Why I Don’t Use Instagram and Fear Setting

I’m not gonna beat around the bush here – I’m frustrated with Instagram.

Why?

I don’t use it personally (not big on posting pictures, etc.), but always saw the value in it from a brand and content perspective so thought I’d give it a go for Solopreneur Grind.

But in my opinion, it doesn’t match my personality or content style.

If you’ve been reading my content consistently (or are on my email list), you know I like to provide insightful solopreneur ideas and content that goes deeper than surface level things like motivational quotes, 3-step lists, etc.

There’s nothing wrong with those things, it’s just not my style.

But after spending months on Instagram, I just can’t connect with it. It rewards quantity over quality (ie. posting every day versus posting high quality stuff) and many successful accounts seem to just post motivational quotes with a 1-liner description and hashtags.

I just don’t see much value in that (personally), and don’t have an interest in doing it.

I will definitely continue to promote the brand on it and it’s a great solopreneur marketing strategy, but want to focus on different mediums where I feel I can add more value…

Plus, despite how popular the platform is, I don’t think I’m missing out by not using it much.

How did I come to that conclusion?

I was reading Tools of Titans this weekend (Tim Ferriss, great book(s)/podcasts and super successful solopreneur) and came across a really cool activity I’d never heard of before. While a lot of journal-style exercises or planning revolves around goals, plans, etc. he had one different approach that doesn’t get mentioned much but can be so powerful for entrepreneurs, and especially wantrepreneurs (those who want to give it a try but haven’t).

He called it “fear setting”, aka writing down your biggest fears or “what ifs” for certain scenarios.

For example, let’s say you’re considering quitting your 9-5 to start a new online shop. What’s the absolute worst thing that can happen, or what are you most afraid of?

Maybe it’s your parents ridiculing you…

Maybe it’s blowing through your savings account…

Maybe it’s winding up homeless on the street…

There are no right or wrong answers here, because you are writing down what scares you the most. What happened for Tim is that after doing this exercise, he realized the worst cases really weren’t so bad… and he decided to embark on the trip of his life.

In my case, the worst thing that could happen is me getting a few less followers through Instagram, but if I can spend more time elsewhere, I can probably make up for it anyway.

Anyway, the exercise is really cool and if you’re considering doing something right now, ask yourself “what’s the worst that can happen? What am I most afraid of?”

And more importantly, then ask “even if that happened, is it really so bad?”

In most cases, I think you’ll realize it really isn’t so bad after-all.

And if you’re interested in Tools of Titans, see a book review I did on it below:

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