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b'In This Episode:\\n\\n\\n\\n* Why brand strategist Alice Karolina created the ethical move, which helps small business owners navigate building more ethical marketing and sales systems* How the ethical move evolves as they practice reflection and collaboration* Why Alice prioritizes moving slowly when it comes to building the business* What they\\u2019re discovering as they incrementally investigate what building a business that prioritizes ethics looks like\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nI had always thought I was running a pretty values-driven business.\\n\\n\\n\\nI cared about people and tried to operate always assuming the best of them. I developed programs in the spirit of experimentation\\u2014a core value for me. And I utilized transparency and honesty in my marketing and sales processes.\\n\\n\\n\\nBut at the same time, I didn\\u2019t ask a lot of questions. If someone told me it was totally fine to do X, Y, or Z marketing tactic, I believed them.\\n\\n\\n\\nI operated my business that way through October 2016. Then, I had a wakeup call and a lot of questions. Like many people, I had so many questions about how the United States had gotten to that point. I had questions about the deep betrayal that I felt as a woman and the deep betrayal that wasn\\u2019t at all new for women of color, LGBTQ folks, immigrants, and disabled people.\\n\\n\\n\\nAnd all of those questions started to trickle down into my business. I started to see ways that I was inadvertently replicating power structures I wasn\\u2019t okay with. And I started to see how it\\u2019s so easy to turn a marketing campaign into a misinformation campaign.\\n\\n\\n\\nI wanted to figure out how to do things differently.\\n\\n\\n\\nI have learned so much over the last 5 years. And I\\u2019ve changed a lot of the ways I personally operate\\u2014as well as the operations in my business. We regularly explore what it looks like to live and work our values as a community.\\n\\n\\n\\nAnd one thing I\\u2019ve wrestled with in all that change and learning has been why we\\u2019re doing things differently and why we endeavor to do better. It\\u2019s easy to let \\u201cwanting to do better\\u201d become wanting to follow the right rules, get the language just right, or make sure that you speak up in just the right way when something horrific happens.\\n\\n\\n\\nThis is a pattern that so many white, straight, women like myself fall into. And I know it\\u2019s one that I could easily fall into being the rule-loving, achievement-oriented person I am.\\n\\n\\n\\nLast year, one of my commitments was a reminder for me to examine my pattern of defensiveness.\\n\\n\\n\\nI talked about it a bit here on the podcast. This year, one of my commitments reminds me to speak up, to not avoid conflict, just because I have something difficult to say. As I\\u2019ve worked through those patterns and altered my habits, I\\u2019ve gotten pretty clear on what I do want and don\\u2019t want when it comes to doing business differently.\\n\\n\\n\\nWhat I do want is to regularly examine the work I put out into the world to make sure it leaves room for human experiences that are different than mine. I don\\u2019t want to exclude or hurt people by virtue of the way I do business or even share my own story.\\n\\n\\n\\nWhat I don\\u2019t want is to live in fear of saying the wrong thing, getting called out, or being cancelled.\\n\\n\\n\\nAnd the good news is that by focusing on leaving room for other people\\u2019s experiences and taking steps not to hurt people with the language I use or the stories I tell, I don\\u2019t have to live with that fear.'