Form a Company Around Your Community, Not a Community Around Your Company

Monday, August 20, 2007 at 10:57am by David Askaripour in Start-Ups

The community must come first. Yogi Bhajan, who was the leader of the Kundalini Yoga movement in the United States and founder of over 27 companies, knew this simple, but unrecognized, fact a long time ago. Today, after more than 30 years of tirelessly expanding his teachings and philosophy unto countless students and followers, yoga and meditation have gained widespread acceptance in the West and continue to affect endless lives throughout the world.

Yogi Bhajan’s main aim wasn’t to build companies (Sikh Dharma, Akal Security, 3HO Foundation, Golden Temple, The Amar Infinity Foundation, Peace Cereal, etc.), most notably Yogi Tea Company, but to spread awareness of yoga and meditation and how these tools, if used correctly, can bring about happiness and peace. He focused, with all his might, to build a community of followers and practitioners who could gain — spiritually, mentally, and physically — from his teachings and even “surpass him” one day.

Once the community was in place, secure, and in auto-drive, you can essentially serve up anything (of value) into that community and it’ll flourish. Yogi’s tea company, Yogi Tea Company, was first introduced when Yogi began serving it to his students after class. From there, he began selling it through various vegetarian restaurants, now it is sold worldwide in thousands of health food stores. He needed the community. Without the community, there would have been no channel for the product.

A co-founder to one of Yogi’s companies stated: “there is no stigma in being financially successful,” Mr. Khalsa added. “Prosperity does not take away from spiritual net worth. You can have both.”

“The whole point of all these ventures is not for an individual to get rich, but to perpetuate the mission of the community,” said Avtar Hari Singh Khalsa, CEO of Yogi’s 3HO Foundation.

When you build a community that fosters and promotes positive change and peace, you are laying the foundation for explosive growth. Any community that seeks to bring about positive changes will find that constituents seem to popup all over the place — almost magically. It’s simple: people want to be a part of something good.

Look at Tom’s Shoes. This great company donates a pair of shoes to someone — usually in a developing country — who is without a pair of shoes. Every time you purchase a pair, someone gets a pair for free. The positive reaction that Blake Mycoskie, founder, receives for his contributions to society are overwhelming.

Oprah knows this all too well. Oprah built an amazing community of followers through her immensely powerful and influential show, Oprah. Through her donations, selfless contributions to starving nation such as Africa, and her ongoing efforts to spread awareness of life-altering topics, Oprah has amassed a large following.

Now through that following, she is able to offer her widely successful magazine, O, The Oprah Book Club, and even produce hit plays and movies. Without her community, she would not of have the channel to distribute. Her positive contributions paved the way for her successful businesses.

Most of us know of Mike Arrington, the most popular voice of “Web 2.0.” His empire began by building a loyal community of tech readers interested in getting the lasted updates on their favorite Web 2.0 companies. This is how he built his following. Now look at Tech Crunch: it’s has branched out with a series of sites, conferences, and events. And it all began with a tech blog that did everything it could to provide excellent information, almost 24/7, to its readers.

The most successful and widely acclaimed businesses will not be the ones with the strongest ideas, but the ones that think of the business as an afterthought. I know… I know… how can I be saying to think of your business as an afterthought? Blasphemy! I must be crazy!

Well, no, it’s not crazy. When you strive to build a community around your idea and make that your priority, the business aspect will basically build itself, in time. The business will harness the accumulated power, influence, and hunger from the community. But without a strong foundation — a strong following — there will be no support beams for your business, no channels.

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