How I Add Social Consciousness to My (Kinky) Online Business
Firstly, I’m giving a shout out to one of my awesome biz besties, Kathleen Ventura. She’s the queen of activating intentional and socially conscious driven lives and businesses and is also the inspiration for this post. Do yourself a favor and check out her Facebook group, Intentional Freedom Seekers!
As entrepreneurs, we have our many ups and downs…sometimes fluctuating multiple times in a day. And mostly, it’s all in our heads, our mindset.
Now, more than ever, I’ve come to understand the importance of a strong mindset, because it really can make or break your day. As much as I was taught about entrepreneurship, my courses conveniently left out areas of mental toughness, mindset, and how to have and use the tools and resources to bounce back from a “low”.
So, why am I talking about mindset in a blog post about social consciousness?
Because when I feel down in the dumps, when I feel like nothing in my business is working…and I mean NOTHING…I start to think about the positive impact I’ll have not only on my customers, but for others that aren’t in my first layer of the influential ripple effect.
The icky days that entrepreneurs don’t really like to talk about but all experience? I’ve come to realize that visualizing how I can change people’s lives through a socially conscious business sparks that internal flame to keep going again. #MindsetToybagFTW!
Social consciousness in the simplest sense is being aware of what is happening around you.
It can be as small as what’s happening in your neighborhood to things that are happening globally. Is there something happening in your city/state/province/country that you agree with? Don’t agree with? Makes your blood boil? It doesn’t matter what you choose to be socially conscious about, so long as you care and care enough to take action to make the world a better place than how you found it. Don’t just sit on Facebook or Twitter and rant about it. DO SOMETHING.
Especially as online entrepreneurs, being socially conscious our responsibility.
We have the world in our hands. It’s the Internet! We have the capability to make things go viral and to inspire people to care. We are more than equipped with the ability to spark a movement for positive change. As we grow as leaders in our industries, the onus is on us to rise and create change. As entrepreneurs, when things don’t go right, we don’t give up. We persevere and keep going until we get it right.
You started your online business to see through the amazing life you envisioned for yourself, right? That passion that you put into your business? Think about what amazing things you can do to make the world a better place that’s outside your immediate business influence. Everything counts.
Desires Laid Bare’s Social Consciousness
While Desires Laid Bare helps men and women explore kink through community and education, at the end of the day, its mission comes down to empowering people to live their lives according to their rules by stripping away the shame and guilt (we just happen to activate that through kink and BDSM). It seemed natural to me to align with causes and issues that hindered Desires Laid Bare’s mission. While this is not a complete list of how I incorporate social consciousness into my entrepreneurial life, it’s a start:
Raising awareness that, yes, BDSM can be abusive
Like everything else, kink can go (terribly) wrong. While I’m thankful that Fifty Shades of Grey has brought BDSM and kink to mainstream, it’s a downright inaccurate and unhealthy depiction of the Dominance/submission relationship lifestyle. In many areas of the books and movies, it becomes domestic abuse. My focus here will be on creating free and paid content to educate people against unhealthy D/s (and BDSM as a whole) practices and helping them explore kink in the best way for them.
Donating to causes that combat against obstructing a woman’s right to choose
Desires Laid Bare will be making quarterly contributions to the following causes:
- Planned Parenthood
- National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
- 28 Too Many (Female Genital Mutilation)
“When I feel like nothing in my business is working, I realize that visualizing how I can change people’s lives through a socially conscious business sparks that internal flame to keep going again.”
I’ve always believed strongly for what Planned Parenthood stood for: women should have the information and care they need to live strong, healthy lives and fulfill their dreams — no ceilings, no limits. I volunteered for them for many summers as a teenager and am proud to continue supporting them as an entrepreneur.
Given how BDSM can be abusive when it’s practice unhealthily AND as a domestic violence survivor myself, donating to organizations such as the NCADV hits really close to home. I remember so many details of what my abusive situation was like, and how everything played out when I left the relationship. My heart goes out to the strong survivors who take action to live the best lives they can.
Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is the cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. It’s sole purpose is to control a woman’s sexuality for the benefit of men. It’s still practiced in many parts of Africa today.
5 easy tips to add social consciousness as an online biz owner:
- Start small — I know once you get inspired, you want to do all the things. But, doing all the things also means you get nothing done. And that’s no help to anyone. Pick one to two things you’ll take consistent action on and grow from there.
- Find causes that you’re passionate about — it sounds like a no-brainer, but nothing kills social consciousness than apathy. You’re already doing a million things in your business. If you don’t care, and it’s not a priority to you, social consciousness gets pushed waaaaay down the to-do list (hello Maslow’s Hierarchy!).
- Make it easy to adapt to your business model — whether it be donations, creating a hashtagged social campaign, videos, infographics, blogging, or more, make it easy to execute. If you’re already blogging for your business, raising awareness through writing is easy. If you’re a designer, creating graphics isn’t far-fetched. Film videos for YouTube as a part of your marketing campaign? You get my drift.
- Partner with fellow entrepreneurs — there’s nothing as fun as contributing to causes you both are excited about together! Because awesome things happen when people come together and collaborate.
- Put your social consciousness on your website — no better way to walk your talk AND score bonus points for customers looking for socially conscious businesses. WIN-WIN.
Ready to add some more badassery to your business? Let me know in the comments on how you’re adding social consciousness to your business in the comments below.
If you’re interested in exploring kink but not quite sure how, download my Kink Quickstart Guide to get instant access to fun resources to get your creative juices flowin’.
