The Kind Business podcast

This week is a big one. The Kind Business Community is officially open, and I wanted to walk you through the thinking behind it, what you can expect, and how it all works.Some of you will remember the Livelihood Community, which ran from 2019 to 2023 and grew to about 60 members. I loved that space, but by 2023 I needed a proper break to replenish my own well. Coming back into teaching happened gradually, starting with Rooted, the three month programme I ran this spring with 15 people. What stood out most from that experience was how much people wanted to keep working together and keep the conversation going, which is really what led me back to an ongoing membership model.I talk through how the Kind Business Community is structured: two coworking sessions a month, a monthly themed workshop starting with intention-setting and mapping the season ahead before moving into marketing and finding confidence in your own voice, and a growing library of pre-recorded courses covering things like kind marketing, newsletter strategy, and questioning social media. I share who this is really for (any stage, any kind of creative values-led business), what the pricing looks like, and the scholarship spot available for every ten people who join.You can learn more here: https://pinkwellstudio.com/community/Thanks for listening!Love,Yarrow

In this episode, I dig into whether passive income is really a myth, drawing on my own experience running two businesses since 2015. I talk honestly about how the online course world in the 2010s oversold the idea of easy passive income, often without acknowledging the privilege and structural advantages that made it easier for some people, and I share a personal experience of being pressured into a course that didn't feel worth the investment. From there I unpack what passive income actually means, including affiliate income, pre-recorded courses, and book royalties, and I explain why I only ever turn practical, learnable skills into pre-recorded courses, while anything more transformative and long term stays as live group work with real community and accountability.I also get into what actually goes into building something that looks passive from the outside, from expertise and the right tech setup to the long, unglamorous work of building an audience before a course can even be worthwhile. I share some honest numbers around conversion rates and newsletter growth, and I talk about how affiliate income and royalties from my book Rituals have added up over time even though neither replaced my main income. My hope is that this episode leaves you feeling less pressured by the passive income hype and more grounded in figuring out what mix of income streams actually fits your business and your life.You can learn more about the Kind Business Community over here: https://pinkwellstudio.com/community/Thanks for listening!Love,Yarrow

In this episode, I get into the nerdy but genuinely satisfying topic of lowering overhead and finding the best software deals for your business. I share how I keep my baseline overhead around £150 a month, plus variable costs for things like education and materials, and I walk through how tracking where your time actually goes each week can point you toward the parts of your business worth automating. I talk about the tools I rely on day to day, including 17hats for client bookings, agreements, invoicing and podcast guest scheduling, and Podia for hosting my courses and groups, and I explain how mapping your software needs against your customer's journey, from first contact through to booking and delivery, can help you figure out where automation actually serves you.I also share some practical tips for getting better deals, like making the most of free trials, keeping an eye out for Black Friday offers even if I have mixed feelings about the day itself, asking around for affiliate links, and negotiating with providers when an introductory discount is about to end. My hope is that this episode gives you a useful starting point for thinking through your own systems with a bit more ease. And if you want to go deeper with me, my new Kind Business Community and Kind Marketing course launch in September, so get on my newsletter to hear when enrolment opens.You can learn more about the Kind Business Community over here: https://pinkwellstudio.com/community/ and this is my recommendations page: https://pinkwellstudio.com/stuff-i-use-in-my-business/Thanks for listening!Love,Yarrow

In this episode I'm joined by Keri Jarvis, a really wonderful coach, thought partner, and community activist based in Essex, UK. Keri describes her work as helping people navigate relational complexity, from building businesses fit for this moment to staying connected to each other and refusing the ways dominant systems push us toward isolation.We talk about her business model, built around a platform called the Portal, including her free live conversation series Spiral and her community space Composting. Keri shares why she left Instagram, what changed for her once she did, and how a culture of ongoing conversation and shared context makes it harder to be quick to judge one another.We also get into aligning our values with our work and her creative process and her weekly newsletter, written more as a devotional practice than a content strategy. Towards the end we talk about AI as an attachment technology rather than an attention technology and why choosing to be available and generous with each other is so important.Keri Jarvis is a Leftist Developmental Coach, Thought Partner & Community Activist. She believes that you deserve a meaningful, dignified, satisfying life, and so does everybody else. Her work supports people to expand their capacities for complexity and reclaim their relational skills so that we can meet this moment of polycrisis together. www.kerijarvis.comThank you for listening and supporting Keri’s work!Love,Yarrow