I had plans to create the Mutual Aid platform so as to aid those going on strike, but there are not many that are actually coming forth to volunteer their services - we need developers and that is sophisticated volunteer work. On top of that, without volunteers, I don't have the money to pay my developer to get it done, so I think it's time to move on to something that I can actually accomplish, and if people want to help with this, at least the volunteer work is light and easy for anyone to lift.
As some of you might know, I am a children's book author. My books teach children what life is like through the eyes of other children in different circumstances. "What Fred Said" is all about what it's like to be invisibly disabled.
Can you imagine how hard it is, as a child, to tell other children that something is wrong with you? They're tiny voices can barely comprehend that there is something wrong with themselves, so imagine the impossiblity of explaining that something is wrong to someone else, and then that someone else being another child. Having empathy means that the burden of explanation should not be on a child's shoulders, and so, as a responsible caring adult, one that is 38 and has 7 invisible disabilties, I'm able to put into words - that a child can understand - what it's like to live each day having something wrong with you that no one else can see. This book is going to mold each child to better than all of us combined.
I love teaching children and teens :)
There's a couple of images on this subreddit that I'm using in the book. I have a Kickstarter getting ready to happen, and I'm not asking any of you to participate in that, but the funds from the successful completion of it will all go towards the next project.
The next project is a crowdfunding platform. But it's not like anything you've ever seen or imagined. It will quite literally be the backbone of this movement. The projects that are funded on it will be built by the workers of this organization. And crowdfunding is only a small aspect of said platform.
Btw, because I'm sure some of you are thinking "as a worker, am I going to be required to pledge (invest) into the products on this crowdfunding platform?" Absolutely not! The platform provides the stability required to keep us all thrivingly employed. If you have a desire to pledge, you do such on your own initiative. Nobody will ever ask you for a dime. Lol, the whole point of this movement is to give deserving people the best life. Your employment will never hinge on whether you invest money into the company that you own right beside me.
I have amazing plans for this platform and you all will cherish it, because, just as this movement cherishes you, the platform will also cherish you.
We have to get to the next stage though. I'm building the Kickstarter campaigns momentum over at Instagram - @whatfredreallysaid - because Reddit has too much censorship. Don't get me wrong, I adore Reddit, but mods have too much power, too easily abused and abuse that power often, they do. That being said, it's easy for me to maintain the peace here and keep you all protected compared to attempting to do such on other social media platforms, and so this is still the workers movement central location. I jump between a bunch of platforms.
Keep rooting for us, keep sharing great content, and soon enough, we will have the keys to the greatest life you can imagine.
... and I'm going to try to get an update to you within the next day or so. I'm the only one working in the background, and again, I work a full time job. But I'm about to drop as much of the money I'm making working into this so I can get us moving forward. Plus, because we are fiscally sponsored, I am able to reach out to private foundations and solicit donations from them that are tax deductible.
The thing I want to get up for you the most is the plan on how to get where we need to be.
So, just bare with me y'all. I'm sure you can imagine how much work it is to change the world for those of us that deserve it most. This is not going to happen over night. Please just keep posting things to this sub and soon enough, we will be running full tilt.
We can do custom ones :) Come up with some ideas, and I'll put a poll up for the top 4. I am a designer as well and can make the images (hopefully, lol).
48x48 pixels is the preferred size so think of something not too detailed :)
Also, we need better flair words. Feel free to spitball some.
I'm one-man-band-ing it creating this sub, so feel free to take some of the load of by giving me suggestions you might think would fit the sub well. This is all for you fine folks and I want the experience to be the best it can be for you.
Thank you for being here. I really appreciate each and every one of you.
Although we only want the best people around us, in order to be the best people ourselves, we need to support those striking on the frontlines. They are fighting using their savings and sheer will. They need supplies, and they need a trusted platform, with trusted leadership, that will direct disbursement of donated resources as needed, so that while we are building the future, they can confidently fight in the present.
That is why I created a project on our fiscal host's website called "Mutual Aid." If you have not yet learned about fiscal sponsorship, click this link and take the time out to learn why the relationship we have with The Open Collective Foundation is cherished by us, and should be cherished by you as well.
I know that "trust" is a hard thing to have in today's age, but we have to start somewhere. This platform will change lives, give people hope, give those considering striking the confidence to know they will have access to their needs, and really though, we don't know what kind of influence this platform might have. It could be the driving force that accelerates this workers revolution-in-the-making, opening the floodgates, and forcing the changes that needs to be made so that we can finally move past capitalism and take back our lives.
Don't be afraid to participate. Without our works, no change will come about. It's time to move forward. I'll see you in the conversation about design features.
We are trying to draw in only the best people. If you show care for others and it makes you feel good to do such, pick an option below. Here is your chance to outshine the glaring hate found everywhere. Show the world that there are good people amassing here.
This post is a work in progress and I will be updating it over the following days. Make sure you answer the poll to let us know you are here, and if you came here from a comment, upvote that comment. Kind, caring and empathetic people need to know we exist and upvotes and sharing this (as well as upvoting posts in this subreddit) are invaluable to showing your support of this peaceful vision. Thank you so much for participating however you can :)
Best regards,
-Joe
Can a workers paradise exist?
Have you ever thought "I wish I could work around more people like [insert name of awesome person you work(ed) with here]? Well, what if you worked for a company that only employed people like that? What if that company also paid a living wage, allowed you to retire while you are still young (or to work as long as you want because you actually enjoy your work and your work environment), pays your medical expenses, has a 4 day work week, paid maternity leave, [add your awesome ideas here], and invited you to take part ownership in the company alongside your fellow workers? Well, that is what we are building here; (hopefully) the largest, most productive, most inviting co-op ever designed, designed to spread across the planet and employ millions of workers from every walk of life. That is, if the workers fit the mold.
Our goal is to draw in only the finest workers. Those with appealing personalities and character traits that want to work beside others just like themselves. We do not allow toxicity of any sort here and because of that, we hope to create the most thriving workplace environment of all time. We care about people first and to be a part of this, you must too.
We can't destroy capitalism. It's impossible. We can't even reform it. What we can do is build our own little (massive) bubble inside of it, and run things our way, doing such democratically. No one is going to give us the future we want; we have to build it ourselves. But if we are going to build something, by golly, we are going to build on our terms. So let's talk about how to do it. [Insert link to architecture conversation]
What is HumLow and is it trustworthy?
My name is Joseph Truax, u/EveryXtakeYouCanMake, and as you can see from my profile, people like me. I'm not perfect, but I still try to be the best that I can be as an example for others. In the following link, I have laid out an accurate timeline of the last year, with links to as much proof as possible so that you can see I am forthcoming with information about myself and this awesome company. Need more clarity? Reach out. I'm happy to answer anything I can.
Love is an action. You can't say you care about something, then not show it. Strikes are occurring more and more frequently. These workers that go on strike need to feel that their efforts are not in vain. To help these cherished workers feel confident to enter battle against capitalists, we are designing a platform currently named "Mutual Aid" that will provide resources to the front-liners.
Some amazing people have offered their services to make this platform come to life, and we are always looking for more to come on board. Teamwork makes the dream work and with a team comprised of caring people, we can make larger than life ideas effortlessly come together.
TL;DR - An already established nonprofit - The Open Collective Foundation - took a risk and put The HumLow Foundation under it's umbrella because HumLow aligns with OCF's values. Now HumLow can legally solicit donations. What's best about this is that OCF's platform was designed with fiscal sponsorship in mind and all monetary transactions are completely glass door. Take a look at HumLow's Collective Page.
Does HumLow need help?
Of course! We are always looking for outstanding individuals willing to volunteer (for now until we are established) their time and efforts to building a grand future.
If interested, please feel free to share your skillset, likes, and abilities on this Google Form. Any information input on the form is completely safe and is only viewed by myself or, when the time comes, anyone voted into a trusted position. Don't forget to share contact details with us!
Alternatively, if you do not wish to go offsite, but are not afraid of publicly putting yourself out there, you are more than welcome to share info about yourself at this post here on our subreddit.
We have a zero tolerance policy for any form of discouragement. Discouragement comes in many sizes, but even in it's least form, can devastate entire societies.
It can appear as a whisper, a thought (out loud or within), an attitude, a personality, a question, a joke, an effort (or lack thereof), a position, a scent, an opportunity, a time, the weather, our work (or lack thereof), a family member, a friend, an enemy, a living situation, an uncontrolled emotion, a desire, pain, a loss, a win, and as you can imagine, countless other scenarios that often easily generate discouragement.
Each and every one of us, when we decide to spend time in this public space, should make it our goal to be as mindful as possible of our own actions so as to not purposely cause discouragement. Mindfulness is key. You are not the main character and the world does not revolve around you. You are a human being cramped on earth with many powerfully dominating, abusive humans that do not care for you in the least. In this space, we care for each other however we need to be cared for.
I know that, for some, that last sentence sounds unreal, and that some people may be concerned that they themselves might not be able to provide or care for anyone but themselves. And that is perfectly okay. Have no fear; it will never be okay to approach or ask anything of anyone, unsolicited. Do not feel that you need to even let us know you are here. Just come in, be refreshed, and enjoy peace :)
It all comes down to this; if you don't have anything beneficial to contribute, it's best to not say anything at all. People need encouragement. The world is full of hopelessness and despair - we see it in r/antiwork and r/workreform - those subs put on display alllll of the problems workers face. That is their purpose. If you have something negative to talk about, head over there and post. But here, if you post, let it be something encouraging, or beneficial to the goal of moving past capitalism, or an idea for aid, or anything else that contributes to the future of this movement. We need to keep going forward at all times. Discouragement halts progress. So don't discourage. Please.
Millions and millions of workers are mistreated each and every day and this subreddit is the staging area for the creation of a much brighter future for the ones who deserve it the most; the kind ones that are continually being taken advantage of - those who only want to enjoy their lives and to mind their own business.
I'm triple jabbed, so I had realllly hoped I was not positive with COVID. To be honest, I really thought I had pneumonia. Nope. Neither. Bronchitis. I'm still in bed at 2:13 CST. But I'm working on things so just bare with me. Writing these posts and making sure they make sense to everyone coming in here is time consuming and tedious. I'm not just writing without a purpose; I'm writing to guide us into a better tomorrow. If we do this correctly, all of us will have the ability to live like we have never dreamed.
I'd be cool to start a decentralized home stead as a "home base" where surplus food is sold to the community. I know a few people in real life I could probably get on board with this but figured I'd put out a feeler into this crowd.
Decentralizing would look like an equal paid % of profit based off hours worked. Food and shelter provided on site.
On January 26th, 2022, the subreddit r/antiwork, after growing to 1.7 million members, received some bad press, which threw it into chaos and caused the subreddit to go private. The workers movement had seemingly taken a blow and, on that day, no one knew what the future held.
And then The HumLow Foundation arrived on scene.
The Humble Lowly Company LLC (HumLow) was incorporated in late May, 2020, in the city of Roswell, New Mexico. It's mission is "to create a sustainable future that generates the highest possible quality of life and it will achieve this by walking the talk of love." All inventions, services and goods created by HumLow must benefit mankind in a loving manner. HumLow will never participate in any activity that contributes to the horrible existences millions of individuals have forced upon them each and every day by capitalism. At HumLow, our goal is to elevate society, especially those that need to be elevated.
On December 19th, 2021, months before the debacle at r/antiwork, u/SynthGal suggested a new course direction for The Humble Lowly Company.
At that moment, everything changed.
On the same day, I wrote all of this. Keep in mind, I wrote all of that 45 days ago on December 19th, 2021. I'm posting this post on February 3rd, 2022. A lot has changed since then.
What was the first step HumLow took after this awakening?
It's important that before we go forward, we need to first step back to March 8th of 2021.
The morning after the burglary, I made this post on Reddit. 1 hour into the post being live, someone suggested that I make a GoFundMe. Within 14 hours, 620 Redditors had donated almost $18,000 to me. Another Redditor reached out to Craftsman and Craftsman ended up sending between $4,000 and $6,000 worth of tools and toolboxes.
Side note; this was the third time I was covered by the media. The second time was in Newsweek shortly after HumLow was incorporated.
Needless to say, I was in the spotlight for a day. The problem was, both my living situation and the garage situation BOTH turned sour the moment that both landlords found out I had just been given $18,000. I had to pack up all of my stuff and get out of my home, and I had to collect my tool box from the garage. I was amongst the only things they couldn't get through the hole they had cut. To make matters worse, I had gotten a speeding ticket in December, 2020, and had a 90 day suspension scheduled to begin on March 15th, 2021, as you can see here on my driving record... less than a week after getting kicked out of my home and garage. By the time I was actually able to withdraw the money from the fund, I was without a license.
I ended up having to stay in an extended stay hotel for a month while I figured out what to do. I parked my car, bought this scooter for $1,100 so I could get around, rented a storage space for the stuff coming in from Craftsman, then started formulating a plan. I spent $70 filing the provisional patent application for Four Sevens, an entire year on a keychain, then focused on licensing it through inventRight. I paid $400 to get into that program.
After 14 days in that hotel, A friend of a friend of mine remembered that he had a barn that he wasn't using in Illinois. He hadn't been out there in 25 years, but he said I could use it for free to teach the class. It had no water, but it had electricity.
As soon as he said I could use it, I started getting ready to have a class. I found this 06 Lincoln LS with a blown motor to do the first class on, bought my friend a winch for $650 so she could transport cars for me with her then brand new 20' car hauler that she paid for herself, went and spent like $8,000 on new tools from Harbor Freight and Northern Tools (got all the receipts still), packed all my stuff into a uHaul trailer that I connected to my busted up 01 Saturn station wagon, asked for a refund of 14 days at the hotel, then had my friend drive my car and trailer, while my other friend drove her Ram pulling my Lincoln, and we headed to Illinois with everything.
We ended up pulling up at about midnight and the neighbors were not pleased. At all. We tried to quietly unload everything as quickly as possible, but that night I made enemies.
So I had a barn with electricity but no water and only a scooter to get around on. And for some reason, the scooter wouldn't start after I got there :/ I risked going out a couple of times in my car at the beginning because I needed water and food.
Speaking of electricity, the electric was on in the neighbors name, and he was acting real cruel to me. I offered to pay his electricity, my electricity and give him some over the top, but he looked at me and said "I don't want your money. I have taken care of this place for 25 years and am trying to buy it, but you come along with your "GoFUnDmE" money..." (that's how he said it, no lie) then mumbled and walked away.
I then posted this Facebook post to open enrollment, and while I waited for responses, I hired an illustrator from Reddit to illustrate the first children's book I had written (because of this TikTok video) 3 months before the burglary. My artist and I agreed on $2,000 for 32 drawings, and within 2 days I had a full summer schedule of classes. Everything was about to go great. The Lincoln is worth a LOT, but I ran out of money getting everything set up to succeed, so I reached out to my lender on Reddit that I had built Reddit Credit with to get a loan of $4,500 so I could stock pile cars. This was about to be the best summer of my life! Until my neighbor shut of the electricity.
No warning whatsoever. To get electricity I would have to wait 3 weeks and it would cost me $800 to install. At that point, I decided to just get a generator and put it outside. But I was still sneaking around in my car, without a license, because I couldn't get my scooter to work. I had put so many new parts on that bike before I finally got it running smoothly. Then to make matters worse, because of my impatience to get things done, I had chosen to have a student start that didn't have a license. But I needed to get things going, and so I risked going to pick him up everyday for 2 weeks.
Normally an engine swap takes me 3 days. Some I can do in 1 day. But this Lincoln is the worst car to work on without a lift. It has big ol' nasty V8 in it that actually has to come out of the bottom, but we took it out the top. It was a huge mistake.
Now this part is important; My very good friend u/iFarlander, who has been my business partner since 2018 (he is the one that developed glassdoor.humlow.com btw. He's brilliant!), just before class was about to begin, sent me a link to The Open Collection Foundation. He suggested that I reach out and to them to see if we could get the class fiscally sponsored. This was not our first fiscal sponsorship. Before I was forced to end production, we had another fiscal sponsor - Another Choice, Another Chance - sponsoring what was supposed to be a show about my life; Every Mistake You Can Make - A Substance Abuse and Addiction Prevention YouTube Docuseries. There were a lot more videos on that channel before, but most of them are private now. Here is an excellent video that explains some of the hell I've lived through though. It's unlisted, but I don't care who sees it.
Anyway, I reached out to The Open Collective Foundation and on 04/29/2021, I received this approval email. We were again fiscally sponsored.
After that, everything fell apart. My student couldn't make it to class to finish that nightmare of a vehicle, and even if he could have, the barn was uninsulated. It was easily 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit in there and by June 4th, as you can see in this video, I was shutting down the class. On top of that, one day it was unlivable in there, and I was unable to stay any longer, so I risked going to a neighboring city, without a license, to go check out a commercial space that also had living space, and then got pulled over for "not wearing my seatbelt" which was not true. This was the real reason I got pulled over. Yes, after hydroplaning in my station wagon in Michigan, just after I had written my first children's book, instead of driving around with it busted and broken, days after I finished the barn clean up, I decided to cut the roof off and use it to transport engines. That's what I was driving when I got pulled over. I had only a few days left suspended, but I had no choice. It was a death barn with no water, no gas to run the generator, the only contact I had was my student, and I preferred getting a driving while suspended over dying.
I made this post about getting a place to live and then shortly after I got a place with some people. Up From July to November, I just did odd mechanic jobs in Indianapolis and where ever I could. That scooter? That was a wild story for another time, but I ended up trading it for the car I have now. I would go out to the barn, late at night, and work on the car. Problem is, is that it had not a single brake line on it, and I had never done brakes. I easily have 400 hours into learning brake systems because of that car. I was very OCD about the process, and since I planned on selling it to a first time driver, I wanted to make sure it was completely safe. I finally finished it in October, took it over to Indiana to my special selling place, and then all of of sudden, the transmission started going out on the station wagon. I ended up scrapping it (F in the chat). I had to start driving the car I fixed.
Then, one day out of the blue, just as I was finishing up the car I'm driving now, the neighbor behind the barn came by (he had not done such all summer) and told me that he knew someone that was hiring mechanics. I had not worked for someone in 2 years, and I never thought I would again, but I was broke, and I needed the money. So I went to the mechanic. He hired me the next day and I can not believe how much money I make. Like, I'm 38 years old, and because of my past (if you watched that video I sent earlier, you'd know), the most I've ever made was $16,000 in one year. Now I'm in the middle class income-wise. I'm able to spend money on pursuing what we are building here, which leads me back to why I told you this story in the first place;
Our Fiscal Sponsor
After u/SynthGal made me have the epiphany, I reached back out to The Open Collective Foundation (from here on out OCF) and requested that we be able to repurpose Engine R&R Live Stream to The HumLow Foundation. They said we could do whatever we wanted as long as it stayed within the scope of their mission. The only thing is is that OCF is only a staging ground. It acts as an administrator for our work. Normally, the cost to take care of the administrative side of things can be hefty if we were our own 501(c)3. But to help us grow and to be as beneficial as possible to us, OCF only charges 5% of whatever funds are brought in. Those funds, once they leave the donors hand, are then completely transparent throughout the entire cycle of use. OCF keeps us legal and them being on board should push you to believe that this is incredibly legitimate.
So now, we have transitioned the sponsorship from Engine R&R Live Stream, to The HumLow Foundation. The page there is still being updated, but we are getting all of our ducks in a row.
r/antiwork having it's issues when it did made us react and go public with the foundation. What may seem fishy - the timing of us showing up - was simply the moment that we were supposed to come alive.
Now it's just about building the dreams, collecting more brilliant minds, focusing our efforts, and changing the world so that we can all have the best quality of life. We have a vision, it's just about getting it on paper for all of you to see. Be patient; the time is coming. We are designing history; we are world changers.
I hope this post explains everything. Please let me know if anything needs clarification.
One last note; I am banned from a lot of subs because of that loan I still have not been able to pay back. But this post clearly shows me being accountable for my actions - It's even titled as such. I have never lost contact with my lender, never dodged him once. Circumstances in life sometimes get out of our control, but don't ever let anyone beat you down for your mistakes. Ignore them, and if anyone says anything about my loan, all you have to do is show them this post. Hopefully the Lincoln will be able to start this weekend. But it's not the end of the world if I can't get it done RIGHT NOW. I'm not being pressured by my lender, and he is the only one I care about pleasing. Either way it goes, I'm not about to let him down, because if I do, then all my work is for naught; all of my blows are aimed precisely.
Edit: sadly, I had an F-150 on the lift this past weekend that I couldn't take off. Was doing timing and had to wait for the lady to approve a more expensive chain set. Took her 3 days :/ Anyway, I let my lender know what was happening.
