Dropping in off-schedule with a reflection/reminder/rallying-cry that we have power as small business owners, and we can stand against everything Trump is + represents — especially if we do it together. Tune in for gentle provocations and a special invitation to join me at a free event Wednesday, November 20 @ 12pm CT. I hope to see you there. 🩵  💠 RSVP for our FREE EVENT — Crystal Clear: How Our Businesses Create Change on Wednesday, November 20 @ 12pm CT

I’ve admired Jenny Blake’s work from afar for years.First for her seemingly endless success with book deals, big-name podcast guests, and six-figure corporate contracts.And now for her incredibly honest accounting of how her business dissolved during the pandemic and hasn’t rebounded since.So in today’s episode, Jenny joins us to share the highs and lows of her 13 years of self-employment. And together we go deep into all the practical, intuitive, and creative things she’s tried to keep her business going… even though nothing’s really working (except maybe Substack).This conversation is a must-listen for anyone who has struggled or is struggling in business. ❤️‍🩹 Big hugs to all of us! 👋  Thinking of leaving social media? You don't have to go it alone! Download our free Leaving Social Media Toolkit today  🤸 THE CLUBHOUSE IS OPEN! Join us on Substack for members-only episodes + secret, curated emails. Only $5/mo or $50/year.   💠 RSVP for our FREE EVENT — Crystal Clear: How Our Businesses Create Change on Wednesday, November 20 @ 12pm CT

Happy Halloween, business witches! 🧙  While I typically keep things pretty practical here at Off the Grid, this week I wanted to lean into the mystical, magical and alchemical aspects of creative business. To do that, I invited three brilliant practitioners to each share a unique and powerful biz magic ritual with us! ✨ Brigitte starts us off with some practical magic as she shares her opening + closing rituals for each workday and workweek. [9:00]✨ Then Cecily Sailer offers a tarot spread and community reading for connecting with our business spirits. [17:00]✨ And finally, Ash Canty gifts us a meditative practice that serves anyone asking — “what do I do when everything goes quiet? or when things feel slow? or when I put something out there and nothing happens in response to it?” [31:45] I hope you’ll press play then keep reading to learn more about our magical contributors and find all the links to their work! 🪄 Contributors:Brigitte (she/her) is a systems and self-care witch who builds intentional systems for neurodivergent creatives who want to feel proud, successful, and get shit done. She makes Notion templates and custom workspaces that are a launchpad to helping you cross the finish line on your projects and goals.Cecily Sailer (she/her) is a creativity coach, writer and tarot reader. She runs a business called Typewriter Tarot, which is a sanctuary and learning community for creative mystics.Ash Canty (he/him) is an Afro-Indigenous, queer, trans-masculine, psychic medium, mentor, and death guide. Ash is also the co-creator of his business, The Sovereign Spirit Medium, and all the millions of umbrellas that are underneath that, that he manages and runs and also lets go of all the time. Additional Resources & Links:From Brigitte: notion daily dashboard template, custom notion workspace consult, website, youtubeFrom Cecily: typewriter tarot website, fifth spirit tarot deck, podcastFrom Ash: the sovereign spirit medium website, substack, portland grief house   👋  Thinking of leaving social media? You don't have to go it alone! Download our free Leaving Social Media Toolkit today  🤸 THE CLUBHOUSE IS OPEN! Join us on Substack for members-only episodes + secret, curated emails. Only $5/mo or $50/year.   💠 RSVP for our FREE EVENT — Crystal Clear: How Our Businesses Create Change on Wednesday, November 20 @ 12pm CT

Often when business isn’t going well, we think that we can fix it with a new marketing strategy or growth tactic.We look to new courses, fancy platforms, or expensive mentors to “save” us … but in my experience, what we actually need in these times is to tend to our inner reserves in deeper and more nuanced ways.So today I’m joined by Pascale Coté of Dear Creative Mind to teach us how to cultivate creative resilience in our artistic, marketing and business practices.If you’ve ever had an unexpected pivot, a disappointing launch, or a period of deep burnout in your business, this episode is for you. Tune in to learn about:What creative resilience isHow to expand your window of tolerance in businessCommon creative blocks to work with — like perfectionism, procrastination, self-sabotage & moreHow social media causes creative blocksWays to redefine success & measure it differentlyNavigating positive & negative feedbackThe importance of pacing ourselves & our expectationsAdditional resources from Pascale ♡ 📲 Wish you could leave social media, but not quite ready yet? You need to read ➡ The Art of Thriving Online: Creative Exercises to Help You Stay Grounded and Feel Joy in the World of Social Media by Amelia Knott. Out now with Sounds True. (sponsored) 👋  Thinking of leaving social media? You don't have to go it alone! Download our free Leaving Social Media Toolkit today  🤸 THE CLUBHOUSE IS OPEN! Join us on Substack for members-only episodes + secret, curated emails. Only $5/mo or $50/year.  💠 RSVP for our FREE EVENT — Crystal Clear: How Our Businesses Create Change on Wednesday, November 20 @ 12pm CT

This one goes out to all our listeners who are still trying to make it work on social media!Today I’m joined by Dacy Gillespie, a weight inclusive, anti-diet personal stylist who has grown her business online over the past decade and is now navigating a major shift from Instagram to Substack.Together, we talk about:The high-stress worlds of music, teaching, arts admin & academiaWhy Dacy started working in fashion — even though she felt like a total outsiderThe role that Instagram plays in Dacy’s businessHow Dacy has right-sized her business for her capacityWays to navigate the highs & lows of a fluctuating client loadWhy Dacy started her Substack newsletter & how it’s grown to over 10,000 subscribersHow to market your work when you hate the feeling of selling yourself“is it possible to be an ethical influencer?” 📲 Wish you could leave social media, but not quite ready yet? You need to read ➡ The Art of Thriving Online: Creative Exercises to Help You Stay Grounded and Feel Joy in the World of Social Media by Amelia Knott. Out now with Sounds True. (sponsored)  👋  Thinking of leaving social media? You don't have to go it alone! Download our free Leaving Social Media Toolkit today  🤸 THE CLUBHOUSE IS OPEN! Join us on Substack for members-only episodes + secret, curated emails. Only $5/mo or $50/year.   💠 RSVP for our FREE EVENT — Crystal Clear: How Our Businesses Create Change on Wednesday, November 20 @ 12pm CT

This week on the show we're getting into it with everyone’s least favorite internet friend — THE ALGORITHM 🙈To do that I'm joined by Kate Smalley, a small business advisor, educator, and facilitator, who recently wrote a great piece about getting out of your algorithm that had me thinking more about what algorithms actually do and how we can work with them rather than against them. Today Kate's here to help me explore:What an algorithm even isHow algorithms function on social mediaWhy it feels like "The Algorithm" is working against usCollaborating with algorithms for expanded possibilitiesHow it feels to be stuck in your algorithm & ways to get unstuckOur fave non-algorithmically-mediated spacesMentioned in the episode: Algorithms by Panos Louridas, The Social Dilemma, Are.na, Sublime, Readwise 👋  Thinking of leaving social media? You don't have to go it alone! Download our free Leaving Social Media Toolkit today  🤸 THE CLUBHOUSE IS OPEN! Join us on Substack for members-only episodes + secret, curated emails. Only $5/mo or $50/year.   💠 RSVP for our FREE EVENT — Crystal Clear: How Our Businesses Create Change on Wednesday, November 20 @ 12pm CT

Happy October! This week we're kicking off Spooky Season with one of my favorite business witches — Michelle Pellizzon-Lipsitz of Holisticism!Michelle has taught me so much about online business, magical meaning-making systems, and spiritual practices. She's one of my favorite people to pay attention to on the internet, and I invited her on the show so I could ask her every question I've ever had about how she runs her company. In this episode, we get real-real about:How Michelle started Holisticism with a BFA in danceEvolving from newsletter to booking platform to online courses & communityThe 4 Pillars of Intuitive BusinessThe realities of Radical GenerosityWhy some ideas aren't meant to be businessesExactly how Michelle markets her paid membership, The North NodeWhy Holisticism moved their newsletter + podcast to SubstackThe magic of the low-cost class as lead magnetHow Michelle has grown (& shrunk) her team over the past 5 yearsPlanning a self-employed maternity leaveThe meeting creep & how to correct itNavigating chronic illness & family emergencies as a business ownerHow Michelle organizes her offeringsRunning multiple businesses at once& so much more!   👋  Thinking of leaving social media? You don't have to go it alone! Download our free Leaving Social Media Toolkit today  🤸 THE CLUBHOUSE IS OPEN! Join us on Substack for members-only episodes + secret, curated emails. Only $5/mo or $50/year.   💠 RSVP for our FREE EVENT — Crystal Clear: How Our Businesses Create Change on Wednesday, November 20 @ 12pm CT

Today on the pod, I'm breaking down binary thinking and talking about why self-employment is a spectrum. Because your only options aren't 'have a full-time job' or 'have a full-time business'. In fact, there are about a million other ways you can support yourself!So if you've ever felt like an imposter or a failure or just been confused about how to tell people what you do, tune in for a special pep talk exploring:The many, many forms self-employment can takeWhy black-and-white thinking about work is never supportiveHow to expand your sense of how you can make moneyOne of my regrets from my first year in business& way more — all in less than 30 minutes!   👋  Thinking of leaving social media? You don't have to go it alone! Download our free Leaving Social Media Toolkit today  🤸 THE CLUBHOUSE IS OPEN! Join us on Substack for members-only episodes + secret, curated emails. Only $5/mo or $50/year.  💠 RSVP for our FREE EVENT — Crystal Clear: How Our Businesses Create Change on Wednesday, November 20 @ 12pm CT

“I don’t want to perform my job. I want to be rooted in my work.” Liz Migliorelli is an herbalist, educator and storyteller who has crafted an herbal product line under the name Sister Spinster for over a decade. In this episode, Liz joins me to talk about how her business flourished on Instagram — growing to over 30k followers! — and the ways that growth impacted her life, eventually leading her to walk away from social media entirely. (Spoiler: the plants made her do it) Together, we talk about:The benefits of being in the right place at the right timeHow Liz shifts her business model between products & classesWhat our approach to marketing has in common with herbalismThe clarifying gifts of nettleWhy we need to get out of our online echo chambersCreating clear, kind systems that support your work as you growHow Liz prepared her business/self to make less money this year   👋  Thinking of leaving social media? You don't have to go it alone! Download our free Leaving Social Media Toolkit today  🤸 THE CLUBHOUSE IS OPEN! Join us on Substack for members-only episodes + secret, curated emails. Only $5/mo or $50/year.  💠 RSVP for our FREE EVENT — Crystal Clear: How Our Businesses Create Change on Wednesday, November 20 @ 12pm CT

If you love your work but wish you never had to work, today’s episode is for you! This week I’m incredibly excited to be joined by anticapitalist teacher, writer, vocational guide, and naturalist: Megan Leatherman of A Wild New Work. In this conversation, we begin by defining capitalism and anti-capitalism alongside Silvia Federici’s book Caliban and the Witch. Then we talk about why our labor is sacred, how to navigate the despair that comes with living under late-stage capitalism, and why slowing down is an important deconstruction of the status quo. Here’s a preview of the rich wisdom Megan shares:✨ No other organism works for someone else to get the money or currency they need to then go buy the food or shelter that they need. It’s really absurd. And it’s become more than an economic system. Now it’s a culture and a set of beliefs. ✨ Working in an anti-capitalist way, to me, means living in accordance to the rhythms of my body and the seasons, recognizing that there are times in the cycle of the year when things are really busy and a lot of growth is happening and that gets mirrored in my work, but then there are also times that require a quieter, slower approach. And those all build off one another for a healthy, sustainable life. ✨ You know what you need. You are a human animal in a body who has rhythms and cycles, and you can trust those. They’re not usually convenient to capitalism, because they’re not as productive as a machine. But you can trust them. And if you love our conversation, be sure to check out Megan's next class, Composting Capitalism!  👋  Thinking of leaving social media? You don't have to go it alone! Download our free Leaving Social Media Toolkit today 🌈 Want support building a successful, sustainable business without relying on social media? Join The Interweb — our affordable, annual membership for creatives, artists & business owners, who want to share their work & make money without social media.   💠 RSVP for our FREE EVENT — Crystal Clear: How Our Businesses Create Change on Wednesday, November 20 @ 12pm CT