Finding news ways to make money from Tarot

Aunty Anthea

At the moment we:

Read from home = risky letting strangers into our homes

Take part in psychic fairs = involves a lot of travelling and sitting on a broomstick is much to cold in winter months

Become online readers = isolated, boring and person who runs the service is making a fortune from other people's misfortune

We need fresh ideas and new initiatives

Perhaps we should form small co-operatives and rent offices or shops between us :lightbulb:
 

Citrin

Become online readers = isolated, boring and person who runs the service is making a fortune from other people's misfortune

Hmm. I’m sorry if I’m going off topic, but couldn’t this be said about ALL kind of tarot reading if one wants to see it in that light? A tarot reading is a tarot reading, no matter if it’s face to face, online or on the phone. Just my 2 cents.
 

Aunty Anthea

Hmm. I’m sorry if I’m going off topic, but couldn’t this be said about ALL kind of tarot reading if one wants to see it in that light? A tarot reading is a tarot reading, no matter if it’s face to face, online or on the phone. Just my 2 cents.

True but I just feel that the reader should get more out of it and that it should be a real exchange. I like feedback. I want people to come back to me and tell me what happened :)

Many years ago my friend gave me a room to work from at the rear of her hairdressing business, it was lovely and safe there as I had an enormous Rasta to protect me

Why did I need protection I hear you ask :confused:

Because in UK we as Psychics/Seers/Tarot readers etc used to keep a fairly low profile and were mostly ignored. Then along came the 'New Age' shops and practitioners

There has been a backlash in UK and now the large Witch Festival always has weirdo Christians standing outside complaining, as do many of the 'New Age' shops. In fact such shops seldom remain open very long due to protests and victimisation. The most famous of our craft supply shops had to close down because of attacks :bugeyed:

Some shops in UK refuse to sell Halloween paraphernalia because of their so-called Christian ethics. Yet those same shops sell Islamic items :(

If we give reading in the UK we have to comply with a great many rules and regulations, including Public Liability Insurance and on our leaflets/business cards/web sites etc, we are supposed to state that the readings are for amusement purposes only

Also, there are a great many psychic fairs and events full of frauds. Many famous psychics have plants in the audiences and the books of comments are books that have been passed around it psychic fairs before they were open to the public

We need new ways to promote ourselves and new ways of making money :)
 

AnemoneRosie

I've been thinking about this as well.
I had some success tying in with theme party planners - at least you're indoors.
 

Apollonia

At the moment we:

Read from home = risky letting strangers into our homes

Take part in psychic fairs = involves a lot of travelling and sitting on a broomstick is much to cold in winter months

Become online readers = isolated, boring and person who runs the service is making a fortune from other people's misfortune

We need fresh ideas and new initiatives

Perhaps we should form small co-operatives and rent offices or shops between us :lightbulb:
You have left out reading in a shop of some type, and doing phone readings. I used to read in a shop, and now I do phone and email readings. I don't rely on my work to provide a social outlet, I have friends and family for that.

For me, there would be way too many issues involved in being in some type of group rental situation. First off, it sounds like a lot of ongoing work in making sure everyone is doing their fair share, being treated fairly, and giving consistently good service to the clients. And who is going to collect each person's share of the rental fee each month? I had trouble collecting when I had just one roommate, never mind several.

Plus, anytime you are on the hook for an office rental, there is going to be pressure to make enough to pay the rent. No matter if a couple of you get sick, have family issues, or burn out and need to cut back on readings, that rent has to get paid. When money pressure happens, that is when I have seen readers go from easygoing to pressuring clients to get more readings and other types of work, just to pay the rent.

IMO, you would have to have a really solid business plan, and contractual agreements between the space sharers would also probably be a good idea. It sounds like a lot of work. And in the city where I used to live, over the years I saw several group ventures of this type come in with great fanfare, only to disappear silently six months to a year later. It's not that common to form a group who can work well together, provide good consistent service, and also make money at it.
 

AnemoneRosie

I suppose that another alternative would be to expand on that group structure. For example there are new agey-type healing centres around where I am. It's a cluster of offices with crystal healers, reiki healers, homeopaths, etc. I suppose that you could rent a room with them or share a room with one in particular as long as you were capable of making sure that your schedules didn't clash.
 

Darkmage

I just set up a Wordpress blog that I'm crappy at maintaining and a page on Facebook. It's all about advertising for online readings.

I do in person readings too. They're cheaper than my online readings because I don't have to type up anything. I can say the equivalent of a three page report in about 15 minutes. I make sure I keep a small supply of business cards on my person as well. That way, if I bump into someone in the grocery line or at the club or something, they have a way to get hold of me if they want their cards read.

I'm not awake during the day when most people are up, so working in a shop is pretty much out of the question. My in person readings are usually done at the clubs, sitting outside on their patio, or in local restaurants and/or coffee shops. Most places don't have a problem with it at all. I've had the wait staff come by at some places and remark that reading cards is awesome, and then they're really careful putting the drinks on the table. I've never bumped into religious nuts or anything like that when I read in public. *shrug*
 

ravenest

Sad .... IMO ... looking for new ways (or old) to make money out of it. But then I suppose in today's world everything is seen as having a financial denominator :(
 

HallowedNight

Sad .... IMO ... looking for new ways (or old) to make money out of it. But then I suppose in today's world everything is seen as having a financial denominator :(

I don't think it's sad at all. A lot of people have worked a long time to develop their reading skills, doing free readings for years and finding out what works for them. After all that work, wouldn't you want to get a little something back for your trouble? Especially if you're making money on something you enjoy.

I agree that there are a lot of people out there who only use tarot as a way to rip people off, and those people really make me upset. They give people who read tarot a bad name. But that's different than developing your skills and feeling ready to start charging for readings for the general public. It's just like someone going to a college or technical school to perfect their craft, then opening a business so they can start making a living off of it. Some are going to cut corners and are just in it for the money, but others love what they do and want to live from it.

Money has always been a big deal. People have been making money off tarot and all sorts of fortune telling and mystical things for dozens, probably hundreds, of years, so that's nothing new. We do, however, have to adapt to the times. Thirty years ago there were no online services, and ten years ago there were no apps. Everything evolves; society, tarot readers, and jobs as a whole, so I see no reason why people shouldn't find new ways to make a living or just make a few extra bucks doing what they love.

But that's just my opinion! I respect that everyone has different ones.
 

Aunty Anthea

You have left out reading in a shop of some type

In the UK reading from shops seldom works because the shop front is usually a New Age shop and they seldom last long, I feel that we need to find alternatives