Off The Grid: Leaving Social Media

Hosted by Softer Sounds

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228

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Off The Grid is a podcast for artists, writers & creative business owners who want to leave social media without losing all their income. ✌️ Our host, Amelia Hruby PhD, shares stories, strategies & experiments for growing your business with radical generosity & energetic sovereignty. 🌐 Get the FREE Leaving Social Media Toolkit at offthegrid.fun/toolkit

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60 recent

August 21, 2026Episode 17648 min

✳️ How to Refresh Your Ambition & Avoid Burnout in the Process — with Amina AlTai

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 neutral How core wounds create painful ambition — even if you love what you do Ways to figure out if your ambition is helping or harming you Finding aliveness when you don't feel ambitious What 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

August 20, 2026Episode 17535 min

💽 Set Up Your Tiny Biz Tech for $50/year or Less — My Guide to More Affordable Systems & Software

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 SUPPORT Free Checklist For Tool Decisions from Asha Noel-Hart Free Simple Tech Stacks Field Guide from Heather Bax Join the Interweb for more tech support from Amelia RECOMMENDED TOOLS Namecheap for domain Carrd for website (affiliate link) Zoho for email inbox Sender or Email Octopus for email newsletter list Canva (free plan) for simple design needs Notion for internal systems and client docs/dashboards Zoom , Proton Meet , or Whereby (free plans) for video calls Tidycal for scheduling, paid bookings, and digital products Novo for free business banking and invoicing — Use my affiliate link to get $40 when you open and fund your new account Stripe for payment processing and invoicing Breezedoc 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 COMMUNITY SPONSORS ✏️ 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

August 19, 2026Episode 17444 min

💼 How to Refresh Your Office & Your Whole Work Vibe — with Taylor Apolonio

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

August 18, 2026Episode 17353 min

🦚 The Quick (and Free!) Brand Refresh Your Biz Needs — with Alex McGinness

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 palettes Canva for choosing fonts and designing graphics Squarespace 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 COMMUNITY SPONSORS ✏️ 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

August 17, 202619 min

✌️ How to Make Pivoting Fun — Welcome to Our Back to Biz Refresh Series!

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 vibe My guide to more affordable systems & software for your tiny biz A new approach to ambition that let's you dream big without burning out You'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

July 29, 2026Episode 1721 hr 4 min

⚡️ Making Content, Raising Revenue & Moving Off Substack — with Lex Roman of Revenue Rulebreaker

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 company The 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 model How Lex helped me decide to leave Substack What 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 COMMUNITY SPONSORS ✏️ 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

July 8, 202614 min

🔒 My Q2 Biz Recap — Highs, Lows & How Much $$ I Made

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 COMMUNITY SPONSORS ✏️ 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

July 1, 2026Episode 1711 hr 14 min

♾️ Take the Break Before the Break Takes You — Learning How to Pause & Quit with Nic Antoinette

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 COMMUNITY SPONSORS ✏️ 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

June 24, 2026Episode 1701 hr 1 min

🍕 Making Money as a Creative — Strategic Planning & Social Media with Andy J Pizza

HEY HI HELLO! 🍕 Today I’m thrilled to be joined by best-selling author, super-fun illustrator, and illustrious host of Creative Pep Talk podcast, Andy J Pizza ! In this upbeat conversation, we chat about: How Andy makes money as an artist The strategic choices he made to grow his podcast Why we can’t “What-Would-David-Bowie-Do” our way into a successful business Andy’s musician-model for thinking about your creative business through singles, albums, tours & merch Why you should pre-order Andy’s new book, Mysterious Things ! 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 ✏️ 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

June 19, 202638 min

✨ This One Thing Totally Transformed My Sales — Learning How to Pre-Launch with Nicole Cloutier [BEST OF]

If I had to name ONE THING that increased my sales more than anything else in the past year... It'd be learning to polish my copywriting and pre-launch my offerings with Nicole Cloutier and her class Open Loop . Open Loop is how I doubled Interweb sign-ups in 2026. Open Loop is how I made over $10k on COME TO CLASS last month. Open Loop is why I feel so confident selling this year. And that's why I'm THRILLED to share that Open Loop is happening again in July and you can hop on the waitlist right here right now ! So if you'd like to make more money from your launches in 2026 and beyond... Tune in to this 'best of' episode to hear me and Nicole give you lots of free advice on how to launch anything you want to sell online. Then click this wonderful (affiliate) link to learn more about Open Loop . I hope to see you at an alum call bragging about your successful launches in the fall. ✨ 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 ✏️ 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