G&G Q&A 4. Tad Hargrave

10 Quickfire Questions in 10 Minute: Tad Hargrave

1. Express your purpose.

No idea. Really. Sometimes it seems like purpose only really gets known in retrospect. You look back over your life and all the pieces fit together. Moving forwards? I just keep trying to question my thinking and stay present.

2. How would you sum up graceful business practice?

Hmm. I think an easy way to consider this is, 'if everyone in business did this practice . . . what would the impact on the world be?'. So many business and marketing practices leave the world in a far worse place.

3. Name your three favourite green and graceful businesses.

www.pinkelephantcommunications.com
http://www.thewoodenmonkey.ca/
www.noorish.ca

4. Name three green and graceful practitioners whose work has inspired you.

 
Carrie Klassen of www.pinkelephantcommunications.com
Mark Silver of www.heartofbusiness.com

5. Name one environmentally friendly action which you are committed to and wish everyone else did too.

I take my compost to the local community garden. I feel so proud every time I do it.

6. What would be your top tip for entrepreneurs starting out?

Figure out your niche. Figure out who you want to reach and what place you want to occupy in the market. The word niche comes from the French verb 'nicher' which means 'to make a nest'. So what's your place, your nest, your home?
http://marketingforhippies.com/products-services-2/products-services-for-hippies/niching101forhippies/

7. What would be your top tip for people who feel stuck in their business practice?

Go back to your niche. If you feel stuck then ask yourself this question - http://marketingforhippies.com/the-easiest-question-to-uncover-your-niche/

8. What is the number one thing you wish all businesses/entrepreneurs would do to make the world a better place?

Stop using scarcity based and pushy marketing.

9. In your experience, what is the most helpful and positive way to view money?

I think the most important shifts are not to see money as a need. We need food and shelter. We don't need money.
And also to disconnect money from our sense of self worth. The idea of 'getting paid what we're worth' is a seductive trap. Don't go there. Just charge what you need to charge so you can get your needs met.

10. We've just time-travelled into the future - what does business look like in your ideal world?
Like a beautiful farmers market. So much diversity and joy and love. It looks like community. Local. Green. Vibrant.

Tad Hargrave is a hippy who developed a knack for marketing (and then learned how to be a hippy again).
Despite years in the non-profit and activist world, he finally had to admit he was a marketing nerd and, in the end, he became a marketing coach for hippies. Maybe it was because he couldn’t stand seeing his hippy friends struggle to promote their amazing, green and holistic projects. Maybe it was because he couldn’t keep a 9-5 job to save his life.
Whatever the reason, for almost a decade, he has been touring his marketing workshops around Canada, bringing refreshing and unorthodox ideas to conscious entrepreneurs and green businesses that help them grow their organizations and businesses (without selling their souls). And, over the years, he has become recognized as a leader in the wider movement towards green and local economies.
This all feels like a minor miracle as Tad spent his early marketing days learning and applying some very inauthentic, high pressure, extremely gross and pushy marketing approaches. This has made him suuuuper allergic to these kinds of approaches because he discovered they made him feel slimy (even in personal friendships), he didn’t sleep well and he’s very sorry to all those people he spoke with back in the day. After a decade of unlearning and unpacking that whole scene – he now feels ready and able to help other people find ways to market that feel wonderful.
He’s also considered a pioneer and leading thinker in the field of ‘Hub Marketing‘ (and is puttering on a book about it’). www.marketingforhippies.com