Dismantling the Online Business Industrial Complex with Megan Dowd Artwork

Here's What I Learned: Ditching Biz-as-Usual for Values, Freedom, and Doing It Your Way

Welcome to Here’s What I Learned — the podcast for progressive entrepreneurs who want to grow their businesses without sacrificing their values, creativity, or capacity. I’m Jacki Hayes: systems strategist, unapologetic smutty romantasy fan, and D&D geek. Around here, we get real about what it actually takes to build a business that fits your life.

Every episode offers something to take with you — sometimes through conversations with values-driven founders, sometimes through solo episodes where I dig into the lessons I’m learning inside my own business. We explore the choices we’re testing, the questions that create clarity, the experiments that move us forward, and the systems that stay simple on purpose.

If you value integrity, curiosity, and time freedom—and you’re looking for inspiration that’s as practical as it is empowering—you’ve found your people. Hit play, and let’s rewrite the rules together.

All Episodes

Here's What I Learned: Ditching Biz-as-Usual for Values, Freedom, and Doing It Your Way

Dismantling the Online Business Industrial Complex with Megan Dowd

August 26, 2025 • Jacki Hayes • Season 9 • Episode 4

Send us a text

What does it really look like to build a business around your lived experience, your values, and your bandwidth—especially when capitalism tells you to do the opposite?

In this episode of Here’s What I Learned, I’m joined by Megan Dowd—equity-centered coach, trademark Word Nerd, and the kind of business owner who doesn’t shy away from nuance. We dive deep into how to dismantle exploitation in your own business, what the online business industrial complex is actually doing to us, and how Megan burned down her old offers to rebuild a more human, sustainable, values-aligned structure.

This conversation is for every creative business owner who’s tired of forcing a “9 to 5” model into their non-linear, neurodivergent life.

Topics covered:

Why tools like tarot and human design can unlock powerful self-awareness (4:52)
How systems of exploitation show up in small business—and how to opt out (9:45)
Defining coach vs. consultant vs. strategist—and why the language matters (13:01)
The truth about the online business industrial complex and pyramid schemes (13:55)
Reframing disability and the idea of “disabling” environments (18:10)
Why corporate work isn't built for most people—and what we can learn from that (22:02)
The role of questioning in business-building (25:20)
Burning it all down: how Megan rebuilt her business after having a child (28:12)
What she’d tell her past self about time, processing, and emotional bandwidth (37:59)

You can find Megan at:

Website: withmegandowd.com

Instagram: @withmegandowd

What next?