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Last year, Leonie Dawson released her ‘Marketing Without Social Media’ Workshop based on her incredibly bold decision to solely market her business away from social media.
I adore Leonie Dawson at the best of times, but this bold, courageous move made me love her even MORE!
But of course, as someone who has had a hair accessory business for 10 years at Beauxoxo, and told over and over how ‘social media was the best marketing option’, I was SO taken away with Leonie’s courage to step back and take a massive (or what I perceived to be at the time) risk with their business.
Because let’s face it both wading through managing our personal lives and marketing our businesses without social media feels so overwhelming doesn’t it? Our lives seem chained and completely enmeshed in these digital spaces, don’t they?
So, how did Leonie Dawson manage to step back from social media and sustain this abundant business?
Well, Leonie is going to share ALL about their journey and provide you with a vision for marketing away from social media in their ‘Marketing Without Social Media’ Workshop based on Leonie’s incredibly bold decision to solely market a business away from social media. Convinced already? Then, of course, you can head on over and sign up right here. It is just $99 after all!
But does the thought of abandoning social media for your business simply seem too good to be true? Is your mind swirling with doubts and questions about marketing a modern-day business without social media?
Well, allow for this post to be my heartfelt and honest experience of stepping away from social media both on a personal level AND from a business capacity so that you read first-hand how this journey has been for me.
As you read this post, do you have any questions? I also welcome you to ask me ANY and all musings and questions below in the comments on this topic!
Why did Leonie Dawson leave social media?
Let’s firstly start with why Leonie Dawson herself left social media.
In a truly poignant blog post Leonie writes:
6 weeks ago, I decided to try 21 days without social media. At the time I felt like I needed a short break, but I was also incredibly nervous about how I would go.
Here’s what I found though: my life is SO much better without social media. I am happier. More content. More creative. Wildly inspired. More present. I have so much time back – time that can be spent doing things I truly love doing. I have literally felt my brain healing. My heart, my soul, my art: all of it glistens with life again.
I am doing this for my one wild and precious life.
I am doing this because I believe that what is good for my creativity is what is best for my business.
I am doing this because I believe it would be out of integrity for me to market using social media now I know how damaging it is to people’s brains and spirits (not to mention democracy and conspiracies).
I am doing this because my best work has never been on social media. My best work has always, always, always been in blogging, writing books & creating programs. So that’s where I’m remaining. Firmly in my sweet spot.
Leonie Dawson
I literally had chills when I read Leonie’s post because I resonate SO deeply with these words and experiences.
Just like Leonie, who also adores blogging and to write first and foremost, I’ve journaled nearly every single day since childhood and being able to carve out and maintain this daily sacred ritual since 2009, that has proven to be a constant vital tonic during my best and most hardest times, has blessed my life immensely.
Writing to myself every single day in this way, or creating content for my blog, have been the places where I am able to mourn and celebrate and where I am able to listen and receive.
I truly can’t begin to say how much blogging has been my healing balm whilst managing my chronic health conditions and bringing out the mystery of my inner landscape.
For me, there’s nothing more special than taking pen to paper or creating these posts from scratch, and that allows for that deeply cerebral friction of thought to take place. And where the page suddenly expands before me.
I don’t need to know what will become of my thoughts, I don’t fear that I will be teased and judged for the way I love to paint my imagination onto the page.
I can just surrender to the act of pure flow and then look back and admire the process of becoming who I truly am. And I can keep it forever. All my truths, foibles and discoveries.
However, as Leonie Dawson suggests in the beautiful post above, attempting to write or create in the same way as blogging or similar on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikT-Tok feels more complex.
I want so very deeply to connect with you all more intimately than a thumb-sized image and a quick few lines of a caption.
In addition, I want a digital home that is MINE and mine only.
How did stepping away from social media change my life?
However, in summary, I officially stepped back from social media entirely based on the decision that had landed in my heart back in early 2020 whilst I observed how the spaciousness and serenity that my time travelling had left me feeling.
Without a bombardment of digital connection, I felt even more deeply connected to the whimsy, wonder, and enchantment that both runs through me, and outside of me.
These words are so reflective of how my time stepping away from social media has been. And I’m just going to state this very vulnerably: I’ve never felt so isolated after stepping back from social media. I instantly became alienated and deeply lonely.
This was so fascinating to me because I thrive on silence, I thrive on solitude, and I thrive on aloneness. And yet this emptiness made itself very known to me.
Outside of my relationships changing, I had more time than ever to focus on being human. With that, accepting myself and learning to love myself unconditionally as a flawed and deeply feeling being.
Since stepping back from social media, I stick to the routines that help me feel settled and I practice all of the techniques I have learned that help to soothe me without seeking external validation or noise.
This includes less distraction as I write my morning pages, buckets of creativity, an abundance of time spent in nature, and a feeling of deep inner peace.
Ultimately, what this experience has taught me is how I wish people would understand how hard it is to feel loved while being pressured to be something you’re not. It feels so hard to encapsulate in words, but that’s how I felt on Instagram and similar.
Overall, one of the most uncomfortable portals of self-discovery has been learning to heal from feeling abandoned when I have come to realise that people can often love or admire a version of you in their head that isn’t the living, breathing, hurting, real you.
And it was that reason alone that I just had to leave: to recover the person I always intended to be.
I don’t thrive on social media and this experience has taught me that it is my sacred responsibility to always steer my mind, body and soul into places where I feel the love and safety I so desire.
Moreover, I need to harvest all my strength and energy as a vulnerable person to sail these future periods of time. And for this, I want to remain in love and service for the things that I can bring my gifts to and help as many vulnerable people as I can. This is my dharma.
Ultimately: I dare to be known a little more deeply. Loved for both the great ecstasy of my enchanted heart and the ability to understand that I am also carrying immense grief. I simply cannot find this balance on social media.
How am I marketing my businesses away from social media, and how did this workshop help me?
So of course after unravelling my personal experience of stepping away from social media, since going on this journey, and taking the Marketing Without Social Media Workshop, how have I decided to market my businesses away from social media?
- My Blog! Like Leonie Dawson, who has been blogging since 2004, I truly believe that blogs are an inexhaustible source of magic in this online landscape and it’s my great passion to help as many people as possible to discover this. So much so that I created an E-Course late last year called ‘The Art Of Blogging’ to celebrate my 12 years of blogging! Remember blogging is YOUR digital home! One where you do NOT have to battle with others for the spotlight you so deserve!
- My Pinterest: I joined Pinterest when it was truly in its earliest form and I’ve always been blessed with incredible traffic from this platform. I will continue to cherish and nurture this. Do you need some help on your Pinterest journey? This year, I realised my newest E-Course called ‘The Art Of Pinterest.’ Meanwhile, find me on Pinterest here.
- SEO: I focus heaps of energy on my SEO for my blog and Pinterest also helps tremendously with this. I cover basic SEO in both my online E-Courses but Leonie also does so in her ‘Marketing Without Social Media’ Workshop.
- Podcasting and Youtube: These are two avenues I wish to bring into my business and I will certainly keep you updated with how I get on!
- Substack and Patreon: I currently have a newsletter for my blog called ‘Whimsy World’ and I’d now like to create a bonus paid part of these offerings for either Substack or Patreon. If you’d like to follow me on Substack click here and I’m so excited about this journey!
- I want to be a CREATOR! To bathe myself in all the things I find serenely magical. To pour myself into art. To allow for music to transcend my being. It has been this magic, faith, courage and love for myself that were all pieces that I had been searching for my entire life and I can finally grasp it all now I am not chained to social media.
Ultimately, whatever is Evergreen is where you’ll find me!
Bring on the blogs, podcasts, published articles, Youtube channels and similar.
Fundamentally, I always want my online world to be to be filled with long-form, slow-burning platforms that are drenched with people’s sacred callings.
Because with ALL my heart, it’s my great longing that we learn to slow down long enough to see the beauty that is right in front of us. And to me, that’s always done outside of social media.
Will I still post on social media? Occasionally, yes, but it’s not part of my strategy.
Unfortunately, I have found the need to check in every so often because some of my group programmes have sister Facebook groups and on Instagram, I am still working to bring people to my new ventures from the above.
In addition, I felt far less alone when I went through this workshop. You are joined by hundreds of others on a similar path and Leonie’s monthly calls, and the community forum felt so nourishing to me on my own journey with this.
WHAT WILL YOU GET IN LEONIE’S ‘MARKETING WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA’ WORKSHOP?’
What does Leonie Dawson’s ‘Marketing Without Social Media’ Workshop give you? In one word: FREEDOM!
I feel completely and utterly FREE from the shackles of social media and algorithms.
I now know that my one and only job is to create truly meaningful content that serves people deeply and that allows me to be able to receive for this service.
This workshop truly revitalised my weary soul. It feels serene beyond words to stop wading through the bombardment of information in relation to keeping up with algorithms and so on. I am free, I am free, I am free.
As a result, my marketing feels like such a JOYFUL process! I truly love marketing now! It feels so aligned and full of ease.
The workshop has given me a million new things to try and dig into that I have never tried before. Not to mention that all of these things are all so thoroughly heart-centred that it will be so wonderful to explore.
Finally, for anyone who has yet to step into Leonie’s world, her teaching style alone is just such an experience in itself!
Leonie has a masterful way of breaking down heaps of swirling information into bite-size manageable pieces that others may even try to sell for $$$$$/££££.
But what if you’re not ready to leave social media? Is this workshop still for you?
Are you still feeling a little unsure if ‘Marketing Without Social Media’ is right for you? Here are some of my favourite features that will hopefully truly help you to make the decision that is best for you and your business:
- This workshop will really breakdown what marketing actually is, because our modern world truly will convince us it’s ALL about social media marketing, but this couldn’t be further from the truth!
- This workshop will give you a carefully thought-out exit strategy if you do want to wean your business off social media in a risk-free way. Both personally AND professionally.
- This workshop will give you guidance on reducing your time on social media whilst still getting results. And if you ultimately decide to leave social media, it will give you the support and guidance to do just that!
- This workshop will give you options to add other marketing strategies to your business to make it stronger and more sustainable.
Tools I use to help limit or control my time on social media:
Before I bring this post to an end, I wanted to add some tools that truly helped me to limit and control my time on social media that could perhaps meet you where you are as you step on this pathway to social media freedom:
BlockSite: I think this is one of the tools that Leonie does actually mention in the workshop however it’s so wonderful that I wanted to mention it here as well. This is your standard ‘block websites’ that are distracting sort of app and a wonderful starting place on your journey to controlling or limiting your time on social media. There is either a free or paid version and I personally find the free version wonderful alone. I particularly like their ‘Pomodoro timer’ focus sessions that not only block websites that I find distracting but also remind me when I need to take a break.
UnHook: Is Youtube social media? No, I don’t think it is exactly and would put it in the same category of other slow-burning social media platforms like Blogging, Pinterest and Podcasts (by the way, I teach about the difference between slow-burning and fast-burning platforms in my E-Course called ‘The Art Of Pinterest’). It is, however, incredibly distracting! So, I have found something very special in UnHook, a browser extension that eliminates distractions on YouTube, including the recommended sidebar, endscreen video suggestions, user comments, homepage related videos feed, trending tab, turn off autoplay or annotations, and more. I literally open Youtube to a blank screen and then joyfully select what videos I truly want to watch from my Subscription tab. SO highly recommended!
News Feed Eradicator: This incredible tool removes all of the social media noise by replacing your entire news feed with an inspiring quote. Better still, you can still use the other functions, as usual, however, it eliminates the fact that you will get sucked into the attention hole. I have found this such a blessing as I navigate these websites. I can now choose where my attention will go as I sit down at my screen. Through doing so, I come to these websites with far more attention AND intention of what I will be doing on them.
Finally, dearest soul, have you ever let this Mary Oliver quote truly sink deep into your bones?
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
– Mary Oliver
with your one wild and precious life?”
Wherever you are on your personal or business relationship to social media right now precious soul please remember this above all: Growing and marketing your business should NOT sacrifice your one and wild precious life!
Yes, that’s right, it should not cost you at any level.
It should not cost you your joy, your self-esteem, your hobbies and your wildly precious time.
I truly and passionately believe that we need to start looking into the multitude of options we have for a nourishing personal and business life.
Imagine the ease you would feel without sacrificing your one and wild precious life spinning ALL of the plates on social media?!
And what if it’s possible and more profitable too?
If my experience with stepping away from social media has taught me anything it that’s we all so hungry for a different way to do business.
If anything from this post has spoken to your soul, I truly couldn’t recommend the ‘Marketing Without Social Media’ Workshop more to free up your life for ALL the online ease you so desire and SO deserve!
Do you have any questions about my digital detox journey, and also, any questions about this workshop? It will be an honour to chat deeply in the comments.
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