Today I’m joined by Luca J. Davis to talk about success, failure, and what 13 years of self-employment really entails.Together we explore:Luca’s path from health teacher to personal trainerHow they opened a gym with a dream and a GoFundMeThe radically honest reality of brick-and-mortar financesWhen filing for bankruptcy is the best choice for you & your bizLuca’s detour as a Virtual Assistant & how they started their web design businessThe systems that help them book our their services while marketing only once a yearHow Luca’s Substack walks the line between personal sharing & biz promotion    ➡️ If you'd like to hire Luca for website support in 2026/2027, just mention Off the Grid for $200 off your package!  RESOURCES + LINKS👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for creative business courses + community💓 Join the Clubhouse for exclusive bonus episodes + emails   🪭 Six honest ways to speak, understand, and inhabit Spanish, each one shaped around a different kind of life: private immersions, a spring retreat in Barcelona, flexible packs, a summer course, a version for two, and quiet advising. Explore the 2026–2027 Collection from Sobremesa.Institute → https://sobremesa.institute/language-learning/inside-the-2026-2027-collection/

Welcome to Season 11 of Off the Grid! This month, we're exploring strategies + stories of business pivots.Today we start with my business triage process. It's a checklist of things to consider when your business feels bad and/or isn't making enough money.Then for the next three weeks, we'll hear from business owners who have made major pivots in their self-employment journeys, including: quitting a dream job, filing for bankruptcy, closing a retail store, and more.Tune in for lots of support, camaraderie + inspiration. And check the links below for extra resources 👇  RESOURCES + LINKS👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for creative business courses + community💓 Join the Clubhouse for exclusive bonus episodes + emails   🪭 Six honest ways to speak, understand, and inhabit Spanish, each one shaped around a different kind of life: private immersions, a spring retreat in Barcelona, flexible packs, a summer course, a version for two, and quiet advising. Explore the 2026–2027 Collection from Sobremesa.Institute → https://sobremesa.institute/language-learning/inside-the-2026-2027-collection/

Let's refresh our creative ambition before fall!Today we're wrapping our Back to Biz Refresh series with leadership expert Amina AlTai.Amina is the author of The Ambition Trap: How to Stop Chasing and Start Living. Together we discuss:What ambition actually is and why it's neutralHow core wounds create painful ambition — even if you love what you doWays to figure out if your ambition is helping or harming youFinding aliveness when you don't feel ambitiousWhat it takes to stay in business through hard times  RESOURCES + LINKS👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for creative business courses + community💓 Join the Clubhouse for exclusive bonus episodes + emails   COMMUNITY SPONSOR✏️ Looking for a fall planner that's about permission not perfection? Check out Nine to Kind. Get 50% off their digital planners with code OFFTHEGRID50 & 25% off analog products with code OFFTHEGRID25. Learn more & claim your discount at: https://www.ninetokind.com/pages/offthegrid  🪭 Six honest ways to speak, understand, and inhabit Spanish, each one shaped around a different kind of life: private immersions, a spring retreat in Barcelona, flexible packs, a summer course, a version for two, and quiet advising. Explore the 2026–2027 Collection from Sobremesa.Institute → https://sobremesa.institute/language-learning/inside-the-2026-2027-collection/

This episode is meant to save you money!Today, I’m sharing my guide to more affordable business systems and software that can help you set up online for under $50/year — or lower your overhead with strategic tool swaps.Tune in to hear my tech recommendations and how I think through software needs.Also: These recs don’t include Google! Some of them are privacy focused, others are not. Some include AI functionality, others do not. Most of them are based in the US. All prices mentioned in the episode were as of August 2026 and may change. ADDITIONAL SUPPORTFree Checklist For Tool Decisions from Asha Noel-HartFree Simple Tech Stacks Field Guide from Heather BaxJoin the Interweb for more tech support from Amelia RECOMMENDED TOOLSNamecheap for domainCarrd for website (affiliate link)Zoho for email inboxSender or Email Octopus for email newsletter list Canva (free plan) for simple design needsNotion for internal systems and client docs/dashboardsZoom, Proton Meet, or Whereby (free plans) for video callsTidycal for scheduling, paid bookings, and digital productsNovo for free business banking and invoicing — Use my affiliate link to get $40 when you open and fund your new accountStripe for payment processing and invoicingBreezedoc for contracts and invoicing together  RESOURCES + LINKS👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for creative business courses + community💓 Join the Clubhouse for exclusive bonus episodes + emails    🪭 Six honest ways to speak, understand, and inhabit Spanish, each one shaped around a different kind of life: private immersions, a spring retreat in Barcelona, flexible packs, a summer course, a version for two, and quiet advising. Explore the 2026–2027 Collection from Sobremesa.Institute → https://sobremesa.institute/language-learning/inside-the-2026-2027-collection/

Today we're refreshing our offices with the wonderful Taylor Apolonio of Habitat Interiors Co.Taylor works at the intersection of interior design and psychology as a 'design psychologist'. They create physical spaces that are grounded in human behavior to genuinely support folks. This might look like improved circulation and functionality, better acoustics, or intentionally designing for gathering and memory-making.Tune in to this episode for tips on tapping into the purpose of your work space and improving the layout, acoustics, and visuals. And if you'd like Taylor's free list of 25+ low-lift recommendations that better support sensory overwhelm in your office, fill out this form with the message 'OFF THE GRID' ☺️ RESOURCES + LINKS👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for creative business courses + community💓 Join the Clubhouse for exclusive bonus episodes + emails COMMUNITY SPONSOR✏️ Looking for a fall planner that's about permission not perfection? Check out Nine to Kind. Get 50% off their digital planners with code OFFTHEGRID50 & 25% off analog products with code OFFTHEGRID25. Learn more & claim your discount at: https://www.ninetokind.com/pages/offthegrid  🪭 Six honest ways to speak, understand, and inhabit Spanish, each one shaped around a different kind of life: private immersions, a spring retreat in Barcelona, flexible packs, a summer course, a version for two, and quiet advising. Explore the 2026–2027 Collection from Sobremesa.Institute → https://sobremesa.institute/language-learning/inside-the-2026-2027-collection/

Have you ever put on a new outfit and felt like a totally different (and way better) person? Today we're gonna do that for your business. 💁‍♀️Join me and Alex McGinness of Arcoíris Design Studio as we talk through the four parts of a resonant brand refresh: essence, execution, expression, and experience.ALSO! When it comes to DIY branding, we recommend:Coolors for creating color palettesCanva for choosing fonts and designing graphicsSquarespace for websites (or Carrd [affiliate link] if you want a quick, cheap one-page site) RESOURCES + LINKS👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for creative business courses + community💓 Join the Clubhouse for exclusive bonus episodes + emails   🪭 Six honest ways to speak, understand, and inhabit Spanish, each one shaped around a different kind of life: private immersions, a spring retreat in Barcelona, flexible packs, a summer course, a version for two, and quiet advising. Explore the 2026–2027 Collection from Sobremesa.Institute → https://sobremesa.institute/language-learning/inside-the-2026-2027-collection/

Hello hello and happy mid-August, friends! Today we're kicking off a new Biz Refresh series  —  five episodes in five days to get you ready for fall in a fun, aligned way!Press play to hear why I'm embracing a pivot, and tune in this week to learn:How to refresh your brand (for free!)Ideas for updating your home office & work vibeMy guide to more affordable systems & software for your tiny bizA new approach to ambition that let's you dream big without burning outYou'll hear from amazing guests like Alex McGinness, Taylor Apolonio, and Amina AlTai. It's basically a mini-of-the-moment-creative-business-masterclass all for free on the pod feed this week! So please subscribe and share it with a friend xo RESOURCES + LINKS👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for creative business courses + community💓 Join the Clubhouse for exclusive bonus episodes + emails COMMUNITY SPONSOR✏️ Looking for a fall planner that's about permission not perfection? Check out Nine to Kind. Get 50% off their digital planners with code OFFTHEGRID50 & 25% off analog products with code OFFTHEGRID25. Learn more & claim your discount at: https://www.ninetokind.com/pages/offthegrid

Today we’re talking about why I left Substack! Through a conversation with the amazing Lex Roman of Revenue Rulebreaker.Together we explore:Lex’s journey from working in tech to starting an agency to launching a membership for journalists to now running an indie media companyThe state of small business media (& why there are so many opportunities there!)Why we’re committed to being creators even though it’s a challenging business modelHow Lex helped me decide to leave SubstackWhat newsletter and podcast tools might work for you If you like this episode, please go check out the new Off the Grid Clubhouse on Ghost! 👉👉 👉 offthegrid.ghost.io Then sign up for Revenue Rulebreaker and get 20% off your paid subscription with code OFFTHEGRID 👉👉 👉 https://www.revenuerulebreaker.com/off-the-grid RESOURCES + LINKS👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for creative business courses + community💓 Join the Clubhouse for exclusive bonus episodes + emails   🪭 Six honest ways to speak, understand, and inhabit Spanish, each one shaped around a different kind of life: private immersions, a spring retreat in Barcelona, flexible packs, a summer course, a version for two, and quiet advising. Explore the 2026–2027 Collection from Sobremesa.Institute → https://sobremesa.institute/language-learning/inside-the-2026-2027-collection/

Join me as I convince myself it's ok to sunset my business 😬 In this quarterly recap episode, I walk through the highs, lows, and finances of Softer Sounds & Off the Grid so far this year... And I figure out how to make the money work as I pivot my business model from service provider to content creator! Tune in to an episode preview here, and become a paid subscriber of the Clubhouse at offthegrid.fun/clubhouse to get all the $$$ details. 👇  👇  👇  👇 When you join the Clubhouse, you'll get access to over 50 bonus episodes (and counting), curated tech + creative business newsletters, and more. Plus your own private podcast feed, comments threads, and behind-the-scenes updates on the show.Please join the Clubhouse to support the show! And find this specific episode here :) RESOURCES + LINKS👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for creative business courses + community💓 Join the Clubhouse for bonus episodes + emails   🪭 Six honest ways to speak, understand, and inhabit Spanish, each one shaped around a different kind of life: private immersions, a spring retreat in Barcelona, flexible packs, a summer course, a version for two, and quiet advising. Explore the 2026–2027 Collection from Sobremesa.Institute → https://sobremesa.institute/language-learning/inside-the-2026-2027-collection/

Nic Antoinette is back to help me wrap season nine, and we’re talking about the breaks we are (and aren’t) taking this summer.Tune in to hear us unpack:Why nobody talks about the moments we don’t like our business 😬How fear keeps us from slowing down or taking breaks 🐌When being honest actually f*cks with your sales 📉Different types of breaks we’ve taken and want to take ⛓️‍💥How to figure out what’s not working and why 📍The fantasy of the finish line 🏁Communicating your break to your clients and/or audience 📣Cancer scares, carpal tunnel & caffeine addiction ☕️ RESOURCES + LINKS👋 Download the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit🌐 Get on the Interweb waitlist for creative business courses + community💓 Join the Clubhouse for exclusive bonus episodes + emails   🪭 Six honest ways to speak, understand, and inhabit Spanish, each one shaped around a different kind of life: private immersions, a spring retreat in Barcelona, flexible packs, a summer course, a version for two, and quiet advising. Explore the 2026–2027 Collection from Sobremesa.Institute → https://sobremesa.institute/language-learning/inside-the-2026-2027-collection/