Helen Tremethick teaches us that money is a neutral tool and that existing inside capitalism doesn’t mean that we are inherently bad in her contribution to the first issue of the Novitas Magazine.
Money. It’s the hero; it’s the villain. It’s the solution; it’s the problem.
More than anything else, money is the topic my clients want to talk about most. Because we need money to exist in this world—but those of us who want a world that thrives outside of the economic system have a hard time reconciling that fact. It doesn’t help that, over and over, we’ve been shown that collective and personal liberation can’t exist within a capitalist system—because more money means more power, and more power means more legal control over others.
So when it comes to entrepreneurship (or even the idea of becoming an entrepreneur), it’s not a surprise that money and our internal narratives of success affect how we show up in business.
Many of us have a ready mental image of what a “successful business owner” looks like, and let’s be real: that image isn’t soft-hearted, idealistic, liberation-centered, or holistic. That mental image doesn’t look like us.
The trouble is, this creates a double bind for those who want employment alternatives outside of “labour for someone else’s profit” or “hustle for our own.” We need money to survive, but we don’t want to replicate existing business models. We start businesses to help others and get squeamish when we start talking about pricing and profit.
Sound familiar?
So what do we do? How do we run businesses that remain aligned with our values—but still profit enough that we can get by in this mess?
The current status quo
Most of my clients come to me with challenging money stories. This shows up in their pricing, their marketing strategies, their client patterns—even the services they offer. More often than not, they are different than most typical business owners by having these things in common:
- They criticize our current system.
- They see the increasing imbalance between those who have and those who never will.
- They feel uncomfortable about the decisions many wealthy folk make with their money.
Those perspectives make it difficult to build a business that thrives—profitably, healthily, regeneratively.
Spot the difference
There’s a difference between capitalism and earning money, and when we confuse the two, we can get caught up in a trap that keeps us stuck and benefits no one.
Capitalism is a system that uses the exploitation of people, resources, and labour for profit. The system thrives on a hierarchical model where the workers (especially the global majority) are kept poor and powerless.
Money is the neutral tool we use for exchange. We can do good things with money; we can do atrocious things with it.
The question is: what do you do when you have the choice?
Do you buy a social media channel or use that same amount of money to provide clean drinking water to a full third of the planet? I think I already know your answer.
(Disclaimer: We are all part of the system and sometimes we buy from the baddies. I will never ever shame that decision.)
It’s what you do that counts
If you made a gazillion dollars tomorrow, what would you do? Would you build a penis-ship to fly to space? Probably not. You’d feed, clothe, and provide fresh water to the world. Increase funding for social services. Give giant anonymous donations. Care for the forests and/or the bees by protecting the land. And while you’re at it, you’d probably get a few more massages. Right?
Despite what we’ve been fed throughout our lives, money is inherently neutral. What you do with it—and how you use this powerful exchange tool—is what matters.
When we bring this back to entrepreneurship, we need to consider that non-exploitative profit isn’t inherently bad. Building a business that cares for yourself, your team, your family, and your community—and then ripples outward—is an incredibly anti-capitalist, pro-liberation endeavour.
This is what I call regenerative business design: Build a business that makes sense for you, given all the factors in your personal business ecosystem.
Unpacking it all
Imagining possibilities is one of your superpowers.
Being aware of your internal definitions of success, knowing your personal money story and how it might affect your business model, and understanding how these impact how you show up to your business is integral. From there, you can start to see where to make changes and take action to build more capacity, more stability, and a bigger positive ripple throughout your community.
Imagine the possibilities if you redefined profit, success, and wealth so that they include your real and ideal life.
A thought exercise
To start redefining these big internalized concepts, one of the tasks I often give my clients is a 5-minute free-writing prompt:
- What have you learned about success? What were you taught to believe success looks like? Who is successful? Who isn’t?
These questions explore our internalized definitions of success. By allowing ourselves to write freely and without criticism, we give ourselves the opportunity to unearth the deeper stories that contribute to our mindset around money, worthiness, and permission.
- How does wealth currently show up in your life? What would your life look like if you had “enough”? How much time would you have? How would you spend that time? What are your own personal markers of success (i.e., how do you know you’ve accomplished something important)?
These questions explore our desires and how they may contradict what we’ve been taught. I’ve found that the vast majority of the time, we struggle most when there’s a lack of alignment between what we believe and what we actually want.
This exercise alone can help unlearn old narratives, realize disconnects between ideas and expectations, and provide momentum toward building businesses (and lives) that support us, our families, and our communities.
By redefining success and setting goals that suit your actual ideal (as opposed to what we’ve been taught to desire), you create a path toward liberation and collective care that can exist within the system we have.
What could be more powerful than thriving despite living in a system that was built to bind?
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