Ask Ash: 'Does Anybody Really Want to Be on Social Media Anymore?'

I’m Ash. I’m the founder of the Meat & Hair Creative Writing School, author of THE MIDDLE FINGER PROJECT (Penguin Random House), an online entrepreneur, and 15-year digital nomad who lives between Europe, South America, and the weird old farmhouse I just bought in the countryside of America. (TERRIFYING.) This is my weekly career advice column, “Ask Ash,” where I answer reader questions about how to work for yourself from anywhere in the world—and earn more than you ever did in corporate.

CABINS. CABINS. CABINS. CABINS. CABINS. CABINS. 🏡

We’ve all got cabin fever. This is our cabin era, is it not? We all basically want to go frolic in a cabin in a faraway land where we can wake up & walk in a meadow with our coffee, do a few hours of meaningful creative work, & have a fresh lunch of lemony-ass asparagus. After that, we want to spend the rest of the afternoon leisurely refinishing an old bureau in the backyard, listening to French cafe music, and journaling ideas for our new novel in the warmth of the afternoon sun.

As such, maybe you’ve been thinking about different ways that you could start an online business you can do from anywhere in the world—or reinvent the one you’ve got—but there’s only one problem: you DREAD the idea of having to show up online and do all of the gaggy marketing things like:

1. Running a community.
2. Or killing yourself doing reels or TikToks.
3. Or having a podcast or a YouTube channel.
4. Or bringing on a big team.
5. Or doing live webinars.
6. Or doing big, live launches.
7. Or making yourself squirm on video.

How many times have you stayed in the shadows of the online business world because you felt like a second-rate turnip who didn’t belong, knowing you didn’t want to do all of that?

Well, guess what: NONE of these are part of The Selfish Model. That’s right. None of ‘em—and that’s by design.

Do you know why???? Because those things ensure that only the beautiful, charismatic, well-spoken superstars have success. That ensures that only the extroverted, perfectly-makeuped, power-hungry players have a place in this space. That ensures that you will forever play small, assuming that you have to be willing to do those things if you want to be successful.

But, Selfish School is about to bring opportunity back down to earth and show you a better way.

This past year when I interviewed people thinking about starting an online business, here’s what they told me (how many can you relate to???):

"Definitely over the idea of having to be an online personality, and having to show up for people constantly, having to be charismatic when I'm not feeling up to it, and having to try to make the masses happy all the time."

"I desire ease—the idea of signing up for never-ending requests on my time makes my skin want to crawl."

"I feel major cringe factor when I even THINK about a Facebook group, or online community, because I don't want to think about having to constantly ENGAGE!! Constant content creation terrifies me and wants to make me vomit.”

"Private person here, taking myself out of the game ALL THE FREAKING TIME because I don't have professional photos, won't do video, and don't get me started about TikTok.”

“The only time I’ve had success online (freelancing 1:1), I burned out so hard I'm still recovering."

"I'm not comfortable with social media anymore. I tried. For a long time. But congratulating "Clive" on his 17 years with the local shire on LinkedIn is not my idea of networking. Facebook and Instagram hurt my brain these days. And as much as I love a bit of conscious TikTok consumption, dancing like Barney the f-ing dinosaur to draw attention to my brand is a 'NO' from me."

"Social media is a soul-sucking, guilt-inducing waste of time. I see more and more people rejecting that idea lately and it's affirming to see it here too."

"I don't want to run a community; I get triggered by the Slack notification sound from my years as an agency account manager. Makes me go cry in the bathroom."

"I hate people so I never wanted to run an online community. I hate being a boss so I definitely don't want to deal with a team. I've discovered I don't want to write for 15 different people at once. I hate predatory, bro-vibe marketing.”

I have knowledge and experience, I just don't know how to package it."

How many of them did you finding yourself nodding along to?

The Selfish Method was deliberately designed to offer us another way. It’s the proven online business system I’ve developed after fifteen years of working online for myself and earning millions of dollars from my writing and ideas, all while keeping things lean, simple, and effective. I don’t run a team. I don’t run a community. I don’t do very much social media. And, I love the way I live.

My goal for you?

A simple + strong $250K online business around your passions. While working 4-hour half days. And traveling 500% more. So you can actually enjoy your life.

Calming. Streamlined. Full of ease, joy, and power.

It’s about going back to the basics. It’s about being ruthless with our time. It’s about using technology to help us, rather than harm us. And, it’s about making the kinds of workstyle decisions that support the lifestyle we want.

Does this sound like a breath of fresh air? 🌬️

Enroll now in SELFISH SCHOOL, my online course that walks you through my exact system for setting up a smart Selfish Business: a social-free, constant-content-creation-hamster-wheel-free, low-stress approach to a modern online business you can do from anywhere.

Enrollment is now open for spring! 🌱

Let’s go—I’ll see you at the cabin. ;)

Ash

P.S. My cabin is totally going to be decorated like a Scottish whisky lodge, with all the fireplaces & tartan the eye can see! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🦌 🥃 I’ve got the Pinterest board already!