WHY THESE STANDARDS EXIST
These weren’t made to critique—they were built to clarify.
I've been an entrepreneur and in the personal development business for many years, and I've spent hundreds of hours in trainings, seminars, and business classes where ethics and human decency seemed to be anything but a top priority.
I’m on a mission to help create a new kind of economics where trickery, manipulation, and extraction are no longer the most profitable. That mission starts by establishing a baseline of universal standards that any ethical person can follow, and that anyone can understand and remember.
These standards offer a simple, reliable framework people can easily understand and trust—especially after trusting advice or systems that sounded right but collapsed under pressure.
We've all witnessed examples of the following:
- Too many business models fall apart when the hype fades.
- Too many sales tactics rely on manipulation or moral pressure.
- Too many influencers perform integrity without really proving it.
These five standards make misalignment visible before it can cause harm.
They're not about how “nice” someone seems.
They're built to help assess whether the structure, delivery, and behavior actually hold—ethically, sustainably, and without hidden costs to the client.
Originally developed as part of a referal list to help artistic professionals vet business mentors, these standards can apply across professions and industries.
It's still an evolving list, but it makes a good starting point. And anyone can use this as a tool to assess their structural integrity (and to help stop confusing charisma with congruence).
These standards transcend identity, politics, and religion.
You don’t have to assimilate to align with these standards. They simply rest on how your business behaves. That’s what makes them a powerful baseline for leadership, economic sovereignty, and structural clarity—without cultural homogeneity.
ANY entrepreneur, business owner, or leader who is ready to operate at a higher level can start by evaluating how their work abides by these five principles:
1. STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY
They’ve built something that works in the real world—not just in a funnel, in a classroom, or on a landing page. Their pricing, packaging, and delivery models are aligned, and their backend supports their promise in tangible ways. Their offers meet clients’ actual needs—without any bait and switch.
2. BEHAVIORAL CONGRUENCE
They embody what they claim. They lead without performing—or bullying. They don’t rely on emotional closeness, blurred boundaries, political or social allegiance, curated mystique, or coercive control to keep the business going.
3. BUSINESS DELIVERY
They deliver real outcomes, as promised—not just temporary feelings. Clients walk away with clarity, transformation, and tools or systems that deliver actual results. They’re offering a healthy horse, not just a cart before the horse.
4. REFERRALS WITHOUT CONDITIONS
They recommend people and businesses because they’re excellent—not because they’re in a clique or are expected to return the favor. They build trust—not echo chambers.
5. ABSENCE OF SALES & MARKETING EXPLOITATION
They don’t rely on shame, guilt, urgency theatrics, manipulation, trauma triggers, unrealistic promises, deceptive funnels, inflated income claims, or aspirational bait. Clients retain complete agency throughout they process; they never have to override their instincts, dismiss their intuition, abandon their standards, or second-guess their self-respect in order to say yes.
HOW TO APPLY THESE STANDARDS TO YOUR BUSINESS
You don’t have to rebuild it all overnight
These standards aren’t a purity test. They’re a tool for structural awareness, intelligent recalibration, and deeper economic congruence.
And there’s always another level of economic congruence to be achieved.
You can start by simply asking yourself these questions:
- Where does your client experience truly reflect your values? And where might it quietly contradict them?
- Does your ablility to sell ever depend on false urgency, emotional compliance, or manufactured scarcity? (Aside from actual calendar or facility capacity and/or supply constraints)
- Are your decisions grounded in your sustainability? Or based on what worked for someone else in a completely different context?
Each standard offers a diagnostic lens. You can use them to:
- Audit your model before a launch (or after one that didn’t land)
- Rework sales language to attract more aligned clients—without bait-and-switch or pressure tactics
- Evaluate potential hires (mentors, coaches, or team members)
- Check your own congruence when pricing, scaling, or shifting strategy
This isn’t about perfection.
This isn't about shame or guilt.
It’s about structural honesty.
When your model is built in alignment with these standards, you won’t need to rely on manipulation or mystique. You’ll be able to earn, lead, and deliver with more integrity—and trust that your business can better hold under real-world pressure, not just inside a well-rehearsed funnel.
The standards are here to help you lead your business—not perform someone else’s.
Because full integrity isn’t just more ethical—it’s actually more profitable.
It’s the most sustainable path to financial freedom, stronger sales, and outcomes that actually last.
So let's get ready.
Let's get congruent.
And let’s build what can be best for your bank account and your heart.
SHARE THESE STANDARDS
Share the above list. Screenshot it. Save it.
We can raise the bar—quietly but firmly—for all.
Without needing to name names.
Without needing to point fingers.
We can just let these standards do the talking.
—THIS is how we can really start to change the economy for the better for everyone!
These are examples of business mentors I trust to meet the standards.
Each specializes in unique aspects of business architecture for creatives and entrepreneurs—not just branding, mindset, or performance coaching.
They help clients build income systems that actually hold—under pressure, and without emotional compliance. This list isn’t about preference. It’s about structural congruence.
📄 Read the full referral list here
(The standards specific for business mentors are included below.)
Use this rubric to evaluate any business mentor’s structural integrity—beyond charisma, marketing, or mindset claims. It’s not about personality. It’s about whether their business model, behavior, and delivery truly hold under pressure—ethically, sustainably, and without hidden costs.
