Claudia Rucher - BUSINESS REFINEMENT CONSULTANT

Beyond Ordinary Business Interview: Sept 2022 1. RD: Tell us about your business and the services you offer. CR: I started Beyond Ordinary Business specifically for founders of service sector businesses who want to leverage their business for good without sacrificing their self-care and their values. Our vision is to inspire the reimagination of the service sector as a vehicle to transform lives and communities. I like to say that we are helping seasoned female entrepreneurs build businesses that create abundance, connection, and empowerment for all the stakeholders of the business, not just their clients. What makes Beyond Ordinary Business special is our ability to marry profit with a kind humanized work environment and out-of-this-world customer service! Our clients are empowered women seeking to make their greatest contribution, women who know that the old way is unsustainable and are looking for a new way to uplevel their businesses and lives. This is where we come in. We provide a customizable business framework that includes practical financial literacy; planning skills training that includes effective prioritizing, capacity building and time balancing; tools to track and reflect on progress as well as impact and supportive accountability. This is definitely an alchemical process, one that requires the outside support of trusted advisors, professionals, and coaches who share our values for a kinder world of commerce. 2. RD: How is your business model different than the traditional model that has governed enterprise in our country since the Industrial Revolution? CR: The core of our model is moving toward a collaborative approach to business and away from a competitive one. Our business philosophy is grounded in being in right relationship with all the stakeholders of our business through a triple bottom line profit commitment and a long-term focus on sustainability. As to the former, we focus on three types of profit. The first is a people profit. We see our business as a laboratory for human flourishing. We also aim to make a financial and planet sustainability profit. This triple bottom line profit commitment allows us to make a positive impact for all the business’s stakeholders. In fact, according to the 2019 American Express Women In Business Report, of the 6.3 million women owned businesses in the US 50% of those are in the service sector. To me, that is 3.15 million opportunities to leverage for good! Another major difference is our approach to growth. Status quo business growth practices focus on growth for growth's sake and can be quite extractive for the humans working in the business! This is linear growth and the expectation to go straight up day after day, month after month, year after year is exhausting and extractive, not to mention completely unsustainable. Our approach is regenerative and based on cyclical growth because we incorporate rest and reflection into all our operational processes, planning and expectations. The rate of growth is determined by the founder’s metrics of success, not some industry expert telling you that if your business is not growing it is dying and you are a failure. Our approach is very kind and beautiful to the human spirit.