Off the Grid: Leaving Social Media

Nic Antoinette is back on the pod this week as we continue our year-long series around enoughness, grief, and deep evolution.
This time, we’re focused on creative burnout, seasonality in business, and why we find the internet so boring these days.
If you haven’t listened to the series before, here are links to those episodes:
♾️ Business Degrowth — Slowing Down & Noticing Patterns
♾️ Well, That Didn’t Go As Planned… Grief, Joy & Money in 2026
♾️ “You Needing Money Doesn't Make Stuff Sell” — Consistency & Collapse in Online Business
♾️ Take the Break Before the Break Takes You — Learning How to Pause & Quit
And if this makes you want more biz friend community, check out the Interweb and put yourself on the waitlist before doors open next week!

 
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
🔥 Learn more about ad opportunities with Off the Grid

COMMUNITY SPONSORS
🐢 Turn inconsistent marketing into a clear & focused plan that actually leads to sales! Join the Decelerator with Amanda Laird, a guided program for solo business woenrs who are already doing a lot, but not seeing results. Learn more & save $100 with code AMELIASPALS: amandalaird.com/decelerator

For the third and final installment in our business pivots + evolutions series, I’m talking to Heather Bax of Small Business Rodeo!
Heather is a business advisor, human design reader, notion lover, and occasional artist. Her expertise spans decades of service, product, and brick & mortar small business stewardship, and she’s supported all kinds of creative businesses along the way.

In this conversation, we explore:
How self-employment journeys often begin in bad-fit jobs
Why Heather & Amelia both took detours through coding bootcamps
The benefits of a bridge job as you grow or change your business
A quick checklist on how Heather started her retail shop (& you can too!)
Why Heather had a full-time job for the first 8 months of running the store
The realities of transitioning to e-commerce during COVID
Hiring + grieving at the same time
Leaning on the community of your business in hard times
When quitting ISN’T failing
How big changes in our work can impact our self-trust
 
For the astro-curious, Heather is a 6/2 Projector and a Cancer Sun, Pisces Moon, and Gemini Rising. You can book a Human Designed Business Session with her and use code OFFTHEGRID for 10%!
 
 
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 SPONSORS
🐢 Turn inconsistent marketing into a clear & focused plan that actually leads to sales! Join the Decelerator with Amanda Laird, a guided program for solo business woenrs who are already doing a lot, but not seeing results. Learn more & save $100 with code AMELIASPALS: amandalaird.com/decelerator

Chereen Leong Schwarz is a founder, maker, outdoor adventurer, and rewilding guide. She’s a former chef who started a knitwear brand and then moved into creative retreats — after a period of prolonged grief.
In this conversation, we dive deep into what pivoting really feels like as we explore:
Chereen’s chef career from fine dining to farms
How moving to Colorado spurred her love of knitting
The realities of turning a hobby into a side hustle
Specific ways to center your values in your business
How multiple losses + a health crisis led Chereen through a transformative grief portal
Different methods of building community in and around your business
How to evolve when your work is wrapped up in your ego + identity
The grief the comes when your industry changes and it hurts your business
Why Chereen & Amelia both took sabbaticals before deciding to close their companies
How we grapple with public opinions + projection as we share our work online
   
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
⭐️ Use this link to book a free 30-minute session with Chereen: https://calendar.app.google/UydiFHhcLgqzvNUr9
⭐️ RSVP for the free workshop with Podge in October: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/fTY89RN7TfS1grKD7Vs64g
 

COMMUNITY SPONSORS
🐢 Turn inconsistent marketing into a clear & focused plan that actually leads to sales! Join the Decelerator with Amanda Laird, a guided program for solo business woenrs who are already doing a lot, but not seeing results. Learn more & save $100 with code AMELIASPALS: amandalaird.com/decelerator

Softer Sounds is officially closed, my friends. And in this Clubhouse-exclusive episode, I'm telling you all about that journey.

This one's mostly-personal and a-little-bit-logistical –  heavy on story with a checklist at the end.

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

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 trainer
How they opened a gym with a dream and a GoFundMe
The radically honest reality of brick-and-mortar finances
When filing for bankruptcy is the best choice for you & your biz
Luca’s detour as a Virtual Assistant & how they started their web design business
The systems that help them book our their services while marketing only once a year
How 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
 

COMMUNITY SPONSORS
🐢 Turn inconsistent marketing into a clear & focused plan that actually leads to sales! Join the Decelerator with Amanda Laird, a guided program for solo business woenrs who are already doing a lot, but not seeing results. Learn more & save $100 with code AMELIASPALS: amandalaird.com/decelerator