sharing your trade secrets with a local professional

QofWands said:

You seem to really like to parse language..lol... anyway it was hypothetical because it was a hypothetical for everyone else... what would YOU do... not what do you think I should do... in either case you did not really answer the original question as I asked it but rather started in on deconstructing the language I used. oh well, thanks anyway.

Click to expand...

I don't consdier how I would respond as relevant advice for someone else. You know nothing about me or my background so you have no idea if anything of what I say is pertinent at all in your situation.

The factors I would use in making the decision on how to respond is what I consider relevant to anyone else in a similar situation and I have included those in my responses.

QofWands, I suspect there was confusion in the initial question. When you say you have a hypothetical question, that means that you are referring to something that has not happened, but might happen. I don't see that as parsing language but rather an accurate use of language.

You have had some good replies, so let's all stop commenting on each others posts and accept that the original situation actually did happen, i.e. is not a merely hypothetical situation, and continue giving the OP whatever advice we may have.

I would say if someone asks you for advice on a successful marketing campaign, whether you help would be based on: any mutual friendly relationship, whether or not you felt she represented a direct competition, and whether acting jointly might benefit you both.

I agree with Alta. As long as this person isn't asking in order to steal customers from you, which you could ascertain by meeting her respectfully and politely, then Tarot readers should stick up for one another, just as so called "trade secrets" are freely discussed here. When the villagers storm the castle, you'll both be burned, after all. I would at least try to do the nice thing whenever I could.

well, You asked what I would do...I would probably meet with this other reader, and share what I did (but, without so many details) and then ask her what SHE does to promote herself.

You might find that this person would be a good companion in business with you (working together at certain festivals or something) because you each have a similar business, but you approach things differently using different tools.

I have a similar story...though in my case, the other reader in question was about as experienced. (though maybe not for as many years)
She reads palms...I read ...everything else. She did fantastic business in a similar situation, where I was failing. We finally figured out that we weren't rivals at all, and actually became good friends. And when I was doing good, I would help her along...just as she has done for me.

I'm glad that worked out so well for you, Chronata! And I am glad that it is mutually beneficial for you! (That's not sarcastic ~ I am being sincere!)

I am sure that possibly something similar could be in store for the OP; however - just because someone asks for information DOES NOT mean you have to be forthright in giving that information. We are all here to help someone else ~ to a point.

I stand by my original post: Be friendly, be cordial. Find out what there is in common; be helpful. DO NOT just hand a total stranger every bit of info merely because they asked you for it.

Aaaaaahamen. I mean amen. Amen.

Tarotbear has been in this business quite some time as one can hear.
I say: Do what he says

...and if you have the unstoppable urge to share a secret with a total stranger, I have a question ;-) And I live in germany far, far away from you with a great possibility ...

Does anybody know what one can do to get those nice newspaper articles? Last week a newspaper printed a realy nice article about me performing around some castle.

But it seems a bit unpredictable sometimes, what the media writes about palm- and tarotreaders. Has anybody found a predictable way to get great articles written by those journalists? Or any tips or hints?

What the media will do is not predictable ... even with Tarot ... unless you tell them something that you DO NOT want to see in print -THAT will be the first thing they publish!

After spending a lifetime in theatre I learned the only way to get media attention was to go out and solicit them yourself - sounds easy, right? My recent example: I tried contacting a feature writer about the possibility of doing a small article on me - after all- I did self-publish 6 titles in nine weeks - worthy of at least local attention, wouldn't you say? The reply I received back was that since there are so many people self-publishing these days that they would not do an article - but they would 'possibly' print a press release - ONE press release about ONE book (I asked). So I considered this and wrote them a dynamite press release; which they did publish about 3 weeks later with my name spelled correctly in the headline, and included my author page link. I, in turn. scanned that in and sent it in email to everyone I knew!

I have written a press release for each new book and now send them out one every two weeks to 4 different papers. I should try to get the other papers to do an article (Halloween is coming!) but many of them only come out once a week.

Press releases are free; they may or may not get printed, or printed right away (even with 'Immediate Release' at the top) but they are still a blurb in the papers and you can never know when someone putting the paper to line their birdcage will glance down and see your release.

ah tarotbear, you are right

So I will get of my lazy derierre, write a press release about the medieval fair and the great tarotreader they have there (that is me , and mail it out to the 3 or 4 newspapers in the town we are playing in next weekend.

I'll also send them a nice photo, and will invite 3 journalists from different papers to come and have a free, fascinating tarot reading on friday at the medieval fair

Let us see if that gets me another good article with a nice pic in a newspaper next week

I would guess that offer of a free reading might do something, though the other suggestions sound workable too.