Ch ch ch changes… turn and face the strange 🎶

This has basically become my theme song this month as I start to accept just how much has changed, and how much I can control. 

I know we’ve all been struggling to keep our businesses moving while watching the world reorganize itself in real time (to put it extremely mildly). It’s been so hard to focus, and even harder to show up.

What might surprise you is that for most of 2025, I was really stuck. 

Stuck with Instagram and showing up in a way that felt like me while respecting the business I’ve built. Stuck between wanting to say what I actually think and worrying about what that might cost me. 

Every so often, I would post something that felt closer, like I was brushing up against my own truth instead of performing around it. 

In March i’ll be turning 38 and suddenly I’m hyper aware of my own mortality. I’ve been thinking a lot about the legacy I’m leaving behind on the internet too. You might be like “Kar, it’s not that deep”, but for me it really is. 

When I zoom out, I don’t want my body of work to read like a collection of optimized posts or promotion. I want it to feel like I stood for something. 

Yesterday, my friend Rebecca came over for a glass of red and she said “you’re really talking the talk with how you live and what you post on instagram” and that was deeply meaningful to me. 

That’s the context for why my relationship with Instagram has shifted so dramatically.

So you see, it may make more sense now to hear that I have an entirely new way of approaching Instagram. 

Over the last few months, with a four-week vacation in the middle, I’ve been doubling down on long-form writing. Essays that are thoughtful, uninterrupted pieces published on Substack.

I start with the same ritual every Monday night. Once the kids are asleep, I pull out my notebook and a pen and sit down at the dinner table to write.

There are no content pillars, and no second-guessing. I just go for it, and what’s surprised me most isn’t just how much I’ve enjoyed it, but what it’s changed in my business.

My Substack has grown to 129 subscribers and counting, including paid subscribers. It’s not a big number by internet standards, but it’s a powerful one when you understand what depth over scale actually does for a business.

Those Substack essays have become the foundation of my Instagram content, and that content has allowed me to grow by over 8,000 more followers on Instagram in less than 21 days. 

The irony is that my dependency on Instagram to explain or sell my work has dropped dramatically. It feels liberating that my brain lives elsewhere now, and Instagram simply points to it. 

Writing long-form has given me something solid to point to. I publish the essay, share it simply, and let people come to their own conclusions. In the last month alone, I closed three high-ticket retainers without sales calls, without daily posting, and without filming Reels.

That’s over $36,000, which happens to be more than my old accounting salary, generated by slowing down, writing clearly, and letting my values lead.

So many of you have asked how I set this up, and I finally realized it was time to show you.

On February 10, I’m hosting a live, workshop and Q&A: Your First 100 Subscribers

In this training you’ll set up a Substack that’s clear, usable, and ready to monetize using what you already have.

This isn’t about becoming a writer or abandoning Instagram. It’s about building a long-form home that supports your thinking, your business, and your income without asking you to contort yourself.

By the end of the training, you’ll leave with:

• A live Substack that’s set up and ready to use
• A clear bio written that explains who your writing is for and attracts aligned subscribers
• Your free subscriber benefits section written
• A simple monetization foundation in place, without pressure or sales tactics
• A clear understanding of Substack’s social layer (Notes) and how to use it to grow your subscribers
• A straightforward way to integrate Substack into your existing email system
• A natural way to share your Substack on Instagram without it being repetitive
• Three clear Substack post ideas so you know exactly what to write first

You don’t need more Reels. You might need a place where your ideas can breathe.

We meet live on February 10th.

After 12 years working online, these are my honest takes about the patterns I’ve watched rise and collapse, to the strategies that continue to work quietly and consistently in the background. 

Each issue breaks down what’s happening on social (with a key focus on Instagram), how it impacts the way we sell, and simple ways to grow without losing your voice (or your sanity).

You can subscribe to my Substack here