Like many Mum’s in Australia, mine would often remind me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say, I should keep my mouth shut.
It’s good advice… but I reckon I might add a layer for my kids moving forward… If you don’t have anything nice to say… find something.
When you genuinely search for nice things to say, it changes the atmosphere in a room, in a conversation, and in your own mind…
Before you click out of this email, thinking you don’t need any more life advice… just wait a second!
The reason I’m sharing this is because I think this concept holds a clue that can help the community sector unlock more impact… something called Reverse-Marketing and something else called Conscious Capitalism.
Both of which, benefit R4R.
Reverse Marketing
Reverse Marketing is making somebody else the hero of your story… or finding something nice to say about someone.
Whenever R4R gets the chance, we want to support other communities or people within our community helping other causes.
The reason we do this is because we believe that in order for Canberra to be suicide-free, we need countless leaders and we need all charities helping the people they care about, as best they can.
But what ends up happening is this seems to build an element of goodwill, and these people we try to help, return the favour in spades, and our community only gets stronger for it.
It also seems to resonate really well with the audience.
Aussies don’t like people big-noting themselves, but we seem to like it when we’re pumping up other people’s tyres… and it makes bloody good sense… everyone feels good when it happens!
Conscious Capitalism
When businesses make somebody else the hero of their story, it becomes a really authentic way to engage with their audience and introduces the concept of Conscious Capitalism.
It’s a concept that businesses can play a pivotal role in the community sector, supporting charities and in turn, benefiting commercially. In essence, it’s just good karma.
There are so many businesses helping R4R right now, willingly sharing our message and supporting our cause, not expecting anything in return… And as Karma dictates, what goes around comes around.
We wouldn’t exist without support from our partners.
The elephant in the room is that if you know being good leads to good things for you, does it defeat the purpose? … I don’t think so… if helping others makes you feel good, does that make you selfish?
People can sniff out disingenuous niceness from a mile away. Only when a business does something good for a cause, with no expectation of return, does it seem to work.
I’m not going to stand here and point to a graph that proves my point. Karma is as old as time and we all know it to be tried and true… doing good is the best thing you can do.
A shining example
It didn’t feel right to put plugs of the business into the above article, but hopefully now that I’ve demonstrated my point, you might be more receptive to the idea.
Businesses like The Dock, The Jetty, Two Before Ten, Frankies and so many more have hosted our runs, creating unbelievable environments that foster community and exercise.
Lonsdale St. Recording Studios has facilitated the podcast that’s helping share stories, letting people know they’re not alone and that there’s a way forward.
And then we’ve got Anytime Fitness who quietly in the background has supported R4Rs incorporation and Anytime Fitness Deakin (opening soon) contributed the lions share of donations in the recent 2025 Santa Run.
These are only a handful of the many businesses supporting our cause, but they’re an example for how commerce can support community.
A suicide-free Canberra is going to take all of Canberra… and the more businesses we have on board, putting their shoulder to the wheel, the better chance we are of achieving it.
Find something…
So if you’re a business or an individual, start making others the hero of your story, or use your expertise to support a cause, whatever it is. Donations obviously help, but when people get involved with a cause too… magic happens.
Just. Keep. Moving.