We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mary Morgaine Squire. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mary Morgaine below.

Mary Morgaine, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?

I had avoided social media for all the reasons, up until 2018, when we were transitioning our farm into an Events and Retreat Center and needed capital for updating infrastructure. We turned to a local non-profit lending program where a prerequisite to receiving a loan was to submit a business plan that included at least one social media account.

So I checked out at all the ones: Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram… and I found Instagram to be the only one I could navigate. It was quite user-friendly for a non-techy like me, and I set up our account and named the handle after our farm. We hired someone to help run it in the beginning, but they didn’t have their heart in it, nor did the next person, so eventually it fell into my lap.

At first, I was like, “What am I going to do with this thing?” being a virgin to social media and totally put off by the ‘likes’ button,  followers concept and a ‘feed.’ But I really wanted to get the word out there about our new business, so I pushed on. It turned out that Instagram mirrored digitally what I had been doing manually since a child which was creating photo books with detailed captions. I found out to my surprise that I loved posting!

After 2 years of running the retreat center, Covid hit and all of our retreats were cancelled. No one wanted to book in-person retreats, so we ended up renting out the land and space for a forest elementary school. This meant we no longer needed the Instagram account. But by now I had made so many connections with it, enjoyed it, and had started promoting my own classes with it, that I decided to keep it. I solely manage the account because 1) I truly enjoy it, and 2) We would benefit more by using our income to source out other types of help for our business.

Over the 5+years that I have held this account, it has not only brought me deep satisfaction by being its curator, but I have made connections all over the world with similar businesses and folks doing like-minded work that I otherwise would have never made. I have had invitations from farms and sanctuaries and done collaborative work, all generated from my social media.

Two years ago, I finally changed our handle name from our farm to my teaching name to reflect the change in our business. I don’t recommend doing that. It is confusing for your followers, so get real clear before you set up an account a name you could use long-term.

I have never spent one penny on Instagram ads or promotions. Yet people keep finding me because my content is good. Whether you run your account or not, tell a story. People will be more likely to buy your  product, or sign up for your workshop, or read your book if they like your social media and find a connection to you or your brand, mostly through story and meaningful content. Don’t post too much or too often- leave a little mystery!  Make personal connections. Respond to comments. Be kind.

You can most often tell which social media business accounts are being run by the owner or by a hired team member. You may be fortunate and find someone for the long haul who can run your account for you and make it rock, but after all, it is your baby and you will be the one to love it into its full potential better than anyone else.

Some other things I would offer up about this is:

1)Don’t spread yourself thin with it. Pick one social media medium to invest yourself in that you would enjoy and that your clients or customers would be most likely to use. If you like video, go with TIkTok or Youtube. If you like photos, go with Instagram. If you like banter, go with Twitter/X. Choose the medium you most resonate with and make it your own, and then you can hire someone to cross pollinate them to other social media forums and manage comments.

2)Cherish quality over quantity. Better to have fewer followers and more likes/comments/saves/shares than tons of followers and very little engagement. It is the engaged followers who will support your business and bring a financial return to you.

3) Have boundaries with whatever account you set up, and take breaks. For me, I don’t have on notifications and it’s in a folder inside a folder on my phone, so I can’t just hit the app button mindlessly. I don’t look at it at all on certain days of the week, to get space and perspective, and actually live my life. Let it be an inspiration, not an addiction or drag!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a writer, plant mystic, sanctuary creatress and facilitator of ceremony. For the past 30 plus years, I have dedicated my life to raising awareness of the climate crisis through my vocations. I am passionately in service to the health of our glorious one and only planet. My love and respect for Gaia informs everything I do. I really don’t care where we came from or where we are going if we can’t steward well what we have before us.

It was in college that I realized my lifework would have to reflect my devotion to living consciously on earth, but I wasn’t sure how to make a livelihood of that. But I made a pledge with myself in my 20’s that I would never hold a career that exploited resources or sentient beings, and that I would follow my heart and trust that what I needed would be provided for, as long as I remained in service to Gaia.

Over the decades, this devotion has kept (delicious) food on my table, led me all over the world, inspired me infinitely, gained me respect and provided for a beautiful life. I am so grateful (and proud) that I have never veered from my path, even when times were financially rough. In everything I do, I give it my all and show up consistently and lovingly. This is success to me- to be in integrity with yourself while in service to others.

My work is on a grassroots level- literally. I have been transforming inner and outer landscapes for decades. Over the years I have created a botanical sanctuary, a retreat center, studied with indigenous healers, authored a myriad of articles, led hundreds of earth connection workshops, plant walks and wild tea ceremonies. Currently, I am giving more time to writing about our personal relationship with plants and how we tend to our humanity in my weekly Substack called Earth Devotions.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

As a self-employed person, I’ve had the opportunity to try many avenues to bring clientele my way. In a nutshell, I have had more than one business, but in this instance I will speak to my work as teacher/plant guide. I began offering classes, plant walks and workshops in 2008 and my mom helped me build a basic website. This was essential for having a place to point people to, but how would I direct them there without SEO knowledge or the means to hire an SEO expert?

So I tried all of it: hanging flyers around town; calling people in a similar line of work; volunteering to speak at relative events; writing articles for local papers; sending emails to friends and sometimes I literally stood on the street corner in costume, sharing about my classes.

Two regrets I have are not using any social media for those first 10 years and not setting up a newsletter until a few years ago. These two things have helped increase my clientele significantly, and I wish I had of done them in 2010.

The most effective strategy I have employed is sticking with my work and believing in myself. In the beginning, sometimes I would have a class no show, or just one person. But I kept at it month after month, year after year, and have, over time, become seen in my community for what I have to offer and now I often have to turn down opportunities for teaching.

I came to a juncture where I could make a lot more money if I went online with my classes, broadening my audience, yet I have (at this point) chosen only to lead in-person ceremonies/classes/workshops because that is what I enjoy most. Do what you enjoy the most and trust. You don’t want to get really good at something you don’t want to do. Your time is more precious than money, and often you can make enough just dong what you love.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I come from this idea that I would rather influence one person in a positive, long-term way than be entertainment or brief distraction for a million people. With this as my foundation, I probably am not going to make a million dollars. And that is ok. Because my business is also my life. And my life is very sacred and intentional and cannot be exchanged for profit.

So in order to do what I do, I have to practice it first and foremost. Everyday. I am an ambassador for the plant nation and need a lot of time with just me and the plants. I am also a ceremonialist, so I have my rhythm and rituals that I must tend everyday to stay in tune with that world if I want to share it well. People see this. They sense it when they work with me or study with me. People can feel authenticity when it is present, and they tell others. It is a domino effect. They see I have invested a majority of my life into what it is I am teaching about. There’s invaluable respect built into talking your talk and walking your walk and it seals your reputation within your field.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.maryplantwalker.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maryplantwalker/
• Other: on Substack as Mary Plantwalker. Publication is called Earth Devotions

Image Credits

Dave Burleson
Hayley Brooks