How I Went From 2.5K to 19K Followers, Got 50M+ Views, Landed Brand Deals, and Then Lost My Reach
All of my socials if u want to analyze, i will have videos linked below if u want to see so its easier for you to follow along with the story
Twitch
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I chose to show proof and link everything unlike the other people claiming to grow there account to millions because i feel like their scared to admit that they need help and they don't want people to see the real person behind the account mentally.
I'm posting this because I need outside opinions from creators who have gone through something similar. I've spent months researching this on my own and I feel like I'm too emotionally attached to see the situation clearly anymore.
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Quick Timeline
- Summer 2024 → Started taking content creation seriously
- Grew YouTube to 500 subs
- Grew Twitch to 6k followers
- First viral Reel: 7M views
- January 2026 → Started daily short-form content
- February 2026 → First 5M Reel
- March 2026 → 27M Reel
- Grew from 2.5k → 19k followers in a week
- Brand deals start coming in
- Account violations begin
- Reach restrictions appear
- Present day → Reach still struggling
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Back Story
so im jake im currently 20 yrs old and i used to be a streamer, youtuber, just a all around content creator. i do have a part time job during this WHOLE story. i started seriously back in 2024 summer because i was graduating high school and i had no plans to do collage so i knew i had to lock in and become serious with a passion I've been putting off for years.
i started YouTube and grew to around 500 subs and focused on more connections then content and gained ALOT from those connections. i started streaming after YouTube and gained my twitch to over 6k followers and averaging 300 views on stream regularly but that later died out.
ever since then I've been doing cameraman work for a lot of big streamers and even side characters for peoples streams and that boosted my Instagram to 2k followers. i would post clips of myself in there streams like funny moments etc and that helped me get my first viral clip which currently has around 7 million views on reels.
The Start
Starting January 2026 i had a goal that i wanted to post short form content EVERY DAY for the whole year. so started posting on reels and TikTok everyday for around 2 weeks but i ended up getting lazy and demotivated after seeing no results. i was getting around 1k-5k views but i was just so demotivated because i wanted more. i wanted to get at least 50k per video. i was making niche content but i was still lost on what i wanted to do.
Now it is Late January and i haven't posted in a week, this is around the time JBoolin is growing and is on EVERYONES FYP on Reels, TikTok, any where he's there. i ended up going to New York to Cameraman for a big streamer and he did a stream with Jboolin where i took the opportunity to film a Ig reel and tiktok with him. that reels ended up doing 34k on Reels and another 47k on TikTok.
everyone was commenting about my Terrible Build lol but i didn't care about the comments or anything like that, i just cared about the numbers. so i decided to make another video shirtless to see if that would work since my build has good engagement bait. That video ended up doing 514k on tiktok and 280k on Reels. That BOOSTED my EGO and gave me that dopamine i needed to want to post MORE so i continued posting after i left NYC and that's when everything changed.
The Peak
Its January 30th, and i made my first ig reel post since NYC and it got 10k. at this point anything that gets a K in the view count is a win to me and gives me dopamine to keep posting so i need to hit 10K views minimum. i continue posting and I'm constantly hitting 10k 20k 30k 80k etc. on TikTok i hit another 500k view banger and I'm doing AMAZING but i really want to focus on Instagram since it build a loyal audience vs TikTok is just short term audiences. after that idk why but i took a 2 week break again, i was probably depressed over something that happened unrelated to content so i wont go to deep into that.
fast forward its February 19th and i make my first post back. 800k on Reels 7k on TikTok so i shift my focus fully to Instagram as previously mentioned and just keep posting on TikTok incase but don't really care about the views over there. Next post i wanted to bring back this one meme from the dead since i thought it was funny and underrated and could possibly bang so i did that and it got 5M on Reels. that again boosted my dopamine and ego at this point and forces me to continue posting because its like a free natural High. i wont go too deep into EVERY video but just know almost every video is getting around a minimum 100k views now.
At this moment i start experimenting in Trial reels more often now and reposting my viral videos like 100k plus videos there and I'm getting a extra 500k views off of each video. some even got another million or 2 million. anyways i get my MOST VIRAL VIDEO ever and it got 27M views and another 8M on Trial reels and 3.5M on Tiktok. That video Pushed me up from 2.5k followers all the way to 19k in a week..... that video helped me get brand deals and for once i start thinking about quitting my part time job and fully locking in since money was starting to finally come in more and more then ever before. i genuinely feel on top of the world and feel like i cracked the code, boy was i wrong.
The Problem (The present)
ever since that viral video life has been good but now Instagram is looking into my old videos now that im gaining a lot of traction. i end up getting 5 Violations on my Account status but nothing for my reach so i keep posting and my video keeps banging like crazy. then one day i get a limited reach violation which means my content is no longer getting pushed out to non followers so not even trail reels is working, i cant collab post with anyone or anything. it ended up getting removed because i appealed it but since then nothing has been the same. Before the restriction most of my reach came from Reels, Explore, and non-followers. Now 99% of my views come from followers through the feed.
i spend countless hours on Instagram support calls and chats since I'm verified but they end up telling me the same thing. they cant reverse it or manually review it and i just have to wait it out without any date to when its going to get removed.
so now I'm unmotivated and feel so shitty and depressed that i had it all in the palm of my hands to where freedom actually felt close and I feel like I finally figured it out and then lost control of the thing that got me there. i still post on both TikTok and reels but no matter how good my videos do on my alt Instagram or TikTok i still feel like shit because my main is doing bad.
my main is where i had the most followers most anything and now i have to build it back up on a new account. idk what I'm going to do, i been studying other peoples content and reading reddit forms but nothing is working.
monthly stats aka proof
i post all of my stats on one of my Instagram pages here if u want to see, it has detailed analytics from Instagram and TikTok for each month. it also starts from when i first stated youtube and twitch streaming if your interested.
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FAQ / Common Questions
Q How much was i getting paid per deal? 4k a month from gambling deals, $300 per promo but i would avoid posting on my instream and post on TikTok instead. i didn't make any money from Instagram directly because they don't monetize unless you post on Facebook too and even then its completely random that you get accepted in.
Q: What niche are you in?
A: Primarily comedy, memes, relatable content, streamer clips, and personality-driven short-form videos.
Q: Did you buy followers, views, or engagement?
A: Hell No. All growth was organic through Reels, TikTok, and collaborations.
Q: What is your most viewed video?
A: 27M views on Instagram Reels, plus 8M additional views through Trial Reels and 3.5M on TikTok.
Q: Were your viral videos original content?
A: Yes. Some were based on trends or memes, but I filmed and edited the content myself no ai or anything like that.
Q: Is your account currently in good standing?
A: Technically yes in some areas, but certain features like collaboration posts still don't work correctly and my reach has never recovered after the restriction.
Q: Can you still post?
A: Yes. I can post normally, but my content isn't reaching non-followers like it used to.
Q: Did going viral change your income?
A: Yes. It led to brand deals and made content creation feel financially realistic for the first time.
Q: Why not just quit and start over?
A: Because the main account has my biggest audience, my credibility, my connections, and years of work behind it.
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Questions I Need Help Answering
Would you continue posting on the main account of fully commit to a new one until the violations get removed which has no date when that could happen .
based on the analytics i linked, What would YOU do differently?
Be HONEST, If you were in my position, would you keep grinding the main account for another 6 months or completely start over today?
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Current Stats
- Instagram Main: 19.8K followers
- Instagram Alt: 58 followers
- TikTok: 11.9K followers
- Twitch: 6k followers
- YouTube: 672 subscribers
- Highest Reel: 27M views
- Highest Trial Reel: 8M views
- Highest TikTok: 3.5M views
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The hardest part isn't losing views. It's knowing I proved I could do it. I went from struggling to get 10k views to getting tens of millions, brand deals, and seeing a path out of working a regular job. Now every post feels like a reminder of what the account used to be. That's what's making it hard to stay motivated.
Looking back I think I became addicted to the numbers. The difference between getting 2k views and 2 million views changed the way I looked at content. Eventually I stopped asking "Is this a good video?" and started asking "Will this get views?" When the reach disappeared so did a lot of the motivation. That's something I'm still trying to figure out.
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Maybe my account is restricted. Maybe I'm overthinking everything. Maybe my content just isn't as good as I think it is anymore.
I genuinely don't know.
That's why I'm posting this.
Tear apart the analytics, tell me where I'm wrong, and tell me what you'd do if this was your account.