We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Meg Jones Wall a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Meg, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
My business, 3am.tarot, grew very slowly — practically by accident. I was working as a freelance photographer and writer, and purchased my first tarot deck in 2016 out of deep curiosity. But I really struggled with learning to read the cards, so after tracking my daily card readings on paper for awhile, I decided to put my photography skills to use and set up a private Instagram account to serve as a digital journal. A few friends asked me to make the account public so that they could follow me and remember to pull cards themselves, and I agreed. Over time, I started writing short blurbs about my cards when I posted them, and people kept following me, commenting on my posts and asking questions and thanking me for what I was writing. It turned into this really cool way of connecting with other people, and in turn learning more about tarot myself.
After a year or so, I started to get more opportunities — I was asked to write about tarot for a few different websites, I started offering tarot readings, and people kept asking me to create books and classes and resources. There was so much momentum and excitement that I just chased that energy, and developed branding, a website, and a book proposal. The more I put out into the world, the more people responded. And in 2020 when the pandemic hit and my then-partner and I separated, our settlement gave me a bit of a financial cushion and time to figure out my next steps. While writing my first book I was also job hunting, and researching new trainings and educational opportunities — but at the end of the day, my dream was to run my business and teach people about tarot. So I committed fully to 3am.tarot, and I haven’t looked back.
Teaching and writing, doing creative work in a spiritual space, is a big risk. And as a queer, non-binary, disabled person living in an expensive city, it can be really precarious to work for yourself and only have your own energy and output to pay the bills. I’ve worked for startups and small businesses, and I’ve been a freelancer and contractor and consultant for larger companies, but I really like working for myself the best. I like having complete creative freedom to make what I want to make, and I like being in control of my own schedule, expenses, client relationships, and future. And seeing the impact that my work has on other people is really what keeps my going. As long as my work is helping people, I can’t imagine doing anything else.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Meg Jones Wall (she/they), and I’m a queer, non-binary author, writer, photographer, and teacher. I work at the intersection of queerness, disability, inclusivity, and spirituality, and much of my work revolves around using tarot to move through transitions, self-discovery, and caring for community. My first book, Finding the Fool: A Tarot Journey to Radical Transformation, was published in March 2023, and I have two more tarot books forthcoming. My business, 3am.tarot, offers tarot resources for anyone who wants to learn to read the cards for themselves, and I run a newsletter, podcast, and study containers that are all dedicated to making tarot as relatable and accessible as possible.
My background is in event production and food studies — I have a B.A. in technical theatre and an M.L.A. in gastronomy. I’ve always loved collaborative creativity and production, and spent over a decade working as a restaurant and event photographer. I’ve worked for several food delivery companies including Caviar, UberEats, and Served by Stadium, and also helped on the production teams for large-scale events like the New York City Wine and Food Festival and the Women in the World conference.
There are a lot of incredible tarot readers out there, which is how it should be. Getting a tarot reading or taking courses about tarot is a really vulnerable thing, and I think it’s important that clients have plenty of options when seeking out a teacher or reader. My clients love my warm and open style — I’m not super formal or stuffy, and I work hard to make sure that everything I do helps to welcome people into the practice instead of trying to put myself on a pedestal. I believe that tarot is for everyone, and my clients and subscribers really resonate with that.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Social media has changed so much since I started being really active on it. When I began posting consistently on Instagram in 2017, there weren’t reels or stories or video — it was just about still images and captions, which really suited me as a still life photographer and writer. Because I knew how to take great photos, I quickly developed a signature style for my work, which made my brand instantly recognizable. There was a major community element, with folks being really generous in their comments, and responding to me when I would address their questions or point them towards resources I thought might help. I developed a lot of loyal fans, who would engage with everything I posted, and it really helped my presence continue to grow.
Instagram today is almost unrecognizable from the app I initially learned, and a lot of the skills that helped me build my following no longer apply. I’ve had to pivot to making reels (which my audience fortunately loves), and continue to prioritize interaction and engagement over other metrics. If the people who love my work can still find my work, and if it still speaks to them, then I feel like I’m doing my job.
For me, the keys to building an audience on social media are adaptability and authenticity. I try out different tactics and see what works, and if something flops, I try something else. But whatever I post, I always make sure that it feels real. If I don’t have anything authentic to say, I don’t share anything.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
When I started reading tarot, I was making money in other ways doing freelance work and occasionally taking short-term positions with companies. But I also had the benefit of a partner with a full-time salary and medical insurance, so I was able to play around with my tarot business and let it grow organically. It didn’t really matter if it was making a lot of money, since it wasn’t income that I was depending on.
But when my partner and I decided to split up, I had to decide if I was going to turn this casual side hustle into a real, full-fledged business that could actually support my life. Without any financial safety nets or family to help me out, I had to be strategic about my expenses and my long-term plans — after over a decade with that partner, I needed to develop a plan to be completely financially independent. I spent a lot of time engaging with my clients, testing out different products, and researching my audience to better understand where my people were and what they might want from me. It was exciting, and also stressful.
I never want to sacrifice authenticity for security, but we live in a capitalist society, and we’ve all gotta eat. I’ve taken big chances when I can, creating courses that are higher ticket and might appeal to a smaller group of people — but I’ve also offered more popular readings and resources at different times, things that I can sell at a lower price point that have a broader appeal. Alternating between both has really helped me find financial stability for myself, and build a sustainable business. I still have plenty of room to grow, but I’ve been supporting myself with this business for a few years now, and have proven that 3am.tarot is worth the time and energy that I’m putting into it.
Financial milestones are always important, but for me, the most significant milestones have been clients that return over and over — finding the people who will buy everything that I make, who want to take every course I offer, who come back for multiple readings. Those clients are everything for me, and recognizing who those folks are and what they might need helps me decide what to create next. I also recently launched a new subscription program that has made a big difference in financial stability for me, one that I hope continues to grow.
I feel incredibly fortunate to do something that I love, especially in our current economic landscape, and to get to work with such incredible people on a daily basis.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.3amtarot.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/3am.tarot
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@3am-tarot/featured
- Other: http://cardtalk.buzzsprout.com
Image Credits
All photos and graphics created by Meg Jones Wall