Although the radical techniques and delightful results of The Smokers’ Freedom School have been tested and proven over a fifteen year period, the “business model” of the School is a new millennium experiment. The Smokers Freedom School is an evolving, cooperative community. More specifically, the Smokers Freedom School is organized as a “social business,” which means:
1. The Smokers Freedom School is owned by those it serves; and
2. Any profits generated by the Smokers Freedom School do not go to outside investors, but rather go back into the business to help solve the goofy, intricate worldwide problem of tobacco addiction.
We are not a non-profit organization. We are a “for profit” business, organized like other “for profit” businesses. We pay reasonable fees to our stop smoking teachers, coaches and trainers, and offer fair compensation to our suppliers, distributors and agents. However, any “excess” profits that are made above our expenses are put back into the School to help expand our services to smokers around the world, and to train and pay more stop smoking coaches, educators and “principals.”
The most well-known and successful example of a “social business” is the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, which has helped over four million poor women by offering small “micro-loans” —from $25.00 to $100.00 – so that they can start their own small businesses. The model has proven very successful, and the founder of the Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus, was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work.
How it Works:
Social businesses can be organized and operate in a lot of different ways. Here’s how the Smokers Freedom School is organized and operated:
For Smokers: You can learn this radical new approach to quitting smoking by:
1. Buying books, tapes, CD or DVD’s from the Smokers Freedom School
2. Signing up for a correspondence course,
3. Signing up for a personal stop smoking coach
4. Signing up for a local class;
5. Signing up for one of the Seminars which the Smokers Freedom School hold around the country.
Here’s what’s unique about this process: ALL OF YOUR FEES FOR THE ABOVE COURSE ARE CONVERTED INTO SHARES OF THE SMOKERS FREEDOM SCHOOL! (One dollar = One Share.) So when you invest your money in learning how to quit smoking, you are directly investing in The Smokers Freedom School, and you are thus part owner of The Smokers Freedom School!
This is a new, unique and evolving business structure, not only for the Smokers Freedom School but as a “new approach” to small business corporations around the world. We are proud to be part of this new movement. We believe it is the future of bringing back corporate responsibility through “real peoples’ capitalism.”
We are still in the early stages of developing this new business model, but as we progress, people are actually quitting smoking and their daily lives are richer.
If you have questions, or want more information about The Smokers’ Freedom School as a social business, please contact us through our contact page.
