Rethinking Wealth & Growth: Can We Reverse the Corporate Takeover?

What would the world look like without the stock market? So many businesses begin with good intentions—a people focused mission, a dream to serve, to create, to contribute. But as they gain traction, as exposure turns into demand, investors arrive with deep pockets, eager to stake their claim. With investment comes pressure: profit margins take priority, and the entrepreneur who once wanted to help the world suddenly finds themselves making concessions. One by one, beliefs get pushed aside. To scale up, to land the big contracts, to expand into major markets, culture is diluted, because profit is now king.

Then, bless you if you go public. The company that was once your precious, pure baby can now vote you out. Your own vision, built from the ground up, no longer belongs to you. This is the capitalist model. The system thrives on infinite expansion, regardless of the human or environmental cost.

How Did We Do It Before Corporations Took Over?

There was a time before mass production, before the global trade networks that ship goods across oceans, wrapped in plastic, destined to contribute to landfills. We once had a world where local economies thrived, where artisans and craftspeople made what they needed and sold directly to those around them. Goods weren’t produced at an unfathomable scale, they were made with intention, designed to last, repurposed when necessary. We lived in a system that valued community over convenience.

Could we return to this? Could we pivot away from the extractive model that values wealth accumulation over planetary health?

The Cost of Scale & The Price of Success

In 2021, I envisioned my skincare line, Petals & Clay, growing as big as Aveda. I imagined schools, licensed spas, a holistic education system that nurtured an herbalist approach to beauty and self care. I even found myself inspired by a business coach to pursue millionaire status—I was drinking the punch.

But then, my intuition spoke louder. I don’t want my baby watered down. I don’t want to abandon my glass packaging for plastic to accommodate mass production. I don’t want to see my products sit on big box shelves, only for them to be intentionally damaged and tossed because ‘that’s the way things are.’ What I’ve come to realize in the last six months is this: I am content with being only local.

I don’t need to become a millionaire. I don’t need to remove myself from the process. I want to touch my products, to remain part of their creation. And when a batch reaches its shelf life, I don’t want it dumped down the drain. I want to use it in my bath. I want to give it to restaurant workers with over washed hands. I want to be part of the cycle that honors every last drop, rather than fueling a system that discards what doesn’t sell.

How Do We Reverse the Obsession with Absurd Wealth?

Invest in Local, Independent Businesses – Every dollar spent at a small business keeps money in the community and out of the hands of large conglomerates that prioritize shareholders over people.

Ditch the Growth Mindset & Embrace Sustainability – What if success wasn’t about scaling endlessly, but about maintaining integrity, producing only what is needed, and ensuring longevity over expansion?

Reject Planned Obsolescence – Demand products made to last. Support companies that repair, repurpose, and recycle rather than replace.

Create Circular Business Models – Like using ‘expired’ skincare for personal care rather than waste. Build businesses where nothing is thrown away but is repurposed in a meaningful way.

Redefine Wealth – Maybe wealth isn’t millions in a bank account. Maybe it’s having time. Maybe it’s knowing your business is ethical. Maybe it’s being deeply involved in what you love without compromise.

Dismantling the Corporate Grip

Big corporations exist because we feed them. They exist because we believe we need what they sell, at the convenience they offer. But do we? Could we break the cycle by buying less, by buying direct, by prioritizing experience over excess?

For the sake of Mother Earth and humanity, we have to begin shifting our perspective. Maybe true abundance isn’t in endless accumulation, it’s in knowing we have enough. It’s in quality over quantity, presence over passive income, ethics over ease. The system only holds power as long as we keep participating in it.

The path forward isn’t about abandoning ambition—it’s about redefining it. It’s about choosing depth over expansion, sustainability over scale, and integrity over unchecked wealth. It’s time to remember: we don’t need to play by their rules. We can build something better, something honest, something human.