Read time: 12 Mins
OK so it’s a long one, grab yourself a coffee… and maybe a sandwich!
This post is very much a ‘story so far’, thoughts on where I am, what I know I should be doing, and the process of getting there. I want to ensure my business is sustainable and fully aligned with my own values and those of the organisations I work with, and to be able to clearly demonstrate this with transparency.
By writing it down, I’m holding myself accountable. I also think documenting my progress may be helpful for others on a similar journey and hope it may lead to some interesting conversations and mutual support of each other.
It’s my process so far, but intended to help you too - if you’re yet to start your own sustainability journey. Hopefully providing some pointers and encouragement with suggestions of where to start.
Background
Since 2015, I have specialised in creating bespoke digital illustration and brand identities for positive and socially-minded organisations, often working in areas relating to the environment, health, learning and/or creativity.
I came up with the tagline ‘Wholesome creative for people doing good things’...
My intention was (and still is) to work with purposeful individuals and organisations, and take a considered approach to developing good, honest, illustrative solutions which are nourishing for the organisation and speak directly to their audience.
The ultimate aim being for my illustration work to help the organisations I collaborate with make a positive difference, and fulfil their visions.
In 2023, it’s fair to say my aims are essentially still the same, but times have moved on - it’s now more usual, and expected, that designers and creatives state a priority of working with clients and on projects that benefit people and planet, rather than being solely for profit. And so, it feels like it’s not enough to just specify ‘...for good’ as a niche, when it is something we should all be doing, or at least considering, as standard.
Why is consciously looking at sustainability important, and why now?
If I’m honest, it feels like I’m totally behind the curve on this. Well, beyond the general everyday eco choices and vague idea of always trying to do the right thing. I’ve never been much of an ‘activist’, but I am keen to ensure I’m doing my bit, and to work at making a more positive impact with my illustration business.
I want to make sure I’m walking the walk, as well as talking the talk
A short glimpse of the news is enough to gain a small sense of the climate emergency we’re in the midst of, and why it’s important. I’m sure you don’t need me to fill you in on where we are currently, but here are some Facts about the Climate Emergency from the UN Environment Programme
We all need to take action, for the benefit of everyone.
How do I know how sustainable my business really is?
I reckon I’m pretty sustainable.
I generally make ‘green-ish’ choices where possible and believe my carbon footprint is relatively small, at both work and home. I don’t have big supply chains or use lots of materials and don’t generally make physical products.
To be able to properly define how sustainable my business is, and then make it more so, I intend to:
Look at my processes and everything I use, to understand exactly where I am in relation to becoming Net-zero, and to have a handle on my own impact in different areas.
Start carbon tracking
At the start of this process I had absolutely no idea how to go about carbon-tracking - it sounds quite daunting doesn’t it? Read on to discover my findings, and how you (if you’re also a small business) can get on board with it too!
Look at what other illustrators and creative small businesses are doing, to pick up ideas and learn from them
Make sure my business is sustainable for me, and my family too.
Balancing costs, fees, time and workload is always a tricky balance. Getting the balance wrong can easily lead to exhaustion and burn-out, which I know from experience isn’t great.
Working for Good
Additional to the sustainability side of things, I’m combining this process with a wider look at how my business of creating illustration work can be a force for good.
I’m inspired by the B Corp movement, and this is something I’ll be looking into.
A Round-Up of my Key Questions and Motivations
I’ll be running through each of these below, outlining my progress and thoughts so far
What does sustainability look like for a business like mine?
What is my carbon footprint?
I want to ensure my business (and personal life, as there is definitely some overlap) is as green as possible. I know I’m going to need to collect data, so there’s something to start measuring against
How credible am I?
If you do positive work in something relating to my key focus areas: the environment, health and/or learning, am I potentially a good fit for you to collaborate with?(I’m always keen to make new connections with people and organisations doing great and purposeful work. No hard sell, but l would love to hear your thoughts - email me here )
Should I be a B Corp?
Is that even possible or necessary for me, as an individual sole trader
Is my business offering clear and saying what I want it to say?
The ‘about’ page on my website has been basically the same for years. I need to re-visit my mission statement and have clear values.Am I well equipped to help my clients make good choices in working towards creating positive impact and fulfilling their purpose? Whilst also avoiding greenwashing and making sure the work we do together is environmentally sound?
What are the other ways could I make a positive impact, aside from the illustration work I create for clients?
This is what I’ve done so far
It’s useful for me to document and show transparency in where I am and what I’m doing, and also I hope could provide some pointers for anyone else looking to get started on a similar journey. I’m going to try not to make it too wordy (difficult!) and will include links to things I think helpful.
Starting points…
1. I created an impact spreadsheet in Google Docs, you can take a look here
As you can see, I’ve listed everything I use for my business. I’ll be going through the list checking eco credentials, looking at what I can improve on…
‘Small Steps’
2. What are other independent illustrators and designers doing?
I’ve noticed increasing numbers of design agencies becoming B corps, and this becomes central to how they operate, but what about other sole-trader illustration businesses like mine?
Some illustrators and designers I know who work with sustainability as a key focus
• Sam Pierpoint - Paper artist | sampierpoint.com
Sam primarily creates work with the intention to increase our connection to nature. I recalled her having written an article for the Association of Illustrators: ‘Illustrating for people and Planet - 10 Tips’ - It was actually written a couple of years ago now, but still very relevant - Have a read!
Also, as a member of 1% for the Planet, Sam pledges 1% of her gross income goes directly to environmental and social projects - I like that!
• Sam Auden, Design & Tonic - Brand strategy and design | designandtonic.com
Sam is a designer and brand strategist working with charities and social good companies to help them disrupt and create change. Her website clearly speaks to the ethical and sustainable organisations she works with, and I particularly like ‘The values I stand by…’ section on the about page.
• Katie Chappel - Live event illustration, graphic recording & live scribing | katiechappell.com
Interestingly, Katie is the first illustrator I’ve seen with a sustainability policy on her website
ACTION POINT: SHARE YOUR JOURNEY WITH SOMEONE IN REAL LIFE!
When working through your own sustainability journey (or anything else for that matter) it helps to meet up for a chat with someone who has similar challenges/experiences to you, not necessarily working in the same area (although that could be helpful too). I recently met up with Sam Pierpoint for a walk and talk along the river at Snuff Mills in Bristol, we talked sustainability, but also about aspects of our illustration businesses and life in general - I think we both felt energised and inspired at the end of it! Note to self: Should do this more often!
Some useful resources
I found that an internet search can take you down a massive, endless rabbit hole of sustainability…
Here’s a shortlist of resources I found to be helpful:
How to calculate your carbon footprint as a small business - A useful page from FSB ( National Federation of Self Employed & Small Businesses) explaining in simple terms the general idea of calculating your carbon footprint, net zero, offsetting etc
FSB also has a Small business Sustainability Hub - Aimed specifically at helping small businesses reduce carbon emissions with advice, small business stories, and where you can go for further guidance.
The UK Business Climate Hub launched mid August, this year (2023) - found via this page: One-stop-shop to help businesses save money and go green on Gov.uk . The Hub is the UK partner of the SME Climate Hub, the global initiative which empowers small and medium-sized enterprises to take climate action and provides net zero advice for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. There’s lots of information and stuff to read, and also a free carbon calculator.
The first step through this is to make the SME Climate Commitment essentially joining the United Nations Race to Zero campaign - Find out more about the commitment here
Creatives for Climate - a nonprofit global network of professionals using creativity to take climate action.
A key part of Creatives for Climate is the Community Hub - an excellent and very extensive resource for knowledge, tools and innovative ideas to drive climate action, as well as events, calls to action, discussion boards etc. I’ve barely scratched the surface of this, but can see it will be super helpful. You can sign up and access the resources for free, although there is also a paid for membership.
And to help with looking at your digital footprint… Website Carbon Calculator and Eco-grader are both very useful in seeing the environmental impact of your website. It turns out my website is an absolute heavyweight in terms of carbon use - I have a pretty large amount of content (which includes many project case studies) lots of big images, and for me the switch to green-hosting isn’t an easy option as my website is hosted via Squarespace, who seem a bit vague regarding their hosting & eco-credentials.
Tracking my Carbon Footprint ( and how to go about tracking yours if you haven’t already!)
Via the SME Climate Hub, listed above, I used the free Business Carbon Calculator, powered by Normative.
To create a benchmark for future comparison, I decided to calculate my carbon emisions for the last tax year 2022-23. Once I’d completed my tax return, surprisingly it was fairly straight forward! The various costs and expenses are categorised in pretty much the same way as in my accounts so it wasn’t too difficult.
The hardest thing I found was as I work from home, knowing how to quantify electricity and power use. For business premises, the tracker says not to include home office space, but as my work is 100% based from home, this didn’t quite feel right - essentially that would equate to working in some kind of clean, invisible cloud, and using zero power?
For simplicity, I decided 20% of the total Gas/electricity bill for my home felt like a fair estimation for energy used by my business, if anything probably an over-estimation, but that’s OK, I’m not looking to cut corners…
Here is my emission report:
What are the different Scopes? - Find out here
Now I have my base level data, I can check back against it in future years and hopefully see improvement.
And following on from the Carbon Tracker, you are provided with a 7 step action Plan - I have yet to start this (…It’s on my list!)
Is how I work sustainable for ME?
In these times of increasing costs, and time being squeezed from all angles…
It’s important to ensure I’m quoting properly for projects, charging adequately for my time and expertise, and that I’m working as efficiently as possible, whilst still allowing breathing space and reasonable time to turn projects around.
Work and stress levels directly affect mental and physical well-being, so making space for other things, such as exercise, general relaxing, family time and creative ‘mucking about’, means I should be able to sustain my work moving forwards.
Also, charging sufficiently for the work I do potentially creates more scope for creating positive impact in other ways - whether that’s financial, time or some other kind of assistance being given to worthwhile causes
To B or not to B Corp?
I’m in absolute awe of the increasing number of businesses, particularly small businesses announcing their newly achieved B corp status on Linked In.
My initial thought is that being a B Corp is absolutely where I should be.
HOWEVER, I’m aware of the amount of work and effort required. With just me in my business, how would I ever find the time and energy to work through the process, on top of my regular work (...my illustration work, plus the general admin/project managing/new business/accounts and everything else that goes with running your own business)?
I know from experience that when I get busy with a new project, everything else tends to slide!
I landed on the UK B corp website and had a general look at the tools available.
First up: Behind the B: An introduction to the B Corp Movement - A free course that provides an introduction to the B corp movement. Basically, it’s a 90 minute video that gives a great overview of what B Corp is about, the process to become certified as a B Corp, and what’s involved in the B Impact Assessment. I have 97% completed this (the training, not the Impact assessment!), just didn’t quite get through all the resources at the end. It is 100% inspiring though, I’m totally on board with what B Corp stands for.
I also had a look at the B Impact Assessment.
I’ll be honest I didn’t get very far with it - Governance Metrics, Ethics Policies, Stakeholder Engagement…Lots of in depth stuff that required data and measuring. All amazing to be across, but realistically just too much for me, and my small business of one.
That’s not to say I can’t learn from it though!
My thinking is that I can try to use elements of the B Corp framework as a guide for knowing how to quantify my business, working out exactly where I am in relation to becoming Net-zero, and to having a handle on my own impact in different areas.
Online/In-person events, webinars, and networking
I believe connections are all important, and know I need to get better at taking a more active role to build on my knowledge and understanding of how best to help make positive changes. There are so many useful and informative online and in-person events going on, (many which are free), I need to try and make more time in my working week to slot these in
I have attended a few so far:
Campaigning for Change via Creatives for Climate which included 5 pioneering agencies sharing case studies of their impactful work.
The Design for Planet Festival from The Design Council
Some live streaming from Blue Earth Summit, which looked like an amazing event
And the Festival of Sustainable Business run by Future Leap, back in June
And that’s pretty much as far as I’ve got!
What’s Next ?
1. Start looking into the remaining areas from my original list:
How credible am I? - A difficult one to answer myself, and I’d welcome your thoughts! If you’re happy to share any views you may have please do email me
Is my business offering clear and saying what I want it to say? - I have begun trying to re-define my mission statement, but it’s still a work in progress! I plan to update the ‘about’ page on my website.
Am I well equipped to help my clients make good choices in working towards creating positive impact and fulfilling their purpose? - I intend to spend more time soaking up knowledge online, and from the available hubs, online events etc - Creatives for Climate and B Corp seem particularly useful for this
Consider other ways I could make a more positive impact, aside from the illustration work I create for clients - Initial thoughts are, for instance:
• Charitable donations - Previously I’ve tended to donate to individual charities on an ad-hoc basis, generally at Christmas. I’d like to firm up a more regular approach, possibly through 1% for the Planet, or investigating at other options?
• Helping young/less experienced/underrepresented illustrators - Fairly regularly I receive emails from other illustrators, generally new-ish to the industry, asking for advice, particularly around licensing and how to approach it for particular projects ( I’m assuming this follows on from the ‘useful’ articles I’ve written on my blog, such as this one). I try to be helpful and do generally get back. Mentoring is another option, which I haven’t done to date, but could be a possibility?
2. Additional to that, also on my ‘To do list’:
Spend time working through my impact spreadsheet
Following on from the Carbon Tracker, there was a 7 step action Plan - take a look at this
Focus on my digital footprint, particularly my website.
Firstly, researching more into Squarespace’s eco credentials or consider making the switch to another platform? ( If you have any knowledge relating to Squarespace and their environmental policy I’d be very interested to hear it - email me )And secondly, potentially reducing the amount of content on my site and image sizes etc. I know this will be a big task…
AND FINALLY
My process of getting this journey started has made it clear that it’s definitely a long-haul undertaking!
It feels like there’s so much to do, and putting things into perspective, I know I’m just 1 person, with a micro-sized business (Kudos again to those of you taking on or having completed the B-corp accreditation process!)
To avoid overwhelm and eco burn-out (is that a thing?) I’m going to cut myself some slack where needed, and pledge to push on with doing what I can, at a pace that feels realistic.
I realise there will be times when my client work will take precedence, and that’s OK, important even, especially when working on projects which fulfil my general mission of creating illustrations with a purpose, for individuals and organisations whose heart is set on making a positive difference.
If you have any thoughts, feedback or advice relating to this post, I’d love to hear from you. Or if you’re working along a similar journey and would like to compare notes… Feel free to email me
Thanks for reading!
