FREE SCHOOL and How the Cult of Online Business Made Me Burn It All Down

This is my story of FREE SCHOOL: how I burned out, burned it all down, and why the cult of online business pushed me to a mental breakdown.

You want to know the true story — my story — of what really happened with FREE SCHOOL? And where I am a year later? Well, here it is.

You might have heard about this from others or even from me and not known the whole story. And I’m finally ready to tell you.

Last year I had a very public meltdown.

I burned out badly within the cult of online business — and I shared it on Instagram in real time. I was on my stories each and every day, which was part of an experiment I was doing that I called FREE SCHOOL. Yes, I branded my own breakdown.

You might have heard OTHER people brand me and my story. But I want to tell you myself.

I also want to tell you about what this means about my work now, the book that I’m writing, and how I’m slowly pulling myself out from the darkness and rebuilding.

I named a lot of names during FREE SCHOOL. 

But I didn’t just name any old names.

I didn't name small business owners.

I named corporations masquerading as people to deflect responsibility.

Because vague generalizations about “bro marketing” aren’t helping people.

Tony Robbins, Marie Forleo, Dean Graziosi, Russell Brunson, Jenna Kutcher, Rachel Hollis, Sophia Amoruso...

All of these people literally sell their programs based on how they make tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.

Here is text from GirlBoss Sophia Amoruso's sales page for her Business Class program:

Named “One of the most inspiring entrepreneurs in America” by the Huffington Post, Sophia made her mark when she founded fashion retailer Nasty Gal, bootstrapping it to $12 million in annual revenue and eventually scaling the business to over $100 million.

Their immense revenue is their #1 selling point.

These are not the girl bosses and boy bosses next door.

They are corporations with human faces.

Yet, then they want to hide behind “just being people” — the problematic business models that made them millions aren't a reflection of systemic exploitation, it's just “people making mistakes.” Whoops!

I named names because when we talk about the harms of this industry in generalities, it doesn’t help people.

I don’t want people to spend tens of thousands of dollars before they find the truth.

And this is ultimately what I’m writing my book about and I will share more about that with you soon.

This book and the research I'm sharing with you in the Marketing Muckraking podcast honestly saved my life.

It helped me un-gaslight myself.

It helped me see my problems as part of a larger systemic issue. 

It helped me see that my branded self was something engineered by consumer capitalism. 

I’m writing this book because I don’t want someone else thinking they’re CRAZY because of the emotional toll brand culture takes on their lives. 

Ultimately, "my" work is really a contribution to OUR work. It’s not just about me. It’s about US. I can’t do this alone. 

The world needs more muckrakers. 

Will you join me?