Aggressively Human

Happy new year!

For our first episode of 2026, we’re sharing the behind the scenes of two milestones from 2025. This episode originally appeared on the Off the Grid Clubhouse for paid subscribers, so we’re thrilled Amelia Hruby, PhD has shared this episode with us, so we could share it with you!

Go behind the scenes of two book launches: Amelia’s Your Attention is Sacred Except on Social Media and Jessica’s Leaving the Casino.

You’ll get two behind-the-scenes views into self-publishing, including super transparent numbers on our audience sizes and book sales. 👀 Amelia and Jessica had two different launch strategies (for two different types of books), so enjoy the contrasting approaches.

We also get into pricing strategies, long-term marketing, and the messy feelings that come up when you can see who exactly has bought your book (and who has not). 😵‍💫

* 📖 BUY JESSICA’S BOOK: deeperfoundations.com/casino (or on Amazon, where the Kindle and Paperback edition came early!)

* 📖 BUY AMELIA’S BOOK: offthegrid.fun/attention

* Join the Interweb: https://offthegrid.fun/interweb

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Meg Casebolt

Jessica Lackey

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aggressivelyhuman.substack.com

In this episode, we talk with Helen Tremethick about the somatic experience of building and running a business. Helen shares how her work shifted from copywriting into regenerative business design, and how somatic education changed the way she thinks about change, responsibility, and client work.

We spend time on the gray areas that don’t get talked about much: how to tell the difference between resistance and a real boundary, why not every hard thing is misalignment, and how we can navigate through uncomfortable stretches in our business. We get clear about scope of practice and why she didn’t turn somatics into a product.

There’s also some aggressively human moments for Meg and mini-coaching for Jessica about how her body showed up to help make a decision about postponing a launch.

* Helen’s evolution from copywriter to regenerative business designer

* What somatic experiencing actually means

* The difference between scope of practice, staying in our lane, and showing up as your whole self

* Why not every discomfort is misalignment—and not every “no” is avoidance

* How entrepreneurs confuse resistance, fear, and true boundaries

* Why scope of practice matters when working with trauma-adjacent material

* What it looks like to design a business that accounts for real bodies and real lives

* How values, identity, and lived experience shape copy and marketing

* Why “alignment” culture can quietly reproduce hustle and self-blame

* The role of witnessing, mirroring, and permission in business decisions

“You still need to to do lead gen, showing up and doing the thing. And, so if not LinkedIn, then what? So let’s say we find out that LinkedIn is not the good place for you. That’s okay. I may push it depending upon what your business is and who your people are and may push it and say, okay, let’s explore that.

But let’s also explore other alternatives that feel less “Ugh.” So if you have this idea that LinkedIn is the way to go, but LinkedIn is so hard and therefore you’re not doing any marketing, let’s get you into posting somewhere else.” - Helen

About our Guest

Helen Tremethick

Mentioned Episodes

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Meg Casebolt

Jessica Lackey

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Most people think they have a strategy problem. What they actually have is an implementation problem.

In this episode, the two of us talk honestly about something we see over and over again—in our clients, in our businesses, and sometimes in ourselves: the difference between having a strategy and having the support to actually do the work. We both love a good plan, but we’ve watched plenty of perfectly sound strategies fall apart the moment they hit a real calendar, a real workload, or a real human with limited energy.

Our conversation explores what strategy really gives you (direction, priorities, a sense of sequence) and what implementation requires (the skills to actually execute, time, and accountability). We compare strategy to a map: it shows where you want to go and the possible routes to get there. And we talk about the gap, when you need turn-by-turn directions, the recalculating voice when they get off track, and sometimes, the driver who can help get them moving again. The conversation ranges from client experiences with “strategy-only” offers to what it means to truly support implementation—through deadlines, accountability, and a bit of hands-on help when needed.

* Why “strategy-only” offers often fail to create results

* Jessica’s 28-point SEO plan story—and what it revealed about capacity vs. desire

* How clients need different kinds of support: the map, the GPS, or the person doing the work

* The “recalculating” role—why to choose a provider who will help you get back on course after a detour

* Why overwhelm happens when the plan outpaces your emotional or practical capacity

* Jessica’s existential “do I go hands on or not” dilemma

* How deadlines, feedback, and accountability turn theory into momentum

* Why AI can’t be your driver—it doesn’t check if you actually did the thing

* The truth: strategy doesn’t scale without implementation rhythms and time management

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Meg Casebolt

Jessica Lackey

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aggressivelyhuman.substack.com

It’s the one-year anniversary of Aggressively Human! In this milestone episode, we look back at the first fifty-two episodes of the show—what surprised us, how the podcast has performed (and what does performance even mean?), and how podcasting has shaped both our friendship and our businesses.

We talk about what makes co-hosting work: shared accountability, complementary energy cycles, and overlapping but distinct guest networks. We talk about how the Aggressively Human podcast served our business goals that we set out for a year ago. We share the behind-the-scenes lessons of running a human-centered podcast—everything from scheduling and editing to scouting guests and showing up with curiosity and authenticity.

The conversation also explores how both of our businesses have evolved over the past year—Jessica closing out her first five-year arc with Leaving the Casino and Meg deepening her work in AIO, and how we’re thinking about AI, automations, and algorithms today in 2025.

* What makes a co-hosted podcast sustainable for a full year

* How mutual accountability keeps the rhythm (even when energy dips)

* The hidden work behind guest curation, editing, and show notes

* Why we feel more energized after an hour podcast than a 15 minute YouTube

* Why we avoid “pitch-me” guests and only invite people they know or admire

* What we’ve learned about informal promotion, reciprocity, and trust

* How podcasting has strengthened our friendship and creative shorthand

* What’s changed in both of our businesses since the show began

* How automation and AI can serve memory, not replace humanity

* What year two will explore: ethics, curiosity, and using the tools without being used by them

“Now that we know what the tools are, we’re seeing what’s starting to be possible, how are we looking at curious ways to bring it into our business models to use these tools, not at arm’s length, but to say, these have a place in the tool belt.” - Jessica

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Meg Casebolt

Jessica Lackey

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aggressivelyhuman.substack.com

It’s our first US Thanksgiving episode!

And while many podcasts are paused today, we wanted to bring some Aggressively Human to you while you’re cooking, carving, or just getting out of the house in between football games.

We want to say thank you to our listeners. Thank you to anyone that has rated the podcast on your preferred podcast player!

Thank you to our commenters, the ones who tell us what they loved or have questions about in the episodes.

Thank you to our guests, who make time to come hang with us and showcase what’s aggressively human in your lives and businesses.

And, from Jessica and Meg to each other, hear us say thank you to our co-host.

It’s so much more fun with friends.

Plus, hear a fun fact about when each of us met our husbands!

Ok - now go back and finish eating pie, if that’s on the to-do list for today.

(P.S. - my favorite is pecan, I am from the mid-atlantic. Meg’s favorite is pumpkin).

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Meg Casebolt

Jessica Lackey

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aggressivelyhuman.substack.com

What if the most human decision in your business is your offer structure?

In this episode, Jessica and Meg are joined by Nick Bennett and Erica Schneider, the duo behind Duo Consulting, for a conversation about business models, burnout, and what’s really behind scale. They trace their journey from the course boom and “productized” advice back toward deeply human, high-touch service work—and the freedom that came with doing less, but better.

They talk about what happens when you stop selling one-time solutions and solve recurring problems, how to rethink retainers, and why “selling like a human” is still the most powerful business strategy. The group also digs into the false hierarchy between consulting, coaching, and implementation—and how being hands-on can actually create more impact, more fulfillment, and better outcomes for clients.

Tired of the “retainers” vs. “courses” vs. “productized services” debates on LinkedIn about the best business model? Learn how we’re all building the kind of business that fits our energy, our brains, and our lives.

* Nick and Erica’s evolution from solo operators to partners at Duo Consulting

* Why they retired their successful course and community in favor of 1:1 work

* Why most “passive income” models still require constant marketing

* How to match recurring problems with recurring offers

* The debate between retainers, projects, and sprints—and why none are one-size-fits-all

* How to sell like a human instead of hiding behind funnels and scripts

* Why client success—not volume—is the real measure of scale

* The false hierarchy between coaching, consulting, and done-for-you work

* How standardization, automation, and selective delegation create sustainable growth

The reason we’re so passionate about helping our clients move to solving an ongoing problem is that in that retainer model you get to drag your clients to glory. Because then you can say, “look at all of this awesome success that my clients have working with me”. I would rather my clients work with five people a year and have those five people be massively successful than work with 50 people a year and have no clue or help them achieve nothing.” - Nick Bennett

About our Guests

Duo Consulting

Nick Bennett

Erica Schneider

How Solos Scale

The Recognition Gap

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Meg Casebolt

Jessica Lackey

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aggressivelyhuman.substack.com

After years of focusing on podcasts, teaching, and newsletters, Meg just released her first blog in three years. In this episode, Meg and Jessica talk about why it’s time to come (back) to blogging—and why it matters more than ever in a world of shifting platforms and AI-driven search results.

They share the practical and philosophical reasons behind the shift: protecting your intellectual property, proving you got there first, and creating a timestamped body of work that can be found, cited, and built upon. It’s how you build a business on rock instead of the sand of social media and shifting algorithms.

From domain authority and discoverability to Substack cross-posting and AI parsing, they look at what it means to write for durability, not trends. They also explore how written assets double as onboarding tools, teaching material, and long-lasting content that can be reused across your ecosystem—bricks in a foundation that lasts.

(Plus, hear Meg sing a song that totally relates!).

* Why Meg is returning to blogging after three years focused on other platforms

* The “sandy land” metaphor and what it means to build your house on a rock

* How blogging establishes topical authority and protects your IP

* Why timestamps matter: AI can’t cite a TikTok, but it can cite a post with a publication date

* The danger of building on rented land (Substack, LinkedIn, social media)

* How written work creates a paper trail for your thought leadership

* Blogging as both visibility strategy and proof of ownership

* How AI and search engines reward structured, linked, human-written content

* Turning blog posts into reusable assets for onboarding and education

* Why a durable body of work outlasts any short-form content trend

“If you build your house on sand, you’ll have to build it twice.” - Meg

Resources

Love at First Search Blog

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Meg Casebolt

Jessica Lackey

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aggressivelyhuman.substack.com

The platforms we built our businesses on are breaking down—and not by accident. In this episode, Jessica and Meg take on ensh*ttification, the term coined by Cory Doctorow to describe how digital platforms inevitably decay over time. From Facebook and LinkedIn to Substack and AI, they discuss the predictable four-phase cycle that turns once-useful tools into algorithmic wastelands.

Book released October 2025

Jessica walks through what that cycle looks like for LinkedIn and Substack, while Meg connects it to the decay of creative platforms like Medium and Kindle publishing. Together, they explore what creators and experts can do when every channel feels rigged—and what it means to build on digital “rented land.”

It’s part diagnosis, part “what now”: a conversation about recognizing when the rules have changed, when to adjust your strategy, and how to build resilient foundations that outlast the next platform crash.

* The origin of the term “enshittification” and how Cory Doctorow describes the four-stage cycle

* What Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Substack teach us about platform decay

* How AI tools are repeating the same subsidized-growth pattern as social media

* The false nostalgia for “when it worked” and how fast cycles now move

* What to do when the strategy you learned in phase one stops working in phase three

* How to spot market arbitrage opportunities before they close

* Why foundations, relationships, and your body of work are the only real insurance

* How to keep your business discoverable without chasing every new trend

Additional Resources

Podcast | The Gray Area

Why is the Internet bad now? | Evan Armstrong/The Leverage

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Meg Casebolt

Jessica Lackey

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aggressivelyhuman.substack.com

While AI still can’t fold your laundry, it can help you build a business that runs smarter—and a life that runs smoother. In this episode, Jessica and Meg talk with Mary Williams, the librarian-turned-tech director behind Sensible Woo and the new Sasquatch Media Grounds studio in Portland. From haunted recording spaces and tarot cards to spreadsheets and AI bots, Mary shows what it looks like to blend intuition with technology.

She shares how she built her “AI team”—including Remy, the snarky Gen Z assistant who filters her inbox and protects her calendar—and why she treats her chatbots like departments inside her business. They talk about how AI can help reduce emotional labor, from grocery budgets to health tracking, and what it means to build systems that keep the human at the center.

This conversation is filled with practical ways to make AI feel less robotic (and maybe a little more like a helpful intern who swears), while lightening your load with technology that actually serves you.

* Mary’s path from librarian and tarot reader to tech director and business coach

* How she organizes AI “staff” into departments—finance, operations, marketing, and more

* The surprising power of giving your bots names and personalities

* Why AI reveals more about your delegation habits than you think

* How to build an AI “board of advisors” with personas like Mark Cuban or Reese Witherspoon

* Emotional patterns people bring to technology (and what that says about leadership)

* Creative personal uses for AI—from meal-planning and purchasing decisions to health tracking

“I would argue if you had an intern, if you had a Gen Z Remy with you, you’d still fact check them because they’re young, they’re learning. I need to make sure that everything’s right. And in that sense, you’re still doing the same functions, you’re not doing less, you’re really not doing more. It’s just moving along faster.” - Mary

About our Guest

Mary Williams: Sensible Woo | Sasquatch Media Grounds

You, Me ChatGPT Workshop

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Meg Casebolt

Jessica Lackey

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aggressivelyhuman.substack.com

What happens when every business book tells you what to think—but never explains what or how to do it?

In this episode, Meg interviews Jessica about her new book, Leaving the Casino: Stop Betting on Tactics and Start Building a Business That Works. The conversation traces how the book came to life—from frustration with hollow business advice to the creation of a grounded, systems-based framework for experts who want to stay small, sustainable, and sovereign.

Jessica shares how she read her way through the entire business section—books that were motivational but hollow, all premise and no practice. Some were thinly veiled sales funnels; others were memoirs pretending to be manuals. None answered the questions solo business owners actually ask: How do I make better decisions? What kind of business am I running? What’s enough? And how do I make this sustainable?

They explore what’s missing from most business books, the trap of “CEO-energy” culture, and the myth that scaling is the only path forward. Jessica shares how years of client work, research, and teaching evolved into a practical field guide for soloists who want to build differently—without gambling their time or integrity.

Get the details behind Leaving the Casino!

* Why Jessica wrote Leaving the Casino after realizing most advice ignores context

* How the online business world sells tactics that don’t fit most experts

* Why many books are either memoirs or funnels to a paid program

* How Jessica went from consulting to creating and publishing the book

* The limits of frameworks like Profit First, Traction, and Essentialism

* The risks of outsourcing sales, marketing, and finance too early

* Responsibility, enoughness, and right-sized growth as operating principles

* How privilege and life circumstances affect what “success” looks like

* Why the book blends manifesto and textbook—both call-to-arms and manual

* Jessica’s hope that it becomes a long-term reference for expert entrepreneurs

Resources

Leaving the Casino: Stop Betting on Tactics and Start Building a Business That Works

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Meg Casebolt

Jessica Lackey

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit aggressivelyhuman.substack.com