Finding news ways to make money from Tarot

Aunty Anthea said:

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

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If you get paid, that IS a real exchange. If you set your prices correctly, they should reflect adequate compensation and expecting more is unfair. To expect someone who has paid you to track you down later to give feedback would make it a lopsided exchange with the querent getting the short end of the stick. Except for Ebay sellers where feedback is part of the business model (but even then is voluntary), I can't think of ANY profession where feedback is given or even expected. Why should tarot reading be any different?


To the thread in general: As far as the "to charge or not to charge" question, my opinions have already been stated by others rather eloquently...

HallowedNight said:

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?

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.

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Darkmage said:

For people who really *do* think it's sad to charge, I ask why? Tarot readers are selling a skill. It's no different than any other trade or service industry.

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AnemoneRosie said:

Well, I'm perfectly happy to take money for a Tarot reading. A card reading is draining and it requires an exchange of energy - the client is taking my energy when I read for them. Consequently the client needs to pay me for my energy in some form of energy in return.
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It's still just a way of recognizing that energy exchange and of correcting for the imbalance that a reading creates. That's all. It's no more moral than is any other action - but people can easily make it immoral. The money itself doesn't care either way.

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Exactly. And until the electric company and grocery store start accepting readings and healings as the exchange, readers will need money. If we all expect tarot readers to do it for free, I doubt there would be many who would or even could, which would mean fewer readers which would mean tarot readings would not be available to many people.

Ruby Jewel said:

I recently bought a small vintage trailer that I'm going to paint as a "gypsy vardo" and plan to go on the road with my four cats at some point.....just part of my retirement plan. I'm 72. Don't fuss. Have fun. Life is short.

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RubyJewel! We have the same plan! I have a '68 Avion (like an Airstream, but tougher frame and undercarriage) that's awaiting custom rebuilding for retirement adventures on the road that hopefully will include some tarot reading (for pay!) at fairs and festivals wherever I can find them. I'll get started on it just as soon as I finish the '47 Glider (all original and the fridge even still works!). I've been researching vintage trailer remodeling for years, so if you need someone to bounce ideas off of, just holler at me.

Yes, life is short. Less fuss, more fun is the way to go.

I also don't realize what the issue is in asking people to pay for their readings. In the end, it is still the seeker's choice.

I think there are some wonderful examples of how to turn Tarot into a responsible, ethical, gripping business: my absolute favourite is Beth from Little Red Tarot (and what a beautiful personality), Biddy Tarot has also done it - her approach is too corporate for me, though. But Beth reads for money, gives out ebooks, is building a community... And that's the thing - people forget how much time all of that takes.

I also write a small blog (just as a hobbie, not for business) and organize Tarot salons and seminars. I do take a symbolic amount of money for those, and I have never seen a complaint. Okay, the fee is small, less than 20 dollars (whereas 3 hour seminars on any topic here start from 60-70 dollars at the very least) - but I decorate, spend the day before organizing and planning, making the snacks (or shopping for the snacks), putting together the materials, choosing the right topics etc etc etc. And it is not that easy to teach.

Also for my Tarot practice - it has taken me years to get to the current level; you are constantly reading, learning, studying new methods, studying the cards, journalling, practising on your friends, family, travelling, watching feeds etc. I have spent thousands (perhaps even more) hours to hone my Tarot skills, but there are still people who say that it is not a "sellable skill". Moreover, running a Tarot business is exactly like running any other small business - marketing, finding customers, tailoring your service to match your target groups etc. It is not some magical flippy-floppy that you pull out of your pocket and "squeeze people for money" for.

delinfrey, you might also like Theresa Reed, aka The Tarot Lady.

How many here have read Tarotmania by Jan Woudheusen? Very good book on how to read the cards, as opposed to being a list of meanings. One of the salient points in the book is that a client has to put value on the reading for it to make any difference. The value can be money or it can be something else, but you as the reader have to make sure your clients see the reading as something that costs them.

I once heard of a palmist who gave people a choice of paying for a reading or taking a card from the "good karma jar." Each card had something the person was supposed to do like feed a homeless person, visit a stranger in a nursing home, or pick up trash along one city block that is not near the person's home. Given the choice, many people chose to pay for the reading with cash, but it gave an option for anyone who would rather pay it forward.

My father once told me a story about a physician he knew. This man was asked often enough about how to talk to kids about STDs that he put together a whole brief presentation on the subject. He found, however, that his efforts were largely wasted. Until he added one more line at the end. "That will be $100. Would you like me to bill you?"

In some places, tarot readings as fortune telling are still in a shady part of the law. However, if you make it clear that the reading is being sold "for entertainment," you are in the clear. How much would someone expect to pay for personal, professional entertainment of other sorts? If I hire a comedian for an event or a party, I expect to pay around $200 per hour, but he does have to commute. A birthday clown will cost $150 for 45 minutes of silliness and a balloon for each kid.

As to the venues for selling readings, that's a little more difficult. I don't currently sell mine. However, from my limited marketing background, I could make some suggestions about how to market your services. First, define what makes you different from other readers. Second, define what your proper client is. Third, determine how best to reach your targets market. Whole books have been written about each of those three points.

We have heard that the world will beat a path to the door of the maker of the better mousetrap, but the truth is that the world will only beat a path to the door of the person that everyone is convinced has a better product. The difference is marketing.

-Patrick

gregory said:

It isn't - except that some people think you shouldn't charge for reiki and so on either - that you should GIVE your skills - and there, people say the same of tarot.

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Just because a plumber is really gifted at what he does, he doesn't have a right to earn a living doing it, but has to go and do something he doesn't like to pay for his plumbing habit? Just because a pilot really loves flying he can't accept money from an airline but has to clean toilets for a living and to save up to hire a plane to fly for pleasure? My ex-sister-not-quite-in-law is a doctor and she really loves it (the freak). She lives in a palatial house with her privileged and spoilt husband and kids. Should they become homeless and broke because she can't accept money for doing something she's good at? (She was just telling me yesterday, rather bitterly, that they all just use her as a cash-generating machine).

The subject of this thread is how to make money from tarot. Locations for readings I won't address here but I do wish to add a thought I must have posted before but got no idea where. It is based on the concept that the more people in your target market see and talk to you the more business you get.

I don't believe in a web page or marketing plan other than face-to-face. For the most part the majority of my work has come from people seeing me and then booking me and referring me to their friends. So you want to get in front of people who buy readings and not spend too much to do it. Of course there is the possibility of being paid to market. Just how might one do that?

Go to school.

Tarot school? Excited? That's not where I am sending you. You are going to go to school in one of the beautician areas. Readers I know work hard to get a day in a beauty shop as it pays. Instead get training to work in a shop and in the course of the all-day talk between yourself, other beautician's and their customers you will get pretty busy with readings.

Most beauty shops are not full-time so you will have time for readings. As readings expand you can cut back your beauty practice. Eventually you will find a balance of the two that works for you. Basically you are working in a beauty shop so you can get paid to market your readings.

This can also help with pricing. A shorter reading should be around the price of a haircut where you work. A long reading should cost about the same as a perm. Compare your prices to these prices when you talk to the client and you will eliminate most price resistance.

This approach also eliminates free-seekers. If they have already spent money with you they don't ask for free.

I have a friend who scaled this down a bit and just went to nail salon school. That is a very short period of training. She does nails at a flea market on weekends (very busy) talks to the clients and mentions something about their palms (good skill to have in this business model) and has all the readings she can handle during the week. Not exactly how I describe it but there are many paths to a full calendar.

This is just one.

minotaur said:

I don't believe in a web page or marketing plan other than face-to-face. For the most part the majority of my work has come from people seeing me and then booking me and referring me to their friends.

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Most Tarot Readers/Psychics do not have web pages. 80% of clients come from word of mouth not advertising.

minotaur said:

So you want to get in front of people who buy readings and not spend too much to do it. Of course there is the possibility of being paid to market. Just how might one do that?

Go to school.

Tarot school? Excited? That's not where I am sending you. You are going to go to school in one of the beautician areas. Readers I know work hard to get a day in a beauty shop as it pays. Instead get training to work in a shop and in the course of the all-day talk between yourself, other beautician's and their customers you will get pretty busy with readings.

Most beauty shops are not full-time so you will have time for readings. As readings expand you can cut back your beauty practice. Eventually you will find a balance of the two that works for you. Basically you are working in a beauty shop so you can get paid to market your readings.

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You have given me an idea. What about becoming a receptionist in a beauty shop or hairdressers

Aunty Anthea said:

Most Tarot Readers/Psychics do not have web pages. 80% of clients come from word of mouth not advertising.

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Oh really? Online reading is a category... and people earn a fair bit of cash that way. I know that I do, anyway. Although I guess that I don't exist? It certainly wouldn't be the first time.

I have read cards on and off for years. Until recently the last time I did it was 15 years ago when I worked with a small friendly group of mostly Gypsies and personally raised money to help my charity.

Today, I visited a very large psychic fair, about 50 assorted stalls. Sadly, it did not have a friendly atmosphere.

What it did have was a vast assortment of add-ons, beautiful pictures, wonderful crystals, assorted health treatments, a fantastic Rune Reader and an excellent Pendulum Dowser.

However, the Tarot readers were rather a let-down. Half of them were really scruffy and one woman looked as though her nipples were about to leap out at clients as she leant forward, another seemed to be shouting down her phone most of the time. Their was only one male reader and he appeared to keep scratching his beard all the time, made me wonder if there was something crawling in it

Also, the readers all charged set amounts. Last time I did the fairs we all offered a variety of services at a variety of prices, ie 1 card tasters, 3 card readings or 10 cards readings, free angle card etc

As perspective customers, we were not given an opportunity to peruse stalls as we wandered around, because we were accosted every few steps by desperate stall holders, felt akin to being in a street market.

I am back to seeking other ways of generating an income for myself and others. I believe that should a person desire to make money from Tarot reading then it is up to them.

As for the amounts they charge, I believe it should be equivalent to what a reader would make in their other profession and the average price for the location. If you are too cheap people wonder what is wrong with you, charge too much and unless you have an excellent reputation you will not have many customers.

I also think that the idea someone posted about having a box for tips is an excellent one

AnemoneRosie said:

Oh really? Online reading is a category... and people earn a fair bit of cash that way. I know that I do, anyway. Although I guess that I don't exist? It certainly wouldn't be the first time.

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I am in the UK and If I ever come across a Tarot reader I always ask for their website url and VERY few actually have sites. Certainly most of the readers and stall holders I saw today did not have web sites, but most of them did not have combs either