The Start of Shinja Builds

The idea came to me pretty much around this time, last year. At that time I remember being really overwhelmed with school, work, and just life in general, and also at the time I realized that I wasn’t happy and had a jaded attitude towards a lot of things, but at the same time I was also doing a lot of self-reflecting and trying to learn and grow personally. I started watching and listening to podcasts about entrepreneurs and the stories of successful people in the industries that I had interest in, and a lot of those people mentioned how they did something that they were passionate about and believed in.

I realized that part of me really felt the need to create something that I was passionate about. The thing was…I had no idea what I wanted to create or how to start. The first thing I knew I needed was a name, so I started thinking of ways I could go about it. I really wanted the name to be unique while also incorporating something about “believing”, whether that is in yourself, your ideas, your work, or what’s to come in life. So, I Google translated what the word “believer” would be in Japanese, it translated to “shinja”. I instantly knew that was going to be a part of the name of whatever I decided to create. Over the few days after coming up with the name, I needed to figure out what I wanted it to be the name for. At first, I thought an automotive/lifestyle brand, or maybe an aftermarket parts website for popular cars in the scene. I quickly came to the realization that I didn’t have the time or money to invest in those ideas full-time, so it just wasn’t feasible.

Then it hit me. I was already spending a lot of my time on Instagram looking at car builds, and I knew I was seeing quality builds that many people probably didn’t know about or didn’t have a huge following. And I was super passionate about cars and modifying cars as a representation of oneself. So, I started the Instagram page, Shinja Builds. With the name taking or having influence from the Japanese car scene and its influence on builds that are stateside. The goal of the page was to share, and feature photos of quality car builds that didn’t already have a massive following or had already been featured on other pages. And I wanted to do everything the right way. This meant that every car owner and photographer would get credited and tagged in each photo, I wasn’t going to rely on or abuse hashtags to gain followers, and only use my own hashtag. I wanted the grow the page organically and build a loyal fanbase.

The first post was made on March 13, 2018. It was a photo of Josh Freeman’s widebody 2015 Subaru STI. I picked his build because it was a pretty big inspiration in terms of building something unique and proper when it came to modifying my own car. Ever since then I have been posting twice a day, every day. I quickly found out that it is actually more difficult than it seems to post twice a day without ever skipping a day, while also not featuring a build more than once, with the exception of different setups on a car, but I am still doing it. Over 730 posts, and over 1,100 followers, so far. While I know the page isn’t the biggest in terms of followers, the page has really good engagement, gets a lot of impressions, and is steadily growing. When I started the page, I told myself to never get caught up in the numbers, but to rather pride myself with creating one of the most well-curated car builds/features page on Instagram, giving a platform for smaller or less recognized builds and photographers, building a loyal following, being respected amongst the car scene and community, and overall being a page that people actually want to be featured on. And that is what Shinja Builds is all about. Even I have learned so much more about the car scene, the build process, what makes a build special, the automotive photography side of things, as well as, building relationships and connections with supporters, since starting the page.

Lastly, if you have any interest in the car scene, automotive photography, or just want to see some quality car builds, Shinja Builds on Instagram is your go-to page, so go and give it a follow.