Everyone's Doing It I'm in business. You're in business. She's in business. He's in business . . .

By now, nearly every American adult is aware ofentrepreneurs' contribution to the economy--bottom lines anddot.coms are part of more and more people's vocabularies. Butwhat you may not know is the tentacles of BIZ Experiencesship stretchfar beyond the typical realm of business, or even what we consider"standard society." Beyond our limited sphere, thereexists an entire universe of BIZ Experiencess who couldn't careless about Wall Street or the Silicon Valley. Unfettered by theneed to keep up with the Gateses, these BIZ Experiencesial subculturessee business ownership as a way of preserving a cherishedlifestyle, of slowing down in a fast-paced society.

Whether nuns or modern hippies, these business owners proveentrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes, all rhymes and reasons.It's clear BIZ Experiencesship isn't just in the malls ofAmerica. It's everywhere.

Reading Rainbows

Before Amazon.com, even before Barnes & Noble, there werelibraries. These bastions of all things literary still have theirmainstay microfiche machines, plastic-wrapped book covers andoverdue fines, but walk into the renovated 1913 building of themain branch library in Portland, Oregon, and you just may do adouble-take. The ever-present college students are laboring overtheir studies at a Starbucks cafe. The gift shop better resembles amuseum shop. Even the used-book store brings in $125,000 annually.Hmmm, library or book superstore?

Although it claims not to be influenced by the success of itsretail counterparts, the Multnomah County Library, with 18 branchesserving about 700,000 patrons, is noticeably getting down tobusiness. Until recently, the library even boasted anentrepreneurial activities coordinator. "It's another wayto show our community we're good stewards of their money,"explains Ginnie Cooper, director of the library system and formerpresident of the Public Library Association.

Although the business operations comprise only 2 percent of thelibrary's funding, Cooper is more than satisfied with thelibrary's BIZ Experiencesial efforts. "When people ask, `Haveyou tried [to raise funds]?' the answer is `Yes, and here'swhat we're doing, and we're pretty successful."

Divine Calling

While its rep leans toward the secular, BIZ Experiencesship can bemore sacred than you'd expect. Indeed, most monasteries andabbeys depend on business skills to survive. And while start-upsmay come and go, most monasteries and abbeys run establishedbusinesses with longevity that would impress even the mostsuccessful BIZ Experiences.

The 50 sisters in residence at Mount St. Mary's Abbey inWrentham, Massachusetts, support themselves with a 43-year-oldcandy business. "We're cloistered sisters, and this way wecan keep the base right here. It allows us to keep our life the wayit is," says Sister Rita Rodrigue of Trappastine QualityCandy, the abbey's mail order and e-commerce candybusiness.

The monks at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, a Cistercianmonastery in Conyers, Georgia, are veteran businessmen, running anumber of enterprises: a gift shop, a stained glass manufacturingoperation, a pine tree plantation and one of the largest bonsaisuppliers in the United States.

"One of the conditions of any business we get involved inis that it must protect our way of life," explains FatherMethodius, the monastery's business manager. "If thebusinesses were too worldly, it wouldn't be consistent with ourlife."

Each business developed naturally as an extension of thecommunity's pooled talents and circumstances. The late FatherPaul Bourne began the bonsai supply as a hobby. The land dictatedthat the monks start a pine tree farm rather than any otheragricultural venture. And when the monastery was built in the1950s, lack of funds led the monks to create their own stainedglass. "There's an old Latin phrase, `Contemplatatradere,' which [essentially] means `to pass on the thingswhich you contemplate,'" explains Father Methodius, whoadds that much of their stained glass is religiously themed forchurches. "Hopefully, that's the art we put into ourstained glass."

All For One

Communes haven't received much press since the hippieheydays, but these idyllic communities are far from a thing of thepast. Many communes--known nowadays as "intentionalcommunities"--are thriving across the country. And if the goalis to live according to personal values, what better way thanentrepreneurship?

Take, for example, Acorn Community in Mineral, Virginia. Formedin 1993, this 20-member community lives on 70 acres of land,supporting itself with small businesses. Acorn chooses itsventures--including a craft tinnery and subscription-basedagriculture (members pay for the delivery of fresh vegetablesduring the growing season)--by following the commune's basicprinciples of nonviolence, ecological soundness and equalparticipation in the community's governance.

"Any business we think about taking on, we look at in termsof our values," explains Raven Long, Acorn's outreachmanager. Ideas have been rejected because of environmental impactsor because they lacked potential for communal involvement."[Our businesses] give us the ability to work at home ratherthan go off somewhere," he adds. "They let us live moreintegrated lives."

Contact Sources

Acorn Community, (540) 894-0595, acorn@ic.org

Monestary of the Holy Spirit, http://www.trappist.net

Mount St. Mary's Abbey, fax: (508) 528-1409, http://www.trappistinecandy.com

Multnomah County Library, http://www.multnomah.lib.or.us