Hello, ambitious souls!

Growth—both professionally and personally—is a lifelong journey. With 15 years of leadership experience and an MBA in organizational Leadership, the creator of LIFE OF COUNCIL has gained valuable insights but firmly believes that learning never stops.

This newsletter isn’t a collection of dry, textbook-style lessons. Instead, it’s a space where real-life stories take center stage—stories of successes, failures, and the lessons learned along the way. Readers get actionable insights, personal reflections, and even a touch of humor to make growth feel engaging and relatable.

I did something stupid last year…

I quit Instagram. I gave my 4 years to Instagram, and it brought me thousands of dollars into my life.

But no warning, no “taking a break” post, no fancy farewell story. I just… stopped showing up.

If you run an online business, you already know the fear:

“What if my engagement tanks?”

“What if I become irrelevant?”

“What if my clients forget I exist?”

I had those same fears. but this fear is not true…

Psychologists talk about the Expectations vs. Reality Trap—when we overestimate the impact of something, only to realize later that it wasn’t a big deal at all.

I expected:

❌ My leads to dry up.

❌ My income to drop.

❌ My business to struggle

Reality?

✔️ My income stayed the same.

✔️ My leads didn’t disappear.

✔️ My business actually felt easier.

How? Because Instagram was never the thing that brought me money in the first place. It was me who made consistent efforts to use that platform to bring me money.

Instagram felt like the center of my business because:

📌 It gave me quick dopamine hits when people liked my posts.

📌 It made me feel productive—even when I was just scrolling.

📌 It kept me trapped in the content hamster wheel (post or be forgotten)

📌 Worst thing, I never enjoy Instagram but I kept doing (that kept me stuck and bored)

But here’s the hard truth:

✨ Followers don’t equal clients.

✨ Engagement doesn’t equal income.

✨ Posting more doesn’t mean people trust you more.

But visibility matters a lot to be in front of the right people at the right time.

Once I stepped away, I looked at my last 10 high-paying clients.

Zero clients came from Instagram.

Then?

It came from Medium, Referrals, and Email (big asset)

So my perspective completely changed that social media is a tool, not a business model.

Because of that, I quit Instagram, where I spent 4 years making money Obviously, many digital product sales and clients came from there, but it took too much time for me, and most importantly, I don’t like spending time there.

So now I have more time because of that I’m working on my books, newsletter (I love spending time on Substack), and YouTube, and I have plenty of time to spend with my family while working with clients.

So just by quitting Instagram, it helped me a lot to focus on many things that I always wanted to do but lacked the time and direction I'd been missing.

If you’ve built a good reputation, disappearing for a bit won’t kill your business.

There are lots of ways to make money online, and just focusing on one platform that you don’t like—not worth it.

That’s it from my side today! But don’t forget to check other posts and subscribe to the Smile. Learn. Grow. Newsletter!