I'll be really honest with you

I've struggled to get going with the first newsletter of this new year.

There is just so much scary stuff going on in the world, that it seemed... pointless? arrogant? irrelevant? to be writing about how to help business employers like you to create the space for taking breaks.

To me, it's felt like Trump, Putin, Netanyahu and the people who fund them have decided that the world is (to put it bluntly) f***ed. That the only rational response is to grab even more of whatever they can for themselves, and the devil take the rest of us.

Because we don't count. We're 'NPCs' - non-player characters. And we'll just have to put up with a world of thuggery, enshittification and rentier extraction.

But then I think of all the brilliant small businesses I know, some of which I've worked with, and I see that they focus on something beyond personal gain. The opposite of thuggery, enshittification and rentier extraction.

Enrichment.

Making better things, products and services that genuinely meet a need, and meet it well. That are not harmful to the people who buy them, or the people who make them, or the people who unearth the materials that go into them.

Making things in a better way, with more care for the resources that go into them and the effects, unintended or otherwise, that arise from the use of these resources.

Making things that re-use resources, so no further damage is done. Making things that undo some of the damage already done. Going further and creating positive, intended side-effects that enrich our whole environment.

Making products and services, that give the people buying more of what they really want - agency, mastery, autonomy, purpose and community - which might mean making fewer things, creating instead more opportunities for people to get together and achieve these ends for themselves.

Making products and services that give the people making them more of what they really want - agency, mastery, autonomy, purpose and community, so that they can live richer lives at work, and at home.

Enrichment, rather than mere accumulation.
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In our current economic system, of course, you still need to make profit, but profit isn't the reason these businesses do what they do, it's just the means that allows them to do it, and do ever more of it.

And if the world was organised so that people didn't need to work to survive, we could do all of these things for the sheer love of it.

So, here's my conclusion, after these few weeks of scariness:
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Leave thuggery, enshittification and rentier extraction to the dinosaurs.
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We small businesses can be mammals, quietly pursuing enrichment, under their bellies, while they sleep. Dodging their feet and their excrement.

Building the new world while they're busy fighting over the old one.

And I'll continue to do my bit to make sure as many as possible species of mammals survive to see that new world.

My latest contribution is now available: https://theendlessbookcase.com/books/the-disappearing-boss/​

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Thanks for reading.

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Back to normal next time.

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