What did this look like IRL in 2021-22? To be honest, the last 12 months were a heady mix of highlights and progress, alongside moments where we didn’t quite meet our expectations.
First things first: what or who is Harvey? Founded by Becky Smallchua in 2019, and proudly supported by our fluffy, four-legged namesake (Harvey), Harvey is a strategic marketing company with a simple mission: to help conscious businesses grow. We take an uncomplicated approach to marketing and use our platform and resources as a business to help move the needle on the issues that matter to us.
What did this look like IRL in 2021-22? To be honest, the last 12 months were a heady mix of highlights and progress, alongside moments where we didn’t quite meet our expectations.
For example, we overcommitted on some projects, struggled with the pressure and complexity of COVID, overworked ourselves on more than the odd occasion, went over budget a few times, didn’t make enough progress on our RAP and personal sustainability, just maintained break even, and didn’t do much to promote business for good outside of The Business Pickle.
Continued to do what we love across customer research, brand strategies, marketing campaigns, website and eCom store builds, social media management, display advertising and email marketing
Second ever impact trip, visiting clients in Cambodia and Bangladesh
Provided significant discounts to our most impactful, for-purpose clients
And!
In August started a new business, The Business Pickle 2022 (technically after last financial year, but the grunt work was all 2021-22)
And we welcomed baby Arthur Kai’En (凯恩) Smallchua 6 days later!
Getting to where we want to be still feels far, far away
While we’re well on our way, getting to where we want to be still feels far, far away. And we’re coming to feel that’s OK. Our impact will only ever be small in the grand scheme of things, but doing our bit in whatever way we can keeps us moving forward with positivity and hope.
This report is our commitment to transparency and accountability, and is useful in helping us see where we can be doing better.
We like to think that by sharing a few of the paths we’ve travelled in this report, you and others might find yourselves sauntering down a more ethical business route sooner rather than later. And if you’re already on the road, we hope it gives you the prompt you need to share your journey with the world. We’re keen to hear it.
Simon, Rach, Beck (and Arthur), Gill & Sarah jump in sync attempt No. 47 (seriously). Harvey looking at us confused.
Harvey acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country across Australia, and we honour the deep cultural, social, economic, environmental and spiritual connection they share with their lands and waters. (We are at the beginning of our reconciliation action planning process, more on that in part 3: Community)
2021-22 in numbers
15
New clients
15
Returning clients from previous year
15
Lunch n’ learn sessions
5
Harvey impact updates (Jan & Feb, March, April, May, June)
259
(ish) Slack stand ups
132
Zoom water cooler chats
38
Co-working days
13
Brand strategies
1
Impact trip to Cambodia and Bangladesh
5
Major campaigns
11
Marketing strategies
9
Customer research projects
11,727
People surveyed for 9 brands in 5 countries and 2 languages
8
Websites
9
eCommerce stores
4
Content strategies
6
Tech and data strategies
157
Email and digital advertising campaigns
2,891
Ads run, tested and optimised
176
Campaign Emails sent to 30,000 people
6
B Corp clients
5,727
Visitors to our website
$255,188
of discounts to high impact clients
72
Net Promoter Score
100%
Rated good value for money or could charge more :)
5
Countries called home by Harvey clients (Australia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, New Zealand, East TImor)
$49,049
Donated to Beyond Zero Emissions
$20k
Cash invested in impact businesses
1
New impact business (The Business Pickle)
How we helped conscious businesses grow.
CRM, martech & data (8)
Aiculus, ATEC, Bank Australia, Beyond Zero Emission, Dulux, Jasper, King Pump, XR Health
Customer research (9)
Alton Goods, ATEC, Evee, Gewürzhaus, Jasper, Kester Black, Merry People, Prisma Legal, We Are Lumen
Marketing strategy (11)
Abundant Water, Aggie Gifts, ATEC, Dog & Bone, evee, HappyTap, Jasper, Kester Black, KidsCo, League of Intrapreneurs, The Colony
Brand strategy (14)
Aggie Gifts, Alton Goods, Anantaya, ATEC, Client Fabric, Jasper, Kester Black, King Pump, Nutshell Films, Possible, Prisma Legal, We Are Lumen, WIRE, Zoe Pook
There’s nothing quite like looking at the goals our past selves give us and seeing how our present selves feel. This last 12 months hasn’t all been sunshine and singalongs, but we’re nevertheless proud of how far we’ve come.
We worked with no ‘Destructive’ clients, had fewer ‘Good’ (13%), did an extra 6% on ‘Great’ and were on target for ‘Amazing’ (21%)
Overall it means we did more impactful work, which is a good thing. But on the flipside, it’s not sustainable for us financially – our revenue is down and our margin is squeezed.
OK, needs work
Client survey metics – 3 to 5 / 5 see us as value for money and an average of 8+ would recommend
We achieved 3.5 out of 5 and 8.9/10 are likely to recommend.
Yay, we did it
40% of clients return in following 12 months
50% of our clients returned. However, we’ve decided this isn’t a relevant metric as it promotes a behaviour of keeping clients dependent on us, not providing them the resources, skills and tools to do things internally.
Yay, we did it
Maintain current revenue
Revenue was up 41% YoY as it was the first full year with 2 full time team members. This is positive, even though our goal was to NOT grow. Long story short, we need to revisit this goal.
Averaged 71% of our time clients, the rest we spent on development, admin and management, and operations.
OK, needs work
Regular, honest check-ins about how we feel
Individual development plans reviewed monthly, Monday morning whole team check in, weekly reflections, and daily standups.
Yay, we did it
Prioritise our own growth; if we are better, our clients will be too
Lots of on-the-tools growth (building team capability in Hubspot, Webflow, Google Data Studio, After Effects, Strip, Google Optimize, LinkedIn Ads) and structured learning through weekly Lunch ‘n Learns and Intro to Programming at RMIT.
Yay, we did it
Flexible work, inc 4 days/week option for everyone
2 people work 9 day fortnights.
Yay, we did it
Enable work from anywhere
2 people moved to Sydney and 2 people moved to country Victoria.
Rachel with a team gift purchased from local artist Libby Haines
Protest and boycott important issues (Australia Day, Melbourne Cup)
Yes and yes!
Yay, we did it
Buy with intention from local and discriminated groups
Just a few:
Hub Australia – B Corp coworking
Goodtel - B Corp, Carbon Neutral, donates 50% of profits to good causes/people in need, telco build to support the NFP sector
Verve Super – a for women, by women, Australian superannuation fund
WORDs for things – woman, small business, New South Wales, one of the greatest copywriters around
Libby Haines Art – woman, small business, Victorian, water soluble materials, 100% sustainably sourced Tassie oak frames, Australian made, biodegradable packaging
Northcote Nursery – small business, Victorian, promotes education for plants/natives, eco, low waste gift card)
Endota – local business, woman founder, 95% team are women
Friends and supplier gifts from The Dinner Ladies – women founders, local
LVLY – women founders, local
OK, needs work
Invest $20k in impact businesses plus $20k of 100% pro bono time
We invested $20k in Kester Black as part of their crowdfunding campaign, but did minimal pro bono time (so low we didn’t track it).
Yay, we did it
Embracing sustainable living with Great Wrap - a compostable wrap made from food waste!
Be climate positive at work and at home
This is tricky to measure. As a small business, we haven’t audited our emissions. But looking at the average SME producing 6 tonnes per employee/year – this would mean that Harvey produced 24 tonnes/year in 2021-22.
To offset that is complex and prices vary, but if we assume the cost of a carbon credit is $20, that would conservatively (but inaccurately) translate to $480/year.
Considering we have donated over $30k to Greening Australia, and more to Beyond Zero Emissions, we feel comfortable this goal is being achieved.
Yay, we did it
Donate 5% to the environment
We donated $49,049 to Beyond Zero Emissions.
Yay, we did it
Re-use, recycle and manage dangerous waste
We continue to implement our hazardous waste policy and are on a continuous learning and improvement journey.
Yay, we did it
Advocate for climate change / inspire sustainable living
We’ve done little bits of content and stories on this, but our ambition is to step up much more, talk at events, participate in public campaigns, and more.
Side note: The Business Pickle exists to achieve this. And while Harvey has supported/invested in that business, we are reporting on its impact separately. To be frank, this was confusing for us to think about and track/report.
Harvey is 100% owned by the Smallchua Family Trust and Rebecca Smallchua is our sole Director.
Yay, we did it
Share templates, documents, insight into business for good
We haven’t actively done this publicly, but when people have asked, we have shared. And we’re sharing a series of things as part of this impact report.
OK, needs work
Improve B Corp score from 134.1 to 135
We haven’t checked/re-tested our B Corp score, so we’re unsure if our score has changed. We’ll also be unlocking the staff section of B Corp accreditation now that we have employees, so it’s unclear how this will impact our scores. While we’ve improved in a few tiny ways, they aren’t attributed to our B Corp assessment.
In May 2022 Rach and Simon visited our client ATEC’s local teams in Cambodia and Bangladesh. After 286398 hours of zoom calls over the last 2 years, they were pumped to meet the team and customers ATEC are impacting in the flesh!
ATEC is a game-changing social enterprise solving clean cooking globally with disruptive technology.
ATEC CEO Ben Jeffreys
Decarbonising cooking is a multi-billion dollar opportunity that will offset more emissions than the global airline industry whilst saving the lives of millions of women each year who traditionally cook with wood. We’re honoured to play a role in solving this global issue with leading the digital marketing efforts to scale reach in these developing markets (Side note: ROAS in developing countries like Cambodia and Bangladesh are 🔥)
“It’s hard to think that what Mrs Jonaki has experienced is common around the world. According to the WHO, around 2.4 billion people worldwide (around a third of the global population) cook using open fires or inefficient stoves fuelled by kerosene, biomass (wood, animal dung and crop waste) and coal. This generates harmful household air pollution which was responsible for an estimated 3.2 million deaths per year in 2020. And women and children - typically responsible for household chores, bear the greatest health burden”.
Rach interviewing a customer in Bangladesh to understand her challenges, perceptions, get feedback and improve ATEC overall
Explore 6 areas of this report
We speak to the five areas of business that were particularly important this past 12 months, then one final wrap up on goals and intention-setting for 2022-23.
Buy with intention from local and discriminated groups
🟢
We continue to be intentional about our suppliers as outlined in our policy and report the details in the Community chapter of our report. We took it one step further this year with a public call to pledge to audit suppliers in this campaign www.supplier-impact.com
Invest $20k in impact businesses plus $20k of 100% pro bono time
🟠
We delivered some pro bono time but dropped the ball and had no official measurements in place. We also did not invest $20k in impact businesses because of the reduced revenue with Becky on maternity leave.
Sarah personally donated her photography equipment valued at around $7,500 to empower a content and brand producer in the Solomon Islands.
Have a RAP, engaged stakeholders and implemented more change
🔴
Due to competing priorities and limited time (no lack in desire) we de-prioritised our Reconciliation Action Plan as we want to do it meaningfully and have the capacity to follow through. However, we took a few first steps outlined here.
Environment | Crank up the action on climate and environment
Be climate positive at work and at home
🟠
We don’t track our CO2 emissions, rather we take a much more general and high emissions view. However, this year, we didn’t donate to the environment (see above) so we can’t say we countered our CO2.
Donate 5% to the environment
🔴
We fell short here, we didn't make the donation. More details here.
Re-use, recycle and manage dangerous waste
🟢
We continue to implement our hazardous waste policy and are on a continuous learning and improvement journey.
We repair damaged hardware and minimise purchasing of new equipment.
Personally we're all Facebook Marketplace fans.
Advocate for climate change / inspire sustainable living
🟢
Through the work we do at The Business Pickle we have released research, reports and content on climate and the environment. Including open sourcing the Environmental Strategy we created with portable.
Governance | Operate fairly and squarely as an impact business
Maintain current ownership and governance
🟢
Harvey is 100% owned by the Smallchua Family Trust and Rebecca Smallchua is our sole Director.
Share templates, documents, insight into business for good
🟠
We haven’t actively done this publicly, but when people have asked, we have shared. And we’re sharing a series of things as part of this impact report.
Re-use, recycle and manage dangerous waste
🟢
We continue to implement our hazardous waste policy and are on a continuous learning and improvement journey.
We repair damaged hardware and minimise purchasing of new equipment.
Personally we're all Facebook Marketplace fans.
Maintain B Corp score from 134.1 with workers included
🟢
We applied for our B Corp re-certification at the end of this financial year and are pleased to report we achieved the same score (to the decimal point). Wild!
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We want to hear all about the things you're doing.
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