Lines in the sand
Four things I am here for and one I am not.
The Sustainable Solopreneur is a weekly-ish newsletter about seasonal, cyclical, supportive business strategy for solopreneurs and creative souls who want more out of life than the status quo, hosted by business coach and strategist Jenni Gritters.
Have you signed up for KNOWN yet? It’s the sneaky little mini program I dropped last week to help you create a mission statement & get in tune with your unique skillsets and energy in the world. There are just two spots left at the time of this writing. Registration closes on the 9th!
With the state of things recently, I wanted to put a stake in the ground related to my work and my beliefs. I feel more certain than ever about what I’m here for and what I’m not, as we move toward a much-needed collective reckoning. This applies to politics, yes. But also to personhood, which is deeply laced into how we run our businesses, too.
Today, this is where I land:
I’m NOT here for AI generated content.
I’m not here to teach you how to replace yourself with AI. I’m not here to optimize you or me, or to make us more efficient. If you want to learn that, you should go elsewhere.
I’m not here to remove the humanity from the creation process, because creation is an essential way that we speak directly to each other’s souls. Do I use AI? A bit! I use it to help me pull themes from transcripts. I use it to help me brainstorm financial decisions. But I do not use AI to speak to the people in my audience who, in my opinion, deserve far more depth and attentiveness, versus filler content that can only be built based on what already exists.
I am here for a higher frequency conversation about work.
This is a conversation that sounds less like victimization, and more like personal empowerment and clear authorship.
I have spent most of my life in the victimization dance, and I know I’m not alone. That one looks like: “This is happening to me! I’m so exhausted and can’t do anything about this! The world is a bully and I’m stuck where I am. It’s all so bad and hard!!!”
It’s not an incorrect dance; it’s true to many of the experiences we’ve all had. But it’s also the path to a deep, dark hole of indecision and confusion. I’d much rather opt into the dance of authorship, the one that says: “Wow, this is hard. But I’m at choice here and even when things are hard, even when it’s inconvenient, I can make a difference in small ways. I can write a new story. I can be brave. I can forgive myself and others. I can choose growth and I can confront my own patterns so there’s more room for me to impact others.”
The world we want to build starts with the micro. What do I mean by that? It starts with the world within each of us.
I am here for watching leaders admit when they’re wrong.
I’m here for allowing myself to be wrong, too— for bringing questions to this space that I don’t have ideal answers to, for proposing big ideas and visions even when I don’t have the “how” perfectly figured out. I’m here for being messy as I step out and go first, and I’m working hard to accept the part of myself that’s scared. I’m not making her wrong anymore for her insecurity. I’m learning to love even what feels unloveable within me.
I am here for depth.
Not scalability. DEPTH. Intimacy. Holding hands as we walk towards your power and your dreams (which also happens to be my power and my dream).
I’m here for creating a business where I get to know everyone I serve. I’m here for helping you figure out your soul’s work, even if that feels like a lofty thing to advertise on a website landing page.
I’ve run an “online business” for years but I’ve never followed “the rules” because I was always more interested in actually getting to know people. Real, human people! Not customers. Not individuals caught in funnels. Not by luring you in with promises to fix you. Just a partnership of co-creation that accelerates your momentum and provides the support you need on those shaky walks along the canyon edges.
Finally, I am here for nuance.
I’m here for the realization that we need both fire and water. I’m here for the divine masculine and the divine feminine. I’m here for understanding that fundamentals can be helpful in business but they can also keep us stuck past a certain point. I’m here to teach us all that we need money and focusing too hard on it will drown you.
I’m here for the reminder that two things can be true at once, even though that’s really, incredibly complicated to accept.
I’m here for security in tragedy and joy in grief and clarity in breakdown.
This week, I am here to remind you that you get to draw your own lines in the sand, too. You get to say: I am not here for this presidency. I am not here for choosing money over human lives. I am not here for these decisions. I am not here for division or taking your unprocessed trauma out on everyone around you.
You run a business! Which means you have a space that you’ve built, where you can take a clear stand, where you can make a big difference.
Honestly, business requires this now: This clarity, this bravery, this resonance. When you follow the crowd, you mute your power. We’re just not doing that anymore.
xo,
Jenni
Curious about my background? I’m a writer and business coach living in Central Oregon. My goal is to teach everyone who will listen that it’s possible to build a simple, stable, successful business that supports your human needs first. Join my group coaching program, SUSTAIN, for more conversations like this (and a community of people who are all about the path less taken), or follow me on LinkedIn & Instagram.
This one is FIRE, Jenni! Loved every word.