It would not be exaggerating to say that I've been a bad, bad blogger. It's been over two months since my last post! Two months! Good grief, woman! I can blame at least part of it on holiday craziness, as my last post was December 16. But since then? I can blame it on an adorable little four-footed critter named Frida. Lemme 'splain.
See, I am A Dog Person(TM). I love just about anything with four feet and fur, but dogs hold a special place in my heart like nothing else. I had a wonderful dog from somewhere around age six until we had to put her to sleep when I was 18 due to congestive heart failure, after which I cried harder and longer than I ever have in my life, before or since. Since then, there has been a dog-shaped hole in my heart which periodic encounters with other people's dogs could only make more poignant. I've been meaning to get a dog for years now, but the time and circumstances never seemed right.
Early this year, all that changed when I adopted a rescued Bodeguero from Mallorca, who'd been given a new lease on life by a German dog rescue called Beschützer Instinkte ("protective instinct"). Apparently when Germans go to the Mediterranean or Eastern Europe on vacation, they abscond with homeless and mistreated dogs, to which I say "Go Germans!". She had been brought back to Germany by a delightful young woman named Sarah who'd gotten her own dog there five years ago, and who's successfully fostered a couple dogs since then. Sarah named her Frida for Frida Kahlo (Spanish, Mexican, close enough, right? :P), and then advertised her on Quoka.de, which seems to be the local equivalent of Craigslist.
Frida is a delightful dog, despite clearly having had a rough patch in life. She's an absolute charmer, to the extent that she's won over the two avowed Cat People she lives with besides me (though at 5 kg / 11 lbs., I've known and owned several cats larger than she is!). Christian adores playing and snuggling with her, and Lars is having a blast teaching her commands. She's super-smart, amazingly snuggly, and having had food security issues in her past, very easy to motivate with treats. Her only major downside, now that we've got the housebreaking issues mostly sorted out, is that she has a hardcore case of separation anxiety, and I am her Mommy-Security-Blanket-Person like WHOA. Add that to the fact that big city noises and experiences like public transit are very new and scary for her, and I've been seriously housebound in the last month and a half. Hence calling Frida my "anti-assistant". Gratuitous cute pictures of me with dog can be found here.
She's gradually getting better, but it's slow going. I passed off my ticket to go see Pirates of the Caribbean live at the Gasteig again tonight, since she's not ready to spend three hours without me even with a dog sitter. I cancelled plans to go to Berlin with Christian this weekend since no way in hell she's ready to be separated from me for a weekend. The only reason I'm not in a panic about our plans for Paris at the end of March is that Sarah has kindly agreed to dog-sit Frida then, and hopefully I'll get her to do so again in June when we go to New York.
Yup, you read that right: Paris and New York! Oh my goodness gracious, people! I've been through both cities just to travel via the airports (actually on the same trip, now that I think about it), but I've never actually been IN either city! I'm totally stoked! Where do I go plus-size shopping, folks?? Clue me in!
On the business front, things have been slow going even for reasons other than Frida. Thanks to my having SAD (or "winter depression" as it's so aptly called in all the other Germanic languages), this is my lethargic, low-energy time of the year. While it's SO much better here than it was in Denmark, it's still been like pulling teeth to make myself get stuff done. Also, I will confess, I'm a bit of a video game addict. While many of my friends have been playing Skyrim, which would be like heroin for me, I've been making do with my methadone version by playing the deluxe version of Oblivion, the previous title in the Elder Scrolls series. And I really have to say, playing any video game while using the projector to create a two-meter "monitor screen" on the south wall of our living room KICKS EVER-LOVING ASS! Ahem. That said, I haven't been spending all of my time gaming, which makes Lars very proud of me.
There's also been a major hiccup on the workshop front. Ingrid, the woman I rent from, had a small stroke or aneurysm in her brain shortly after I started renting from her, and it has left her with a jag in her visual field that's made it impossible to continue making jewelry, the poor love. With a heavy heart, she's decided to close her studio and not renew her lease on her workshop, which means I'm out of a space as of March 31st. In truth, though, it was too far away to be practical, so this is really a blessing in disguise. I'm sincerely considering a space in Kultfabrik, which is close enough to be a single bus ride and roughly 7 minute walk away (or upwards of 15 minutes in deep snow with a recalcitrant dog, but I digress), and easy biking distance once the weather clears up. The one major downside is that it's too big and expensive for my current needs, so I'll have to find a subletter for part of it, but that's not looking too impossible.
I've been working with my fantastic graphic designer on spiffy graphics for the web version of my body type survey, so hopefully the site can go live in a month or so. I'm really looking forward to having data to look at. Data is so much fun! Sue and I are working on a customizable plus-size knee sock knitting pattern, and I've been having a blast collecting and looking at the data just for feet, ankles, calves, and knees, so I can't wait to start working with whole bodies!
I've also been working on making some plus-size croquis drawings to design over. For those not familiar with the term, a croquis (or "crokey" as it's often written online by design students who've only heard it said and never seen it spelled) is a line drawing of a body that you can use as a two-dimensional mannequin to design garments on. Plus size versions are virtually unknown. Therefore, I've been gathering pictures of diverse fat bodies, from nude or nearly-nude models on Adipositivity, to actual plus-size models via Plus Model Magazine, to pictures of large-bodied female athletes. Since I'm no great shakes at drawing people from reality, and even less so at drawing them from my imagination, I'm tracing images to make myself a bunch of different croquis drawings to work from. They're turning out remarkably well, given that my hands shake!
All in all, I hope to be getting my butt in gear soon, and making 2012 the year that things really start happening with my business. Sorry again for the long silence!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Friday, December 16, 2011
Adventures of an Accidental Fat-shion Designer: An employee of sorts!
I've been altogether too bad about updating my blog lately, but in my defense, life keeps interfering.
Fantastic bit of news, however: I now have an employee of sorts! Sue is an Australian woman about 15 years older than me, who given when she grew up and where she went to school, had to take 5 years of sewing in school, including fitting and pattern drafting. She has mad skills that have been in practice since she was quite young, as she was the oldest of seven kids, and her mom sewed and knit out of necessity. She's been coming out to the workshop with me a couple days a week (when I haven't been sick), and has the great advantage of being willing to work for things like custom-made clothing and yarn out of my stash, at least until my business actually has customers.
Having someone to be responsible to and for is also helping me a lot with motivation to get out to the workshop and do stuff, plus there's a lot of things in garment construction where an experienced second pair of hands is just invaluable. I'm positive Sue will be an unimaginably great asset to my business!
Fantastic bit of news, however: I now have an employee of sorts! Sue is an Australian woman about 15 years older than me, who given when she grew up and where she went to school, had to take 5 years of sewing in school, including fitting and pattern drafting. She has mad skills that have been in practice since she was quite young, as she was the oldest of seven kids, and her mom sewed and knit out of necessity. She's been coming out to the workshop with me a couple days a week (when I haven't been sick), and has the great advantage of being willing to work for things like custom-made clothing and yarn out of my stash, at least until my business actually has customers.
Having someone to be responsible to and for is also helping me a lot with motivation to get out to the workshop and do stuff, plus there's a lot of things in garment construction where an experienced second pair of hands is just invaluable. I'm positive Sue will be an unimaginably great asset to my business!
Friday, November 4, 2011
BookBlog: Time & Money
This is my first installment in a series on my blog which basically consists of book reports, though nowhere near as formal and organized as the ones you had to do in school. Though I’ve always been widely read, my foray into entrepreneurship has had me delving into the business section at the bookstore for the first time in my life, and I’m learning many new things that I want to remember and share.
My first BookBlog is on Time & Money: How to Spend the Rest of Your Life, by Sonja Becker and Martin Sage. You may recall this from a previous entry as the book I was supposed to sell as a part of my participation in the JCP. While the book is deeply flawed, it is not totally without merit, and does pose some questions that are useful for focusing my goals, which I will answer here.
What are my values?
What is my mission?
My first BookBlog is on Time & Money: How to Spend the Rest of Your Life, by Sonja Becker and Martin Sage. You may recall this from a previous entry as the book I was supposed to sell as a part of my participation in the JCP. While the book is deeply flawed, it is not totally without merit, and does pose some questions that are useful for focusing my goals, which I will answer here.
What are my values?
- Improving the lives of women, both those close to me and those in the wider world.
- Improving the lives of people I care about by helping them to become the best versions of themselves that they can be.
- Helping fat women of all shapes and sizes to look and feel great about themselves, outside and inside.
- To protect and improve the environment by striving to live and work sustainably.
- To take care of my physical, mental, and emotional health so I do not become a burden on those I love.
- To create a comfortable, welcoming home for myself and my loved ones, so that it nurtures and recharges us, and creates a positive feelings for the friends and family who visit us for shorter or longer periods.
- To strive to be the best version of myself that I can be through self-knowledge and self-improvement.
What is my mission?
- To help big, fat, and in-betweenie women to look and feel fabulous.
- To create a company that is consistent with my values, which will positively impact the lives of both my customers and my employees.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Adventures of an Accidental Fat-shion Designer: DSD Reunion
Last weekend I went up to Denmark for the student reunion party at the Scandinavian Design College which, as those of you not associated with DSD may recall, is where I spent three months in fall of 2010 in the Fashion & Textile program. Had Lars not gotten the job with Google in Munich, I probably would have been there all year, but even just those three months were amazingly rich with learning and networking and making friends, even though I was about 15 years older on average than most of my classmates.
The reunion was a great deal of fun, though probably even more so for the younger folks (after all, I can't really drink much anymore, which puts a bit of a kibosh on any serious partying). I spent a fun bit of time getting a cartooning lesson from my friend Christoffer, though he runs such circles around me that I may end up just hiring him later to make the cartoony characters I want for using in my business materials. I also spent nice amount of time in creative collaboration with my friend Anna Vester, a fantastically talented young graphic designer whom I've hired to design my logo and related materials. Not only did I discover that she actually feels personally invested in my project, since most of the women on her mom's side of the family fit in my target demographic, but she also brought some fantastic feedback and ideas to the whole branding and logo aspect of my business.
To whit, one major sea change: I've decided not to call my label "Queen in my Own Mind", though I'll keep my blog address as such for now (after all, until such point as I start doing work for clients, my business really is "in my own mind", and the whole idea of being "queen in my own mind" works nicely for the fashion-diva persona I'll need to cultivate if I want to make it big in this business, no pun intended). After considering Anna Vester's feedback and ideas, and then brainstorming a bit, I've decided that my primary design brand will be called "Queen Margaret", and my re-designs will naturally be "Queen Margaret II".
I'm really happy with this change of track for a number of reasons, not least of which for sounding more serious and having more gravitas, but also since there are and have been some fantastic Queen Margarets through history, and Margaret is not only my name, but the name of my beloved favorite aunt, who was in turn named for my great-grandmother (and there may be more Margarets further back; I actually don't know). It fits very nicely with my plan to have my logo look something like a royal monogram (AV is excited about all the possibilities that Q gives as a letter). I can't wait to see what she comes up with!
The reunion was a great deal of fun, though probably even more so for the younger folks (after all, I can't really drink much anymore, which puts a bit of a kibosh on any serious partying). I spent a fun bit of time getting a cartooning lesson from my friend Christoffer, though he runs such circles around me that I may end up just hiring him later to make the cartoony characters I want for using in my business materials. I also spent nice amount of time in creative collaboration with my friend Anna Vester, a fantastically talented young graphic designer whom I've hired to design my logo and related materials. Not only did I discover that she actually feels personally invested in my project, since most of the women on her mom's side of the family fit in my target demographic, but she also brought some fantastic feedback and ideas to the whole branding and logo aspect of my business.
To whit, one major sea change: I've decided not to call my label "Queen in my Own Mind", though I'll keep my blog address as such for now (after all, until such point as I start doing work for clients, my business really is "in my own mind", and the whole idea of being "queen in my own mind" works nicely for the fashion-diva persona I'll need to cultivate if I want to make it big in this business, no pun intended). After considering Anna Vester's feedback and ideas, and then brainstorming a bit, I've decided that my primary design brand will be called "Queen Margaret", and my re-designs will naturally be "Queen Margaret II".
I'm really happy with this change of track for a number of reasons, not least of which for sounding more serious and having more gravitas, but also since there are and have been some fantastic Queen Margarets through history, and Margaret is not only my name, but the name of my beloved favorite aunt, who was in turn named for my great-grandmother (and there may be more Margarets further back; I actually don't know). It fits very nicely with my plan to have my logo look something like a royal monogram (AV is excited about all the possibilities that Q gives as a letter). I can't wait to see what she comes up with!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
BizBlog: Wailea Update
Today I emailed Wailea with links to my blog entries, as well as my list of demands (release from contract, refund for the non-completed portion of the program, re-purchasing of the books I still have, and the same terms extended to Lilly if she wants them). I got this reply from Sonja's husband, who runs her vanity press:
Subj: Fristlose Kündigung des Jahrescoac
Subj: Fristlose Kündigung des Jahrescoac
Sehr geehrte Frau Blake,
der Sokrates Verlag gibt Ihnen hiermit bekannt das Vertragsverhältnis Ihrer Teilnahme am Jahrescoachingprogramm nach § 6 unserer AGB's mit sofortiger Wirkung wegen geschäftsschädigendem Boykottaufruf zu kündigen.
Wir behalten uns ausdrücklich vor rechtliche Schritte gegen Sie einzuleiten im Wiederholungsfall und Sie wegen Schadenersatz zu verklagen. Ebenfalls erfüllen Ihre geschäftsschädigenden Aussagen und Androhungen den Straftatbestand der Verleumung.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Volker Wendel
Geschäftsführer
I took down my second entry, since I hadn't run that one past a lawyer. I got the primary thing I wanted, which was termination of my contract. It remains to be seen whether I'll get any money back; really, I'm not holding my breath.
Monday, October 24, 2011
BizBlog: Coaching and Selling
EDIT EX POST FACTO: People associated with Wailea’s JCP have tried to get me to remove this post. After consulting with legal counsel, I am convinced that my post is fully within the sort of speech protected by Article 5 of the German Basic Law (‘Everyone has the right to freely express and disseminate his opinion in speech, writing, and pictures and to freely inform himself from generally accessible sources.’), by virtue of being my opinion, and in no way libelous towards the named parties herein. Therefore, my post will remain on my blog, and I will not remove it.
On the urging of my very convincing friend Johanna, I signed up for a Coaching Day event offered in April by Wailea GmbH, the firm of Sonja Becker. It featured not only Sonja but Johanna’s coach, Irene Xander. Sonja is the author of “Die Chefin” (The [Female] Boss), and apparently something of a giant in the German business coaching world (among others, she has coached Joschka Fischer, the former German Foreign Minister).
I was definitely at a very different place from all of my fellow participants, most of whom were still grappling with issues like “what do I want to do?”, “what is my bliss?”, etc. I actually presented an overview of what I burn for doing right now, and got feedback and suggestions on how to get there. Since it was only the day before that the DH and I found the money in our budget to supply me with 500€ in seed money, I hadn’t yet figured out how to go from there to my goal of opening a shop in a couple years. Getting that suggestion (namely holding fashion parties, which I inevitably will refer to as FAT-shion parties), as well as all the lovely food they provided throughout the day was well worth the 150€ for the workshop.
After that, however, Irene started trying really, really hard to get me to commit to the one-month-long, 10,000€ High Performance Leadership in May. I wasn’t keen on it at all, especially given that no way in hell do we have the money now. I especially resented her attempts to brush off my statement that, even if I were interested, I’d need to discuss matters with Lars before committing to a sum that large. I told her that I needed to do steps A, B, and C on my own, but when I was ready for step D, I’d get in touch. I’m still considering one of the HPLTs in New York as a way to expand into the American market, but not until I’ve already got a foothold in the German market and some online sales made overseas.
A while later, I found out that Johanna’s wife Beate (whose artistic name is Lilly Springer, of Prachtvoll Tattoo and Gallery, and my personal tattoo artist) is participating in Wailea’s Jahrescoachingprogramm (Year-long Coaching Program). I expressed some interest, not fully understanding what it was, which eventually got back to Irene, who called me. She invited me to come as a guest to the program the following Thursday. I discussed the program, insofar as I knew anything about it at that point, with Lars and Christian, and I pre-secured Christian’s approval to front me the 1800€ for the program. When I went for the guest evening, I really liked the energy I got from the group, even though I still wasn’t sure what all the program was about. I was also concerned by how many of the other participants, when introducing themselves, described themselves as coaches or trainers.
I decided to take the chance and sign up for the program, at which point I noticed an additional cost I hadn’t seen before: 150€ a month for 10 wholesale copies of books by Sonja Becker, which we were to sell at 30€ apiece. Of course, should we sell only half, we break even; if we sell all of them, we make enough for the cost of the program itself. Additionally, we can sell other Wailea coaching products, from the fairly inexpensive Coaching Day up through the exceedingly expensive HPLTs, for a 10% commission. I wish I hadn’t signed the contract at that point, but I did, so now I’m stuck with it. I did, at least, arrange with Irene that I could sell Sonja’s old book “Time and Money: How to Spend the Rest of Your Life” that she co-wrote with her mentor, since it’s available in English. It sounds like “Die Chefin” will be available in translation soon as well, so I’ll have that title to sell to my English-speaking networks as well. But I’m not keen about the whole situation of having to shell out money for books I either sell or am stuck with.
Here’s the thing about me and selling. When I believe in something and I’m passionate about it, I’m a natural salesperson. I just talk about things I’m excited about and people get excited with me; like my plans with my designs and Body Brilliance: when I talk with women in my target market, they want to sign on and buy stuff with me. Ever since I got my tattoos, I’ve become Lilly’s #2 word-of-mouth marketer after Johanna. I talk up cool Google services and products all the time, even though Google doesn’t pay me anything. My home looks like an ad for IKEA. According to a book I’m reading now (more on that later, as I plan to start a “Book Report” category on this blog as well), this is just the nature of how women function in the market economy: we want to be viewed by our friends and loved ones as indispensible, and one of the ways we do this is by being a reliable source of good information.
If I don’t believe in something, and I’m not passionate about it, it’s like pulling teeth to get me to sell it, and I feel icky inside, like I’ve compromised my integrity. I can’t fake a smile; it’ll reach my cheeks, but never my eyes. I can’t fake excitement about something I’m little more than doubtful about, either. I’m just as likely to give you a long list of my concerns and critiques as I am to give you a list of its positives, as my chronic depression engenders as a side effect a fairly pronounced pessimistic streak, in contrast to my “natural” optimism.
And when it comes to Wailea, I’m not yet a believer. Additionally, I have a fair amount of trouble believing in “Time & Money” as well. The book reads as if it was translated from German by a non-professional translator, it’s typeset in a way that screams “fluff” (large font, large spaces between paragraphs, etc.), and although there is some truly good soft-skill information in there, there’s also a whole lot of things that made me want to throw it across the room. I can’t sell something I can’t stand behind, and I can’t stand behind this book! I have yet to sell a single one; all the copies I’ve gotten rid of are ones I gave away.
After signing up for the JCP, I found out that there’s a different program I probably should have signed up for, namely their “Entrepreneur School”. From what I’ve read about the course, it certainly sounds more like something that would be useful for me right now. It is, however, slightly more expensive, and I sure as hell don’t want to try to do it on top of the JCP. I plan to make inquiries as to whether I can transfer my payment from the JCP to the Entrepreneur School, but I’m not holding my breath that they’ll let me.
I really hope this doesn’t just turn out to be a costly mistake...
On the urging of my very convincing friend Johanna, I signed up for a Coaching Day event offered in April by Wailea GmbH, the firm of Sonja Becker. It featured not only Sonja but Johanna’s coach, Irene Xander. Sonja is the author of “Die Chefin” (The [Female] Boss), and apparently something of a giant in the German business coaching world (among others, she has coached Joschka Fischer, the former German Foreign Minister).
I was definitely at a very different place from all of my fellow participants, most of whom were still grappling with issues like “what do I want to do?”, “what is my bliss?”, etc. I actually presented an overview of what I burn for doing right now, and got feedback and suggestions on how to get there. Since it was only the day before that the DH and I found the money in our budget to supply me with 500€ in seed money, I hadn’t yet figured out how to go from there to my goal of opening a shop in a couple years. Getting that suggestion (namely holding fashion parties, which I inevitably will refer to as FAT-shion parties), as well as all the lovely food they provided throughout the day was well worth the 150€ for the workshop.
After that, however, Irene started trying really, really hard to get me to commit to the one-month-long, 10,000€ High Performance Leadership in May. I wasn’t keen on it at all, especially given that no way in hell do we have the money now. I especially resented her attempts to brush off my statement that, even if I were interested, I’d need to discuss matters with Lars before committing to a sum that large. I told her that I needed to do steps A, B, and C on my own, but when I was ready for step D, I’d get in touch. I’m still considering one of the HPLTs in New York as a way to expand into the American market, but not until I’ve already got a foothold in the German market and some online sales made overseas.
A while later, I found out that Johanna’s wife Beate (whose artistic name is Lilly Springer, of Prachtvoll Tattoo and Gallery, and my personal tattoo artist) is participating in Wailea’s Jahrescoachingprogramm (Year-long Coaching Program). I expressed some interest, not fully understanding what it was, which eventually got back to Irene, who called me. She invited me to come as a guest to the program the following Thursday. I discussed the program, insofar as I knew anything about it at that point, with Lars and Christian, and I pre-secured Christian’s approval to front me the 1800€ for the program. When I went for the guest evening, I really liked the energy I got from the group, even though I still wasn’t sure what all the program was about. I was also concerned by how many of the other participants, when introducing themselves, described themselves as coaches or trainers.
I decided to take the chance and sign up for the program, at which point I noticed an additional cost I hadn’t seen before: 150€ a month for 10 wholesale copies of books by Sonja Becker, which we were to sell at 30€ apiece. Of course, should we sell only half, we break even; if we sell all of them, we make enough for the cost of the program itself. Additionally, we can sell other Wailea coaching products, from the fairly inexpensive Coaching Day up through the exceedingly expensive HPLTs, for a 10% commission. I wish I hadn’t signed the contract at that point, but I did, so now I’m stuck with it. I did, at least, arrange with Irene that I could sell Sonja’s old book “Time and Money: How to Spend the Rest of Your Life” that she co-wrote with her mentor, since it’s available in English. It sounds like “Die Chefin” will be available in translation soon as well, so I’ll have that title to sell to my English-speaking networks as well. But I’m not keen about the whole situation of having to shell out money for books I either sell or am stuck with.
Here’s the thing about me and selling. When I believe in something and I’m passionate about it, I’m a natural salesperson. I just talk about things I’m excited about and people get excited with me; like my plans with my designs and Body Brilliance: when I talk with women in my target market, they want to sign on and buy stuff with me. Ever since I got my tattoos, I’ve become Lilly’s #2 word-of-mouth marketer after Johanna. I talk up cool Google services and products all the time, even though Google doesn’t pay me anything. My home looks like an ad for IKEA. According to a book I’m reading now (more on that later, as I plan to start a “Book Report” category on this blog as well), this is just the nature of how women function in the market economy: we want to be viewed by our friends and loved ones as indispensible, and one of the ways we do this is by being a reliable source of good information.
If I don’t believe in something, and I’m not passionate about it, it’s like pulling teeth to get me to sell it, and I feel icky inside, like I’ve compromised my integrity. I can’t fake a smile; it’ll reach my cheeks, but never my eyes. I can’t fake excitement about something I’m little more than doubtful about, either. I’m just as likely to give you a long list of my concerns and critiques as I am to give you a list of its positives, as my chronic depression engenders as a side effect a fairly pronounced pessimistic streak, in contrast to my “natural” optimism.
And when it comes to Wailea, I’m not yet a believer. Additionally, I have a fair amount of trouble believing in “Time & Money” as well. The book reads as if it was translated from German by a non-professional translator, it’s typeset in a way that screams “fluff” (large font, large spaces between paragraphs, etc.), and although there is some truly good soft-skill information in there, there’s also a whole lot of things that made me want to throw it across the room. I can’t sell something I can’t stand behind, and I can’t stand behind this book! I have yet to sell a single one; all the copies I’ve gotten rid of are ones I gave away.
After signing up for the JCP, I found out that there’s a different program I probably should have signed up for, namely their “Entrepreneur School”. From what I’ve read about the course, it certainly sounds more like something that would be useful for me right now. It is, however, slightly more expensive, and I sure as hell don’t want to try to do it on top of the JCP. I plan to make inquiries as to whether I can transfer my payment from the JCP to the Entrepreneur School, but I’m not holding my breath that they’ll let me.
I really hope this doesn’t just turn out to be a costly mistake...
My Social Values as a Businesswoman
First and foremost, I will never, ever sell a product or service that I cannot stand behind. I have a very strong personal sense of ethics and integrity, and I will never run my business in such a way that I am not in accordance with them.
Furthermore:
1. I will never seek to have a standard of living beyond upper middle class. The greater my income, the greater a portion of my income I will dedicate to charitable giving, social business endowment, microfinance lending, entrepreneurship grants, and scholarship endowments. The only reason I've ever wanted wealth beyond simple financial independence would be for the purposes of becoming a philanthropist.
2. I will always give back to my customers, and encourage and assist them in giving back to their communities.
3. I will always give back to my employees through surplus-sharing, and will encourage and assist them in giving back to their communities.
4. The aim of my compan(y/ies) will not be maximizing profit, but maximizing empowerment of women, both locally and globally. Any surplus not shared with employees or re-invested in the company will be dedicated to the same purposes mentioned in #1.
5. I will operate my company with maximum fiscal transparency, so that any employee or customer who wishes to do so can ascertain that I am running my compan(y/ies) with integrity and in accordance with my principles.
6. I will never, ever sell my customers' data to a third party. If a third party vendor wants to sell to my customers, and I find their product or service relevant to my customer base and worth selling, I will either make it available in my brick-and-mortar shop or make them a partner on my website(s).
I was particularly inspired by a book I randomly picked up from the business section at Hugendubel Bookshop, which harkened quite a lot back to my co-op days. The book is entitled "Social Business" by Muhammed Yunus, creator of Grameen Bank and 2006 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. I have chosen to espouse the principles he recommends for all businesses.
1. I will not make this "world a riskier place than it would be without the business in it". (p.9)
2. My business "will contribute to making the planet safer than it would have been without the business". (p.10)
3. My business "will be conducted within the framework of social and political responsibilities established by the state and local authorities". (p.10)
4. I will never make a profit at the expense of the poor. (p.13)
Furthermore:
1. I will never seek to have a standard of living beyond upper middle class. The greater my income, the greater a portion of my income I will dedicate to charitable giving, social business endowment, microfinance lending, entrepreneurship grants, and scholarship endowments. The only reason I've ever wanted wealth beyond simple financial independence would be for the purposes of becoming a philanthropist.
2. I will always give back to my customers, and encourage and assist them in giving back to their communities.
3. I will always give back to my employees through surplus-sharing, and will encourage and assist them in giving back to their communities.
4. The aim of my compan(y/ies) will not be maximizing profit, but maximizing empowerment of women, both locally and globally. Any surplus not shared with employees or re-invested in the company will be dedicated to the same purposes mentioned in #1.
5. I will operate my company with maximum fiscal transparency, so that any employee or customer who wishes to do so can ascertain that I am running my compan(y/ies) with integrity and in accordance with my principles.
6. I will never, ever sell my customers' data to a third party. If a third party vendor wants to sell to my customers, and I find their product or service relevant to my customer base and worth selling, I will either make it available in my brick-and-mortar shop or make them a partner on my website(s).
I was particularly inspired by a book I randomly picked up from the business section at Hugendubel Bookshop, which harkened quite a lot back to my co-op days. The book is entitled "Social Business" by Muhammed Yunus, creator of Grameen Bank and 2006 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. I have chosen to espouse the principles he recommends for all businesses.
1. I will not make this "world a riskier place than it would be without the business in it". (p.9)
2. My business "will contribute to making the planet safer than it would have been without the business". (p.10)
3. My business "will be conducted within the framework of social and political responsibilities established by the state and local authorities". (p.10)
4. I will never make a profit at the expense of the poor. (p.13)
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