It’s been 10 years since I started this project in October 2015, and a few things have happened:
- Multiple right wing fascist regimes across the globe and here in the US have expanded
- COVID-19
- Crypto
Our experience of having and using money is also different now than in 2015:
- Inflation has gone up 32%
- the cost of living has gone up 35%
- wages have gone up about 35-40%, which means that the cost of living erases many gains in wages, and in some places where living is more expensive, means a regression in purchasing power
- Investments in the stock market returned 275% [source] if you didn’t need to spend your money to live
- Buy Now Pay Later has entered the group chat [which 41% of users were late on in the last year [source]
Along with all this, in Ride Free Fearless Money I’ve:
- Worked with 750+ individuals, partners, and collectives in strategic coaching – recently I ran into two different clients at two different Folsom parties, so I know I’m with the right people 🙂
- Given 26 different workshops + three group coaching cohorts, many multiple times 🙂
- Made two podcasts;
- I’ve sent over 400,000 individual emails [WOW, and thanks Mailchimp];
- People have made over 20,000 visits a year to my website:
- 18% of these [!] are visits to the sliding scale article and guidance which is also in Spanish thanks to community
- Another 10% want to know about me awwww
- 5% check out a podcast
- 4% learn about how rich people steal money from banks and the government [still applicable!]
- 4% learn about making under the table money
- 3% read about investing when you hate capitalism [a little outdated but ok]
I’ve gotten to witness so many glowups
of queer, movement, and creative folks changing careers, buying homes, having babies, taking sabbaticals, transforming their class trauma, affording gender-affirming surgery, figuring out what enough money is for them, committing to giving money, creating business that run sustainably, and creating both savings and possibilities for themselves. Literally sometimes I cry with joy because of what you all have done <3
And I’ve had a lot happen too:
- Started a fancy professional design thinking and strategy career with a bougie paycheck to match
- Moved states + bought a house
- Got an ICF coaching certification [where I’ve been focused the last bunch of months instead of here….]
I am thinking about what Ride Free should be, next – for me, for you, and for the current moment. There will still be coaching, creating, and consulting. But it’s time for it to look different.
More on this in the coming weeks.
