Executive Summary

First things first: what or who is Harvey & The Business Pickle? Harvey, which I founded in in 2019, and proudly supported by our fluffy, four-legged namesake (Harvey), is a strategic marketing company with a simple mission: to help conscious businesses grow. Our new business The Business Pickle - is an Impact Strategy consultancy providing research and strategic planning to help conscious businesses increase their impact. For simplicity, we’ve combined all impact reporting into this one report as we operate with lots of overlap and shared resources.

From the clients we work with to the suppliers we choose, we generate as much positive impact as possible. The goal is to help brands follow their purpose, build community and create meaningful change.

This is our 4th Impact Report, a 7-part snapshot of what FY 22-23 looked like - good, bad and everything in between. This report is our commitment to transparency and accountability and is useful in helping us see where we can be doing better. I hope that by sharing our learnings, we might help someone on their business impact journey. It’s a labour of love, taking valuable hours, casting our minds back to 18mths ago, and reliving challenging times but I know it’s important.

This Impact Report is a summary of our FY22-23, broken into 7 parts plus this executive summary.

1. FY22-23 Results - traffic light review 
2. Clients - Help conscious business grow
3. Team - Enable everyone to be their best
4. Community - Enrich the community where we operate
5. Environment - Regenerate and accelerate
6. Governance - Open, fair and efficient operations
7. Goals - eyes on FY 23-24

My personal highlights

• Helped 34 clients who impact 14 of the UN sustainable development goals
• Biggest year of website builds (11 Webflow & Shopify launches!) with a new level of smarts and polish to the tech, design and process 
• Stepped up our customer research to develop informative, lean yet in-depth approach
• Good Design Award in ‘Digital Design Web and Development’ for Bank Australia - we were part of the fabulous agency team
• Impact trip to our clients in the Solomon Islands
• Completed our first B Corp re-certification (3 years as a B Corp)
• Provided $212k of discounts to our most impactful, for-purpose clients
• Launched and open sourced an Environmental Strategy for businesses through The Business Pickle with Portable as a case study

We dropped the ball on our donation

It hasn’t all been positive. Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to make our annual 5% revenue donation this year due to our financial position. This was a difficult conclusion to come to as it’s something we have done every year since our first year in business, we should’ve donated about $32k (in line with previous years). I’m sorry to anyone we let down and hope to make this year’s donation in future years.

Our theory of change

We’ve also formalised our Theory of Change and made that our whole business strategy.

Harvey

Impact: We help impactful businesses grow with sustainable profits and growth trajectory.

Outcomes: Our clients walk away with

• Clear brand positioning
• Clear and confident customer growth areas 
• Smart, targeted and measurable marketing activities
• Optimised digital / UX 
• Value for money
• Harvey as a trusted partner.

Activities & Outputs: We deliver smart, no nonsense strategic marketing in the following areas.

• Customer Research 
• Brand 
• Website
• Marketing 
• Technology 

Enablers: To us, our unique ways of working are just as important as the outcomes we seek.

• Client selection UN SDG criteria and impact discount pricing 
• Guided by our values
• Impact and thought leadership (demonstrated in this report) 
• Process, people & culture

The Business Pickle

Impact: We help organisations step-forward to create meaningful impact while maintaining profit.

Outcomes: Our clients walk away with

• Clear roadmap endorsed by leadership & understood by team
• After 12 months - 80% on track to goal & team is empowered. 
• Realistic about current impact and tradeoffs with profit
• Have new meaningful measurable impact  
• Conscious of impact potential / improvement 
• Leaders to inspire systems/industry wide change

Activities & Outputs: We provide high quality, holistic advice without the price tag of top tier consultants.

• Consulting: ESG research and strategy
• Community: content and research

Enablers: To us, our unique ways of working are just as important as the outcomes we seek.

• Free research and resources 
• Guided by our values
• Marketing & PR
• Impact and thought leadership (demonstrated in this report) 
• Process, people & culture

We worked with impactful organisations of all shapes, sizes and industries

We’ve continued to do what we love across research, brand, marketing and leant much more into tech and impact strategy - across a total of 34 clients this year.

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My reflection on this report

As I reflect on the last four years since starting Harvey, one of the greatest challenges for me is being comfortable with sharing openly and honestly with the good, bad and unknown. 

Perhaps it is my corporate background or my asian culture / upbringing that’s led me to save face and portray I’ve got it all figured out, when really I might not have. So I’ve taken a leaf out of Brene Brown’s philosophy on embracing courage in vulnerability. This applies to how we lead the team, sharing finances openly, pushing for what we believe are best recommendations to clients (even if it’s uncomfortable / resistant), giving / asking for and acting on hard feedback, baring all in our annual impact report, owning our learning and development areas and calling out where we fall short.

Managing a business as a married couple, with 2 babies under 3, recovering from maternity leave (physically, emotionally, financially and the impact it’s had on the business) and building a house has put an immense pressure on us personally. Ooff. But being honest about where I’m at with ourselves and the team took the pressure off massively. 

Sometimes new parents can’t finish their senten…

During the first month back, I opted for low intensity, internal work instead of highly strategic client jobs. I shared openly about my experience of baby brain and women rejoining the workforce after a transition to motherhood that I don’t think is talked about or understood enough here.

The reality is, balancing impact and profit is tough—for us and our clients. Our economic future is uncertain, and climate change seems irreversible. But amidst it all, humans keep doing incredible things, inventing, changing, and learning.

Am I hopeful? 

It's a rollercoaster. Yet, every day, week, month, and year, I remain optimistic, making positive things happen. We focus on progress, take one step at a time, show up authentically and remain grateful for our health, family and privilege.

Our work is easier with amazing people and partners. Looking ahead, we want our impact to grow, our team and clients to thrive - ultimately I want Harvey & The Business Pickle to help many businesses create a better world.

I wish for momentum for our planet and children

In the grand scheme, I wish for momentum, turning ideas into lasting change. We want leaders to connect profit and purpose, slow down global warming, and see more people leading meaningful lives.

And for Margie, Arthur, and all young folks in our world, we hope they have a promising future—working on change, addressing challenges, and seizing opportunities left by previous generations.

Becky Smallchua x