Hello, welcome. Okay. I want to talk today about one of the things that I had to overcome as an entrepreneur. That a lot of my clients have had to overcome in order to step into their entrepreneurial selves. The thought it's the thought, It's the belief that "I'm not built for business". And I want to get into a little bit of how I acquired this belief, even, because business is something that has always come naturally, to me, like I was selling friendship bracelets for 25 cents a pop in elementary school. So somewhere along the line Chasten developed the narrative that she was not built for business, when it was a natural expression that came out of her body before she even knew what it was, to be honest.
It's just not a true statement. We are all built for business, we are all built for business because we're alive. Because our presence in this world demands and requires reciprocal exchange. And that is what business is. Business as we know it, as we've come to know it as we've engaged with it in our lifetimes and ever since our ancestors bodies were stolen for free labor... has been bastardized, extractive and abusive. So when we're saying I'm not built for business, we're actually saying I'm not built for that kind of business. And that is a true statement. We are not built for that kind of business. If you're here. If you're in this space, it is probably because you are anti-capitalist, you are anti-busyness, you are anti-hustle, you are anti-martyrdom, you value ease, you value spaciousness, you value rest, you value pleasure, you want all of these things to be ingrained in your daily experience. And business as you know, is the opposite of those things. So that is the component that is repelling you from business, rightfully so. So what I want to start to introduce into this space, instead of "I'm not built for business." is the thought that "I'm not built for business as it's been done.". as I've known it. Because the truth is... you are built for business, because what is business, when we break it down? What is business? Business is exchange. Reciprocal exchange that happens between two humans. And the thing that is needed to activate this reciprocal exchange between two humans is connection. Its relationship. It's relationship between two humans. An exchange that is nourishing for both parties, where both parties are giving and receiving value. It is not a true statement that you're not built for that. That's what business is. You were built for that. You are wired for that. You know that. You live and breathe that connection, empathy, compassion, human, humanity, human experience. I would even argue that you're more equipped for business than the people who have been leading business because they lack those skills. Because their business has been extractive. So it's actually inside of you to create a new imprint. To create a new blueprint. To create a new path. That is a reciprocal exchange that's nourishing. And one of the reasons that we believe this so deeply is because it's part of the con. It's part of the indoctrination. It's not our fault. This is the training that we have been through. The training that we've gotten the messaging that we've gotten is like, "Oh yeah, that's really hard. That's really complicated. That's probably too complicated for you. You should probably let us take care of that for you. You just worry about making the work. We'll take care of selling it. Because it's, you know, it's just it's really advanced." You guys, that's colonizer energy. Run from that shit run so fast that is colonizer energy. Do you see how that language is disempowering? It's disempowering, so that they can get a cut of your profits. Everything that has been built in this world has been built off of the labor of our gifts. And other people have profited on it. So you can keep working for other people if you want to. But my God, they have gotten so much of you. For me, personally, they don't get any more. I will work for other people to the extent that it facilitates my dreams and my projects. But then no. Because we are built for business, we are built for healthy business for right relationship for reciprocal exchange for human connection for human impact for service for helping people. It's just that we have yet to experience in 500 years what it feels like to be compensated our worth for that because it's been taken. It's been taken. We have to take it back. It's sell or be sold, it's sell or be sold.
I can't stress this enough. And if you're sold, you're always going to have to answer to someone else. They're always going to have their hands in your pocket. And you're always going to be subjected to toxic work environments because people cannot see us.
And that's probably the hardest thing for us to accept because it brings up a lot of grief. People cannot see us. To be a black woman is to be a master in navigating grief. People can't see us to the same degree... Black womxn, we are skin, brown, brown. We are of the Earth. Our skin is the Earth. We are up the Earth. We are people of the earth. We are the originals. And look at what everyone is doing to the earth? How we're treating the Earth is the same way that we're treating Black womxn and how the Earth is suffering is the same way Black womxn are suffering on the inside. No one can see us. They can't, they just can't. But we're here. And we're taking our sacred space, which means we see ourselves and we say, this is how it's gonna go. And these are what our boundaries are. And this is why we're doing this leadership training. This sovereign business, reclaiming autonomy over our bodies. Over our gifts over our medicine. Training. Because it's up to us to lead the new way. They're not equipped. They're not equipped. You're equipped. And it's gonna be scary because we're excavating. We're excavating the tools that we need, that have been inside us the whole this whole time. But they've been lying dormant. They've been oppressed. They've been suppressed because we've been brainwashed into believing, "Oh, that's too complicated for us to understand. It's better. It's better that we let someone else take care of it. Because it's too hard. It's too hard. It's easier to just give them a cut of our paycheck. It's easier." Is it? Is it really? What is the toll that it's taking on your spirit? What is the toll that it's taking on your mind? What is the toll that it's taking on your body to work for people committed to self abuse? That's the difference in the work structures. It's the work structure... our old business structure is committed to self abuse. Our new work structure is committed to self love. We need to capitalize on love, not on abuse. We need to grow that and expand that. And who is better to do that more equipped to do that than you? So when you say "I'm not built for business.", when you say "Who am I to lead?", "Who am I to share my thoughts?", I Call Bull shit. You are the salve. You are cut out for this. You are made for this. You are born for this. There are white men paying people a lot of money, 100s of 1000s of dollars to teach them the skills that you naturally possess so that they can keep their leadership positions.
Your thoughts, your feelings, how you respond to the world to the stimulation around you. The things that piss you off. The things that light you up the things that trigger you and start spinning these thoughts and beliefs in your head. These conversations that you're having with your friends, with your colleagues, with your loved ones, have them out loud. That is the medicine is not meant to be you're silent in the background complaints. This is the medicine, what we're looking for rest-oration, rest- oration, oration, orate. It's in the power of our voice. It's in the power of our words. And you have to use your voice. You have to use your words. They're not meant just to be thought swirling inside of you and on the hidden pages of your journals. Content 101. If everyone just took what they were writing in their journals and shared it publicly. You would magnetize everyone to your business. That is your value. That is your goal. Stop hiding it. That's what the colonizer wants you to do. The colonizer wants you programmed into contraction, programmed into suppression. Programmed into oppression. Don't take the bait. It is our job to say "NO!". And to do the work to keep ourselves programmed into our expansion into our expression. Into our openness. Into our spaciousness. Into our taking up space. Into our using our voices and to being seen.
That's what business is. It's being SEEN. In your beliefs, your values, your desires, your gifts. It's wearing your heart on your sleeve and saying this is what I'm here for. It's the most vulnerable thing that we can engage in, which is why it's so scary, which is why it feels so scary. Which is why we say over and over again. "I'm not built for business. I'm not built for business and I'm not built for business." and it's just not true. You are built for business. You are built for leadership. And it's time and it doesn't mean busy and burnout and hustle and exhaustion. It means erotic liberation that is existing in the fullest expression of yourself and that existence is the work. That radical acceptance and existence is the work. That is the thing that is the value. That is the thing that's going to draw people to you and be like "How did you do this?" "Show me by whatever means necessary?" What or it's Taro, or whether it's coaching or whether it's yoga, or whatever it's through art. It doesn't matter what the vehicle is. It doesn't matter what the vehicle is, it just matters what the destination is. And we're looking for that deep, deep, deep, deep, deep erotic liberation, you guys. And that starts with liberating our bodies. And that's why I'm such an advocate for Black womxn working for themselves. For taking their bodies back into their hands. Their autonomy, their sovereignty, back in their hands, because as long as you work for someone else... you're going to be subjected to a toxic space. And you're not going to flourish and thrive to the extent that you could. You will flourish and thrive because we flourish and thrive anyways, but not to the fullest extent you could. You know how powerful you are. Most of us are afraid of our power. Not everyone, but a lot of us are because we see it, we know it, we feel it. And we feel how earth shattering it is. It's supposed to be. When we start taking up more space, they will be more triggered, that is supposed to happen. They were supposed to choke on us. If the environment that we presently have today is a result of us living in our oppression, and our suppression and our contraction, then when we start to take up space, that's going to shift the energy. And if the reason that they programmed us into contraction is because our full existence our full sheer power of taking up our full space was intimidating, you better believe and expect that when we start to do that, again, they're going to be intimidated again. It's up to everyone else to adjust. We are no longer shrinking ourselves and making ourselves smaller to be palatable, it is up to everyone else to adjust. Okay, so that's the lesson for today. Anytime you find yourself thinking, "I'm not built for business.", call BS, get more specific with yourself, ask yourself questions, figure out what you're really saying. Because the reasons that you think you're not built for business are actually maps. They're guides to what kind of business you are built for. That's where the treasure is. And the difference between those who succeed and those who don't, are the ones who kind of get caught up in that disheartenment of the ways that they're not built for business, and they don't follow that road to disheartenment into the vision and the possibility of the path of what could be that they're feeling. Our bodies are amazing, you guys, they show us the way. It's our body showing us where we want to go. The inconvenient part is having to listen to be like oh shit, this means I don't like this industry. This means I don't like this job. This means I have to grieve the fact that like, doing what I love is abusive in these spaces. And I have to figure out another way. It means accepting all of yourself. Because it's all there. It's all gold. It's all ready to serve you and to nourish you and to participate in your reciprocal exchange. Okay, that's all for this one. See you next time.
