Baroli
Ok, this is probably going to touch on a lot of subjects so please bear with me.
I have long been mildly envious (face it, I am jealous,
lol) of my west coast friends, brother, and sister readers, of their psychic fairs, and having a way to do that thing that we all love to do,....read. Aside from private appointments and one or two public reading gigs that really came out of the blue, there really isn't that kind of constant thing around here at the shore in Central Jersey, until the summertime and what there is of a constant every Saturday type thing, you need to belong to a store where there are already established readers. The store is the one who puts the gig on. I find that I prefer working as a freelancer. It allows me the freedom to do my own booking and negotiations etc.
So the question I posed to myself was where can I find work? This reminds me of when I was a musician (singer/bassplayer) and asking the same question. The answer is in the same place. The private party.
Oh Baroli, we know that; people are always doing private parties for charities or whatever and you would be right. But have you considered working a wedding reception?? I didn't until just recently and thought I would share with you my experience. The reception isn't until April 26th, so we have got plenty of time.
Word of mouth is the best way, IMO, to get yourself out there. If you are good at what you do, word gets around. Remember the gig I had at the restaurant? Well, feedback was slow in coming, but finally it is starting to payoff. I got 1-2 private appointments out of that, but the Universe gave me this gift of a wedding reception.
I mean, what a novel idea. You know you are going to have at least 50 people at the reception, you know you are going to read for the bride and groom and the rest of the wedding party, the others will follow suit. The other good thing is that you are being contracted for say 4 hours of work at a fixed price. Now I know, at a fair, depending on your rates you will probably make a little bit more than what I am contracted for, but see I like to read, I enjoy doing this, and haven't been doing public face to face in a long while, I like to think that I am being prepared and taught something by the Universe.
So I am contracted to work from 6:00 to 10:00. I broke down the time in terms of hourly rate of pay and came up with what I considered a fair amount, which is what the bride and parents also felt was ok as well. I also reserved the right to put up the tip jar and of course my business cards. All of this has to be agreed upon including where I am to conduct the readings, what I am to wear (Good Lord, I need to get something
), before I say yes, I will do your party.
One of my sitters, at the restaurant gig was engaged and thought this would be a really cool thing to have at her reception (no it wasn't Dick and his girlfriend, lol). I agree with her, this is a really cool thing, besides having a band there (potential sitters during their break).
Now this is all fine for someone like me, who likes word of mouth advertising, but what if you want to actively pursue this in terms of putting yourself out there? May I suggest the Wedding Showcase? This is the time of the year when places will put on a wedding showcase and invite various vendors, ie musicians, photographers, caterers, tarot card readers, to come in and give samples of what they do. In short, it is a gathering place for an audition. If you are just starting out and want to get your name out there, this may be a good place to start. I am doing one the 2nd weekend of May, which should prove to be interesting and I will be commenting on that later.
Now my next question is what deck(s) will I be using. Well, I will probably go with the Victorian Romantic and the Boho Goth. I like the whole idea of light and dark. It give a type of symmetry and balance to my readings.
What I will wear? Well, the parents wanted me in a costume, which I refused. As cute and as theatrical that looks, it isn't my style. I will go with what I would wear to a reception.
So, in a couple of weeks I will give an account of the reception and how things went. Please add whatever you would like on this thread, it's for everybody to learn and maybe get ideas from.
I have long been mildly envious (face it, I am jealous,
lol) of my west coast friends, brother, and sister readers, of their psychic fairs, and having a way to do that thing that we all love to do,....read. Aside from private appointments and one or two public reading gigs that really came out of the blue, there really isn't that kind of constant thing around here at the shore in Central Jersey, until the summertime and what there is of a constant every Saturday type thing, you need to belong to a store where there are already established readers. The store is the one who puts the gig on. I find that I prefer working as a freelancer. It allows me the freedom to do my own booking and negotiations etc. So the question I posed to myself was where can I find work? This reminds me of when I was a musician (singer/bassplayer) and asking the same question. The answer is in the same place. The private party.
Oh Baroli, we know that; people are always doing private parties for charities or whatever and you would be right. But have you considered working a wedding reception?? I didn't until just recently and thought I would share with you my experience. The reception isn't until April 26th, so we have got plenty of time.
Word of mouth is the best way, IMO, to get yourself out there. If you are good at what you do, word gets around. Remember the gig I had at the restaurant? Well, feedback was slow in coming, but finally it is starting to payoff. I got 1-2 private appointments out of that, but the Universe gave me this gift of a wedding reception.
I mean, what a novel idea. You know you are going to have at least 50 people at the reception, you know you are going to read for the bride and groom and the rest of the wedding party, the others will follow suit. The other good thing is that you are being contracted for say 4 hours of work at a fixed price. Now I know, at a fair, depending on your rates you will probably make a little bit more than what I am contracted for, but see I like to read, I enjoy doing this, and haven't been doing public face to face in a long while, I like to think that I am being prepared and taught something by the Universe.
So I am contracted to work from 6:00 to 10:00. I broke down the time in terms of hourly rate of pay and came up with what I considered a fair amount, which is what the bride and parents also felt was ok as well. I also reserved the right to put up the tip jar and of course my business cards. All of this has to be agreed upon including where I am to conduct the readings, what I am to wear (Good Lord, I need to get something
), before I say yes, I will do your party. One of my sitters, at the restaurant gig was engaged and thought this would be a really cool thing to have at her reception (no it wasn't Dick and his girlfriend, lol). I agree with her, this is a really cool thing, besides having a band there (potential sitters during their break).
Now this is all fine for someone like me, who likes word of mouth advertising, but what if you want to actively pursue this in terms of putting yourself out there? May I suggest the Wedding Showcase? This is the time of the year when places will put on a wedding showcase and invite various vendors, ie musicians, photographers, caterers, tarot card readers, to come in and give samples of what they do. In short, it is a gathering place for an audition. If you are just starting out and want to get your name out there, this may be a good place to start. I am doing one the 2nd weekend of May, which should prove to be interesting and I will be commenting on that later.
Now my next question is what deck(s) will I be using. Well, I will probably go with the Victorian Romantic and the Boho Goth. I like the whole idea of light and dark. It give a type of symmetry and balance to my readings.
What I will wear? Well, the parents wanted me in a costume, which I refused. As cute and as theatrical that looks, it isn't my style. I will go with what I would wear to a reception.
So, in a couple of weeks I will give an account of the reception and how things went. Please add whatever you would like on this thread, it's for everybody to learn and maybe get ideas from.
I was just thinking of you.