✊ 50 Ways Your Business Can Fight Fascism

Amelia HrubyHello, and welcome to Off The Grid, a podcast about sharing your work and making money online without relying on social media. I'm your host, Amelia Hruby. And on this show, I talk about creativity, self employment, and the indie internet. And I do that with deeply held values of radical generosity, energetic sovereignty, and abolition of all of these supremacist power over structures that harm so many of us and exert violence in our lives every day. If it feels to you like that is not relevant to what is theoretically a marketing podcast, then this episode is not gonna be for you my friend, and maybe this show is not for you either.

We don't have to share every single belief, but Off the Grid is about liberation. And this tiny part of liberation that can come from committing to self employment as a way of deprogramming from capitalism, from white supremacy, from patriarchy, from so many of these oppressive systems and ideologies. I have found that working for myself has been one of the best ways to rewrite these narratives in my life, to tell different stories about money, about independence, about what really matters in my day to day. And that's why I'm showing up here on your podcast feed, making a marketing podcast even when so much violence is happening around the world. We just kicked off season nine of the show this week.

And when I shared our first episode on Wednesday, I told you, if you tuned into that one, that this season we will be having Wednesday conversations and Friday solo episodes with me. So we are doubling up on the pod feed, at least for the winter, I think into the spring. And I'm really excited to be coming to you twice a week now, three times a week if you're in the Clubhouse because I'm often there on Mondays. But today is our first Friday minisode, and it's a good one, my friends, because today I am going to share a list that I've made of 50 ways that your creative business can fight fascism. Now, wanna be clear that I don't think all businesses fight fascism.

In fact, I think that we've seen during this era of Trump's second presidency that so many businesses, especially big tech businesses, are very invested in supporting fascism, in buddying up to the state to curry favor, in continuing to dominate their industries by accruing more and more power, more and more capital, more and more and more and more and more everything. And so those businesses, I think need to be deconstructed, abolished, broken down. They are not in the business of fighting fascism at all, I don't believe. But as creators, as artists, as small business owners, as solopreneurs, there are so many things that we can do to push back against that, to push back against what big business is doing, what totalitarian governments are doing. I'm based in the US and I think there's so much that small business owners and artists here can be doing to resist our current government.

And this list is just a starting point. It is just the beginning of some ideas of some very simple and some more complex ways that your creative work can join this fight, that your creative work can become an act of rebellion or resistance. Some of the things on this list are explicitly political and they build from progressive, punk, or anarchist praxis. Some of the things on this list rebuke white supremacist culture and capitalist values as a way of fighting fascism. Some of the things on this list place power in our relationships, and they resist the state in that process.

They push back against this sort of winner takes all competitive atmosphere of a fascist regime. And before I read you the list, before I share it here on the show, I wanna let you know that I created this list as part of a whole class on this topic. That class is called Crystal Clear: How Our Businesses Create Change. And in it, talk about what I think business is, why I think it has the power to transform our lives and communities, and three different ways that businesses can create change. So I have a sort of framework for opportunities for change making through our creative work and businesses.

And I also talk about what exactly liberation means to me. I name more of these systems and the things that we're fighting against and the things that we're fighting for. That class also includes prompts and reflections on ways that your business can create change. So I just wanna say that this list is actually just the final piece of that class. There's so much more that goes into it, and I will link it in the show notes if you'd like to take it.

It's totally free. You can watch it in less than forty five minutes and move through the prompts in your own time. But I share that to say that this list is just a seed. It's just a starting point. There are frameworks that come before it and actions that I hope come after it.

It's meant to help you feel more empowered and remember that your business can be a part of the resistance. Now, do I think working in your business is the only way to resist? Absolutely not. Do I even think it's the most important way? Not necessarily.

I think that there are a lot of communities in the US right now where stopping doing business is a very important political strategy. Right? As I'm recording this, we just saw a general strike in Minneapolis, and that is so important. Like, joining a strike is another way that your business can fight fascism. And I don't even think that's on my list.

I should add it to my list. So see again, I'm already coming up with more ways than are even already on the list. So let this list guide you into making your own list. Let it guide you into action. Let it help you remember that just because the current dominant power over systems are so violent, that doesn't mean that we don't have any power.

That doesn't mean that we can't fight back. So with all

Amelia Hrubyof that in mind, let me

Amelia Hrubyread you this list of 50 ways your creative business can fight fascism today.

Amelia HrubyDonate your time to people that need your skills. Donate your money to organizations that need more resources. Donate your space to folks who need to gather. Host a free class. Host a donation based workshop and donate the profits.

Amelia HrubySend a newsletter, make a zine, or design and distribute flyers full of

Amelia Hrubyresources. Teach a skill to a friend or a stranger. Publish an open letter about a cause that's important to you. Take great care of your clients and customers. Slow down standard processing or operating timelines.

Leave social media. Embrace mutual aid after learning the difference between mutual aid and nonprofit work. Host a donation based giveaway and donate the proceeds.

Amelia HrubyCollaborate with a friend or colleague, remembering that we are interdependent. Get crystal clear on how much money you need and redistribute the rest. Hire a team member and pay them well. Implement a sliding scale or pay what you can policy. Quit shopping with Amazon.

Cancel your prime account if you have one. Raise your prices for corporate clients and redistribute the excess. Lower your prices for clients in need. Keep your processes, offerings, and tech stack simple. Resist arbitrary complexity.

Refer work to other values aligned businesses

Amelia Hrubyregularly. Refuse to use manipulative sales tactics like income claim marketing.

Amelia HrubyEliminate punitive policies like late fees or higher prices for payment plans.

Amelia HrubyTrust your clients and offer them choices. Trust your team and offer them choices. Implement non hierarchical or consensus oriented decision making methods. Understand the difference between under representation and under recognition, which is

Amelia Hrubya difference coined by past podcast guest and Chloe Nguangwoo.

Amelia HrubyCelebrate cyclical selling and follow periods in your revenue. Work less.

Amelia HrubyDivest your money from big banks and the stock market. Clearly articulate your values and share them more often. Speak up about the people, things,

Amelia Hrubyand causes that matter to you. Assess how your business contributes to climate change, like when you use AI or ship with plastic packaging. Abandon exponential growth. Rebuke VC values and culture. Learn how to build resilient organizations.

Make sure your website and branding are accessible for those with different visual abilities. Make sure your video and audio content is captioned or transcribed. Utilize image descriptions. Create a blog post or podcast that shares your technical or industry specific knowledge for free. Embrace Creative Commons licensing.

Break up with the eight hour workday. Let your sales cycle linger and lengthen instead of forcing an urgent decision.

Amelia HrubyIn fact, go on a scavenger hunt and root out urgency anywhere you find it in your business. Write a manifesto for liberation and publish it publicly. Give something away at least once a month or year. Cite the creators who inspire you and uplift the creators you inspire. Create your own list like this.

Come up with 50 of

Amelia Hrubyyour own ideas. And then actually do something on it.

Amelia HrubyAlright. That's the list, my friends. This episode is short and sweet because now you're invited to pick one of these and put it into action. Again, there are so many different ways that your creative business can fight back against fascism. Remember, it's not about picking the perfect way or exactly the right way, but just picking a way and getting started.

And if you're not sure where to begin, I always wanna invite you to begin in community. Find a buddy that you'll do something with. Make a commitment to a friend that you're going to do this thing by this time and have some gentle accountability. Working together is at the root of all resistance and especially resistance against fascist and militarized regimes.

Amelia HrubyWe can do this,

Amelia Hrubyand we can do it through the beautiful systems and structures of our businesses. I'm cheering you on. I'm here with you. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode. I hope to see you in the clubhouse or the interweb very soon.

And until then, you will find me off the grid and in solidarity.