Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Being the Only B

SSIR Articles
Being the only one of something—whatever that something is—generally has one of two results. Either it makes you hot stuff or it backfires. In business, you hope for the first. It's supply and demand at its finest: Less of you increases the desire for you. But move away from theory and into practice, and real life may not always work that way. Sometimes being the only one of something means that fewer people understand you or realize what you truly have to offer. Instead of becoming rare, you become an anomaly—the product people aren't quite sure what to do with, an outcast. I am the owner of In Every Language, Kentucky's only certified B Corporation. Not only are we the only B in Kentucky, which means we've been certified as a socially responsible business, we're the only B in our industry. So if anybody understands what it's like to be the only one of something in business, it's me. Even before certification, In Every Language was a social enterprise. Based in Louisville, Ky., In Every Language provides translating, interpreting, and other language services to…
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