“Capitalism is all about squeezing every last bit of value you can… and what we are trying to do is explore a model that allows us to exist within a capitalist hellscape, but takes care of us as a fundamental driving mechanism instead.” - Janel Torkington

In this end-of-year episode of Flying the Coop, we’re looking back on what it’s actually been like building Strange Birds (and the podcast!) in 2025.

We talk about:

• What it really means to move toward becoming a worker-owned co-op

• How open books and shared decision-making have reshaped our relationship to business

• Why we define full-time work as 25 hours

• The systems and “containers” we’ve built to handle big feelings, hard conversations, and real life

• Our “Bird Brain Summit,” where we mapped how our very different brains, speeds, and working styles actually complement each other (curious? here are the question prompts we used for this)

• Why showing up consistently sometimes means showing up for ourselves before the business

This episode is part retrospective, part behind-the-scenes, and part planting our flag for building a business that’s for-real human first... especially in a year that basically tried to eat us alive.

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Flying the Coop is brought to you by Strange Birds, a messaging co-op that gives a flying duck. From websites to onboarding flows, launches to long-term strategy: if you want your brand, offers, and experience to tell the same story, we can help.

Find us at ⁠http://strangebirds.land

Chapters

• (00:00:00) - Flipping the Coop: Year One
• (00:03:17) - Janel on Going Co-op
• (00:05:04) - Taking a Step Back: Becoming a Co-op
• (00:06:37) - Dear Strange Birds: When Will I Be an Employee?
• (00:08:15) - Drinking Vermouth
• (00:09:01) - What Makes a Coop So Fun?
• (00:12:45) - Show Up Consistently For Your Job
• (00:17:00) - The Bird Brain Summit
• (00:22:46) - The Way We Approach Time
• (00:27:22) - A Year in the Life of the Podcast
• (00:28:29) - What Have You Learned From The Co-op Podcast?
• (00:30:09) - What Are You Hoping For In 2019?
• (00:32:12) - Flying the Coop: Brand Marketing