Liberatory Business with Simone Seol
Let's build community care, social responsibility, and allyship into every aspect of your business — not as an afterthought, but as a core foundation. Because business isn’t neutral. The way we sell, market, and structure our offers either upholds oppressive systems or actively works to dismantle them.We’re here to have honest, nuanced, and sometimes uncomfortable conversations about what it really means to run a business that is both profitable and radically principled.
[100 posts, 30 days] Ten ways to get seen WITHOUT social media
Want to market your business without social media? Here are 10 ways to do the Garbage Post Challenge without spending another second on Instagram or TikTok.
Listen to hear more about:
Getting your work seen through blogging, Substack, and online communities.Building relationships with potential clients in your neighborhood.Podcast guest pitches, free resources, and other ways to share your expertise.Offline marketing ideas involving posters, zines, and actual human conversations.There are plenty of people to connect with beyond your social media feed.
Join the free Garbage Post Challenge: https://playground.simonegraceseol.com...
[100 posts in 30 days] Troubleshooting guide: when your garbage posts aren't working
You’re posting consistently, but is it actually helping your business? Now is the time to get strategic. Listen to hear more about:
The two levels of the Garbage Post Challenge — and how to tell which one you need.Why being strategic isn't about knowing exactly what to do, but being willing to experimentHow to choose a concrete experiment for your next three to five posts.Why you should never blame the algorithmGet your free Troubleshooting Map right now: https://playground.simonegraceseol.com/gpc/
Already signed up? Look for “Troubleshooting Guide” in the menu.
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[100 posts in 30 days] IG Live: How Huntrix reposted me, overcoming fear of posting, and learning to love how I look
Listen to my IG live.
I share the story of:
How an actual member of Huntrix commented + reposted my reel thanks to my own garbage postWhy the antidote to the enshittification of everything is you sharing your alivenessHow garbage posting helped me love my face, my body, and myselfWhy your brain makes posting complicated, and what counts as a post.Join in the Garbage Post Challenge LIVE today.
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spirituality into every part of your busi...
[100 posts in 30 days] How I'd do the GPC if I'm job-searching
If you're looking for a job, here's how the Garbage Challenge Post can help you.
Listen to this episode more about:
Why job-searching with your resume is a relic of the pastHow your public body of work online can function like a dynamic resume that opens doors to infinite possibilitiesHow I’d use the Garbage Post Challenge if I were trying to get a different job in my current field...... or changing careers.... or when you don’t even know what kind of job you want.You don’t have to wait for someone to call y...
[100 posts in 30 days] How I'd do the GPC if I already had an audience that loves me
You have a loyal audience and an established niche. So why rock the boat with the Garbage Post Challenge? Here's why.
Listen to hear more about:
Why your existing audience might LOVE discovering unexpected sides of youHow posting outside your niche can deepen your relationships with followersThe surprising opportunities, friendships, and creative collaborations that might come from sharing more of yourselfWhy it's possible to do the Garbage Post Challenge without abandoning the thing you're known forWhat if you've only scratched the surface of what being visible online could make possible in your...
[100 posts, 30 days] How I'd do the GPC if I'm just starting my business
If you're starting a business - or just thinking about it - the Garbage Post Challenge is the best place to begin. Do NOT wait until you have your business all figured out.
Listen to hear more about:
How the Garbage Post Challenge helps you experiment with business ideas before committing to oneHow my own business took an unexpected turn when I started practicing being visibleWhy finding your people should come before finding your business ideaHow to use the Garbage Post Challenge to discover what you love talking about and what other p...[100 posts, 30 days] The LIVE Garbage Post Challenge starts October 13
Reporting live, from Maui!
I'm thrilled to announce: for the first time EVER, we're doing the Garbage Post Challenge together, live, as a community! 100 posts in 30 days. We start October 13.
Listen to hear more about:
How the Garbage Post Challenge works:Why calling your content “garbage” helps bypass perfectionismWhat regenerative ecosystems teach us about creativity and why nothing we create is truly garbageWhat we're doing differently for our first-ever community challengeJump in now, and get your free support pack.
Join the Garbage Post Challenge 2.0 for free
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97. Q&A Part 3: Strategy vs. heart, getting over the cringe, and marketing as an art form
What if learning more marketing strategy is actually making you worse at marketing? I sat down for one final round of live Q&A while filming video for Joyful Marketing, with Danny and Reina.
Listen to hear more about:
Why marketing frameworks can actually make you more stuckWhat to do when you’re afraid to say what you really think onlineHow to handle cringing at your own past contentWhy I want you to aspire to be, INSTEAD of a good marketerJoyful Marketing 2.0 is open now. Come explore!
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I’m Simone Grace Seol...
96. Q&A Part 2: Why I killed Joyful Marketing, why I brought it back + lightning round
Why would I close a business course that was adored by so many students — which was also making me a ton of money? Danny asked. I bare it all.
Listen to hear more about:
Why I wanted to quit business coaching after so much successDid I worry that closing Joyful Marketing was a huge mistake?What changed in Joyful Marketing 2.0 (and why I rewrote the entire workbook)Email marketing, AI-written captions, posting daily: my answers in a marketing lightning roundJoyful Marketing 2.0 is open. Come explore!
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me hel...
95. Q&A Part 1: Going viral, disappointing launches, and clean vs. dirty desperation
At the end of my filming videos for Joyful Marketing 2.0, my friend and I sat down to do a spontaneous Q&A.
Danny Lim asked me a bunch of questions. I gave him my unfiltered answers.
Listen to hear more about:
Do you really need social media — and is going viral actually good for business?Why you can do all the “right” marketing things and still not make moneyHow to be private, introverted, and still visibleWhat to do when your launch flops — especially when you really need the money!Joyful Marketing 2.0 is open now. Com...
94. How to solve people's problems for free (a.k.a. the best marketing)
The best marketing you can do is being really, really good at solving your people's problems.
So, what are your people's problems, and how do you actually solve them? Let's make it simple.
Listen to this episode to learn more about:
Why solving problems for free, in advance, is the most effective marketing there isA specific list of the problems your people carry — and what solving each one actually looks likeThe three buckets to sort every problem into so you can get granularGood marketing is being a genuinely useful presence in people's liv...
93. Marketing templates, formulas, and AI slop
A lot of business marketing advice promises clarity: find your niche, define your positioning, choose your content pillars, follow the strategy.
But sometimes what feels like clarity is actually false resolution. Somebody gives you an answer, your anxiety drops, and you mistake that relief for knowing what’s actually right for your business.
But what if the uncertainty you’re trying to get rid of is actually building discernment and coherence?
Listen to hear more about:
Why so much business advice that promises to empower you leave you feeling less reso...92. How I decide which collaborations to say yes to (plus: how to spot the red flags)
I've said no to collaborations that would have put me in front of huge audiences. And I've said yes to ones that I stood to gain zero financial benefit from.
I have a unique approach to collaborations, it's served me very well over the years, and I'm breaking it down in this episode.
Listen to hear more about:
The one question I ask about every collaboration requestThe #1 wrong reason early-stage entrepreneurs collaborateThe collab you should say "no" to, even when saying yes feels like the nice thing to doIf you've got an...
91. How to attract clients who already trust you
Who you think you're talking to when you're writing copy?
That invisible person can make or break your marketing.
And no, I'm not talking about an "ideal customer avatar." I'm talking about something more energetic. Listen to hear more about:
The two dead giveaways that you're writing to someone who doesn't trust you (and what that costs you)Why the ideal customer avatar exercise is uselessHow to call in the right personWhat to do when nobody knows who you are yetIf writing copy feels stressful — like something bad happens unless you word it...
90. You should write a book. Here's the ADHD-friendly way
This episode is just me yelling at you to PLEASE GO WRITE YOUR BOOK.
(Plus some genius tips on how to actually get it done.)
For most of human history, the ability to record and spread your ideas was only reserved for the most privileged few.
And even the most privileged people in history -- like the greatest roman emperors -- did not have the ability to have their ideas travel to the other side of the world, for free, in the fraction of a second.
If you have a book i...
89. Why nobody's buying: the 6-point offer checklist
"No one is buying. What's going on?"
This is the checklist I run through with clients when the sales just aren't happening, and they want to understand why.
The good news is: the fix is simple, and you can start to turn things around today.
Listen for the six diagnostic questions that will get you out of "low sales purgatory."
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spirituality into every part of your business.
📩 My emails — my most intimate writing, sent...
88. Why people don't take you up on your FREE offer
You put something out for free — something truly valuable, something you were proud of — and got crickets. Nothing. Nada.
What gives?
I learned the hard way that there's a good reason people don't take you up on your free (or low-cost) offers.
Let me teach you how to problem-solve around this.
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spirituality into every part of your business.
📩 My emails — my most intimate writing, sent in real time: simonegraceseol.com/get-emails
📷...
87. The cure to "I don't know what to say"
Has this ever happened to you?
You're looking at a blank screen, you need to write copy... and your brain comes up with a big fat NOTHING.
You think to yourself: "I don't know what to say!" And the more you try to wrack your brain trying to come up with something, the bigger the block seems to get?
Well, here's the good news. This happens to all of us. Even me!
And the better news? There is a cure.
Listen to this episode.
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I’m Simone G...
86. The painless way to write calls-to-action
This is one of the simplest changes you can make to upgrade your sales game.
Add better calls-to-action (CTAs).
Adding CTAs to your copy can feel awkward when you think of it as getting someone to do something for you.
Here's a better way to think about it.
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spirituality into every part of your business.
📩 My emails — my most intimate writing, sent in real time: simonegraceseol.com/get-emails
📷 Instagram — @simone.grace.seol
85. What if you've "tried everything" and it's still not working?
This is a short but powerful one. A loving kick in the pants.
I talk to so many entrepreneurs who have "tried everything"... and yet, none of it seems to move the needle.
It's a very frustrating place to be. And here are the coaching questions I guide my clients through when they bring this conundrum to me.
(Hint: the truth is, you haven't actually tried "everything." Here are some ideas.)
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spirituality into every part of...
84. Better than a "I help" statement
Everyone tells you you need a crisp "I help" statement. Like: "I help such-and-such-people do something-something."
If you're like most entrepreneurs online, you've spent real hours agonizing over the words... only to feel like it doesn't fully capture the magic of your work.
That ends today.
Here are some better alternatives.
(This one's a rerun from the archives -- and it's just as true and relevant as when I first published it.)
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spiritual...
83. How to become a content machine
A friend once asked whether I secretly have an army of content producers behind me. After all, how else could one person put out that much?
Of course, I don't. The thing that produces all of it isn't extraordinary talent, or having a ton of time.
It's a specific way I choose to think about myself. And you can adopt the same mindset.
This is a re-release from 2019, the fifth episode of my very first podcast ever, and everything in it is still exactly how I work, and exactly what I'd recommend.
<...82. The leaks in your bucket
This is a short but powerful one.
This is an archive episode I'd forgotten I recorded, and this unexpectedly moving parable was exactly what I needed to hear.
Hope it lands in the same way for you -- encouraging you and cheering you on in your perfectly imperfect human business journey.
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spirituality into every part of your business.
📩 My emails — my most intimate writing, sent in real time: simonegraceseol.com/get-emails
📷 Instagram — @simone.grace.seol<
81. Result surprise
You've done all the things. Checked all the boxes. So... why isn't your business working?
I call that "result surprise", and it's one of the most useful things you can gain insight into.
Because it means the story you're telling yourself about how results get created has a gap in it. This episode helps you find that gap.
Once you can see that clearly, the surprise goes away, and so does a lot of the suffering. And that means better results.
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me hel...
80. Three un-skip-able sales essentials
There's an ocean of marketing advice out there. It feels complicated and sometimes contradictory. What applies to you? What are you supposed to prioritize?
Let me simplify it for you. there are only three things you actually have to focus on to sell anything.
I come back to these any time I get unclear, and they steer me back to the right course, every single time.
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spirituality into every part of your business.
📩 My emails — my...
79. Decolonizing Manifestation: Part 4 - The lifelong practice
Almost everything about manifestation gets taught on a short timeline. Manifest this by the end of the month, hit this number in 6 months, call in this person in the next year.
Of course, that's real and useful. AND you're not just going to be manifesting for a year — you're going to be doing it for a lifetime. And a lifetime contains a lot of evolution, upheaval, and sometimes, learning and heartbreak.
What posture, premises and practices help you have a "strong manifestation game" for the course of a lifetime?
These are the things I w...
78. Decolonizing Manifestation, Part 3: The technology of reality creation
This is part three of the Decolonizing Manifestation series, and we dive into the "how" of reality creation.
If manifestation is a collaboration with your ancestors — not a solo act of willing things into being into a blank canvas — then, that raises new questions.
How much of your life is actually yours to shape, and how much is already decided?
And of the part that you do have control over — how do you actually work with it?
This episode dives into all of that.
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I’m Simone Gr...
77. Decolonizing manifestation, Part 2 - The origin of our desires and destiny
Conventional manifestation puts all the weight on you: what you want, what thoughts you think, what you put on your vision board, your vibrations.
In today's episode, I'm proposing a radical reframe.
Manifestation is a collaboration with your ancestors, and the best way to manifest is to become a channel for what your ancestors already intend for you. And the work includes learning how to listen to them to begin with.
(I've also found this to be the most satisfying, effective, and joyful way of getting what you want.)
This is p...
76. Decolonizing Manifestation, Part 1: The Roots of Magic
Why am I teaching manifestation as a marketing teacher?
Because effective marketing IS manifesting: changing reality with your intention. Good marketers are master manifestors.
But we need to get to the roots of the idea. Because the idea that your mind shapes reality did NOT come from The Secret, or the New Age movement, or a blonde wealth mindset coach.
It's actually one of the oldest, most rigorously developed ideas in human history.
Then the modern Western stripped it of its ethics, lineage and cosmology, and distorted it into a kind of...
75. How I use tarot cards as a business tool
Tarot is a very important tool for my business. In this episode, I'm unpacking how I use it
What I'm really teaching in this episode is how to work with any tool that gives you access to knowing beyond your rational mind - without giving away your power in the process.
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spirituality into every part of your business.
📩 My emails — my most intimate writing, sent in real time: simonegraceseol.com/get-emails
📷 Instagram — @simone.grace.seol
74. We want you to make cool shit with AI. Here's why.
If you're exhausted by AI replacing human voices, automating the soul out of everything, and those hustle-y calls to "adopt AI or be left behind" — we're with you.
But here's the other side. Right now, for the first time ever, you have the power to build tools that are custom-tailored to the exact problems you want to help solve in the world, carrying your specific voice and perspective — without a developer, a designer, or a five-figure budget.
My colleague Danny Lim and I think this is one of the most exciting things ever.
Let...
73. My story of growing up Korean and ADHD - a conversation on neurodivergence and intersectionality with Jak Levine-Pritzker
When ADHD coach Jak Levine-Pritzker asked me to be interviewed for her upcoming book on ADHD and intersectionality, I said yes — and asked if we could share it on the podcast too.
What followed was one of the most vulnerable conversations I've had publicly.
Follow Jak at @authenticallyadhd on Instagram.
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spirituality into every part of your business.
📩 My emails — my most intimate writing, sent in real time: simonegraceseol.com/get-emails
📷 Instagram — @simone.grace.seol
72. Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's a scam
If you're a practitioner that works outside of mainstream institutions, you might have had your work dismissed as a scam, a grift, or a cult — or if you've watched it happen to someone you respect — this episode is for you.
I'm pulling back the curtain on what's actually going on when people throw those words around, and why the answer has almost nothing to do with logic or concern.
I'm inviting you to think about who gets the benefit of the doubt in our culture, who doesn't, and why this matters more than ever for anyone...
71. We should all fail more
So many of us are settling for lives we never failed at.
Those are lives that were never really lived in, either.
This episode is your permission slip to start failing more, today, at the things that actually matter to you.
It might just be the most beautiful way to live.
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spirituality into every part of your business.
📩 My emails — my most intimate writing, sent in real time: simonegraceseol.com/get-emails
📷 Instagram...
70. How to have original ideas
If you've ever felt like all you're doing is regurgitating other people's ideas or repackaging your teacher's frameworks, this one is for you. Your original thinking has never mattered more, and I'm going to teach you how to have more original ideas.
Listen to hear more about:
Why the world needs your thought leadership now — especially if you've been marginalized by existing power structuresWhat original ideas actually feel like in your body (hint: it's not angels singing)The everyday genius move your brain is already doing that you've been ignoringWhy the people with the most distinctive po...69. You're not procrastinating, you're doing invisible work
If you've ever called yourself lazy, or wondered what's wrong with you for not being able to just sit down and do the thing — this episode is for you.
What if "procrastination" is just the wrong word for what you're actually doing?
Maisie Cheong and I talk about:
Why we internalize the identity of "procrastinator"What invisible work is, why it matters — and what our ancestors knew about itWhy the people who are always busy "getting things done" might be the least equipped to handle what's comingHow to get higher quality work out of yours...68. Their discomfort is not your emergency
This is my love to courageous ones everywhere.
People aren't just listening to what you say.
They're listening to how you're saying it.
If you're saying something that's worth saying... whatever it is, say it with your full chest.
Say it like you believe yourself.
It matters.
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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spirituality into every part of your business.
📩 My emails — my most intimate writing, sent in real time: simonegraceseol.com/get-emails
📷 Instagram —...
67. What small, unscalable businesses teach us about profit
Why is the deepest business wisdom you can find NOT in an online course?
That's because it lives in Asian noodle stalls, kitchen hair salons, and family businesses run by aunties and uncles who've never heard of Canva.
Let's learn from the quiet, unglamorous experts who've been turning high margins for decades.
Listen to hear more about:
Why the businesses that look like the "before" picture might actually be the "after" — and what that reveals about what we've been chasingThe four lessons that traditional family businesses can teach us that most online bus...66. An Asian guide to prayer as a spiritual technology (with Joey Liu and Daniel Lim)
I'm sitting down with two of my closest friends, and most effective pray-ers I know: Joey Liu and Danny Lim.
We're talking about how to understand prayer NOT as the performative, begging, outcome-obsessed version so many of us grew up with, but as a powerful spiritual technology.
Listen to hear more about:
Why the version of prayer most of us inherited might be the very thing standing between us and what we actually wantHow to pray from power instead of desperation — and why the difference changes everythingDanny's $300K prayer story — what he asked...65. Responsible AI stewardship: a Buddhist perspective (with Billy Seol)
My brother Billy Seol — software engineer, and Buddhist life coach — is one of the sharpest thinkers I know.
And he has thoughts about AI I haven't seen anywhere else that really enlightened me, and I wanted to share them with you.
Listen to hear more about:
How we are exiting the Creative Age, and entering the Generative AgeThe new group of people who will be marginalized by AI, and how we should protect themHow AI is being shaped by the Buddhist idea of karma, both at the individual and social levelsMeasures we can take to re...