Sustainable Business Design for Entrepreneurs — Permaculture Principles and Business (Series Introduction)

How to use permaculture principles as a service-based entrepreneur?

Sustainability is a buzzword, but what does it even mean in practice? How does it translate to the everyday running of our businesses? What does a sustainable business look like if it’s not selling organic fair trade products?

Your business is like a garden: it’s growing, evolving, adapting to and interacting with its environment. So why not use the same planning concept for both?

My interest for permaculture began with organic gardening, but it soon became clear to me that there’s so much more to it than just “not poisoning the food you grow”. As an economist, I was in awe about how efficiently this approach uses resources, but, rather surprisingly, it has never occurred to me that I could apply this way of thinking to my and other people’s businesses.

That is, not until I received a book as birthday gift from a wonderful client. She knew I was taking a PDC (Permaculture Design Certificate) course and sent me a copy of People and Permaculture by Looby Macnamara. By the time I got to page 25, I almost filled my journal with the myriad of thoughts that popped in my head.

Wait, what exactly is permaculture?

Excellent question! If permaculture was nothing more than the idea of working with nature (rather than against it), I’d still be in love with the concept. But it doesn’t stop there! Permaculture is all about designing sustainable systems by working together with nature, rather than against it. On the surface, it might seem like the lazy way to do things, but it’s actually the smart way. Why would you fight forces instead of harnessing them for your own benefit?

Just like a garden needs to be designed for a successful harvest, permaculture principles can help you with designing a sustainable business. The goal is to create a business that provides for your needs, aligns with your values and builds on your strengths.

Introducing the permaculture business blog

This is the beginning of a series of posts about applying the 12 permaculture principles to our businesses. I’m writing this as much for myself as for other entrepreneurs, hoping we can all gain valuable insight from a different perspective. You can join the conversation on LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook.

Here’s a list of all 12 permaculture design principles and some bullet points to give you an idea about what to expect in each individual post. I’ll update the links as I’m progressing in the series.

Observe and interact

Catch and store energy

Obtain a yield

Apply self-regulation and accept feedback

Use and value renewable resources and services

Produce no waste

Design from patterns to details

Integrate rather than segregate

Use small and slow solutions

Use and value diversity

Use and value edges and the marginal

Creatively use and respond to change

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