will attract honest clients & customers, who will talk about you to their friends (who would be like them too, and are likely to become your customers as well). So it will not only give you a clear conscience (and legal protection), but will also help your business grow organically and meaningfully. There will be more permanence to that growth. People who come to you for your values are more likely to stick with you through the highs and lows than those who are simply looking for a quick bargain.

Sustainable & Honest Business Growth Strategies will Elevate your brand & business

To summarise, following sustainable and honest business growth strategies will not only help build a solid foundation for your business in the short term, but will help you grow your business exponentially. You will have loyal customers and clients with a similar set of values, who will help spread your message for you. It’s totally worth it to invest a few months extra and wait for the magic of compounding to work, than to ignore these principles and risk having an unstable and unpredictable business.

If these values resonate with you, I’d love to hear about it. Please leave a word in the comments field below or write to me directly.

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