Awesomely Off-Topic: Books, Brands, Business and Everything Else We’re Not Supposed to Say Out Loud

Taz Thornton and Asha Clearwater
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🎙️ Awesomely Off-Topic is the podcast that dives headfirst into the business of being brilliantly, messily, unapologetically you. Hosted by award-winning speaker trainer and business and personal empowerment coach Taz Thornton, alongside publishing powerhouse, book mentor and content coach Asha Clearwater – expect bold conversations about building a business and life that actually fits you, not the other way round. We’ll talk personal brand, visibility without the ick, microbooks with major impact, ADHD-friendly approaches, messy launches, business flops, spiritual sidequests and all the stuff no one told you you were allowed to say out loud. We’re doing this on a shoestring – raw, unedited and totally unscripted. No fancy studio, no big budget, no gatekeeping. Just hit record and go. Real talk. Tangents. Swearing (probably). Useful insights. And a whole lot of permission to do it your way. It’s chaos. It’s clarity. It’s Awesomely Off-Topic.

  1. 🎙️ Episode 37: The AI Devolution

    3D AGO

    🎙️ Episode 37: The AI Devolution

    Episode 37 – The AI Devolution: Broetry, Bots and the Death of Voice Everyone’s calling it an AI revolution. We’re asking whether it’s becoming a devolution. In this episode of Awesomely Off-Topic, we take a proper look at what’s happening when creativity gets outsourced a little too eagerly. Not from a place of panic. Not from a place of fear. But from lived experience. We use AI. We value AI. But we’re also noticing something uncomfortable – when you lean on it too heavily, your own thinking, confidence and creative muscle can start to atrophy. We talk about: Why so much content now sounds eerily the sameThe overuse of rhetorical “broetry” patternsWhy AI is only ever as good as what you feed itThe difference between complementing creative professionals and bypassing themArt scraping, genre styles and where the ethical line sitsWhy the least interesting thing ChatGPT can do is write your LinkedIn postsAnd what the real power of these tools actually isThis isn’t anti-AI. It’s pro-standards. Pro-voice. Pro-thinking for yourself. Pro not using really obvious triads, like this one! (Well, it was before we added a fourth :D ). If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re using AI – or whether it’s starting to use you – this one’s for you. 🎧 Listen now and join the conversation. Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you. Support the show ✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday. Follow us on Instagram for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋 @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

    1h 5m
  2. 🎙️ Episode 36: Ecosystem Vs Egosystem

    FEB 17

    🎙️ Episode 36: Ecosystem Vs Egosystem

    Episode 36: Ecosystem vs Egosystem – The Difference Between Building Community and Building a Cult Leadership isn’t the problem. Exploitation is. In this episode, we dive headfirst into a question that makes a lot of people uncomfortable: Are you building an ecosystem… or an egosystem? We talk about the subtle (and not-so-subtle) difference between healthy leadership and hierarchical control. Between fair value exchange and monetised proximity. Between building real community and building something that revolves around one person at the top. We unpack: The red flags of pay-to-play cultures in business and publishingMonetised hierarchy and “guru” dynamicsWhat happens when people leave a space – and how leaders respondThe difference between decentralising power and abandoning leadershipWe also challenge the idea that good coaching should make itself redundant – and explain why long-term developmental partnerships are not dependency, they’re growth. This isn’t anti-leadership. We lead spaces. We facilitate. We’re paid for our expertise. But when revenue flows upward without reciprocity… When growth threatens the leader… When leaving is shamed… That’s not community. That’s control. If you care about books, brands, business – and the ethics behind them – this one’s for you. Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you. Support the show ✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday. Follow us on Instagram for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋 @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

    1h 1m
  3. 🎙️ Episode 35: The Drivetime Experiment

    FEB 10

    🎙️ Episode 35: The Drivetime Experiment

    We tried to record a podcast in the car. While it was moving. Honestly? Not our best idea! In this very weird-sounding episode (why do tyres on tarmac make it sound like we're underwater?!) we talk productivity hacks, outsourcing, books v social media, working in the smallest room and Dee Atkins (makes us do things we don't really want to, does things for us when we won't/don't. High levels of smut and professionalism. Five stars. Would recommend). Also, you get to experience the unprecedented joy of Asha attempting to park her 'wide' car in a perfectly normal parking space. Usual audio levels will resume next week! Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you. Support the show ✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday. Follow us on Instagram for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋 @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

    42 min
  4. 🎙️ Episode 34: ADHD Is Not The Same As ADHD

    FEB 3

    🎙️ Episode 34: ADHD Is Not The Same As ADHD

    ADHD Is Not ADHD ADHD gets talked about as if it’s one thing, with one set of traits and one way of showing up. In real life, that simply isn’t how it works. In this episode, we talk openly about how ADHD shows up differently in each of us, where we overlap, where we don’t, and how wide the spectrum really is. We share what we’ve learned about our own brains over time, the assumptions we had to unpick, and the practical adjustments that made things easier rather than harder. We explore the challenges that come from expecting sameness, both in relationships and in work, and why irritation often comes from misunderstanding rather than malice. We also talk about the shift from frustration to curiosity, and how getting interested in how brains and emotions work can change the dynamic completely. This episode isn’t about labels, hacks, or fixing anyone. It’s about lived experience, difference, communication and learning how to work with each other instead of against each other. A human conversation for anyone with ADHD, anyone who loves someone with ADHD, or anyone trying to understand why “the same diagnosis” can look so different from one person to the next. Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you. Support the show ✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday. Follow us on Instagram for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋 @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

    48 min
  5. 🎙️ Episode 33: The Ideas Smorgasbord

    JAN 27

    🎙️ Episode 33: The Ideas Smorgasbord

    We asked for your topic suggestions and, wow, did you put us to the test?! This episode's a proper mashup of ideas, opinions and wisdom, from what makes the perfect cuppa to confidence, reincarnation, network marketing, RPGs, books and pet grief - there's probably something for everyone! Enjoy... and keep those ideas coming in! Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you. Support the show ✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday. Follow us on Instagram for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋 @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

    1h 8m
  6. 🎙️ Episode 32: The Burnout Chronicles

    JAN 20

    🎙️ Episode 32: The Burnout Chronicles

    Burnout, Lanes & Capacity Burnout is often brushed off with phrases like “you’re just tired” or “that’s just adult life”. In this episode, we talk about why that framing misses what’s really going on. We look at burnout as long-term overload rather than short-term exhaustion, and how it affects energy, focus, emotional regulation and motivation. We explore how this shows up in everyday life and why it is frequently misunderstood, particularly for neurodivergent people. We introduce a simple way of thinking about work and life through energy lanes rather than one long list of demands. Creative work, people-facing work, admin and recovery all draw on different reserves, and problems tend to build when too much time is spent in one lane without enough variation or recovery. We also talk about capacity language and how checking in using clear, shared signals can make work and home life easier to navigate. It creates clarity, reduces tension and helps people say what they can manage without things reaching breaking point. This conversation is about sustainability and self-awareness, not perfection or productivity. It’s for anyone who feels stretched, worn down, or aware that something needs adjusting before things tip too far. Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you. Support the show ✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday. Follow us on Instagram for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋 @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

    1 hr
  7. 🎙️ Episode 31: Tuesday The 13th

    JAN 13

    🎙️ Episode 31: Tuesday The 13th

    Everybody knows about Friday the 13th. Tuesday the 13th has a much longer, stranger history. This episode landed on that date by accident. We’ll let you decide what you make of that. We start with triskaidekaphobia and The Thirteen Club – people who deliberately sat thirteen at the table to provoke the reaction it caused. Not because they believed anything bad would happen, but because everyone else did. From there, the conversation moves into business, pressure, money, launches, and the quiet behaviours people slip into when certainty drops away. Numbers avoided. Habits repeated. Decisions nudged by things that don’t quite make sense on paper. It’s a conversation about control, discomfort, and pattern-seeking minds doing what they do best when something matters. No conclusions. No reassurance. Just an honest look at how humans behave when they don’t feel in control. Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you. Support the show ✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday. Follow us on Instagram for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋 @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

    36 min
  8. 🎙️ Episode 30: Beckhams, Brand and BS

    JAN 6

    🎙️ Episode 30: Beckhams, Brand and BS

    While clearing out a cupboard, we stumbled across an old content plan from years ago. Some of it made us smile, some of it made us wince; what surprised us most was how much of it still holds up. In this episode, we use that long-forgotten plan as a starting point to explore six themes that keep circling back – around brand, integrity, authenticity, commitment, permission and the stories we so often hold onto... whether they're serving us or not. Something you’d love us to know? Send us a message - we’d love to hear from you. Support the show ✨ Unfiltered. Unedited. Awesomely Off-Topic. New episodes every Tuesday. Follow us on Instagram for more rants, rambles and random brilliance: 👋 @thetazthornton + @ashaclearwater

    49 min
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About

🎙️ Awesomely Off-Topic is the podcast that dives headfirst into the business of being brilliantly, messily, unapologetically you. Hosted by award-winning speaker trainer and business and personal empowerment coach Taz Thornton, alongside publishing powerhouse, book mentor and content coach Asha Clearwater – expect bold conversations about building a business and life that actually fits you, not the other way round. We’ll talk personal brand, visibility without the ick, microbooks with major impact, ADHD-friendly approaches, messy launches, business flops, spiritual sidequests and all the stuff no one told you you were allowed to say out loud. We’re doing this on a shoestring – raw, unedited and totally unscripted. No fancy studio, no big budget, no gatekeeping. Just hit record and go. Real talk. Tangents. Swearing (probably). Useful insights. And a whole lot of permission to do it your way. It’s chaos. It’s clarity. It’s Awesomely Off-Topic.

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