My Values + Feminist Business Practices
My Values +
Culture-Making
Business Practices
believe...
I believe that empowerment is a personal AND collective strategy that aims to change a collective reality; empowerment is not when one exceptional women gets financially successful but a dehumanizing system stays in place (that’s empowermyth!).
Please note, however, that I’m 100% committed to building all of our livelihoods RIGHT NOW, because we deserve to thrive.
I am dreaming of a world where all bodies are cherished, so I enthusiastically support Black Lives Matter and social movements that promote liberation and human flourishing.
I believe that we are all culture makers and that we can use our culture making power deliberately, to create new realities for ourselves and our world.
Here are a few of the ways I try to do that in my own LIFE AND BUSINESS
Hiring + Money
- I have a LOT of financial responsibilities — children, elders, extended family — so I need to earn a lot of money. I do this unapologetically
- I believe in investing in our community which means I hire and contract from within our community, first, and prioritize the hiring of people with non-dominant identities
- I pay everyone a living wage -- AT A MINIMUM --and strive to pay everyone as much as is sustainable for the whole organization
- If people are collaborating with me on a full-time basis to launch a program, I revenue-share with them
Economic Justice
- In my business, I focus on contributing to economic justice, which means there are lots of strategies available to me (IMHO, "affordability" and "accessibility" are the wrong goals for individual practitioners and service businesses).
- My economic justice strategy does NOT include pricing my 1:1 services below what it takes me and my team to thrive. Instead, you will see a range of prices in my business, from very high-cost individual work to lower-cost distance trainings & group work
- There are many low-cost options for working with me or learning from me, including live and recorded workshops that are $100 each (You might also get a lot out of my free weekly Love Letter)
- Once I've achieved my target sustainability revenue, then I offer 10-20% of the spots in my programs as scholarship, trade or pay-what-you-can arrangements (PWYC)
- In 2022 alone, I distributed $70,644 in scholarship & pro-bono spaces
- I sometimes run sales or special offers where I donate 50% or more of the revenue to an urgent cause
- I offer payment plans; I believe payment plans are a way to contribute to economic justice AND they’re good for my own personal income stability (h/t Bear Hebert, Toi Smith)
- I don’t charge any extra fees or interest for accessing payment plans
How (and When) I Offer Critique
When I’m critiquing, I strive to name patterns, not people, because
- This is about systemic change, not changing out individual "bad apples". I want to keep the focus on policies, practices, norms and institutions
- I’m not here to destroy anyone’s livelihood or build my brand by tearing other people down
- We are all in the water so we are all wet
If I do critique a person, I will do it in order to document a larger pattern; it will be because they are a mainstream cultural figure who wields significant power in the world; and my critique will take place in long-form (essays, newsletters, blog posts or future books).
Here my guidelines for Critiquing Live People:
- No gossip. I'm not repeating hearsay or wondering about their childhood wounds or interested in their personal lives (for example). I'm critiquing their public work, platforms, marketing strategies and their social impact
- I will NOT discuss off-the-record remarks, private correspondence or recordings of private conversations
- Must have more than 1,000,000 social media followers; have mainstream name recognition; or be the leader of an institution or company whose policies or messaging impact millions of people's lives
- I'm taking these as indicators of cultural impact. At this level of reach (and, presumably, revenue), this person is likely to be significant, culturally, and therefore an appropriate topic for cultural consideration
- I must disclose any apparent conflicts of interest
Because my focus is on patterns, not people, I will not comment on online controversies nor will I participate in "public humiliation spectacles"* on social media.
- I especially do not enter a live fray when I don't possess a highly specific, detailed understanding of the events (I'm looking for timelines and facts, not editorializing or rhetoric). I'm not going to allow myself to be co-opted or weaponized because I lack full information
* My thanks to Dr.Christine Marie for the language of "public humiliation spectacle" and "media misinformation/misrepresentation campaigns"
Here are my Guidelines for Commenting on Tragic Events:
- I am not a newspaper. I cannot publish or comment on all things and no one should be obliged to
- I strive to only comment on events where I have 'skin in the game'. I'm Canadian, so I don't have 'skin in the game' to comment on US politics -- and often, when Canadians comment on US culture/politics, we often end up acting smug and erasing our own failings from view
- I specifically don't comment on mass shootings in the US because
- Again, I have no skin in the game
- Because I'm not a citizen, I have no ability to influence US legislators
- Research shows that the more media attention the massacre gets, the higher the likelihood that there will be a copycat shooting within 7 days. My silence is an attempt at harm-reduction
Solidarity, Self-Preservation,
and Culture-Making
- I have pledged not to speak at events or on podcasts where the speakers are or have been disproportionately white and encourage other leaders to do the same
- I believe in signal-boosting and sharing the work of the people influencing me (Citation is a culture-making practice; I’ve even footnoted a sales page!). There is so much brilliance in our community and it’s a joy to be part of it
- I strive to use apps and software that are made by companies founded by feminists and women and BIPOC (and, and, and)
- I do not to use mental/social triggers in high-risk sales situations
- I do not engage in money-shaming as a marketing tactic (or any kind of tactic!)
- Please never substitute my judgement for your own. We don't have to agree or even like each other to respect each other's work.
- I value critique and feedback from my co-travellers and will take the time to process it, learn from it, and integrate it (thank you!!!)
- If we know each other, I welcome your critique, feedback and correction. Call me! Email me! Text me! (If we know each other, you have my deets)
- If we don't know each other and you feel compelled to discipline me or sabotage my work, that's weird. I reserve the right to treat that as the unwelcome behaviour of an intrusive stranger and take protective measures. Instead, if my work is not for you, I invite you to unfollow me
- I won’t tolerate attempts to erase me or my work nor will I accept intellectually dishonest or personally malicious “arguments”. I believe in my body of work and I will protect it, and myself. That’s part of being a culture-maker.
Want to integrate more of your principles into your business practices?
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Flora
We don`t have to like each other to learn from each other.
We don`t need to be BFFs
or even like each other
for me to respect you and your work.
Affection is a nice bonus. But it`s not a requirement.
There`s a way in which the fetishization of "sisterhood"
-- and the expectation that affection is a precondition for our movements and professional collaborations --
sets us up for disappointment and unnecessary conflict.
If we expect to experience sisterhood...
...if sisterhood is the basis of our movement
...and we find we don`t like our `sister` community members...
...then OF COURSE we will trash, exile and shun them.
We`ll make the people we don`t like the problem, when in fact the real problem is our unrealistic expectation of love-love-love all the time.
You know, `sisterhood`.
Because, once again: we do NOT have to like each other to learn from each other.
And...thank goodness.
Because the `thou shalt be likeable` conditioning that`s drilled into girls and women is one of the things constraining our lives and our voices.
Let`s get free of mandatory gendered likeability, everywhere -- including in our feminist communities.
It`s not about charm.
It`s about a mutual commitment to justice and a future in which we all flourish.
www.kellydiels.com
May 12
***Repeat, Repeat, Repeat***⠀
For years, my biz strategy was to constantly invent new programs and offers -- and then, on top of that, create all new launch material to go with them. ⠀
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Then my folks would graduate and I`d have to invent a new thing for them.
Cue more new instructional content, more new social media posts, more new emails...⠀
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I was always inventing and working and overworking. ⠀
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I always had to deliver a new message. ⠀
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Relatedly: I was always scrambling for cash AND constantly on the verge of burn out.⠀
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But there`s a much easier, and more impactful way to get traction and sales.⠀
⠀
*****Just do one thing and repeat it*****⠀
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Invent one course and all the launch material, and repeat it.
* NO NEW COURSES. Just repeat the same ones.⠀
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* Create a quarterly list-building activity and repeat it.
* The same challenge. The same webinar. The same promo posts and emails. REPEAT THEM.⠀
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* Develop your One True Marketing Message and repeat it, EVERYWHERE.⠀
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* Write a call-to-action for your social media posts and repeat it at the bottom of all of them, like a hemline. ⠀
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That`s how you get known for something. ⠀
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And when you pour ALL your energy into one thing, instead of many things, it grows.⠀
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Instead of rolling 47 rocks up the hill, roll ONE...
...and see how much faster and easier it is to get where you want to go.⠀
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Want to flourish financially in your business without burning out? REPEAT YOURSELF.⠀
⠀
(See this post? I`ve published it many, many, MANY times. REPEAT YOURSELF.)
_____________⠀⠀
www.kellydiels.com
May 10
MONEY, WOMEN AND CARE
At the best of times, and always, there is a cultural expectation that women care.
That women care-give.
That women will lean in & help out & emotionally support & take care of everyone and everything.
On the one hand, that`s WONDERFUL.
Care is the glue that holds our societies, workplaces, families and relationships together. It is precious & ESSENTIAL and we should all be doing it (not just women).
Care & caregiving is one of the most valuable skills anyone can possess and contribute.
And yet...as a society, we devalue it.
We erase it from view.
We download it disproportionately onto the shoulders of women.
We make it a non-negotiable feature of being a woman.
Because this is a foundational belief of our society: that “Woman = uncompensated caregiver" and that women OWE their emotional labour and caregiving to the world.
That belief is present all the time. It`s especially intense during social crisis when the needs of others are multiplied.
That`s why we often see pushback on social media (and in our inboxes, ask me how I know) against women entrepreneurs --especially if you do care work like teaching or coaching -- who have the AUDACITY to promote their work or charge for their services *when people need them most*.
How dare women ask for compensation when our collective unconscious belief about women dictates that they should be *volunteering* their care, time & services?!
If you are a women entrepreneur and receive that kind of pushback or outrage, please note that this is not actually about you, the quality of your work or your prices.
It is about the cultural mandate that women should care for free.
And we get to reject it.
____________________
www.kellydiels.com
image by @broobs.psd
May 5
Time to incubate an idea is essential for output…
...and allowing yourself that time is NOT procrastination.
And actual procrastination — as in, you have the idea fully cooked but do not want to sit your ass down and do it — might not always be a bad thing.
In fact, procrastination can be a source of good information.
In Antifragile, for example, Nassim Nicholas Taleb talks about the value of procrastination for a writer:
“If I defer writing a section, it must be eliminated. This is simple ethics: Why should I try to fool people by writing about a subject for which I feel no natural drive?”
I’ve started using this as a point of discernment.
Sometimes I’ll outline a book or an essay…and then do.not.want.to.write one chapter or section. Often it’s a topic I feel obliged to cover rather than excited to consider.
In those instances, maybe my procrastination is instructive.
Maybe if I don’t want to write about it, maybe it’s not for me to write.
Maybe it doesn’t really need to be written by me nor included in my essay/chapter/blog post/book.
Maybe I need to reclaim and honour my no.
** No maybe about it.**
So now, if I’m procrastinating hard on a topic and it’s not fear of going into hard places but simple nope-don’t-wanna-do-it, I delete that section or chapter or letter and move on to what does interest me and what I DO want to write.
Because procrastination can be GREAT information.
Listen to it. Leverage it.
***
I`m Kelly Diels and I write about women, power and culture-making. Want weekly doses of radical encouragement + make-shit-happen advice? You can subscribe to my #SundayLoveLetter with the link in profile -- and thank you!
#WeAreTheCultureMakers #bossmoves #makers #creatives #writersblock #procrastination #motivation #inspiration #perfectionism #artist #entrepreneur #writerslife #wrotetoday #amwriting #writer #writing #writersofinstagram
May 4
