Off the Grid: Leaving Social Media

In 2019, Ashley Neese had a bestselling book, a thriving breathwork practice, a new baby, and 30k Instagram followers.
Now seven years later, she’s left social media and moved away from the world of wellness™️ entirely.
In this conversation, we chart Ashley’s journey from being an influencer in the 2010s LA wellness scene to becoming a parent who refuses to perform wellness when she doesn’t feel well.
Together, we unpack the insidious logic of early influencer culture: that the more you post, the more followers you’ll get — and the more followers you get, the more you matter.
Then we step away from all that and make space for what can come through when you heal your worthiness wounds.
This episode was recorded in fall 2025 for paid Clubhouse supporters and this new edit is being shared with all listeners now. If you’d like to hear more conversations like this, please support the show today.

 
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
 

 
OCTOBER COMMUNITY SPONSOR
✨ Stop scrolling and start shuffling. Come home to your mind, body, and business with Be With Your Body Tarot. Get 25% off the deck and/or autumn planner with code OFFTHEGRID at: bewithyourbody.com/off-the-grid

This might be the most real-talk, behind-the-scenes, high-key-giggly, low-key-chaos episode I’ve ever recorded. 👀

Today, Podge Thomas returns to the show for the third time to talk about building a business with a tiny email list.

We tell you:
Exactly how many subscribers are on our email lists
The difference between marketing our 1:1 and 1:many businesses
Building the courage & self-trust to take big swings
How we really feel about unsubscribes
What to do when a launch “fails”
Audience growth strategies and what’s working for us right now
Living in the present and the future with your business

⭐️ If you enjoy this conversation, join Podge and I at our FREE workshop on October 30th. RSVP for: How to Build a Creative Marketing Plan in Notion & send the link to your friends!

 
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
 

 
OCTOBER COMMUNITY SPONSOR
✨ Stop scrolling and start shuffling. Come home to your mind, body, and business with Be With Your Body Tarot. Get 25% off the deck and/or autumn planner with code OFFTHEGRID at: bewithyourbody.com/off-the-grid

Today's paid-supporter-exclusive episode answers the most popular query from our summer AMA:
 
"I've been working on my business for a few years now, but I'm still not making full-time income from this work. How do I make the jump from $10-$20k per year to $50-$100k per year?"
 
This is a nuanced question and different for every business owner!
 
So in this episode, I do a few things to make sense of it:
First, I walk you through my journey from 10k to 100k annual revenue (exact numbers and timeline included) 🧮
Then I talk about the essential mindset and habit shifts needed to go from part-time to full-time 🧱
And finally, I talk through three examples how I would make that leap if I were a book editor, spiritual teacher, or creative coach 📈
 
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 exclusive bonus episodes + emails

Bear Hebert is here on Off the Grid! And they’ve arrived to bust capitalist myths, teach us how to price, and unpack the nuance of financial accessibility.
Tune in, as we discuss:
Why business doesn’t have to be capitalist
Busting the money myths our inner punk teenagers tell us
Getting rid of the girlboss in your head (and on your feed) 
Why ‘charging your worth’ is inherently problematic
How to figure out the right rates + pricing for your business model
Bear’s recommended financial accessibility strategies
The importance of transparency in marketing + sales
Exactly how Bear talks about money on sales calls
Ways to survive a bad economy
Identifying your ‘apocalypse skills’ for business resilience in 2026 + beyond
This conversation is a GIFT! And I’m so thrilled to share it with you. If you enjoy it, definitely go get Bear’s anti-capitalist pricing workshop Freely.

 
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
 

 
OCTOBER COMMUNITY SPONSOR
✨ Stop scrolling and start shuffling. Come home to your mind, body, and business with Be With Your Body Tarot. Get 25% off the deck and/or autumn planner with code OFFTHEGRID at: bewithyourbody.com/off-the-grid

Join me as I convince myself it's ok to raise my prices 😬
 
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 officially close Softer Sounds and raise the price of the Interweb for 2027!
 
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 exclusive bonus episodes + emails