Learn this serial entrepreneur’s playbook for rapid growth on a budget.(image)
If you were to ask me about my superpower, I’d say I’m really good at making money fast.
I’m a serial entrepreneur who started my first company when I was 17. I’ve had five ventures and two exits. Until this point, my life strategy has been to build a business, make the money I need, take a sabbatical, and believe that when I run out of money, I’ll be able to spin up another company to make some more.
I know it’s not the most financially responsible way of life, but it’s taught me a lot about how to bootstrap a revenue-driving venture quickly.
Ten months ago, I launched my sixth company, Robin House, which fractionalizes property investments into thousands of shares, empowering everyday individuals to invest in real estate with as little as $100.
We currently have three properties that will be renovated into short-term rentals to quickly start earning returns for our investors (“investors” in this article means customers who are buying shares of our properties). We’re on track to hit $1 million in sales in our first year, all completely bootstrapped.
This didn’t happen by accident, but thanks to some tactics that I’ve learned along the way, including growing a previous company to $1 million in a year. Read on to learn my playbook for rapid growth and how you can apply it to your own business.
1. Make it critical
Early on in growing Robin House, my team was stuck on the idea that the only way we could possibly grow was by investing in paid marketing. So, I brought them together and asked them to brainstorm ways they could get 100 leads in a week for $0. After about 15 minutes, I noticed nobody was coming up with anything.
I then remembered a brainstorming exercise I learned on a podcast: What if getting 100 leads by the end of the week was truly a matter of life or death for the business?
Suddenly, everyone had ideas. With that change in perspective, they were willing to do whatever it took to achieve the goal: walk around and knock on doors, print flyers to hand out everywhere you go, ask anyone and everyone you know for referrals.
Thanks to this exercise, we identified some simple, obvious strategies we hadn't thought about yet. We created a business on Google Maps at the address of the house we were purchasing with a title that made it clear this was an investing opportunity and got a sign printed in front of the house that explained how to get involved. This simple move led to at least 20 new inquiries and about $7,000 in new investments.
We also agreed that we’d never leave a conversation without asking for a referral because you never know who might be interested. This also led us to some of the strategic partnerships I’ll talk more about in a minute.
Yes, sometimes you have to spend money to make money. (For example, I wish I had made sales and marketing hires for this company sooner — I think we’d be even further along in our growth.) But there are also plenty of ways to grow for free that you can unlock if you push yourself to think creatively.
How to find Instagram reel trends while they’re still hot enough to make an impact, along with some of the best we’ve seen on the platform this year. (image)
It’s no secret that Instagram Reels might be your golden ticket to building a following on the platform.
“The most effective way to grow on Instagram is to consistently create engaging reels, as reels are the best way to reach new audiences,” Instagram Creator Partnerships at Meta Carly Lynn said in a video shared by the social platform’s Creator account.
It doesn’t get much clearer than that — and Buffer data supports this.
Great! But it's easier said than done. Regularly creating engaging reels to grow your Instagram account is no mean feat — which is why tapping into Instagram Reel trends should be an essential part of your marketing strategy as a brand or creator.
Trending reels on Instagram offer a low-lift way to create content you know Instagram users are already enjoying (and put your own special spin on things, of course.)
In this guide, we’ll unpack exactly how to discover those reels trends while they’re still hot enough to make an impact, along with some of the best Instagram reels trends we’ve seen on the platform this year.
We’ll go beyond simple trending reels songs here and examine the full video package — the formats, the edits, the memes, and more. While the trending audio is important and can help expand brand visibility, it’s only one piece of the reels content puzzle.
If you’re based in the U.S., there’s a really quick and easy way to find all the new trends currently making waves on the platform. (If you’re not, no sweat — plenty of other routes exist. Scroll on.)
Here’s how to do it.
Head over to your Instagram profile on the app by tapping your profile picture on the bottom right of your screen.
Tap the three horizontal lines on the top right to open the Settings and activity menu.
Tap Reels Trends. Here, you can see what sounds and hashtags are trending on Instagram Reels right now.
Do some digging when you find one that feels like it might be a good fit for your target audience or content pillars. How are other creators tapping into the trend? Is there a specific format that matches the audio? Is there a reels template from another creator you can use to create your own reel faster? (You’ll see a little button that says “Template by…” on the bottom left of the reel if that’s the case.)
If you’re not based in the U.S. and don’t have access to this nifty guide, there are other routes to finding trending reels you can use (and ones that might work a little better for your niche, too).
2. Create a reel
Did you know Instagram recommends trending reels for your region right in the reel creation screen? Even if you’re not based in the U.S., this method should be available for you. Here’s how:
Tap on the + create button on the bottom middle of the app, then choose Reel.
At the top of the screen, tap Templates.
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Here, you’ll find two categories of templates you can tap into — Recommended for you and Trending. Both will have a host of great options you can choose from.
The best part? The templates are premade, so you’ll be able to add your own clips and recreate the effect within a few minutes. No muss, no fuss.
3. The Instagram Creators account
Instagram’s @Creators account is a must-follow for handy tips and tricks from influencers, creators, and other platform experts.
They regularly share Instagram tips and tricks, current reel trends, filming, editing, and transition tutorials, along with new Instagram features to try out.
For extra content creation help, you can join the Creators broadcast channel to have news of Instagram’s latest features and trends sent straight to your Instagram inbox. Sign up here.
Here are the top 15 best Instagram editing apps for making your content look the best it ever has.(image)
Have you ever been scrolling on Instagram and seen a post that looked so good it could be displayed in a gallery? That’s a slight exaggeration, but a specific genre of post probably came to mind with that statement.
There are many elements to creating great Instagram posts, and editing is at the top of the list. With the development of visual social media has come an equal development in the apps that support visual content creation. You can now find an app for every stage of the editing process, but that can be as overwhelming as it is helpful.
So, in this list, we’ve identified the top 12 best Instagram editing apps for making your content look the best it ever has.
What are Instagram editing apps?
Instagram editing apps are specialized mobile and desktop applications designed to enhance and edit photos and videos specifically for Instagram.
These apps offer a variety of tools to improve the visual appeal of content, including filters, effects, cropping, resizing, and advanced editing capabilities like color correction and retouching.
Instagram editing apps are used by creators, influencers, and businesses to produce high-quality content that stands out on the platform. They’ll usually help you achieve one or more of the following:
Photo enhancements: Adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and apply filters to make images more appealing.
Video editing: Trim, splice, add music, and apply effects to create engaging video content.
Graphic design: Create eye-catching graphics and text overlays for posts and stories.
Special effects: Add animations, transitions, and other effects to make content more dynamic.
Presets and templates: Use predefined settings to achieve a consistent look and feel across multiple posts.
These apps make it easier to produce polished and professional-looking content that can attract and engage followers on Instagram.
Without further ado, here are some of the best apps for editing content on Instagram.
CapCut is a versatile video editing app that offers a comprehensive suite of tools for both beginners and advanced users.
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Known for its ease of use and powerful features, it allows you to create high-quality videos without watermarks, even in the free version.
It’s an excellent choice for social media content creators looking for a robust and user-friendly video editing app that supports high-quality output and publishing to multiple social platforms (including Instagram).
CapCut pricing: Free version with paid plans starting at $13.49/month or $145.99/year.
Adobe offers a range of powerful mobile editing tools that cater to various creative needs, from photo editing to video production. Here are the top Adobe mobile apps that are popular among creators.
Adobe Photoshop Express (formerly Adobe Spark)
Best for creating graphics
Adobe Spark, recently rebranded as Adobe Express, is an intuitive tool for creating graphics, web pages, and short videos.
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Its easy-to-use templates, AI capabilities, and design elements make it ideal for social media posts, videos, and promotional content.
Adobe Lightroom is a robust photo editing app with powerful tools for adjusting exposure, color, and more, and it syncs easily across devices.
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One significant advantage of Lightroom is the ability to create and monetize presets. These presets can be shared or sold to other users, allowing creators to generate additional income from their editing skills.
In this video, creators @meshna and @daveherring partnered on a video and offer access to a free preset in exchange for engagement.
See exactly how this business coach has built a strong funnel for connecting with her target customers and nurturing real connections. (image)
There are plenty of ways to grow a strong social following, but many small business owners rely on good content and luck, overlooking approaches that could help them reach larger audiences more quickly.
And, by thoughtfully nurturing those followers with valuable content and a human touch, I’ve been able to turn these social platforms into a strong sales channel, helping me scale my business coaching company from $20,000 in debt to seven figures.
The best part? My approach is not all that complex — these are best practices that any small business owner or service provider can easily implement. Read on to learn exactly how my team and I do it so you can start growing your following (and your bottom line) ASAP.
We use ads and SEO to bring people into our orbit (not to sell to them)
I could easily spend this entire article giving you best practices for running social media ads: verifying your offer before you pour money into promoting it and constantly testing to see if new ads have better returns, for example.
But I think the root reason our ads have been so successful is that we’re not using them to drive a direct sale. Instead, we approach ads from a top-of-funnel perspective.
The bulk of our ads encourage people to join our Facebook Group to watch a free three-part training that's driven notable results for past participants.
Starting a community like this is a common practice for high-ticket service providers like myself — it allows my target users to feel part of something, to build a relationship with me before committing to buying, and to get a sense of the value I can offer so they want more. Just joining the free group is a low ask, so our ads tend to have a 6-10x ROAS (return on ad spend).
While paying for marketing a non-revenue-generating product can be scary, if we can nurture even one percent of those free users into paid customers, the return on ad spend is worth it. We have generated over $1,000,000 in revenue from members of our Facebook Group converting to paid customers.
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That’s not to say there aren’t free ways to grow your top-of-the-funnel followers. In fact, we saw some of the biggest follower growth when we thought about the SEO of our profiles.
At the time, the Facebook Group was called “Purpose Driven Female Entrepreneurs.” While it may seem like a broad name like that would appeal to more people, it actually made it harder for the right people to find the group.
After thinking hard about who we were really trying to serve and polling our audience about the terms they use to describe themselves, we changed the name of the Facebook Group to “Female Social Media Managers & Agency Owners” and made sure the description included other audiences we target: digital marketers, graphic designers, and service-based entrepreneurs.
Now, when folks search for these terms in Facebook Groups, my group shows up toward the top.
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The group grew by thousands overnight after implementing that change. We added similar keywords to my Instagram profile (instead of just having my name) to improve discoverability there.
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Ultimately, we still do paid ads too, because we turned $156,000 into $1.095 million in revenue generated, and $659,458 in cash collected last year. Anytime I can multiply $1 invested like that, it’s a strategy I stick with.
We use content to give followers a taste of working with us
Many business owners believe that if they’re investing in ads, they don’t have to put in any other work, and that’s simply not the case. Our ads have always had 7 to 10x return on ad spend, and that’s because we’re simultaneously creating organic content to engage and build trust with new followers.
The guiding philosophy behind all of the content we create — from posts to Facebook and Instagram Reels to lead magnets — is that the faster we can give followers a taste of the types of wins we could get them, the faster they’ll opt into our paid offerings.
To understand what will resonate with my target audience, I like finding ways to quickly test content ideas, and then doubling down on what resonates. If I have an idea for advice my audience might be excited about, I’ll write up a quick post to throw in the Facebook Group or do a 30-second story. If it gets some traction, I may develop it further into a reel or story post.
The topics that are driving the most sales get built out into lead magnets, like our free upsell training. Plenty of people go through that training, get massive value — like turning a $1,000 client into a $3,000 client — and never pay me a dime. But plenty of other people go through that training, get some wins but want more support, and reach out to work together because we’ve built that trust and connection. Wanting everybody to win ends up being a win for us.
While I love supporting my audience for free, I’m also not afraid to sell — I like to balance adding value and also giving people opportunities to raise their hand to work with me. When you have a healthy mix of both types of content, it guides people down the funnel.
For example, we do monthly testimonial posts and while they don’t often get as much engagement on our social platforms as my value-based content, customers will bring them up on sales calls and say that’s what ultimately converted them. It’s critical that sales and marketing always be communicating so you can understand what’s working based on your ultimate conversion goals instead of vanity social metrics.
How to use Threads effectively, from starting your account to growing a dedicated following.(image)
With its constant improvement and regular addition of new features, Instagram’s companion app, Threads, is speedily, steadily growing its user base.
In April 2024, almost a year on from its rocketship release, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared that the Meta-owned platform now has more than 150 million active users.
That’s pretty impressive, but perhaps what’s especially notable is that the social media platform now has more active users in the U.S. daily than Twitter/X and Business Insider reports.
Despite the many Twitter alternatives out there, it’s Threads that seems to be filling the void left by ‘old Twitter’ for many fans of the fast-paced, text-heavy platform.
Instagram Threads is emerging as a class all on its own when it comes to community building on social media and is a great way to connect with fans and customers. Creators and marketers who ignore the platform are missing a trick.
If you’re unsure about whether or not to join Threads, I hear you — there are so many social networks to choose from. Surely adding another one into the mix, especially one as new as Threads, is going to drain your time without delivering much return on investment?
I’d argue the opposite — Threads is the platform you should be carving out a space on right now. For one thing, it’s a far lower lift than most other networks, and it's really easy to repurpose your content from elsewhere.
For another, it may soon become a powerhouse when it comes to boosting reach and visibility, thanks to its close partnership with Instagram and the fact that it connects to the Fediverse (don’t worry, we’ll get into all that below).
Bonus: Threads is also incredibly fun.
If you’re late to the Instagram Threads party, fear not — we’re just getting started. This guide will help you understand how to use Threads effectively, from starting your account to growing a dedicated following.
Threads is a new text-based app by Instagram designed for “sharing text updates and joining public conversations,” according to Meta.
While you can post photos, videos, and GIFs on the platform, text-based threads (see what they did there?) are the order of the day. The app bears a striking resemblance to Twitter but with a distinctly Instagram feel.
In order to create a Threads account, users will have to have an Instagram account. Instagram features popular threads in users’ feeds on Instagram, and Threads users can tag Instagram accounts on Threads, even if the user they’re tagging doesn’t have Threads.
Unlike Instagram, however, the new app is built for conversation. Users can post public or private threads, like, comment on, or share public threads, follow other users, and build their own followings in turn.
How does Threads work?
To understand Threads (and the Threads algorithm), you first need to understand the Following feed and the For You feed.
The Following feed is exactly what it says on the tin: a feed showing content from all the other Threads users you follow. Right now, this content is not ranked by an algorithm — all the threads you see are in chronological order.
The For You feed is where the Threads algorithm comes into play and where, if you’re a creator or marketer, you want your content to appear to grow your engagement and following on Threads.
The algorithm ranks content on Threads in the same way the Instagram algorithm does: it serves the content to a small cohort of your followers and some non-followers and gauges their reactions (do they linger on the post? Or like, comment on, save, or share it?). These interactions (and thousands more) are signals that carry different weights in the Threads algorithm.
In a nutshell, the more engagement you receive on your Threads posts, the more valuable the Threads algorithm thinks they are. The more valuable the algorithm thinks your posts are, the more likely they are to appear in another Threads feed.
Here’s a full guide to the Threads algorithm that will take you deeper.
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Pro tip: Switch between the two feeds on the Threads app by tapping the Threads logo at the top of the app or the home button at the bottom of the app, then the For You or Following tabs that appear just beneath it. On the web version of Threads, there’s a For You/Following toggle button on the bottom right.
Why Instagram Threads?
Despite being tied to Instagram and modeled after Twitter, Threads is emerging as a powerful option in your suite of social media platforms. It might not quite have the sheer volume of monthly active users that the likes of Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram have, but growing a following on Threads does come with some pretty unique benefits.
Here are some reasons to consider getting active on Instagram Threads:
Light(er)-lift content
Threads is perfect for sharing quick, spontaneous content. While sharing photos and videos is possible, Threads is not primarily a visual platform. Text-based content is Threads’ bread and butter.
Now, the idea that whipping up a text Thread is simple is easy for me to say as a writer, but think about it: how long does it take you to edit an Instagram Reel, carousel, or TikTok video? Even Instagram photo posts, with all the aesthetic edits they often require, are usually more time-consuming than writing the caption.
While adding another social media platform into the mix, whether you're a marketer or content creator, should not be taken lightly, Threads will not require the time, energy, and resources required on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Compared to these platforms, it's a relatively easy win.
A gateway to the Fediverse
The Instagram app is not the only one Threads connects with. In March 2024, Threads started allowing U.S. users to connect their accounts to the Fediverse, a decentralized network of interconnected social media platforms and other online services. The Fediverse (federation + universe) includes social platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky.
Opting into this means your Threads content will be visible on these platforms. Users will be able to follow you from there, even if they don’t have a Threads account themselves.
Make headway in a niche community
Instagram Threads has a unique take on hashtags (just called ‘tags’) that sees them behave more like subreddits (community subgroups) than hashtags on other platforms. Instagram head Adam Mosseri shared in an update that the goal was to “help us build a space that really fosters healthy conversation.”
Versatile content
I touched on this above, but it’s worth spelling out: it’s easy to repurpose content from pretty much any other social media platform. Everything you’ve ever posted can be reused (preferably with an update or a twist). Instagram Stories, TikTok videos, LinkedIn carousels, Twitter threads: all the media you create for these posts is supported on Threads.
Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean just sharing the videos you’ve posted elsewhere (you’ll definitely want to remove the watermarks, for starters). Beyond that — what about your captions? The fact that Threads doesn’t require a multimedia upload like other channels leaves the doors open for you to turn your captions into standalone threads as well.
Of course, this goes for new content, too — anything you have planned for another social media platform can live on Threads, too.
Improve Instagram visibility (and vice versa)
Threads and Instagram are best viewed as partner platforms. If your goal is to grow your Instagram following, I’d argue that being active on Threads is a must.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that getting active on Threads may boost the reach of your Instagram content. While there’s no word from Instagram on this, it’s worth noting that the platform does reward creators for engaging with its new features.
Rumors notwithstanding, your Threads content may benefit from being featured on Instagram (Instagram has been sharing top-performing threads in users' feeds in an attempt to drive sign-ups).
Here's an example of how it shows up in Instagram users' feeds:
It’s also a great way to connect more deeply with your followers, where conversations are easier to follow than in Instagram comments and DMs.
If you have an Instagram following, you won’t start from scratch
If the fear of seeing that little ‘0’ next to your name on Threads is what’s putting you off, I have good news. One of the brilliant things about Threads is that it leverages your existing Instagram following.
So when you sign up through Instagram, all your followers who are already on Threads will be sent a notification, with an easy-to-tap follow button right in their activity tab.
How to create a Threads account
Have I convinced you to join Threads yet? Here’s how easy it is to get up and running on the platform:
Log in with Instagram: Use your Instagram account to log in. If you don’t have an Instagram account, you’ll need to create one on Instagram.com or the app. There’s no need actually to use this Instagram profile if you don’t want to. You can opt for a private profile and don’t need to post on the Instagram account in order to use Threads. Your Threads and Instagram accounts are effectively the same accounts — you cannot create a Threads account separately. If you have multiple Instagram accounts, you can create a separate (but connected) Threads account for each one.
Set up your Threads profile: Customize your Threads