A Note on What to Expect from WholeCo During This Political Climate

An updated note from WholeCo Founder, Carly Jo Bell —

Hi all! I originally published my original statement, below, on the current US regime on Inauguration Day, 2025. I’m here today—23 June 2025—with an updated statement.

The events of the last few months have been horrendous, to say the least. (If you’ve read our What We Believe statement, you’ll not be surprised that that is my assessment of current socio-political events.)

A brain-dead woman was kept alive to be an incubator, against her family’s wishes. The US has continued funding and participating in genocide. Thousands (or more?) humans have been illegally denied due process. The law of the land has been flouted so consistently that it’s now a surprise when it is followed. I could go on—there’s been so much.

At the time of the inauguration, I was a bit frozen. I knew I wanted to do something, but I didn’t know what. And I felt like I had no idea how to talk about what we all suspected would happen. I understand that this frozen-ness is an indication of the privilege I’ve had throughout my life, to only just begin to feel many of the same feelings and wake up to many of the same realities that Indigenous, Black, immigrant, and members of other marginalized groups have carried for generations before me.

But as I moved myself through that initial frozenness, I realized: YES, what I shared in the below statement is true—my work is an aspect of my advocacy. But it cannot be all of it.

Over the past few months, I’ve begun intentionally speaking up about present events inside our WholeCo audiences. I will continue to do so, because if there’s one thing we cannot do, it’s obey in advance—at least not if we want to maintain (get back?) our human rights and dignity, that is. And they want our silence.

So yes, I will still talk business. I will still use my work around building sustainable businesses as part of my advocacy. I will also continue to speak loudly about the present situation us Americans find ourselves in and, by way of our “administration,” perpetuating.

I also encourage all of us—myself included—to continue showing up in the big and small ways. Whether that means showing up for a protest or donating to a local mutual aid organization or giving or doing whatever you are equipped to give or do, do it.

I will too.

We’re in this together 💛

Carly

Original Statement

A note from WholeCo Founder, Carly Jo Bell —

With the inauguration of the US’ 47th President today, I wanted to explicitly address where I’m at and what you can expect from me over the coming years.

If you’ve read our What We Believe statement, you’ll not at all be surprised to know that I do not agree with nor support the objectives and tactics of the incoming regime.

Because I am human and only have so much capacity, I am also having to actively choose how and where to prioritize my advocacy efforts. This has meant that, especially since the election in November 2024, I have been largely quiet here in my business about the political climate (and other horrors of the world).

My silence here is 1) not an indication of my silence elsewhere in my life, and 2) not at all out of support for or capitulation to our present collective circumstances.

My current silence within this professional context is because I’m preparing. Preparing myself, first and foremost, which includes preparing things in my business. And, from there, preparing to be able to help on a hyper-local level as well as help my friends and connections across the US, especially in instances where I have more privileged identities than they do.

Yes, it is wildly weird—to say the absolute least—to both be a living, breathing human being in todays’ society and a business owner who’s gotta keep on keeping on amidst it.

People have been saying this for forever. And yeah, that’s the reality.

Amidst this, I’m also holding the tension between two facts. One, the reality that people are not here in this business-focused community to talk politics and social justice issues 24/7; and two, that I am someone whose life and being is inherently and inescapably politicized, simply because I am who I am. As a small business owner, that second fact is going to affect how I lead and show up whether I like it or not. And in actuality, for me to not acknowledge the political is to actively participate in systems of my own oppression, not to mention the oppression of other human beings, which includes people close to me.

With all of that considered, I’m still working out exactly what “advocacy” within my business will look like when I do have increased capacity. While I work toward clarity on that, I’m allowing my actions within my business, particularly my Sustainable Success-focused approach to business, to be my advocacy work in this context.

Because the truth is: exiting the culture of Speedy Success—which is very focused on winning at all costs, even and especially at the cost of you, your health, your relationships, and your values—and intentionally building for real, lasting Sustainable Success is one of the most rebellious acts I’ve been able to find thus far as a business owner in our society. It flies in the face of so much of what the incoming regime in the US stands for and is bent on perpetuating. (I shared the blueprint for Sustainable Success in this recent masterclass, if you’re curious about what this approach looks like and means practically.)

My hope in sharing this message today is threefold:

1. To give you insight into the reason for my actions, or potentially my seeming non-actions, in my business, as well as an idea of what you can expect from me over the coming months and potentially years.
2. To show that I’m actively engaging with our present context, hopefully inspiring you to do the same, especially as you’re a business owner and therefore leader with a platform that others will likely look to over the coming years.
3. To give you information with which you can make an informed choice. Specifically, a choice to stick around and continue engaging with my business, or a choice to leave. I trust that whatever decision you make is right for you in this moment.

Some further expectation setting:

• I’ll continue to extend invitations into our 9-month live cohort of EXPAND over the coming days, since applications close on January 28. With the scheduled (but now walked back?) immigration raids over the coming days, and all manner of horrors I’m sure will unfold from there, it absolutely feels very strange to keep saying, “Hey, come join us to set your business up for lasting Sustainable Success!” On the other hand, supporting business owners to do just that feels more pressing than ever before. This discomfort, I’ve learned, is just part of running a business in the hyper-connected 21st century.
• I’ll continue to promote different offers and talk business, even amidst the highly likely never-ending stream of headlines we’re sure to see over this administration. Mostly because business is what we’re all here for, but also, because focusing on things I love and that are important to me, helping others build businesses that bring them as much joy as revenue, and sharing my expertise and gifts feels like its own form of rebellion? So yeah, I’m gonna keep at it.
• I’ve chosen to remain on Meta products for the foreseeable future (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger). I have extensive community which is highly organized and established on each of those platforms, and to lose that would be somewhat destabilizing for me, and not at all what I personally need in this moment. I share this to make clear: me staying on these platforms is not out of agreement with their new (and long-existing) policies.

If you’re feeling any type of anxiety, fear, etc. about our world right now, particularly if you’re in the US (and/or one of the countries the now leader of the US has recently threatened 🙃), know that you’re not alone. And I hope that, if anything, me sharing this makes that very clear and also gives you permission—though you do not need my permission—to make conscious choices about where your energy is going throughout the next 4(?) years, too.

It’s ok that you only have so much capacity. Perhaps one of the most rebellious things we can do is acknowledge that none of us will ever individually have “enough” capacity to do everything we want to do, at the caliber we want to do it, especially in the society we live in. That’s where community has to come in. And if I, through my business, can provide some of that community, goodness, I’ll be so honored and grateful to navigate these coming years alongside you.

Sending so much love, if you want it.

Here’s to our collective Sustainable Success,

Carly