I Quit Instagram. Here’s What Happened to my Business
We do Christmas really simply in our house. Minimal chaos, no mountains of gifts, just good food and board games and actual rest. I know it sounds made up but I promise it’s real. By December 26th, the house is quiet, work is done, nobody needs anything, and I have absolutely no reason to open Instagram.
So in 2024, I didn’t. And then I didn’t the next day. And somewhere in that weird little pocket of not-time between Christmas and New Year’s, I decided that I was ready for a breather.
I posted nine things in all of 2025. (Details here, if you’re curious about the strategy.) One of those posts was about why I was gone, but now I want to tell you exactly what happened while I was. It’s kind of a messier story than, “I took a break and everything was hunky-dory.”
The short version
- Revenue dropped. Profit went up. I’ll get into those details in the post.
- Clients stopped finding us through Instagram. We coasted on existing relationships, referrals, and our website.
- I went through some actually really hard stuff (personally and professionally).
- I’m back now, and it feels different. I mean, it IS different, so there’s that too.
Table of Contents
Why I quit
There were a few things happening at once. I went from a team of five down to just me. That transition wasn’t super fun. I poured heart & soul into this business and my incredible team, and some of those relationships changed in ways I would have never seen coming. It hurt.
And suddenly putting my face online, sharing my expertise, and talking about marketing like it was my love language (um, it kinda was) — it felt too vulnerable / exposed. It felt like handing over something and watching it get used in ways I hadn’t planned for. So I stopped.
On top of that: I started homeschooling three kids. I turned 40. Together, in the same season as the team stuff, it was just a lot. I was questioning everything — is this business the right size? Do I actually want to grow? What do I want my days to look like? I didn’t have great answers and I didn’t have the capacity to get into flow state, which meant I was just… reeling.
AND in the middle of all that, AI showed up and just completely changed our whole industry, which I’ll get to too.
I was tired. So, so tired.
What I thought would happen
I thought leads would dry up. (Right on that one, actually.)
I thought I’d feel guilty. (Mostly I just felt kind of dumb when people would ask, “Are you still in business?” and I’d have to explain that yes, we’re still here, still working, still very much alive.)
I thought I’d miss it. (I did miss the creative outlet and the community, more than I expected. But less than I feared.)
I thought I’d come back refreshed after a month. Ha.
What happened to the business
Here’s where I’ll share some numbers, because “things were fine” just doesn’t help anyone.
Revenue went down. In 2023, we were at our highest. By 2025, revenue had dropped about 26% from that peak. That’s a lot. Clients did stop finding us from Instagram, because we weren’t there. That channel closed and I didn’t replace it with anything. One hundred percent a me problem.
But! Profit went up. We went from a 34% profit margin in 2024 to a 51% profit margin in 2025. And so far in 2026, we’re running at 70%. The business got smaller, and I kept significantly more of what came in. Less overhead, leaner team. It’s just me and Kenzie right now, which is my favourite size this business has ever been. She handles most of the client implementation, and I do strategy + the odd project when it’s more on her plate than she wants. It works for both of us.
The blessing of running a leaner team is that the pressure was off. I didn’t need to hustle to cover payroll. I could breathe.
The AI stuff
Okay. This is the part that was actually harder than the Instagram break.
While all of this was happening, AI just ROARED to life. And that was tricky for me to handle. I’ve built a career around helping people sound human. Real voice, real copy, real connection. And suddenly everyone had a tool that could produce “good enough” output in two minutes.
I could see that “good enough” really wasn’t great (let me be honest: IT’S GARBAGE), but a lot of people are shipping it anyway.
I predicted that the pendulum would swing back. And I think that’s where we’re at now. People are seeing that it’s trash, and they want the real thing. That’s partly why I’m so excited to be back!
But for a while, I didn’t know where we fit. And that uncertainty, sitting on top of everything else that was hard that year, was a doozy. I know I’m not the only one who felt it. A lot of service providers, especially people who do creative and strategic work, went through some version of an identity wobble these last couple of years too. (And let’s quit pretending that doesn’t exist, okay? Okay.)
What I got back
My brain, mostly.
I’m way more regulated than I was. I’ve been go-go-go for as long as I can remember — building the team, building the client list, building the following. I’ve calmed down a lot. More puppy snuggles. More listening. More bread baking. More reading journal entries from 2023 and going, “yikes, yeah, I’ll take my life now, thanks.”
I knew IG was taking up a lot of brain space, but I didn’t realize how much until it wasn’t there anymore. And not just the posting… it was the planning, the scrolling, the second-guessing, the comparison, all of it. I replaced that with just, life. (Which turns out is also where the good content comes from, so.)
Coming back
I came back and implemented my 9-grid strategy in June 2025, and now I’m dipping my toe back in for real. The reasons are partly practical (I want the business to look alive, because it is), partly personal (I missed the creative outlet and I LOVE helping people), and partly strategic (I can see where we fit now in a way I couldn’t a year ago.)
The whole thing we built Knap Creative on — sounding like a human, not a brand — is more valuable now than ever. There’s more content than ever and most of it sounds exactly the same. The rarest thing on the internet right now is a real voice with a real point of view. We’ve always done that. We’re still doing that! We just have better tools now.
I’m also a lot more aware of the validation thing than I used to be. Last week I posted something and immediately caught myself refreshing to see how many likes I got. UGHHHH. That itch is real and it’s fast and it doesn’t go away just because you’ve been offline-ish for 18 months. Navigating that one as I go.
Should you quit Instagram?
Well, maybe. Yeah, sometimes I think you should. But it really depends on where your business is at and what you’re getting out of your Instagram presence. This is never one-size-fits-all.
If you’re doubting the input vs the output, definitely do examine that. Don’t assume it’s worth it just because it’s on everyone’s checklist.
Quitting frees up mental space, from so many angles. You’re not planning what to post, you’re not second-guessing your strategy, and you’re not spending every spare second opening the app to see that you only got two likes and then vanishing down the clickhole of comparison. Watch your consumption, not just your posting.
I will say: there are many, many other ways to market your business. The old-fashioned stuff like word of mouth, networking, referrals, even a billboard STILL WORKS. Email is a workhorse. Your website, if it’s actually set up to work, will do way more lifting than you think.
It’s also really easy to default into “scale, scale, scale” — but really step back and think about how big you actually want to build this, and if Instagram is the right tool for that goal. I shared a post right here on whether you actually have to be on Instagram to get clients.
I had so much fun building a community on Instagram. I loved it. But I read old journal entries now and I am so thankful that I slowed down. Less pressure, better cash flow.
A Claude / GPT prompt if you’re debating your Instagram presence
You all love a good prompt, and instead of giving you one-size-fits-all advice, here’s something you can copy into your favourite AI agent:
I’m trying to figure out whether to quit Instagram (or whether to go back to it, or whether to completely rethink how I’m using it). I don’t want advice. I want you to interview me about it. Ask me one question at a time, wait for my answer, and dig into whatever feels unfinished or fuzzy. Be direct. Be a little nosy. Push back if my answers don’t add up.
Here’s what I want to understand by the end:
- Whether Instagram is working for my business, or whether I’m doing it out of habit, fear, or social pressure
- What I’m actually getting from it (clients, community, creative outlet, validation — all of it counts, be honest)
- What it’s costing me that I’m not counting (time, mental load, comparison spiral, the Sunday dread of “I haven’t posted this week”)
- What my marketing would look like without it, and whether that version is actually scarier or just unfamiliar
- Whether the answer is “quit,” “change how I use it,” or “you’re fine, stop overthinking it”
- Once we’ve figured out the Instagram question, suggest three or four out-of-the-box marketing ideas that are a good fit for my specific business and niche.
Start by asking me what my business does and who I serve. Then just follow the thread.
Once every couple of weeks I send an email called Actually… It’s a story from the trenches (recent topics have included rescuing sheet music and a strong and well-reasoned defense of granny panties) plus one thing to think about / act on in your website or marketing. Reads faster than your coffee gets cold. Come hang out.
When you’re not posting, word of mouth has to work harder. Here’s how to build it on purpose. [→ How to Get More Client Referrals (Without Asking All the Time)]
If Instagram is off and referrals are slow, your website better be picking up the slack. [→ Why Your Website Isn’t Getting You Clients (Even Though Your Work Is Great)]
