🙏 Your Next Client Isn’t In Your DMs — Coaching Success without Social Media with D’Ana Joi

Amelia [00:00:02] [Music overlapping with introduction to the episode] Welcome to Off the Grid, a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing all their clients. I'm Amelia Hruby, writer, speaker, and founder of Softer Sounds podcast studio.

Amelia [00:00:14] On this show, I share stories, strategies, and experiments for growing your business with radical generosity and energetic sovereignty.

Amelia [00:00:22] Download your free Leaving Social Media Toolkit at softersounds.studio/byeig and join us as we do it all off the grid [intro music jams and then fades out].

Amelia [00:00:36] Hello, hello, and welcome to Off the Grid. I'm your host, Amelia Hruby, and I am super excited to be here today for a very special between-seasons episode of the show. If you're new to the podcast, welcome. If you're a long-time listener, welcome back.

Amelia [00:00:54] We are currently on break between Seasons One and Two. We wrapped up Season One in August. We won't start Season Two until next year, but I wanted to have a really special conversation and I wanted to share it with all of you. So, we're back, baby [laughs]— sort of, briefly, for a minute.

Amelia [00:01:13] If you're just tuning in for the first time, I do want to let you know that we have a great free resource for you called the Leaving Social Media Toolkit. It includes my top three tools that helped me leave social media, that helped our lovely guest today leave social media. And you can head to the show notes right now and grab it for free. So go there, grab that link. All you got to do is drop your email address, you'll get it automagically.

Amelia [00:01:37] And then, stay tuned because today we are going to have a really amazing conversation with D'Ana Joi. So, D'Ana is joining me today as a proud, multi-passionate creative, life coach, speaker, freelance writer, and host of the Multi-Passionate Mastery Podcast who recently left social media [chuckles]. So, I'm— I'm so pumped to have you here today, Joi. Welcome to Off the Grid.

D'Ana Joi [00:02:04] Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here because first of all, I'm a huge fan of the show and your work in general. And secondly, I might be the poster child for following step-by-step, exactly how you've laid out leaving social media.

Amelia [00:02:20] Awww.

D'Ana Joi [00:02:20] And when I say every part of my life has gotten better since I made my exit, I'm not exaggerating. So, I'm here to thank you, and celebrate your work, and just so excited to chat today.

Amelia [00:02:31] Well, I'm so excited to share your story with everyone listening because I know you're going to inspire lots of folks who've tuned in. I mean, you've inspired me even in how you've done this, and there have definitely been things you've done where I'm like, “I should have done that when I left social media [laughs].” So, you know, we'll just, like, mutually adore each other for the next 30 minutes. That's the episode, folks. To get us started, can you just tell listeners about yourself and your business?

D'Ana Joi [00:02:58] Yeah. So, I'm a life coach for multi-passionates. I love to help my clients finally break free from that pressure of wanting to do all the things at once. So, I have clients who are across various industries. They all identify as multi-passionate and they have a lot that they would like to accomplish in this one lifetime. They have a lot of things that they want to do, but unfortunately, that comes with a lot of drawbacks. It can come with decision fatigue, it can come with burnout, and it can come with tons of second-guessing, which takes a toll on confidence in so many things.

D'Ana Joi [00:03:30] So, we use a method inside of my program to eradicate all of that so that my clients can know exactly what to start with first, what to do next, and then use their brilliance for expressing themselves as multi-passionates instead of constantly having to problem solve in those areas.

D'Ana Joi [00:03:47] So, I love what I do so much. It's really fun. And I'm also the host of the Multi-Passionate Mastery Podcast, that is, kind of, my playground and where I share tons of free tips and advice for anyone who identifies as multi-passionate and wants to know how to go about thriving as one and unlock what I like to call multiple-passionate mastery, which is kind of a witty play and, like, a f-you to the idea of being a specialist.

D'Ana Joi [00:04:15] So, it's like saying instead of striving to be a specialist, what if we decided to be masters at being multi-passionate? So, that's a really fun part of my life as well.

Amelia [00:04:25] I love that that's why you think— how you think about multi-passionate mastery. More people should be supported in being holistically themselves, not just one part of themselves. And that's the magic of your work, I know.

Amelia [00:04:40] So, we've kind of heard who you are and who you serve. Let's go into your relationship to social media. So, like, take me back to the beginning. How did you get on social media? Where did you start? And then, give me that journey to, like, the moment when you decided it was time to leave?

D'Ana Joi [00:04:59] So, I started social media with Instagram. So, as we're talking about social media, the platform we'll be referring to today is Instagram. I didn't really get into any other platforms and I started my Instagram when I started my blog, and so this was back in 2017, and I would call it more of a personal blog. This is when I was coming into my own and realizing that I am a multi-passionate and I'm going to have to figure out how to make that work because choosing one thing was not working. It was too painful for me.

D'Ana Joi [00:05:33] So I thought, "Okay, I'm not going to choose one thing, but I can choose one platform to play with." And so, I chose blogging because it felt like a space where I could have a lot of creative freedom. I could write about whatever I want, and that's exactly what I did.

D'Ana Joi [00:05:46] So, I started my Instagram account by the same name as my blog— Joi Knows How to promote my blog posts, and at that time Instagram, kind of, was like a mini blog. There was one night as I was contemplating all the changes that had happened on social media, where I actually scrolled all the way back to the beginning. And I was reading my captions and I was just like, "Whoa, what was this?" I wasn't giving like, "Here's three tips and this and that." I was just basically journaling [laughs lightly] all my captions.

D'Ana Joi [00:06:15] So, that's how I started off on Instagram. It was like, "Well, I have this blog and this can be another place to share." And I pretty quickly grew a community there. There weren't a lot of people and still aren't that many people advocating for multi-passionates in the way that I do every single day, so it was really fun to grow a community there.

D'Ana Joi [00:06:34] I met a lot of great people. I sort of became, like, collaboration-obsessed to the point where it was kind of infringing on my ability to actually [laughs] get things done. But I just [Amelia laughs lightly] love collaborating with people and met a lot of people. And that was when Instagram was really, really fun and really felt like more of a communal space.

Amelia [00:06:53] Mmhm.

D'Ana Joi [00:06:53] And then, I think we can all recognize there's, like, this point where it shifted. I don't know exactly what happened, but something happened.

D'Ana Joi [00:07:00] Maybe it was when TikTok was coming out underground or something [laughs] and it got out into the ethers and— I don't know what happened exactly, but there was a point where Instagram shifted and it became more about like, "Here's what you have to do to provide value to your potential clients on Instagram. Here's— you need to give this many tips. You need to have this many value posts— wait, you should actually sell in every post. You should do this, you should do that."

D'Ana Joi [00:07:29] And so, it started to become a bit tiresome with trying to figure out what my presence on this platform would look like in relationship to what snowballed into a coaching business. I started with the blog. I had no idea I would become a coach, it was never part of the plan, but life just kind of led me there. And so, throughout each transition of my own business, I leaned on Instagram as kind of, like, my social media platform of choice.

Amelia [00:07:58] Yeah, I think a lot of listeners can relate. Like, I find— that was my journey, as well. Like, Instagram was my platform. I used to love being there. Like, I have spent a lot of time on Instagram for a long time and in the beginning, I loved it.

Amelia [00:08:10] Like, in the beginning, I was wholeheartedly enjoying myself. You know, I made a lot of my online and my IRL community through Instagram and that's such a— was such an empowering part of it for a long time.

Amelia [00:08:24] And then, I hear you on the shift, and I think that's where a lot of our listeners are coming in— that moment of like, you know, "I'm on Instagram, I'm selling my stuff. I'm, like, using it for my business, but it feels bad." Like, we can feel that. We're smart, savvy business owners who are also intuitive and in touch with our bodies [chuckles] and we know when it feels bad.

Amelia [00:08:44] So, can you tell me about like— you talked about the shift, but what made you decide to leave social media? And maybe can you speak specifically like as a coach? Because I hear from a lot of coaches like, "Ugh, I'd love to leave social media, but I'm a coach and I have to be on there to get clients." So, how did you break through that, you know, false narrative and make the decision to leave?

D'Ana Joi [00:09:08] So, I think that it's necessary here to talk about the fact that I was sort of in this very rocky relationship with Instagram for a long time. And so, by the time I was like, "I'm out of here," it was like, "Okay."

D'Ana Joi [00:09:23] And then, I left two weeks later because my foot was already wedged so far out of the door. What I first started to notice was that I was addicted to this platform and that I would walk by my phone and pick it up and check it simply because my phone was there. Now that's something I still am dealing with, with or without Instagram, because I'm realizing it's a phone thing [Amelia chuckles]. But having that app on my phone made it ten times worse.

D'Ana Joi [00:09:49] There was also this intense feeling of putting something out and immediately needing to see:

D'Ana Joi [00:09:55] How did it do? Oh, what is the response to my work? Needing this instant gratification, for better or for worse, and being someone who, like you said, is in touch with themselves and is in touch with their mental health journey. I knew that that wasn't healthy.

D'Ana Joi [00:10:11] And then, you know, The Social Dilemma came out. We all watched it. And I think at that point we were all like, "Let's just mass exit. Like, we don't need this, you know?" [Amelia laughs] And we couldn't, which is scary, right? Which is really, really scary.

D'Ana Joi [00:10:25] So, I would do these, kind of, like— what is it called— a sabbatical or whatever, like a hiatus. You know, I would take space away from Instagram and I would do it very publicly. I would say, "Hey, this is my last post. I'm taking a month off. I need a break from this space." And then I would delete the app for a month and I would have to drag myself back. So, this is like a couple of years ago now and I would feel this feeling of social media time is so different than regular time. Being off of it for a month felt like I was gone for six months. So, that was really interesting to me— the pace, the speed at which social media moved.

D'Ana Joi [00:11:06] And then, when it was time to come back, I would feel this sense of dread. Like, I don't—I don't want to go. I don't want to go back there. I don't want to go back. But I did. I kept going back and then I would create new boundaries. "Okay, well, I'm going to delete the app every weekend."

D'Ana Joi [00:11:23] And so, I did that for a while, and all of these boundaries that I attempted to put in place— and I've heard someone say this on your podcast before, it's like— or maybe you said it— but if you have to put that many boundaries in place, at some point you realize maybe the relationship just isn't working and— as a whole.

D'Ana Joi [00:11:43] And so, you know, I'm someone who has always also had an email list from the day I started my blog— I also had an email list and I love sending emails. It gives me almost the opposite feeling of writing a caption on Instagram. I love long-form writing, and there was a point last summer, not this year, but last summer, where I received what I would call like a download, and there was a voice that told me to write. It was like, "You need to be writing, you're a writer, so go and write." And I heard that voice and I thought, "Okay, I'll do that."

D'Ana Joi [00:12:20] And then I, like, did it on Instagram. I was like, "All right, I'll— I'm going to get way more into my captions and, like, I'm just going to like pour more of myself into this— these 200 characters or whatever."

D'Ana Joi [00:12:31] And it took me a year to realize that's not what the voice was meaning. It meant to actually write. And so, I reached this place where it wasn't only that I wanted to leave Instagram, I could feel that— first of all, when Reels came out and then they started saying, "So, video or else." I was just like, "Okay, I don't know how I'm going to make this work for me."

D'Ana Joi [00:12:54] And my first reaction was to fall in line and start cranking out a bunch of content. There is maybe one week of the month when the moon is waxing where I feel like being on video. All the other times, I do not want to be on video. I'm not a video person. So, that felt like I was really pushing myself and not like, "Oh, edge out of your comfort zone in a good way." It felt like I was "dance monkey dance" for this platform. And so, all these things started giving me a lot of pause. So, that's happening, you know, over here.

D'Ana Joi [00:13:27] And then, the other side is that I have these other outlets that I can feel require nurturing. I know that I'm a writer. I know that I have a lot to say. I know that it feels better to share content with folks who are available to hear what I have to say. And— and I don't want to compete with really, really short attention spans and scrolling and hoping someone's going to read my caption and hoping that images captivating enough to quote unquote, stop the scroll.

D'Ana Joi [00:13:58] So, I was met with this intersection of, you know, what does it look like for me to sustain my business in a way where I'm still honoring myself, right? A lot of the work that I do, even though I talk about priorities and helping multi-passionates to focus and things like that, it's rooted in deep, deep, deep self-acceptance.

D'Ana Joi [00:14:19] So, it's important in every area of my life that I model that first. So, I started grappling with all these questions, and then I found Off the Grid.

D'Ana Joi [00:14:29] And then, I was like, "Well, now all the steps are laid out in front of me." And what really got me was there was an episode where you said, you know, "Be careful when you say the words, 'If it wasn't for my business, I wouldn't be here," or something like that. And that hit me like a ton of bricks and I realized, "Yeah, that's not an excuse anymore. I can choose how to do business."

D'Ana Joi [00:14:54] But I will say it was from listening to Off the Grid, from downloading the Leaving Social Media Toolkit, from putting my ideas in there, from starting to get the wheels turning, going to The Refresh. I actually had already decided that I was leaving by the time Refresh started, but it just magically lined up to the same week I left Instagram. It was like, "Oh!" Heavens opened up.

D'Ana Joi [00:15:15] But, it was deciding and, you know, knowing that you did it and it worked for you just gave me this confidence. And honestly— to be honest, I'm not a coach who's like, "Oh, I can't leave Instagram because my DMs are so poppin'. I can't leave Instagram because the return on investment is just so high."

D'Ana Joi [00:15:34] I really wasn't getting that many qualified leads from Instagram. I was having conversations with folks in the DMs and they were going nowhere. I was having conversations with folks in the DMs, and they would just say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, sounds good, can't afford it." Right? And then, ghosting me in the conversation and I'm not someone who's going to— I will follow-up, you know, a couple times but that's— I'm not going to like chase after that. I'm not going to keep going.

D'Ana Joi [00:16:01] So, I also didn't feel this attachment or a lot of scarcity around, "Oh, no, I might lose my clients." I moreso felt like I'll probably grow my email list. You know, I would love to make sure everyone knows where they can still find my podcast. I'm going to start writing articles here and as I exit, I'll let people know they can read my articles there.

D'Ana Joi [00:16:23] So, that was more of how I approached it. I really took it from an abundance mindset that I wasn't losing anything. I also told myself all the cool people I'm going to meet on Instagram, I already met [laughs and Amelia joins] and that was very helpful. I was like, "All the cool people I'm going to meet, I already met and I have their emails or their phone numbers, so I'm good."

D'Ana Joi [00:16:43] And I really took an abundance mindset of doing something that feels this aligned can only work out for me. There's no way that this doesn't work out. And from there, I just started planning my exit. I made a bunch of cute ass graphics. Like, I posted in my stories every day letting people know when they— when they— where they could find me after I left. Countdown timer. Got my highlights ready, got my final post on my feed. And I remember the last day I left, I posted a Reel and I was like, "This is my last post. Here's what I want you to remember me for." And I just, kind of, poured my heart out and I was like, "All right, you know, join my email list. Bye!"

D'Ana Joi [00:17:25] [Laughs and Amelia joins in] And I have not looked back. It's been over a month now. I have not looked back. And it's been— it's actually been miraculous. I have signed way more clients in the month since leaving than the past few months that I was on that platform. My mental space and the space that I have for creativity— for long-form regenerative content has expanded times 100,000.

D'Ana Joi [00:17:58] Just the fact that I'm not walking through the world thinking about what I have to post on Instagram next or whether or not I made a Reel this week so that I can stay relevant. It has— [laughs wearily] it feels like I've eliminated so much frivolous activity from my highly creative, functional brain that had no use really being there in the first place. So, it's like level unlocked is, kind of, how it feels [laughs].

Amelia [00:18:22] Yeah.

D'Ana Joi [00:18:22] Yeah.

Amelia [00:18:24] Oh my gosh. I just like— so many things you said, I just, like, literally want to, like, insert applause sound effect here because you just— so many, like, profound things that you just shared with us that I want to try to recap and remember and bring back.

Amelia [00:18:40] I love how you emphasized, like, this decision for you had to come from a place of self-acceptance and abundance. And I think that that's true for everyone. Like, to— so many of us stay on Instagram because we're scared, because we don't trust ourselves and we don't accept ourselves that like we don't accept that we can be unhappy there. We don't accept that we can change it and we don't accept— we don't trust that we can do something else and succeed in doing something differently.

Amelia [00:19:08] And that's a lot of deep work. You know, that's a lot of work [chuckles]. It's a lot of work to work on with yourself, with your coach, with your therapist, with your support team. But I think that we can do that— like that's important healing that we all want to be doing in our lives, and that is required of us to really make this, sort of, choice to do business in life differently.

Amelia [00:19:28] I loved how you shared— you said it so perfectly. I will go pull quote this for the actual episode but when you said like, "If you're doing something that is that in alignment, it will be successful." Like, what a beautiful way to think about business and creative practice and life in general. And, I think, alignment was really a core word and desire for me when I decided to leave too. Like, I just started to feel the misalignment so acutely and I just needed to get aligned again. And I felt that a lot. And I feel that— I heard that in what you were saying, too.

Amelia [00:20:03] And then when I launched my business, because I wasn't spending time— so much time in this misaligned way [laughs], because I wasn't turning everything in my life into like a square or a Reel, I was really able to create a business that like holistically brought so much together or evolve my business into something that brought so much together, you know?

Amelia [00:20:22] And I agree with you, like, that brain space for regenerative creation, it comes back when you're not just like chopping your life into those little pieces. So, [laughs] I really love that we're both like— just like we're going to nod our heads off our necks through this whole conversation [laughs heartily]. But thank you for sharing all of that. I think that's so— just again, it's so special.

Amelia [00:20:47] And that piece you said of like, "I wasn't really landing clients in my DMs, I was not closing clients." Like, I think that is kind of— I don't know if I want to call it a lie, but maybe. Like, we get told that that's what's happening and we convince ourselves that's what’s happening. But most business owners that I talk to when they really go look at their numbers and what closed people; it was, like, never Instagram.

D'Ana Joi [00:21:09] Yeah, I'm so glad that you actually brought up therapist because I want to add one more thing to my leaving Instagram story. I was in a therapy session and we were talking about self-care and this and that, and I said, "Well, one of my things for self-care is I'm only going to check Instagram once a day and I've deleted the app from my phone and I now only have it on my iPad." And at the close of the session, I was like, "I'm talking about Instagram in therapy, so I'm leaving it." I cannot like— I will not— I will not have Instagram leaking its way into my therapy sessions. Like, I'm not— I'm not here for it. I just was like, "I can eradicate this."

D'Ana Joi [00:21:48] And, you know, there are opportunities that we have to ask ourselves— if there's one thing that I never had to do again, what would it be? And sometimes our answers are things that we can't get out of like taxes or like do the dishes or things that like [Amelia laughs]— it's like, okay, well, you know, you might want to make peace with that.

D'Ana Joi [00:22:07] But my answer was like, "If I never had to think about another 30 set of hashtags, phew, [Amelia laughs] I would just be so grateful." And then I was like, "I can do that. I can give that gift to myself. It is not impossible. It is not something in life that I am obligated to." And so, I decided to give that gift to— to myself, you know.

D'Ana Joi [00:22:28] Oh my goodness. But yeah, I agree. I think there are courses about how to land clients in the DMs. There are— there's all of this culture around like, "That's where it's at, that's where it happens." But my clients tend to find me from my podcast. They listen to my podcast, they start implementing what I share there, that gets them to the place where they feel comfortable enough to then invest. And I'm so here for that journey.

Amelia [00:22:57] Mm.

D'Ana Joi [00:22:57] So, really for me, Instagram is more like, "Okay, I'm pushing out podcast content there. I'm—"

D'Ana Joi [00:23:02] I started to really look at it differently of— I didn't even really want to create anything original for that platform anymore. That's why Reels was so annoying to me because I was like, "I don't want to do anything new all the time and have to be looking for audio and all this and that."

D'Ana Joi [00:23:17] Because I started to think about Instagram as a place to distribute my other work, to share, like, "Hey, there's a new podcast episode out. Here's what it's about," or talk about my podcast episodes in a new way.

D'Ana Joi [00:23:28] And so, you know, I did think about that. I thought, "Okay, without this platform, how do people find my podcast?" And I gave some real thought to that. And my solution was, "Okay, well, I'm going to start writing on Medium, which is a platform for writers. And in every single sign-off, I'll say that I'm a life coach and the host of the Multi-Passionate Mastery Podcast and I'll hyperlink it.”

D'Ana Joi [00:23:52] You know, I'm a very lazy Pinterest gal until I can outsource that again, I realize I'm just not going to schedule a pin. I've designed hundreds. I will not schedule them out. It is what it is [Amelia laughs heartily]. But Pinterest is available as well, you know, as a place for people to—

Amelia [00:24:08] Mmhm.

D'Ana Joi [00:24:08] Find my podcast. So, rather than think about, “Well, how am I going to land clients,” I mostly thought about how am I going to continue to have awareness about my work? And after I had those questions answered, really, it was through the Leaving Social Media Toolkit, I was able to just, kind of, brainstorm and plan in that space. After I had those answers, there were just no excuses. It was like, “Okay, well, all of this is figured out. Let's just go.”

D'Ana Joi [00:24:33] And then, I had The Refresh right after which just, like, tied everything and this beautiful bow and then brought community into it and really helped me to see that there are so many other people in the space and some— some folks aren't quite ready to— to leave and to make that exit because we have this thought that like, “If you're not on this platform, you somehow don't exist anymore.” And that's so scary and terrifying, but that is really how it feels for a lot of folks. You know, there's a lot of fear. Like, on day one, we talk a lot about fear and there's a lot of fear, legitimate fear of walking away from that platform and feeling like you're either being abandoned or you're abandoning someone or some part of yourself. And for me, it was just the opposite. I was like, “I'm arriving to a new part of myself as soon as I close this door, there's so much more available for me.”

D'Ana Joi [00:25:26] So, like I said, I had one foot out the door for a long time, so that might be [laughs] why my experience is a little bit of a fairy tale.

D'Ana Joi [00:25:36] But I will tell you, you know, I signed— so we're, right now, at the top of October as we're recording this— in September, I signed four clients. And just two days ago, another client joined my program. So, that's a total of five clients in five weeks.

D'Ana Joi [00:25:53] I sold one of my— like one of my bundles. It's just kind of a digital product that hangs out on my website— one of those magically sold. I have been writing on Medium. I've been invited onto this podcast. I am now taking a freelance writing course and starting to pitch to publications. I'm learning all about LinkedIn and making sure I, kind of, get my footing there off to the right foot as I start, because that's as social media adjacent as I'm going to be. So, I'm making sure I tread lightly.

D'Ana Joi [00:26:21] So, I'm taking a great course about authentic marketing on LinkedIn, and I just feel this abundance and wealth of support. One of my main fears was:

D'Ana Joi [00:26:32] What about community? Because that's where I feel like Instagram— so most people say like, "Oh, I don't want to lose clients." I was more like, "What about community?"

D'Ana Joi [00:26:40] There's so many cool people there, and that's how I connect with people. And so, my solution to that was to number one: sign up for The Refresh and go and experience your community in real-time and be in community with you and the folks that are drawn to you because I feel such alignment with you. And so, that placed me in a community setting and introduced me to Discord, which is so freaking cool [Amelia laughs]. I had no idea it was so cool.

D'Ana Joi [00:27:05] And from there I realized, you know, when you enroll in a lot of these, like, courses— the courses that I'm in, community is inherent. I'm in there with a cohort of other students and we have places that we can chat and connect. And I have found so much community and I did not need Instagram to do it.

D'Ana Joi [00:27:22] So, it's like all of these hard truths that felt so hard to break free from just fell away. And it almost, at this point, feels kind of, like, irrelevant. When I first left Instagram, I felt nothing. Like, nothing. It took a while to start feeling like, "Oh, I have energy back and I have creativity back." At first, it was just like— nothing. I was just like, "Oh, whatever." So, it's interesting too— like the stages of leaving [laughs].

Amelia [00:27:52] Yeah. Yeah. That— that last piece definitely, I think. I should do an episode on that in Season Two because it is a real journey.

Amelia [00:28:02] And I've been talking to a lot of people who have left and I think you go through that, like, initial phase where you're just so burned out and, like, an empty shell [chuckles] of yourself and you have to, like, just live that for a little while. And then, I find you get like— almost like hyper— I don't want to say productive— that's not the right word— maybe creative, but it's like once you heal that burnout, then you've got all of your content creation energy from like how much you were creating for Instagram and you're like, "Great. Now I'm going to write 16 blog posts and I'm going to build a course and I'm going to do this..."

Amelia [00:28:34] And you, like, do all of it because you just like— you got your energy back and you have— it's, like, a really almost manic phase— for me it was.

Amelia [00:28:41] And then, it like— you get, like, a little more even keel and I've kind of— to me I just, like, moved more back toward a human pace for content creation and figured out what I could actually do in my business that felt, like, easy and innate to my workflow. And then there's so many other pieces. So, stay tuned for Season Two. I'll— I'll make that episode and summarize that nicely for all of us [laughs].

Amelia [00:29:08] I did want to thank you. Twice now you've given such glowing endorsements of the Leaving Social Media Toolkit and The Refresh. For folks who are tuning in who are like, "What are these things?"

Amelia [00:29:19] That Leaving Social Media Toolkit is a free tool, like, go to the show notes softersounds.studio/byeig b-y-e-i-g [chuckles].

Amelia [00:29:26] And that's going to give you a five-step plan for leaving any social media platform, a list of 100 ways to share your work off of social media, and a creative marketing database that'll help you plan quarterly marketing experiments. So, that's, like, a super— literally just the three tools I used to leave and they're totally free.

Amelia [00:29:46] And then, The Refresh was a course that I offered— or workshop series I offered in August that helped people identify their core offers, core marketing channels, and core community and ideal clients. And that actually— the live workshop will probably come back next August, which is quite a ways away. But you can get a self-guided version of that. It's called Business Success Without Social Media. So, that's also in the show notes.

Amelia [00:30:12] So, if you're listening to Joi talk about these things and you're like, "Yes, please, yes, please, yes, please." That's all in the show notes [laughs lightly]. They work, as Joi has evidenced here [laughs]. I'm very— I'm a Capricorn Rising. Everything I make is super actionable. Like, it's the only way I know how to do things is like practical, practical, practical.

Amelia [00:30:30] At the same time, I loved how you talked about, you know, we acknowledge our fear. I think leaving social media is a balance and you— you spoke to both of these— like pieces. We have to acknowledge and name our fears and just get honest about what we're afraid of. I love that, like, we're afraid of abandoning ourselves or our community— how you— how you reframed that as arriving at yourself and, like, a new stage. Mm, Mwah, gorgeous [chuckles].

Amelia [00:30:56] And then, it's also a balance of like, we have to acknowledge those fears while, I think, being a little, like, honest when we're— about where we're making excuses and we're just, like, not— or just choosing to stay or we're just choosing, you know— we all do that at different phases in our lives. We choose things that are not so great for us. So, I'm not judging that, but I think when you are ready to leave, you have to let— like recognize and let go of those excuses.

Amelia [00:31:24] Joi, I love hearing about the success that you've had since you left social media— signing new clients. I also really appreciated you were, like, super clear on sharing, like, "I'm posting on Medium, I'm working on LinkedIn, I'm finding community in courses."

Amelia [00:31:41] I guess I have, kind of, two questions. Like one— could you tell us a little bit, like, what are your core offers, for folks tuning in who are like, "Okay, she's selling stuff, but like, what is it?" You mentioned a bundle, you mentioned a program. Can you give us a little more about that? And then, maybe just a little deeper into, like, what's working and not working for selling those offerings right now?

D'Ana Joi [00:32:02] Sure, I would love to. So, my core offering— my main offering is my flagship group coaching program, and that's called Prioritize and Thrive. So, at the top where I said I love to help my clients finally break free from the pressure of doing all the things at once. This is the container in which I do that in. It's also the only space where you can work with me as your coach. So, that is a year of life coaching with me in a group coaching setting. A year of our private community and lifetime access to the course that breaks down the priority mapping method created by a multi-passionate for multi-passionates to help you finally break free from that pressure of wanting to do all the things at once using a very simple, repeatable three-step process. So, that is my flagship offer. All signs point back to Prioritize and Thrive.

D'Ana Joi [00:32:51] One of the things that, you know, we came up with, kind of, together [laughs lightly] as a result of The Refresh workshop— so highly recommend. Do the self-paced course and then do the live workshop in August whenever you can. Highly, highly recommend.

D'Ana Joi [00:33:04] But once we did that exercise about core offers and, you know, community and how— how we're nurturing and how everything's together, I realized that I'm depending a lot on my podcast to sell this program and that I talk about my program on my podcast a good amount after Season Two. It didn't exist in Season One, so couldn't really but in Season Two, I talk about it a lot, but I was getting a little bit sick of just saying, you know, "Click the link in the show notes, click the link in the show notes and check out the sales page. Check out the sales page."

D'Ana Joi [00:33:37] So, I wanted to create something different, a new way to share about that program that wasn't as— wasn't as, kind of, upfront as my webinar. So, I do have a webinar funnel that I have been refining and that's why I signed so many new clients because I re-did it and it's converting a lot better now.

D'Ana Joi [00:33:59] So— and I had the energy to do that because [laughs lightly] I wasn't on social media. So, I do have a webinar funnel, so I should say that, but there are some people who don't want to sit through a training, right?

D'Ana Joi [00:34:10] So, when you're thinking about the different calls to action, for me, I often say, "You know, if you're interested in Prioritize and Thrive, a great place to start is my free training." And I started to think about just different learning styles and neurodiversity. And there are some people who immediately hear like, "Watch my free training" and just check out. Who are like, "I'm not going to make it through. I'm not going to watch it. Like, [laughs] I don't want to sign up for it."

D'Ana Joi [00:34:32] So, I started thinking, "Well, how can I engage more people with different learning styles and just different— different ways of absorbing information?" And from there, we started talking in The Refresh because you had that amazing channel, Ask Amelia. And so I was like, "Hey, I don't know, I want to do something different." And we started thinking about maybe there's like a downloadable info guide or something that— where people can find information about the program, but it's not necessarily just, like, clicking a sales page.

D'Ana Joi [00:35:01] So, then I thought, "Okay, what if I make a digital magazine called Thrive Guide that's inspired by my coaching program but kind of repurposes some of my work?" Again, I'm in this phase of my life where I'm acknowledging— I'm a writer. I've written so many articles, I have so much long-form content that would just love to be shared and seen by more folks. So, I started thinking— and what we call in Prioritize and Thrive— I started dating this idea. We like to date our ideas sometimes [Amelia laughs] before we commit.

Amelia [00:35:32] I love it.

D'Ana Joi [00:35:32] So, I started dating this idea. I booked a day at a hotel pool and went swimming and was just brainstorming and making lists of like:

D'Ana Joi [00:35:39] What would go in the magazine? Do I want to do ongoing forever? Or do I want to just do one? And I decided I would do a ten-part series. And so, now I have this ten-part, free digital magazine called Thrive Guide that's inspired by my coaching program. It shares articles that give tips similar to what you might find on my podcast but in a different format. It has space for self-assessments and you know, in the beginning, and the end it's like, "This is inspired by Prioritize and Thrive. If you want to learn more, scan this QR code." Like, I put QR codes in all these things.

[00:36:13] I also promote my merch. So, I have a merch shop. I'm highly multi-passionate, so I do have a lot of different touch points in my business. I have a merch shop and I'm not good at talking about it. Like, I have really cool sweatshirts and T-shirts and hats and I don't really talk about it. So, the Thrive guide gave me this opportunity to have ads that are for my own merch. And so, it was like, "Oh, this— there's so much here." And I'm still unpacking all the ways I get to utilize that.

D'Ana Joi [00:36:39] So yeah, core offer— Prioritize and Thrive, bringing people to that through wherever I can— all signs, kind of, point back to that.

D'Ana Joi [00:36:48] And then, I do also have a digital product suite. So, I have a bundle that has— excuse me— that has pre-recorded masterclasses in it as well as downloadable content. I'd say that's a great place for someone to start if they're not necessarily looking to be in a room with me and they just want content. They want a very self-paced experience. That's a great place to start. But again, I don't really talk about it much.

D'Ana Joi [00:37:12] I had a couple episodes in Season One of my podcast where I mentioned it— this is something that I'm learning, is you can't just talk about it once and expect people to like come out of the wings and start purchasing [laughs and Amelia joins in]. So, note to self. But I'm in a season where I'm okay if nothing sells right now other than Prioritize and Thrive because that's what I'm focusing on for this quarter and for the rest of the year.

D'Ana Joi [00:37:33] But I do have that bundle if someone wants to get started there. I have a lower ticket e-book which I'm thinking about dropping the price like really low and making it like from a $30 purchase to a $12 purchase. Just because I'm realizing I'm learning a lot about pricing and like what feels generous and what feels good versus just what I've been told to do. So, I'm playing with that a little bit and I have a course, which is kind of the next step for folks after Prioritize and Thrive, and that is a project management course for creatives.

D'Ana Joi [00:38:03] So, my last 9 to 5, before I went all in on my business, I was a project manager at a very fast-paced startup and I learned how to project manage a very large team, multiple accounts, multiple clients. And when I left that job, I did a whole assessment of like what parts of this experience do I want to take with me? And I was like, "Project management." And people are often, like, floored at how organized I am and how much I'm able to get done being a highly multi-passionate person.

D'Ana Joi [00:38:33] Part of that is I know how to prioritize and focus and the second half is I project manage the shit out of myself and I know what actually goes into something. I know how to create subtasks. I know what my deliverables are. I have this language of project management which as a multi-passionate, has served me so deeply.

D'Ana Joi [00:38:52] So, I poured all of that into a really fun, colorful, vibrant, easy-to-follow course for creatives. So, folks who want that but don't want to be bored to tears learning about it. That's something that I have as well.

D'Ana Joi [00:39:06] You know— and I don't know what will come— what will come next. I'm pretty focused on Prioritize and Thrive and creating an even more amazing community in that space.

D'Ana Joi [00:39:16] Also, my podcast is just, like, my baby that I love so much [laughs lightly]. So, I know I want to spend a season really growing that and getting into all that. But yeah, that's kind of the ecosystem of my world. But I would say, you know, even though I have a lot of offers, I am not in the space yet where I have, like, an evergreen funnel for each offer or I don't talk about, like, one offer for this quarter or one offer for that quarter. I allow my offers to kind of emerge from me as they do.

D'Ana Joi [00:39:47] And then, I trust my authority. I have emotional authority in Human Design, so I'm just always running things through my authority and feeling into what feels right. And I also have a defined route so I can feel when it's time to like, "Okay, let's, let's move on from this." I can feel that usually. So yeah, just kind of playing in this space of, kind of, surrendering to this flagship, which is— which is— would have been really hard for me to do a while back. But I'm in the place where I just trusted in— my clients are making such beautiful strides that it's hard to not want to just double down on it constantly.

Amelia [00:40:23] I think you said so many things, I'll just kind of touch back on for folks like— I love, you know, your whole approach to business just feels so playful to me and like you really let— you experiment, you have fun, you enjoy it. And I think that's so obvious.

Amelia [00:40:40] I love that you kind of— you have a suite of offers or I like to call like a core offer constellation. But you also have the one core offer. You're like, "I have this flagship program— that's the program. You have the things you've built around it." And I think that's a great constellation for a coach specifically, is to be bringing people in, in that way, while also still serving your multi-passionate self that's like, "Can't just do one thing ever. So like don't make me [laughs]."

Amelia [00:41:09] I, also, think then, like, you also have a constellation of marketing channels. You've got your podcast— earlier you talked about your podcast as a playground, which I loved. You've got your podcast, you've got the Thrive Guide, you've got these Medium blog posts, you've got your email list— you send really fun emails. And so, those are all ways that people can be in touch with you.

Amelia [00:41:32] And as you were speaking, what I really just noticed is that you are thinking about your core community and that third piece, you're trying to meet people where they're at, on like so many levels. Like, I think on pri— you're meeting them where they're at on price point, you're meeting them where they're at on learning— like information gathering style, you're meeting them where they're at on how much support they need. So, you've got those sort of like, "Come listen to my podcast or come take my webinar or get this cool, amazing digital magazine I created."

Amelia [00:42:03] And then, you've also got like, "Here's your thing that's, you know, under 50 bucks, here's your thing that's like, you know, a few hundred bucks. Here's like these different price points. And here's the thing where you can work with me directly. Here's the thing where we work— where you just get my information. Here's a thing where you just read something I wrote."

Amelia [00:42:18] Like, it's such a beautiful way of being in touch with your ideal clientele and letting them like— just having a bunch of different levels or something like where just— where they can come as they are. They can meet you in different ways and that allows you to get to know them.

Amelia [00:42:39] And I think— the last thing I'll say that you said that I think is really important for people to hear is like you have a lot of channels, a lot of offers, but you're still like developing one at a time— like not one at a time, but you're like, you know, you're honing your webinar funnel and it doesn't all come at once. Not every offer has a webinar funnel [chuckles].

Amelia [00:42:59] And this is something I know we talked about in The Refresh too was realizing like, "Oh, here's all my core offers. Some of them I, literally, never talk about," or I know your other realization was like, "Oh, I use my podcast to sell absolutely everything and maybe I should, like, [laughs] try to have some other things that sell stuff or like, you know, have a— a different approach here."

Amelia [00:43:21] And so, I just love hearing more about how you put all that together in your ecosystem. And I love even more that it's working and it's, like, getting you new clients and growing your business, and that's just so exciting.

D'Ana Joi [00:43:33] Yeah, it's really exciting. I checked Thrive Guide yesterday and after sending one launch email, I had 50 subscribers and I was like, "Oh, cool!"

Amelia [00:43:42] Yay.

D'Ana Joi [00:43:42] “Y'all want this.” It's great [Amelia chuckles]. It's just like a passion project of mine and you also want it, and that is so great and the feedback has been so great. So, I think, you know— and with Thrive Guide specifically— with this digital magazine and all the fun, like, energy that I get to pour into that, my passion for graphic design, my passion for writing, all of that, it's a direct, direct reflection of the surplus of creative bandwidth that I have from not being on social media.

Amelia [00:44:12] Mmm.

D'Ana Joi [00:44:12] If I was still in social media and I tried to take on this project, I think I would have felt overwhelmed just by the thought of it.

Amelia [00:44:20] Mmhm.

D'Ana Joi [00:44:21] And that might have been why it took me a while to say "yes" to the idea. I dated it for a while and wanted to make sure it was— because I didn't want to fall into the trap of, "Am I just filling in the space that I have with something else?"

D'Ana Joi [00:44:34] I wanted to be very mindful about that, so that's why I decided I would do a ten-series collection— there'd be a finite endpoint, they'd be delivered every 30 days. So, I had a lot of spaciousness for creating each issue, so I put a lot of parameters on it. So, even in taking on a new creative project, you know, like that, that is essentially content creation and graphic design, which was a big part of Instagram for me— was like, "Well, where am I going to go to make all my graphics now? Because I love [Amelia laughs] making graphics." So— but even there, there was some trepidation and making sure that I wasn't just filling, you know, clearing space off the plate and then filling it up with something else.

D'Ana Joi [00:45:11] But yeah, it's been— it's been so amazing and it feels nothing like being on Instagram [laughs]. Sitting there and working on that magazine is just— it's like my plate— it's like me time, you know, like that's when I put on a playlist and I create and then I send it out to the world and I'm like, "[Deep sigh of relief] Great [laughs]." You know, kind of feels the opposite of— of hitting publish on a post and then needing—

Amelia [00:45:35] Mm.

D'Ana Joi [00:45:35] To feverishly check. It's like I send it out and that's it, folks read it, or they don't. And it's— it's beyond me after that. There's no way for me to sit and check how many views each page of the magazine got or whatever. And it's really refreshing. It's really, really refreshing not to plug Refresh, but it is refreshing experience for sure [Amelia laughs heartily and Joi joins in].

Amelia [00:45:56] Well, I'm so glad— so glad you enjoyed it so much. I think the other thing I just want to point to that you didn't mention in that, that is one of your superpowers, I think, and we can all cultivate this superpower, but you've just got it, which is you are so good at directly reaching out to people. Like, when you put Off the Grid in Thrive guide, you emailed me and you were like, "This is in here, get this, this is great. Will you share it?"

Amelia [00:46:20] And when you were doing your webinar again, you wrote— you emailed me and you were like, "Hey, this is happening. Like, do you have space to share this?" And— you know— and actually, my answer was, "I don't [laughs]." So, just to tell people, like, it's not like you get universal yeses. You caught me on, like, a week that I just— I already had a bunch of announcements.

Amelia [00:46:38] But it is what led to this interview happening, right— was just— I was like, "Oh, of course, I want to share this. I can't do it quite this way right now. But like, let's do something else. Let's, like, use this other platform I have that I know you love that, like, let's get you on there." And I think that that is so often the missing piece when people think about their marketing. Like, I have seen— I have seen people— other people make beautiful digital magazines, even ones I've been in.

Amelia [00:47:03] But they haven't sent it to me one-on-one and asked me to share it and I think that is really— can often be the difference. Instagram gets us in this habit of, you know, creating all our content, publishing it, and then that's it. And in marketing and sales, we actually like— after it's published, that's when you start marketing. Like, the content is like nice, but you start marketing after you hit publish. That's when you go put it— promote it in different places, ask people to share it, send it directly to clients who you think might be interested in it. It's that piece of the equation to me— that I see as like the biggest differentiating point between people who are able to grow their businesses and people who feel a lot of stagnation when they step away from social media.

Amelia [00:47:50] So, like, props to you for doing that. And I just wanted to name it for folks listening who might be like, "I made a digital magazine. Why doesn't anyone care about mine?" I'm sure it's lovely, listeners, but like, email it to me [laughs heartily]. Like, tell me personally about it. Don't just expect me to read your email list either, because I do my best but we all know that our inboxes are, like, a graveyard of emails we had every intention of reading, so I just want to plug you in that way, too.

D'Ana Joi [00:48:18] Thank you. And that's part of community building is, you know, reaching out because when you do that, you also open the door for that person. Like, I hope that if you ever have something that you create that feels very relevant to my audience, that you will reach out to me because now we have opened that door for one another.

D'Ana Joi [00:48:33] And I'm also a manifester and so, it's my strategy to inform. So, I know that life goes better for me when I inform, and I've adopted that as a way of life. So, that's another part of it. But you know, being someone who is really intentional about community, part of it is reaching out and saying, "Hey, like, love your work, want to get together and co-work sometime?” Or, you know, “Hey, I'd love to feature you in this, or I already featured you, I didn't even ask, but here's what it looks like," you know, or whatever [Amelia laughs].

D'Ana Joi [00:49:04] So, keeping that in mind for anyone who's like, "Oh, I don't want to leave Instagram because the community on there," you know, DMs are cool, but people do check their emails [laughs] as well and there are other ways to connect. So, I do hope that that's encouraging for someone and I appreciate that acknowledgment. Thank you.

Amelia [00:49:21] Yeah, you're very welcome. And I appreciate that you brought it back to Human Design, too. There will be an episode in Season Two on Human Design and marketing your business because I've also felt that a lot as a generator where I'm supposed to wait to respond, when I create things that no one has asked for they are not as successful as when I create things that people have asked for— Off the Grid included. I didn't make this podcast until, like, a number of people had asked me to create content around leaving social media, and I was like, "All right, I will respond [chuckles] to this."

Amelia [00:49:55] And so, I think, for both of us, it sounds like learning our Human Design and our strategy particularly is just really helpful in how we market our businesses. So, we'll talk about that in Season Two, folks. Make sure you stay tuned [laughs]— next year. It's not coming till next year. I'm really sorry, everybody. I don't have the energy in Q4, but it will come back.

Amelia [00:50:19] [Takes a deep breath] Joi, thank you so much for everything and your time. Can you just wrap us up by telling folks like how to get in touch with you, how to find your amazing coaching program, and anything else you want to share today?

D'Ana Joi [00:50:31] Absolutely. So, if you're listening to this or watching this then I know that you are a podcast lover, so come hang out with me on my podcast. It's called Multi-Passionate Mastery. You can start from Episode One or you can just jump right in wherever we are. If you are multi-passionate, I promise you will resonate with it, and hopefully, it'll become one of your mainstays on your podcast feed. I would so love that.

D'Ana Joi [00:50:54] Also, if you're like, "Okay, I want to know how to break free from the pressure of doing all the things at once. What is this magical life that your clients are living?" Then I do want to invite you to check out my free training, if that's your style. So, if you can sit for about, like, 47 minutes, all right, through a very fun, vibrant training, where are you going to feel engaged the whole time, learn a lot, and walk away with having exact next steps for how we can work together further if you would like, then sign up for that training.

D'Ana Joi [00:51:23] I promise you, I don't talk about myself for 30 minutes, tell you what's wrong with you, and then ask you for your money. It's a highly valuable, really, really fun training, so you'll enjoy that.

D'Ana Joi [00:51:33] And if you're like, I don't want any of this, but I need my hands on the digital magazine because, like, clearly I need to see what this looks like. You can subscribe to Thrive Guide today and you'll start at volume number one and you'll get a new volume delivered to your inbox every 30 days until we hit our 10th installment. That's completely free. It's multipassionatemastery.com/thrive-guide, but we'll put all the links in the show notes, so don't even— don't worry about feverishly clicking any things, and am I supposed to, like, talk about that I am on LinkedIn?

D'Ana Joi [00:52:03] I'm also on LinkedIn. I'm very— I'm a baby bird on LinkedIn. But I am there under my full name, D'Ana Joi Spencer. So, if you want to connect there, I would love that. [Laughs] I'm not even sure how connections work, but like, yeah, [Amelia laughs] if you find me there and you want to, like, hang out there, I'm posting articles and content there and trying to find my footing in that space. And I'd love to be surrounded by amazing, heart-centered folks if you are there and you want to connect, I guess we can add that to the show notes too. And yeah, those are all—

Amelia [00:52:34] Beautiful.

D'Ana Joi [00:52:34] My places.

Amelia [00:52:35] Amazing. Well, everybody connect with Joi on LinkedIn and elsewhere, listen to her podcast. I cannot plug it enough. Get Thrive Guide. Do all of the things. I know people listening are multi-passionates and they have multi-ways to connect with you. So, I love it.

Amelia [00:52:52] And for listeners, thanks so much for tuning in. As I have said a couple of times today, we are still on a podcast break here at Off the Grid, but I would love for you to grab the Leaving Social Media Toolkit. If you want more, you can sign up for the business success without social media course, you can still leave a voice message or land in my inbox. The links for all that are in the show notes as well and have an amazing Q4 everybody. I can't wait to be back with you next year [outro music begins to play].

D'Ana Joi [00:53:22] Yay! Thanks so much for having me.

Amelia [00:53:25] Yay, thanks, Joi.

Amelia [00:53:35] Thanks for listening to Off the Grid. Find links and resources in the show notes and don't forget to grab your free Leaving Social Media Toolkit at softersounds.studio/byeig that's softersounds.studio slash b-y-e-i-g. This podcast is a Softer Sounds production. Our Music is by Purple Planet and our logo is by n'Atelier Studio.

Amelia [00:53:58] If you'd like to make a podcast of your own, we'd love to help find more about our services at softersounds.studio.

Amelia [00:54:05] Until next time, we'll see you off the grid.