How to build systems that match your ethics, with Jacki Hayes

Today on the Soap Box, I’m talking to Jacki Hayes, a systems geek for creative service businesses and someone who’s quietly building a very different kind of company. Jacki helps creative service providers stop duct-taping their systems together and build businesses that actually work, with more ease, clarity and flexibility.

In our conversation, Jacki makes a simple, slightly spicy point, the kind I like. Running a business is political, not party political, but human political. The way we pay people, the policies we set, who we hire and how we hire them all send a message about the world we’re trying to build.

Jacki shares the story of how a single job ad – one that offered a real living wage, proper time off and care-led policies that most founders are told are “impossible”, especially at the early stages – completely shifted what success looked like for her. And how that moment went on to shape the way she now helps others build their businesses in a totally different way.

All that advice about maximising profit, reducing payroll and the whole “hire the cheapest VA you can find” vibe is the complete antithesis of the businesses Jacki helps people create. She lays out why that model doesn’t sit right with her and how you can build business systems that genuinely match your ethics. This is very much her real talk approach to values-aligned business, the kind she also explores on her podcast Here’s What I Learned.

If you’ve ever wondered how to grow without losing your values, or how to let your values help you grow, this one is going to land. Jacki’s a joy, so I’d invite you to grab a notebook for this one and listen to Jacki get on her soapbox.

Jacki's Links:

Jacki's upcoming shop, "The Toolshed", a pay-what-you-choose shop filled with tools she's actually used to run her own business. In addition to being full of accessibly-priced tools you’ll actually use, 25% of what comes in (revenue not profit) is donated to organisations supporting Black reparations, Indigenous communities, LGBTQ+ rights, and reproductive justice.

Jacki's website: www.jackihayes.co

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