Hey there, First name / friend!

 

It’s nearing the two-year mark since I last posted on my Instagram feed. It’s an interesting process of slowly walking away from a tool that was once such a distinct part of my business—and frankly, my life. 

 

I haven’t made a sweeping declaration that I will not be on the app. I still log in occasionally and scroll for a little bit. I have a few accounts I love to follow (because we all can use a little bit of meme therapy every now and then, right?), but my relationship with the app has drastically changed in these two years. 

 

In general, I’m a never-say-never kind of person, so I like keeping the option open for me to go back if and when it feels aligned to do so, but for right now, it’s still a no. 

 

Personally, I am simply not wanting to be on the app and on social at all. 

 

I knew that my entire being needed a break from social, but I was left with an honest question:

 

This is merely one of the weighty questions and scary risks that we as business owners have to face every day. But I was determined to try. 

 

I no longer wanted to buy the story that I had to be on social media simply because I’m a business owner and because it’s what I was supposed to do to build and maintain my brand. 

 

I no longer wanted to feel like I needed to commodify every clever thought. 

 

I no longer wanted to view every experience through a lens of how to make a quippy shareable lesson out of it. 

 

I wanted to reclaim my present/presence.

 

I wanted to simply enjoy a moment without the pressure to capture it in a perfect image and clever/poignant/profound caption that will be buried in the feed, if the algorithm allows my followers to see it at all.

 

There is this underlying assumption that simply being in business for yourself you must consistently showcase your brand. But unless you are a content creator and that is your business, it can quickly feel like you’re spending all your time thinking about creating content because of the sheer volume of content you have to create to stay relevant… according to the omniscient “them.” And then you also have to find the time and creative energy to do your actual work!

 

Questioning these assumptions allowed me to explore inquiries about other ways to market my business that felt more aligned with my mental and emotional wellbeing. This is why I have focused more these last few years on long-form writing with my blog and these notes to you all on my email list. (Thank you for continuing to allow me into your inbox!) I am really proud of the free content I’ve created for those specific blog posts. 

 

And I want to be clear… if social media is working for you — amazing! Me sharing this is not to say that social media is inherently bad. It just doesn’t feel like it’s something I want to utilize for my business right now. That might change someday, and I’ll evaluate how that looks at that point. But in the meantime, I’m curious about exploring other ways to build my business without it. 

 

If this is you, too, then I’d love to share an incredible resource with you! Check out Off the Grid, a podcast by Amelia Hruby of Softer Sounds (you may recognize her from my most recent Client Spotlight!). 

 

And… she’s also hosting a really incredible workshop next week called The Refresh. It’s a 3-day workshop series for freelancers, influencers & small business owners who want to refresh their relationship with social media & chart an algorithm-free path forward. ✌️ Use the code MAGGIE for $10 off registration.

 

So a loving reminder to you, dear one, social media is not mandatory for a successful, sustainable, or fulfilling business. You get to consciously design your own marketing practice. Do what works for you!

 

xo,

M.

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