One of the things I'm doing lately is reevaluating the places where I spend money within my business. I feel a call to simplify and to be very thoughtful about where I'm putting my resources, including time and money. I'd rather feel really good about who I'm supporting when I have a choice.
I'm eliminating things I don't need and gradually evaluating other expenses to see if I can switch anything up in favor of smaller and/or more aligned businesses. By "gradually," I mean over multiple years, just for context.
A few of the changes that have been pretty easy to make over the past few years include:
- Using Protonmail rather than Gmail. It's a nonprofit, privacy-first company. It does cost $. Although I haven't really found a workable way to avoid Google Calendar and Google Forms.
- Using a local credit union rather than a standard bank. Credit unions are nonprofit, member-owned cooperatives, and generally any money from your savings/checking accounts at a credit union is not being used to fund the fossil fuel industry and other questionable things.
- Unlinking from Google Analytics on my website. I don't really need to know how many people visit my website, don't want to track people, and feel weird about fueling the machine for no particular reason. Maybe my marketing strategy will change later, and maybe I should care about these things, but if the time comes I can always reevaluate.
- Resisting signing up for larger classes/programs where I'm just a face in the crowd and instead signing up for more personalized/smaller programs only if I actively want/need to learn something, and only from people who have specific expertise in what I want/need to learn about.
It's slow going. There are many things on my "I should probably figure out an alternative to this" list, and even more that I haven't had a chance to investigate yet. Each of these changes takes time and attention and energy, which I don't always have. I am a very far cry from perfect when it comes to any of this.
I don't mean to imply that any of these are right for you. Instead, I'm just here to remind you that if you're looking to make a difference, sometimes these types of changes are an accessible way to do something that matters in the long run.
Switching to even one business that you love supporting makes a difference to that business but also to your own state of mind. It feels good to pay for something you feel great about, and that feeling often fuels other great things.
Take care,
Camille
