Are We A Fit?
You run a good business.
Perhaps you are…
- selling a natural, eco-friendly, cruelty-free or otherwise healthy product (e.g. organic dog biscuits, recycled journals, organic cloth diapers, hemp clothing, bamboo flooring etc.)
- in the Healing Arts or a Holistic Practitioner (perhaps you’re a Therapist, Massage Therapist or Body-worker, Yoga Instructor, Shamanic Practitioner, Life-Coach, Meditation Teacher etc.) . . .
- a local business owner that just plain cares deeply about your community, nature and social justice? ( maybe you run a Yoga Studio, Eco-Friendly House Cleaning company, an Organic Farm, a local Theater Company, a Fitness Studio, a comfy, little locally owned Bookstore, a groovy local Restaurant, an Eco-Store, a Pottery shop or a Natural Health-Food Stores etc.)
- A farmer or permaculture practitioner growing our food or maybe an herbalist growing medicine.
Whatever it is you are doing: thank you, thank you thank you. Bless you, bless you, bless you.
We likely share some views on important things...
If you’re like me, you’re deeply concerned about what’s becoming of the world.
The shift away from traditional and indigenous lifeways to smart cities (and smart everything else too). There’s the glyphosate, the screentime, myriad other ways we’re poisoned and the deep malnourishment on every level possible as we cut down our last old growth, pollute our last waters and turn our last inches of top soil into dust.
And then there’s the collapse of our economies you see all around you and the human suffering that come from that. You know more is coming.
In the midst of this all, you want to preserve some older, more indigenous understanding what it means to be human in an increasingly unhuman world. A world of which humans are a part but not the center.
And here are some other areas where your views and mine probably overlap…
“Finding Tad totally changed my relationship to marketing into something positive.”
“When I first heard of Marketing for Hippies, I was totally new to marketing and dreading it, so seeing “hippies” in the name really intrigued me and it was the first inkling I had that there was a way to do this that wasn’t icky, forced or corporate. I actually didn’t have much hesitation because I’d read enough from Tad that I knew I would learn a lot of useful things.
It was his Marketing 101 online course that grabbed me, and I really needed some basic understanding of marketing, so it was an easy decision. When I found Tad, I felt so much relief that there was a down-to-earth, ethical person who has figured out how to do marketing in an authentic, unmanipulative, honest way. I was impressed with his simple, no-nonsense, straight-talking, and kind-hearted approach.
The info he puts out, whether it’s free or paid, is always useful, practical and generous. The most useful tip that has stayed with me is that marketing is really about the process of figuring out if you and the client are a good fit. And that I can set the boundaries about who is a good fit for me. Finding Tad totally changed my relationship to marketing into something positive, and I actually kind of enjoy aspects of it.
Several years ago, as a result of Tad’s recommendation, I checked out some marketing coaches who were offering a free template for how to get referrals by writing letters to former clients or friends and acquaintances. There was something about the language and the approach that made me squirm but I thought, “Tad thinks they’re good, so it’s probably ok.” I didn’t listen to that interior voice.
So I wrote the letter and sent it out, and I got maybe one or two responses that didn’t result in anything. One of the people was very kind but the way he responded confirmed how gross this approach made me feel. So the lesson I took from that was to listen to that inner squirming.”
On Globalization & The Economy:
You have fought against the monocropping, antibiotic force of globalization your whole life, preferring to preserve the distinct, local and specific traditions, music, languages, cultures and lifeways of each place. You don’t care whether they call it globalization, The Great Reset, Build Back Better or The Fourth Industrial Revolution. You know it’s the same old game of those on top owning and controlling more and more of the world.
You know that much of it is coming with a level of surveillance that would make Orwell and Huxley blush.
You are suspicious of the lofty promises of ‘sustainable energy’, ‘Smart Cities’ and ‘Green New Deals’. You’re not sure that solar, wind, biofuels, geothermal or recycling are the grand salvation they promise themselves to be.
On Politics:
You don’t want to be dependent on a system you deeply mistrust.
That’s why you’re an entrepreneur.
You have your critiques of industrial capitalism deep in your bones but you put in your time in the activist and non-profit world and burned out and you can’t bear the thought of going to work for ‘the man’. You’d rather have a village but entrepreneurship at least gives you the independence you need to work towards creating such a village.
You feel politically homeless and are sure that the extreme left and right have lost their minds these days. You find yourself searching for safehouses of sanity and kinship these days.
You’ve been a contrarian most of your life and have learned that, just because an ideal is popular doesn’t mean it’s right. You are wary of the mob mentality and madness of crowds. You’re likely the black or rainbow sheep of your family. You steer away fundamentalism and group think where you find it (though you’ve fallen prey to it a few times). You’re getting better with discerning what’s true and what’s not as you age. You’ve changed your mind many times over your life on important issues of the day.
You struggle with trying to balance the rights of the individual with the well being of the collective and find no easy answers there.
You are coming to realize that there are no easy answers for the troubles of our times.
On your more cynical days, you believe the old adage, “How do you know when a politician is lying? Their lips are moving.”
Where do I stand politically?
It’s question that I get from time to time.
Or I can just tell from the looks people give me that they’re trying to peg me.
A dear colleague asked me this once and the best I could do is to express my utter disinterest in what has become of the left and the right.
There’s the old joke about the etymology of the word ‘politics’. Poly = many (that’s science). Tics (blood sucking parasites).
I look at the candidates who run for office and I find almost none that I trust or would vote for.
And I have no illusions that voting changes anything.
This system was bought and sold out a long time ago.
And right or left?
As the old Polish Proverb goes, “Under capitalism, it is man against man. Under communism, the reverse is true.”
They aren’t opposites. They’re opposames.
Capitalism suggests that the industrialists should own the machines.
Communism suggests that the State should own the machine.
But neither questions the machine.
And the machine is the thing.
As Wendell Berry put it, “It is easy for me to imagine that the next great division of the world will be between people who wish to live as creatures and people who wish to live as machines.”
I find fellowship in some of the views of the right and some of the views of the left.
But they are the right and left wings of the same steel bird that is tearing this world apart.
My alliance is with the people.
The civilians not the soldiers.
The indigenous not the Empire.
The traditional peoples not the technocrats or transhumanists.
The farmers not the philanthropaths.
The marginalized not the mainstream.
The community not the corporations.
Main street not wall street.
Our bucks not Starbucks.
The local not the globalized.
I’ll throw my hat in the ring with the ones growing food, planting gardens, decolonizing, preserving traditional languages, keeping ritual alive, holding grief circles, practicing holistic medicine, feeding the holy in nature and culture, midwifing birth, death and modernity and telling the old stories.
You won’t find me on the left of the right.
You won’t find me in the center.
You’ll find me at the edges.
Who’s with me?
On Spirituality:
You don’t know what you are anymore. You might be an animist (or you’re working on it) choosing to see the world as full of relatives not resources.
On Local:
You love local and organic food, farmers markets, craft fairs. You might even have some direct relationships with local farmers.
You love to celebrate what makes a place special – their local, independent businesses, restaurants music and arts and know that real wealth is always found in community. You buy your books at locally owned bookstores whenever you can.
On Health & Food:
You want to see a world where people relate to and rely on the Earth for their health and well being, not corporations.
You wish your city was filled with orchards, backyard chickens, urban bee keeping, food forests and front yard gardens.
You’ve got a well worn copy of Nourishing Traditions in your kitchen and are convinced that traditional food are our best medicine. You’re compelled by terrain theory.
You trust Big Pharma less and less every year.
On Children:
You think kids deserve unstructured time playing in nature. You question the whole racket of schooling and, would prefer to unschool or homeschool your kids if you could (or send them to a Waldorf or other alternative school if you couldn’t).
You want to see a world where every child’s gifts are recognized, fostered and given away as gifts to the community.
You’re Compelled By The Works Of People Like:
In no particular order–Stephen Jenkinson, Bayo Akomolafe, Martin Shaw, Sharon Blackie, Alison McDowell, Sally Fallon, Martin Prechtel, Derrick Jensen, Weston A. Price, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Vandana Shiva, Russell Brand, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Gabor Mate, Paul Kingsnorth, Sylvia Federici, James Baldwin, Vine Deloria Jr., Rupert Sheldrake, Caroline Casey, James Hillman, Michael Meade, Marion Woodman, Thomas King, Wendell Berry, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Louise Erdich, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Leslie Marmon-Silko, Ivan Illich, David Whyte, Deena Metzger, Clarissa Pinkola-Estes, Bill Plotkin, Kae (Kate) Tempest and maybe even Antoine Bechamp. Maybe even some Graham Hancock because that shit is fascinating.
You’re Often Find Yourself Talking About:
Reclaiming ancestral traditions and healing ancestral lines, restorative justice and what that looks like at the societal level around issues of race, class, colonization and gender.
If you’ve not taken a Permaculture Design Certification you sure want to one day.
You talk a lot about local food, and traditional skills as a response to the looming technocracy and transhumanist agendas.
You are fascinated by history–especially the hidden, marginalized and untold parts of it–and how it came to be that we live as we do now.
Your Dreams:
You dream of unplugging from the Matrix and living off grid with a community of good people and building community. You picture helping each other raise children, feasting and potlucks regularly. You dream of living in a way that’s not only gentle on the Earth but that regenerates and feeds her. You work as hard as you do for the possibility of that.
* * *
If you’re like me, you’re deeply concerned about what’s becoming of the world.
In his book, Life is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition, Wendell Berry said,
“It is easy for me to imagine that the next great division of the world will be between people who wish to live as creatures and people who wish to live as machines.”
You want to live as a creature.
Your business is your humble offering up of one solution for your corner of this world.
This website and this work is about helping you to offer it up in the most beautiful way possible–a way that deepens the humanity of all involved.
“Tad has genuinely made me love marketing!”
“I first heard of Tad through George Kao and thought, “This is my people!” Nothing other than my budget stopped me, and then as the budget allowed and I got to know Tad, I was all in. For me, Tad’s lifetime Pro member option came at the perfect time, and was a no brainer. I love that I can have access to his work and community anytime, and from so many angles.
When I watched my first video, I felt a kindred soul who cared deeply. I love how down to earth and real he is, and especially love Tad’s writing. I appreciate an approach that brings poetry, imagery, and soul into the mix. He is more tuned into the Sacred Feminine than most women I know, with a deep masculine nobility, and I love it!
Tad’s point of view teachings have particularly stayed with me…the idea of problem, premise, promise and my unique approach to addressing these. Honing my point of view has helped me find my voice, feel more confident, and have a much more solid connection to how I can share my work clearly and with appeal to those who need it.
The point of view map has just gone up on my new website, and I’m so thrilled to have an image that will resonate with those who are meant for my work. Additionally, earlier iterations have been used to further expand my work by bringing it from women to young adults. By having a map that could express my work, I was able to see how many more areas and applications it could connect with. Fantastic!
Tad has genuinely made me love marketing! I see marketing now as a joyful extension of who I am, an opportunity to be myself, and a challenge that finally feels fun to dive into.
Earlier in my business development, I worked with a few other business and marketing coaches. Honestly, I cringe to even use the word “coach” for them since I’m a coach as well. I learned that they really didn’t know that coaching is meant to support others to come to their own understanding of what’s best for them. They shoved countless tactics, strategies and techniques at me, insisting that if I didn’t want to do them, perhaps I didn’t care enough about my work or wanted success badly enough. I realize now that I actually felt traumatized and stuck from the experience, feeling there was something wrong with me, and having no compass to guide me otherwise.
When I found Tad, it was like a breath of fresh air. I feel like not only Tad, but a whole community that he built around himself, finally gets what I feel and the way I want to put myself out there. After some time detoxing from my prior experiences, and learning to trust and experiment with new ideas, I can see something really special emerging out of my work. Additionally, in another group I was in, there were “rants” from the group leader that became a huge turnoff. It came to feel like shaming others out of their own insecurities.
I’ve repeatedly witnessed Tad owning his mistakes (such as letting someone whose name he mispronounced know how sorry he was and making it right in the moment), being real and honest without ever shaming anyone (i.e. truly honoring where we are as individuals), and being so approachable and kind in every moment he can. I can’t express enough how much this means to me personally, and I’m sure it makes such a huge impact broadly.
I deeply appreciate Tad and the work he’s doing. His unique approach, his wisdom, and his care sound forth through aeons of time and space to create a better world. He brings a grounded and noble wisdom that is so needed to meet our times, and he is a role model to many, including me.”
Kim Marie, KimMarieCoaching.com
