An “Abundance Model” is a business model that

Karryn has helped me find a real formula of how I want my time and worked valued. She has helped me feel more confident asking and negotiating that. I am doing work I believe in, and when I put a monetary value on it, I notice others recognizing and respecting that. Karryn is so honest in the most loving way. She has an incredible ability to speak the truth, call out the untruths, and still make people feel supported. Her way of asking the right questions at the right moment—allowing me to come to my own conclusions—are genius and something I am trying to bring into my own practice. I really enjoy talking to her, and being heard.   
—Jasmine Saavedra, Performance Artist and Social Entrepreneur  www.jasminefuego.com

Prior to this program I was disillusioned with the Permaculture movement, frustrated with the mainstream, “bottom-line” business model, and confused as to where I could apply permaculture principles and ethics in a potential business. I felt competitive on the outside, but was yearning for cooperation and relationship on the inside. As the program is coming to a close, I have been inspired by a growing movement of women coming into leadership with social and environmental equity as pillars of their business model.
—Jessica Jackowski, “Eating the Sun: Mastering the Art of Year Round Nourishment Close to Home”

Before this Program, I lacked the focus and confidence to successfully pursue a career path in permaculture. I was not necessarily interested in landscape design, and I wasn’t sure how to frame what I wanted to do in a permaculture context. I’d been putting off permaculture in my life for a long time because I didn’t see a viable livelihood, only volunteer opportunities.

It’s been so empowering to have this sacred space to explore my strengths, confess my fears, and share my hopes and dreams with a group of caring, empathetic women. We really are free to learn, dream, confess, stumble, recover, experiment and just be our truest selves. The biggest benefits are not having to go through this process alone, discovering that many of your experiences and trepidations are shared by others, and having a cheering squad to push you when you’re starting to doubt yourself.

–Roxanne Finn, Regenerative Parenting

I have a template to follow to build my business. I’m grateful I can have access to the training after the program ends so I can continue to process at my own pace. Karryn is super supportive, wise, and intuitive. The facilitation and programming of this course were beyond my expectations and followed the pace of the women’s process–not our “business as usual” patriarchal system we have been taught to follow.
—Tara Sheen, “The Ecological Gardener”

In the summer of 2015, I was struggling to find a model to structure my personal business, Hudson Valley Vertical Farms, and my work with my non-profit, solarcities.solutions, so they would fit with my family and life goals.  Like many women who own their own businesses and work with a non-profit, I was having trouble finding balance and discovering my niche to help my work thrive.  That’s when I met Karryn and learned about her “Regenepreneurs” services.  

Karryn gave her class via scheduled webinars at a time that fit with my schedule and I participated at homestead.  One of my favorite experiences of the class was being paired with a classmate to keep me accountable for keeping up with the course work, which included goal setting.  Trying to parse out what my goals was a very daunting task, and hearing from my classmate about her work and challenges helped me to make sense of what I needed to accomplish over the next 6 months to a year. 

Upon finishing the class, it was apparent that I needed more intensive 1:1 mentoring to find a way to start writing curriculum for my non-profit’s work in Haiti.  In the past, we’ve noticed that some of our biodigesters failed because the user didn’t understand that biodigesters were living things that needed special care.  Our curriculum needed to empower local people with sustainable resources for small-scale biogas while encouraging independent problem solving skills for the little “hiccups” associated with caring for a biodigester.  

Karryn introduced me to a teaching method called “The Weave” and “Participatory Design,” which guided me with appropriate teaching practices to facilitate student and community-centered learning.  Starting from the assumption that our students have all of the knowledge that they need to be successful with small scale biogas changed the dynamic of teaching from teacher-directed to student-directed, which helped to build student confidence needed for competence as well as independent problem-solving skills.  Karryn consulted with me over the phone and on a shared on-line document to create understanding goals and program objectives to improve the success of our students.  While on-site at the University of Notre Dame in Hinche, Haiti, I was able to ask questions and adjust what I was teaching based on student knowledge.  At the end of the class we asked questions about their understanding and how it changed by the end of the class.  The feedback we received from our students continues to shape the curriculum and how to create more accessible and inclusive learning environments.  

I’m proud to report I discovered a regenerative business model that puts my family and the students I work with at the center, so I now have balance and am able to meet my commitments.  The “Caring for your Baby Bio-Pig” curriculum, first used with the 69 students who graduated from our teacher program at the University of Notre Dame in Hinche, Haiti, is growing, thanks to our partnerships for their program.  I’m very grateful for the hard work Karryn did to help me bring our biogas educational program to the next level. 
—Kathy Puffer, Biogas Expert & Trainer https://www.biogaseducation.com/