I believe that our businesses can be tools of healing, rather than of harm. That our medicine isn’t just the herbs we work with or the modalities we share, but that healing – along with all of our values and ethics – can be infused into the bones of our business practices.
And while my own practices are an unfolding work in progress, I wanted to share a few ways I do this.
Money
- I don’t have a huge team or a big budget, but I make sure to pay at minimum $25/hour to the people who assist me.
- I donate $100/month to various organizations as a member of the FLORET Coalition, a anti-racist collective of small businesses in the cannabis and cannabis-adjacent space supporting and funding equity-oriented actions via monthly donations and social campaigns. I also donate to additional projects as need arises and funds allow.
- I also donate a portion of all cannabis-related course sales to the Last Prisoner Project, a national, nonpartisan non-profit organization dedicated to cannabis criminal justice reform.
- When I invite guest teachers to offer a workshop, I pay them a fair and equitable base rate plus half of any additional profit generated from ticket sales. If their workshop recording is then included in a course, I pay them a licensing fee every time the course is offered live.
- Whenever possible, I strive to invest in apps, software, and other service providers that are founded/owned by marginalized people and/or whose business practices and values align with my own.
Politics
My flavor of anti-capitalism strives to be generative and kind, not judgmental or dogmatic. I understand that because we are living – and have to survive – within oppressive systems, there can be no perfect solutions, perfect businesses, or perfect people. However, I believe that with creativity and compassion for ourselves and each other, we can iterate new ways of doing business more aligned with our values.
I believe we need more folks from the margins being seen, heard, and financially supported for their work. To that end, I prioritize working with women*, nonbinary/genderqueer, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC clients.
I strive to create a culture of sharing pronouns in my group programs and spaces, and of being mindful and respectful of others’ genders and pronouns.
I acknowledge that I am living, working, and writing on the stolen lands of the Abenaki people, and that none of the work we do with plants can be separated from the violence that has happened – and still happens – to original inhabitants of the land we are on.
I do not work with white entrepreneurs who sell white sage, palo santo, or any other plants considered sacred to indigenous cultures. I also do not work with white-owned businesses who use culturally appropriative or offensive language in their marketing or branding. That being said, if this is something you currently do – or aren’t sure if you’re doing – I’d be more than happy to connect and have a shame-free conversation about it (because hey, we’re all learning here).
* In using the term women I include both cis and trans women.
Marketing
- I strive not to use language or strategies in my marketing that are shame-inducing, fear-inducing, trauma-poking, or otherwise manipulative or intentionally dysregulating to our nervous systems. I believe our businesses can be tools of personal and collective healing, and engaging in that kind of marketing compromises that potential.
- I don’t wish to participate in the tracking, collection, and sale of your personal data. To that end I currently choose not to buy any paid advertisements from Google, Facebook, Instagram, or other large platforms. Instead I invest my advertising dollars in smaller media outlets and paying individuals in my network who share my offers via affiliate marketing.
Accessibility
The cannabis industry is booming right now, in large part due to decades of racism, classism, prohibition, and mass incarceration. Services and opportunities within this industry, however, are often made inaccessible for many people, often the same groups who have been most harmed by the war on drugs.
The herbal industry also mirrors this same trend, with it being much easier for those with privilege to navigate the creation and growth of an herbal business, despite the fact that herbs historically and currently have been the medicine of the less privileged.
While it falls far short of addressing the root of these larger systemic problems, I offer shame-free discounts on all my services and programs to marginalized folks with financial need. With no applications to be verified or conditions to be met, it relies on trust, self-reflection, and honesty – qualities that we are being increasingly called on to cultivate as we build a more just and sustainable world.
I also offer payment plans (and extended payment plans) without tacking on additional charges for making use of them, since doing so unfairly penalizes those who are least able to afford it.
Navigating Solidarity Discounts
Context: Setting prices for things is not something we are taught how to do, and is difficult to do without understanding the relative privilege of both parties involved. So some context: I am a white, cisgender, able-bodied, pansexual witch as well as a mother of a seven-year old. I grew up low-income and was the first in my family to graduate from college. As I had access to need-based scholarships, I have less college debt than most people. Last year (2021) I took home $40,000 from my business, which is pretty much the most money I’ve ever made in my life. Combined with my partner’s modest income we use this money to support our daughter and our community, as well as to care for extended family members who are unable to work.
Guidance: I offer discounts in solidarity, not because I don’t need the money. In requesting a discount, then, I ask that you consider your racial privilege, relative earning potential, and access to financial support from your family/network, even if you currently have financial need. If you are able to pay the suggested price or higher, I ask that you do so, as these funds allow me to continue offering this work and enable those who cannot pay full price to have access to my offerings.
Want to grow your business sustainably while infusing it with your values – and more healing?
Check out The Greenhouse: a 6 month coaching container for values-driven herbal and cannabis entrepreneurs who want to grow flourishing businesses without selling out.
(next cohort enrolling January 2023)
