Before we get into my little rant, I wanted to remind you that Rebecca Van Damm and I are holding a no-cost webinar today, 2pm eastern/11am pacific, we’re calling “A piece of cake: Ingredients for easier, more fun content creation.”
Content creation can feel controversial- because there’s so much of it! And yet people still eat it up… but only if it’s good, if it’s relevant, if it lands. And we want to help you with that.
An hour. No cost. No upsell. Register and you also can get the recording.
Today, Wednesday, May 17, 2023, 2pm eastern/11am pacific.
Check it out: A piece of cake webinar
Okay then, how about a little rant?
My strong opinions about scholarship applications and small business
This all came up because I was on a Facebook post that Shannon Marie Kill had posted. She’s a financial consultant for neurodivergent entrepreneurs, and an all-around smart cookie and big hearted person. And she asked the question about whether, as a small business, you should have people fill out applications before you give a scholarship or other price break.
I have some strong feelings about this. Ahem…
You can see her original post here, on Facebook. I had some responses there, but then made a whole post on it myself, which gathered a lot of attention, and it seems worth sharing here.
You can see my Facebook post here, or you can read it below.
So many of our clients have deep shame around poverty, around not having enough, around feeling empowered to take up space even when they do have money. So much of our healing work that we do is around supporting people with issues around sovereignty and visibility.
I don’t have hard data, but I have a general sense from years of doing Pay from the Heart, without needing folks to do applications, that paying less doesn’t equate to less engagement.
This “paying more = more engaged” is one of those tropes that I really question, hard. Because I’ve also seen people pay a lot of money and disappear, or do the work in ways that isn’t visible to me.
I’m also aware that when you have less money, you often have to do more work to get the same help. Filling out applications is just another poverty tax- especially when folks who don’t have money are more likely to be single moms, chronically ill, or otherwise really stretched time-wise.
I’ve leaned into the “trust people” thing, and it’s worked out pretty well for us. When it’s right, we have a Pay from the Heart approach that doesn’t require any application, doesn’t require any explanation or justification, and we specifically dissuade people from asking us “Is it okay if I pay this amount?” because it’s none of my business why, and it also then takes MORE work to support people who are paying less if they are wanting reassurance.
So we give them that up front.
Unless there is a compelling reason, other than having someone prove themselves to you, I would lean hard on the no application side of things, to help undo some of the misery of capitalism.
Honestly, I don’t care whether there’s more engagement vs less engagement around a scholarship.
First of all, engagement with the material is not something we can really measure. I know so many of our clients engage with our material in ways that are not visible to me. Because I’ve seen that, I encourage people to not be “good students” – to only engage in ways that are helpful to *them*- which includes a variety of working rhythms, and neurodivergence, and having video cameras off, and maybe just taking in recordings… etc.
I’ve seen clients of our spend a year in a program doing seemingly very little… but then, having learned and integrated it, putting it all into practice the following year. And I only know because we were still in contact.
Secondly, I’m more interested in economic justice than I am in having people act a certain way so I can feel good, or justified, or whatever…
If I’m giving money away to someone on the street asking for it, I have to decide whether I’m going to give it, but I have no right to judge or control how they use that money.
If I’m giving away scholarships, or doing pay from the heart, or whatever, I’m doing it out of a desire to support a value I’m expressing. it’s going to happen imperfectly.
I don’t want to add to anyone’s burden, and I don’t want to give just to people who match my expectations of the “right” way to learn or engage with materials…
Anyway… I could rant on for awhile… but I’ll stop here.
I’m so curious how this lands with you, if you have questions, or thoughts. I’ll note that I do have my free webinar on how to do Pay from the Heart linked (no upsell).
with love,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
