We Are Pioneers You And Me

In this week's episode of the Unshiny Podcast, I'll be talking about how we all get to be pioneers. Not only building our business but in shaping the industry and the wider culture around us, simply by doing our businesses, our way. For years opening and running a business was prohibitively expensive. -Out of reach for most folks, especially women and people of colour. But technology means you can now start a business that makes money with only a phone and a wifi connection.  The means of production are in our hands. The gatekeepers of business- the bank managers and investors who were ones who could say yes or no, loan the start-up money, grant the permits and so on are no longer the ones in control and the barriers have been removed.   This is exciting because there are so many opportunities in this brave new world, and because the industry is so new we have the opportunity to shape it in any way we choose. The downside of that is there are no real roadmaps, apart from those being pushed, by the guys who used to be the gatekeepers - hence the bro marketers and the Tony Robbins style machismo of the disgruntled white dude shouting at us from our computer monitors insisting we need their formula or wisdom to be 'successful'. So how do we find our own path and avoid the pitfalls? How do we decide on the direction? And how do we make sure that we're not bringing familiar toxic practices like overwork and burnout over into our businesses? I'll be diving into all this in this episode, including The origins of the word pioneer. A bit of a history of barriers to even starting a business for many folks. The beauty and the drawbacks of being the first on the path. And how we can use this opportunity to create nourishing, sustainable businesses - not only for ourselves but as a model of possibility that reshapes the culture of work altogether. Books Mentioned in this episode:Burnout by EMILY NAGOSKI, PHD and AMELIA NAGOSKI, DMAEmergent Strategy Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by ADRIENNE MAREE BROWNPrevious Unshiny Podcast Episodes Mentioned:Episode 1 - What Is An Unshiny BusinessEpisode 2 - The Co-Delusion Of The Shiny LifeEpisode 3 - Coach Your Own Business