Question About Charging Customers

As someone told me recently, If you serve the material realm then you get paid in kind. If you serve in Spirit, then you must take your payment in Spirit.

Hogwash, I say! It's not only talent that you're showing, it's time and effort. Think about tarot cards themselves: a lot of their value, apart from the artistic novelty, might be spiritual-- but just ask anyone how much it costs to test print, to publish, to choose the cardboard, and how much work goes into designing essentially 78 commissioned illustrations. How much time.

On the other hand, I can understand going back to being an amateur (not in the sense of becoming less skilled, but doing it for free because you like it rather than being professionally paid for it). I had a friend who wrote magazine horoscopes, and did the whole chart aspects astrological thing... but his work was just as respected as that of any other magazine astrologer who writes their horoscopes by pulling fortune cookie papers out of a hat. He wasn't more appreciated because he was paid for it, or even because he did the actual work.

That might be the biggest problem with working in these areas: it also matters what your querents believe they are paying for. Think of all the free downloaded music from people who enjoy the songs, but don't quite believe that the performer does any real work except for being physically attractive while a robot sings for them. With all the other complications and reasoning from both sides added into the mix, I see psychism as an art very much like that. If it's what you want to do with your life, and you have querents who want to see someone who does this with their life... then I think they should pay, so that you can eat, and not get rained on, and live, and that you have no need to feel guilty for it.

The acquaintances who presume that you'll read for them for free, might think that the reading itself is but an amusing encounter with some entertaining banter... which is why it is "worth" whatever you "got" from meeting them once. Maybe just remind them, "I do this professionally, so a ___ minute reading / __-card spread, is ___ bucks."

Mishka13 ~

I just wanted to add that I get paid to read cards, but I don't read cards to make my living. Since 'being paid' is part of the definition of being considered 'a professional,' and since I am paid to read and have been paid to teach Tarot - and collected royalties on my Tarot book - I consider myself a Tarot Professional. Your milage may vary.

I agree with Tarot Bear.

I get paid well to read Tarot for my clients and present at parties and events. You will need to find your own level of comfort when it comes to setting fees, and gauge that also on how far into 'professional' you want to go. The world is full of $5 readers and guitar players, and then there are the high paid ones. Whose to say if any one is more gifted than the other? It has a lot to do with first being very good at what you do, as the service definitely has to be worth the price, and with the perceived value on the customers part.

As I said, it is your comfort level; if you are truly providing a valuable service then you can expect to be compensated fairly for it if you wish. If you have a wonderful gift that you just wish to share for free that is your decision too and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Either way, it is most important that you love what you are doing!

Go forth!

- Dennis

How are you different from a pro Hockey Player?

Hello there, here is my two cents:
I have read for years for free, and 2 years ago I was asked to read for a carnival at work. I was an emotional wreck as I'd never charged before. But since this is my retirement plan, I thought I'd better jump in and see if I could do it.

As it happened I read 27 people in 3 hours, one of whom was the top gun at the company. He asked a lot of questions about my readings and I told him I'd never charged. He asked me what is the difference between me and a pro hockey player? I should be paid for my skill.

Up until that moment, I'd always thought my gift was freely given, and so freely returned, but he had a point.

So I made a website and have been taking payments online and have done a few parties and corporate events for cash. I charge $35 for a reading, $150 for groups up to 10, and $300 for corporate parties and events.

I even read for the same bigwig again! He changed my mind about getting paid for it, and it was really eye-opening to hear it put that way.

That is my two cents.

Reading for friends

Hi, I'm rather new here but thought I'd share. I have been reading as my primary livelihood in the same town for over 30 years. I have encountered people that have expected me to read for free, often when I'm introduced at a gathering and what I do comes up, people hold out their hands (palm upward, which is silly as I'm not a palmist) and say "well read ME" to which I have been known to say "Thank goodness I'm not a proctologist" or "Oh are we all giving samples? what do you do?" or some other humorous kind of way of addressing it. This sort of thing goes with the turf, same as doctors get medical questions and lawyers get bad lawyer jokes. I'm used to it and am generally pretty good natured about explaining that my work is best done in an intentional setting.

I have always let my friends know that when I read for them I consider it "workshopping" like trying out a new spread or approach and I make it clear that it is not on the same level as my paid work. This is because I often do not have the same level of objectivity and there are boundaries to what I recieve intuitively with friends and if I were to have an intuitive hunch about a friend I wouldnt be doing a reading, I'd be calling them up and asking how they are doing (thats just me and how I roll). When in need of professional service I generally refer friends to other readers I know and respect and vice versa, those readers reciprocate by sending people my way.

I have also encountered people who have smuggly said "I never charge" and well, fine for them but in a lot of those instances I think there is still a payoff going on in terms of ego. Being paid or not being paid doesn't make someone better or worse or necessarily more or less trustworthy. I do have a problem with people who violate boundaries and offer unsolicited readings. I set my rates in terms of affordability. I never want to charge so much that it makes me inaccessible to some and when you look at the cost of something like a manicure these days I think I'm very well within the reasonable range.

I also discovered something when I was doing readings for a local charity drive. On one occaison I set my suggested donation at $10 (these were short readings) and only read about 10 people that afternoon, on the next occaison I set it at $15, read over 25 people and most gave $20.

It's about being valued, not financially but otherwise. I do feel that I am a custodian of a shared gift, the recipient of the client's trust and the maintenance man for the environment I work in. I pay rent and a phone bill as well as numerous other expenses. The time it takes to book calls etc. So even if I won a lottery and didnt have to charge, doing readings would still have a cost one way or another. It's hard to read on a park bench in Winnipeg in the dead of winter!

I also have the right to waive payment. In some instances when I sense the person needs help and it warrants I let them know AT THE END OF THE READING that I want them to use the money to pay it forward, to come again someday or refer a friend. People come expecting to pay though.This is just what has evolved for me over time. Hope some of this is helpful.

"Thank goodness I'm not a proctologist!" I have to remember that one!

Mishka13 said:

I have been reading professionally for a while now. The problem is that I still have trouble charging. I know it is a service and being paid is part of it, but I feel guilty a lot as if I am abusing a gift.

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Is a pilot who adores flying expected to fly for free by their airline? Is a teacher who is devoted to their students and career expected to teach for free? Is an artist supposed to refuse payment for all their paintings? On what basis are we any different - are we so low that we do not deserve to earn a living?

I also have the problem of acquaintances wanting all their readings for free just because they know me....Any suggestions???

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There's a simple word in the English language that deals with that one <grin>.

"No."

After all, your skills are worth something, and like the lowest menial labourer you deserve some reward for your time and labour. Or do your friends think less of you than the lowest menial labourer?

The answers here are really interesting and this is an issue I grappled with for a long time once it became common knowledge that I'd been reading the cards for years and did quite good readings. It started in my teens when my mum's friends and family discovered that I'd been doing her cards for a long time. They wanted in on it and a few approached me and offered payment but I felt weird about accepting anything. Several adults in my life tried to convince me that it was ok to accept monetary payment for a skill that other people want but it just didn't feel appropriate because they were people I knew and I felt that, out of respect, I should do the readings for free. This didn't much bother me because I enjoyed doing them anyway but as I got older and realised that it's everyone's dream to be paid for something they love, I really had to reappraise this.

I work really hard on my readings, both face-to-face and online. I work in a way that's intended to be therapeutic and genuinely helpful, so I put a lot of energy into it and draw on all of the study I've done over the years. I definitely don't feel bad about charging and I don't charge much anyway, for the time it takes.

Freebies for friends and family, I do agree to, but it has to be on my terms. If I'm too tired, too busy or in the middle of something I'm enjoying I'll ask them to wait. I have come across one or two acquaintances (one was the house keeper of a friend of mine) who started to take advantage and ask all the time. It was really difficult to say no at first but in the end I just got a little more backbone.

I have found free mini readings useful for keeping in practice and for drumming up business but they're not in-depth and extremely time consuming and I only offer them when I have the time and energy.

nisaba said:

Then think about this: do you deserve to earn a living doing what you enjoy?

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Definitely good advice. And just because it's something you love doing doesn't mean it's not, at times, difficult, stressful, complex etcetera..

My tarot card reader is a friend of mine and she used to do them free for us, untill one day she told us sorry but for me to give a more detailed reading i have to start investing in more decks and unfortunatly that means i have to start charging people for there readings. she made it sound so professional as if she was going to improve the readings we actually didnt mind her doing a reading for us at a cut price. Obviously we didnt realise what angle she was coming from but it worked.

good luck

I don't really see any skill I may have in reading cards as being a "gift." I have studied for years and years--cards as well as people--and like any other endeavor that requires time and energy to develop, I think reading is worth charging for. A doctor studies, a mechanic studies, an electrician studies...even a vocal performance personality studies, even if s/he is studying to enhance a "gift" s/he was born with. All of those people charge for their services, skills, experience and education. A card reader is no exception, IMO.