Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in organizational development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Brandon Peele, Co-Founder of Unity Lab, located in San Diego, CA, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Unity Lab serves organizations that are committed to healthy, authentic cultures and want their people to be fulfilled, connected, and realize their full potential. Our clients range from high-growth startups to Fortune 100 companies. Regardless of their size, location or industry, they come to us because they need a way to develop people and culture for their increasingly diverse and distributed teams.
Tell us about yourself
I started Unity Lab to heal the soul of the nation (the US). Work is where we spend most of our time (2,000 hours a year) and where we have the best opportunity to connect around what matters most - our shared purpose and values. While our clients improve their KPIs (tenure, productivity, inclusion, social and emotional health), what we care most about is empowering people to develop authentic relationships across differences. In our programs, people discover and activate their authentic selves at work and build these relationships. So we heal the soul of the nation one group at a time.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Obviously, it's nice when clients renew and expand, but what I'm most proud of is the culture that we've built internally. We eat our own dog food - all of us have discovered and activated our purpose at work and built authentic relationships with people who are different from we are. We share openly about our health challenges and personal lives and laugh a lot.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Feeling responsible for our team's livelihood and healthcare. I really wish we had universal healthcare so people wouldn't feel like they need their jobs to stay alive. It would liberate people to take more risks, live their purpose, and work on things that matter to them.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Find your purpose first so that your business is truly self-expression. You can work with a guide 1:1 or take a group program. Lots of good folks to choose from in the Global Purpose Leaders.
- Get a business partner (ideally 2-3 business partners). Look for partners with shared values, good communication skills, and complementary strengths. After you add your first partner, wait 6 months to work out the kinks, and then look for your second partner. Wait 6 months to work out the kinks. Then add the third partner. Also, check out the dynamic equity model, Slicing Pie, to ensure high-trust equitable ownership.
- Invest in your culture and values. They are strategic. This means connecting with the company's purpose and values at least once a month and at least twice a week, making time for relationship development, both virtually and in person.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://unitylab.co/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peele/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandonpeele/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/btp76
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bpeele/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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