TL;DR: Stan’s 30-day Dare to Post challenge encouraged Creators to post on Instagram every day for a month. 30,000 Creators joined the community and 5,842 joined the challenge, using the online community, meetups, and tools like Stanley Instagram to stay on track. The result? Hundreds of Creators completed the challenge, with many gaining followers, landing brand deals, launching products, and rediscovering their voice. Their stories prove that posting consistently can help you break past perfectionism and create real momentum in just 30 days.
A month ago, we challenged Creators around the world to one simple goal: post on Instagram every single day for 30 days.
Simple enough, right? Except posting consistently is hands-down the #1 thing Creators struggle with.
So we launched a community filled with fellow Creators, resources, and daily accountability to help build the habit—and offered a $100,000 prize pool for those who finished.
30,000 Creators joined the community. 5,842 started the challenge. Hundreds completed all 30 days.
What started as a consistency challenge quickly became something much bigger. Some turned layoffs into breakthroughs. Others went viral and made their first sale. And countless budding Creators found their voice.
30 days of showing up daily did what months of overthinking never could: built real momentum. And for the Creators brave enough to follow through, that momentum became a catalyst for what comes next.
Behind the Numbers: Why We Created Dare to Post
30K+ people joined the Dare to Post community. Hundreds of Creators completed all 30 days. And beyond the feed, Creators showed up for each other in real life—with 30 Dare to Post meetups across 10 countries, from the US and Canada to the UK and beyond.
These aren’t just numbers. They’re real people who decided to bet on themselves, stick to the challenge, and connect with other creatives.
Our mission at Stan has always been to empower anyone to make a living working for themselves. But to make that a reality, you have to post consistently.
Sprint challenges work—they force you to build habits and take radical action toward your goals. We created Dare to Post to give those who are ready to go after their dreams the structure and support to actually stick with it.
30 days later, we’re in awe of what these Creators accomplished. Many joined after facing layoffs, using the challenge to lean into full-time creating and build on their own terms. Others were just getting started, laying a strong foundation alongside a community of people doing the same.
Across the board, we watched Creators pour their heart, perspective, and authenticity into every single post—and the results speak for themselves.
Day 1 to Day 30: Meet the Creators Who Dared to Post
Here are just a few stories from the hundreds of Creators who showed up every day of the challenge—and what happened when they did.
Steph Fisher (@stephfi___)
+11K followers | 9 brand deals | $60K in one week
A year ago, Steph, a mom of four and engineer, traded evening doomscrolling for content creation. Inspired by the success of Creators she looked up to, she vowed to post 6 days a week for an entire year.
She began documenting her early morning routine—the quiet hours she carved out to fill her own cup before the daily chaos of raising four kids kicked in. It was real, it was relatable, and people instantly connected with it.
Her turning point came when a raw Instagram vlog racked up nearly 8 million views, 20K followers, and landed her a $6,500 brand deal just a few months into her journey.
When she heard about the Dare to Post challenge, she saw it as a natural next step. She was already posting 6 days a week, so why not shoot for 7?
Right around this same time, she was unexpectedly let go from her engineering job. Instead of panicking, Steph viewed it as an opportunity to go all-in on her business—and Dare to Post felt like the push she needed.
Posting every single day reinforced that perfection isn’t the point. On days when she felt exhausted, the spontaneous, low-effort reels she threw together were usually the ones that went viral.
And the daily visibility compounded fast—bringing in over 11K new followers and 9 brand partnerships in 30 days. Her inbox flooded with so many opportunities, she had to start turning offers down.
The challenge also introduced her to Stanley Instagram, which helped her identify gaps in her digital product and refine it until it was truly ready to sell. With the extra time from her layoff and the momentum from 30 days of daily posting, she launched her first digital product.
“The fact that I’ve been able to make $60,000 in one week is huge.”
We can’t wait to see where Steph’s journey takes her next.
Benny Dong (@lifeofbennydong)
+6K followers | 320K+ views
Benny grew up watching other people make videos, but held back from making his own after people in his small hometown laughed at his early content. After moving to California, he pushed past others’ opinions and committed to growing his Instagram.
He started by experimenting with online fitness coaching, but quickly realized that niching down drained him. So he pivoted to what felt most natural: lifestyle content driven by his own curiosity and the kind of authentic storytelling he’d always loved watching in others.
When we launched Dare to Post, Benny was already looking to ramp up his short-form video output. The challenge gave him the structure to go all-in.
He used Stanley Instagram to dig into his past Instagram performance and confirm what he’d suspected: his audience responded best to his storytelling videos. Those early insights shaped his first week of posts, and he kept coming back to Stanley throughout the challenge to share his ideas, narrowing them down to the ones with the most potential.
Balancing daily posting with his nursing job wasn’t easy. To keep up, he blocked time each week to batch film and edit on weekends. And somewhere in that grind, Benny learned to embrace shipping videos at 80% perfection, realizing that getting his ideas out into the world was more important than obsessing over flawless color grading or B-roll.
Over the course of the challenge, he grew from 35K to over 40K followers and racked up 320K+ views. But his biggest win was gaining confidence in his own voice.
“Don’t be afraid to be weird. Lean into your weirdness. Your quirks. The things you really have a passion for. I always tried to fit in growing up, but this challenge has taught me that your uniqueness is what people relate to most.”
Now that the challenge has ended, Benny’s doubling down, with a goal to hit 100K followers and become a full-time Creator by the end of 2026. And if the last 30 days have proved anything, it’s that he’s got what it takes to do it.
Jessica Holliday (@jessica.holliday)
+10.7K followers | 2 brand deals | Ft. in Creators and People Magazine
Jessica always knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur and artist. She worked at her dad’s construction company, making jewelry after hours. It started with necklaces, then rings, then custom grills.
After spending two years sleeping in her studio apartment closet to make room for her growing business, she bought a van and hit the road. Along the way, she met Creators who inspired her to start posting.
She’d share her creations on Instagram, mixing van life content with behind-the-scenes footage of her jewelry-making. Early on, she posted 4-5 times a week and gained 20,000 followers in just two months. But then life got busy, and she took a year-long break.
When she returned to Instagram, her views had plummeted. She recommitted to her growth, setting her intentions through her Dare to Dream video. Dare to Post felt like the push she needed to stick to her goals.
Her plan was to launch a van life series—until she totaled her van a week before the challenge. Stanley helped her pivot, pointing her toward showcasing her jewelry and past content. The more she posted, the more comfortable she got pushing past perfectionism and talking to the camera.
“That was my intention with the challenge—to ignore my insecurities around what other people might think of the content and just post. Because this is my dream, so I’m going to do it.”
In the last 30 days, she’s gained over 10K followers, landed brand deals with top companies, and secured features in People magazine and @Creators.
With a new jewelry line and more brand collaborations on the horizon, Jessica is excited for whatever comes next.
Tristan Rumery (@awfullygreatco)
+ 400 followers | 70K+ Views | 24 calls booked
Tristan is a designer, creative director, and the founder of Awfully Great. But for a while, he’d stepped away from showing up online. After years of building a community on Instagram for his freelance business, he paused when his youngest was born and stepped into an agency role.
Then, in January 2026, he was blindsided by a Slack message. His creative director position was gone.
Most people would spiral. Tristan decided to lean into it. When he came across Dare to Post, he saw it as a chance to get his reps in, rediscover his voice, and figure out what came next.
He showed up without a content calendar or a library of batched videos. Just a camera and something honest to say.
His first videos were candid recaps about losing his job—the unfiltered reality of where he was and what he was feeling. Along the way, he realized he was done trying to shove value down people’s throats. He just wanted to show up as himself.
“It became more natural to just make whatever I felt like making rather than trying so hard to be strategic. Because what I really needed out of the challenge was practice, getting back into it, and getting comfortable.”
What he discovered over 30 days was even more valuable: an audience that genuinely cares. Through end-of-day recaps, sticky-note lessons, and scrappy content that doesn’t require heavy production, he built a core following invested in his journey—not just his design tips.
Now, he’s channeling that momentum into his brand, Awfully Great, with plans for a late-night-style YouTube series, exclusive merch, and new clients in the food industry. The challenge reshaped how he thinks about his brand—from selling designs to attracting clients who want to work with him because of who he is, not just what he makes.
30 days in, and Tristan’s just getting started.
Judith Martinez (@jud.ithmartinez)
32.7K+ views | +64.3K new profile visits | +833% Reel engagement
Judith has spent the last decade building at the intersection of social impact, culture, and community—leading initiatives by day while quietly building her own platforms on the side. But despite years of experience amplifying others, she never saw herself as a “Creator.” That changed when she decided to start showing up. She started posting to tap into her creativity and share her expertise.
Her content sits at a unique intersection: making social impact feel accessible, culturally relevant, and grounded in real life—not just theory. When Dare to Post appeared on her feed, the timing felt like a sign.
Recognizing 2026 as the Year of the Fire Horse—a symbol of bold movement and momentum—she embraced the cosmic timing and decided to charge forward, break her routine, and go for it.
“I don’t want 2026 to be the same kind of year I’ve had in previous years. And I think one way to change your life is to do something different. So I thought, what better way to really lean into this new year’s energy than to do the thing I never thought I’d do? Posting every day.”
The challenge taught Judith that content creation isn’t about performing—it’s about showing up as yourself. She pushed through difficult days, showing up for herself and using Stanley to brainstorm content ideas.
As she kept posting, she started to realize how much her voice matters. People began reaching out, sharing how her content resonated with them. Ironically, her raw, impromptu videos performed best—sitting in her robe with no lighting, just sharing what was on her mind.
The challenge may be over, but Judith’s not stopping. She plans to keep posting regularly, experiment with new formats, and continue showing up —this time not as someone trying content, but as someone stepping fully into her voice.
One Year of Consistency Can Change Everything
Forget going viral and fancy edits. The key to becoming a successful Creator is to show up consistently. Making a commitment to yourself and proving you can follow through.
It starts with 30 days. Then 60. Then 365. It’s slow, then it’s fast.
Most of these Creators started less than a year ago, and their lives are changing in ways they never could have imagined.
A year from now, your life could look completely different—but only if you start taking action today.
What are you waiting for? Start posting with Stanley Instagram now.
