About $4.50 worth of value here, can I get a 50% refund? lol. JOKES. You are bloody brilliant. The artistry of your RESPONSE-ability (see what I did there) is profound. Love you babe!
It's truly shocking/repulsive how people will pay you who secretly hate you, just to see what you are offering to those who *do* actually resonate to your work. This type of energy is what led me to close my own business down, moving here. I suppose it's inescapable.🥲🫠🪬🍵
This really is such an important topic of conversation. As someone who has spent years "making money off" mothers I've wrestled with the capitalist concerns of your hate mail sender. I've worked in the realm of prenatal/postnatal yoga for mothers to be and newly reborn mothers and their newborn babies. I often struggled with the concept that I was taking something (money) away from these women, who could have been putting it elsewhere (meals, bodywork, nappies, coffee!).
I had one scholarship spot each term and paid forward a percentage of my profits in reparations to a non for profit birthing on country organisation. It never felt like enough because I was constantly seeing everything through the lens of "capitalism sucks and why does money even exist" when women deserve to have this type of care and support for free.
Stack on that I was a student midwife offering free birth care (students don't get paid and also have to forgo their own jobs in order to make pre/postnatal appointments and the birth itself) - which transitioned into quitting and working as a birth worker where I had to suddenly begin charging money for the holy exchange I could offer.
I did soo much work on relating to money, still do and maybe will always, to shift this. Those in service of mothers (you, me and the countless fairy godmothers out there) could either offer those services or not. And not offering them is a disservice and leaves mothers without - which is shit.
As you mentioned in this post, those who offer their mother support services also need to participate in this (unfortunate) capitalist society which means they need to be paid for their service.
This comment is getting long (how good is using a laptop instead of your phone) BUT thank you for going there with this post. There's still sooo much conditioning in our society with relationship to money and also just a huge fucking congratulations on the wealth you're circulating back to other mothers and women in your community!
Hey Kat, just sat down with a tea to indulge in this. Lots of nuggets in here, and as an AOA alumni, it was refreshing to watch you apply what you teach to your own business, in real time!
I also wanted to point out that obviously this mother had mistyped her original message so I wanted to correct it for her. It should read:
"I don't like giving money to people when I'm not open to receiving their value. I don't beleive in myself and my creativity and definitely don't feel ready to make money from my art. I don't think my art is good enough to have other mothers pay for it and therefore i feel unworthy of contributing to this mother centric business community. It's an endless cycle. Love Kat's ideas on motherhood and creativity, but I'm still working through a love of the energetic stuff, especially around my relationship with money and my self worth. I'm taking a break from paying for self-help because I need to take some time to be with myself and work out what I'm really seeking. Also, I'm new to substack and it scares me that it's different to other platforms I've used before. Change is hard. Growing is harder."
The truth is, what you share with the world is a gift to us all. You may get compensated for some of your efforts, but the heart and soul that you freely offer is immeasurable. You not only provide tremendous value, wisdom and tangible tools for growth, but also inspiration that propels people to find their place in the world of motherhood + womanhood. Substack feels like a way to curate our own newspaper - what a beautiful, intentional and profound way of learning. Much better use of time than scrolling instagram or getting lost in the fear of the news. Keep following the calling within you, we are all so grateful.
As always, speaking your truth with clarity & a common sense approach. This shifting the language & our long held views around making money like it’s a bad, bad thing (thanks Mr Isaak).
The freedom to be open to opportunities & looking to spread the abundance around has to be a positive in this world.
If I can cover my needs & expenses (financially & otherwise) & then also be able to support others (financially & otherwise), well surely that has to be a good, good thing.
This person sounds so defeatist, self-victimizing and honestly just lame. I can’t believe the audacity. Love how you made it into art and an opportunity for a deeper share of your own story.
Like, ok you don’t like Substack, how is that anybody else’s problem? 🤣
I got triggered by “and I don’t enjoy the Substack format, it’s not easy to navigate for me” as I had a client of mine after several times confirming to train with me ghosting me because part of the work was delivered via Substack and she didn’t like it. It was a huge process of unpacking the anxiety of having done something wrong to realising that she simply already made up her mind that it wasn’t the way she wanted it to be and to finally acknowledging that I LOVE this way and would choose Substack every day over any of my other platforms. Making peace with my choice does not align with everyone.
So funny that it was this part that stood out to me, because I find it almost more offensive a statement to criticise your choice of platform. I doubt someone would say that to E Gilbert.
When I read the criticism you received and noticed that this part didn’t even get mentioned in your response I had to giggle to myself because I realised it’s totally my trigger again - whereas I wouldn’t even mind the stuff she said before as her sentence “simply fed up with paying for self help” states where she’s at independently from what you do and is her issue.
It’s so fascinating using criticism as inner inquiry and I love that you shared your journey with us and gave such a raw look into your insecurities. Particularly the shift into sassyness from level headedness and the need to defend, then detach and reason but also passion about a cause and grounding in one’s values and back again is just SO relatable. All the feels.
This line resonated a lot..."need to dilute and hide, retract our visibility because it no longer feels safe." I recognise that a lot within myself, and I am curious about how to transform that fear. Being able to metamorphize other people's perception/judgement into self-empowerment and refinement of our own message is such a skill! I will be repeating the mantra "All of me is not for everyone." Thanks for sharing :)
The community you create, the energy you put out in the world in advocacy of mothers who want to create and feel alive and stop drowning in expectation, the pure fucking truth in the way you observe the universe and yourself and all of us that you hold space for; you are showing me a new way to exist and I am beyond grateful.
So, let me be one of many (I’m sure), to replace the $9 from the person who has such a block in their alignment that they felt the need to not just unsubscribe quietly but to imply that there is anything that isn’t anything NECESSARY about being paid for our work.
Right now, I have no income (I’ve written essays about it recently - how I went from a six figure salary as a surgeon to nothing when I left my career so I could live in the same house as my children again). I have ideas (and a faint inkling of my muse… thanks AoA) but not a clue on the timescale of how or when I’ll start earning again.
But I believe in you, in your message, and I’m so certain that I can learn from your experience in helping mother makers achieve their dreams, that I will find the $9 a month, in trust that my muse has my back and things are going to work out just fine.
Sorry, that turned into a bit of an essay in itself. You are awesome. I am grateful that the universe connected us through this Substack algorithm. Now I’m off to catch up on this week’s AoA call because I’ve been too unwell to stay up to watch them live. Soon though. The live energy is really something special. Xxx
Babe you need to give me trigger warnings when you talk about high school 😅😆
This was beautifully written and explained. I think a lot of people have issues with internet coaches (there’s some good ones but a lot of not great ones), but what you do isn’t that. It’s genuine and comes from experience and passion and I love you for that.
Can’t wait to see what else is to come for the mother makers xxx
About $4.50 worth of value here, can I get a 50% refund? lol. JOKES. You are bloody brilliant. The artistry of your RESPONSE-ability (see what I did there) is profound. Love you babe!
It's truly shocking/repulsive how people will pay you who secretly hate you, just to see what you are offering to those who *do* actually resonate to your work. This type of energy is what led me to close my own business down, moving here. I suppose it's inescapable.🥲🫠🪬🍵
It’s unfortunately a human thing but our own response/ boundaries etc are more important. The online space is the Wild West
This really is such an important topic of conversation. As someone who has spent years "making money off" mothers I've wrestled with the capitalist concerns of your hate mail sender. I've worked in the realm of prenatal/postnatal yoga for mothers to be and newly reborn mothers and their newborn babies. I often struggled with the concept that I was taking something (money) away from these women, who could have been putting it elsewhere (meals, bodywork, nappies, coffee!).
I had one scholarship spot each term and paid forward a percentage of my profits in reparations to a non for profit birthing on country organisation. It never felt like enough because I was constantly seeing everything through the lens of "capitalism sucks and why does money even exist" when women deserve to have this type of care and support for free.
Stack on that I was a student midwife offering free birth care (students don't get paid and also have to forgo their own jobs in order to make pre/postnatal appointments and the birth itself) - which transitioned into quitting and working as a birth worker where I had to suddenly begin charging money for the holy exchange I could offer.
I did soo much work on relating to money, still do and maybe will always, to shift this. Those in service of mothers (you, me and the countless fairy godmothers out there) could either offer those services or not. And not offering them is a disservice and leaves mothers without - which is shit.
As you mentioned in this post, those who offer their mother support services also need to participate in this (unfortunate) capitalist society which means they need to be paid for their service.
This comment is getting long (how good is using a laptop instead of your phone) BUT thank you for going there with this post. There's still sooo much conditioning in our society with relationship to money and also just a huge fucking congratulations on the wealth you're circulating back to other mothers and women in your community!
Hey Kat, just sat down with a tea to indulge in this. Lots of nuggets in here, and as an AOA alumni, it was refreshing to watch you apply what you teach to your own business, in real time!
I also wanted to point out that obviously this mother had mistyped her original message so I wanted to correct it for her. It should read:
"I don't like giving money to people when I'm not open to receiving their value. I don't beleive in myself and my creativity and definitely don't feel ready to make money from my art. I don't think my art is good enough to have other mothers pay for it and therefore i feel unworthy of contributing to this mother centric business community. It's an endless cycle. Love Kat's ideas on motherhood and creativity, but I'm still working through a love of the energetic stuff, especially around my relationship with money and my self worth. I'm taking a break from paying for self-help because I need to take some time to be with myself and work out what I'm really seeking. Also, I'm new to substack and it scares me that it's different to other platforms I've used before. Change is hard. Growing is harder."
Haha you are creative and I love it. Thank you for your support beautiful woman xx
The truth is, what you share with the world is a gift to us all. You may get compensated for some of your efforts, but the heart and soul that you freely offer is immeasurable. You not only provide tremendous value, wisdom and tangible tools for growth, but also inspiration that propels people to find their place in the world of motherhood + womanhood. Substack feels like a way to curate our own newspaper - what a beautiful, intentional and profound way of learning. Much better use of time than scrolling instagram or getting lost in the fear of the news. Keep following the calling within you, we are all so grateful.
Thank you for your beautiful comment. Making the insides of my heart cosy. Also I love how you just explained substack!
As always, speaking your truth with clarity & a common sense approach. This shifting the language & our long held views around making money like it’s a bad, bad thing (thanks Mr Isaak).
The freedom to be open to opportunities & looking to spread the abundance around has to be a positive in this world.
If I can cover my needs & expenses (financially & otherwise) & then also be able to support others (financially & otherwise), well surely that has to be a good, good thing.
🧡
This person sounds so defeatist, self-victimizing and honestly just lame. I can’t believe the audacity. Love how you made it into art and an opportunity for a deeper share of your own story.
Like, ok you don’t like Substack, how is that anybody else’s problem? 🤣
I got triggered by “and I don’t enjoy the Substack format, it’s not easy to navigate for me” as I had a client of mine after several times confirming to train with me ghosting me because part of the work was delivered via Substack and she didn’t like it. It was a huge process of unpacking the anxiety of having done something wrong to realising that she simply already made up her mind that it wasn’t the way she wanted it to be and to finally acknowledging that I LOVE this way and would choose Substack every day over any of my other platforms. Making peace with my choice does not align with everyone.
So funny that it was this part that stood out to me, because I find it almost more offensive a statement to criticise your choice of platform. I doubt someone would say that to E Gilbert.
When I read the criticism you received and noticed that this part didn’t even get mentioned in your response I had to giggle to myself because I realised it’s totally my trigger again - whereas I wouldn’t even mind the stuff she said before as her sentence “simply fed up with paying for self help” states where she’s at independently from what you do and is her issue.
It’s so fascinating using criticism as inner inquiry and I love that you shared your journey with us and gave such a raw look into your insecurities. Particularly the shift into sassyness from level headedness and the need to defend, then detach and reason but also passion about a cause and grounding in one’s values and back again is just SO relatable. All the feels.
This line resonated a lot..."need to dilute and hide, retract our visibility because it no longer feels safe." I recognise that a lot within myself, and I am curious about how to transform that fear. Being able to metamorphize other people's perception/judgement into self-empowerment and refinement of our own message is such a skill! I will be repeating the mantra "All of me is not for everyone." Thanks for sharing :)
Kat, I actually love you.
The community you create, the energy you put out in the world in advocacy of mothers who want to create and feel alive and stop drowning in expectation, the pure fucking truth in the way you observe the universe and yourself and all of us that you hold space for; you are showing me a new way to exist and I am beyond grateful.
So, let me be one of many (I’m sure), to replace the $9 from the person who has such a block in their alignment that they felt the need to not just unsubscribe quietly but to imply that there is anything that isn’t anything NECESSARY about being paid for our work.
Right now, I have no income (I’ve written essays about it recently - how I went from a six figure salary as a surgeon to nothing when I left my career so I could live in the same house as my children again). I have ideas (and a faint inkling of my muse… thanks AoA) but not a clue on the timescale of how or when I’ll start earning again.
But I believe in you, in your message, and I’m so certain that I can learn from your experience in helping mother makers achieve their dreams, that I will find the $9 a month, in trust that my muse has my back and things are going to work out just fine.
Sorry, that turned into a bit of an essay in itself. You are awesome. I am grateful that the universe connected us through this Substack algorithm. Now I’m off to catch up on this week’s AoA call because I’ve been too unwell to stay up to watch them live. Soon though. The live energy is really something special. Xxx
Babe you need to give me trigger warnings when you talk about high school 😅😆
This was beautifully written and explained. I think a lot of people have issues with internet coaches (there’s some good ones but a lot of not great ones), but what you do isn’t that. It’s genuine and comes from experience and passion and I love you for that.
Can’t wait to see what else is to come for the mother makers xxx
Hahah so true 😂
Hahahah look I have no doubt all 150 students were somehow traumatised in one way or another 😂😂
Love to you!
I was so excited to see this pop up while I was home alone!
Brava Kat 👏🏽👏🏽 you handled this so elegantly, clearly anchoring you more deeply into the dharmic nature of what you do
Thanks for taking the time to read beautiful woman. Did you pour tea?
Oh love to you!