If and when?

yaraluna

I have a couple of questions and decided to put them together on one post.

1- do you work from yore home? if so, do you only work with family and friends' referrals or any public leads?

2-have you done psychic fairs? what has been the good, bad and so-so of your experience? any tips, advice?

3- when did you know that you could or wanted or were ready to do more 'public' readings ( not friends and family anymore)? how did you work the transition to public readings?

ok these are three questions, :D but still would like some feedback pleezzzz! :p

thanks
yara
 

Grizabella

1- do you work from youe home? if so, do you only work with family and friends' referrals or any public leads?

I work with family and friends' referrals but haven't gone so far as to aggressively seek customers from the public yet.


2-have you done psychic fairs? what has been the good, bad and so-so of your experience? any tips, advice?

Can't really answer this one because there aren't any psychic fairs in my area. If there were, though, I'd do them.

3- when did you know that you could or wanted or were ready to do more 'public' readings ( not friends and family anymore)? how did you work the transition to public readings?

It took a long time before I thought I was ready. When I could confidently read for others without going blank and fumbling around frequently, then I decided I could try it.

How did I work the transition? I took a deep breath, tried to still my shaking knees, and with a gentle push from Magpie, I finally dived in a year ago last Halloween. :D
 

Umbrae

1- do you work from youe home?

No. I have never worked for the public in my home. It's not safe.

2-have you done psychic fairs? what has been the good, bad and so-so of your experience? any tips, advice?

Yes. Fairs vary. It depends on the producers and their advertising and choice of venue.

3- when did you know that you could or wanted or were ready to do more 'public' readings ( not friends and family anymore)? how did you work the transition to public readings?

I worked in bars for many years. Find a bar where the owners/bartenders get to know you. Tip them generously to allow you to make money in their place of business. After a while, you develop a following that brings in more business to their bar. Good bartenders often refer clients to you. How did I know I was ready? Dunno. it was too long ago to remember. I think I just started...on a whim.

often, just sitting with a half-glass of wine (always red - it looks better than white), and a three card spread in front of you (and you writing in your journal) will attract the curious, who will invite you over to their table to have you to read for them. Have them ask the bartender if it's alright (and did you tip VERY WELL?), cuz as you tell them, "I read professionally".

Make sure you provide every sitter with a business card. The more business cards go out, the higher percentage of callbacks you'll recieve.

The 80-20 rule applies to readings. 80% of your continued business will come from 20% of your overall clients. at first.
 

Grizabella

I forgot to answer the "do you work from home" part.

No, I don't read for strangers in my home. As Umbrae said, it's too dangerous, and besides, it seems invasive of my privacy to me. If I did, I'd be in the perfect spot for it, though, being right on Main street in a historic, artsy little old-town district of the city of I live in.

But I do read at home for family and their good and trusted friends they refer to me.
 

Umbrae

coffee shops - starbucks types

find one. get known. don't be intrusive. get the employees to love you.

then pull out your deck

and never ask anybody if they want readings - let them come to you (not cuz its evil or bad or unethical or whatever - its cuz you're doing business in somebody elses place of business and ultimately taking money that a customer could spend there (on a pastry or another cuppa).
 

Apollonia

Hi, yaraluna!

My current regular gig is at a local meta shop, where they receive a percentage of my fee. I will also go to people's houses or places of business if I know them, or if they are a friend of a friend. I don't read at home, mainly because I don't want to have to clean up all the time, and I don't like having the energy from a lot of different people hanging around. (I used to worry about the safety factor of having people come to my home, but there are sure a lot of women around here who provide services like massage or cognitive therapies who see clients in their homes and haven't had any problems, so I think if you have decent intuition, a good screening process, and a husband or large dog, it could work.)

I haven't done any psychic fairs yet, but I'm open to them depending on the booth fee.

As to your third question, querent feedback made me feel I might be good enough to do this, and near-constant messages from Spirit made me know I had to at least try. People for whom I had read were saying I should/could be a professional reader, so I decided I wanted to test my skills by doing email readings for people I didn't know. I ended up doing around 300 to 400 readings for the Free Tarot Network, with good feedback from my FTN clients and mentors. When I got really bold, I started doing more complex readings for the kind people here on the Aeclectic, again with good feedback. That gave me the confidence I needed to approach the owner of the shop where I now read.
 

yaraluna

thank you all for the feedback!

I have been so guided to do more 'public' readings but been kind of 'stage fright' about it:p my partner keeps telling me how i could do it from home on a well-known-referral basis only, or some other places. he is SO supportive!:D
the past few months i've been having people show up in my life asking me about tarot and if i read; to which i always reply "friends and family only" ind of thing. so i end up not reading for them LOL! i get stage fright nervous coz for me consulting the oracle is very important in my life and i respect it very much. it is not trivial, or a fad. i guess i have to be more trusting :)

I have a friend who promotes his own psychic fairs with other readers and participates in other fairs also. he also has asked me if i want to do it. i always said no, but now i am seriously thinking about doing it. you know, give it a try. like my opera singer friend says " to get rid of stage fright, you just have to do it".

you could say that spirit is calling me to work more 'seriously' on my divination and other 'skills', to sharpen them and do healing work with them. in the past six months or so, i have met people in my path, and events that are gearing me towards s look at my oracle life.talk about the Secret here!

how do you read in that Free Tarot network you mentioned? are there places like that i can join online? i've heard of the british isle something (bad memory here) but wonder if it's only opened to UK people. ??

yara
 

Grizabella

You know, for awhile I was choosing to do my readings only online but for me, to be honest, that was just a dodge to find some way of avoiding reading for the public because of, as you say, "stage fright". Once I made myself read in person for strangers, I found that it was not only nothing to be afraid of, but was a lot more interesting, stimulating, rewarding, and fun than any online readings could ever be.

I encourage you to make every effort overcome your stage fright and get right into reading for strangers in person. Sure, you'll feel petrified with fear at first, and sure, sometimes you'll freeze up, but that's not the end of the world and will decrease a whole lot with time. Then you'll come into your own and realise the very best of the best that tarot reading has to offer.

I always try to remember that I'm not there to tell the sitter what to do about problems, I'm there to see what the cards can help the sitter to realise for themselves about the problems. And I try to keep in mind that it's important for me to keep my own judgments and prejudices out of the reading so that I can be of the best help possible to each person, empowering them to go away from the reading feeling the best they can about themselves because that gives them the incentive to make their own best choices.
 

yaraluna

thank you all for your replies so far. they have helped me indeed.:)
I am carrying my tarot deck around all the time now, and have the other one at home to work with when possible. I am more mentally open to the "do you read? ..can you read for me?" questions than before and somehow looking forward to them now! LOL!:D

Let's see what happens now. i will also be asking my friends if they can help me practice.

yara
 

Tara2007

yaraluna said:
I have a couple of questions and decided to put them together on one post.

1- do you work from yore home? if so, do you only work with family and friends' referrals or any public leads?


RESPONSE: Yes. I do email readings about 3 or 4 times a month. (In addition to working part time at a metaphysics shoppe) I have not as yet advertised, and not sure I will. I am getting a lot of response, more than I would like at the moment, from people I know, and people they know...and so on....


2-have you done psychic fairs? what has been the good, bad and so-so of your experience? any tips, advice?

RESPONSE: No, not exactly. But I did work a charity booth about 2 months ago. Not precisely a "psychic fair" but I was there reading tarot, and there was a man taking info for astrological charting/numerological charting, a palm and tea leaf reader, and a psychic that scared the you-know-what out of me she was that good. It was to support a local house used for families of children with serious illnesses to live in while their kids were hospitalized. Anyway, the idea worked well. I do weekly calendar spreads for three of the people I met there.

3- when did you know that you could or wanted or were ready to do more 'public' readings ( not friends and family anymore)? how did you work the transition to public readings?


RESPONSE: Right before the charity fund-raiser. A friend I had read for a number of times suggested I go, even though I was doubtful about it. But, I actually got some very good feedback right here on AT and that made a big difference. I felt more confident about my ability and got up and went. It has really changed my whole approach to tarot. I'm very glad I did it.


ok these are three questions, :D but still would like some feedback pleezzzz! :p

thanks
yara
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You're very welcome!
 
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