How I Became a Pinterest Expert

If you’ve ever wondered how someone becomes a Pinterest expert, the answer usually isn’t a straight line. For me, it definitely wasn’t.

My background actually started in psychology, not marketing. I worked in clinical and school psychology for years before Pinterest was even part of the conversation. But when I look back now, that experience shaped the exact way I approach Pinterest marketing today.

This is the real story of how I went from studying brain scans (MRIs) and working with families to building one of the largest Pinterest marketing education platforms on the internet. And it starts in a place most people wouldn’t expect.

Before Pinterest, I Worked in Psychology

My background is in psychology, more specifically educational psychology and neuropsychology. Early in my career I worked in hospital and clinical settings helping psychologists conduct clinical research. Much of that work involved mapping patterns of brain activity and connecting brain scans with psychological assessments.

Later, I moved into school and child psychology and spent about ten years working in a large urban centre. What that work really taught me was how to think. I got very good at asking questions, stepping back, looking at all the information available, and figuring out what it actually meant in practical terms.

Sometimes in graduate school there was a lot of theory, research, and clinical interpretation, but I would often find myself asking a very simple question: So what? What does this mean in terms of what we actually know and how we can help people?

That mindset has stayed with me. I also learned something that deeply shaped how I approach business today: there is almost never one single factor behind why something works or doesn’t work. You have to step back and look at the entire picture. That way of thinking now shows up directly in how I approach Pinterest marketing.

What Psychology Taught Me About Building a Business

Toward the end of my time working in school psychology, I became very interested in the concept of resilience. I had worked with hundreds of families, and I noticed that some children faced extremely difficult circumstances yet still managed to succeed. Others struggled even when things appeared easier from the outside.

That curiosity led me to the work of psychologist Carol Dweck, who studies growth mindset. Her research shows that some people naturally approach challenges with curiousity. They see obstacles as something they can figure out. Others interpret those same challenges as proof that they are not capable.

That idea shows up constantly in business. Marketing is a skill. Pinterest is a skill. Growth is a skill. Some people may have natural advantages like they’re charismatic, great on video, or naturally entertaining. But for most people, success comes from learning, experimentation, and practice.

Why Pinterest Amplifies What’s Already Working

One thing I’ve always been very careful about as a Pinterest expert is honesty. There are people who teach Pinterest as if it’s an overnight success machine. Just start pinning, link to your affiliate products, and suddenly you’ll make a million dollars.

But that’s not reality.

Pinterest does not operate in isolation. It doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Your results depend on many different factors like your content, your audience, your website, your offers, your messaging, and the systems you’ve built around your business.

Pinterest can amplify those things, but it can’t fix them. That’s why my approach has always been a bit more analytical. I teach Pinterest the way a university course might approach a subject. First we talk about the what. Then the why. Then the how. And then you go out and apply it to your own business.

What a Pinterest Expert Actually Does

A lot of people come to Pinterest hoping there’s a single trick that will solve everything. But the truth is that good Pinterest marketing requires understanding your entire business.

Sometimes someone asks me to help them grow their traffic, but their website isn’t converting. Or their funnel isn’t ready. Or their content isn’t aligned with what their audience is actually searching for.

In those cases, the ethical answer is sometimes that they’re not ready for Pinterest yet. If you drive more traffic into a system that isn’t working, you’re simply amplifying the problem.

Pinterest works best when it connects valuable, practical, helpful content with people who are actively searching for it. That’s also why Pinterest behaves very differently from other social platforms. Pinterest is fundamentally a search engine.

The Viral Moment Pinterest Changed Everything

The interesting thing is that Pinterest entered my life completely by accident. At the time I was living abroad. I had moved from Canada to Edinburgh, Scotland, and later relocated to Belfast. I had stepped away from my psychology career temporarily and suddenly found myself with a lot more free time than I was used to.

So I started a blog.

It began as a hobby blog where I shared what I was doing while living overseas doing a lot of travelling, exploring Ireland and Europe, and documenting projects around our home. Eventually that blog became a decor and DIY site called Row House Nest.

Because I didn’t have much money at the time, I started learning how to transform second-hand furniture, grow a garden on a budget, and create beautiful spaces using inexpensive materials. (I had moved to Northern Ireland without a job, I had to get creative!) So I documented all of that on my blog.

How Pinterest First Started Sending Traffic to My Blog

Around the same time, some bloggers in the design space began talking about a new platform called Pinterest. The idea clicked with me immediately. Instead of saving images to my computer, I could create digital inspiration boards online. It felt like virtual scrapbooking.

I joined Pinterest early and began saving ideas, projects, and inspiration. Then one day something unbelievable happened. I checked my analytics and saw that fifteen thousand people had visited my blog from Pinterest in a single day.

One of the largest Pinterest accounts in the world at the time had Pinned one of my furniture tutorials. My blog traffic exploded overnight. That was the first moment I truly understood how powerful Pinterest could be.

When Pinterest Traffic Started Compounding

As my Pinterest account grew, something interesting started happening. Even when I stepped away from blogging for a while, my traffic continued to grow. My SEO and Pinterest traffic kept compounding, even when I wasn’t actively posting.

That growth opened doors. I was invited to influencer events. Brands began reaching out to collaborate. I worked on sponsored projects and partnerships based on content I had published months or even years earlier.

That’s when I realized the real power of search-based platforms like Pinterest. Content could continue working for you long after it was created.

How I Started Consulting on Pinterest

Around 2013 and 2014, brands began asking me how I was using Pinterest to drive traffic. At the time, very few people were teaching Pinterest for business.

Before accepting any consulting work, I decided to test things properly. I asked ten different businesses and bloggers to give me access to their Pinterest accounts. Then I experimented with strategies and tracked what worked.

Through that process I built a framework for organic Pinterest growth that worked across multiple accounts and industries. That framework eventually became the foundation of my business.

Launching My Pinterest Marketing Agency

Consulting quickly grew through referrals. Eventually clients began asking if I would simply manage their Pinterest accounts for them. That’s how my Pinterest marketing agency started.

Over time the agency grew significantly. At one point we were managing dozens of accounts and eventually I had ten team members helping run client accounts. By working with hundreds of Pinterest accounts, I learned what consistently drove results across different niches, business models, and audience sizes.

Those insights eventually became the basis of my courses and training programs.

When I Started Teaching Pinterest

After years of agency work, I began creating digital training programs so I could teach Pinterest marketing to more people. My flagship course, Pin Potential, first launched at the end of 2018.

Since then, thousands of students have joined my paid programs and more than forty thousand people have participated in my free trainings. Each version of the program has evolved based on student feedback. That’s what good educators do– they refine and improve based on what people actually need.

Why Pinterest Connects to Your Entire Business

When people come to learn Pinterest marketing, they often expect a strategy focused on a single platform. But what they usually discover is something much bigger.

Pinterest connects to your content ecosystem, your funnels, your messaging, and your website. It ties into search marketing, discoverability, and how people find your business online.

That’s why people who specialize in Pinterest marketing often end up understanding many parts of online business. Pinterest sits right at the intersection of content, search, and discovery.

Why I Built My Business Around Search, Not Social Media

One of the biggest reasons I built this business was freedom. I didn’t want to spend every day glued to my phone or laptop. I wanted a business that allowed me to live my life.

I have children. I walk my dogs every day. I volunteer with dog rescue. I travel when I can. Marketing strategies that depend entirely on constant posting or daily engagement never appealed to me.

Platforms built around search and discoverability, like Pinterest and SEO, create longer-term growth. They allow your work to compound over time.

How You Actually Become a Pinterest Expert

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you learn by doing. You HAVE to do things. Even I experienced imposter syndrome when I first started consulting. But the way I worked through it was simple.

I educated myself. I tested strategies. I executed. I refined. And I kept going.

The online world is moving incredibly fast, but there is still enormous opportunity for business owners who are willing to learn how platforms like Pinterest actually work.

Pinterest isn’t magic. But when the right pieces are in place, it can become one of the most powerful discovery tools for your business.

And that’s why I’m so passionate about teaching it.

Prefer to see me yap and share my story? Watch my youtube: