People, Planet, Profit, and Purpose with thought-leader Kumar Vijayendra

When Kumar Vijayendra shares his story, you can almost see the vibrant tapestry of his journey from India to the U.S., woven with threads of resilience and purpose. On The Bamboo Lab Podcast, we're thrilled to present a conversation that's more than business as usual, with Kumar—an authority on sustainable operations and the mind behind "The Sustainable Entrepreneur." Uncover the four Ps that form the cornerstone of his approach to sustainability: People, Planet, Profit, and Purpose. His insights promise to illuminate the path for small business owners aiming to create not just profit but a positive impact on the world.

Navigating the intricate balance of self-care and leadership, this episode reveals how personal well-being can supercharge a small business's growth and team dynamics. The 4P framework isn't just a concept but a lived reality that Kumar and I both advocate for heartily. Small business owners will find a treasure trove of strategies to incorporate sustainability into their operations, resonating with the heartbeat of consumer preferences that now lean heavily towards environmentally conscious choices. Together, we paint a picture of how these practices are not only beneficial for the planet but can also catalyze the growth and longevity of a business.

As we wrap up this inspiring session, I invite listeners to embrace the shared wisdom, highlighting the butterfly effect of good practices in business and beyond. Sharing stories, embracing potential, and integrating sustainability into the core of one's business model—these are the pillars that uphold the vast structure of what we discuss. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, this episode serves as a reminder to show love and respect not only to others but also to oneself. Join us in cultivating a community that thrives on support, continuous improvement, and a tenacious pursuit of success that's in harmony with our planet.

https://iamkumarv.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Sustainable-Entrepreneur-Profitable-Business-Planet/dp/B0C9SK1D8P

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Bamboo Lab Podcast with your host, pete Performance Coach, brian Bosley. Are you stuck on the hamster wheel of life, spinning and spinning but not really moving forward? Are you ready to jump off and soar? Are you finally ready to sculpt your life? If so, you've landed in the right place. This podcast is created and broadcast just for you, all of you strivers, thrivers and survivors out there. If you'd like to learn more about Brian and the Bamboo Lab, feel free to reach out to explore your true peak level at wwwBambooLab3.com.

Speaker 2: 0:43

Welcome everyone to this week's episode of the Bamboo Lab Podcast. As you know, I'm Brian and I'm your host today. You know, today we have an amazing guest. It's really interesting because this gentleman, kumar. We've been in communication now for the past couple of months and we've tried to get this show scheduled. A few things happened that we couldn't do it and we had to reschedule once or twice. But I have to say this and I'm going to give a shout out to his team, his staff, starting with Caitlin and all the others who have been participating and getting us scheduled you are all top notch. I have worked in 27 years of coaching companies and individuals. I've worked with a lot of professional staff members, people who schedule appointments and schedule meetings. You guys are diligent, you have an incredible eye for detail and I can't believe how professional and on-spot you are. So, before we can start off, I'm going to give a shout out to Kumar's team. So anyway, folks, today we have an amazing guest.

Speaker 2: 1:40

We have Kumar Vijayendra on today, and Kumar is an author and speaker. He's renowned for his expertise in sustainable operations management. We hear a lot now about sustainability. We hear a lot of people talking about it. We have now people who are doing something about it in the business world, and that's Kumar. He uses his extensive knowledge and international experience to help small businesses realign their strategies around the four Ps of sustainability. And I want to repeat these four Ps because I think they're so important People, planet, profit and purpose. People, planet, profit and purpose. I love that I'm so excited to talk to you about this, with nearly two decades of experience driving operational excellence in diverse organization.

Speaker 2: 2:25

Kumar's thought-provoking articles have been featured in leading trade journals and respected research publications, and he has recently released a book which we will have in the show notes below today. So please click on and order this book. His books, the Sustainable Entrepreneur, provides invaluable insights on leveraging sustainability for enhanced environmental impact and profitability. He's the president of Footsteps LLC and serves on prestigious boards. His expertise is recognized across multiple industries around the world. He has been invited as a member of the prestigious Forbes Business Council in recognition of his thought leadership and contribution to small business sustainability. Kumar holds an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, gold Panthers, with a certification in sustainability. He's a certified Six Sigma Greenbelt and he's a certified Scrum Master and he's certified executive coach. As a dynamic speaker, his captivating style and ability to communicate complex concepts always leaves an incredibly long lasting impact and impression. So, kumar, my friend, we've been trying to connect for a while. Welcome to the Bamboo Lab podcast.

Speaker 3: 3:32

Thank you. Thank you, brian, and that was a very comprehensive introduction. Thank you for the shout out of my team. You know it's always good to you do good things. It's always good to get a feedback. And then you get a good feedback. It brings you good, really good. So thank you for that.

Speaker 2: 3:48

Well, it's been a go panthers. It's always really, really refreshing when I work with a team of staff members and professional support individuals who are so professional, because I've worked with a lot who weren't over the years, kumar, so it was really good working with them. All right, so I've done some research on you, kumar, but I reallycan you please share with the audience a little bit about yourself, where you're from, you know, if you want to share anything about your childhood and who or what inspired you to get to where you are today, to do the things you're doing?

Speaker 3: 4:22

Man, that's going to be a long answer. Okay, we'll go through it. I am originally from India. I've lived and worked there for a large part of my life. When I moved to the US Iyou know when I started off, we wereyou know I've seen a cute object before. When I was young and you know me, my mom, dad, me and my siblings used to live in maybe a 10 by 10 room. That's when. That's what I remember from my childhood. What I saw was my dad's hard work, tenacity and, you know, not just giving up, you know just keeping it, and my mom's hard work in her job and in bringing us up. You know, all of that is what has made meand we can talk about it as we go on the conversation.

Speaker 3: 5:22

But thenso India, I had my master's, my first master's, and all from India. I started working there for a little while. My first thing was I first started my first entrepreneurship venture. I was right after my master's. I studied finance accounting. I wanted to do something that I saw. Yeah, my first entrepreneurial venture went to work for the government there for a few years. The government in India, the government job in Indian context is pretty coveted, you know, especially when you come from nothing. Anything that can get you something, can get you somewhere is kind of, you know, you want to latch on to that and we can even talk about that as we go.

Speaker 3: 6:09

I moved to the US you mentioned, got my MBA. I started off by, you know, working with someone I know to understand, because I wanted to start my business. I was not sure if I was ready, especially in the US context. I worked with someone to understand the context and then one thing led to another. I started my business. When the business started, you know, when your bread and butter is taken care of, that's when your heart, your heart, keeps on telling. You know, my heart kept on telling me that I there are even things which I'm passionate about and they all kept on reminding me, even while my bread and butter and everything was kind of, you know, taking care of through my business. That's when you know when things stabilize that work a little, that's when you know. That's how we are having this conversation, that's how this whole concept of you know the book and everything is coming up and my, you know again, talking about my passion, as I was mentioning my heart calling out, I realized that for me, the ultimate fulfillment is when I am able to touch and impact lives.

Speaker 3: 7:27

It could be individuals, it could be organizations. It was a governmental structure earlier. Other than that, that's where I find my meaning in my life and in whatever I do, and all of us or I think all of us have this drive within us. You know we want to go ahead and create and lead an impact on others. The next question that beckons us is what is my natural expression of it? I could be doing a job, I could be doing a business, I could be doing something else, the words to lie through, expression of my true selves, my creativity, my core selves, just when my speaking, my writing, these podcasts, all of this came in picture. My niche I'm still a student here. I've written a book and all that, but I'm still a student here. I'm still learning every single day.

Speaker 3: 8:25

But the area which I like to call my niche is focused on small businesses, because I realized, even when I was doing my own small business right after my college, back there in India, even here in the US, that a lot of resources, when you see research papers or educational research papers, or even books and materials, a lot of them are geared towards big businesses. We are talking about sustainability. A lot of people talk about sustainability, but mainly from the perspective of big businesses. Now, small businesses have a totally different challenge. Small businesses a small business owner is my friend who is a small business owner. I agree to that.

Speaker 3: 9:13

I'll say that a small business owner is both a CEO and his manager. He or she wears like 20 hats. You are a business owner with your podcast and you understand that Our challenges are much different from the way all the support materials are available. Our challenge is not as much supported in terms of books, in terms of resources, in terms of research materials, in terms of a supporting ecosystem. This is where I want to go ahead and create an impact Our fellow small business owners, from one small business owner to another. As I'm learning, as I'm working, as I'm training myself.

Speaker 2: 9:58

So before you move on, kumar, I just want to reach out to the audience out there.

Speaker 2: 10:01

So if you are a small business owner or you work for a small business owner and you can go to that person and talk with them, share this podcast or go in and we'll include links to Kumar's website as well. I like what you said, kumar, is because you have a passion for small business owners. There are so many people out there who do coaching or consulting or speaking and training, but they kind of focus on big, large five ports and 500 companies and then they try to work with the smaller business owners and they really are different dynamics, they are a different breed of individual and they really need to be approached. The small business owners need to be approached by somebody, need to work with somebody who, in fact, really truly understands the depth of their challenges and the depth of their passions and goals. So please, anybody out there, let's keep researching Kumar here as we go on and after the show today. So I didn't mean to interrupt you, kumar, but you were out of good role there.

Speaker 3: 11:00

Thank you, and you actually summarized it. This is more of a journey, as I said, from one small business owner to another, because I understand if we are a community, I understand being a part of the community. I understand our concerns, our challenges, as all of us, because all of us are in the same boat and the boat is different from what, as you said, the Fortune 500 companies, the playground that they have.

Speaker 2: 11:32

I can't wait to get to the question on the four Ps of sustainability, but I want to pause that for just a moment, because when I read your bio and you use those four words, I was just like man, this is exactly what it summarizes everything so important. So I want to get to that in a minute. But can I ask you in the last let's say, 12 or 24 months, kumar, what has been something you've really learned or a new learning that has really helped you to transcend and grow as an individual and therefore to help other businesses so that we can? I'd like you to share that with myself and the audience.

Speaker 3: 12:10

So that's a great question, brian. One thing which is on top of my mind and which has been on the top of my mind for, say, the past 10, 12 months, maybe a little longer, and again from a small business perspective, is that it all starts with me. What I mean by that is I have realized that in my business, if it's my team, if there is something, there is one aspect of my operation which I don't want to deal with, which I resist no-transcript that flows in the team, if I am doubtful about something that flows in the team, if I am operating with a low energy, that flows in the team because, again, small businesses, we usually operate in a very with a very small team, a very core team, and if that energy passes. So one of the best things that we can do, that each of us can do, is to give back to our own selves a couple of things. What do you mean by that? Giving back, of course, in terms of self-care, so my own health, my own cognitive capacity, whatever I can do to improve on that, is required. It's not something. Usually this gets pushed to the end because, as I said, small business owners do everything, from the CEO to the janitor. They put their needs at the end, they put their growth plan at the end for everyone else, which sounds good, but then it actually caps how much you can grow. It caps your limit.

Speaker 3: 13:55

So our growth, our education, our mindset and I was fortunate enough to do a lot of deep dive and a lot of mindset programs, and there are things that I'm working with we keep on. I experimented with a few things. I experimented with hypnotherapy, I experimented with the whole manifestation. The episode is PENZA, another meditation teacher, and the more I give to this my own self, the better I am able to show up at my work, the better I am able to create my organization. One really important aspect there is also being authentic, authentic, that if I am going through a lot of stuff because of which I'm not putting my best foot forward and if I'm just trying to fake it, people know it, everyone working around you is smart. Even if they don't say it, they know it. So you want to give back, you want to go ahead and put irrigation minerals, whatever, in this own, in this self, in this self of yours, because ultimately, and to reiterate the first sentence, it all starts with me, it all starts with you, for your business.

Speaker 2: 15:13

You know what you just did is you turned over? A common thought that so many people have, kumar, is that if I give back to me, then I'm being selfish. I need to give, give, give to others at all times, but it's just like when you ride on a commercial airline, they tell you if there's a change in the oxygen pressure. You put your mask on before you try to help the person next to you, and I can't stress that enough to the audience out there and everybody. We're coming up. You know we're starting a new year. We have 2024 fresh in our minds.

Speaker 2: 15:48

This is a great time to take what Kumar just said and look at your life and say to yourself it all starts with me, everything starts with me, and every person around me is impacted and infected by either my positivity, my negativity, my energy and whatever it is. And you really can't give out your best version unless you first give back to yourself your cognitive ability. You know your mind, taking care of your body, your spirit, your soul, whatever that might be, and one of the best ways to do it is being authentic. You know, be yourself. I mean, we live in a world of social media where so many people put filters on their on their pictures. They show and we all do this to some degree we show the best versions of our lives. They don't show pictures of themselves crying or with their hair it all messed up when they get up in the morning with no makeup on and in some way they're not wearing makeup on and in sitting in their pajamas and a dirty t-shirt. So we tend to judge ourselves on the best of other people. Just be yourself.

Speaker 2: 16:41

I love those three points right there. I love those. I wrote those down and I have them circled in here here in my notes. Okay, I can't wait anymore because I want to talk about your research, your work and what you're doing for small businesses around the world. Kumar, can you share with me right now in the audience when you look at the 4P's sustainability, people, planet, profit and purpose. Can you summarize those for us a bit?

Speaker 3: 17:08

Sure, yeah. So the 4P framework is very simplistic, if I may say very simplistic, but it's very powerful, metric. It is something. It is like your old North Star. So the 4P you described it people, planet, profit and purpose. What I recommend for all small business owners who want to kind of start getting into the realm of sustainability and I'll also tell about why I also talk about why we need to do that, why we need to need to do that today, in a minute, but then anyone who wants to embrace sustainability or wants to take their first step towards it. This 4P is almost like a very powerful mantra.

Speaker 3: 17:58

What you want to do is every important strategic decision you make in your business, you want to evaluate it from the perspective of the 4P's. Is this decision impacting my people in a positive way? And people include your employees, your customers. Is it impacting? Is it making their lives better? Ultimately, that's how all the products, all the processes are created. But not just customers, also your employees, also your team, also yourself.

Speaker 3: 18:31

The second P is planet Sustainability. The essence, the core of it is planet. The one is decision of mine, this strategic decision of mine. Is this going to impact the planet in a negative way, and that's when you deep dive in your current carbon footprint and your other impact how you are, from simple things to how you are managing your trash, to your carbon footprint, to your processes and systematization. Is it making the planet environmentally better off or is it causing a damage to it? If it has to call take away from the planet, how am I making up for that Profit?

Speaker 3: 19:14

I mentioned profit because, again, small businesses we operate on a show-stream budget. There are many times and any small business owner would relate to this that you would have been tensed for a week or two about where your next payroll is going to come from. So if we exclude the profit and just go for the first two things, the sustainability of sustainability is in jeopardy. So profit is a very critical dimension. Is this decision of mine going to add to my profitability?

Speaker 3: 19:47

And the last but not the least is purpose. Is this business expansion? Is this strategic decision aligned with my core values, aligned with who I truly am? And again, I'm driving back to the concept of authenticity we talked about. If I am putting a cross in the world, something which I'm not, even if I think that I am doing a great job at that, the world knows. You know what? I have more respect for a dishonest person who says that he's dishonest, or someone who says that, okay, you know what? I have very low ethical values and he does that. I have more respect for that person compared to someone who says that he or she is the most trustworthy person you can trust his or her word and then doesn't stand up to it. So purpose is your core value, is that getting reflected in your business decision, in your strategic decision? If your new business strategic decision checks all these more boxes, go for it. If not, tweak it. In short, that's the four Bs.

Speaker 2: 21:03

I think that the simplicity of it's taking a complex issue and making it so simple for anybody to really implement. I'm going to share something with the audience. Did you hear? When Kumar talks about small businesses, he says we, we and I did a podcast last week that I was a guest on a podcast and I shared with the audience that if you're going to hire someone to help you in your business or yourself personally or professionally, work was we're always hire somebody who walks alongside you, not somebody who is way ahead of you or try or lagging behind, but somebody who walks alongside of you. And when you hear a person say we when they're talking with you, that's the kind of that's a little element you want to pick up on. It's a cue that you want to pick up on. So, just as a side note, but so where did the four P's come from, Kumar? Is this something that you created and came up with over the course of time?

Speaker 3: 22:00

In fact, no. So essentially, as the whole concept of sustainable evolved over time and this is going to be a little of an academy as to what the conversation you're having this concept has been evolving over the past 50 years in our regular practice. With 1980s, major things happened, even in a commission, and all of that. So the way this concept started evolving, the first focus to just on the planet dimension, and then you know as far as the research and everything went on happening. The next P was added, which was the people dimension.

Speaker 3: 22:37

Because, again, you know, you cannot be doing something which damages you, which damages or not, so or not supports your people, and then say that you know what? Hey, I'm doing this only because it is, it is good in one factor. Then the concept evolved to the triple bottom line is what they say, which was people, planet and profit. You know, some research around kept on talking about purpose. So, although the screen work existed kind of in different P's, in different forms and stuff, but then I kind of brought them together the way they are, the way I'm thinking about it, Well, it's to me.

Speaker 2: 23:16

I like it. I'm right now, kumar, I'm reading Simon Sinek's book the Infinite Game, and he shares in there how certain companies or organizations play a finite game, like they played to win, like a football game. They play it for, you know, for a set of not a number of decades or years, or sometimes quarters, and they'll do anything to win and they don't look at the bigger picture. Was the long term impact on what they're doing and two of the things that you've already talked about that he brings up, that these called these infinite corporations that play the infinite game is. They talk a lot about purpose. They talk of what's their overall purpose, like you said, does it align with your core values? And they also talk about people, how what they're doing is impacting people, not just the customer or client or the shareholders or the stakeholders, but the employees, the community as a whole. And so what I'm seeing here is in such a good congruence with what these large organizations that are really doing things right, this is what you're in alignment with those, and you're able to apply this to the small business owner.

Speaker 2: 24:18

I think it's great. I love it. So. So, right now, how can a small business adopt a sustainable practice is like if I'm a small business owner and I'm listening to today show what's something I can start doing to say, okay, I love it, I love these four P's. I don't think I'm in alignment with all of them. What is one thing they can do to kind of to give themselves a good audit or a check to see you know where, where am I off off of alignment and which ones are my and aligned with?

Speaker 3: 24:50

You know what, brian? Again, that's a great question, and this sort of brings me to the meat of the book, which I'm again going to going to share in a very simple to understand way. You know, a lot of us could be driving while we are listening to this or are jogging or something. I start with a couple things. Number one is, of course, we talked about the four P's having the four P's as your north star for any strategic decision. The second thing which I talk about is, if you want embrace sustainability and we missed this we want to get back to this question about why do we want to do this? But then the next thing is, rather than having sustainability as a fringe item in your list of 20 things, you do make it the core of your business model. If you do that, it becomes sustainable. If you're just doing it as a fringe item, it is the first thing which drops off the moment your cash reserves are dwindling or any difficulty happens. Then let me just share a little more about this. So, for example, you might be seeing when you go to your local coffee shop, if there is a local coffee shop, if they start with putting sustainability as the core of their business strategy right when that coffee shop owner if they are starting it or someone who's already doing it they look at their core strategy Again. You mentioned Simon Sinek. Why do I want to do this coffee shop? How am I going to impact people? Let profit and purpose, and building that to the core, in the core of my business strategy, which would mean my suppliers, let's source local, my people, let's hire those people whose values align with these values and the core organizational values Purpose. Let's create a business which reflects the values, rather than creating a business, just as you said, for the finite game, for profit, and then trying to force in the values there, because that's not going to work. So, essentially, starting first making it as the core of your business strategy rather than as just as a fringe item.

Speaker 3: 27:16

What I mean by a fringe item? If someone is saying I know a couple of organizations, a couple of them have come to me and we work together, I say, hey, you know what we are doing the recycling and we are doing one more thing. I think that's enough, that's all we can do for sustainability. I tell them you know what? That's great that you're doing it. You must be spending some money as well in whatever you're doing, maybe sourcing one particular product, but those fringe items will not support you want to get to the drawing table and then every single conversation, your people conversation, has to be driven by sustainability, planet purpose, every single thing. So getting to the core of your business strategy and the third leg here is operationalizing it. So essentially, you cannot have, you cannot say that only because I'm recycling or only because I'm doing I'm sourcing from a local vendor, a local farmer. Am I sustainable If your processes are not very well laid out and documented and chiseled?

Speaker 3: 28:21

If your process is in such a way that you're causing a lot of waste, say a coffee shop, if you're causing a lot of waste in the whole process, you are not on the path to sustainability. So sustainability and therefore I don't just say sustainability, I say sustainable operations management it cannot happen without the whole aspect of continuous operational excellence. And continuous operational excellence is not a one-off thing, it is a mindset which you build in, where you go ahead and document all your processes as they exist now, chisel out all the inefficiencies and then go ahead and do the same cycle again and again, and again and again. That's how you attain sustainability. Again, even this aspect of continuous operational excellence is going to impact your people because they have better training, they know what's expected of them. It's going to impact the planet because you are reducing the waste. It's going to impact your bottom line, your profit, because you're reducing the inefficiencies in the process, and also it's that again checks all the piece.

Speaker 3: 29:37

So the three steps I'm just going to reiterate at the end of it again, the three steps Number one make sustainability the core of your business strategy rather than just a fringe.

Speaker 3: 29:48

Second, have the four P's, as you're not starved for any important business decision. Three, continuous operational excellence. And once you're there, I tell my clients and other business owners to talk to me Then this is the time when you start to wear it, when you start to wear it on your sleeves and what I mean by that is now, now when you've got it, then you start talking about it, you start putting it in your advertising, you start putting it on your walls, you start doing everything to talk about it, to wear it on your sleeves, because this is something to be proud of. And you living it and then wearing it on your sleeves and, mind you, both of the things that important you living it and then wearing it on your sleeves might go out and inspire one person, who might go out and inspire another person, and that will start a chain where all of us are moving to what I like to call our common shared vision for the world, which is to leave the world a better place than we got.

Speaker 2: 30:58

Well, so what you're saying, then, is this the four P's is not something we just dabble in. It's got to be a core part of your. It's got to become a part of your living, being inside of your organization. It's something that we don't, we don't, we don't friend fray from. We stick with it at all times. It's part of the heart and soul of a small business.

Speaker 3: 31:21

That's exactly it.

Speaker 2: 31:22

Well, you know, and I think one of the things I've noticed in the last 27 years of doing this work is that so many small business owners start off, a lot of them have a purpose. A lot of them it's not well defined, but they, of the four P's, the one they focus on most is profit. They're looking at money. They're looking at income, revenue, expenses. And then you look at the studies of, you know, 27 or 20% of all businesses fail in the first two years, 65% in the first five years, 65% in the first 10 years and only about 25% of small businesses make it 2015 years or more. That's one study.

Speaker 2: 31:58

I've heard even worse ones and I think, when you look at that and I'm assuming is if you dissected those businesses, if you could go back and really look at the history, the behavior, the actions and the habits of those small businesses that failed, they probably were not looking at things from a holistic viewpoint. They were looking at one of the four P's, which is profit, and they were not looking at purpose. They were not looking at the people that were impacted. They were looking at how they impacted the planet. So this is a really good remedy for small businesses right now, who may be struggling or who are doing well, who want to go to the next level, or for anybody who's looking at this thing. I want to start a small business and grow it. This is an incredible framework for them.

Speaker 3: 32:40

Yeah, and you mentioned something really important. This is, of course, this is for small business owners that's where my space is, but it is for anyone who wants to create one, maybe tomorrow, maybe next year. If you're wanting to create that, this is just the right time to start thinking about it. As they say, you're from the end in mind and not as in the end of the business, but end as in the core the ultimate goal, the ultimate value, rather than then trying to force speed after a couple of years.

Speaker 2: 33:12

I like to your comment. We have a common, shared vision to leave the world a better place. That's a pretty broad, powerful statement. I might be paraphrasing what you said a little bit and I think that goes back, kumara, to what you said earlier is we all have this desire to do good, to help other people, to meet the world a better place, but we all have our own natural expressions on how to do that. We have our own creativity, our own abilities, our own talents and skill sets and experiences to do that.

Speaker 2: 33:42

I think a lot of people look at it and say well, I'm just one person or I'm just a small business. How can I really make the world a better place? I sell shoelaces or I sell screen print t-shirts on the corner? In reality, when you look at using these four Ps, this is how we each can share or we can each express our own natural ability to make the world a better place for us living on it. It doesn't have to be some grand gesture. Look at this process of four things and say let's follow these, let's make these our North Star. When you do that, there's a pretty darn good chance you're going to leave the world a better place.

Speaker 3: 34:23

Yeah, you know what I want to add to that by mentioning one really important thing, really important, really significant for me. I believe in this concept of ownership and ownership. Let me describe the way I relate to it. My world is limited to those who I consider as my own. For example, if right now, for example, if I'm someone who just considers my family as my own, a sense of ownership just for my family, then all I'm thinking about is making their lives better. If I just go ahead and expand that sense of ownership to include my employees, then I'm naturally I don't have to force it then I'm naturally thinking about making their lives better, just as I'm thinking about making my family's lives better.

Speaker 3: 35:21

Then it's about expanding it a little more to include your customers, to include your vendors, suppliers, to include the professional organizations you are a part of. You just go on expanding this horizon of ownership one step at a time, at your level, at your base. You just go on. The more you expand it, the more you grow in your ability to create an impact. When we say creating an impact on the old world, at times it appears too daunting, but this is the solution for it Just going ahead and increasing the gamut, the experience of what I own, this. I have a sense of ownership for them, for these aspects.

Speaker 2: 36:13

I like that. I think it plays into the chaos theory of the butterfly effect of one small thing you can do can have incredible nonlinear changes down the road. You treat your family well, you treat your employees well, you treat your customers well. They go on to treat their friends well, their family well. It just has this natural snowball effect that can really spread out to a much larger arena than just the small world that we take ownership on. It also is a role model for other people to take ownership on their world and therefore other people. It just builds and builds and builds. That's really how we leave the world a better place.

Speaker 3: 36:55

All of a sudden an impact of that. When I was, someone shared the chaos theory with me just a few years ago and then I heard that and then I read that and you are talking about it again. It just blew my mind. It just blew my mind. It's so unfathomable. Anyway, that's just an expression there. It is amazing. That's how we are built.

Speaker 2: 37:18

All of us it is. There's a book out there that a couple of guests that were on my podcast last year wrote Gosh. I wish I could think of the name of it. I have a copy of it back at home and I'm not home right now. It's by Doug Lenick and Chuck Wackendorfer.

Speaker 2: 37:33

It's all about the little things we do. It's primarily if we clean up our own lives, like you said, self-care, give back to yourselves and how we as individuals can make impacts, not necessarily by traveling the world and giving grand speeches and moving large mountains, but making small, small impact on the people around us and the things that we can control and influence. That's really where life is. I'm going to ask you a question. If I'm a small business owner and I'm listening today and I'm like this sounds really good and it sounds almost perfect, but I have to believe there are some obstacles for a small business owner to implement the four P's of sustainability, can you share with us what some of those obstacles that you have seen so far and maybe how the business owners and entrepreneurs have helped overcome them?

Speaker 3: 38:24

Yes, again, that's a great question. It's really important to talk about the possible obstacles, the three major obstacles. When it comes to small businesses embracing sustainability or even trying to think long term is small business owners. We usually are in a scarcity mindset when it comes to time, resources and knowledge. We think that we don't know enough, we don't have enough financially to go ahead and embrace on this project or this idea and we don't have time enough because we're trying to do everything. Janita is the CEO, we're trying to do everything. These three are the most important obstacles.

Speaker 3: 39:14

It's unfortunately that the whole chicken, a kind of scenario. The more you start and therefore I say, when you start looking at it from a strategy, a core strategy perspective rather than a fringe item, that's when you don't need to deploy more resources to embrace sustainability, because that's when you would have thought out already, you have already taken out your profit plan and people's purpose and you've made a proper strategy rather than just taking things as they go. That's when your foundations are laid much clearly. The other gaps are time and knowledge. They're very legitimate gaps which any small business owner experiences. Again, but the more we do a strategy work here, the more we do a core work here, the more aligned it is because, as we talked about continuous operational excellence, if you make it as a part of your strategy, if you make the four P's as a part of your four strategy, that saves the inefficiency, that gives you time.

Speaker 3: 40:20

Unfortunately, the solution is the obstacle. The only way the obstacle can be solved is by going for the solution, although it is the obstacle to the solution. It's kind of that kind of a situation, but then these three are the main obstacles and essentially we operate from a scarcity mindset. Again, given there have been many times for all of us as small business owners when we thought, okay, where is my next payroll going to come from? I talked about this, how do I fit this in, because my day is already a 15-hour day. What do I do? When you're doing it on the fringe, you look at it as an external item. When you're doing it as the core, it just transforms.

Speaker 2: 41:05

So what I'm hearing is the reason why someone might say I can't do this is the exact reason why they should do it. Unfortunately, that's exactly true. Look, kumar, I've actually had clients that when I'm coaching them on time management and I recommend some books to read, they'll say I don't have time to read books on time management. I'm like, wait a minute. That's the exact reason why you need to do it. It's like saying I'm too sick to go to the doctor. It's irrational, but that's the way. Especially in a small business mindset, when you're so busy and you have a lot of stress on you and your tense and things of that nature, it's hard to think rationally at times and we think with our right brain sometimes more than we should. When it comes to those situations, I want to assure you go ahead.

Speaker 3: 41:54

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. You shared something with Ronnie is my story. I want to share something to everyone listening here in a space of vulnerability because, brian, this feels like, although this is our own conversation and I know this is going to go public, but this surely feels like a safe space, and thanks for creating that space. We talked about the solution to the problem at being a part of the I'm not phrasing it properly but then my personally, I had a lot of problems with organization and prioritization. Part of it also came because of some, some ADD issues, but then I had really huge problems with that and where I would do my solution, I would. So I would make notes on the go on my phone, and then someone scrap piece of paper lying nearby and some in my computer and some elsewhere, and then I'll be struggling and juggling and then trying to put all of them together and all of that stuff, because I used to think that, oh, you know what, I don't have time. Well, let me quickly write it by, I want to quickly get it done. But that quickly, quickly, quickly, that was not actually. It was not actually quick, you know. In fact it was much more difficult because there would be many times when I would be looking oh where did I put that? Notes, oh, this. I didn't prioritize this. So essentially and that's also what I meant it all starts with me.

Speaker 3: 43:28

When I started working with a business coach to start work on my organization, a lot of things improved for me. I'm working with a business coach who's actually you know, he's now is making me go through my 2024 goals, and then he's making me break it down in all the quarters. Earlier, I used to be thinking you know what? I don't have time for that, let's just get going, let's just keep on running, but then that doesn't get you where you want to go. So, in the space of vulnerability, I'm sharing this with you I am struggling and I'm trying to resolve and I have resolved, with the help of my business coach, a large part of it and I'm still working on improving it. The solution, the obstacle to the problem, can be only solved when you go for the solution.

Speaker 2: 44:17

It's so simple, but yet it's so. It's simple for us to intellectualize, but so many people have a difficult time, on the emotional side, of really understanding that. And you're singing my song. I struggle. I'm very organized, kumar, in my physical like, everything in my house and office are organized, but like in my head, things are always disorganized, it seems like, and I have to carry a pad of paper with me everywhere I go and a piece of pen and paper because ideas come up and then, yep, I have to go back and flip through notes and find things. And I'm kind of like you, I I'm ready to just do things. You know it's gone to the ready fire aim versus ready aim fire mentality and you know, and, like you, I'm working on it too, and I.

Speaker 2: 45:00

I just want to give a shout out because I'd mentioned a book a while ago from Chuck Wackendorfer and Doug Linnick and it's called Don't Wait for Someone Else to Fix it. So I just want to show them credit because I think that, along with the Kumar's book, the Sustainable Entrepreneur, that's, those might be two good sister books to read this year and start your new year off really well with a couple of books, starting with the Sustainable Entrepreneur by with Kumar here. So, kumar, right now, what's next for you? You've got the book out. Your business is thriving. You're helping small businesses all over the world. What's next? What's your now? A lot of things a lot of things.

Speaker 3: 45:34

You know, I, I don't, I don't stop and I don't want to stop. So that is. I recently started in the business. It's in the old pre-employment drug testing, dna testing space. I started that off so I'm kind of. You know, this last week was the first week of the business and then there are two more books coming up which I finished and right now they are getting edited. So a professional editor is looking at it. So next year, first quarter, the first book and maybe the fourth quarter the second one.

Speaker 3: 46:08

Both of books are again in the same space of small businesses, but not just sustainability. One of them talks about how employee engagement is really important. Why is it really important, how is it different and what small businesses do when it comes to employee engagement. And another is something which I learned, my lesson learned on the way in my business life. That is about small businesses and hiring. Our hiring needs are much different from a Tesla or an Amazon. A Tesla or an Amazon puts out an application, gets 1000, 2000 applicants supplying for them. We small business owners, when we put out application, we don't get enough At times, we don't get the right fit and there are so many obstacles. So another book is going to be just about how hiring is different for small businesses, business owners and what can we do about it. So a couple of books lined up, a couple of organizing, a couple more businesses lined up and, as you said, I also keep a busy mind, some hard things in it on the go.

Speaker 2: 47:15

Well, when those books come out, make sure, please, that you and your team send those to me as far as the link, so that I can go back and include those on the show notes from today. So when people go back in a few months and listen to the show, they can actually click on all your books, not just the first one.

Speaker 3: 47:31

I'm also going to send you a signed copy besides, besides, of course, the link, of course, for the listeners.

Speaker 2: 47:37

Oh, I love that. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Okay, I have a question. I love this question, kumar, and it's if I had a time machine and I could, I could fly out to your place today and you and I were to get in it and we're going to go back to, let's say, you just graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and you could sit down and talk to your young self, your younger version, and you could give yourself some recipes for success, some world wisdom. You know life lessons. What would you tell your younger self?

Speaker 3: 48:04

That's a deep question, you know what? So one of the biggest motivators for me has been you know this might sound like a negative statement there is no bigger burden than the burden of unrequited potential, unrealized potential. This has been one of my drivers. So there have been phases in my life when, you know, I yearn to do something different. For example, when I was, I mentioned, I worked for the government in India for some time. When I was working there, I knew my heart and soul was not contented there, but I was. That was a very comfortable job, you know. Everything looked great.

Speaker 3: 49:00

I took a lot of time in mustering up the courage to go ahead and follow who I truly am, and I do not repent things where I tried and failed. The only things which I repent in my life are things which I didn't even try because I was unsure or afraid or I felt that I was not ready. So my reminder to me is that there is no bigger burden than the burden of unrealized potential. What your potential is is something for you to decide, is something you know. My potential is something for me to decide, and that goes on evolving.

Speaker 3: 49:45

The good thing, you know people keep on talking. We talked about purpose. People keep on talking about passion. I've heard both people say good things about it and not so good things about following your passion. There is one underlying kind of you know. The important thing there is that we think that once we decided a passion, it has to stay that way. I'm someone who has multiple interests, and so are a lot of us. That's how we humans are wired. But right now, if my heart is calling me out for a certain form of creative expression of myself, I want to go ahead and pursue that. I would rather feel in that pursuit than being in an comfort zone, you know, because then this will not be contented. So coming back again, that's one line. There is no bigger burden than the burden of unrealized potential. That's one of my biggest motivators. That's what I say to that younger self again and again to go ahead and try for it.

Speaker 2: 50:46

I wish you could have met me when I was 22 years old, because I could have heard that lesson. And the thing is, kumar, I still need to hear that lesson. There are so many times, you know, in my line, 56 years old, and I've been I had my coaching practice for 27 years now just last month and there are times when I have to stop and say you are underachieving. You are not, you know, and I find that when, as I get more comfortable, I have to push myself even more consciously to take the risks that I was very okay taking when I was in my 20s and 30s. And I have to, you know, and I have. I have these grand ideas and these hopes and opportunities, and I find myself, as I get a little older, more afraid to take those. And so I love this lesson is, and I'm going to remind myself that there is no greater burden than the burden of unrealized potential. Because I was thinking, yesterday I was talking to a client and they were asking me what I thought progress was, and I said progress is doing something hard today and tomorrow. You are rewarded by having to do something even harder tomorrow, and that's. We get so comfortable in our lives, whether it's our business or our personal lives or our careers or our families, and we have to realize at all times there are so much more unrealized potential in us. And you, we don't want to go. You know, you don't you?

Speaker 2: 52:08

My great friend, Dave Dick, told me one time. He said, when you die, you want to shake hands with them. You want to. How did he say this? You want to shake hands with the most amazing man you've ever met and you want that man to be you. And I'm paraphrasing him. But it's so powerful and I realize I haven't always been that man and I have to constantly remind myself go for this, do this, take that chance, take that strategic risk, try new things. We all do this, we all go through that. I love that. I love that. In fact, I put a big star next to that phrase. So I'm going to give you credit though, kumar. I promise you.

Speaker 3: 52:47

This is just so powerful. I said that and I and all of us, you know, I keep on reminding this to myself, because there are times when I get stopped by fear, when I get stopped by the feeling that I don't know enough, and it is, it is like a constant reminder for you, me or each of us. There are a lot of us, you know we're talking about fraud, business owners. There are a lot of us, a lot of your listeners, who could be on the board saying that, hey, you know what? Someday I want to start something my own. Take the plunge, you will not repent.

Speaker 2: 53:20

And this is a guy who, talking to you folks, who's taken the plunge, who now works alongside all of these small business owners who have taken the plunge, and he understands it. He understands the fear, the risk, the concerns, the worry and you know, like he said, I'd rather do something and fail than lie on my deathbed and risk. Wish I would have taken it and done, tried that thing that failed at all times. Kumar, as we're wrapping up here, I'm going to ask one more question, and this kind of catches anything that I might have missed. Is there any question that I didn't ask, that you wish I would have? Or is there any final message you want to leave with the bamboo pack audience?

Speaker 3: 53:58

I just wanted to touch upon one thing which you know I mentioned a couple of times, didn't get into it. There's kind of going a couple of steps back, but still, for all small business owners or anyone who wants to be one, this is the time when you want to start embracing sustainability full on, like making it the core of your business strategy. And I'm going to give you a framework. I published an article in Forbes which has the whole detail of that which you can look up, but I'm just going to quickly go through that from a very financial bottom line perspective and putting it because that's one of the drivers when you're doing your initial strategy.

Speaker 3: 54:41

You're consumers today, with the whole change in taste in consumers, especially with the Gen Z becoming the main consumers Now, your consumers will love you more if you embrace sustainability. They will be willing to pay you a little more. If you're someone who's actually living that product and just talking about it, you will outshine your competition. Say, you're a local coffee shop. You will outshine your competition if you are an organization or let's it, breathe it and also talks about it.

Speaker 3: 55:17

There are a lot of opportunities for collaboration. If you're a small business owner who's on the verge deciding should I, should I not? A lot of opportunities for collaboration, a lot of non-profit organizations, a lot of individuals like myself who just want to go ahead and talk and support you If you're someone who is already an entrepreneur wants to say, is looking at the potential potential selling your business someday. There are a lot of VCs out there who really focus on businesses which have sustainability as the core and, last but not the least, there are also some government incentives. Now, this conversation was the MBA in need. This is the initial conversation which I do, of course, with numbers, with all my clients when I tell them that these are the reasons why you want to do it and you want to do it today rather than rather than getting lost and getting behind. So also, the question was from message, but I still wanted to address this for people who are still on the fence about embracing sustainability.

Speaker 2: 56:23

What you what, what I heard you say and I heard this from a guest a couple of weeks ago, kumar, named Derek Kenny, and he talked about businesses or individuals or teams or companies having a generosity purpose. He was focusing on that part of the equation where, if you have a cause, where you're helping the world through certain donations or donating your time or your energy or your resources, it draws customers to you because they want to be a part of an organization that is doing something bigger than just making money, and that's exactly what you're talking about here. Businesses will be drawn to you, the community will be drawn to you because they see you as a more holistic aspect of the community and they're going to want to buy for you. If I have a choice between going to this coffee shop that might have focused on profit, maybe a little bit on purpose, and I have an option to go across the street and buy coffee or dinner or close or whatever from a company and organization of business that focuses on all four of the four P's you know, people, planet, profit and purpose it's easy I'm going to go over there. I'm going to spend more money if I have to to cross the street and buy from that company.

Speaker 2: 57:32

That's more holistic, and I think you're right, kumar. I think now people are seeing this more than they did in the past. They're more concerned about how businesses are impacting the world and other people in their community. They're not just going for the cheapest price anymore. They're willing to spend a little more or go a little bit out of their way to feel like they're doing something for the planet as well by buying from an organization that does these things. So it's a great time. So, kumar, how does all the small, all the entrepreneurs and business owners out there, how can they get a hold of you? How can they learn more about you and your organization?

Speaker 3: 58:14

So one thing we talked about my book. That book is available on Amazon. It's called the Sustainable Entrepreneur by Kumar Vijayendra. You can also look me up on my website, which is imkumarvcom. All the social media, especially Instagram and Facebook again, kumarv KumarV. That's how, that's where I am at. Any of these sources can connect you to the other sources and that's how we can stay connected. Send the mail, send the text. Let's stay connected, even if we want to talk a little more about what we talked about today.

Speaker 2: 58:49

Well, we're going to make sure everybody that there are links to all of his connections, as well as his book, in the show notes. So when you're done here, if you're interested which I know a lot of you will be go back to the show notes, go down, click on those links and get a hold of Kumar and his team. So this is great stuff, my friend. This is really good setting. The subtitle of the podcast is ordinary people doing extraordinary things, kumar, and that's exactly how you. This is exactly the perfect qualification You're an ordinary person doing extraordinary things that are going to have a long lasting impact on the planet and the world. So thank you for that, thank you.

Speaker 3: 59:27

I love the way you put it Ordinary people doing extraordinary things. That's amazing. I love that and thank you for honoring me with that, honoring me as a part of that tribe.

Speaker 2: 59:36

It's my pleasure, my friend. Well, kumar, as we wrap up, I just want to thank you for being such an impactful guest on the On the Bamboo Lab podcast. Thank you, brian, it's been great. Thank you All right.

Speaker 2: 59:48

Everyone, please click on the show notes from today's show. Look into Kumar's, his operation, look into what he has to offer his books, his website, his social media content. Reach out to him, please. You can tell that he's incredibly personable. He'll you know. They'll get right back to you. I can attest his team gets right back to you. They are efficient. They are incredibly efficient.

Speaker 2: 1:00:08

In the meantime, everybody, I look, I'm really glad you tuned in today. Please go ahead and hit that like button. If you haven't yet, please subscribe and please share this Pacific episode with three individuals. If you know of an entrepreneur or a small business owner in your life, or somebody who works for one who has some influence on the owner, please share this, this episode, with them. Let them connect with Kumar. I'll talk to you all in a week. In the meantime, please, everyone, get out there and strive to give and to be your best every day. Show love and respect to others, but also, kind of like Kumar said, show love and respect to yourself. Take care of yourself and also live intentionally. Enjoy the journey. You know I appreciate and love each and every one of you. Thank you.