Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to v We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Megan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

I never planned to own a business. I knew I wanted to work in the environmental field – and got a degree associated to that twenty years ago – but never knew what that would actually look like. After a few years at a non-profit, and a year at a start up, I lost my job. When everyone else did – and I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had great experience in a broad array of things – but wasn’t necessarily an “expert” on any one subject. I still say I know enough about a lot to be dangerous, and then come the specialists – the relationships I’ve built along the way that can really dig deep and support the work we do. Scaling up has meant having a team of trusted professionals tucked behind me to support the every-changing niche work. These are contractor relationships that we utilize only during a paying project. This has allowed us to be nimble. To say yes more often. To make it work and find success by building the right team. For me, it’s always been about relationships. Jobs have come through word of mouth – by being a trusted resource for clients that they speak about our work to others they know. Our contractors love it too – because it means less new business development for them, and instead, they get to focus on the detailed work they love.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Native Sustainability is a strategic consulting firm specializing in discovering opportunities, developing programs and projects, and telling sustainability stories for businesses. I graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College with a degree in Environmental Studies – the first year it was an official major. I didn’t know what I was going to do with that – teach Biology or a National Park Ranger were options – but here we are. I have nearly two decades of experience working in the sustainability field, now focusing on resource management (waste, water and energy) and the circular economy. I work to leverage my knowledge, relationships, and creativity to help clients make business choices that support their environmental and social commitments, profit motives, and human capital. I get immense enjoyment from saying “You know who you should meet?”. I’m a connector at heart and love to hear about what challenges businesses are facing, and offer sustainability solutions through programming, expertise and creative thinking.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Measurable results matter, but our business is truly based on relationships and trust. I work hard to stay connected to those I’ve worked with in the past, and to make new connections in specialties I know my clients may need. I approach business with a genuine desire to help make a change. Sometimes that means I’m not getting paid to do the work (I’m trying to get better at this!) but showcasing true commitment to getting a project off the ground, that will turn into measurable environmental benefits is the most important thing. My hope is that my reputation reflects the deep desire to improve this world, and that authenticity attracts like-minded clients that want to work with us.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

COVID-19 was hard. The majority of our clients held on – but we were put on hold. So we waited. We stopped the new business cycle because we wanted to reserve time for those clients that were coming back – but had no idea when that would happen. In addition, sustainability initiatives and investments took a hit. The waste streams we worked so hard to divert started filling up with very necessary but very wasteful masks, gloves and chemicals for cleaning. We were able to hang on, to limit any extra spending, and to focus on helping our clients make it through as well. A bright spot in this time was seeing a focus on employee health and wellness increase – and tying those new programs into broader sustainability programming. We’re back on the way up and it’s been interesting to see new commitments in our business sector, as there is growing consumer demand for sustainability.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.NativeSustainability.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nativesustainability
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nativesustain/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-dobratz-leed-ap-58b0a85/