Lesson 6 of 6
Connecting profit, product and purpose
Learning objectives
- Design a model where profit, product and purpose feed each other
- Build a flywheel, not a guilt economy
- Communicate impact alongside the commercial story
- Plan the next 12 months on all three fronts at once
The flywheel
Commercial revenue funds delivery capacity. Delivery creates outcomes and stories. Outcomes and stories build trust and attract partners and customers. Trust grows commercial revenue. That loop — not a one-off donation — is what makes a purpose-driven brand durable.
Stop running a guilt economy
If the only reason customers buy is to feel good about giving, the model collapses the moment a competitor is cheaper. Sell a product worth buying on its merits, then let the impact be a real and credible bonus, not a guilt lever.
Plan all three together
Twelve-month plan: commercial targets (revenue, products, retention), delivery targets (sessions, participants, partners), and impact targets (outcomes, evidence, reporting). Reviewed quarterly. If any one of the three is starving, the other two are also at risk.
Founder insight — Derrick Twum
MEMFitness products, MEM Academy CIC delivery and the wider brand each pull weight. None of them survives alone. Built together, they make the case for the whole.
Key takeaway
Profit, product and purpose are not three departments. They are one flywheel — plan and report them together.
Reflection questions
- 1Where is your flywheel weakest right now — commercial, delivery or impact?
- 2Are customers buying because the product is genuinely good, or only because of the cause?
- 3What does the next 12 months look like across all three?
Action task
Draft a 12-month plan with three columns: commercial, delivery, impact. One headline target per quarter in each column. Pin it where the team can see it.
Worksheet
Work through these prompts. Answers save to this device.
Answers are saved to this device only. Cloud sync coming soon.
Related MEM tools
- AI Business Planner
- Reporting Dashboards