Your Fun & Profitable Online Business · Episode 38
My Visibility Experiment: One Month on Instagram
Wendy spent four weeks testing a version of Instagram that looked less like “content creation” and more like her actual life. The result was not a viral formula. It was a visibility rhythm she did not dread.
Press play for the four-week experiment that changed how visibility felt
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The experiment started with one rule change
Stop manufacturing content. Start documenting your life.
Wendy did not need a better way to perform on Instagram. She needed permission to let Instagram show more of the business and life she was already living.
Curated. Noisy. Talking-head pressure. Trying to create something that looked like business content.
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The pond. The chickens. The property. Work behind the scenes. Power Hour from the gazebo. The actual story around the business.
For years, Instagram felt like a place Wendy was supposed to fit herself into. She knew visibility mattered, but the version she pictured felt too curated, too noisy, and too far from how she actually wanted to communicate.
So she gave herself four weeks to stop trying to solve Instagram and simply test a different way of being there.
This was not a content challenge
The experiment began October 1. The goal was not to post every day, chase a growth target, or prove that one format beat another. Wendy wanted to see what happened if she showed up more personally and treated her real life as part of the story instead of something separate from the business.
That mattered because her brand was never only what happened on a coaching call. The same intention and joy showed up while walking the property, feeding the chickens, working beside the pond, or hosting Power Hour from the gazebo.
Four weeks of field notes
The most interesting part of the experiment was not one winning post. It was watching the relationship with visibility change week by week.
1
Once Wendy stopped trying to create content from scratch and started sharing what was already happening, visibility felt more personal and less like putting on an online-business costume.
2
Refreshing insights and watching reach percentages turned the creative playground back into a corporate dashboard. The numbers were useful, but the way she was watching them was changing the experiment.
3
Two to three posts a week felt like enough to stay visible and engaged without making Instagram a chore. Consistency became a rhythm she could repeat instead of a streak she could break.
4
Phone folders, batching, saved clips, a simple branded outro, and scheduling support reduced the friction on busy or low-energy days.
She was tracking more than Instagram
Wendy logged every post, story, and reel. But she also checked in with herself. Was she excited to publish it? Did it feel natural to share? Would she want to make something like it again?
That meant a post could “perform” and still fail the experiment if creating it felt forced or disconnected from her.
A visibility strategy is not sustainable if the numbers improve while you start dreading the process that produced them.
One perfectly fine post still got deleted
One moment clarified the whole experiment: Wendy deleted a post that was performing absolutely fine because it did not feel like her.
That decision mattered more than the post itself. It meant the algorithm was no longer the only judge of whether something belonged in her visibility strategy.
Algorithms change. Authenticity does not.
Alignment did not mean ignoring results. It meant refusing to call something successful when the result required a version of visibility she did not want to keep doing.
The result was not “I love Instagram now”
After four weeks, Wendy did not suddenly become a person who adored social media. She missed days. She even missed a week. Not every post landed.
But something much more useful happened: she stopped dreading it.
She found a two-to-three-post rhythm, enjoyed the creative process more, built systems that made showing up easier, and proved she could use Instagram without turning visibility into a performance.
That is why experiments are so useful
Wendy did not get clarity by thinking harder about the perfect visibility strategy. She got clarity by doing something small enough to test, noticing what happened, and adjusting while she was in motion.
The experiment answered questions planning alone could not answer: What feels natural? What drains me? What amount can I sustain? What helps people connect? What makes me want to keep going?
That is the real win. The goal is not to discover the universal right way to show up. It is to gather enough evidence to design your way.
Run a one-week visibility experiment
Pick one small thing to test:
- Choose one behavior: a short daily story, a behind-the-scenes photo, a simple carousel, or another format you are curious about.
- Track what you shared and what happened.
- Write down how creating and publishing it felt.
- At the end of the week, decide what you would repeat, change, or stop.
Questions about visibility experiments
What is a visibility experiment?
A visibility experiment is a small, time-limited test of how you show up for your audience. Instead of committing to a permanent strategy, you try something, observe both the results and your experience, and use what you learn to decide what comes next.
How often did Wendy decide to post on Instagram?
The experiment showed that two to three posts per week felt like a sustainable rhythm for her – enough to stay visible without turning Instagram into a daily obligation.
What did Wendy track besides reach and engagement?
She tracked her own response to the content: whether it felt natural, whether she enjoyed sharing it, and whether it was something she would want to repeat.
Did Wendy’s Instagram numbers improve?
Yes. Even with missed days and a missed week, the numbers improved. More importantly, the process felt lighter and more sustainable.
What was the biggest takeaway?
Visibility worked better when it became an extension of Wendy’s real life and business instead of a performance shaped around what she thought Instagram expected.
Read the full episode transcript
Episode 38 transcript: My Visibility Experiment: One Month on Instagram
Hey there, and welcome to episode 38 of Your Fun and Profitable Online Business. This is the podcast that helps you grow your business with intention, momentum, and of course, a sprinkle of confetti. I’m your host, Wendy Muzzy, a certified money coach and online business strategist. And I help women entrepreneurs build businesses that feel as good as they look. Every month I run a visibility experiment, and this month was centered around showing up on Instagram. I decided to approach it from a different angle than I’d ever before. Sharing not just my work, but my life here at the Little Millstone, the animals, the pond, the behind the scenes moments that make my business my story. And of course, the adventures I have with my amazing husband, Sean. Now, this wasn’t about the trends or algorithms. It was about testing something that I had avoided for a long time to see what would happen if I simply showed up more personally. And today, I’m sharing the lessons I learned about creating content that actually feels aligned and fun. So if you’ve ever thought, I want to be on social media more, but just not like that. This one’s for you. All right, let’s get to it. I want to be honest for a second. Visibility can feel weird. It’s awkward. Like it’s one thing to show up for your clients and deliver your services. But for me, it’s a totally different thing to show up on camera and hope it connects. Now, for years, I avoided Instagram for my business and really for my home life as well. It just felt like too much. It was too curated or too noisy and too far from what I really wanted to say. But honestly, I just didn’t want to be a talking head scrolling on the screen. My brand is me. And I didn’t feel like that was me. But in reality, the same intention and joy that I bring to my clients are the same things that show up when I’m walking the property or feeding the chickens or hosting Power Hour from the gazebo. These are my stories. And this is what makes my business mine. So instead of trying to create content, I decided to document what I was already doing. And something shifted. Suddenly, visibility didn’t feel like a performance. I felt more personal. And that’s why this experiment mattered. Because visibility isn’t about showing up more. It’s about showing up differently. In a way that reflects who you really are. Not just who you think you need to be to be successful online. It’s about giving yourself permission to test, to try something without immediately labeling it right or wrong. And in this space of curiosity and reflection is where real learning lives and your confidence grows. And for me, that’s what this experiment became, a real-time lesson in showing up as myself and letting my feelings guide me forward. This lasted over four weeks. It started on October 1st, and now we’re four weeks in. And here’s what I did and what I learned. I’m going to give you step by step. Step number one, I tracked my process. Every post, every story, every reel, I locked it. And when I posted, I checked in with myself to see how it felt. Because I wasn’t just testing the numbers and the content performance. I was testing my energy. Was I excited when I hit publish? Did it feel natural to share that moment? Was it something I’d do again? Anything that felt like I was trying too hard to be on brand was cut. I’m like, I’m not doing it. Step number two, I focused on the process, not the numbers. Now, this was a big one. During week two, I started to get caught up in my metrics. I’d refresh my insights. I’d check what reach percentage looked like. And instantly, I felt the joy disappear. It felt like I was going back to a corporate dashboard instead of a creative playground. And that’s where this took a big step back for me. Yes, tracking matters. I will say that for as long as you’ll hear me. But when I focus on my metrics instead of the meaning, I start to lose momentum. So I started asking, what feels fun to share today? It started to get lighter and my creativity returned. And I actually look forward to creating again. So my takeaway here, track your data, but don’t let it define your joy. If it starts to feel like pressure, simplify your data you’re collecting. You can always refine later. Step three, I learned what consistency really means to me. At one point, I thought it meant showing up daily, that showing up every single day was how it was done. That’s wrong. Through this experiment, I found my rhythm. I found out that two to three posts a week is my sweet spot. Enough to stay visible, enough to stay engaged, but not so much that it becomes a chore. And that’s what I tell my clients too. You get to define consistency for you. It’s not about quantity. It’s about a rhythm. Step number four, I built systems for ease. Now, I created folders on my phone for different photos and videos so I could easily pull them and to know what I needed to edit and everything else. And this way, whenever I had an idea, I could quickly grab what I needed. I used Canva to design a simple branded outro for my reels, which was a ton of fun, by the way. And I started editing in batches. I started filming new clips at once. I started saving them for later and then posting when it felt right. These small systems made it so much easier for me to show up, especially on the days when my energy was low, my client load was heavy, or life was just busy. Now visibility should work for your life, not against it. Take that lesson and figure out a way to put that in your visibility plan. Step number five, I learned that alignment is way better than algorithms. Now this might be my biggest takeaway. At one point I deleted a post that was performing absolutely fine, but it didn’t feel like me. And that was such an empowering moment because when you’re running your business online, it’s easy to start shaping your content for the algorithm. But really, we’re here to connect with our audience. Algorithms change. Authenticity, it doesn’t. I’d rather have views from people who truly get what I’m talking about than a ton from people who don’t connect at all. And that’s what I kept reminding myself. Visibility isn’t about being everywhere all the time. It’s about being seen for who I really am. After a month of experimenting, here’s what changed for me. I stopped dreading social media. Now, do I love it? No, not yet, but I don’t dread it. And that’s huge. And I really started to enjoy the creative process. Like, how can this work? How can I make this fit? What’s the message I want to give? And I realized social media can be an extension of who I already am, not a performance. So here’s the surprising part. Even though I missed a few days and a week at one point, and even though not every post landed, my numbers still improved. The data showed me it worked and the feeling proved it was sustainable. I felt lighter, more at ease, more connected to the process. And that’s the real magic of experimenting. You don’t get clarity by thinking, you get it by doing, by testing things in the wild, learning as you go and adjusting when needed. Now, I’m creating a rhythm that I can sustain and I’m using automation tools for scheduling. That’s what I’ve learned through this. Now, I’ll probably say this a hundred times a month. Visibility isn’t about going viral. It’s about showing up in a way that feels good to you. All right, let’s get to your action step this week. I want you to run your own mini experiment on Instagram or social media. You pick the platform of your choice. And I want you to pick one small thing to test. Maybe you share 15-second stories every day for a week, or you post a behind-the-scenes photo of your daily work, or maybe you write a short carousel about why you do what you do. Whatever you choose, track it. Note how it feels, how your audience responds, and what you learn. Remember, this isn’t about perfection. It’s about data and discovery. Keep it simple, keep it curious, and let yourself play. All right, let’s wrap this up. Here’s what my visibility experiment taught me this month. Instagram isn’t about volume, it’s about alignment. It’s about finding your own rhythm, your voice, your version of showing up that feels fun and sustainable. And sometimes the best way to figure that out is just to try it, even if it’s messy, even if you’re still figuring it out as you go. Because every experiment gives you insight and insight creates momentum. Now, if you wanna see my full visibility log, I’ve linked it in the show notes at wendymuzzy.com/38, or you can go to wendymuzzy.com/experiment. And if you want help designing your own fun and profitable business experiment, I’d love to help you brainstorm it. You can schedule a call with me at wendymuzzy.com/call. Next week, we’re taking this one step further because if you’ve experimented with visibility, the next question becomes, how do I keep this going without burning out? That’s what we’ll explore in episode 39, building a sustainable system using data. I’ll show you how to turn experiments like this into a rhythm you can trust. So visibility becomes something that supports your business, not something that drains it. All right, until next time, happy experimenting!