Every SLAPstrategist in our Global Network Agrees to this Code of Conduct

The goal of this Code of Conduct is to set the tone and shared standards for how we will work together to support small businesses and build a better, more just economy. While we know that everyone has the best of intentions, it is very important to us that we also have clarity and alignment on the non negotiables related to being a SLAPstrategist. Because you have created such success in your own career and you are being put into a featured position of leadership within our Silver Circle Global Network, we rely on you to represent us and each other in every interaction you have. We are all in this together and we must all share this Code of Conduct.

We Respect Everyone Involved in Silver Lining’s Global Network & Believe we are all Equal

Silver Lining believes that every human is equal, regardless of where they were born, the color of their skin, the religion they choose to follow, their gender association, their age and/or their physical abilities. We do not value people who have made more money or have more fame than others who have less. We do not celebrate hype more than we celebrate hard work and strong character. We recognize that every single person who touches Silver Lining has something to offer and something that they need and when we are engaged in any relationship within, or on behalf of, Silver Lining we treat each other with respect and dignity. We offer what we can and we learn what we can from each other. There is absolutely no allowance for bias, discrimination, prejudice, racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, homophobia or any other point of view that results in us treating someone differently or poorly because they are different than us.

Everything we Do, Say, Think or Create is Small Business First

We are a mission first company and we have been built to serve and support small business owners globally. Every decision we make will always be “small business first”. That means that we listen to their needs, we advocate for them always, we show up and we do the hard work that is required to actually help small business owners succeed. In order to truly be small business first, we recognize that the following will always be true.

Product decisions, new features and everything related to how we build SLAP™ and anything else we do is driven by small business feedback and input.
Team members who join Silver Lining must share this value and join knowing that their job is not just about their own advancement, but they are at Silver Lining to serve and support the small business owners that we work with. We will always choose this value over talent and skill set when hiring and firing.
Partners that we collaborate with must also be small business first and if it is evident in their business practices that they are not, we will walk away from deals and partnerships in order to live this value.
New Business Opportunities will always be evaluated with the primary question “will this help small business owners?”. If the answer is yes we will figure out the business model and the resources to make it happen. If the answer is no, regardless of what the opportunity is, we will not pursue it.
Financial Decisions will always be made with the small business first mentality and when doing what is best for small business owners is not the same thing as what is best for Silver Lining’s finances we will be smart, strategic and innovative to find a solution, but never to compromise on our small business first commitment.

We Accept Responsibility & Take Leadership for Creating a Safe Space for SLAPsters

Start With Understanding: As SLAPstrategist we understand that the greatest gift we can give a SLAPster is understanding. We empathize with the realities that they are going through, share our own experiences as business owners that are similar, share that we have had your own ups and downs and around, and share that we understand the emotional toll and challenges of being a small business owner. We are not coaches and consultants, but rather, successful business owners. This is so that we do not show up as a coach or a consultant, but instead, someone who has been where they are, understands what they are going through, and can connect with the business owner’s reality in a way that very few others can.
Hold Space For Emotion: Understand that for most of the small business owners we will speak with having no one else to talk to honestly and frankly about their finances, their opportunities, and their challenges. The Strategy Call each month might be the only 60 minutes a month where they can vent, speak freely, and share their emotions. We are always prepared for frustration, tears, joy, and every emotion in between and don’t shy away from it. We hold the space for it.
Ask Questions: We do not have to know all of the answers. We operate with the primary belief that these business owners actually ultimately know what to do but need a sounding board and outside perspective to help them get to clarity (like ALL humans do!). As a SLAPster shares we try to ask as many questions as possible to help them think through their reality and to make sure you understand it fully before sharing your own experiences and thoughts.
Be 50/50 Tough and Love: “Tough Love” is the way we should all approach our SLAPsters but it has to be 50/50 – if there is too much tough or too much love the dynamics of the relationship will no longer be safe. 50% “tough” means we hold them accountable, we remind them of their commitments, we keep them focused on their sales goals and their action plan and we hold them to the highest version of themselves. 50% “love” means we understand that this is a really hard journey and that there will be ups and downs and arounds and we connect with them at a heart level and advocate for them as they are on this journey. Too much tough and the relationship becomes difficult and the business owner will shut down. Too much love and the relationship becomes too personal, more like a therapist, and no longer effective in terms of driving SLAP™ results.
Be Patient: Behaviour change takes time and there is a reason that SLAP™ is a 12-month program. Many SLAPsters struggles with focus, discipline, consistency, and the basic things that SLAP™ is trying to instill in them. It is more than likely that every SLAPstrategist will have SLAPsters miss calls, show up unprepared and not have their SLAP™ updated. We all choose to be patient. We often see that these basic behavioral elements that we work hard to help them install take months, not days. Remembering the last time we tried to get fit – we probably missed appointments at the gym, avoided our workouts, ate the wrong thing sometimes, and struggled to maintain the rigor that was necessary to hit our goals. This is the same behavior change process our SLAPsters are in and we are there to drive the change – as frustrating as that can be sometimes!
Monitor Bias: SLAPsters choose us so we will be assigned a completely random “portfolio” of small business owners who will have diverse backgrounds, industries, personalities, and perspectives. As we work with these SLAPsters it is incredibly important that we do not bring any of our own bias into these conversations. We have our own experiences and points of view based on the place we were born, the body we are in, and the businesses we have built. That experience is individual and it is not better or worse than our SLAPsters’ experiences. We are 100% committed to not letting accents, bad internet connections, businesses that are very small, or any other factor somehow bias us to think that those SLAPsters and their work and their goals are any less important than others. We show up fully for every business owner. Always.
Do Not Engage In Political or Religious Conversations With SLAPsters: It is more than likely that politics, religion, and opinions will come up with your SLAPsters, and in some cases, you may be aligned and in other cases, you may not. Do not engage in these conversations. Do not explicitly agree or disagree with them and if you have a conflicting point of view, do not share it. Your job is only to hold space for them – whatever their reality is. If these topics come up, hold space for them to share, empathize with them as humans, and then redirect the conversation back to their SLAP™.

We are Aligned with & Committed to Representing Silver Lining’s Brand & Culture

Live the Silver Values! As SLAPstrategists we are excited to be a small business advocate in our day to day lives and choose to spend our time and money working with and buying from small business owners wherever we can.
Become A Thank You Champion! While this is optional, it is encouraged! Our global Thank You Small Business movement is a lot of fun and it is fueled by Thank You Champions who post about small businesses they love, nominate their favorite small businesses to win Thank You Prizes and commit to living the core values of Thank You Small Business within their sphere of influence. There is no financial exchange and it takes a very small amount of time, but is another way to connect with the broader Silver Lining community and to be an advocate for small business! Sign Up Here!
Use Approved Materials: If we ever send an external party information about Silver Lining, we only use the approved communication tools that are on the website or have been provided by a Silver Lining Team Member with confirmation that they can be shared.
Update LinkedIn: We can add that we are SLAPstrategists to our LinkedIn Profiles and if we do, we ensure that the update is connecting to the official Silver Lining Company Page.
Post freely on social media but always respect confidentiality and never mention a specific small business owner that we know or work with through Silver Lining. All Silver Lining related posts will include the hashtag #tysmallbiz.
Presentation: Always show up to all SLAP™ Strategy Calls and other Silver Lining events looking professional. We are a casual company so business attire is not necessary but we do show up well groomed and with business casual attire on.
Contribute Solutions Not Problems: We do hard work and so there will always be challenges and problems that arise. We do not sit in the problems. Instead, we bring solutions and ideas and innovations that will help to make Silver Lining’s work more effective and that will allow us to increase our impact together.
Have Fun! Really! We are doing quite serious and oftentimes hard work. But Silver Lining has an incredible group of people who touch our work. Have fun with each other, connect, learn together and enjoy being in this hard work together!

We Honor Silver Lining’s Vision to Serve all Small Businesses with a Consistent & Equal Experience & Commit to Following Process

Show up to SLAP Strategy Calls On Time: We always show up to every SLAP™ Strategy Call at least 2 minutes before the Call start time.
Be Prepared: We always review the SLAPsters Admin Profile in SLAPcenter, check all SLAPstats and read the SLAPexperience Log before a Strategy Call so that we are well prepared and able to offer maximum value during the Strategy Call.
Camera On: We have our cameras on for deeper connection during all Strategy Calls.
Logged Into the SLAPstrategist Zoom Account: We attend all Strategy Calls logged into the specific SLAPstrategist Zoom account provided to us during Onboarding.
Do SLAP 1 – 2 – 3: During every SLAP™ Strategy Call we take the business owner through SLAP-1-2-3 ensuring that in the Call we talk about their SLAPscore, Sales Tracker, Action Plan and Pause & Reflect. We agree and understand that if we are not using SLAP™ to guide the conversation during the SLAP™ Strategy Calls then they are lovely conversations, but they are not SLAP™ Strategy Calls!
Update SLAPcenter In Live Time: During SLAP™ Strategy Calls we will update the Sales Tracker and Action Plan sections of SLAPcenter as we discuss things with the SLAPsters so that at the end of the Call, their SLAP™ is updated.
Write Same Day CINS: On the same day that we have our SLAP™ Strategy Calls with small business owners we record the CIN for that Call so that all of our systems are updated and all of the important steps post Call can be managed by our fabulous SLAPexperience Team!
Send all SLAPster questions to support@ and NO other individual or person at Silver Lining. Those emails can get lost and do not get tracked in our systems. We will always always always tell SLAPsters to email support@smallbizsilverlining.com with ANY and ALL questions or needs that they have.
We will always send all of our SLAPstrategists questions to strategists@smallbizsilverlining.com and NO other individual or person at Silver Lining. While we have great relationships with the SLAPstrategists Team at Silver Lining, we know it is always best to email the strategist@ email so that it can get captured as a ticket and handled by our team.
Do Not Communicate With SLAPsters with personal email or phone.
Do Not Reschedule meetings directly – always through the SLAPexperience Team.

Terms of Engagement

Passwords and Access to SLAPstrategist Certification, SLAPcenter and all other proprietary information provided by Silver Lining are not to be shared without receiving written consent from a member of the Silver Lining Team.
There is to be no business dealings between SLAPstrategists and SLAPsters without communication with Silver Lining and a full release signed in advance of any business arrangement being formed. This includes SLAPstrategists investing in SLAPsters, doing contracts with them or engaging in any sort of formal business relationship.
There is zero personal promotion, pitching or upselling to a SLAPster. SLAPstrategists operate with complete integrity and do not sell personal consulting services or any other type of products of services that they can gain from to any SLAPster.
SLAPstrategists shall not provide advise outside of their accepted areas of so called expertise, but rather shall refer or delegate to appropriate specialists. In particular, in complex financial, business and personal matters SLAPsters should always be advised to consult an accountant, lawyer and/or therapist.
Personal Boundaries are always in place and while we endeavor to be warm and connected and empathetic and in relationship with our SLAPsters, we understand that this is a business relationship and we are there in service of them. We agree that it is inappropriate for the conversations to become too personal and for any SLAPstrategist to overshare about their current life circumstances or realities.
Success Sharing: While we are mission driven and small business first we are also business people and are excited that as we all work together to grow Silver Lining all active SLAPstrategists will participate in 30% of Silver Lining’s Success Sharing program. Details of how this 30% is calculated and distributed are available on the password protected page within the SLAPstrategist Certification.