At the end of October, the 30Acres team got together for a day of planning, pondering and a little bit of painting. Having spent a fair amount of time apart this year, it was pretty magic getting us all (well as many as we could - sorry Canada and Spain) in one place again!
We had an absolute feast provided by Leela (wife of dev team legend - Chris) who is the owner and culinary genius behind Your Gourmet, the best local catering option in Byron. We caught up about the year that’s been, all we have learned, achieved and adapted to, as well as what is to come in the next year for 30Acres.
To finish off a year full of change, we have very recently relocated offices to Habitat Retail & Lifestyle Precinct, situated in the Byron Bay Industrial Area. It feels great to be in this new environment, a vibrant hub for both new ventures and established businesses alike. What better way to celebrate our new and exciting home than to congregate in one of the new meeting rooms for a delicious lunch.
Our next section of the day was an eye-opening presentation about getting started with our BCorp journey. This was the first announcement to the whole team about the project - finally making it official, so that everyone could jump on board with the vision right from the beginning. Also invited were Kirsty and Beth from Really Good - an agency who support businesses in their pursuit of becoming audited and BCorp certified, and we’re excited to have them on board in helping us pave the way.
By starting on this BCorp journey, our mission is to better ourselves as a business - particularly by generating a positive impact across People, Planet and Product. Demi, one of our Digital Campaign Managers and a key driving force behind the project, took us through the intentions and requirements to eventually achieve this.
Becoming a BCorp is a long journey that may take several months (or years) to accomplish. Plenty of changes - both with the big picture and on a daily basis - will need to be implemented, and here are some of the key areas in which we are looking to improve for BCorp certification and beyond:
- Effectively communicating our mission statement and core values as a company
- Increased transparency about our work practices, how we approach new operational tasks and procedures
- Addressing and combating against ethical and sustainability issues that occur within our industry
- Changing our mindsets and ideas surrounding diversity and inclusion
There is plenty to be done but we are excited to work towards this new, measurable KPI of ‘doing better business’ - not just in terms of profits but for the integrity and ethical direction of 30Acres. We are proud to know we are not starting from scratch, having just been certified as carbon neutral in the new office space, we are well on our way and starting to optimise other areas as efficiently as we can.
After an inspiring dialogue amongst the team as we digested all the potential for our future, we headed back into town for some more fun. The Pinot and Picasso workshop has been on the cards for the team for a while, with COVID-19 delaying our plans to test our creativity skills whilst sipping on a glass of wine. Needless to say, the team was ready to unleash their inner Picasso’s.
We were warmly welcomed into a delightful afternoon; our subject was the setting of Mount Fuji amongst stunning cherry blossoms. Some turned out more volcano-like than others, and we decided against hanging them all up in the new office, but we had a great laugh along the way.
Overall it was an uplifting day together and it was amazing being able to brainstorm with all the marvellous minds that make up our special and unique team. We are both proud and excited for our next chapter. Watch this space...
