Report #3

Executive summary

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.

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Team in cafe in Castlemaine

Hi! We’re Harvey.

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.

This Impact Report is a summary of our year, broken into 6 parts plus this executive summary. Continue reading this summary or dive deeper into specific chapters: 1. Clients, 2. Team, 3. Community, 4. Environment, 5. Governance, 6. Wrap up & goals.

But onto a few highlights:

  • Donated $49,049 to Beyond Zero Emissions to support the pivotal work they're doing in accelerating a prosperous zero-emissions Australia
  • Helped over 30 clients who impact 14 of the UN sustainable development goals
  • 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
  • Recognised by B Corp as Best for the World Community
  • Invested in ethical beauty B Corp Kester Black
  • 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, Becky, Sarah, Gillian and Rachel are sitting together.
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

Website & eCom (15)

Aggie Gifts, Aiculus, ATEC, Bank Australia, Client Fabric, Gewürzhaus, HappyTap, Hey Doodle, Jasper, Kester Black, KidsCo, King Pump, Nutshell Films, Possible, Zoe Pook

Digital, content & ads (14)

A.BCH, Abundant Water, Aggie Gifts, ATEC, Dog & Bone, Evee, HappyTap, Hey Doodle, Jasper Coffee, Kester Black, King Pump, Marnie Hawson, Prisma Legal, Zoe Pook

Not all sunshine and singalongs, but a good year

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.

Colour coded for accountability

Well, would you look at that!

Green is good

OK, keep going

Orange for ok

Needs some love

Red, not rad

Clients | Help conscious business grow

Rachel, Sarah, Simon on the weekly WIP with some of the ATEC Bangladesh team - Milm, Mominur, Rubayet and Hasib.

No ‘Destructive’ clients. Revenue 20% of ‘Good’ clients (Max) and 20% ‘Amazing’ clients. (Here’s what the classifications mean)

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.

Fail, needs attention

Team | Be the best versions of us

One of the many team Zoom meetings

All staff spend 90%+ of their time on clients

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.

Yay, we did it

Community | Lift the communities we’re part of

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.

Fail, needs attention

Governance | Operate fairly and squarely as an impact business

Bec and Simon strategizing, laptop in hand!

Maintain current ownership and governance

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.

Fail, needs attention

Bonus: Impact Trip 2022

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.

Executive summary

  1. Clients - Help conscious business grow
  2. Team - Enable everyone to be their best
  3. Community - Enrich the community where we operate
  4. Environment - Regenerate and accelerate
  5. Governance - Open, fair and efficient operations

Wrap up & goals: eyes on 2022-2023

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  • Maintain B Corp score from 134.1 with workers included
🟢
  • We officially re-certified in November 2023, and are pleased to report we achieved the same score (to the decimal point). Wild! We shared our experience of recertification here.
  • Share templates, documents, insight into business for good
🟠
  • We haven't 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.
  • Maintain current ownership and governance
🟢
  • Harvey is 100% owned by the Smallchua Family Trust. Rebecca Smallchua is our sole Director.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Advocate for climate change / inspire sustainable living
🟢
  • We hosted a panel event on Zero Emissions Day in September 2023, along with our friends at Portable, where we interviewed industry experts on the opportunity to engage with community and work towards a more sustainable future. Recording here.
  • Donate 5% to the environment
🔴
  • We didn't make the donation this year as we're revisiting our impact giving model - more details here
  • Invest $20k in impact businesses plus $20k of 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, and are reviewing this goal going forward. In the last 12 months, our three Impact Investments all lost their value (Whole Kids, Pronto Bottle & Kester Black). While it's not great, we accept this is part of ambitious investing, and each had their own challenges that they couldn't quite overcome.
  • 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.
  • Protest and boycott important issues (Australia Day, Melbourne Cup)
🟢
  • Yes and yes!
  • 9 day fortnights, with option for 4 day weeks
🟢
  • 80% work 9 day fortnights, 40% part-time hours, 10% standard working hours.
  • Improve and increase capability across team
🟢
  • Raising our emotional health levels through a leadership development program with Global Leadership Foundation.
  • Expanding output skills: Market research, Web design, content & copywriting, strategy & development and automation strategy.
  • Targeted and clear personal growth, if we are better our clients will be
🟢
  • A new process for 360 feedback, plus personal goal setting questionnaires that ask the big questions of where we want to go and how we'll get there. Also lots of accountability check-ins.

Client survey metrics

  • 3 / 5 value for money (1 - 'could charge less' and 5 - 'could charge more')
  • 8 / 10 likely to recommend
🟢
  • 3.4 / 5 value for money
  • 9.2 / 10 likely to recommend

No destructive clients. Revenue breakdown: 17% Good, 59% Great, 24% Amazing

🟠
  • No destructive clients.
  • Revenue breakdown: 17% Good, 59% Great, 24% Amazing (A little over on Good and under on Great, but on target for Amazing - which is most important, so we're happy with that)
  • All staff spend 80%+ of their time on clients
🔴
  • Spent 64% of our time on clients (under). Due to team changes (recruitment, onboarding and offboarding) and extra investment in training, personal development and community engagement (e.g. B Local), we did not hit this target. On reflection, we will think 80% is too ambitious and we'll be revising to 70% going forward.
  • Regular, honest check-ins about how we feel
🟢
  • Stand ups, development sessions, watercooler chats, impact updates and more.

$994k revenue (Up $211k on FY2223)

🔴
  • $833,588. Revenue was up 6% YoY. Midway through the year, we adjusted down our target to $879k as team growth / services shifted. The main reasons we didn't hit target were scope creep and overruns, both of which we're trying to manage better with process improvements.
  • 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!
  • 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.
  • Maintain current ownership and governance
🟢
  • Harvey is 100% owned by the Smallchua Family Trust and Rebecca Smallchua is our sole Director.
  • 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.
  • Donate 5% to the environment
🔴
  • We fell short here, we didn't make the donation. More details here.
  • Advocate for climate change / inspire sustainable living
🟢
  • 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.
  • Protest and boycott important issues (Australia Day, Melbourne Cup)
🟢
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 9 day fortnights, with option for 4 day weeks
🟠
  • 40% work 9 day fortnights, 40% part-time hours, 20% standard working hours.
  • Improve and increase capability across team
🟢
  • Elevated our tool nerd level. See here.
  • Expanding output skills: Market research, Web design, strategy & development, video editing, and automation strategy.
  • Targeted and clear personal growth, if we are better our clients will be
🟢
  • Lots of on-the-tools growth, structured learning through weekly Lunch 'n Learns and Intro to Programming at RMIT.

No destructive clients. Revenue breakdown: 15% Good, 60% Great, 25% Amazing (Here's what the classifications mean)

🟢
  • No destructive clients.
  • Revenue breakdown: 10% Good, 66% Great, 25% Amazing
  • All staff spend 70%+ of their time on clients
🟢
  • Spent 71% of our time on clients (over by only 76 hours).

Client survey metrics

  • 3 /5 value for money
  • 8 / 10 likely to recommend
🟢
  • 3.4 / 5 value for money
  • 8.8 / 10 likely to recommend

Maintain current revenue

🟠
  • Revenue down 16% YoY
  • Regular, honest check-ins about how we feel
🟢
  • Stand ups, development sessions, watercooler chats, impact updates and more.
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22 Bricks
ABCH
ATEC
Abundant Water
Anantaya Jewellery
B Lab ANZ
BZE
Bank Australia
CPSN
Certification O
Chaulk
Client Fabric
Clockwork Films
Common Ground
Compass Studio
Cyclion
Dog & Bone
Envirotecture
Evee
Farm My School
Fellten
Gewürzhaus
Global Leadership Foundation
Goodtel
Green Collar
Hagens Organics
Hey Doodle
Jasper Coffee
Jaunt
KOSI
KingPump
LVLY
Lee Christison
Lumen
MIIROKO
MK Local Foods
Marnie Hawson
Merry People
Nexa Advisory
No Lights No Lycra
North West Guadalcanal Association (NWGA)
OBG
One Small Step
Parliament of Victoria
Peninsula Hot Springs
Pixii
Portable
Possible
Prisma Legal
ReCo
Shadowboxer
Strongim Bisnis
Studio Schools Australia
Thankyou
The Next Economy
The Salvage Yard
The Sociable Weaver
Time
WIRE
Whole Kids
iDE
No items found.
22 Bricks
ABCH
ATEC
Abundant Water
Anantaya Jewellery
B Lab ANZ
BZE
Bank Australia
CPSN
Certification O
Chaulk
Client Fabric
Clockwork Films
Common Ground
Compass Studio
Cyclion
Dog & Bone
Envirotecture
Evee
Farm My School
Fellten
Gewürzhaus
Global Leadership Foundation
Goodtel
Green Collar
Hagens Organics
Hey Doodle
Jasper Coffee
Jaunt
KOSI
KingPump
LVLY
Lee Christison
Lumen
MIIROKO
MK Local Foods
Marnie Hawson
Merry People
Nexa Advisory
No Lights No Lycra
North West Guadalcanal Association (NWGA)
OBG
One Small Step
Parliament of Victoria
Peninsula Hot Springs
Pixii
Portable
Possible
Prisma Legal
ReCo
Shadowboxer
Strongim Bisnis
Studio Schools Australia
Thankyou
The Next Economy
The Salvage Yard
The Sociable Weaver
Time
WIRE
Whole Kids
iDE

No items found.
No items found.
22 Bricks
ABCH
ATEC
Abundant Water
Anantaya Jewellery
B Lab ANZ
BZE
Bank Australia
CPSN
Certification O
Chaulk
Client Fabric
Clockwork Films
Common Ground
Compass Studio
Cyclion
Dog & Bone
Envirotecture
Evee
Farm My School
Fellten
Gewürzhaus
Global Leadership Foundation
Goodtel
Green Collar
Hagens Organics
Hey Doodle
Jasper Coffee
Jaunt
KOSI
KingPump
LVLY
Lee Christison
Lumen
MIIROKO
MK Local Foods
Marnie Hawson
Merry People
Nexa Advisory
No Lights No Lycra
North West Guadalcanal Association (NWGA)
OBG
One Small Step
Parliament of Victoria
Peninsula Hot Springs
Pixii
Portable
Possible
Prisma Legal
ReCo
Shadowboxer
Strongim Bisnis
Studio Schools Australia
Thankyou
The Next Economy
The Salvage Yard
The Sociable Weaver
Time
WIRE
Whole Kids
iDE
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