Have a love/hate relationship with Instagram? Us too.

You’d have a hard time finding an online biz owner that doesn’t. That’s why, plus the fact that she’s an incredibly cool person who runs her biz her way, Nicole is our first ever guest on Unfiltered!

As an IG strategist and fellow weirdo, Nicole of Groovy Social, share about her decision to walk away from social media management, why she took four months off Instagram, and how she rebuilt her brand, centered in self-trust and sharing the messy middle.

We talk about everything from content boundaries to creative burnout to the fears that keep us from being “too much” online. So buckle up buttercup and give this unfiltered convo a listen.

Highlights

(00:00) Introduction

(02:45) How taking a break from IG helped Nicole realign with her purpose

(07:30) Why she left behind social media management for strategy work

(11:14) Boundaries, batching, and other tools for keeping social media sustainable

(19:00) The magic of sharing your “messy middle” instead of waiting to have your shit together

(32:00) The mindset shifts Nicole teaches that help personal brands stop mimicking industry “it” peeps and start building brands that actually feel like them

(40:00) Why learning to trust yourself is better than another marketing course

Where to find Nicole:

• Instagram @groovysocial
• Threads @groovysocial
• Learn about You-Coded Content Strategy
• Book an Unstuck Sesh

We'd love to connect with you! You can find us on Instagram: Han ⁠@itshannahreed⁠, Fran ⁠@thepassionscollective⁠, and Alethea ⁠@copywithspice

We’re backkkkk! And in this first (real) episode of Unfiltered 2.0, we’re sharing everything we’ve been up to—from starting new businesses to letting go of the things we thought wanted.

It’s an honest AF convo about how we’re practicing listening to our intuition, things we’re shedding, and where we’re feeling stuck when it comes to being a human running an online biz.

Highlights:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:00) Ways to experiment with listening to your intuition rather than stress responses or your logical mind

(06:42) The bigger perspective Alethea’s wild meditation retreat gave her on life

(09:19) Our experiences with letting go of good things we wanted but no longer feel aligned (and questioning why we wanted these things in the first place)

(28:10) Fran’s decision to treat her biz like a hobby (and why she chose this mindset shift

(35:15) How we’ve been struggling with the boxes we created for ourselves and are feeling stuck in

We'd love to connect with you! You can find us on Instagram: Han ⁠@itshannahreed⁠, Fran ⁠@thepassionscollective⁠, and Alethea ⁠@copywithspice

Since starting Unfiltered in 2023, we’ve changed… A LOT… and it’s time for the podcast to change with us! In this episode, we’re going BTS to talk about what fell out of alignment, what we did to fix it, and some exciting changes we’re making going forward. We’re feelin’ fired up and excited for Unfiltered 2.0!

We'd love to connect with you! You can find us on Instagram: Han @itshannahreed, Fran @thepassionscollective, and Alethea @copywithspice

In today's episode of Unfiltered, we dive into our 2025 predictions for the online business world and beyond. We're dishing on some things we expect to see more of, like: client experience, the evolution of digital courses, and the rise of hyper-specific and personalized business strategies. Plus some things we're ready to say goodbye to, like: hustle culture, arbitrary measures of success, and businesses who don't actually follow through on their brand values.

Highlights:

(00:00:00 - 00:04:06) Introduction

(00:04:07 - 00:12:15) How client & customer experience is going to continue to set businesses apart

(00:12:16 - 00:18:30) A shift toward more sustainability and less hustle

(00:18:31 - 00:26:10) Our predictions for the digital course and education space

(00:26:11 - 00:35:50) How consumers are holding brands to higher standards (and what that means for brands)

(00:35:51 - 00:44:00) Our thoughts on influencer culture and the role that it will play in 2025

We’d love to connect with you! You can join our broadcast channel and connect with us on Instagram: Han @hannahreed.co, Fran @thepassionscollective, and Alethea @copywithspice. And if you have thoughts, feedback, questions, etc. that you want to share with us, pop over to the bottom of this page on Alethea’s website!

In this end-of-year reflection episode of Unfiltered we take a deep dive into our biggest lessons, breakthroughs, and moments of growth from 2024. We're sharing the ways this year challenged us to step into our most aligned businesses—whether it was saying no to unaligned clients or letting go of outdated narratives about success.

Stick around for part 2 of this episode where we share our predictions for 2025 and the online space!

Episode Highlights:

(00:00 - 03:22) Introduction

(03:23 - 08:14) How saying "yes" to the right clients or "yes" to the wrong clients shaped our year

(08:15 - 12:47) The balance between business growth and personal growth

(12:48 - 18:09) The lessons we've learned about making space for more fun and creativity in our businesses

(18:10 - 28:32) Creating an identity outside of 'entrepreneur' and practicing self-trust and acceptance

(28:33 - 34:15) Debunking the "secret sauce" myth

(34:16 - End) The importance of taking a holistic approach to personal development

We’d love to connect with you! You can ⁠join our broadcast channel⁠ and connect with us on Instagram: Han ⁠@hannahreed.co⁠, Fran ⁠@thepassionscollective⁠, and Alethea ⁠@copywithspice⁠. And if you have thoughts, feedback, questions, etc. that you want to share with us, pop over to the bottom of ⁠this page on Alethea’s website!

We've all heard the advice that saying 'no' to unaligned clients makes space for 'f*ck yes' clients to follow, but it's not always as simple as just saying the word.

What about when you have no proof? What about when you really need the money? What about when you know you want to say 'no', but you keep end up saying 'yes' anyway?

In this episode, we're taking a deep dive into all the behind-the-scenes work we've had to do to be able to say 'no' to unaligned clients and how hard it can actually be.

Highlights:

(00:00—03:28) Introduction

(03:28—12:04) Scarcity mindset and the mindset shifts we've had to make

(12:04—14:40) How your stress response and ability to regulate can play a role in your ability to say 'no'

(14:40—23:51) The importance of pairing mindset work with taking action and the ripple effect it can have on your life and business

(23:51—31:22) Our relationship with trust (and how freaking difficult it can be sometimes)

(31:22—39:46) How leaning on your friends and tools (like Human Design) can help make it easier to say 'no'

(39:46—46:29) The lessons we've learned from saying 'yes' to unaligned clients

We’d love to connect with you! You can join our broadcast channel and connect with us on Instagram: Han @hannahreed.co, Fran @thepassionscollective, and Alethea @copywithspice. And if you have thoughts, feedback, questions, etc. that you want to share with us, pop over to the bottom of this page on Alethea’s website!

Digital nomading gets a whole lot of hype, but you ever been curious about what it’s actually like to run an online business and bounce around?

Buckle up, buttercup, because in today’s episode of Unfiltered, we’re sharing about out experiences as digital nomads (all of us are currently nomading it up!). From navigating new grocery stores to adjusting work schedules in new timezones to learning how to be wayyyyyy more flexible with our routines, we’ve experienced a whole lot of ups and downs.

And we’d love to share them with you in this hella unfiltered conversation.

Highlights:

(02:04—10:26) Some big mistakes and lessons learned at the beginning of our adventures

(11:02—16:22) Unexpected battles with different Airbnbs

(16:22—19:58) How digital nomading has totally changed our spending and buying habits

(19:58—26:52) Struggles with living solo, feeling lonely, and finding ways to create community

(29:10—37:06)How traveling and working impacts burnout and creativity

(37:10—39:31) The importance of treating it like “real” life and not a vacation

(39:31—49:47) Ways living abroad/different cultures changes your day-to-day schedule

We’d love to connect with you! You can join our broadcast channel and connect with us on Instagram: Han @hannahreed.co, Fran @thepassionscollective, and Alethea @copywithspice. And if you have thoughts, feedback, questions, etc. that you want to share with us, pop over to the bottom of this page on Alethea’s website!

Thinking about hiring your first team member? Wondering what stuff you should have together before you start the hiring process? Or what to do once you’re ready to onboard them? We got you.

In today’s episode of Unfiltered, we’re sharing everything we’ve learned about hiring AND onboarding new team members from figuring out how to hire someone for a specific role to the job application and interview process to some of the mistakes we made with onboarding, we’re blabbing about it all.

Highlights:

[00:43 - 03:10] Our experiences with our first-ever hires

[03:15 - 06:45] How to define the role and figure out the specifics of what you want support with

[07:00 - 10:30] A few ridiculously helpful tips for the onboarding process

[10:45 - 16:15] Best practices for dishing out feedback/constructive criticism

[16:30 - End] Common mistakes to avoid

Resources:

Who Not How by Dan Sullivan

Fran's Notion Project Management Template ($17 USD)

We’d love to connect with you! You can join our broadcast channel and connect with us on Instagram: Han @hannahreed.co, Fran @thepassionscollective, and Alethea @copywithspice. And if you have thoughts, feedback, questions, etc. that you want to share with us, pop over to the bottom of this page on Alethea’s website!