Simplify to Thrive: Lessons from an Instagram Expert on Building a Business Aligned with Your Life
Jan 28, 2025Topics: Social media marketing, how to make money online, make money online, passive income, online business
In this episode of The Blue Sofa, I sit down with Instagram expert and online course creator, Carla Biesinger, to uncover her journey of building a thriving online business while staying true to her values. Carla shares her unique insights on Instagram growth strategies, simplifying digital marketing, and the importance of work-life balance for entrepreneurs.
🔑 What You'll Learn in This Episode:
- How Carla transitioned from owning a restaurant to becoming a social media marketing expert.
- The secrets behind her Instagram growth strategy that led to 10,000+ followers in just six months.
- Why simplifying your business is key to success and sustainability.
- The power of setting boundaries with social media to protect your mental health.
- How to align your business with your life and redefine success on your terms.
💡 Whether you're a content creator, entrepreneur, or simply looking for inspiration to make money online while maintaining balance, this episode is packed with actionable tips and honest reflections.
Listen To Next:
From Burned-out To Soulful Success - My Story
Ressources
Connect with Carla On Instagram
More about this online business podcast
In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing and social media marketing, it can often feel like we’re on a treadmill, chasing the next trend, algorithm update, or growth hack. For entrepreneurs striving to make money online, maintaining alignment with their values and achieving a healthy work-life balance can seem like a pipe dream. But Instagram expert Carla Biesinger is here to show us it doesn’t have to be that way.
Having built her business from scratch, Carla has spent the last eight years helping entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of how to grow on Instagram and attract their ideal clients. In a recent episode of The Blue Sofa Podcast, Carla shared her journey, challenges, and insights, offering a fresh perspective on success and sustainability in the online business world.
From Burnout to Balance: A Personal Journey
Carla didn’t start her entrepreneurial career in the online world. Her first venture was a restaurant in Argentina, a brick-and-mortar business that demanded constant attention. After parting ways with her business and personal partner, she realized that the traditional business model wasn’t for her. She desired freedom, both financially and in lifestyle, and began exploring ways to make money online.
While creating her first online course, Carla’s Instagram account quickly gained traction, growing to 10,000 followers in just six months. Recognizing the demand, she pivoted her focus to developing a comprehensive Instagram growth strategy, which later became the foundation of her business.
But her journey wasn’t without challenges. Carla openly discussed her struggles with burnout and the pressure of chasing revenue goals set by industry norms. “There’s always this idea that you need to hit six figures, then seven figures, and keep pushing,” she shared. “But I realized that my business wasn’t about hitting arbitrary milestones. It was about creating a life that aligned with my values.”
The Key to Instagram Success: Simplification
One of Carla’s biggest lessons for entrepreneurs looking to grow their audience and attract clients is the power of simplification. Her Instagram growth strategy focuses on:
- Authenticity Over Overwhelm: Forget the pressure to post multiple times a day. Instead, focus on creating content that genuinely connects with your audience. Quality trumps quantity every time.
- Boundaries for Balance: Carla encourages setting clear boundaries with social media. “Taking time off Instagram was one of the best decisions I made for my mental health,” she explained. She’s even experimented with deleting the app for a month, proving that you don’t have to be constantly online to achieve success.
- Doubling Down on What Works: Rather than spreading herself thin with multiple products or platforms, Carla chose to optimize what was already working. For her, that meant scaling her Instagram funnel and focusing on profitability instead of chasing revenue.
The Importance of Alignment and Resilience
As a seasoned entrepreneur, Carla’s advice extends beyond social media marketing strategies. She emphasizes the importance of aligning your business with your personal goals and values. “Success isn’t just about how much money you make. It’s about creating a life that feels good to you,” she said.
When her business hit a rough patch in 2023, Carla took a step back to reevaluate her goals. She realized that resilience—the ability to get back up and try again—was just as critical as any marketing strategy. “Bad things will happen. But if you have the resilience to keep going, you’ll always find a way forward.”
How You Can Apply Carla’s Strategies
If you’re an entrepreneur looking to make money online and simplify your digital marketing approach, here are Carla’s top tips:
- Focus on One Platform: Instead of trying to master every social media platform, choose one that aligns with your business and go all-in. For many, Instagram’s versatility makes it the perfect choice.
- Set Boundaries: Protect your energy by setting limits on your social media time. Remember, you’re building a business to serve your life, not the other way around.
- Simplify Your Strategy: Stop chasing every new trend. Focus on what works and double down on it.
- Be Authentic: Create content that reflects your values and speaks to your audience’s needs. Genuine connections build trust and loyalty.
- Invest in Yourself: Whether it’s learning new skills, working with a coach, or simply taking time for self-care, prioritize your personal and professional growth.
Final Thoughts
Carla’s story is a powerful reminder that success in social media marketing isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing what matters. By focusing on alignment, setting boundaries, and simplifying her approach, she’s built a thriving business that supports her dream lifestyle—and she’s helping others do the same.
If you’re ready to simplify your business and thrive, take Carla’s advice: define success on your terms, prioritize your well-being, and let your values guide your strategy. As Carla says, “The idea is to build the business around your lifestyle, not the other way around.”
Read The Full Transcript
Welcome to another episode of the blue sofa. So today I have a special guest for you. I want to introduce you to Carla. Carla is the one and only if you want to learn how to grow your Instagram.
And she's also a fellow female entrepreneur that I personally just enjoy hanging out with and enjoy being around because of her amazing energy and also her wisdom. So I hope you will welcome her in today's episode and just enjoy all the soulful secrets that she's spilling and also a very candid, wholesome
and inspirational conversation. Enjoy.
Mia Poulsen (00:00)
What do you do?
Carla (00:01)
Yes. So my name is Carla Biesinger. I am an online course creator. I've been doing this for eight years by now, which is kind of crazy. And the main thing that I teach is Instagram. So how to grow your audience on Instagram, how to use it to build relationships and how to attract ideal clients. And then on the backend, I teach some other things like email marketing, how to create online courses, et cetera. But I'm kind of become known for
being an Instagram go.
Mia Poulsen (00:32)
And the best one, if anyone
needs a course, I'm just saying.
Carla (00:36)
Thank
you.
Mia Poulsen (00:39)
Yeah, amazing. And what made you go in that direction? Because I know it's not exactly where you started, right?
Carla (00:49)
Yeah, so my first business was actually a restaurant that I had in Argentina together with my boyfriend at the time. And when we broke up and when I left, I took a job briefly for about five months and very quickly realized that I didn't like working for someone else. And so I started thinking about what kind of business I wanted to create and started taking
online courses to learn how to sell stuff online because my experience with the restaurant, I knew that having a business in one location and having a big team and all those things wasn't really something that I wanted because I really always desired to have this kind of freedom lifestyle. And so I started taking all these online courses, had a few different ideas of what I wanted to create. And eventually I kind of thought to myself, maybe I could create an online course. It doesn't seem to be that difficult. You just, you know,
create a webinar and then people just buy your course. And so I initially thought I wanted to create a course teaching all different social media platforms. Twitter at the time it was Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Thank God I didn't do that because already teaching one platform and keeping up with one is a lot. And so over six months while I was creating this course and
Mia Poulsen (02:08)
It's a lot.
Carla (02:16)
building my audience and learning about these different platforms, my Instagram account kind of took off and I grew to over 10,000 followers in six months. And people started asking me how I was doing that. And I just kind of realized that a lot of people were interested in Instagram more than in other platforms. And so I actually had almost finished that first course. It was called 15 minutes to social and
then realized, actually, I think I'm just gonna go for Instagram. And basically just took that one part from that course that I did launch it eventually, the other one, but I'm not selling it actively. And I just went ahead with Instagram and then my account kept growing and it just kind of felt like people want this and I just kind of kept going with it.
Mia Poulsen (03:07)
Amazing. That is
so funny because I learned about you through a friend and she followed you because... How did she put it? She was like, she has a lot of nice food. I think you had great recommendations for food and travel and stuff like that. She was like, take a look at her. has nice food. And I was like, yeah, right.
Carla (03:29)
my God. I didn't know that.
That's so funny. And that would have been a long time ago because initially, because I had the background with the restaurant, I was actually targeting food entrepreneurs. I was working a lot with food bloggers, food photographers, chefs, et cetera. So my whole feed was all about food because deep down...
Mia Poulsen (03:33)
No, it's funny, right?
Carla (03:52)
I just am a huge foodie. And I was like, if I could just look at pictures of food all day, that would be amazing.
Mia Poulsen (03:54)
Yeah, me too!
And
my friend, her husband and my husband are friends and we are friends so we kind of we travel the world just to eat so she was like you need to that's just like a lot of food on that account so that was was actually why how I met you isn't that funny? No it's so funny yeah yeah
Carla (04:15)
That's amazing!
I had no idea. That's awesome.
Mia Poulsen (04:23)
And eventually she was like, and she also has this Instagram course and I was like, interesting. Yeah. But I love how that passion just kind of, it's so magnetic, you know, that passion kind of drew us together. Yeah. Yeah. It's so funny. Yeah. And how would you say, if you, if you were to define your mission today, how would you define that?
Carla (04:29)
You
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That's awesome.
Yeah, I think this kind of evolved because in the beginning, my mission was just, I don't want to ever go back to Germany, so I just need to make some money somehow. And then as my business grew, I started to realize, so when I was in the the relationship where we had the restaurant together, it was essentially his business. And after five years, when we broke up, he kept the business and I
kind of had to start over again. And I felt that it was so difficult for me and I really regretted being so financially dependent on a man and kind of swore to myself that I would never get into a situation like that again. And as I was building my business and as you know, I had women reach out who said they wanted to take my course, they have to speak to their husband or like them buying the course.
maybe on their husband's credit card, their husband going mental at them, then them asking for a refund. I was like, my God, like there's so many women out there who are not financially independent. And that's really my mission. Like, first of all, I think you're the creator of your own life. And so if you have a passion and you want to do something that's different and you want to start your own business and create something, I...
Mia Poulsen (05:54)
I love that.
Carla (06:09)
will always be the number one cheerleader for people just doing their own thing. But then the next thing is, OK, you also want to, mean, not maybe not for everyone, but if you want to create that business to also have financial independence and experience more time and more wealth, that's really my mission behind it.
Mia Poulsen (06:29)
Yeah, I love that. That's and I can confirm for you being like the best cheerleader of any female entrepreneur because I've seen you in real life Doing that so that's really an amazing mission and fully embodied also and I know I know that you have I think like most people like you've been in business for eight years and I think I've been in business for a little more than ten years and I think if you talk to anybody who's been in business for like
several years, they will have a story about how they built something and how they had to change it up to fit their life or to fit a mission or to fit like, just because they felt it's kind of out of alignment, some capacity. And I know you have a similar story and I would love to hear about that.
Carla (07:18)
Yeah. So as a course creator slash, you know, I have offered coaching as well, along with my courses and you're in that coaching bubble, I'm going to call it. I feel like there's a lot of pressure to achieve certain things. So, you know, you're seeing other business owners online who talk about how much money they make and you kind of feel like
Mia Poulsen (07:39)
Mm, definitely.
Carla (07:47)
or at least I felt that, okay, I have to hit six figures. That's like my first kind of benchmark of being successful. There's like the idea of having a six figure launch, which by the way, I've never had because I don't like launching and it's just, I don't like it. Yeah. And then, you know, once you hit six figures, then your next goal should be to hit seven figures. And so while I was on that,
kind of track and I was hitting these goals, I realized like, okay, I was just always chasing more. And I'm not someone who leads a lot with money. I think, you know, it can be very inspiring to hear other women talk about how much they make, but it's just not my way of marketing. So eventually I had this realization where I was like, okay, I'm like pushing myself so hard and I've had burnout, you know,
a couple of times throughout these eight years because of this external pressure to like make a certain amount. And at the end of the day, I was like, OK, first of all, I never talk about how much money I make. And I really feel like no one really cares because people are just really thinking about their own goals. Right. So they don't really care if I made six figures or seven figures or however many figures. And the other realization I had was
much more personal when I was on holidays with my family and I realized, had this conversation with my dad and I realized like, wow, actually everything I've been doing was just to make my dad proud. And even though I've made multiple seven figures, my dad still thinks I'm not financially savvy.
Mia Poulsen (09:24)
now.
That is so funny. But what a great realization, first of all to have that conversation or have that realization with yourself. But also I just find it so interesting how we can...
value our own performance based on what we think other people think about us. And then when we actually confront it or dive into it, we realize they will always think a certain thing, but it was a certain way about us, no matter what we do or how we do it. It's just so interesting. And what changed for you after that?
Carla (10:08)
Yeah.
So this actually all happened last year when I was going through a bit of a rocky time with my business because I was just, you know, for between 2020 and 2023, like beginning of 2023, my business just kind of kept growing exponentially. And then at the beginning of last year, the ad agency I was working with, there was a shift, my ads just stopped performing. And so
After that holiday with my dad, when I had that talk and my ads weren't going well, I was just like, you know what? I think I'm just going to shut it all down. And I turned off my ads and I turned off my funnel and I basically just had this moment of maybe I just want to get a job because I'm so lonely just working from home all the time, being on my own. And I started dating someone who has a job and I was so
like jealous in a way of the friends he had at work and just this idea of going to work and having like coffee breaks and stuff like that. And basically, yeah, had a huge phase of re-evaluating what I wanted to do and if I wanted to keep going. And, you know, I had payment plans coming in. So for a couple of months, I was actually pretty fine because I still had all that money coming in. But then at some point, the money stopped coming in and I was like,
Mia Poulsen (11:19)
Yeah.
Carla (11:41)
was actually quite nice having that money coming from my funnel. So maybe I should turn the funnel back on, but I'm going to go into this with a very different mindset. And so I actually looked at, you know, the revenue goal that I had had before. And I looked at how much profit I was making, which is at the end of the day, that's what matters, right? Because
Mia Poulsen (11:46)
you
Carla (12:11)
Like if you're not even leading with how much revenue you're making, like who cares? So at the beginning of this year, I set myself a profit goal, which I can share it. was 150,000 euros because I figured that is kind of the amount of money I need to make to just have like continue to have my lifestyle, to be able to put money aside and to just be fine. Like anything more, okay, would be great.
less than that, I could live off less, but that was just my goal. And I set myself the goal to make that amount in the first quarter of this year because I wanted to stop getting so anxious and feeling so anxious whenever times weren't going so well, things weren't going so well, especially with the ads and just, you know, throughout the year, you just like keep pushing, keep pushing. And then you come to the end of the year and you're like, my God, I didn't achieve what I wanted to achieve.
And I was like, okay, I know January, February are typically the best months for me with ads. And then it kind of tends to dip. And that's when then my anxiety takes over and I have sleepless nights and stress out about the ads and stuff. And so I actually hit that goal by the end of Q1. And then I thought, okay, everything else I do for the rest of the year is just the bonus. And it kind of already goes towards what I want to earn next year. And it just was a massive shift. This like,
Mia Poulsen (13:22)
Thank you.
Carla (13:34)
shift from chasing revenue to like really evaluating and thinking about how much money realistically do I want to be making? Sure, there is like the minimum baseline, right? Where you're like, okay, if I don't make this, I'll like have to get a job because at the end of the day, we need to have money coming in to pay the bills. But like what is kind of the amount that would feel really good to me?
without kind of chasing these numbers just because that's what other people are doing. And it was so freeing.
Mia Poulsen (14:07)
I love that. I love that. I feel there's so much, it can almost be toxic. It's gonna be a toxic environment to be in when you like have to perform all the time to be successful instead of just like you did. I think it's so inspiring. Just go back to yourself and be like, well, I get to define this. I get to define what is success for me. What does it look like? And how much money is just like a
Carla (14:12)
Mmm.
Mia Poulsen (14:34)
byproduct of that, right? But I really think that's, and something completely different, but I feel it's a trend. Maybe not even a trend, but I feel like a lot of people are waking up and say, okay, building a business should not necessarily be about how much money can I make, but more like how can I support my family, support my lifestyle, and actually turn this contribution of mine into something.
that makes a real difference for other people.
Carla (15:04)
Yeah, yeah, it was big.
Mia Poulsen (15:07)
And how do you, if you were to describe your life, like you talked about sleepless nights, anxieties and stuff like that, if you were to describe your life before this shift, and now, how would you describe that?
Carla (15:21)
Yeah, I mean, I always say, when people ask me, how are you doing? Like people that I haven't seen in a while, you know, when you're catching up and they ask like, how is business? I'm always like, well, it depends on how the ads are going. So if the ads are going well, I'm doing good. And if the ads are not going well, I'm probably pretty stressed. And this year, I mean, there was definitely months where it was going well and there were some months where it was going not so well.
But because I had this kind of reframe, I felt much more peace and calm. Calmness this year. And definitely the years before, I mean, it was just such a roller coaster. also think because with the restaurant, it was always like whenever things were going well, something bad would happen. And we never got to a place where we were really thriving. Like we were always kind of
Mia Poulsen (15:59)
and
Carla (16:20)
surviving. And even in my first few years in this business, it felt like such a struggle. So I was actually so stuck in this, like mindset or just like reality of just never, it never getting like really good. And whenever I would get really good, something bad would happen. And so,
for years actually, even once I started to do really well, I always thought something bad is gonna happen. And so anytime the ads would be like a little bit rocky, I would be like completely stressed out. And then last year when I actually, you know, the worst thing happened and I turned off my funnel and then eventually restarted, I was like, my God, literally the worst case scenario happened. And then I did it again.
And everything, like I just did it again, you know? And it's kind of this, that was a huge moment, I think, for me to realize like, yeah, like things are not always gonna be great and bad things will happen, whatever they look like, you know, it could be team related or ads related or like whatever related, but you always like, if you have the resilience, you just get up and try again.
Mia Poulsen (17:38)
Did you work, consciously work with that? Was that one of your realizations?
Carla (17:45)
So these fears of something bad happening, that definitely was something that has come up in coaching conversations or even conversations with friends. There was a big shift this year where I was in a coaching call and we were talking about quantum leaps, right? Making moves that...
allow you to go from like, let's just put it in numbers, 10 to 100 instead of going from 10 to 20 to 30 to 40, blah, blah, And they asked me what would be a quantum move I would make if I knew that it was going to work. And so I said, well, so what I, what I kind of feel like I should do is build another product.
and build that funnel in case my Instagram funnel stops working.
But what I actually feel like would be the quantum move would just be to double my ads. And so that was actually a huge realization. And since then I've kind of killed product after product and have just continued to optimize and increase my ad spend. And I suddenly have more time because I'm not doing a hundred million offers. And I'm actually.
Mia Poulsen (18:52)
yeah, interesting.
Carla (19:16)
have more income because I'm going all in on the thing that's working instead of living influenced by the fear and doing all these other things.
Mia Poulsen (19:26)
So for you, like creating, we both know, like we create courses. It's a lot of work. It's like creating a course is one thing, like marketing it, like validating it is one thing, scaling it's like completely different game. So what I hear you say is.
Carla (19:34)
Yeah.
Mia Poulsen (19:47)
You wanting to add more complexity to your business was like the first, actually like a first signal of the trauma.
Carla (20:00)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's like you've got to be prepared. It's so funny because people were always like, are you going to be on TikTok? Are you going to create a TikTok course? Like that's what you should be doing. I was like, my God, I don't think I want to be on TikTok. And like, well, what if Instagram, like, is not going to be popular anymore? And now like TikTok is getting banned in the U.S. I'm just like, my God, thank God I didn't create that course. But.
Mia Poulsen (20:03)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah,
yeah.
Carla (20:26)
You know,
you're you're influenced by what other people say as well.
that's something that I think I never really realized, but some friends have told me that. Friends come to me to share about their business ideas because I guess they know that I will say, go for it. And I've realized that this year that often they go to people who don't get it and then feel like they're going to talk them out of it. Because people just live by.
in fear.
Mia Poulsen (21:02)
is so true. I sometimes get clients that say, my husband or family is not supporting me. They say I shouldn't do it. And I'm like, of course they do. It's super scared. And when you go and ask them, you just met that level of scared in you. So ask somebody else, ask somebody who did it.
Carla (21:17)
Hmm. Yep.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Mia Poulsen (21:29)
Yeah, but we do
that all the time, I think, with different things, just to validate that the fear that we are having is real and we really shouldn't dive into it. Yeah. Yeah. So what do you use all that time for now?
Carla (21:36)
Yep. Yeah.
So I recently started pottery classes. Yeah, it's so fun. I realized that I really enjoy creating art. I've taken some online courses on like abstract paintings. I just took another one I haven't actually started yet. But I did an art therapy program with a friend, which was really cool. And I'm
Mia Poulsen (21:48)
amazing. Yeah. I saw that actually on Instagram. It looked so nice.
Carla (22:13)
into crypto.
Mia Poulsen (22:15)
I didn't know that! It's so funny, yeah.
Carla (22:17)
Yeah. And
I actually, just I've been doing crypto since 2020. And recently have decided I think I want to get more into it in the next year because it's it's there's some opportunity. And I just bought a crypto course and decided that because I think for a long time I felt that making money with crypto.
wasn't money that was earned in the way that when you work hard on your business. So I think I was kind of held back by that because I think that's... Yeah. And I'm like, you know what, like actually learning about this stuff and investing time and, you know, risking things, it actually is very well deserved and earned. So I'm going to make more time for it.
Mia Poulsen (22:56)
definitely, like a mindset shift, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. You know, I wouldn't have taken you for someone who traded crypto, but I can see the excitement and the fun in it. Like going to a casino without having to go to a casino, having to dress up and all that stuff we don't want to.
Carla (23:17)
I
the
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So those and then I love I have a gym nearby that does kind of group classes. So I love going there. Just also meeting friends, you know, just it's amazing how easily you can fill the day. And obviously I don't have kids. So there's like all that extra time as well. So it's just been nice to actually purposefully fill my days instead of
I notice sometimes when I don't have much going on, I don't also actually do that much and I just kind of procrastinate and, you know, hang out on Instagram. And that often doesn't feel good.
Mia Poulsen (24:15)
like everybody else.
And then I actually think you are the only Instagram expert slash coach I know just takes a month off Instagram. Can you tell a little bit about that?
Carla (24:34)
Yeah, I've done it. So I think two years ago, I just deleted Instagram from my phone for an entire month because I just felt like I don't even remember why I did it. I just felt like I think I was always feeling the pressure to respond to people. And I just set up this auto reply saying I'm taking a break for my mental health. If you're a client, this is where you can find me. If you have questions, can message like email us.
And I got actually such a positive response on that. I put up a post. was like, I don't know, I've posted X thousand of Instagram posts and I need a break. And then I just deleted it. I didn't even check. And it was like so well received. It was actually amazing. And then I usually do one big trip per year. The last two years I've spent a month in Asia. And I just...
kind of allow myself to not post. And I sometimes share on stories if I feel like it, but yeah, that's been really cool to also realize, you know, people don't unfollow you. Most people probably actually don't even notice and the algorithm doesn't punish you. So it's totally okay. I mean, you know, I wouldn't recommend it doing that.
Mia Poulsen (25:52)
Yeah.
Carla (25:58)
all the time if you're wanting to use it as a business tool but I think having some boundaries and having some offline time is really important. Like I often don't go on Instagram on the weekend and yeah not feeling that pressure that you always have to be on and you always have to reply and if you don't post your posts you know you're gonna lose all your followers.
I recommend doing it as a just mental experiment.
Mia Poulsen (26:32)
Yeah, but
also, I mean, on Instagram and any social media, can be way too accessible and way too, you know, obligation to answer whenever our clients or followers are asking us something. And it does disturb the peace. I think.
Carla (26:51)
Yeah.
Mia Poulsen (26:55)
we can get like a lot of experts to confirm how it's really not good for our mental health to be available all the time. so when I have been diving into the whole
of using Instagram to grow my business, what I have heard anybody else except you say is like, got to post every day, sometimes three times a day, I mean, be on, answer every comment within an hour and every DM and all that stuff. And I think it just scares a lot of people away because they know by, they know themself and they're like, if I have to be that available.
It's going to harm my mental health basically. It's gonna harm my nervous system. My nervous system can't take being that available all the time. Yeah.
Carla (27:40)
Mm.
Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, even and this was actually also part of an experiment for me this year because I think I am a kind of inbox zero type of person. And obviously the I'm actually just reading the book 4000 weeks. I just started it, but it's really, really cool. It's about how we basically have 4000 week on
on average in our lifetime and how over time we've just, you know, now we have all these productivity tools and all these things to like do more and like actually free up more time. But in that free time, we just end up doing more. And yeah, I definitely recommend it if you're wanting to, if you're thinking about having more time and because what happens when you reply to people immediately, they just reply back.
Right? And then it like never stops. So it was a huge experiment for me to see, okay, what happens if I just don't reply for a few days? And nothing happened, except that I have more peace and more time. So something that I haven't quite managed to do yet, but I keep like playing around with it is actually only being online. So like on Instagram or even on email certain days of the week.
Mia Poulsen (28:56)
No.
Mmm.
Carla (29:14)
and then just not being on it on other days.
Mia Poulsen (29:17)
Yeah, that's also, that could also be a framework. We don't, we don't answer emails in the weekends. And it's first of all, for me, it's like a statement. It's like everybody in my team, we are off in the weekends unless we choose not to be, but it's like an intentional choice. So there will be no answers in the weekends. And I think it's also about, for me, it's also about.
Carla (29:24)
Mm-hmm.
Mia Poulsen (29:47)
being a role model and teaching my clients that you can, you don't have to be in the trenches all the time, but it's definitely also to do less, like get into that grounding, get into the body, be more present. And, and I think it's kind of the same what you're saying. Figure out what is the, what is the routine or what is the structure that I want to be available.
So I don't wear myself down basically.
Carla (30:22)
Yeah.
And I think this is something I love about you so much. The fact that, you know, you have four kids, you have a husband, you have a house, like, and you have a business that's very successful, but you have a lot of boundaries around your time.
Mia Poulsen (30:43)
Yes, a lot. Like, yeah, a lot. A lot. Yeah, it is. it's, I remember when I started my business in 12, actually, I went on, it's, it's, it's more like an education in feminine leadership, actually, or just feminine energy. So I started my business in that whole space of
Carla (30:44)
That's so awesome.
Mia Poulsen (31:11)
pleasure and presence and intuition and like being really in flow with your body and your sensuality and all that good stuff. I'm so grateful for starting there because it really taught me really, really fast that if I don't set boundaries about around my energy and my time that
that feminine softness is just gonna go away because it's business is very masculine. And I learned like, then I'm leaning into my drive and I'm leaning into my, you know, let's get shit done kind of mode. This is amazing, amazing. But as one of my friends, he says like,
The masculine energy is like a hunter. You get up, you go out, you shoot the deer, you get back, that's it. And I love that way of telling it. And then she's like, the feminine energy is way more like soft and present. But you can't do that on social media. You will get eaten alive, you know?
Carla (32:13)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, it's true. It's not something that I think people understand until later on.
Mia Poulsen (32:26)
No, no, and that's why I love this conversation. I love this conversation because it is like real life evidence that boundaries are amazing and necessary, that you need to take your parental health really, really serious. And also I think what you represent is someone who has the courage to be real to yourself and honest.
Yeah.
Carla (32:52)
Yeah. I have a lot
of coaches in my circle, so I feel like that helps. at least you can't escape from all the awareness that.
Mia Poulsen (33:00)
True, But I mean, like the past two years, I think for a lot of people and it's not just you, a lot of people have had like 2023 or 2024 been like crazy years,
And can you, and I don't know if it's too early, but can you say something about what you learned? What is like the learning points from the last couple of years for you?
Carla (33:32)
I think it was interesting because I've had a few friends who quit their business in 2023 or the beginning of this year. And I obviously was also in this space like really considering doing something like taking a job. I'm like, my God, never had a job.
Mia Poulsen (33:42)
Mmm.
Carla (33:59)
Like I actually never had a corporate job. I don't even know what I would do. but then having that realization of It's literally just you against you, right? And obviously there are reasons for why some of these friends quit their businesses that are more complex than just like I can't be bothered anymore, but at the end of the day, I think so much of business and
Mia Poulsen (34:12)
Mm.
Carla (34:28)
being successful is just, you know, keep going and try again and like get the support you need, really invest in yourself. I've been doing a lot of investing this year in more personal development. And now I'm doing investments in like learning about finance, crypto, but also other, you know, learned about investing in the stock market and all of these other things this year.
Mia Poulsen (34:42)
Mm.
Carla (34:56)
And for a while I felt like, I actually feel like I'm pretty evolved. But then once you start again, you realize that there's so many other things and you know, it's always with them. If you're solving something in one area of your life, it then has effect on other areas of your life as well. So I really think investing in yourself, whether it comes to coaching or
Mia Poulsen (35:14)
Yeah.
Carla (35:25)
you know, just learning, but also this is something that I really only recently started doing is just investing in myself in the fact of just doing something nice for myself. So I just started doing like facials. I've been going once a week and that just feels like the biggest gift to myself. Like having that time and spending that money on my face. It's so incredible. Like it feels so nourishing.
Mia Poulsen (35:36)
Ehh
Carla (35:54)
And that was something that would always be on kind of the lowest priority list. Like actually, like, you know, I can do self care journal and meditate. Like all of these things are great, but I never felt like I would actually spend money on me. And that's been really nice.
Mia Poulsen (36:11)
And also what I feel you
do really well is doing things that you find just to be enjoyable. Yeah, and just like, okay, what could be fun? Like, let's go out. Let's travel somewhere, right? Let's just... And also I think what I found is also being able to...
Carla (36:21)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mia Poulsen (36:39)
take your needs serious. Like I need more social activity in my life. I need more travel. need more. I need to, I like, feel this urge to understand crypto.
Carla (36:53)
Yeah, because otherwise we just work for the business, you know, we create the business because we want to have freedom and we don't want to have, you know, we don't want to do the nine to five. And then I love this so much. you know, employees work at nine to five and entrepreneurs work 24 seven. It's like, yeah.
I don't want to do that. Like then I'm just constantly thinking about my business and I'm stressed about the business and I'm not where I want to be. like my life just becomes all about the business. Like that was not the idea. The idea was to build the business around my lifestyle.
Mia Poulsen (37:35)
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And we forget about that because we're so caught up in the trauma of being a high performer, right? And the trauma of needing to exceed all expectations and be the best to, to, to prove something to someone, right? It's like, it's crazy. It's crazy. And then suddenly we lost, you know, why am I even doing this? Right.
Carla (37:42)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, it's crazy. Like I always looked at people like Amy Porterfield when I started out and I was always like, my God, I can't imagine selling the same thing like 10 years later. And it's been eight years and I'm still selling the same thing and I still love it. You know, like my business has shifted so much over the last eight years and there was a time where I just really didn't want to be known as the Instagram girl because I thought it wasn't
Mia Poulsen (38:18)
Here we go.
Carla (38:32)
good enough, like I have to be a coach and I have to help people in a bigger way. And I'm like, actually, I love it. It's so fun. It's always changing. So I always get to like try different things. And I've had so many clients whose lives like mine have completely changed because of Instagram. It's amazing.
Mia Poulsen (38:53)
Exactly. Yeah, it is amazing. No, it really, really
- But I think the humbleness that you get into or that is awakened within you whenever you face something really difficult, just keeps you so real, right? Yeah.
Carla (39:12)
Totally, yeah,
Mia Poulsen (39:13)
Yeah, and instead of just like ignoring it or keep on just going and going and going, I think it's so amazing that you just took time to reflect like two months off or however long it was. Must have made such a difference.
Carla (39:31)
Yeah, I think that's a good idea for anyone who's struggling, you know, to take some time off and to, you know, like, whatever, put a time limit on it. Take a weekend, take a week, take a month, like do something, be in nature and just really get out of your bubble and reevaluate and then kind of come back. I think it's healthy.
Mia Poulsen (39:58)
Yeah,
yeah, I totally agree. I totally agree. And I don't think you can feel any direction when you are in the, we can call it trauma response, but when you are in like the whole, have to, I have to, I have to, I have to, I don't think, or I know that there will not get, the guidance is just not gonna come. Yeah. And how do you feel about, you know,
Carla (40:23)
Yeah.
Mia Poulsen (40:27)
You created like a change from within because you chose to do that What do you what do you get excited about by the of the future? Like how do you what do you plan on going forward?
Carla (40:41)
So that's a good question. I've never had kind of five year goals or 10 year goals. I kind of planned my life in three months, three months ahead. There's obviously still things I'm doing for my financial future, right? Because I've never had a job, so I don't have a retirement fund. So I'm building that now.
With my business, just right now I'm in this phase of just simplify, keep doing what you're doing. I can see how we can grow a little bit more, but I actually don't have the desire to have a huge team or to scale to a point where it again becomes like this, you're chasing something. So if next year is as good as this year, I'll be super happy. And
I actually have some things that I'm exploring. feel I don't choose not to have children myself, but I actually love children. And I've done things like volunteers teach English to children in Thailand. And I actually feel like a huge desire to do something with children. But I'm still exploring that. So potentially here in Lisbon or potentially somewhere else, but
Mia Poulsen (42:03)
So amazing.
Yeah.
Carla (42:08)
Yeah,
I can see how that could be something that I do on the side that is just, you know, not related to anything else that I do.
Mia Poulsen (42:16)
Yeah, but just like before we have to stop, unfortunately. Do you want to share where we can find you?
Carla (42:21)
Mm.
Sure. The best place is Instagram at Carla B. Singer. I am on there most days and I do respond to all of the DMs myself. So that's definitely, I always love hearing when someone heard me on like, and just say, I heard you on Mia's podcast or, you know, shared something like a takeaway. I love that. So that would be the best place.
Mia Poulsen (42:30)
obviously.
Perfect. That's easy. And as you know, this is the blue sofa and we're secrets here. Do you want to share like a soulful secret before we end?
Carla (42:53)
Eh.
No.
So bye.
one secret...
I guess I haven't really shared this, but... So my boyfriend has two kids, a boy and a girl. And... It's been really cool to see, like, first of all, I love hanging out with them, but then also to see, how... Especially with the girl, it's like... Like, me just embodying what I do and...
just being who I am and sharing certain things with her, it can have an impact on her. And just being like really mindful of like what, you know, what are some of the values I have and how can I like share those to, I, yeah, I don't know what the word is, but just be like a role model. You know? That's been really cool.
Mia Poulsen (44:06)
Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I love that.
Carla (44:12)
Thank you so much for having me.
Mia Poulsen (44:14)
Thank you for being here. It was amazing.
I hope you enjoyed this episode just as much as I enjoyed recording it. Now if you want to learn a little bit more about Carla, I would definitely recommend going to her Instagram. I mean she has so many amazing resources just on her Instagram. I'm going to link Carla's Instagram below and also if you get the opportunity, do listen to her masterclass
It's a masterclass on how to grow your business on Instagram and it's honestly one of the best master classes that you can invest your time in. If so you find the master class amazing I will also recommend go and grab her Instagram course.
It's an amazing Instagram course and it's very helpful no matter if you're just starting out on Instagram or you're just looking for simplified tools to actually grow your Instagram. So with that said, thank you so much for listening and enjoy your day.
