Have you heard of Mrs Hinch?

She hit the headlines in the autumn after her appearance on This Morning.

The producers invited her on because her Instagram account had gone viral.

But not because of how she looked…

She wasn’t like the many young social media influencers on Instagram who pout and preen their way to popularity based on their looks or skimpy clothing.

Her appearance on telly was the first time she had ever shown her face. It just turns out that he was unexpectedly attractive, causing a big stir in the tabloids.

You see, her Instagram account was about her passion for CLEANING.

Doesn’t sound like ingredient for social media superstardom does it?

But these days, it’s precisely what CAN work.

In fact, something like this could be the foundation of a successful business – and not just cleaning but many other seemingly mundane subjects. It could even be something that you do right now, and just don’t realise it’ potential.

To show you what I mean, here’s how Mrs Hinch got started…

How a passion for cleaning went viral

At first, her Instagram account was about her home, furniture and garden. Here’s an example…

And here’s another…

Just everyday stuff.

But key to her success were her ‘Instagram stories where she makes short videos on her phone as she cleaned her house!

People loved them so much her feed began to take off via word of mouth.

By the time she got asked to be on Good Morning, giving cleaning tips to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, she had 550,000 followers. And remember that to build this extraordinary following, her looks didn’t matter…

She wasn’t a celebrity…

Neither did she have qualifications, special training, artistic talent or any special advantage that propelled her success.
What she DID have was…

• Passion for he subject matter and boundless enthusiasm

• Useful content (videos) that made her Instagram feed genuinely worthwhile and something people wanted to pas onto others…

• Persistence… she set up that account and kept posting beautiful photos, day after day, to build up an audience.

With these three qualities alone she built a platform for success.

The Instagram feed didn’t need to earn money itself, as it was all about seeking out like-minded people who love clean homes and interior design… then connecting with them every day, turning them into became loyal fans.

She’ll now earn money from TV, as well as from recommendations she makes on online.

For instance, in this post she recommends IKEA:

You can imagine the power of this kind of recommendation for a potential sponsor!

And I’ll bet that at some point she will come up with some kind of course, newsletter, advice service or book about cleaning.

She’d be crazy not to, now she has over million followers at the time of writing (probably rising as you read this) many of whom would like to have a home as organised as hers.

Even if you can’t abide Mrs Hinch’s super-clean ‘perfect home’ schtick, this should really encourage you.

Because it goes to show that ANYONE can build an audience using social media, as long as they have passion, commitment and deliver something that has usefulness to others…

And it also proves something else…

You can make money from unexpected niches

Sophie Hinch is proof that there are all kinds of weird and unexpected niches that could launch your home business career.

Vertical gardening, growing food, beekeeping, vintage records, bonsai trees, stamp collecting, home brewing, origami, keeping parrots, rare breed dogs, seaside life.

It begs the question..

Are you potentially overlooking something that people might want to know about?

Perhaps you’re into really odd stuff like the music of Showaddywaddy, rare breed dogs, or picking up fragments from riverbeds at low tide. It could simply be that you AREN’T special. Perhaps you simply want to share your home life.

Sophie Hinch is an example of this in the UK.

Here’s one from the USA…

Ree Drummond was a regular housewife who loved cooking. She wasn’t a trained chef. She wasn’t an experienced marketer or writer. As she put it: “I’m the wife of a rugged cowboy. I’m the mother of four spirited children. I have horse poop on my porch.”

In 2006 set up a blog in which she shared stories of her family life. but it was only in 2007 that she added useful recipes. That was the element that really helped it take off.

By 2010 she was getting 22 million page views a month.

With such a huge number of people looking at her recipes online, the next stage was obvious. She created her own series of cook books and became a New-York Times best-selling author. In 2010 she told The New Yorker magazine that revenue from her site was “solidly one million” dollars.

Drummond now has her own magazine, published by Hearst (parent company of Country Living) and a restaurant.

Despite making millions, Drummond has plenty of time free to spend with her husband and kids.

She told the website Book Page: “I contend that I am not an extraordinary person. There’s nothing extraordinary about me or my story. I think everyone has a story — I’ve just found a fun way to tell my story and convey my day-to-day life.”

So the lesson is, never think you’re too ‘boring’ or ‘underqualified’ – we all have quirks, interests and experiences that others might benefit from.

Have a think about your life…

Ask yourself… what am I passionate about, which I share with others?

You never know, your brilliant business idea might be hiding there inside your own life.

Maybe you’re the next Mrs Hinch!