But I'm not alone in this jump from hashtagging erotically challenged succulents to concentrating full time on social media based output. There's loads of us. From small brands who have built their business completely on the platform, to Insta friends who have paired up to start a creative business, to aspiring interior designers who have finally been able to fulfil their dreams, Instagram has been an enabler for people with a creative lean to fully reach their potential and in some cases, completely change their life focus.
Take my business partner and friend, Dee. When we met (in a totally non Tinder style way) on Instagram whilst taking part in #mystylephotochallenge, her role was Project Manager in a large financial company where she had been for 25 years. After a year of growing her following, she took a years sabbatical to see if she could focus on a career change and in November, she was finally able to say sayonara to her old job and concentrate full time on her interior design business.
Or my friend Julia, who has a small business called Suburban Salon. She'd been making beautiful stools (no pun intended) in sheepskins and mongolian fur from her home - Instagram enabled her to take this a step further and now her order book is full to the brim and she's expanding her product range. And what about Katie and Amy, who met at one of our workshops and teamed up to create No House Rules, a networking event company based in the North Of England with the aim of bringing similarly interior minded people together? There are countless stories of people changing their life to focus fully on things that they have always dreamt of doing. And it's all through Instagram.