Shade
Are you reading in person? Do you have an office?
Are you reading in person? Do you have an office?
Maybe consider a newsletter that is sent out to all your regular clients, and give clients a discount for referring new clients.
You may lose some who "expect" free readings, but then if you lose them - how much did they respect the service you offered...?
If you have more than one deck, & after getting the relevant permissions - most deck designers are incredibly kind & giving - scan the cards & post readings & links to the designers on your site - using that particular deck for one month. Do something like a daily, a weekly, monthly spread. It keeps people interested & if you post links to the designer, they get sales or a larger fan base as well. Offer different incentives each month for loyal clients, you'll find your base will increase as word of mouth spreads - very few can resist telling someone else about the great deal they got...
This is a very good point - over the last few years I've picked up a fair number of 'sponges' who expect endless tarot readings for nothing, and offer nothing in return. I have absolutely no problem doing readings for friends, and it helps me practice new spreads as we can then discuss whether the spread worked, if the answers were accurate etc, but there are several people who simply say 'do me a reading for this, then do me a reading for this, and when you have a moment, a reading for this'. They also tend to not be there when I want to talk about something myself, or they quickly excuse themselves if I try to engage them on any topic other than their endless questions.
One person I've been talking to for the last few months actually defriended me and blocked me on Facebook because I asked that she not pester me for a free reading at 2am. Some people will just treat you like a computer algorithm if you let them, I guess.