How I broke up with Instagram (and how you can, too)

Biz bestie, I'm on a mission to help every entrepreneur (that wants to!) to break up with Instagram.

I won't lie to ya, it's not a 3-day process. It takes about 6-12 months and in some cases probably longer (it took me two years), but boy ohhhhh boy, it's worth the effort!

About two years ago, I’d had enough. I felt like Instagram had control over my brain and my behavior. 

I was picking up my phone first thing in the morning to look at IG, and looking at it last thing before bed.

I’d miss DMs because I’d looked at them in the middle of the night and forgotten to respond.

My fingers would automatically navigate to Instagram constantly, and I was picking up my phone... oh, I don't know, 100 times a day?? YIKES.

“I’m working,” I’d tell myself. “My business needs me to be on Instagram all the time.”

But really, it was more complex than that. I don't use the term addiction lightly, and I know I was addicted to Instagram.

My dependence on Instagram was a combination of:

1. Fear/scarcity
2. Feelings of inadequacy and “never enough” syndrome
3. Hard-wired programming to constantly be achieving and moving toward a new goal
4. A lack of systems outside of Instagram that meant I actually was kind of stuck in this place if I wanted my biz to survive!!

I knew I had to break up with Instagram, and it was going to be a slow process, because my ENTIRE business had been built on, and lived on that app.

But I’m celebrating now because about two months ago, I deleted Instagram from my phone and finally, as a result of all the work I’ve done the past 2 years (systems, mindset, spiritual), I did NOT feel the itch to re-download it right away (which I’d felt so many times before!)

So in a very particular order, here are the steps, both inner and outer work, it took to get to a place where I only engage with Instagram for about 30 minutes a week, mostly from my laptop:

INNER WORK STUFF:

1. I had to understand WHY I was picking up my phone. If you're in this space right now, I invite you to ask yourself questions like: "what am I feeling RIGHT before I open the app?" "If I couldn't look at Instagram for a week, why would that feel stressful to me?" "what is the perceived security I get from constantly being on Instagram?"
2. After asking these questions, I realized something scary: Instagram felt necessary to my survival! I was running my business on this app, and when I wasn't engaging with the app, my business was a dead zone, which meant no money in the bank, which meant: bonjour survival mode. Oof. Not healthy.
3. I also realized that constantly being on Instagram made me feel like I was "doing something," that I was being productive. Instagram gave me a feeling of busy-ness that made me feel worthy and safe, because the idea of having too much time on my hands was scary.
4. I also realized I was experiencing hyper vigilance about receiving potential negativity on Instagram, because it did NOT actually feel like a safe space (they just let anyone write whatever they want all over your page! It's the Wild West!) I was constantly monitoring my feed to preserve my own sense of safety.

The inner work was a beast, but once I saw what I couldn't unsee, I knew I had to steer my energy toward platforms, systems, and ways of operating that felt healthier. So I started the process that would allow me to pull ALL the way back from Instagram.

OUTER WORK STUFF:

1. I got REALLY serious about optimizing my offers. It feels sexier to focus on marketing, getting likes on a reel, going viral, writing newsletters, and making podcast episodes, but it’s so important to do the one thing that feels the least sexy of all: to keep improving our best-selling offers. I knew it would always be hard to welcome folks into my world if my offers weren't super-fucking-strong.
2. I built a really simple Masterclass funnel and optimized it for both value and conversion over the course of about six months. I ran that thing live no less than 17 times, often throwing the whole thing out and starting from scratch, before I felt it was in a place where I'd feel comfortable with folks watching it on-demand.
3. I got serious about borrowing and buying audiences (podcast guest interviews, guest speaking, guest teaching, and running ads) with the intention of introducing these brand new, perfect-fit audiences to my proprietary methods, and inviting them to watch my Masterclass, which, thanks to the 6 months of intense testing, was converting really well.
4. I built out a long-form nurture sequence that would continue to share in-depth value over the course of a few months with anyone who didn’t purchase my offer the first time so I wouldn't have to keep posting bite-sized pieces of Instagram content and hoping they'd see it.
5. I switched from cranking out daily IG content to cycling through my 12 strongest content concepts, presented in new ways, so that my Instagram now feels like a digital portfolio similar to a website. I realized folks that already knew about me were getting plenty of nurture through my podcast and emails, and new folks weren't scrolling farther on my IG feed than 3 rows of content anyway, so all of that daily content was really just sucking my life force and going to waste.

And THAT, my friends, is how I was able to break up with Instagram and stop feeling dependent on the app.

I now use Instagram to test ideas, get instant feedback, and voice note back and forth with new and old connections. It’s also how we accept new students and clients into our programs because the personal touch can’t be beat. I have to re-download IG to send voice notes, so I do that once every few days and check in from my laptop a few times a day during my working hours on the other days.

It's so liberating not to have to feel like the Instagram overlords are choosing my fate anymore. Don't get me wrong: my post-Instagram era has come with its own set of challenges (more on that another time), but I can promise you: I haven't felt this clear, calm, and strong in my business... ever.

I'm going to keep talking about this because I think it's only going to become more and more clear that Instagram CAN be a wonderful place to connect, and for business owners, it can also be a really toxic trap that can become hard to escape once you're in it.

I'd love to hear: where are you in this process? Are you head over heels with Instagram? Are you considering going your separate ways, or do you have one foot out the door? 

Xoxo,

Kelly