💠 How to Create Change — with your Biz, Art & Life

(00:00:00.879):
Hello, and welcome to this mini class, Crystal Clear, How Our Businesses Create Change.

(00:00:10.592):
I am Amelia Ruby.

(00:00:11.994):
I am the host of Off The Grid Podcast and the founder of Softer Sounds Podcast Studio.

(00:00:18.122):
And I have been sharing my work on the internet for the past decade and running my

(00:00:24.627):
podcast studio full time for almost five years now.

(00:00:28.070):
And during that time,

(00:00:29.731):
I have been through many waves of feeling like my work was important and powerful

(00:00:36.617):
and it mattered in the world.

(00:00:38.338):
And also feeling like so much was going on in the world that my tiny business like

(00:00:45.002):
couldn't be of consequence.

(00:00:46.583):
And even how dare I talk about my business with all of this going on.

(00:00:52.867):
So I created this class of sorts at,

(00:00:58.271):
let's see,

(00:00:58.731):
like the day after Trump was elected for the second time in the US.

(00:01:04.054):
So in the fall of 2024,

(00:01:06.796):
And at the time, I taught this live just, I think, two weeks after the election.

(00:01:11.459):
I offered it for free.

(00:01:12.959):
Anybody could RSVP and attend.

(00:01:15.501):
And I didn't record it because I really wanted us to be present in the room

(00:01:18.863):
together and to be brainstorming and co-creating new possibilities for our work.

(00:01:25.766):
The idea from the workshop really came from this place of feeling so frustrated

(00:01:30.227):
that Trump's election was heralded as this like great win for business and even a

(00:01:37.310):
great win for small business.

(00:01:39.110):
And I wanted to be very clear,

(00:01:41.271):
crystal clear,

(00:01:42.151):
in fact,

(00:01:43.131):
that his presidency was not any kind of win for me and my business.

(00:01:48.793):
And not just that it wasn't like going to make me money,

(00:01:50.854):
but that like I stood against it like full throatedly.

(00:01:54.975):
I didn't care if it if him being in power was going to benefit businesses or make

(00:01:59.796):
people money or even make me money.

(00:02:02.137):
I stand against everything that he stands for politically and otherwise.

(00:02:07.638):
So I created this workshop so that small business owners,

(00:02:12.199):
artists,

(00:02:12.980):
and creatives,

(00:02:14.140):
self-employed folks of all kinds across the self-employment spectrum could come

(00:02:18.781):
together and think about like,

(00:02:20.422):
what does business mean to us?

(00:02:22.682):
And how can our businesses create change?

(00:02:25.183):
Not just in general, but like positive change, change for liberation.

(00:02:29.524):
How can our businesses be a force for envisioning and bringing to life the world

(00:02:35.366):
that we want to be a part of?

(00:02:37.286):
So that's where this class came from.

(00:02:39.128):
And as I've already mentioned, I taught it for free in fall 2024.

(00:02:43.471):
But now at the start of 2026,

(00:02:45.572):
when I'm re-recording it,

(00:02:47.073):
I feel like we are back in this period of turmoil.

(00:02:50.716):
I mean, frankly...

(00:02:53.228):
All of 2025 was turmoil.

(00:02:55.190):
I'm not saying there were horrible things that happened last year in Trump's first

(00:02:58.733):
year as president.

(00:03:00.354):
But I feel like in the moment I'm recording this,

(00:03:02.576):
we're seeing such increased violence from ICE as they have occupied many cities

(00:03:09.141):
across the nation.

(00:03:10.662):
We are also seeing Trump invade Venezuela, threaten to take over Greenland.

(00:03:15.546):
The shows of power have gotten more and more intense and awful than

(00:03:21.891):
And I wanted to share this again,

(00:03:25.013):
because as that happens,

(00:03:27.134):
I'm seeing another wave of just like the existential crisis and doubt and dread

(00:03:32.257):
from small business owners and artists asking ourselves like,

(00:03:35.619):
what role does my business play in all of this?

(00:03:38.200):
And how do I keep going through it?

(00:03:41.762):
And you know,

(00:03:42.103):
sometimes I think the answer is like,

(00:03:43.343):
you don't,

(00:03:43.864):
you actually like stop business as usual,

(00:03:45.945):
and you go to the protest,

(00:03:47.286):
you get on the street,

(00:03:48.306):
you do other things.

(00:03:50.127):
And sometimes you have to keep going.

(00:03:51.808):
You have to keep selling your things.

(00:03:53.309):
You have to keep teaching your classes.

(00:03:54.650):
You have to keep supporting yourself through your work.

(00:03:57.191):
So in this presentation,

(00:04:00.053):
in this class that I'm now recording for all of you,

(00:04:02.695):
we're going to talk through some of this.

(00:04:03.916):
I'm going to talk through my thoughts on how businesses create change,

(00:04:07.578):
why I think this is so important.

(00:04:10.079):
And I hope that this can support you as you maneuver toward liberation in the

(00:04:16.383):
weeks,

(00:04:16.703):
months,

(00:04:17.064):
and years ahead.

(00:04:19.406):
So let's begin, shall we?

(00:04:22.127):
When I started this workshop, I wanted to go back to the very basics.

(00:04:27.049):
If we're talking about how our businesses create change,

(00:04:29.650):
what is business and what is at stake in business?

(00:04:33.351):
So as I've written here in my notes,

(00:04:35.452):
business is how we bring structures and systems to our creative practices and

(00:04:41.694):
offerings so that they can make,

(00:04:44.075):
hold and channel resources.

(00:04:46.856):
So I pretty clearly work with creative business owners and the businesses that

(00:04:51.139):
we're creating come from our creative spirits,

(00:04:54.440):
energies,

(00:04:55.001):
and practices.

(00:04:56.502):
So we are, I believe, all artists on the inside.

(00:05:01.164):
We are making things in the world, even if it's simply art.

(00:05:04.446):
or not so simply making meaning of our experiences in the world.

(00:05:08.587):
And business is how we bring structures and systems to that work.

(00:05:13.468):
Whatever your creative practice is,

(00:05:14.968):
maybe it's storytelling,

(00:05:15.988):
maybe it's writing,

(00:05:16.709):
maybe it's painting,

(00:05:17.909):
maybe it's building operational systems for nonprofits,

(00:05:20.549):
like all of those are creative practices.

(00:05:23.010):
And business is how we build structures and systems around those practices.

(00:05:27.791):
And

(00:05:28.571):
such that those practices can make, hold, and channel resources.

(00:05:33.694):
Now often when we're talking about resources in business, we're thinking about money.

(00:05:37.377):
So business is how we build structure and system around our creative practice to

(00:05:41.519):
make money from it.

(00:05:43.140):
But there are so many other resources that are happening or flowing through businesses, right?

(00:05:47.983):
Our time,

(00:05:48.743):
our energy,

(00:05:49.404):
there's power that flows through businesses,

(00:05:52.226):
through proximity to powerful people,

(00:05:54.427):
or through establishing our own power in our business.

(00:05:57.048):
So

(00:05:58.729):
In essence, that's what I think business is.

(00:06:01.030):
It is the practice of building those structures and systems around our creativity

(00:06:06.031):
such that we can make,

(00:06:07.911):
hold,

(00:06:08.371):
and channel those resources.

(00:06:09.931):
So you might make money in your business.

(00:06:11.872):
You might hold money in your business bank account.

(00:06:13.832):
You might channel money through your business and redistribute it.

(00:06:16.853):
Similarly with time, you might carve out time for yourself in your business.

(00:06:20.314):
You might hold time in your workday.

(00:06:23.234):
You might donate time elsewhere.

(00:06:24.975):
We can think about this for all of these resources.

(00:06:29.315):
Now,

(00:06:29.455):
if that's what business is at large,

(00:06:31.598):
like what is a business or like what is your business or my business when we're

(00:06:35.062):
talking about a specific business,

(00:06:36.544):
not business itself.

(00:06:38.707):
So a business,

(00:06:40.289):
in my opinion,

(00:06:41.170):
is simply a vessel that pools and distributes the resources of one or many people.

(00:06:47.317):
So again, your business is just this structure.

(00:06:50.119):
It's the systems.

(00:06:50.980):
It's the vessel, the container that pools all these resources and distributes them as needed.

(00:06:56.764):
So your business holds the money that comes from your clients and goes into your bank account.

(00:07:00.988):
And maybe that money goes from your bank account to another small business or to,

(00:07:04.770):
you know,

(00:07:05.031):
the power company or to,

(00:07:06.492):
you know,

(00:07:07.112):
your car payment.

(00:07:08.033):
Like we are distributing resources through our businesses.

(00:07:11.455):
But the purpose of the business is to be that vessel, to be that container.

(00:07:18.533):
Now, why does this matter?

(00:07:20.476):
What is at stake?

(00:07:21.838):
Well,

(00:07:22.138):
if we think of business as structure,

(00:07:24.121):
as systems,

(00:07:24.782):
as a vessel,

(00:07:25.523):
if we think of businesses as a way that resources move through the world,

(00:07:31.551):
we can think about how in capitalist businesses,

(00:07:34.875):
in VC funded businesses,

(00:07:36.956):
the goal is to pool the resources and hoard them for very few people,

(00:07:41.937):
right?

(00:07:42.517):
Typically the owner of the business or the shareholders of the business,

(00:07:45.638):
particularly the shareholders who have a lot of shares and are on the board,

(00:07:48.919):
right?

(00:07:49.700):
So there is,

(00:07:50.540):
I think all of business is about pooling and distributing resources,

(00:07:55.702):
but there are different economic systems that distribute those resources in

(00:07:59.283):
different ways.

(00:08:00.683):
And so if we are thinking about that,

(00:08:02.924):
then there are different opportunities for businesses to create change in how they

(00:08:07.867):
handle resources.

(00:08:10.028):
So here are three ways that I think businesses can create change.

(00:08:13.610):
The first is that businesses can create things that help people get free.

(00:08:19.093):
This is the what your business does.

(00:08:21.897):
So your business may make zines that teach people how to get off of Spotify.

(00:08:27.605):
I say that because there's literally a zine next to me that is about that, right?

(00:08:31.651):
That is an object that you can sell in your business that helps people get free.

(00:08:35.717):
Or you may be a service provider or a healer and your business is to help people

(00:08:39.461):
heal trauma such that they can find their own internal and external liberation.

(00:08:44.788):
That is the what of your business.

(00:08:46.270):
Like your business may create and sell things that explicitly work toward people's liberation.

(00:08:53.427):
Your business also might not.

(00:08:55.008):
Maybe you sell nail polish and you're like,

(00:08:57.589):
well,

(00:08:58.230):
I don't really know how nail polish works for liberation,

(00:09:00.611):
right?

(00:09:00.911):
I mean, it's beautiful and beauty can be a part of liberation.

(00:09:03.593):
But maybe your business isn't making change through the things that you create and sell.

(00:09:08.415):
So our second option here is your business can create change if you embed

(00:09:12.778):
liberatory values in the systems,

(00:09:15.239):
structures,

(00:09:15.979):
processes,

(00:09:16.780):
practices,

(00:09:17.400):
and offerings of your business.

(00:09:19.321):
This is the how your business works.

(00:09:22.142):
So maybe you make nail polish in your business,

(00:09:24.903):
and maybe the nail polish itself is not helping people get free,

(00:09:28.744):
although I'm still problematizing that,

(00:09:30.745):
right?

(00:09:30.965):
Like maybe your nail polish is for,

(00:09:32.905):
you know,

(00:09:33.225):
trans communities who are using it to express their gender and their like lived

(00:09:39.127):
experience.

(00:09:39.707):
And like that is a liberatory act, right?

(00:09:41.348):
So, you know, there are so many ways the things we create can help us get free.

(00:09:44.629):
But

(00:09:45.089):
Let's also talk about the how of our business that can be toward liberation.

(00:09:49.732):
So maybe in your business, you offer yourself or your team paid menstrual leave, right?

(00:09:55.616):
That is a way of helping all of us rest as needed,

(00:09:59.279):
of living into our experiences and helping us get free in the how that we do

(00:10:03.362):
business.

(00:10:04.342):
Maybe you have a shorter work week or periods of time that you plan to take off and

(00:10:10.385):
that you're rebuilding your schedule for more liberation.

(00:10:13.267):
Maybe you take one day of the work week and you use that time for organizing work

(00:10:18.529):
or something else.

(00:10:19.430):
You build those values into how you do business.

(00:10:23.532):
Maybe every time you meet with a client,

(00:10:26.033):
you start with three deep breaths,

(00:10:27.774):
hands on the body,

(00:10:28.935):
nervous system,

(00:10:29.735):
regulation,

(00:10:30.315):
and grounding practice.

(00:10:31.896):
That's a liberatory value that fights against the urgency and efficiency of our

(00:10:37.083):
supremacist culture of the way that we are,

(00:10:39.286):
quote unquote,

(00:10:39.807):
supposed to do business.

(00:10:41.589):
And so in that case, how your business works is helping us get free.

(00:10:46.155):
It's moving us toward liberation.

(00:10:49.229):
And then the third way that businesses can create change is that they can channel

(00:10:52.890):
their resources toward collective liberation efforts.

(00:10:56.051):
So maybe you run a consulting company and you work with like Forbes 100 super

(00:11:02.333):
intense corporate clients and you sell them like

(00:11:05.934):
kind of weird packages.

(00:11:09.257):
Like what do you even sell them?

(00:11:11.279):
You sell them legal services.

(00:11:13.361):
So you know,

(00:11:14.262):
the what of your business is maybe not so much about liberation,

(00:11:17.344):
the how you're working because you're in that intense corporate consulting

(00:11:20.627):
environment is not maybe so much for liberation.

(00:11:23.430):
But maybe you donate 30% of your earnings toward a liberatory cause.

(00:11:28.454):
And

(00:11:29.415):
That is a way that you can channel the resources of your business toward collective

(00:11:32.858):
liberation efforts.

(00:11:34.199):
This is the why and to what end motivating it all.

(00:11:38.802):
Now,

(00:11:40.343):
there may be some critiques of this legal corporate consulting example that I just

(00:11:44.206):
used,

(00:11:44.806):
but in the legal space,

(00:11:45.887):
we see many independent lawyers who do plenty of pro bono work,

(00:11:50.210):
right?

(00:11:50.870):
Or who do donate portions of profits toward causes that they care about,

(00:11:54.973):
even if they're still entrenched in a traditional legal system.

(00:11:59.536):
So I think that no matter what business you run,

(00:12:02.518):
you can find ways to create change through one of these avenues.

(00:12:05.981):
Again,

(00:12:06.281):
the what your business does,

(00:12:08.162):
the how your business works,

(00:12:09.963):
or the why and to what end motivating it all.

(00:12:15.086):
And for many of us, we're working toward change on all of these levels.

(00:12:19.008):
We are creating things that help people get free.

(00:12:21.149):
We are doing that in ways that help us and the people we work with get free.

(00:12:25.371):
And we are also redistributing some of the profit from that to other organizations

(00:12:31.613):
who are doing work that we admire.

(00:12:35.922):
I think that when I tap into that,

(00:12:39.063):
I just feel so grounded in different ways that my business can create change,

(00:12:44.545):
right?

(00:12:45.125):
There are many options.

(00:12:46.105):
These are just three sort of layers that I can think about change on.

(00:12:50.486):
And again,

(00:12:50.806):
it all goes back to how we are distributing,

(00:12:53.347):
pooling and distributing resources in our business.

(00:12:57.236):
I also just want to say that when we talk about creating things that help people

(00:13:01.118):
get free,

(00:13:02.019):
having values that help people get free,

(00:13:03.960):
you are included in that.

(00:13:05.720):
Like if your business helps you get free,

(00:13:08.882):
not through like the sort of financial freedom fire movement way.

(00:13:13.204):
I'm not thinking like that.

(00:13:14.665):
But if your business helps you deprogram from capitalism,

(00:13:17.887):
from white supremacy,

(00:13:18.947):
from patriarchy,

(00:13:20.228):
that is another way your business creates change.

(00:13:23.769):
by working against these systems.

(00:13:25.710):
And we are included in the parts of our business that get to change and get to

(00:13:29.253):
benefit from change and liberation.

(00:13:35.635):
So I've used this word liberation a lot now.

(00:13:39.539):
So let me go ahead and define it.

(00:13:41.721):
So what is liberation?

(00:13:43.783):
To me, liberation is freedom plus love.

(00:13:48.028):
It is having agency that is interdependent.

(00:13:51.571):
It is feeling free while loving myself and others.

(00:13:56.676):
It is also the end of or at the very least the interruption of white supremacy,

(00:14:01.918):
patriarchy,

(00:14:02.698):
capitalism,

(00:14:03.598):
ableism,

(00:14:04.198):
colonialism,

(00:14:05.359):
transphobia,

(00:14:06.139):
homophobia,

(00:14:06.799):
racism,

(00:14:07.319):
sexism,

(00:14:08.140):
misogyny,

(00:14:08.840):
war,

(00:14:09.280):
prisons,

(00:14:09.760):
borders,

(00:14:10.220):
genocide,

(00:14:10.821):
and all systems of oppression.

(00:14:12.661):
That list is not exhaustive.

(00:14:13.942):
It is just a beginning point.

(00:14:16.244):
But I think that liberation works toward the end of that.

(00:14:19.787):
I think liberation, in my opinion, is an abolitionist practice.

(00:14:23.710):
It looks to remove power over structures wherever we can and to reject the violence

(00:14:30.916):
of those power over structures.

(00:14:33.378):
So to me,

(00:14:33.919):
that means embracing and uplifting queer folks,

(00:14:36.941):
trans folks,

(00:14:37.622):
disabled folks,

(00:14:38.483):
chronically ill folks,

(00:14:39.904):
BIPOC communities,

(00:14:40.965):
immigrants,

(00:14:41.786):
women,

(00:14:42.226):
and so many more marginalized individuals and groups.

(00:14:46.329):
The folks who are,

(00:14:47.651):
you know,

(00:14:47.951):
at the bottom of the power over structures for whom power is over them.

(00:14:52.555):
We want to embrace and uplift those communities,

(00:14:56.038):
including ourselves in our work toward liberation.

(00:15:00.083):
We want to flatten the hierarchies.

(00:15:02.185):
We want to be in it together.

(00:15:03.606):
And I think that liberation rebukes false limits and it centers values like

(00:15:09.291):
interdependence rather than independence,

(00:15:11.653):
abundance rather than scarcity,

(00:15:13.715):
cyclical change rather than linear growth,

(00:15:16.137):
regeneration rather than exploitation and more.

(00:15:21.181):
So back in 2020,

(00:15:22.362):
I wrote an entire feminist manifesto on these sort of like values that we can flip

(00:15:28.366):
or reject or shift such that we can work more toward liberation.

(00:15:32.189):
And I've linked that here in this document.

(00:15:33.990):
And wherever you're watching this,

(00:15:35.592):
there should be a link below to read more of that if you're interested in some of

(00:15:39.715):
my feminist liberatory values.

(00:15:43.271):
But it's also not just about me,

(00:15:44.893):
which is why I immediately want to go into sharing,

(00:15:47.696):
you know,

(00:15:47.956):
folks that I want to uplift who are thinking about creative small business in

(00:15:51.540):
liberatory ways.

(00:15:53.342):
I really love the work of Ayanna Zaire Cotton,

(00:15:56.165):
of Shivani Bhatia,

(00:15:57.426):
of my dear friend Kinning Zhu and Taylor Elise Morrison.

(00:16:00.950):
I really admire Cody Cook-Parrott's work as well as my friend Nick Antoinette's work.

(00:16:05.394):
I really look to Cher Hale, Bear-A-Bear, Africa Brooke, Lexi Merritt, Becky Mollenkamp.

(00:16:11.138):
There are so many others when I think of this too.

(00:16:13.740):
Folks like Sarej Jarrell-Johnson and Daje Allo,

(00:16:17.422):
who I will also add to this list by the time you see this doc,

(00:16:21.104):
it will have some more names in it.

(00:16:23.366):
But I think that we can always be learning together with people who orient their

(00:16:28.849):
work toward liberation.

(00:16:30.490):
And for some of these folks, that is the content of their work as well.

(00:16:33.532):
But for others, it's just in the how that they are working and moving through the world.

(00:16:37.775):
They are doing business differently in a way that I think invites in more freedom and love.

(00:16:43.699):
And it focuses on those three areas of change I mentioned before,

(00:16:46.701):
the change in the what we do,

(00:16:48.142):
the how we do it,

(00:16:49.523):
and the to what end we are doing it for.

(00:16:54.491):
So before we move into some prompts and reflections,

(00:16:57.835):
I just have one more amendment here,

(00:17:00.118):
which is that I called this workshop Crystal Clear because I wanted to be crystal

(00:17:05.524):
clear about where I stood and what I thought business is or what I think business

(00:17:10.790):
is and can do.

(00:17:13.953):
And I wanted to do that because I think it's very valuable to be clear in our

(00:17:17.617):
commitments,

(00:17:18.758):
to say the quiet things out loud,

(00:17:21.200):
as my friend Nick Antoinette puts it.

(00:17:23.662):
But we can be crystal clear to ourselves and each other while remaining opaque to

(00:17:29.287):
the powers that be.

(00:17:31.309):
So this is something that I really learned from Edouard Glissant's work,

(00:17:34.531):
which is largely about remaining illegible to colonial and white supremacist

(00:17:41.195):
forces,

(00:17:42.036):
people,

(00:17:42.776):
systems as a Black author and writer and poet and person.

(00:17:51.024):
And so I highly recommend reading his work around this.

(00:17:53.806):
But I'll just say briefly that especially in the time that I'm recording this,

(00:17:57.628):
when we are seeing such intense digital surveillance,

(00:18:01.690):
I think it's very important that we protect ourselves and each other in how much we

(00:18:06.152):
share online,

(00:18:07.433):
where we share online,

(00:18:08.874):
how we communicate.

(00:18:10.334):
I think there is a lot of value in being illegible to the state.

(00:18:15.197):
And so when I'm thinking of being crystal clear,

(00:18:17.719):
I am crystal clear in the commitments that I make to you.

(00:18:21.142):
But I don't think that means I need to just be transparent to everyone and share

(00:18:25.126):
everything with everyone.

(00:18:26.868):
And in fact, I don't think that's a wise strategy in the world that we live in.

(00:18:31.512):
So yes,

(00:18:32.733):
I'm here to be crystal clear and also to question who gets to be transparent and

(00:18:39.299):
still stay safe.

(00:18:41.081):
So I just wanted to add that kind of asterisk here to clarify,

(00:18:46.874):
I suppose,

(00:18:47.576):
my intentions about this phrase and to uplift some other thinking around it.

(00:18:53.004):
So with that all said,

(00:18:55.207):
now that we've shared some of this time together,

(00:18:57.169):
I've created some prompts and reflections for different ways that you can think

(00:19:02.475):
about how your business can create change,

(00:19:04.898):
right?

(00:19:05.098):
I just sort of shared my lofty philosophy around this, but what do we actually do?

(00:19:09.143):
How does it actually work?

(00:19:10.845):
So I've divided these prompts and reflections into three sections.

(00:19:14.246):
I'm going to talk through them now,

(00:19:15.827):
but I would encourage you to use this notion workbook to actually fill them in for

(00:19:20.149):
yourself.

(00:19:20.609):
When I taught this live, we actually did some of that together.

(00:19:23.150):
But for now, I'm just going to kind of talk through the different prompts.

(00:19:26.171):
So there are prompts on resources and flow,

(00:19:28.652):
prompts on change and challenge,

(00:19:30.333):
and prompts on making those crystal clear commitments to yourself.

(00:19:34.194):
So we'll begin with resources and flow.

(00:19:38.129):
When I think about resources and flow, this gets back to your business is a vessel, right?

(00:19:42.876):
It's pooling and distributing resources.

(00:19:45.560):
So what are those resources?

(00:19:47.903):
Who do they belong to?

(00:19:49.986):
And what feels abundant while other things feel scarce?

(00:19:53.451):
So this first question here is what resources are flowing through your work or business?

(00:19:58.753):
If you click these triangles here, I've offered some ideas of answers.

(00:20:02.794):
Time, money, energy, space, art, audience, alignment, relationships.

(00:20:06.836):
These are all sorts of things that can flow through your business.

(00:20:10.177):
If you're filling this out for yourself, I'd also invite you to get more specific.

(00:20:13.518):
So time is flowing through your business.

(00:20:15.599):
How much time?

(00:20:17.020):
20 hours a week, two hours a day.

(00:20:18.942):
Maybe you can ask yourself that money is flowing through your business.

(00:20:22.206):
How much money?

(00:20:22.787):
Where's it coming from?

(00:20:23.728):
We'll get into that a bit here.

(00:20:24.910):
But for instance,

(00:20:25.631):
maybe a resource flowing through my business is a $1,000 a month retainer client

(00:20:31.318):
that I've had for a while.

(00:20:33.161):
Similarly, you could think about

(00:20:35.606):
relationships that flow through your business.

(00:20:37.828):
Maybe you know somebody who's like a big wig at a tech company and that

(00:20:42.031):
relationship can be a resource that your business like relies on,

(00:20:45.735):
but also redistribute some of the knowledge from.

(00:20:48.497):
So this is just a beginning list.

(00:20:50.278):
I'd encourage you to start here.

(00:20:51.659):
Think about these categories.

(00:20:53.801):
Write more categories of your own and also get more specific about what resources

(00:20:57.826):
you do have access to.

(00:20:59.048):
We all have access to resources.

(00:21:01.110):
If you are watching this, you have access to the internet that is a resource.

(00:21:04.675):
And so you may feel like you have a lot of resources or very few,

(00:21:09.280):
but you do have them of some kind.

(00:21:14.298):
next question is whose resources are flowing through your work or business so here

(00:21:19.163):
we can think about clients friends your audience or followers or listeners so these

(00:21:23.808):
you know clients and friends are people you might know your audience is maybe

(00:21:27.152):
people you don't know but who are tuned in or attuned to your work

(00:21:30.936):
But then also,

(00:21:31.697):
you know,

(00:21:32.097):
I'm thinking here of like the exploited workers who make MacBooks and iPhones.

(00:21:36.079):
I'm recording this on a MacBook.

(00:21:37.560):
I know that this was made by so many people who I will never meet and who are

(00:21:42.464):
likely unpaid and undernourished in their work.

(00:21:46.246):
And so their resources are also flowing through my business.

(00:21:49.448):
So here we can think on so many levels,

(00:21:51.409):
the visible,

(00:21:52.610):
the highly visible and less visible levels of relationality in our businesses,

(00:21:58.294):
whose resources flow through your work.

(00:22:01.328):
And then once you've made these lists of resources, which feel abundant and which feel scarce?

(00:22:06.291):
Do you maybe feel like you have a lot of time in your business,

(00:22:08.773):
but very little money in your business?

(00:22:10.794):
Do you have a lot of money, but very little time?

(00:22:13.336):
Do you have a lot of employees, but not enough work for them to do?

(00:22:16.818):
Do you have a ton of hope, but not so much results?

(00:22:20.361):
You know, there are so many ways you can think about this.

(00:22:22.382):
And obviously, abundant and scarce is not a binary.

(00:22:25.604):
But you can sort of start placing these on a spectrum.

(00:22:27.806):
I feel like I have more of this, but I have less of this.

(00:22:33.929):
So these are just three prompts to begin considering what resources are available

(00:22:38.851):
in your business.

(00:22:40.132):
The next prompts are on change and challenge.

(00:22:42.813):
So this is where we start to think about how are those resources pooling and distributing.

(00:22:47.776):
So the first question here is what and who are your resources flowing toward?

(00:22:53.438):
What and who does your business stand for is a follow-up question.

(00:22:56.401):
So maybe your resources are flowing toward community organizations.

(00:23:00.844):
Maybe they're flowing toward your bank account.

(00:23:02.946):
Let me tell you, the first few years of my business, there were a lot of resources.

(00:23:06.469):
I was flowing the majority of them through my business into my bank account because

(00:23:10.492):
I'd never had real financial stability before and I needed to build that for myself

(00:23:14.395):
through my business.

(00:23:16.056):
Maybe your resources are flowing toward love, toward your customers.

(00:23:19.557):
They can be moving toward so many things,

(00:23:22.578):
but think about where does the money,

(00:23:24.278):
the time,

(00:23:24.738):
the energy,

(00:23:25.619):
the power go in your business.

(00:23:29.760):
As you think about that, what and who are your resources flowing away from?

(00:23:33.861):
You know,

(00:23:34.521):
if you're that corporate consultant,

(00:23:36.182):
legal person,

(00:23:37.782):
like are you're flowing your businesses away from corporate culture and toward

(00:23:42.423):
grassroots organizations?

(00:23:43.804):
That could be cool.

(00:23:45.624):
Another question here is what and who does your business stand against?

(00:23:48.686):
So for me,

(00:23:49.787):
my business stands against capitalism,

(00:23:51.788):
against urgency culture,

(00:23:53.369):
and in the ways that I can against Amazon,

(00:23:55.890):
right?

(00:23:56.491):
My business still involves Amazon,

(00:23:57.972):
I use the internet,

(00:23:58.872):
which is largely hosted on Amazon Web Services.

(00:24:01.654):
My book against my will is available on Amazon,

(00:24:04.576):
or at least I decided I wanted to keep it in distribution instead of removing it

(00:24:08.518):
from Amazon.

(00:24:09.178):
So I

(00:24:10.680):
You know, there are ways that we can think about what are we flowing things away from?

(00:24:15.708):
Really, this is all a question about channeling.

(00:24:17.772):
Where are we pooling, distributing, channeling resources in our business?

(00:24:23.703):
I think a nice follow-up for that is what values are at the center of your work?

(00:24:27.886):
So I've listed a link.

(00:24:29.047):
I've put a link here of value lists, a value list you can use for inspiration.

(00:24:33.950):
But maybe your work, maybe a core value for you is liberation.

(00:24:37.052):
Maybe it is slowing down.

(00:24:39.614):
Maybe it is embodiment and tending to your body in business,

(00:24:44.077):
even though,

(00:24:44.677):
you know,

(00:24:45.418):
capitalist efficiency culture so often demands that we ignore the body or reject or

(00:24:51.482):
repress the body's needs.

(00:24:52.763):
Yeah.

(00:24:53.423):
What values do you want to hold at the center of your work?

(00:24:56.264):
And then after you think of those, how are they embedded in what you do and how you work, right?

(00:25:01.645):
Going back to those initial questions,

(00:25:03.665):
you know,

(00:25:03.925):
these first questions are about the flow of resources,

(00:25:06.966):
like to what end?

(00:25:08.726):
Where is all of this stuff?

(00:25:10.247):
Where is it coming from?

(00:25:11.027):
Where is it going?

(00:25:11.967):
But this is like, what's happening in the business?

(00:25:14.948):
If you're if you have a core value of slowing down,

(00:25:17.288):
how are you slowing down in the way that you work?

(00:25:20.589):
or in what you do or create.

(00:25:22.910):
You know,

(00:25:23.230):
we could think about if your core value is slowing down,

(00:25:26.072):
then you probably don't want to offer like a 12 or 24 hour turnaround time to your

(00:25:30.034):
clients,

(00:25:30.594):
because that's going to make you work pretty fast,

(00:25:32.495):
right?

(00:25:33.275):
Maybe you want to build in a buffer,

(00:25:34.536):
maybe you want to put up an email autoresponder that says,

(00:25:37.258):
I don't I don't reply to emails for at least 72 hours,

(00:25:39.999):
but I will get back to you.

(00:25:41.260):
That's the way I slow down in my business, right?

(00:25:43.961):
So embedding those values and what you do and how you work is

(00:25:48.383):
And maybe also a little bit here thinking about how can you externalize that?

(00:25:51.825):
How can you make that visible to others so that they know this is how you work?

(00:25:56.448):
And they know that you're rejecting some of the power over supremacist,

(00:26:02.152):
anti-liberatory values that are embedded in so much of our culture.

(00:26:06.575):
So that takes me to crystal clear commitments.

(00:26:09.218):
So I think that this is a place where you can begin to make commitments to change.

(00:26:14.104):
What is one way your business can create change next week?

(00:26:17.529):
Can you redistribute some funds?

(00:26:19.211):
Can you offer a pro bono session?

(00:26:21.213):
Can you slow down for one hour of your workday?

(00:26:24.557):
Can you put up a free workbook that helps people get right with their money so they

(00:26:29.103):
have a little more to share,

(00:26:30.724):
right?

(00:26:30.885):
There's so many ways you can do this pretty immediately.

(00:26:33.648):
So I like this prompt for it to help us just think about what are the small things.

(00:26:38.233):
And then what's one way your business can create change next month?

(00:26:40.676):
What's a slightly bigger project or a shift that's going to take a little more time to make?

(00:26:46.417):
And finally,

(00:26:46.877):
what's one way your business can create change next year or this year,

(00:26:50.359):
like within the year,

(00:26:52.601):
the span or the scope of a year?

(00:26:54.582):
What's a bigger project that maybe is going to take a little more time?

(00:26:57.183):
I mean,

(00:26:58.004):
you can do really deep value shifting work in a year,

(00:27:01.346):
but it does take time to like shift and change,

(00:27:05.168):
not just on the level of your behavior,

(00:27:06.629):
but of your desires.

(00:27:08.490):
This for me always happens around working less and slowing down.

(00:27:11.553):
I hold this like ongoing desire to work less for profit such that I can work more

(00:27:17.998):
for other people.

(00:27:19.639):
But it's a slow process for me.

(00:27:21.601):
It takes a lot of time for me to sort of divest from work and pull back from the

(00:27:26.004):
computer,

(00:27:26.565):
quite frankly.

(00:27:27.305):
So instead of judging myself and giving up when I'm not a success, I just slow it back down.

(00:27:33.150):
I commit to it long term and I stay committed.

(00:27:35.972):
That's the crystal clear commitment.

(00:27:40.532):
So with those prompts,

(00:27:41.732):
I'm hoping that you can begin to uncover some ways that your business can create

(00:27:46.654):
change.

(00:27:47.534):
Not just business at large,

(00:27:49.034):
not just my business because you're listening to me talk about it,

(00:27:51.915):
but your business,

(00:27:52.735):
your work.

(00:27:53.596):
And even if you don't exactly have a business yet,

(00:27:55.716):
you can embed these questions and these practices into any creative sharing

(00:28:00.077):
practice,

(00:28:00.517):
any public sharing practice,

(00:28:02.178):
any creative artistic practice that you're doing just for yourself.

(00:28:05.199):
You can think about how is what you do making change?

(00:28:07.979):
How is how you do it making change?

(00:28:10.320):
And to what end are you doing it for such that it creates change?

(00:28:14.425):
You can do that with anything that you might be creating or working on.

(00:28:19.758):
And so the final thing inside of this workshop slash dashboard is that I created a

(00:28:25.520):
list of 50 ways your business can create change today.

(00:28:29.881):
Now,

(00:28:30.122):
some of these do take a little more time to actually like operationalize,

(00:28:34.663):
but my idea was that they were things that you could do in a day.

(00:28:38.384):
So there's a list here.

(00:28:39.665):
I'm going to read them briefly just as a sort of like meditation and how much power

(00:28:43.746):
we actually have to create change.

(00:28:47.386):
But before I do that, I want to be very clear that this is not a to-do list.

(00:28:51.849):
Like I'm not here saying you need to do each one of these things in your business.

(00:28:55.831):
There is no like winning at this.

(00:28:58.373):
There is no like doing it all, getting it all done.

(00:29:01.495):
You can't just like mark it off the list and then you finished.

(00:29:04.377):
Making change with your business is an ongoing practice,

(00:29:07.259):
just like being in business and staying in business is an ongoing practice.

(00:29:11.501):
Also with the things on this list, some of them will not work for your business or your life.

(00:29:16.965):
Some of these things will not be possible for you or available to you.

(00:29:20.908):
And that is okay.

(00:29:22.128):
I'm not here to say you can or should do every single one of these things.

(00:29:26.031):
I'm hoping that you will hear this as an expansive set of possibilities.

(00:29:30.494):
Maybe one or two or three even will flag for you as like, oh, I could do that.

(00:29:34.997):
And then you will put them on your list of commitments for the weeks, months, years ahead.

(00:29:39.119):
So

(00:29:40.340):
So with that said,

(00:29:42.481):
one of the ways I want to create change is to slow down and invite us to take a

(00:29:47.523):
deep breath.

(00:29:55.647):
To be with ourselves as we listen,

(00:29:58.848):
as we meditate on change,

(00:30:00.969):
as we consider if these ways of changing might be for us or these ways of creating

(00:30:06.212):
change might work in our work in our lives.

(00:30:11.124):
I find that slowing down and taking a moment like this,

(00:30:13.285):
like this is an interruption in the status quo.

(00:30:16.207):
This is an interruption in efficiency culture.

(00:30:19.829):
So it feels like this little micro moment of making change in how we do things.

(00:30:25.692):
And as you linger here with me,

(00:30:27.713):
I'm going to read you this list of 50 ways your business can create change in a

(00:30:33.236):
day.

(00:30:35.979):
Number one, donate your time to people that need your skills.

(00:30:40.700):
Number two, donate your money to organizations that need more resources.

(00:30:46.141):
Number three, donate your space to folks who need to gather.

(00:30:51.142):
Number four, host a free class.

(00:30:54.243):
Number five, host a donation-based workshop and donate the profits.

(00:30:59.471):
Number six, send a free newsletter full of resources.

(00:31:04.152):
Number seven, teach a skill to a friend or a stranger.

(00:31:09.074):
Number eight, publish an open letter about a cause that's important to you.

(00:31:14.535):
Number nine, take great care of your clients or customers.

(00:31:19.977):
Number 10, slow down standard processing or operating timelines.

(00:31:25.798):
Number 11, leave social media.

(00:31:30.498):
Number 12,

(00:31:31.378):
embrace mutual aid,

(00:31:33.439):
perhaps after learning about the difference between mutual aid and nonprofits.

(00:31:39.421):
Number 13, host a donation-based giveaway and donate the proceeds.

(00:31:47.043):
Number 14, collaborate with a friend or colleague.

(00:31:52.264):
Number 15, get crystal clear on how much money you really need and redistribute the rest.

(00:31:59.471):
Number 16, hire a team member and pay them well.

(00:32:04.896):
Number 17, implement a sliding scale or pay what you can policy.

(00:32:10.400):
Number 18, quit shopping with Amazon.

(00:32:14.384):
Number 19, raise your prices for corporate clients and redistribute the excess.

(00:32:21.970):
Number 20, lower your prices for clients in need.

(00:32:27.102):
Number 21, keep your processes, offerings, and tech stack simple.

(00:32:33.745):
Number 22, refer work to other values aligned businesses regularly.

(00:32:39.967):
Number 23, refuse to use manipulative sales tactics like income claim marketing.

(00:32:47.471):
Number 24, eliminate punitive policies like late fees or higher prices for payment plans.

(00:32:55.356):
Number 25, trust your clients and offer them choices.

(00:33:00.160):
Number 26, trust your team and offer them choices.

(00:33:05.846):
Number 27, implement non-hierarchical or consensus-oriented decision-making methods.

(00:33:12.752):
Number 28, understand the difference between under-representation and under-recognition.

(00:33:20.051):
Number 29, embrace cyclical selling and fallow periods in your revenue.

(00:33:27.217):
Number 30, work less.

(00:33:31.920):
Number 31, divest your money from big banks and the stock market.

(00:33:37.785):
Number 32, clearly articulate your values and share them often.

(00:33:44.650):
Number 33, speak up publicly about the people, things, and causes that matter to you.

(00:33:52.713):
34.

(00:33:53.153):
Assess how your business contributes to climate change, including when you use AI.

(00:34:00.838):
35.

(00:34:01.098):
Abandon exponential growth.

(00:34:04.601):
36.

(00:34:05.161):
Rebuke venture capital values and culture.

(00:34:10.925):
37.

(00:34:11.385):
Learn how to build resilient organizations.

(00:34:15.632):
Number 38,

(00:34:16.893):
make sure your website and branding are accessible for those with different visual

(00:34:21.535):
abilities.

(00:34:23.516):
Number 39, make sure your video and audio content is captioned or transcribed.

(00:34:29.999):
Number 40, utilize image descriptions.

(00:34:34.202):
Number 41,

(00:34:35.382):
create a blog post or podcast that shares your technical or industry specific

(00:34:40.205):
knowledge.

(00:34:42.583):
Number 42, embrace creative commons licensing.

(00:34:47.567):
Number 43, break up with the eight hour workday.

(00:34:52.291):
Number 44, let your sales cycle linger and lengthen instead of forcing an urgent decision.

(00:35:00.798):
Number 45,

(00:35:01.879):
in fact,

(00:35:02.799):
go on a scavenger hunt and root out urgency anywhere you find it in your business.

(00:35:10.774):
Number 46, write a manifesto for liberation and publish it publicly.

(00:35:17.398):
Number 47, give something away at least once a month or year.

(00:35:23.963):
Number 48, cite the creators who inspire you and uplift the creators you inspire.

(00:35:31.427):
Number 49, create your own list like this.

(00:35:35.290):
And number 50, actually do something on it.

(00:35:42.020):
So that was our list of 50 ways to create change with your business,

(00:35:47.886):
50 ways to help your business bring about the world that you hope to see,

(00:35:52.551):
where hopefully we can all experience more freedom and love,

(00:35:56.035):
where we can find interdependence,

(00:35:58.618):
where we can get rid of those power over violent domination structures.

(00:36:05.874):
I hope that this class,

(00:36:07.875):
workshop,

(00:36:08.555):
workbook of sorts,

(00:36:10.416):
it leaves you feeling empowered to believe that your business can be a vessel for

(00:36:15.799):
change because it is a vessel that pools and distributes resources.

(00:36:21.962):
Your resources,

(00:36:22.742):
your clients' resources,

(00:36:24.423):
your customers' resources,

(00:36:26.084):
your laborers' resources,

(00:36:27.705):
your team's resources,

(00:36:28.845):
it's all in there.

(00:36:30.806):
Businesses are material entities, which means they can make material change.

(00:36:34.790):
So I do believe that doing business,

(00:36:37.692):
working in our businesses,

(00:36:38.813):
working on our businesses,

(00:36:40.115):
making our art,

(00:36:41.056):
sharing it with the world,

(00:36:42.297):
selling it even,

(00:36:43.137):
I do believe all of that can be a force for liberation,

(00:36:46.721):
can be an effort toward liberation.

(00:36:49.583):
And as a result,

(00:36:50.344):
I believe it has a place in this world that is so complicated and so fraught with

(00:36:54.868):
pain and violence.

(00:36:57.242):
Again, only your inner compass can guide you forward on any given day or week.

(00:37:03.126):
There are certainly things that can happen that feel more important and are more

(00:37:07.088):
important than business.

(00:37:09.229):
However, your business still matters anyway.

(00:37:11.891):
It's not a matter of more or less important.

(00:37:13.592):
They can each be important.

(00:37:15.313):
These things can all be important in their own ways and to their own degrees.

(00:37:20.279):
So once again,

(00:37:22.540):
I hope this has been a nice pep talk for returning to your creative practice and

(00:37:28.982):
for shaping or reshaping your business so that it can be a vessel and force for

(00:37:33.864):
change in the world.

(00:37:35.944):
If you want to join me on that journey,

(00:37:37.645):
you can always find me at offthegrid.fun online or the Off The Grid Leaving Social

(00:37:43.247):
Media podcast anywhere you get your podcasts.

(00:37:47.328):
And for now, I'm going to step away from the computer.

(00:37:50.111):
I am going to think more and perhaps put into action some crystal clear commitments

(00:37:55.876):
for how my business can create change,

(00:37:58.178):
starting with sharing this class for free.

(00:38:02.342):
Thank you so much for spending this time with me.

(00:38:03.963):
I hope to see you in another corner of the internet where I hang out.

(00:38:08.547):
And until then, you can find me off the grid.