Seriously, Have a Good Day (why we do what we do)

When I first started Skinny laMinx, the purpose of the business was very clear: it was about me making a living by creating things in my studio. Lucky me!

But over the next 10 years or so, the biz grew and the tension between wanting to do pure creative work and having a business to run became frustrating.

The purpose of the biz had clearly changed, but… what exactly was it?

Whatever the grander purpose though, I knew one thing: it was essential to enjoy my work, and not to do things just because everyone does them.

So we decided to use the word enjoyment to help us make business choices, which was pretty transformative. It gave us a way of guiding our energies in ways that make us feel good about our work. After all, as Annie Dillard puts it:

So much of our lives are spent at work. If we hope to spend our lives well, our workplace really should be a place that helps us spend our days well, right?

Well, that’s what we think, which is how we came to stating the simple-yet-grand purpose of Skinny laMinx as:

We want everyone who works here to have a good day at work… every day,  resulting in a workplace that seeds and breeds enjoyment, optimism and inspiration. 

The bonus is that if this positive energy rubs off – on our customers, our suppliers, our correspondents, fellow workers, our own families, and even strangers in the traffic – then our good day ends up benefitting everyone! 

How do we get it right? We’re constantly figuring it out, but here’s what’s at the root of it:

• We use the word “enjoyment” as a useful business decision-making tool.
• We don’t only measure our business success in Profits, but also by our impact on People and our Planet, and this helps to guide our choices.
• We’re more interested in talking about interactions than about transactions.
• We add mood-enhancing colour and pattern into homes and lives.
• We see the extraordinary in ordinary things.

We’ll be writing a lot more about this in our newsletter, so sign up to find out more about how we’re tackling our big ambition.