How Carbon Voice Replaced $75 in Monthly Subscriptions (And Freed Me From My Desk)

I just canceled $74.99 in monthly subscriptions. Not because I needed to cut costs, but because these tools have become obsolete for my work.

Otter Business at $30 per month gave me advanced live transcription features for meetings. But I rarely need it now because most of my live meetings have transformed into asynchronous voice chats. We get more done without being desk-bound, and the conversations are richer when people can respond on their own time.

Zoom Pro at $15.99 monthly? Canceled. Those scheduled meetings have been replaced with voice conversations I can have while walking. Pipedream at $29 automated my voice workflow to send transcripts to Notion, but now I create even better automations, more simply, through Carbon Voice and Zapier.

Remote work shouldn't mean replicating office culture in digital space. That's just maintaining broken systems at a premium price.

Voice-First: Run Your Entire Business Through Speech

I'm running my entire business through voice now. Client conversations, book writing, team collaboration—it all flows through one platform. I can automate connections to Notion or other tools when needed, but most of my work stays in one place. Even authors in my voice-first writing community are writing their books in Carbon Voice.

The impact goes beyond saving $75 monthly. This shift has unlocked a dream of true asynchronicity in my business. I'm busy. My network is busy. My clients are busy. Nobody has time for meetings that should have been emails, or emails that should have been quick voice messages. Now everything flows naturally.

Why Asynchronous Voice Beats Scheduled Meetings

Remote work doesn't mean we need to pretend we're in an office. The most effective conversations happen when people can think, process, and respond in their own time. A rushed or inconveniently timed Zoom meeting rarely gets into the depth of thought that is typical in our asynchronous voice chats.

People share deeper insights when they're not watching the clock or fighting their natural rhythms.

When everyone can participate from their own time zone, in their own best working hours, the quality of collaboration improves dramatically.

Stop Paying to Maintain Broken, Inaccessible Systems

The systems we use for work weren't designed for everyone. They were built around the assumption that everyone can maintain consistent hours, sit at a desk all day, and engage in scheduled meetings. This creates real barriers for caregivers, people with health needs, those working across time zones, or anyone who thinks better in motion.

Every time we insist on using tools that maintain these barriers, we're investing in exclusion.

These aren't just inconveniences—they're the same kind of systemic barriers that keep important voices out of publishing, out of leadership, out of the conversation entirely. Voice-first tools are changing that.

Move While You Work: Beyond the Desk-Bound Status Quo

Knowledge workers don't need to be desk-bound. I'm mentoring voice-first ghostwriters while walking trails. Other authors in our community are having meaningful work conversations while gardening, or speaking book chapters during their evening routines.

I thought building a voice-first digital business would take years. Instead, it happened as soon as I stopped paying to maintain broken systems. The future of work isn't about better video calls or faster typing. It's about letting people communicate naturally, in their own time, in their own space.

The tools we use shape not just how we work, but who gets to participate. When we choose voice-first, asynchronous platforms, we're not just saving money—we're creating space for more voices to be heard.

Talk soon in Carbon Voice. (You know you want to try it.)