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Joe Martino's avatar

This is a useful framework for sure, thanks for laying out your brain map on this. I came to very similar conclusions in my first business years ago and made adjustments accordingly. I created writings and videos around personal transformation that could lead to societal transformation back in 2009. But by 2012 I decided the message wasn't really 'sticking' with where culture was focused. I made an adjustment that pushed 'the message' into the background and instead focused on more culturally popular ideas and it exploded to become in the top 1000 websites in the world and a multi-million a year in revenue business. I still heard stories from thousands of people that our work helps 'change their lives,' but I was never really sure by how much as a result of how we changed our business appearance.

That said, so many topics we spoke about on the internet years ago (as they were more so in books prior) are huge mainstream today, so maybe seeding ideas was the larger purpose. Who knows.

Truth is though, I got a bit bored and unfulfilled by it after many years and I craved having an outlet for my deeper ideas.

Conscious capitalism is an interesting idea too. I was interviewed for a film called Prosperity, all about conscious capitalism, and while I agree with the general idea of it all, it still feels like not much more than learning to make the most of the systemic moment we are in now (which is very useful), but I still think we need to forefront whole systems re-design as a discussion.

We all have to survive, and money is crucial in that conversation. Being able to serve others in a meaningful way and try and be 'conscious' in our business is great, but having been in the 'conscious business' space for 15 years, most of my 'competitors' embrace appearances of being 'conscious', but still use the same old tactics of capturing attention at all costs. I'm not trying to call others out here as much as bring up the idea of how powerful the incentive structures are within our existing system.

It's a tough balance to strike, and if you don't seek to strike it too, you struggle. I don't mean to say it's not possible, but market dynamics are at play nonetheless.

Thanks for giving an opportunity to explore this subject more.

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Sophie Baldwin's avatar

Love this, beautifully written and completely resonates:)

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