In Turbulent Times, Small Business Owners Find Resilience In Their Ventures
At the end of the latest Justice League Movie, Lois Lane observes:
“Darkness, truest darkness, is not the absence of light, but the conviction that the light will never return.”
That’s how it felt for many of us the morning of November 9th, 2016, and in the days and months that followed the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States.
It felt like darkness, yes, but worse, it felt like the light was never going to return.
But as I look around me and reflect on 2017, what I see, first of all, is that more of us have come to realize that the election was not a blip in this country’s history but part of the continuum of a long trajectory spanning centuries. For some, the light had never fully shone.
What I also see is that the impact the election had on small online business owners like myself has been powerful and, perhaps surprisingly, moving, inspiring and hopeful.
The initial reaction right after the election spanned shock, grief, despair and paralysis but the business owners I’ve spoken to have managed to allow that experience to catalyze a reconciliation of their work with what they truly believed in, so that they could feel like they were doing something that mattered.
Tara Gentile, founder of CoCommercial, decided to go all in on building a social and professional hub for small business owners online, changing where power lies in our economy and impacting public policy accordingly.
Tanya Geisler, leadership coach and imposter syndrome expert, felt deeply called to bring a community together around her work, whereas previously she had focused on private coaching.
Maya Mathias, peaceful leadership advocate and writing guide, became fueled by a desire to help people become better citizen leaders locally and globally. She created Lead for the World, a magazine and institute for peaceful leadership.
For me, my business has evolved this year from photography coaching to leadership and team development, coaching and consulting with a growing expertise in diversity and inclusion. In response to the election and the increased imperative I feel, I created a new hub for this work online and a separate brand to directly support women in creating their greatest value towards making the world a better place for all without sacrificing themselves or others in the process.
How did this happen?
If I look back to a year ago, it would have been hard to imagine such a positive outcome could result from the debilitating grief so many of us felt right after the election.
And yet, what this outcome speaks to is the resilience of the human spirit that has been demonstrated throughout recorded history in the face of darker times than these.
This understanding raises the question:
What can we, as small online business owners, learn from this particular episode even while it is yet unfolding and unresolved?
What is the relationship between our personal values and beliefs and our business missions and goals? What role does privilege play? How do we best prepare for the work ahead?
And, how can we come to terms with the fact that positive outcomes have resulted from what we experienced and continue to experience as a negative event, one that has caused and will continue to cause suffering and death?
As Tara Gentile admitted, “It’s hard for me to say there have been positive outcomes from the election, and at the same time, in so many ways, my life is so much better 12 months later because of that wake-up call. I’m still horrified by the news on a daily basis, but I’m in a much better place.”
My conversations with a variety of small online business owners from within the CoCommercial community have led me to conclude these are some of the things you can do to use your business to find resilience in turbulent times:
1. Align with your values
The question of how to reconcile your work with your values in the face of a traumatic event is the ultimate “work/life navigation” question. In the wake of the election, for some, personal changes necessitated work changes and, for others, it was the work changes that necessitated personal changes.
It seems the key is to look at your life holistically and align all of the parts of your life to your values, so that instead of having different spheres in your life compete with one another, they can support one another.
I like to think of it as “ending the zero-sum game” in your own life.
While most of the business owners I spoke with integrated their beliefs into their business, this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case.
Brigitte Lyons is founder and CEO at B Think Forward, a forward-thinking PR agency. She and her husband spent a couple of weeks in Nevada right before the election working on voter turnout. Inspired by that work, rather than moving to Spain this year as they had originally planned, now live in North Carolina — a swing state — where they can have a political impact moving forward.
Brigitte is now restructuring her business to allow for her to spend more time volunteering. She told me, “I made personal changes first that necessitated work changes, because I work a lot. So if I was going to follow through on my personal convictions, then my approach to my work had to change. I realize that for many people, their business is their calling, but I’ve never felt that way. I need my work to support my true calling, which is getting involved in community issues, causes and advocacy work, but not in a professional way.”
Lena West, business growth specialist, had a little bit of a different viewpoint from the other women I spoke to. “I don’t allow politics to affect my business,” she told me. “I never have, and never will.
Lena is First Nation, Costa Rican and Creole, and she explained, “I lead my business and my life from a strong Spiritual perspective, and I’m one of the few people who saw this coming because this is what the Elders have always said would happen. It is necessary in order to move forward.”
Lena’s mission to empower women to build sustainability for their families and communities, coupled with her awareness that an event such as this was coming, meant that her business didn’t need to change because it was already “election-ready.” She did not have to question whether what she did in her business really mattered or was aligned with what she believed was most important in the way that many of us did — she already knew that it did.
2. Grapple with your privilege
Let’s be clear — resilience is easier to find when privilege is on your side. At the same time, it can be easy to feel guilty when you know that others are suffering more than you, or when you realize how much you haven’t been seeing.
You don’t have to feel guilty, but you do have to be aware.
As Tanya Geisler said:
“The part that’s been just despicable is to look in the mirror and to see that I just wasn’t paying attention. I wasn’t listening. And wow, I can’t reconcile that, and it’s not mine to reconcile. Do better. Learn better. Listen to your teachers. Dig deeper, and don’t unsee what can’t be unseen.”
Scene on Radio’s 14-part podcast series called Seeing White takes a remarkable journey through the history of race, and specifically whiteness, in the US and is essential, fascinating, heartbreaking, eye-opening listening for anyone who lives, works, has clients, colleagues, friends or family in the US, or are just wondering what is going on here.
3. Prepare for the work ahead
If there’s one thing that has become clear this year, it’s that we need to be ready for the long haul. It’s a prevalent myth that leadership requires sacrifice, but that approach is rarely healthy or sustainable.
Instead, think of yourself as “in training.” The more prepared you are — physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually — the greater your impact can be.
I spoke with Tara about the personal changes that she’s made this past year in order to better prepare for her role, such as exercising, becoming more active, losing weight, eating healthy, and being more disciplined in her daily routine.
“I realized that if I was really going to lean into my company in a whole new way, if I wanted to tell people that we’re helping small business owners grow into economic powerhouses, then I’d better be modeling powerhouse behavior as well. And that meant making sure that I have the capacity to be as powerful, influential, on the ball, and as smart as possible.”
Contributing to making the world a better place for all necessitates protecting our health, energy and resources. When we align with our natural strengths, talents and preferences, we can leverage those resources and increase our contribution exponentially.
4. Come together in community
While I don’t believe that everyone has to “come together” — no one has to work together with those that have and continue to seek to harm them — I do believe that there is an incredible opportunity for collective grief, healing and understanding within communities that are healthy and supportive to its members. The opportunity to listen to and express differing perspectives within brave and courageous communities creates tremendous and important growth and understanding.
One of the reasons resilience has been possible at all is that the election here in the US was a very public event that we all experienced and continue to experience together. Immediately groups organized vigils, protests, marches and community gatherings to process the experience together. One year on, these efforts have not abated.
Jacquette Timmons, financial behaviorist, shared with me that her biggest takeaway for the year has been the need for community, even one as loosely held as the “flash communities” she creates over her monthly dinners.
“I wanted to create a safe space for people to have conversations about money, business and life. I figured that creating an intimate group setting would create the space for people to be open. I’ve been amazed at the transparency that has happened at those dinners when a bunch of strangers come together.”
I asked Tanya Geisler about why she had never created a community around her work before. She reflected:
“I thought, how can I possibly gather community when I don’t have all the answers? And then I realized, no, I’m actually not supposed to have all the answers at all, that’s not what community is. That’s something hierarchical and patriarchal. My idea of community is this collective wisdom, this collective grief, this idea of here’s what’s happening, you’re going to work on this over here, I’m going to work on this over here, who needs what?”
For me, attending the Women’s March in DC the day after the inauguration was an incredible experience of being in community with other like-minded people (although I also acknowledge the limitations of the event). It was a turning point for me as far as processing what had happened, re-energizing and finding hope.
I’ve since become involved with some incredible groups such as Diversity is an Asset, Inclusive Conversations and Racial Justice BK, and I have grounded into the communities I was already part of. When I think back on all the relationships that began and/or deepened this past year, I am blown away.
Compare this to the experience of sexual harassment and abuse, which up until now has been an experience so often forced into the shadows and in many cases experienced entirely alone, or with only a handful of confidantes. Which leads me to…
5. Use your voice
What we’re seeing with the #metoo movement and the combined voices of women speaking up about their experiences with sexual harassment, abuse and assault, is that powerful but abusive men can be held accountable and can fall from power.
What we are also seeing is that — for example, in the defeat of Roy Moore in Alabama — the voices of black and other POC will not be silenced and are instead gaining rising influence.
And in our own way, as online business owners, we have a unique opportunity to use our businesses to amplify our personal and collective voices, to stand up for what we believe in, and to create change.
Nicole Lewis-Keeber has shifted her work to address the impact of trauma and what she sees as a pattern of brilliant women hitting roadblocks in their businesses by recreating unhealthy dynamics from their personal relationships and experiences in their work life.
Jennyann Carthern is an artist, illustrator, and teaching artist opening up a studio called Paint is Thicker Than Water in Northern California. After the election, she realized she could weave together her work with social justice in the field of education with her art classes by focusing on art as an avenue for advocacy.
Meighan O’Toole, business strategist and coach, found herself at a watershed moment in her business because of the election:
“My dream is to help women to talk about women’s issues, to talk about race, to talk about class, to talk about status — all the things that mean a lot to me.”
My hope is that through this collective experience, we get more used to organizing our voices, not only so we can be heard and bring about change at a systemic level, but so we can find resilience for ourselves and all those who have suffered not just from this election but from the hundreds of years of patriarchy and white supremacy that resulted in this election.
I want nothing more than for us to use our talents, skills, experience, expertise and privileges — earned and un-earned — to bring EVERYONE through to the other side where amazing things we never thought were possible can happen.
A year ago, it didn’t just feel dark — it felt like we had lost the conviction that the light would ever return.
We see now that we are the light.
We make the light. We see the light in each other.
What impact has the election had on you, either personally, professionally or both? Whether you are a business owner or work for a larger corporation or organization, I would love to continue this conversation, and I’m looking for people who would be willing to chat further.
If that’s you, please fill out a quick survey, and I’ll be back in touch with more questions.
Alethea Cheng Fitzpatrick is a leadership and team development coach and consultant. Her mission is to help women who are driven to create the greatest value they can towards making the world a better place for all, without sacrificing themselves or others in the process.
An Advanced Certified Coach with the Gaia Project for Women’s Leadership and an MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) certified practitioner, Alethea is also the founder of Photosanity. She was previously a licensed architect with almost 20 years of experience managing workplace strategy and corporate headquarters projects for clients such as Time Warner, Nike, Sony, Nokia, MTV Networks, Aileron, and Alexander McQueen.
Meet smart, savvy, and committed small business owners like Alethea at CoCommercial, the fluff-free social and support network for entrepreneurs online. Click here to learn more.
