Purpose Before Profit: Claudia Rucker of Beyond Ordinary Business On The Benefits Of Running A Purpose-Driven Business
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
Build The Business Structure That Leads To Financial Clarity. Purpose needs profitability to sustain it. Through open-book management, team members understood how their daily actions contributed to the mission and the margin. This clarity transformed our financial conversations from stressful to empowering, delivering concrete results like 81% client retention and 87% productivity.
In today’s competitive business landscape, the race for profits often takes center stage. However, there are some leaders who also prioritize a mission-driven purpose. They use their business to make a positive social impact and recognize that success isn’t only about making money. In this interview series, we are talking with some of these distinct leaders and I had the pleasure of interviewing Claudia Cordova Rucker
Claudia Cordova Rucker is a serial entrepreneur, former 7-figure beauty spa owner, and the best-kept-secret behind first-generation entrepreneurs who are claiming their Present, Profitable, and Aligned Era.
Claudia is the founder of Beyond Ordinary Business — where she helps her clients escape financial overwhelm and build profitable, values-driven businesses.
She lives in California, and is proud mom to her furbaby, Dixie Pop.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us your “Origin Story”? Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
My earliest business lessons came from my parents’ restaurant prep kitchen chaos. As immigrants who left everything familiar behind, they poured their hopes of building a better future for their children into their restaurant, it was the epicenter of our lives.
From a very early age, what struck me the most was their devotion to their work. Although they worked very hard and long hours, that restaurant became the lifeline for our extended family and other fellow immigrants who found work there. My father was a man of few words, but in his actions he showed us that he didn’t just want to create wealth for himself but for others as well. One of the quotes that I have heard him repeat often was “Claudia, don’t ever forget that the sun shines for everyone.” That philosophy of community-centered entrepreneurship shaped my fundamental view of business, imprinting on me a valuable perspective.
At 16, while my friends applied for jobs at local retail stores, I found myself inspired by one of my aunts that lived in California. She shared a People magazine article about organically raised chickens being all the rage and the exorbitant price people were paying for them. Because of the modeling from my parents, I thought if I put in enough hard work, I could do anything, meaning raise chickens and make good money. What started with an idea soon became a business, and baby chicks were being delivered by mail, and my parents were delivering frozen chickens to restaurant locals and church friends.
The chicken business taught me grit, determination, and allowed me to be courageous in the face of the unknown, but it also revealed that this business didn’t fuel my soul. It fueled my curiosity about the mechanics of business, which led me to work for other entrepreneurs and learn how different business models could create ripple effects of impact. This realization guided me through diverse career experiences. Managing international sales between American and European retailers and our Bulgarian factory was the most fulfilling. I was more invested in ensuring our 500+ seamstresses earned living wages than in the profit margins or sales quotas. Those women, many of whom were the primary income earners, supported their entire families. This experience transformed how I viewed business success. I worked hard to ensure we had enough work to keep the business profitable and sustainable, and it felt good.
Later selling mobile medical clinics showed me how thoughtful business solutions could save lives. I’ll never forget the countless calls from reservation leaders in the southwest who told me of the vast need for mobile dialysis clinics, so sales became about giving back dialysis patients their time and dignity.
My entrepreneurial journey took a personal turn when I co-founded Aqua skin and nail care with my sisters. Initially born from family obligation, the spa became a source of creativity and service. When my sister eventually departed the business, I found myself at a crossroads, the family purpose that had sustained me was gone. Organically, my purpose became helping our team members achieve milestones like purchasing their first home, and for some, it was about being the first of their family to go to college.
Yet something still felt incomplete. The business succeeded by conventional measures and financial ratios, but something was missing. This realization led to the creation of Estetica Mia, where purpose was baked into the business development strategy. Our Aspire Program trained industry newcomers who aspired to become spa professionals. Our treatments offered clients transformative beauty experiences, and our operations embraced environmentally sustainable practices. For the first time, I experienced what holistic purpose genuinely felt like- aligning team wellbeing, client experience, environmental stewardship, and profitability.
Figuring out this puzzle for myself felt like winning the lottery every day, not because of the revenue, profits, awards, but because of the ecosystem we’d created where purpose and profit reinforced each other rather than competing. This integrated approach to business impact became the foundation of my leadership philosophy and guides everything I do today.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
Standing at the podium staring out at 400+ people that had come to the Women’s Economic Venture’s Empowerment Is Priceless event, my hands trembling slightly as I unfolded my acceptance speech, I experienced one of those rare moments when time seems to slow down. Just hours before, I was rushing to finalize my remarks to receive recognition for my company’s economic contributions to our community when I paused.
A million dollars in revenue. The number started back from my speech notes. This wasn’t just a number but a milestone that only 2% of women entrepreneurs ever reach. But more importantly it was the people who had contributed to this success, our team that showed up every day inspired by purpose, our banking partner who directed us to Women’s Economic Ventures when I was not bankable, the women in my mastermind group who it the way before me, the schools that continued to invite us to share our knowledge with new students and reshape the cosmetology landscape, the workforce development board who believed in our Aspire Program and funded it, my trusted advisors who educated me instead of just transacting with me as a CPA, insurance broker and lawyer.
What began as my entrepreneurial journey had transformed into something much more meaningful, a vehicle for collective growth. The realization fundamentally changed how I approached business challenges moving forward. Every growth ceiling I have encountered since has become an opportunity to strengthen the company’s ecosystem I am leading instead of an obstacle to overcome alone. That day taught me that the most meaningful success isn’t measured in revenue milestones but in the strength and resilience of the community you build along the way.
We often learn the most from our mistakes. Can you share one that you made that turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned?
I remember realizing I had built a beautiful business prison for myself. My fundamental mistake was believing that revenue growth alone would solve my problems while resisting the financial help I desperately needed. This toxic combination nearly cost me everything.
I struggled with the dissonance between what looked like successful business on the outside and the uncomfortable truth — despite our lively space, loyal clients, and growing top line revenue, I was trapped in a cycle of entrepreneurial poverty. I was time, energy, and money poor. The financial anxiety consumed me.
“How do I make more money?” This question had become my obsession, my first thought in the morning and the last before I went to bed. Quick fix tactics I read about in newsletters, books and conversations with fellow entrepreneurs danced in my head as I tried to connect the dots to make them fit my reality. Our team efforts consistently led to revenue growth, but it was extractive on everyone involved. And even though our revenue grew and our top-line revenue looked fantastic on paper, the cost was high to those working in the business, including myself.
The irony wasn’t lost on me. I launched this business with a clear purpose: to create an opportunity for my sister and a clean, beautiful environment prioritizing health-conscious nail and skin care. That mission energized me as I selected non-toxic products, created our clean body lotion and scrub line, designed relaxing services, and trained our team. Yet somehow, I’d fallen into the trap of measuring success solely by revenue targets, with no coherent profit or purpose strategy beyond MORE topline revenue.
My breaking point came one night when I woke up utterly overwhelmed. Life, my business, everything was too stressful, my body had hit its stress limit and I was on the verge of taking extreme measures not to feel the stress I was in. My husband stirred beside me in the early morning darkness, his gentle voice cutting through my spiral of despair. “What’s wrong, pudding?” he asked. But I couldn’t answer. Tears kept flowing, my chest so tight I could barely breathe. I finally broke when he repeated the question, concerned about coloring every word. Until that moment, I had worn my identity — Claudia, the unshakable, award-winning entrepreneur — like a polished suit of armor. I was the relentless hustler, the woman who tackled every crisis and never let anyone see her sweat. But I couldn’t pretend anymore.
Between sobs, I admitted how completely trapped I felt — how hopeless I was beneath the weight of debts, employee conflicts, and suffocating self-imposed expectations. I’d never realized how fragile I indeed was until I stood at the brink of suicidal thoughts. It was raw, terrifying, and deeply vulnerable. Yet in that vulnerable state, I felt my husband’s steady arms around me, reminding me I wasn’t alone, that my business mattered, and that my life still brimmed with love and possibility. He listened to me and encouraged me to reach out to my client and CPA, reminding me she was a fantastic profit strategist who knew how to break down the numbers into stories I could understand. His reassurance didn’t fix everything overnight, but it handed me a sliver of hope I desperately needed to take the following steps. That vulnerability became my turning point. My second mistake had been my stubborn refusal to admit I needed help, as if asking for support somehow diminished my worth as an entrepreneur. Breaking that barrier of pride was as important as any financial strategy I later implemented. Instead of resisting asking for help beyond my bookkeeper, who was great at tracking and organizing our business numbers but not adept at strategic planning, I reached out to my CPA, who agreed to meet with me. She pointed me towards Women’s Economic Ventures. She told me that I needed to speak to a business development advisor because, while she could help me with the strategy, I needed to learn how to analyze my financials, outside the scope of help she could provide.
At Women’s Economic Ventures, I was introduced to my first business development advisor, who, in 45 minutes, showed me how to analyze my PYL and identify a significant flaw in my business model that would require work to fix. Before leaving the meeting, I had a profit strategy, but now I needed industry-specific help because he didn’t come from the service industry. From this point, I connected with a service-based professional and coach who pulled back the curtain on the key metrics I could use to grow my business. The aha moment, at fundamentally shifted my relationship with money came during a session with this coach. Looking at our meticulously organized cash flow plan, she asked a simple question. “What if money isn’t a measure of your worth but a resource to fuel your purpose? In that moment, everything changed. I saw with perfect clarity that I had been treating financial success as a validation of my value rather than a tool to achieve what truly mattered. Money wasn’t the goal; it was the vehicle that created impact, security, and fulfillment.
Together we connected the dots between my service experience, my team’s professional development and profit, all neatly broken down month by month in measurable terms that the team could focus on. I had a purpose, wellbeing, and health strategy within a few years. I had mastered creating profit plans fueled by purpose, a service experience founded on purpose and profit, and a financial review practice that harmonized meaning and profit. It all worked holistically. The results were an average of 5 star reviews where the industry avg is 3.5 stars, 67% of our appointments were pre-booked, where the industry avg was 35%, Our pedicures were $75 where our community avg was 35 and we paid a living wage and invested heavily in training and employee development leveraging external grants and programs, our retail to service ration was 18% compared to our industry average of 6% and our gross profit consistently stayed above 50% month by month in industry where labor is usually 60%.
That one night dark night of the soul, fundamentally changed how I approach business. Now, when I work with entrepreneurs, I immediately help them establish profit systems that align with their values and purpose because money anxiety doesn’t just hurt bottom lines, it destroys the creative energy and meaning that make entrepreneurship worthwhile in the first place. Learning to build a solid financial foundation wasn’t just about better business, it was reclaiming the joy and purpose suffocated by financial survival mode and poverty when I tried to go at it alone.
As a successful leader, it’s clear that you uphold strong core values. I’m curious what are the most important principles you firmly stand by and refuse to compromise on. Can you share a few of them and explain why they hold such significance for you in your work and life?
Let purpose guide you- I discovered this value during my darkest entrepreneurial moment, when I was focused solely on revenue targets and found myself in a beautiful business prison. I would ask myself two questions. “Is this really what I signed up for?” What’s the point of all this success if it doesn’t fuel something meaningful?” Before making any significant decision, I ask, “Does this align with my purpose of creating spaces where people evolve in harmony?” When redesigning our service menu at Estetica Mia, we declined to continue water-based pedicures, our number one treatment, because they used so much water. That conflicted with our commitment to being good stewards of our natural resources and our commitment to environmental well-being. That decision initially cost us revenue, but eventually attracted clients who shared our values, creating deeper loyalty, we had 5-star reviews and better long-term results in profitability, 18% vs 12% industry average.
Speaking openly about friction is an act of kindness- I learned this principle the hard way after losing a valuable team member because I avoided addressing tensions until it was too late. The conversation I feared would be uncomfortable might have saved the relationships if I’d dared to initiate it sooner. This experience transformed how I view difficult discussions. We instituted “red flag feeling conversations, regular structured meetings where team members could safely discuss frictions before they festered. During one such session, a new esthetician shared that our training program moved too quickly for her learning style. Rather than struggling silently or eventually quitting, this conversation allowed us to adapt her training, resulting in her becoming one of the most successful team members and a trainer. At her first anniversary celebration, I still remember her words: This is the first workplace where I can authenticate myself and feel safe to say when I am struggling because I know I matter. The team will meet my need to be understood.
Embody Grace- This value emerges from my journey with perfectionism and burnout. I used to hold myself and others to impossible standards, leaving no room for humanity. During a particularly challenging period of rapid business growth and the stress that came with it, I found myself irritable and critical with the team. A mentor who was at the spa watched this play out. She gently suggested I might be projecting my exhaustion onto others. That feedback stopped me in my tracks. We created a well-being check process where we would report on our capacity level that day. If they felt under-resourced, the team knew they lacked the mental bandwidth and/or energy to handle anything beyond their essential responsibilities at work. The team would support them where they could and allowed the team to show people mutual care and grace when life stretched our team. It was beautiful and moving, the deep care these people showed each other.
Mindful adaptability- I believe in creating clear frameworks and plans while maintaining the awareness and flexibility to recognize when new possibilities emerge. By balancing structured preparation with present-moment attentiveness (mindfulness), I can navigate change more effectively than through rigid adherence to initial plans alone. When our spa faced an unexpected supply chain disruption, rather than force our original strategy, we paused to observe emerging client needs and what brought meaning to our lives. This pivoted from Aqua skin and nail care to Estetica Mia, a well-being spa. We would have missed the opportunity to find a holistic business solution where purpose, profit and wellbeing co-existed perfectly if we had clung to our initial path. This principle has taught me that the most sustainable success comes from having the courage to plan thoroughly while remaining humble enough to adapt when reality challenges you to find the opportunity in the disruption.
What inspired you to start a purpose-driven business rather than a traditional for-profit enterprise? Can you share a personal story or experience that led you to prioritize social impact in your business?
In 2019, I stood at the podium for the Spirit Of Entrepreneurship awards ceremony, where I was recognized. I had prepared an acceptance speech about growth metrics and expansion plans, the success story entrepreneurs are expected to tell. But standing there, something something unexpected happened.
As the presenter read the name of my company and my name, I suddenly saw my business through different eyes. This wasn’t just about revenue milestones or profit margins, it was about Luat and Annie who had just purchased their own home despite coming to the united states with just their suitcases Vietnam, it was about Vanessa and Lindsey who just graduated from college, working at the spa to pay for her tuition and books despite being raised by single parents, It was about Eiken who struggled to find a job because is anxiety was so crippling. These weren’t just feel-good side effects of our business, they were its true purpose.
My journey to this realization wasn’t straightforward. I operated from the traditional business playbook when I opened Aqua skin and nail care. Focus on growth, expansion, and ever-increasing revenue targets. We were successful by conventional stars, but I noticed something interesting happening organically. Team members would come to me for advice about personal finance, career development, or educational opportunities. Without explicitly planning it, we had created an environment where people weren’t just earning paychecks but building pathways to financial independence and breaking cycles of generational poverty.
Annie, one of our manicurists, told me after receiving the keys to her house that everyone in her family cried when they walked through the door of their new home. This had been a far-off dream when she fled Vietnam with her small child and a suitcase full of personal belongings.
This invisible impact remains in the background until our industry faced a crisis, a labor code change drastically reduced the particle training hours salons were willing to give newly graduated professionals. In reality, many students did not get the practical training hours they needed to gain the skills required to succeed. I sat in a meeting with other salon owners, listening to them complain about the unemployable new graduates when a troubling thought hit me: These students were the future of our industry, but with a businesses willing to invest in their development they would have no chance to build the kind of wealth and opportunity our current team members were achieving.
The conventional business response would have been to hire more experienced practitioners and bypass the problem of underprepared graduates. But that night, I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about Kiana, Monica, and the dozen others whose lives had changed because of our business. What if we could do that more intentionally? What if that was our primary purpose, not just a side effect?
This vision excited me, but I also had to confront an uncomfortable truth: my single-minded focus on business growth had significantly cost my well-being. I was exhausted, disconnected from my purpose, and increasingly unable to be present for the people whose lives we were impacting. Given the resource-intensive nature of our nail care services, the traditional model of scale at all costs wasn’t sustainable, not for me, not for our team, and certainly not for our environment.
I asked a question that felt almost heretical in entrepreneurial circles, “what is enough?” Enough profit to sustain us, enough impact to be meaningful, enough scale to be viable without sacrificing well-being or environmental responsibility. This led to the most counterintuitive business decision I’ve ever made, to scale back rather than expanding.
We reimagined our business model around a triple bottom line: people, environment and profit in harmony. We launched the Asprie Training Program, specifically designed to bridge the skills and experience gap for new graduates. We invest in sustainable products and practices that reduce our environmental footprint by over 40%. And perhaps most radically, we defined “enough” profit as needed to sustain our mission without driving the relentless growth that had nearly burned me out.
“ I don’t understand”, a business consultant told me bluntly. ‘You’re intentionally limiting your growth potential.”
She didn’t understand that we weren’t limiting growth; we were redefining it. Within a year, our retention rates jumped by 30%. Our profit margins increased despite having less staff and being closed on Sunday and Monday. The graduates from our Aspire program became some of the most loyal, skilled practitioners in our region, with 5-star hotel groups and business coming to poach them often.
So when I stood on that stage accepting an award for the spirit of entrepreneurship, I realized that the true victory wasn’t in the size of our business but in its impact. The purpose wasn’t an add-on to our profit model, it was the foundation that made sustainable profit possible. As one team member put it when I finally made it back to our table that night, “you built more than a business, you built a ladder that all of us can climb”
That’s why I believe so profoundly in purpose-driven business. Not because it’s trendy or makes for good marketing, but because I’ve seen first hand how aligning profit with purpose creates something more resilient and meaningful than either could achieve alone.”
Can you help articulate a few of the benefits of leading a purpose-driven business rather than a standard “plain vanilla” business?
I’ve found that purpose-driven business solves the service industry’s biggest challenges in ways traditional profit-focused models simply can’t.
First, purpose creates natural accountability. Our team’s behavior changed dramatically when we transformed our spa around creating a relaxing and health-conscious experience while developing industry leaders. Without management intervention and the systems in place, the team began supporting each other and upholding standards because they connected with why their work mattered. Our turnover dropped from 40% (PBA Economic Snapshot 2023) to 14%. When they did leave it was in a planned way and with time to train their replacement.
Second, purpose builds business loyalty rather than just provider loyalty. In standard service businesses, clients typically follow their favorite provider when they leave. After implementing our purpose-driven approach, our team understood that our clients were a valuable resource for future Aspire clients to grow their experience. So our client retention after staff departures was 98%. Clients consistently told us, “they loved their preferred provider and appreciated our team servicing philosophy. They told us they would stay loyal to the spa because they believed in our mission for our team members. This loyalty translated directly to increased business stability.
Third, purpose unlocks innovation from unexpected sources. Our most profitable services, which increased average ticket value by 24%, were created by our front desk coordinator, spa manager, and lead nail technician who felt empowered by our shared purpose. “I never would have felt safe and inspired to share my ideas at my previous jobs,” one of the team members explained, “because no one cared about anything beyond completing daily tasks and hitting sales targets.”
When businesses compete solely on price or location, they are battling on easily replicated factors. When you compete on purpose, on why you exist and the values you embody, you create something competitors can not duplicate. The emotion differences are equally profound. I remember watching the team laughing together at closing time, asking each other how they could help each other and thinking, “This is what winning the lottery must feel like”, not because of financial success, though that followed, but because we’d created something that enriched all of our lives.”
How has your company’s mission or purpose affected its overall success? Can you explain the methods or metrics you use to evaluate the impact of this purpose-driven strategy on your organization?
Aligning our company with the clear triple-bottom-line mission of people thriving, environmental mindfulness, and sustainable profit transformed our business in measurable ways.
We tracked our impact through specific metrics in each area. For our people-centered initiatives, our team retention improved to 86% vs an industry average of 40%. Our Aspire Training program for the industry newcomers resulted in 71% of entry-level team members advancing to higher positions within 6 months, moving to another advancement within 18 months. When they left our company, 100% advanced into medical management or entrepreneurship.
For environmental stewardship, we measured gallons of water saved as our primary KPI. We saved approx. 2,145 gallons a month.
When we moved towards a purpose-driven culture, our employees shifted to an intrapreneur mindset and were more productive, motivated, loyal, and innovative. Some of our KPI’s that show this are our rebooking 67% of our clients, where the average was under 10%. Our productivity average was 87% consistently throughout the year, where the average is 70% because it’s highly seasonal. Our profitability reached a 15% average compared to a 5% average for services. This profitability average included paying me as a CEO to work on the business full time.
We created a culture that elevated how skin and nail professionals were seen, treated and paid so that they could make a pathway to build wealth. This purpose drove engagement, engagement sparked innovation, and innovation drove improved business results across all metrics. By focusing beyond financial outcomes, we outperformed our competitors in client retention, staff retention, productivity and profitability.
Can you share a pivotal moment when you realized that leading your purpose-driven company was actually making a significant impact? Can you share a specific example or story that deeply resonated with you personally?
I often told other business owners that leading our team felt like “winning the lottery daily.” One entrepreneur I mentored, Cynthia, an LMFT who also owned a small business finally said, “I need to see this for myself, people don’t usually describe running a business as winning any lottery.”
On a busy Thursday afternoon, Cynthia arrived to meet and observe the team in action. The spa was busy, the gentle music playing overhead, the scent of lavender essential oils in the air, and the clients and team members flowed through the corridors to and from their treatment rooms. I didn’t prepare the team or orchestrate anything special, I simply blocked off time for them to meet Cynthia and did my regular work.
What she witnessed was our daily reality, our esthetician pausing to help a team member set up their room, a front desk staff checking out the client with much intention and following a system, two team members discussing a minor issue in their schedules and troubleshooting an a solution with a junior front desk team member without defensiveness or blame.
After a few hours, I found Cynthia sitting quietly in our tranquility room. When she saw me she jumped up and asked if I could talk to her privately. We stepped into my office, she shook her head in amazement.
“Claudia, she said, her voice carrying the weight of professional assessment, “do you realize what you’ve created here?” This isn’t just a business, it’s a psychologically safe space where people learn better communication and relationship skills that extend far beyond work.” I felt a catch in my throat as the significance of her words sank in. As a business owner focused on metrics and growth, I had been measuring success through pre-booking, productivity, client retention rates, and profit margins. But Claudia’s observations illuminated something profound that I hadn’t fully articulated.
That moment fundamentally shifted my understanding of what we were building. Our purpose wasn’t just creating beauty services or even good jobs; we were developing a model that transformed how people related to each other. A purpose-driven business doesn’t just change the workplace or bring more money to people’s lives: it can profoundly create a ripple effect that changes lives.
Have you ever faced a situation where your commitment to your purpose and creating a positive social impact clashed with the profitability in your business? Have you ever been challenged by anyone on your team or have to make a tough decision that significantly impacted finances? If so, how did you address and reconcile this conflict?
The most profound clash between purpose and profit came during COVID-19 when I faced a decision that would test every value I held. Estetica Mia, the spa business I built with purpose at its core, stood at a crossroads. Despite our success, the pandemic forced us into temporary closure, which created unprecedented uncertainty.
I found myself running scenario after scenario. The prudent financial path was clear: downsize dramatically, eliminate our training program for industry newcomers, and focus exclusively on our highest margin service once reopening became possible. This approach would protect profits but sacrifice the core purpose that had driven our success, creating opportunities for new professionals and maintaining our team-centered culture.
“Your first responsibility is keeping the business alive, “ my WEV business advisor said bluntly. “Cut your losses, protect your investment”. But when I looked at our team schedule, I couldn’t reconcile that approach with our purpose. These weren’t just employees, they were people whose lives had transformed through our business model. Our training program wasn’t just a nice feature. It addressed a systemic industry problem where new graduates couldn’t find living-wage opportunities.
I gathered our team virtually and shared my dilemma. “ I see two paths forward,” I explained. “We can downsize to weather this storm or find a buyer who will invest in our vision and carry it forward while I transition to helping more businesses create what we’ve built here.” We agreed a sale was the only option.
We found a potential buyer who met our criteria, believes in our deep beauty philosophy and purpose, and can work in the business quickly.
The final sale was lower than I imagined, but the spa is open, the training program is in place, and profound beauty experiences are offered. Meanwhile, Beyond Ordinary Business has allowed me to expand this impact by helping other service-based businesses implement similar purpose-driven models, creating a multiplier effect.
What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs who wish to start a purpose-driven business?
The most valuable advice I can offer budding purpose-driven entrepreneurs comes from my costly lessons, both the financial cliff I nearly fell from and the well-being cliff I did fall from. The truth is passion alone won’t sustain your purpose, no matter how noble it might be.
First, understand that as the founder, you are the foundation of your business. I learned painfully during my most stressful moments when Auwa was financially successful but I was emotionally and energetically bankrupt. Prioritize your wellbeing not as a luxury but as a non-negotiable business strategy. Your energy, creativity and resilience will ripple throughout your company. I nearly lost everything, including myself, before realizing self-care is more important than anything else, it’s not selfish, it’s strategic. When creating your work calendar dig deep in the energy and time you need to invest in yourself and what matters most. Create personal support systems outside your business. Remember that a depleted leader can not sustain a thriving purpose.
Second, embrace what I call the profitable purpose paradox. Many purpose-driven entrepreneurs mistakenly believe that focusing on profit somehow dilutes their mission. I operated under this misconception for years, feeling almost guilty about focusing on financial structures while doing meaningful work. This mindset nearly cost me my business at the beginning of my business when my purpose-rich but cash flow-poor company couldn’t get a loan at the beginning of COVID. The truth is that sustainable impact requires sustainable finances. Develop a clear profit strategy and pricing structure from day one. Purpose without profit isn’t a business; it’s an expensive hobby that will eventually exhaust you and everyone who believes in your vision.
Third, clearly define your purpose, not just as a feel-good statement but as a decision-making framework. When we articulated that our purpose was to elevate how beauty professionals were seen, treated and paid, it guided everything from our growth and profit strategy, training program, to our pricing structure. Purpose becomes powerful when it helps you say “no” to opportunities that don’t align, even when they’re lucrative.
Fourth, start with simple, scalable systems that can evolve with you. Many purpose-driven entrepreneurs resist structure, believing it somehow constrains their mission. I made this mistake early on operating on passion and improvisation. When we finally implemented our business structure and accountability system, our purpose became more impactful not less. Begin with basic systems for finances, operation, communication, and conflict reflecting your values. A simple, values-aligned customer service protocol can differentiate your business while ensuring your purpose translates to daily actions.
Five, build a purpose ecosystem rather than trying to go at it alone. The entrepreneurial myth of the solo genius damages especially purpose-driven founders. Identify organizations, mentors, and community partners whose values align with yours. When California’s labor laws suddenly changed, threatening our entire business model, our partnership with local cosmetology schools, Women’s Economic Ventures, workforce development board, and the women who lit my way, my mastermind soul sister, helped us pivot to a new business model. Your purpose will face challenges that you can not anticipate or solve alone. Cultivate relationships before you need them.
I’ve seen too many purpose-driven entrepreneurs burn out because they believe their good intentions would somehow override the fundamental laws of business and human energy. Purpose isn’t a magical shield against burnout or financial realties, it’s the powerful guiding force that requires a strong vessel to carry it. Build that vessel with the same care and attention you give your mission.
What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Purpose-Driven Business.” If you can, please share a story or example for each.
1 . Develop Relationships Before You Need Them
When California labor laws changed how service providers in our industry could be compensated, we didn’t bury our heads in the sand, we activated our network. By collaborating with local schools, the workforce development board, the local women’s business center, our trusted financial advisors, we created a bridge program to a challenge that eventually impacts newbies in the industry. This challenge was not having job opportunities to help them gain the skills and experience to build a clientele. This collaborative solution didn’t just solve our immediate staffing needs, it transformed career trajectories for the young professionals who would otherwise have been shut out of the industry entirely because they did not have the skills or experience to be productive enough to be profitable to the business.
2 . Define Success beyond profit.
When I hit my first million-dollar milestone, I faced opportunities to grow our revenue, instead of pursuing endless growth, I defined what enough meant in terms of profit, sustainable working hours, and focused impact. This approach is more impactful KPIs. We can scale our impact forward by scaling back strategically without me burning out.
3 . Create A Psychologically Safe Environment
We intentionally created a culture where we moved away from a transactional employer-employee relationship to a relational work environment that strongly supports psychological safety. Our goal was to have a culture where our team could speak up, take risks, make mistakes and express concerns within our team without fear of punishment, embarrassment or rejection.
We trained our team in NVC communication and created “Honesty Conversations,” a structured framework for addressing friction before the workplace became toxic. We also hired a NVC coach to facilitate conversations where the states were high. By creating safe spaces for honest communication, we turned potential conflicts into innovation opportunities that strengthened our culture and bottom line. When our needs were met, we built meaningful connections versus a simple exchange for labor. It also helped us see the full humanity of our team, including their emotions, personal growth and well-being, which made our team feel valued for who they are, not only what they could produce. In a relational approach, we emphasized their ongoing development and mutual growth as well as the company, creating a space for experimentation and learning from failure. Honesty conversations let us be transparent, authentic, and multi-directional instead of just top-down communication. Our structured approach to addressing tension and disagreements prevented the accumulation of resentment and facilitated health solutions. Our communication systems created the conditions where team members could take interpersonal risks, leading to improvements in innovation and retention. This was supported heavily by our team modeling for new team members.
4 . Build The Business Structure That Leads To Financial Clarity
Purpose needs profitability to sustain it. Through open-book management, team members understood how their daily actions contributed to the mission and the margin. This clarity transformed our financial conversations from stressful to empowering, delivering concrete results like 81% client retention and 87% productivity.
I’m interested in how you instill a strong sense of connection with your team. How do you nurture a culture where everyone feels connected to your mission? Could you share an example or story that showcases how your purpose has positively influenced or motivated people on your team to contribute?
Creating a strong connection to our mission starts with intentionally designing every aspect of the employee experience. We would treat our team as internal clients. Before hiring, we invited trusted partners from our business ecosystem to our spa to experience it. We would share our company and purpose, and who would make an ideal candidate, so they would refer candidates who aligned with our values. During our final interview process, we had our final interview with the team. Our comprehensive onboarding experience induced clear success markers at 30,60, 90 days, with structured coaching support systems when obstacles arose. We maintained connection through training modules and monthly feedback sessions, where team members served as a feedback loop and shared how they were experiencing our purpose in practice. We preschedule their annual compensation reviews in our calendars at onboarding. Compensation revolved around a transparent broadband payscale. We reviewed core components, skills learned, KPI, individual and team behaviors, and how well the team members embraced our purpose, client care, and personal growth. Perhaps most uniquely, we’ve created an offboarding experience that honored transitions with the same care as beginnings. The full-lifecycle approach ensured our purpose isn’t just discussed but experienced at every touch point for our internal and external clients so that a self-reinforcing culture where mission alignment happens naturally and team members see themselves as stewards of our shared vision.
Our purpose of elevating beauty professionals has transformed countless team members, but Leslie’s journey stands out vividly. She arrived at our final team interview trembling with nervousness, referred by a teacher at the local cosmetology school who recognized her technical skills despite being sometimes challenging in class. “No one else would hire me without experience and I have dreamed of being a manicurist since I was little,” she admitted to our team panel.
During Leslie’s onboarding, our clear 30, 60, 90 day success markers helped her build confidence systematically. When she struggled with more advanced nail care at day 45, her coach came in on his day off to give her more direction. Leslie was very dedicated to developing personally. She embraced our purpose fully. Yet she also faced significant obstacles where she routinely and courageously asked for honest conversations. As a team, we valued her and would work through solutions.
The transformation was remarkable by her 180-day review, she had excelled and completed her training program, and was independently managing a full schedule of clients. At the end of her program she revealed, “For the first time, I feel like my career choice is respected. I am not just doing nails, I’m building financial independence.” She particularly liked the transparency of the broadband payscale, where she could see her clear path to advancement. During her first year she purchased her first car. She also became a newbie mentor. I loved it when she would welcome other newbies and tell them that our purpose wasn’t just beautiful, healthy, natural nail care; it was building beautiful careers by planting the seeds of what we wanted to see bloom in our industry.
After three years and many advancements, including becoming the Spa manager during COVID and leading daily operations, she decided she was ready to take on entrepreneurship. Her transition was very bittersweet. Today, she has her own nail care studio, purchased her condo, and started a new family.
Imagine we’re sitting down together two years from now, looking back at your company’s last 24 months. What specific accomplishments would have to happen for you to be happy with your progress?
Looking back over the past 24 months, I would feel deeply fulfilled seeing Beyond Ordinary Business help over 100 service-based entrepreneurs welcome their aligned, present and profitable era thanks to having gone through our prosperity in action group program and implementing our Mindful Scaling™ framework in their business. Our prosperity in action group program would have expanded to include industry-specific frameworks for different service sectors, with clients experiencing increased profitability while reducing working hours.
I see myself leveraging the support of my partners at OAP to scale my business in a way that keeps me out of entrepreneurial poverty and gives me the time to speak to audiences in person and podcasts. We are partnering with workforce development boards to help build a bridge between employees and purpose-driven employers in the service industry to create success for communities, people, and entrepreneurs, creating a ripple effect of impact.
Through our success with the people in our group program, I have the case studies needed to write a book and find leaders that want to grow through a mindful business development coach certification program to increase our impact.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most good to the most people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would inspire The “Mindful Business Revolution”- a movement transforming how we define business success beyond growth metrics, including well-being, community impact and environmental stewardship. At its core, would be the Mindful Scaling Framework™ teaching leaders that determining what’s “enough “ in terms of profit, scale and personal bandwidth isn’t a limitation but the key to sustainable success.
This movement directly supports my purpose of creating spaces where people evolve harmoniously by restructuring businesses to prioritize human flourishing and profit. Through local circles and practical implementation tools, we would build business ecosystems where wellbeing isn’t sacrificed for growth, conflict is seen as learning opportunities, and diverse perspectives create more substantial outcomes. When businesses become spaces of harmony rather than exploitation, they transform not just economic outcomes but human potential itself, allowing people to evolve together in regenerative rather than destructive ways. This revolution creates concentric circles of harmony that ripple from businesses to families to communities, fundamentally changing how we work, relate and thrive together.
This was great. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your business. We wish you continued success!
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein is a seasoned entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience as a Founder and CEO. While attending Ohio State University, he launched his first company, Choice Recovery, Inc., a nationally recognized healthcare collection agency — twice ranked the #1 workplace in Ohio. In 2013, he founded [re]start, helping thousands of people find meaningful career opportunities. After selling both companies, Chad shifted his focus to his true passion — leadership. Today, he coaches founders and CEOs at Built to Lead, advises Authority Magazine’s Thought Leader Incubator.
Purpose Before Profit: Claudia Rucker of Beyond Ordinary Business On The Benefits Of Running A… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.