In Bulgaria, we have a word called “Ayliak”. I can describe it best with a short “joke”.

A German, French, and Bulgarian person are discussing the nature of achieving tranquility.

- When I rest in front of my TV, drink beer and think about nothingness I have great peace of mind and don’t need anything else — said the German.

- When I rest on my balcony, watch the sunset, drink marvelous wine, I reach a level of calmness beyond comprehension — said the French.

The Bulgarian looked at both of them.

- Yeah, when I’m doing all of that but without the stress. That’s ayliak.

One can indeed attain a level of relaxation on top of relaxation, which dismisses any discomfort. That’s hard though, especially in our frantic business world.

Have you ever been in an organization where you had colleagues who are slacking under the radar to get the next paycheck? Did you have a lot of toxic meetings where nothing gets done? No work-from-home conditions, so your kids are growing without you? Probably you’ve experienced the lack of operational transparency which handicapped all lower and middle level of the hierarchy and made them dysfunctional? Ever wanted salary raise but that was not possible without any explanation?

Then something snapped, and you decided to create better working conditions and quit.

Being a founder of a business can be suffocating. You can spend your weekends with anxiety, especially when things are taking a downturn. Depression is lurking around the corner. People depend on your reliable decisions. Their health, kids, and future can be at stake if you mess up. They count on you and your ideas, that’s why they quit their previous job after all.

Sounds like a lot of pressure?

It’s not when business is booming. You and your team achieve all your goals. Blitz-scaling and riding the unicorn wave never felt so good. Investors are looking up to you for continuing the momentum. The velocity treadmill is never-ending, and you start reading books about influencing/motivating/growing people. You start firing under-performers, hiring 10x engineers and propagandizing your mission, vision and culture statements to keep up the pace. Your net worth is 800% higher than the people “below” you, but you wish them to do a better job, be more autonomous, creative and supportive thus have a better impact for the company!

Deep in you is the feeling of diminishing humility as you increase inequality and burn out people because of growth ambitions. You don’t want to feel like this?

Luckily there are inspiring ways to have the same level of control with risk sharing, co-ownership, autonomy, humbleness, and flexibility. There are still ups and downs but they’re on a totally different plane.

You can be part of a “collective”!

It may have legal representation as a cooperative, limited company, corporation, or something else but still embodying self-organization principles. Co-creating or joining a collective sure is an exciting journey, and I’ll give some links with examples where it can lead you:

- https://start.coop/ — accelerator built for co-ops looking to scale. In case you’re into “accelerating”.

- https://www.upandgo.coop/ — a co-owned platform for professional home cleaners. After all, saving the world can happen with different activities.

- https://www.coops.tech/ — a network of ethical cooperatives providing technology, digital, and creative services. In case you like networks of trust.

- https://www.uk.coop/ — network for Britain’s thousands of cooperatives. Co‑operatives UK works to promote, develop, and unite member-owned businesses worth £37.7 billion to the economy. Having a more significant, nationwide, picture of cooperatives can give a perspective about their impact.

- Banco Credicoop — the largest cooperatively-owned bank in Argentina. You might also check out Mondragon as another mastodon example.

- http://www.chcany.org/ — as one of the largest worker-owned cooperative in the USA, they train over 600 low-income women every year to provide home care services to New Yorkers who are elderly, chronically ill, or living with disabilities in their communities. In case you are tired of hearing about Buurtzorg.

- https://arizmendi.coop/ — the Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives, founded in 1996, develops democratically run businesses whose worker-owners are in control of their livelihood. The first Arizmendi Bakery opened in Oakland in 1997.

- https://www.staffing.coop/ — creating a network of worker-owned staffing firms to balance the scales.

- https://www.stocksy.com/service/about/ — are an artist-owned cooperative which means they ensure that their empowered shareholder artists receive fair pay — 50%-75% of all licenses go directly into contributors’ pockets.

- https://www.savvy.coop/ — the future of healthcare, is co-designed with patients. They are giving patients direct ways to share their experiences with health innovators and advocating that they are fairly compensated for their contributions. They empower patients to co-create new solutions, give them a sense of purpose, and help them earn money.

- https://platform.coop/ — a hub that allows you to start, grow, or convert to platform co-ops.

- https://ioo.coop/ — the Internet of Ownership, is a resource for the emerging online democratic economy — a vision for online platforms that share democratic ownership and governance among the people who rely on them, especially those who contribute their labor and personal data.

Sure some cooperatives are failing, and some are blazing, but one thing’s for sure: you won’t be alone in this journey ❤