Why did we launch the “Create Your Own Economy™ Movement?

In 2018 Ms. Chairidee Smith, our founder and CEO launched the mantra and the organization’s new mission: We will create our own economy with our teams, stakeholders, and audiences well-being and profitability at the helm.

With this newly found purpose, all of our companies’ functions now focus on what Ms. Smith states as “benevolent capitalism and cooperative economics.” This means we now assertively look for win-win scenarios in our business’ growth. Our goal is to not only partner with vendors, but also demonstrate passion about our internal and external relationships, creating built-in opportunties for growth, meeting the objectives for all involved. Additionally, we are developing collaborations that scale our supply and demand, adding quality services for our clients, attracting multi-transactional clients for each of us, and holding us accountable to excellence in organizational growth and indivitual growth.

After further discussion and implementation, it was clear that we would create a model and share it globally via events, trainings, symposiums, and Ms. Smith’s speaking engagements.

We are creating a new culture of success and team synergy while winning together - within and without.

The conference series is launched to:

• to ignite a fire in business owners to think bigger than their previous successes,

• to develop new models of business as the old ones are becoming obsolete,

• to encourage more people to take the leap of entrepreneurship,

• to change the conversations between “small business” and “big government”, and

• to empower leaders in the US and internationally in personal success responsibility, while creating “cooperative economics”.

How do we take our big ideals and create systems of business success, social work-place improvements, and positively impact US and global small business trajectories for the better?

Let’s understand what an “economy”is in the vernacular. According Wikipedia to an economy is “ An econom is the management of a household, administration'; from οἶκος (oîkos) 'household', and νέμω (némō) 'distribute, allocate') is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services by different agents. In general, it is defined 'as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the production, use, and management of scarce resources'. A given economy is a set of processes that involves its culture, values, education, technological evolution, history, social organization, political structure and legal systems, as well as its geography, natural resource endowment, and ecology, as main factors. These factors give context, content, and set the conditions and parameters in which an economy functions. In other words, the economic domain is a social domain of interrelated human practices and transactions that does not stand alone.”

Understanding the function of an economy is the first step to shifting the paradigms of today’s business innovators and leaders. Ultimately, we believe the positive impact on global economies is realized by re-shaping the negative trajectory of global economies by empowering local/individual economies. We fully understand that even with the best efforts in re-forming business success trends, fresh ideas and new narratives in cooperative policy are needed from the world’s governments to see more sustained progress for the average business owner.

However, it is our policy and corporate culture to focus on solutions and personal responsiblity, instead of problems. As Ms. Smith frequently shares with teams, staff, and during speaking opportunities, that “This matter may not be your fault, but it IS your problem. Solve it.” This healthy dose of reality is challenging us and the client we serve to find creative, lucrative problem-solving ways to

• meet supply and demand,

• stream-line logistics,

• increase productivity while working remotely,

• create corporate and organizational ecosystems that are collaborative and foster individual and collective genius,

• and nurture a “success” culture.

We find people are authentically more happy and at their creative best when they are given the opportunity to explore and collaborate while meeting day to day business demands. We see and witness that happiness in their longevity as

• partners, stakeholders, or employees,

• sustained profitability,

• sales margins and goals become more ambitious,

• self-management and team accountability become the culture,

• lasting relationships are developed outside the workplace,

• and more trust is fostered, making work more enjoyable.

Why did we launch this conference?

The answer to that question is an obvious one. We heard from our clients and viewing audience the angst of traversing a new set of economic insecurities. Many of the “talking heads” and economists touted this would be a repeat of the 2008 - 2009 downturns, but the market quickly ascertained, no - this was quite different.

The realties experienced and caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were not like anything leaders and experts had ever experienced. There were record job losses, logistical frailties, economic closures and let’s be honest - fear.

We heard the same concerns, but also identified the opportunties to use the market’s chaos and challenge for innovation in business, personnel, and thought leadership. Our gamble and working hypotheis was, if we could cause entrepreneurs and leades to shift their paradigms, re-think “business as usual” and be bold in problem solving, we could thrust entrepreneurs into an new trajectory of success norms.

With that premise in mind, Ms. Smith called some of her friends and world-class business leaders like Bill Walsh, Sir Dr. James Dentley, Dame Maria Simone, Sherita Herring-Oglesby, and Noah St. John to share their insights, acumen, and expertise in creating new business and success norms. Here are this year’s conversations.

Our next summit is planned for fall 2022.