10 Reasons I Quit Instagram and Built My Dream Business on Pinterest {podcast ep.366}

The calm, feminine way to grow your brand, build wealth, and make your content work for you—long after you post.

The Day I Chose Calm Over Chaos

There came a point in my business when I realized I was exhausted.
Trying to keep up with Instagram’s endless treadmill of trends, algorithms, and engagement strategies felt like running a race that never ended. Every day there was a new rule: post Reels, post Carousels, post Stories—but also, make it authentic, make it aesthetic, make it viral.

It became noise.

And somewhere in the middle of all that noise, I stopped feeling inspired.

That’s when I rediscovered Pinterest—not as a social media app, but as a search engine for dreamers, doers, and digital entrepreneurs. I decided to redirect all of my creative energy there, and what happened next completely transformed my business.

Pinterest became my calm, consistent, wealth-generating platform—the one that continues to grow my traffic, sell my products, and build my brand while I sleep.

If you’re feeling the same burnout and craving a more sustainable, feminine, and profitable approach to your online presence, here are 10 reasons why I quit Instagram and built my dream business on Pinterest.

1. Pinterest Is Search-Based, Not Trend-Based

Pinterest isn’t a social network—it’s a visual search engine.
That means your pins continue to work for you long after you post them. Unlike Instagram’s algorithm, which buries content after 48 hours, Pinterest content can resurface months or even years later.

✨ Pro Tip: Research keywords just like you would for Google. Use Pinterest’s search bar to see what your audience is actively typing in, then optimize your Pin titles and descriptions around those phrases.

📖 Read next: How I Got to 10+ Million Monthly Views on Pinterest

2. Pinterest Content Is Evergreen

Think of every pin as a mini blog post or digital asset that keeps bringing people back to your world.
A well-designed pin can continue generating clicks, sign-ups, and sales for months.

Where Instagram fades, Pinterest compounds.

✨ Example: One of my pins from two years ago still drives hundreds of visitors to my blog every single week. That’s passive visibility—without having to post every day.

3. Pinterest Is a Calm, Feminine Platform

Pinterest feels like a breath of fresh air. It’s not about performance or perfection—it’s about inspiration and intention.

There’s no comparison trap, no pressure to “go viral.” Instead, you can build a peaceful marketing flow that honors your creativity and your time.

✨ Mindset Shift: Pinterest is about energy as much as strategy. The energy you put into creating beautiful, helpful content reflects back as long-term abundance.

4. Pinterest Builds Long-Term Wealth (Not Just Followers)

Followers don’t pay your bills—traffic and conversions do.
Pinterest drives traffic off the platform—to your blog, shop, or course—where you own your audience and income.

Whether you’re growing Mediavine ad revenue, affiliate links, or selling digital products, Pinterest acts as your top-of-funnel marketing system that never stops working.

✨ Wealth Tip: Every pin should have a purpose—link it to a blog post, freebie, or product page that builds your email list and sales funnel.

5. You Don’t Have to Post Every Day

Pinterest rewards consistency, not quantity. You can plan a month’s worth of pins in one day using a scheduler and let it run while you focus on creating your next offer or enjoying real life.

✨ Schedule Smart: Use tools like Tailwind or Pinterest’s native scheduler to batch and automate. Aim for 3–5 new pins per week (not per day!).

That’s what I call slow marketing with big results.

6. Pinterest Users Are Buyers, Not Scrollers

Pinterest is where people go to make decisions. Whether they’re planning a home makeover, starting a business, or searching for the perfect self-care product, they’re in the buying mindset.

✨ Stat Snapshot: 85% of weekly Pinterest users make a purchase based on Pins they see.
That’s a conversion rate Instagram can’t compete with.

7. Pinterest Builds Authority and Brand Identity

Your Pinterest boards become a visual magazine of your brand—curated, inspiring, and intentional.

By grouping content into beautiful boards (like Feminine Home Office, Digital Product Design, or Pinterest Marketing Tips), you’re not just posting—you’re positioning yourself as an expert in your niche.

✨ Action Step: Create 5–7 brand-aligned boards that reflect your expertise. Use your brand colors and fonts in your Pin designs for consistency.

8. Pinterest Doubles as a Google SEO Booster

Pinterest pins show up on Google search results—meaning you can appear in two search engines for the same piece of content.

✨ Pro Tip: Add rich keywords to your Pin titles, descriptions, and image filenames before uploading. Use long-tail keywords like “Pinterest marketing for digital product creators” instead of broad ones like “Pinterest tips.”

9. Pinterest Is Easy to Automate

Once you’ve created your system, Pinterest can practically run itself.
You can batch-design pins in Canva, write keyword-optimized descriptions, and schedule everything for the month.

✨ Workflow Idea:

• Batch design 20–30 pins in one sitting

• Write SEO-rich descriptions

• Schedule weekly

• Review analytics monthly

This automation allows you to focus on high-value creative projects while your content drives traffic on autopilot.

10. Pinterest Feels Like the Future of Feminine Business

Pinterest aligns with the new wave of entrepreneurship—slower, intentional, and energetically sustainable.
It’s the platform of choice for women building digital empires through beauty, wisdom, and alignment.

This is the foundation of the Pinterest Wealth Academy—a step-by-step experience where I’ll teach you how to turn your Pinterest presence into a profitable ecosystem that fuels your dream business.

✨ How to Get Started on Pinterest (Even If You’re New)

1. Set up a Business Account – This gives you access to analytics and ad options.

2. Claim Your Website – Essential for SEO and brand trust.

3. Optimize Your Profile – Use a keyword-rich bio and aesthetic brand banner.

4. Create 5–7 Foundational Boards – Reflect your core topics or offers.

5. Design Branded Pins – Use Canva templates that match your brand palette.

6. Batch + Schedule Pins Weekly – Save time and stay consistent.

7. Link Every Pin to Something Valuable – A blog, freebie, or product.

8. Analyze + Refine Monthly – Use analytics to see what’s performing best.

📖 Need a deeper dive? Read my post: How I Got to 10+ Million Monthly Views on Pinterest

💎 Calm Is the New Currency

In a world that glorifies hustle, choosing calm is revolutionary.
Pinterest is the modern woman’s marketing secret—a place where your creativity compounds into wealth, and your energy is never wasted.

If you’re ready to build a business that feels flowy, abundant, and feminine, it’s time to make the shift too.

Join me inside Pinterest Wealth Academy, and let’s turn your pins into profits—and your peace into prosperity.

You may also like:

❤️ How I exploded my blog traffic with Pinterest

❤️ How to start a profitable blog step-by-step

❤️ How to start a lifestyle business & make money online

Please feel free to email me at ashlina@thedecorista.com if you have any questions!  I’m always happy to help with decorating, life advice or even picking out a specific perfume!  Have an amazing day!!

Also, check out my Amazon shop HERE to shop all my favorite things, tips and tricks. You can also download the free LIKETOKNOW.IT app and follow me HERE.

STAY IN THE KNOW:  Don’t forget to sign up for my exclusive Love Letters for STYLE TIPS, LIFE ADVICE, COSMIC TEA, AND MUCH MORE!

As always, thank you so much for stopping by today, I truly appreciate all of you! xo, Ashlina

FOLLOW ALONG: Instagram | Pinterest | Shop Amazon | You Tube

How I Grew My Pinterest Monthly Views to 10 million & exploded my blog traffic {Podcast Ep. 326}

If you aren’t blogging yet, what are you even doing with your life? This post is going to show you why you should totally start a blog and how you can use Pinterest to get your traffic to explode.

POV: It’s a beautiful, sunny and crisp fall morning, you’re sitting at your favorite local coffee shop, where a quiet day of writing and a soothing ambiance awaits you–it’s your only priority today. Just another regular Tuesday. Isn’t life so blissful?

Listen to episode 326 of the Blissfully Ambitious podcast to go along with this episode:

This year, I will celebrate 15 years of blogging. It’s the longest job I’ve ever had and it’s also my favorite job I’ve ever had. Who knew that back in 2008 after deciding to start a blog about my favorite hobby, decorating the home, my entire life would completely change and I would be living my dream life. Blogging did that for me and can absolutely do that for you. If you’ve been wanting to start your own blog you should read this post.

Here’s the thing, if you start a blog it gives you the opportunity to create a platform for you to launch a business, side hustle or set up some income streams to grow your income. OR if you already have a business, a blog will help you market, share and grow your business. The possibilities a blog can give you are limitless.

Whether you have a blog or not, I am sure you are familiar with Pinterest. It’s one of the most exciting places to be right now when it comes to online marketing and online business.

In the past few years, I’ve taken a much more feminine approach to business. So, anything that drains me or brings me stress just isn’t for me. Social media is one of those things that I’ve majorly cut back focus on, simply because it tends to overwhelm me.

Especially if you are just starting out and trying to grow your blog and/or online business audience, social media can feel incredibly overwhelming.

Enter my new favorite online marketing tool….Pinterest.

And let me to tell you: THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO TO LIVE THAT LOW-KEY, SLOW LIVING LIFESTYLE YOU CRAVE IS INVEST IN YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS’ PINTEREST STRATEGY.

I just wish I had started sooner. Seriously.

Just imagine…

• Waking up to money directly depositing to your bank account, thanks to the delicious, never-ending stream of traffic you’ve generated on auto-pilot.

• Building the quiet, peaceful life of your dreams without selling your soul to the current social media algorithm or dancing on camera just to build an audience.

• Creating a solid and sustainable process of marketing your business that doesn’t involve cold e-mails, sleazy networking strategies, or spending hours trying to come up with the perfect “hook”.

Exactly 3 months ago, I found myself completely cutting myself off from social media, it was incredibly distracting to my mindset and stress levels. So, out of desperation to find something more fulfilling yet productive in online marketing, I decided to take a new approach to growing my blog traffic.

I moved my focus towards generating traffic growth through Pinterest. In less than 45 days, I grew my monthly Pinterest views to 6.5 million and exploded my blog traffic.

Update for 2024: I am now at 10+ million monthly views

WHY PINTEREST?

The thing about Pinterest, is that similarly to Google, Pinterest is a search engine, not a social media tool. People who are on Pinterest, are there on purpose, searching something that they are looking for.

Instagram and Tiktok tend to be places where you visit for inspiration without focus. When a consumer is on Pinterest, they are looking to learn, research, plan and purchase on a specific topic. This is a very distinct difference in the mindset of the people who come across your content on various online marketing channels.

On other social media platforms, you’re looking to reach people. On Pinterest, people are looking to find you and find solutions to their problems.

In addition to this, when you create content for Pinterest, if you include highly searchable keywords (which I teach you specifically inside my Power of Pinterest workshop), your pins will appear when people are searching for what it is they are looking for.

{ Watch The Power of Pinterest Masterclass Now }

WHY BLOG CONTENT SHOULD BE PART OF YOUR PROFITABLE PINTEREST STRATEGY:

If we take a look at a platform like Instagram, one piece of content typically lasts for about 24 hours and then goes buried to a backlog feed. Pinterest posts are highly relevant and searchable for at least 6 months, which gets you much more out of your time and energy when it comes to content creation.

Once I realized the power of Pinterest, I turned my focus completely on Pinterest and gave it my full attention. The great thing about Pinterest is that with just some time, focus and attention you can completely see growth and exposure to your content blog and/or business in a short amount of time.

How you can use Pinterest & a BLOG to make money online (6 STEPS):

STEP ONE: Start a blog and create helpful and engaging content (like a long form blog post) that compels users to click and learn. Focus on solution oriented content. Be sure to use the keyword search strategies that I teach inside of this workshop to help you create content that people are searching for. Pinterest also has free tools like Pinterest trends that can help you.

STEP TWO: Add affiliate links to the blog post, like Amazon affiliates (you will get paid a commission) and/or add links to the products and services you are selling so that your user can purchase from you.

STEP THREE: Add on a display ad agency like Google Adsense or She Media (apply here) that will pay you based on the amount of traffic you get to your blog.

STEP FOUR: Set up your Pinterest account properly. Turn your personal Pinterest account into a business account instead of creating a new one. You want to do this so that you aren’t starting from scratch, Pinterest prefers aged accounts.

Then you need to fill out your profile completely, including most recent headshot or logo. Add a good description of what your company does. Add what you are passionate about and what you love to Pin. This will help Pinners find and connect with you. Don’t forget to include your website address in your profile. You’ll also need that to verify your site, which you must do to access your Analytics.

STEP FIVE: Get busy creating graphics that compel users to click and be led to the content. This is an example of one of my highest converting pins. Link these pins to your blog content or newsletter opt in.

You can create for ANY kind of business. Here are some examples:

A home decor blogger can tailor their bio and profile to include keywords like “cozy interior inspiration” or “DIY home projects.”

• Action Tip: Include a clear call-to-action in your profile, like “Follow for weekly home decor ideas!”

• Why It Works: Your Pinterest profile acts as a storefront, so make it clear what you offer and who it’s for.

A wellness coach can create Idea Pins on “5 Morning Habits to Boost Energy” or “Quick Meditation for Stress Relief.”

• Action Tip: Use Idea Pins to share tutorials, tips, or a step-by-step guide without needing a link—these build authority and attract followers.

• Why It Works: Pinterest prioritizes Idea Pins, and they help you connect with your audience while encouraging saves and shares.

A small business selling handmade candles can pin product photos with titles like “The Best Relaxing Candle Scents for Cozy Nights.”

• Action Tip: Ensure every pin links to a blog post, product page, or relevant landing page—make clicking irresistible!

• Why It Works: Traffic to your blog or site equals potential leads, sales, or readers.

A podcast host can include a bio like “Your go-to podcast for self-improvement tips and inspiring interviews” and link directly to their website or podcast landing page.

1. Tip: Include a clear call-to-action, like “Listen now for weekly tips on personal growth!”

2. Why It Works: People on Pinterest are searching for solutions, you can create pins with solutions and link to your podcast.

STEP SIX: Create a consistent posting strategy. You can use the built in Pinterest pre-scheduling service & plan your posting ahead of time. In my experience, consistent daily Pinterest activity is best. I share my exact strategy inside my course, Power of Pinterest.

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have any questions or helpful tips, share them in the comments below.

You may also like:

How to start a profitable blog, Step by Step

How to start a lifestyle business and make money online