Profile: Megan Strand, InCouraged Communications
How to do something worth caring about
Megan Strand believes two things about business:
1. “Entrepreneurs are going to save the world.”
2. “If you want people to care about what you’re doing, do something worth caring about.”
Precisely the kind of actionable thinking that I sought to help me manage my new project in the making, a crowdsourced book titled The Portland Bottom Line: Small Business Practices from America’s Hotbed of Sustainability.*
As you can expect, there’s more to Megan’s beliefs than meets the eye.
“Entrepreneurs look at things differently,” Megan said. “When presented with a problem, they think, ‘If we could change things, how would we do it?’ Entrepreneurs position themselves to solve challenges with creative ideas.”
And so did Megan, for whom entrepreneurship is, in part, a lifestyle. Because she wants to be home when her two young kids are home from school, she structured her business, launched in October 2009, around her family life. “Short of being an entrepreneur, I had few other options. So I crafted my business to work hard and do what I need to do when my kids are at school. It provides for a decent balance in my life.”
Megan seeks balance in her work with clients as well. She firmly believes that “businesses will do well by doing good – for their customers, for their employees and for the community. We can lift all boats by rising the tide.”
As a result, in her work as a marketing communications/cause marketing consultant Megan strives to help small businesses engage with the community in a meaningful way. On her InCouraged blog, she explores fruitful business-nonprofit partnerships. “I love meeting people and hearing about the amazing things they’re doing.”
Based in Vancouver, Washington, InCouraged Communications is another manifestation of Megan’s socially-focused career. Whether it was as a PeaceCorps volunteer in Honduras, an employee at nonprofits, government agencies, or small businesses, social responsibility – doing well by doing good – has been the theme and interest all along.
Unsurprisingly, the main appeal for Megan of The Portland Bottom Line book project was both the storytelling and practical aspect: “Can we have more meaningful conversations about how small businesses are making a difference? We’ll provide bite-sized, real-life stories, written by Portland’s small business people, with tips and tools on applying sustainable practices.”
(April 2010)
* The other collaborators are Mike Russell of Pivotal Writing and Kelly Quashnie of Studio Cue. More on the project in early May 2010! Subscribe to updates by RSS.
