I stopped using Instagram professionally one year ago, and it's the best decision I've made for my business.

For years I was chasing growth on a platform that never felt right. The algorithm rewarded content I didn't want to make, and I was constantly performing for people who weren't actually buying anything.

I kept telling myself I just needed to crack the code, post more consistently, try a new format. But the code kept changing, and I was exhausted.

So I stopped, and I redirected all that energy into building something I actually owned.

Now my ecosystem looks like this:

• Substack is my home base where I publish weekly and build a direct relationship with readers who actually want to hear from me.

• LinkedIn is my discovery channel where I share ideas that bring new people into my world.

• Pinterest drives quiet, steady traffic to my posts without requiring me to show up every day.

None of these platforms ask me to dance, point at text, or film my morning routine. None of them punish me for taking a week off.

And most importantly, my newsletter list is mine. If any of these platforms disappeared tomorrow, I'd still have a business.

The shift that changed everything was thinking in systems instead of followers. Each platform has a job, and together they compound in ways that chasing one big audience never did.

Quitting Instagram felt like giving up at the time.

A year later, I have more subscribers, more revenue, and more energy than I ever did when I was posting Stories every day.