I spent three years trying to make Instagram work for my business. Three years of posting reels, stressing about lighting, setting up tripods in my tiny apartment, filming myself talking to a camera that felt like it was judging me.
And you know what I have to show for those three years? Barely anything.
A few hundred followers who didn’t really engage, reels that would get 200 views if I was lucky, and this constant anxiety about whether I was posting enough, showing up enough, being visible enough.
I was exhausted and burnt out and honestly I hated every second of it.
So last year, I did something that felt absolutely terrifying at the time – I quit. Just completely stopped posting on Instagram. Deleted the app from my phone. Decided I was done trying to force something that clearly wasn’t working.
And then I started blogging instead.
Now I’m making triple what I made at my hotel reception job, working from Bali in the winters and Europe in the summers, with almost 2,000 email subscribers and nearly 200 students who’ve taken my courses.
All because I finally gave myself permission to build differently.
Why Instagram Wasn’t Working (For Me)
I need to be clear about something – I’m not saying Instagram doesn’t work for anyone. Obviously it works for some people. But for me? It was a disaster.
And I think I know why.
First, I’m camera-shy – like genuinely, deeply uncomfortable of creating videos or talking reels.
Every time I had to film a reel, I’d feel this pit in my stomach. I’d record the same 15-second clip 20 times, hate all of them, finally post one, and then immediately want to delete it. The whole process made me miserable and I couldn’t sustain that kind of stress.
Second, Instagram felt like this constant hamster wheel of content creation. You post a reel, it gets shown to people for maybe 24 hours, and then it’s basically dead. So you have to post again. And again. And again. Just to stay visible.
I felt like I was working so hard and getting nowhere. Spending hours creating content that would be seen by a few hundred people and then disappear forever.
Third – and this is the big one – I wasn’t building anything that was actually mine. I was building on rented land. Instagram could change their algorithm tomorrow (and they do, constantly) and suddenly everything I’d worked for could just… stop working.
That lack of control made me anxious all the time.
The Moment I Decided to Quit
I remember the exact moment I decided I was done with Instagram.
I was sitting at my laptop after posting yet another reel that had flopped. I’d spent three hours filming and editing this 30-second video, and it got like 150 views. Most of them probably weren’t even real people.
And I just started crying.
It wasn’t even about that one reel specifically – it was because I’d been doing this for THREE YEARS and my business still wasn’t where I wanted it to be. I was working so hard, showing up every day, doing what everyone said I was “supposed” to do, and nothing was happening.
I felt like such a failure.
But then I had this thought – what if the problem isn’t that I’m not good enough? What if the problem is that I’m trying to build in a way that doesn’t work for me?
What if I’m just not an Instagram person, and that’s okay?
So I gave myself permission to try something completely different. I started a blog. I began writing email newsletters. I learned about Pinterest.
And everything changed.
What Actually Happened When I Started Blogging
I’m not going to lie and say blogging was instantly successful because it absolutely was not. For the first few months, barely anyone was reading my posts. I’d publish something and get maybe 10 views if I was lucky.
But something was different this time. Even though the results were slow, the process felt better.
I actually enjoyed writing blog posts. I could take my time, develop my thoughts fully, create something I was genuinely proud of. No filming myself, no worrying about how I looked, no stressing about being “on” all the time.
Writing felt natural to me in a way that creating reels never did.
And then I learned about Pinterest. I started pinning my blog posts consistently, and slowly – very, very slowly – traffic started coming. Steady readers finding my posts through Pinterest search months after I’d published them.
Those readers? They were actually reading. Not just scrolling past. They were spending 3, 4, 5 minutes on my posts. They were signing up for my email list through the forms I’d embedded.
My blog became the foundation of my entire business. The blog brings traffic through Pinterest, the traffic turns into email subscribers, the subscribers buy my courses.
And the best part is that blog posts keep working for me long after I publish them. I have posts from over a year ago that still bring me new subscribers every single week. That’s not possible with Instagram content that dies in 24 hours.
What My Business Looks Like Now
I’m not going to pretend I’m making millions or that blogging is some magic solution that will make you instantly successful. Building a business is hard work no matter which platform you use.
But I will say this – my life looks completely different than it did when I was trying to force Instagram to work.
I tripled my income from my old hotel reception job. I work from cafes around the world. I have almost 3,000 email subscribers who actually read my emails and engage with my content. Nearly 200 students have taken my courses.
And I did all of this without being on camera. Without posting reels. Without playing the Instagram game.
I built it through writing. Through showing up consistently in my subscribers’ inboxes twice a week with emails that feel like diary entries. Through creating blog posts that help people and rank on Pinterest. Through being myself instead of trying to be what I thought a successful online business owner should look like.
If You’re Thinking About Switching
Maybe you’re reading this and thinking “okay but Instagram is still the best way to grow” or “blogging is dead, everyone says so.”
I used to think that too. Everyone told me I HAD to be on Instagram. I HAD to post reels. I HAD to show my face and be on video or I’d never succeed.
And I believed them for three years. Three years of making myself miserable trying to build in a way that didn’t feel right.
But you know what I learned? There’s more than one way to build an online business, and Instagram working for some people doesn’t mean it has to work for you. Blogging working for me doesn’t mean Instagram is dead. They’re different paths that work for different people.
And if you’re camera-shy like me, if the constant content creation feels exhausting, if you’re burnt out from trying to keep up with the algorithm – maybe blogging is your path too.
You don’t have to force yourself to be on camera. You don’t have to play by rules that don’t work for you. You’re allowed to build differently.
I spent three years trying to make Instagram work and got nowhere. I spent one year focusing on my blog and email list and tripled my income.
Sometimes the thing that’s not working is just the universe telling you to try a different path.
Ready to Build Your Way?
What if one year from now, you were working from a beach cafe or a cozy cottage somewhere? What if your own blog was bringing you readers while you slept? What if you never had to film yourself again but your business was still growing?
That’s what blogging did for me and Her Soft Blog Mini-Playbook shows you exactly how to build it for yourself.
Your own beautiful corner of the internet. Readers finding you through Pinterest. An email list that actually converts. Income that doesn’t require you to perform.
All without being on camera. All built your way.
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