A lot of you have been asking this question, so today I’m going to update you on what’s been happening around here since I quit Instagram.

For those of you who are new here - I quit Instagram at the end of August. I didn’t delete my account, but I deleted the app on all my devices and took a permanent hiatus. Deleting my account was tempting, but I decided to leave it up as a portfolio page for now. While I’m not against social media, I felt it was no longer serving me. I was spending a lot of time on Instagram, without seeing a return. I was mainly on there because it felt like something artists should do. However, I could see that my print sales were coming from elsewhere. I knew I needed to focus on sales, in order to make a living doing what I love. For more on why I quit Instagram, you can check out my post here.

Today, two months into quitting, I have lots to report. First off, I feel great mentally. I’m more clear minded and present in my life. Every time I picked up a paintbrush before, I felt guilty I wasn’t sharing a story. I also felt constant guilt for not responding to comments quickly. Instagram gave me a lot of useless metal chatter around my art.

It turns out, the decision to quit Instagram has had a domino effect in my life. I’ve made many bold moves since then. For instance, last month, I made the huge decision to quit client design work for good. It’d been a long time coming, but quitting Instagram gave me the clarity and courage to make the call. I also decided I wanted to do good with my print shop, so I partnered up with One Tree Planted last month. Now, a tree will be planted every time someone purchases a print from my shop. As a paper business, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner. I’m excited to see what other bold moves I make in the future, as a result of quitting Instagram.

I know the part you really want to know is what’s happened to my business since. Has it fallen apart? Well, what I’ve learned has been fascinating.

Right after I quit Instagram, my Etsy traffic dropped 10% in September, and then stayed the same from September to October. Not great, right? Well, actually my sales weren’t impacted. They stayed exactly the same from August to September. Then, in October, they went up 40%! This past month was the best I’ve ever had. I tripled my sales from October 2020. I attribute this jump to all the extra time I spent on my shop in September.

It’s true, I did have people visiting my shop from Instagram, but most weren’t buying. Now, I’m getting less, but more relevant traffic - art buyers, instead of those who are curious about my work. And that’s fine with me. My theory has always been that most of my Instagram followers are artists. They’re more interested in my process, than in purchasing my art. It appears this assumption was accurate. Don’t get my wrong, I’m so grateful for my fellow artists. They are my favorite audience. And it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t buy courses from me. They’re just not the target for my print sales - which is what I’m focusing on right now. I don’t even have courses available for this audience to purchase right now!

So where have all these fellow artists gone? I’m guessing many are those of you reading my posts, because my blog traffic has gone up 20% since August! It appears that instead of people following along on Instagram, they’ve started coming to my website. I couldn’t be more thrilled, since I own this space. I’ve read it’s always better to invest your time in a platform you own. While I don’t think everyone has found me on my website, I know my true fans have. Again, it’s about less, but more relevant traffic.

I guess the question now is - do I miss anything about Instagram? Not really. The only piece I’m missing is a way to provide regular updates to my audience. I know I do that a bit here on my blog, but I’d really like to get back to regular newsletters. As a quick solve, I added a space for updates to my homepage, but I don’t think that’s enough. I’ve mulled over the idea of doing a weekly updates post, or even a vlog. Things are happening faster since I quit Instagram (and client design work), so I have a lot to share with you all. All of these ideas are doable. I just need to figure out what works best for me. Better updates are where I intend to spend the additional time I’ve gained from my bold decisions.