THE HONOR SYSTEM*

On the varying paths of foundation-builders, concept refinement experts, teachers, consultants, and coaching experts and some truly original thinkers and genuine students who have mastered more than one, or even all of those fields, it has always been natural and expected to immediately and happily be compensated via the proper or otherwise outlined accepted payment and — if welcome and agreed upon — the exchange of approved quality goods and extra service quantities in return. Most importantly, you can never be somewhere you were not, be someone else, or have someone else’s legacy in the first place— but if you want to better or fully understand the only ways to gain your own eventual real status that matters to you while still being a legitimate reciprocal and mutually beneficial participant in creativity and business, then you must actively and continually seek that out yourself without causing issues if you want to have any credible result or outcome. This is why formal agreements and professionalism are expected to properly support your best business and creative practices in return as you inquire about the potential subsequent room there is for you already and learn directly from who is already there and currently taking their rightful and prioritized turn — this establishes even more for you to work with within their own exclusive support and community that will always be ahead of your own on some level (and if not one or two levels, then all of them). In any of these aforementioned fields or endeavors, not only do you have to invest honestly and properly to even know what’s going on (let alone what’s most likely coming next), you have to ask what everyone else who has been in your situation has done and can continue to do in order to be where they are once you prove yourself as professional, trustworthy, and respectful of all that has come before you both professionally,  allyship-wise, and positive personal mutual dynamic-wise. The essential and comforting reality here is that all of this has always come with the reality of being an adult functioning at the most basic and consistent level (working or not), which is not something you need to pay for or doubt in the first place — so, a genuine congratulations and an extra warm welcome are in order for those of you choosing to follow the examples of your superiors and the support and community they’ve built up and thus, yourself. Even if you just find yourself there naturally as I always have, to not have to question yourself or your business and/or creative choices for your entire life — or whenever you start to take that seriously and address any social faux pas or other professional hiccups — is a great feeling that will always pay off, somehow, and I highly encourage anyone to get to that point quickly if they don’t find themselves there or working on it, already. Last but not least, you can always work with more than one person and try out more than one perspective — it makes all the difference in the world and will take you much farther than anything else can, I promise.

Incredible free resources will always be available to you, but do be sure to abide by The Honor System once you’ve done all you need to for your own hard work if you truly need to be credited for something of your own or otherwise deem it necessary to credit us here at The Creative Press Company or elsewhere when you see something that stands out to you or has never been created before if it goes beyond simple citing rules, regulations, and guidelines. With the current modern day workplace as the remote work-friendly environment it is, the current speed and advancement of both communication and visibility make doing just that near-immediate on an unprecedented level, with plenty more visibility and social proof, tagging, mentioning, and links being a great way to thank someone or make it easy to help out others in your own audience remain included, up-to-date, and aware of their options and keeping them accessible. As a natural foundation and result, we do not encourage, tolerate or ‘bend’ the definition of plagiarism in any place or time, and never will come from intentions to or ever desire to — so if you are coming from less prepared, less formal and less informed spaces and experiences, just remind yourself that the options you find through The Honor System have always and only been made available for proper learning, business, exchange and clarification purposes to make avoiding the illegal use of and allowing the formal and documented custom exchange of legitimate and seniority-and-foundation run services or crafted goods, personal thank yous, optional donations, and happily avoiding the overstepping of boundaries in professional and creative environments (which automatically include any personal ones!) easier than ever before. This only leads to countless more hours and energy for your own professional and other serious projects to finally take root and grow without major, permanent issues in both the short and long-term paths we all find ourselves on — and that means way more enjoyable overall experience and less stressful personal time, too. You are welcome to use and reference any of the options we have provided via the button below if you still have any questions, and we do encourage you to consider the same system for your own hard work, business space, and steady or growing expertise on every level possible. That chain of honest and proper business exchange, credit, acknowledgement, and cooperation continues to take everything wonderful about the journey and result even further into success and proper recognition, and will only continue to. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and support! 

Sincerely,

Alexis Hicks