Let me tell you about the time I scaled my social media pages to 100k followers in under 6 months and accidentally became an influencer because my house was so spectacularly ugly.
Spoiler: It wasn’t by posting 3 times a day like all the gurus tell you.
It Started with Lincolnshire’s Ugliest House
When I bought my Victorian house, it was covered in what can only be described as “cake frosting render”. I bought the house cheap because nobody wanted to take on such a project, but I knew it had potential.
I started an Instagram account called @RenovatingTheConstabulary, purely so I wouldn’t spam my actual friends with endless photos of peeling wallpaper and questionable plumbing.
Then I posted in a local Facebook group asking if anyone had old photos of the building. I wanted to see what architectural gems might lurk beneath the frosting before we scraped it off.
What happened next was unexpected. Hundreds of Lincoln residents piled into the comments, united in their shared horror at my house’s exterior. The post went locally viral in that delightfully British way where everyone’s laughing with you while simultaneously wondering what’s wrong with you.
A BBC reporter slid into my DMs. Would I like to feature in a segment about “Lincolnshire’s Ugliest House“?
Reader, I absolutely would.
The feature aired on BBC News. My tiny Instagram page gained 200 followers overnight. And I thought, “Well, this is rather fun. Perhaps I should actually try at this.”
The Great Course Disaster Tour
Like any sensible person embarking on a new venture, I decided to educate myself. I joined every social media course I could find – paid courses, free courses, council-funded courses. I was hungry to learn.
What I actually got was a masterclass in disappointment. There were 4 different types of courses I attended.
Option A: The Bore Fest
Basic content I could’ve uncovered with a 10-minute Google search, delivered by a tutor committed to redefining “the bare minimum”.
Option B: The Sneaky Sales Pitch
Courses that drip-fed just enough information to get you interested before revealing their true purpose: convincing you to pay them to do everything for you.
Option C: The Fake Guru
“Experts” or generalists who’d spent 10 years using bad practices to amass a few thousand followers, now teaching those same ineffective methods to others.
Option D: The Bro-Marketer Special
Hustle culture enthusiasts insisting you need to post three times a day, engage for four hours daily, and sacrifice your firstborn to the algorithm gods. Totally sustainable. Absolutely not a recipe for burnout.
I left every course thinking the same thing: “There must be a better way.”
So I Built My Own Strategy (And Actually Tested It)
Copywriting is all about storytelling. So is social media. I already had half the skills, I just needed to understand the algorithm and see how it would impact my approach.
I combined everything I knew about effective copy with deep research into how the algorithm actually works. I spoke to social media consultants. I studied accounts that were genuinely succeeding (not just talking about succeeding). I developed a strategy that prioritised quality, authenticity, and – crucially – sustainability.
Then I put it to the test on my own account.
The result was 100,000 followers in under six months, posting just once every two weeks.
Not three times a day. Not even three times a week. One post. Every fortnight.
I’m now sitting at over 180,000 followers across my channels, and it’s not even been a year.
But Was It Just Luck?
You might be thinking, “Sure, but you had the BBC feature. That’s a lucky break most people won’t get.”
Fair point. But that feature only got me my first 200 followers. The next 179,800 were all as a result of my strategies. Either way, I decided to prove it wasn’t a fluke.
I applied the exact same strategy to my business social media page – my copywriting account that I had neglected for years. It had just 200 followers and zero viral BBC moments to boost it.
My first reel got 7,500 views.
On a page with 200 followers.
My follower count more than doubled overnight.
No media coverage. No existing audience. I just followed my strategy.
That’s when I knew this wasn’t luck or a chance encounter with local fame. This was a replicable, strategic approach that worked regardless of your starting point.
I Got Tired of Terrible Courses, So I Made a Good One
After hitting 100,000 followers, I decided to host a workshop teaching my actual strategy – not watered-down basics, not a gateway to upselling, but genuine insights that create immediate results and actually help people.
I wanted to create the course I wish I’d had. One that would have saved me the days of research and refinement I’d had to commit to when the advice from the “pros” fell short.
It sold out within days. The waitlist was enormous. Attendees implemented what they learned and saw real growth. Word spread.
Every single workshop since has sold out. I’ve gone on to run extended 1-day and 2-day intensive courses and bespoke training for marketing teams and businesses.
Attendees know they’re learning from someone who’s actually done what they’re teaching, not someone who’s built a following by teaching people how to build a following (the circular economy of mediocre advice). They also see results – just check out my case studies!
And they know I’m not gatekeeping information because I have zero interest in doing their social media for them. In my opinion, authenticity is vital in founder marketing. Your audience wants to hear from you, not from someone you’ve outsourced your voice to. If you’re not willing to show up authentically, you’re missing the entire point. So I don’t want to do your social media for you – and you shouldn’t want me to.
Ready to Ditch the Hustle Culture Nonsense?
If you’re tired of courses that waste your time, strategies that burn you out, and advice from people who’ve never actually succeeded at what they’re teaching, I’ve got the solution.
Join the waitlist for my next workshop and learn the strategy that took me from 0 to 180,000 followers in under a year – without sacrificing my sanity or posting three times a day.
No gatekeeping. No upselling. Just a strategy that actually works.
Spaces are limited and workshops sell out fast. Get on the waitlist now and I’ll notify you the moment the next dates are released.
