How do you feel about Giving Tuesday? Here’s how I feel: Every day is Giving Tuesday! And I can never give enough!
A year ago last spring, I took the big scary step of scheduling a meeting with a lawyer, the kind who helps you form a business. We had a big important inspiring grownup talk about why I would probably choose an LLC over an S-Corp. I showed him the org chart I’d designed on Canva to prepare for our meeting, a snapshot of the many creative impulses, responsibilities, services and ambitions I juggle in brands that help me keep track of what I’m doing any given day. The man squinted at it and stared and turned it to the right and left, trying to get his head around the scope of my little empire. Finally, he handed me a sharpie. “You do too many things. I’m going to leave the room for a bit. While I’m gone, circle any of them you would be willing to drop.”
He left the room and I stared at the chart, which has groupings for my family business, services, creative babies, classes and products. My face burned and a familiar ick flooded my gut, that existential sense of rejection for being too much, needing to fit into a box I don’t know about in order to make other people comfortable. Of getting my hand slapped for reaching for a sweet. When he came back, I was signing his check. “Thank you for your time. I don’t think we’re a good fit,” I said, my voice shaking. He was shocked at my emotional reaction. I expressed how violent his Sophie’s Choice suggestion felt to me. He expressed that he had not intended any harm and apologized.
“Maybe if you just tell me which one of these is the one you want to focus on.”
“I focus on them all, each in turn.”
“But which one is the one that makes money?”
“None of them do. All of them do.” I explained that the biggest checks come in when I sell a manuscript, but you can’t just put that in a business plan. Selling creative works, even if you’ve established yourself, is a path of uncertainty. That’s why I have multiple income streams.
“The whole reason people start businesses is to make money,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
“That’s not the reason I’m in business,” I retorted. The room was thick with tension. “Money is necessary, but it’s not my goal. Everything I do is to create some sort of social good.”
A year later I took a breath and tried again. This time I found a lawyer who works with artists, who understand the deeply personal connection we have with our creative work. She validated my passion and my question whether the best designation for an umbrella organization would actually be a non-profit.
Her name—I kid you not—is Hope. She’s also a dancer. The other lawyer, his name was synonymous with mountain. Hope gave me a list of tasks to check off and hoops to jump through, and our collaboration became a dance, not an uphill slog. In no time at all (“The gods and goddesses of bureaucracy are on your side,” she gushed) I had an EIN, bylaws, a board of directors, and public charity status as a 509(a)(2). My checks crack me up; they have “Boobled Inc. Amalgamated Arts" printed on the upper left corner. When I’d first come up with “Boobledink Amalgmated” for that org chart, it was kind of a joke. I followed the playful impulse, thinking about David Letterman and Worldwide Pants.
Those of you who have read/listened to The Winning Family or experienced The Dirndl Diaspora may recognize the word “Boobledink.” It’s a word my mother coined to avoid punishing or shaming language for naughty but not crisis-level behavior. A boobledink is a child who, not knowing any better, puts her fingers in the icing of a cake. So this fear I feel about putting my years of experience leading nonprofits in the service of my own work—well, it means I don’t have to do it perfectly. I am a maker of laughable, story-worthy mistakes. .
I thought today, being Giving Tuesday, might be a good opportunity to announce my longed-for leap into legitimizing my economic presence. Every one of my/our offerings requires a champion and an investment to succeed. Next year, this Substack and all my other operations will slowly move under the umbrella—but today I made the first link. So if you would like to be the first to donate to BAUMetc (Boobledink Amalgamated, United Ministrations in entertainment, teaching, and coaching…) (I’m still having fun playing with the name; it’s a new toy), here you go.
If you would like to donate over $250, we just need to collect your contact information so we can send a thank you letter.
As we move into the holiday season, I wish you the conjoined blessings of a bit of disposable income and a yearning it can serve.
Cheers,
Kristen
OMG THANK YOU FOR OUR FIRST DONATION!!!! Must go the final form now. Yay!
Inspiring story Kristen! I love how you went with your gut, ditched the first lawyer and found someone that understands the needs of creatives. And love love love the name Boobled Inc. hahaha! Iconic.