The Kitchen Will Break the World
Sometimes the smallest economic advantage can make the difference between winning and losing a piece of business.
Imagine a client approaches Stovin Advertising for a new website. We agree on the project, but at the final stage they negotiate: “Can you knock £5 off the price?”
For many businesses, constantly reducing prices eventually becomes unsustainable. But Circleism proposes a simple idea: reduce some of your personal living costs by producing some of your own food.
I grow potatoes, tomatoes, chillies, mint and strawberries. A plate containing something I’ve grown represents food that I didn’t have to buy entirely from the supermarket.
That saving might only be a few pounds, but those few pounds can create flexibility elsewhere.
The £5 That Wins the Client
Suppose growing food saves me £5.
A potential client then asks for £5 off their website.
I can say:
“Yes, we can do that.”
The saving created in the kitchen has effectively helped finance the negotiation in the office.
That’s why I say:
The kitchen will break the world.
Not through violence or destruction, but by challenging the assumption that everything we consume has to be purchased.
A potato grown at home has value. A tomato has value. A chilli has value. Put them together and the plate becomes a tiny piece of economic independence.
The Circleism Philosophy
Circleism encourages people to grow some of their own food, reduce waste and become a little more self-sufficient.
It doesn’t mean abandoning supermarkets or trying to produce everything yourself. Even a small amount of home-grown food can reduce household expenditure.
For a business owner, those savings can potentially provide greater flexibility.
£1 saved on food is £1 that doesn’t need to be earned elsewhere.
£5 saved might become the £5 that closes a website deal.
Multiply small savings across months and years and they begin to matter.
When the Plate Meets the Website
That’s the symbolism behind the Circleism kitchen.
On one side sits a plate of home-grown food.
On the other sits a website proposal.
Between them is a client negotiating over the final £5.
The world might resist the philosophy of Circleism, but the economics don’t need to be complicated: produce something yourself, reduce an expense and decide where to use the saving.
For me, there’s also a spiritual meaning to that cycle.
Plant the seed.
Grow the food.
Eat the harvest.
Save some money.
Use that saving productively.
Win the work.
Plant again.
And when that humble plate of food provides the final £5 needed to win the client, I’ll look at the kitchen and say:
The plate broke the world — and God won.
