Zach Benson is the founder and CEO of Assistagram, an Instagram marketing agency focused on forging relationships with real people to grow an authentic and engaged Instagram audience. Assistagram does this by getting real follows in the client’s niche, creating viral content that excites those followers, and having influencers follow their profile to lend social credibility.

What’s a challenge you had to overcome to get to where you are today?

I had a speech impediment until well into my 20’s, which made it almost impossible for me to say the letter R. I struggled a lot socially and academically in school. My speech therapist was terrible. She told me that if I couldn’t fix my speech impediment, I’d never amount to anything because no one could understand me. I quit. I thought she was right.

A few years later, I discovered dancing. A friend gifted me a breakdancing DVD and I must’ve watched it a hundred times. Dancing was a new way for me to express myself. It gave me back my confidence and self-esteem. I don’t think I could’ve done anything I’ve done — starting Assistagram, or even overcoming my speech impediment — without discovering dance.

What should people do to be successful on Instagram?

Be consistent. Posting a few times a month with no plan will get you nowhere. You should be posting a few times a day and constantly iterating to see what your audience responds to. Instagram isn’t set-it-and-forget-it; you should be logging in daily to see how your content is performing.

What’s an important lesson you’ve learned during your career?

To stop and breathe before you respond. I can’t tell you how many relationships I damaged early on because I spoke without thinking. Now I don’t do anything until I’ve taken some time to think about how I want to proceed. Life’s too short to cut people out over the small things.

Be sure to follow Zach on Instagram!