I know this is a couple months old, but I've got to know - do you have your website posted yet, MandMaud? Have you done any readings? I hope so! If not, or even if you have, I had a couple comments just in case they may help. I've never done pro tarot readings, but have done pro garden consultations, and since business is business, hopefully some of this is of some help.
Fantasy planning.
I love that term!
I should let it Just Happen.
Yes! I did the same as you - spent an inordinate amount of time planning. Finally, I just jumped in and I am so glad I did.
My main fear has been of letting people down - by over-committing - but after all it's unlikely I'll be swamped by clients.
I'm a garden consultant as a side job. I travel to people's houses to give them advice on their yards and gardens. When I first started, I set my limit to one consult a week. Now I can do a lot more, but it helped my anxiety level to have that limit in the beginning, until I got the hang of it. Nowadays, if I feel my anxiety level rising when the phone rings, that's my cue that it's time to take a break, so I'll tell everyone I'm busy for the next two weeks, "but I have Monday the 20th open. Does that work for you?"
Is it unwise to go live without everything completely written? It is wise to go live with just the What and the How Much, before I get About Me and/or FAQ up? What about a code of ethics (which is still vague in my head)?
The what and how much are the important parts, so that's enough for now. You can add to it later. Besides, they don't really need to know more about you than how much tarot experience you have and what kinds of readings, if any, you don't do.
To equate it to my garden consultations, I tell people that I've been gardening my entire life having grown up on a 600-acre cattle ranch in a family that grew their own food, something I've continued in my adult life on a small piece of that same family ranch - I currently work as a horticulturist at a local organic garden center where I've been for seven years (my boss is a local gardening celebrity, so I definitely drop his name) - and I don't do trees since they are something that can add or subtract thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars to their property's value and they need someone with much more experience than I have for that ("And here's his number... He's VERY knowledgeable and is the only person {Boss} trusts with his trees.").
Having read just those few sentences, you now know a lot about me - I can grow vegetables like a madwoman so can help you learn to do that if you want to, if you want chickens or cows I can help with that, I'm reliable and must know something to have the main job I have and to have had it for so long, and I know my limits (I'm not going to fake it just to take your money, leaving you in the lurch about your trees). And you can surmise more - I probably know how to drive a tractor, build fence, butcher a chicken, make jelly, buy and sell cows, save seeds, identify and control weeds, figure out irrigation, plan out how much squash to plant to feed your family, etc., etc.
Am I better trying to look "professional" and businesslike, or like an "ordinary person" and chatty?
Ordinary person and chatty works for me. There's another consultant who acts a little TOO "professional" (read that: cold) and she doesn't get much business (but that may work for her - I'm sure she has her reasons and sets her comfort level accordingly, and I'm also positive there are a lot of people who prefer things that way - it's just been my experience that there are more people who prefer a warmer approach). But there's a limit to my chattiness - unless I see a pair of knitting needles sticking out of their purse, I don't tell them I knit, spin (wool into yarn), and want sheep I can shear one day just like dear old Grandma had, know what I mean?
Better to stick to tarot-relevant and healing-relevant blog posts (when I do update the blog which won't be often, at least to begin with)? Or anything that interests me?
Anything that interests you so long as it relates to healing and tarot in some way for the most part. I mean, I have a gardening blog and sometimes I post "hard day in the garden" posts or just pictures of my property. People like to get a little window into your life and see that you're human, too, so I'm up front about all my tomatoes dying or the cows getting into the garden and trashing it. And they like to hear a little about my life outside of the job. But again, I don't talk much about things that don't relate to gardening. I do a bit and people tell me it helps them feel they know me better, but they don't want to wade through numerous posts about scratch baked cakes or knitting patterns to find out how to fight squash vine borers.
How important are testimonials? When you're deciding whether to use a tarot reader (or any other service), do you take notice of them? Personally I ignore the testimonials page, as they can be made up or at least selected.
The cynic in me usually thinks that, too, but if it's only a couple that aren't posted in size 78 text at the top of the page, if they are meaningful, and if the rest of the pages/info engenders trust in me (ie, no "I'M THE BEST TAROT READER EVAR!"), I tend to believe and like the testimonials.
I don't have much experience but feedback tells me I'm fairly good at this. What is a fair price to charge?
Right in the middle of what other established tarot readers in your area charge. Again, I'm equating this to my garden consulting business, but people are people, so a lot of it translates. Charge the bottom level or lower of what those in your area charge and you'll piss off the established readers who've spent time and effort finding that sweet spot, AND you'll get the "answer fishers" and people who want free readings mostly. Charge more and you likely won't get many clients since they won't know if you're worth it. You may end up charging more eventually, but not at first. (Speaking of that, when is the time to raise your prices? When you have so may readings you don't have time to do them all - you'll get fewer, but you'll end up making the same money overall.)
Am I stupid to start this before getting the rest of my life - the practicalities - in order? Not expecting you to have a good answer to this one! But still I'd like your thoughts!
Nope, not stupid! So long as you set realistic limits on what you can do. Like my one consult a week at first. I had visions of doing consults all week, multiples in a day, and even "fantasy planned" (HEE!) how much money I would make if I was booked solid every day. But man was I ever SO GLAD I set that one-a-week limit. The nerves on just the one was murder the first few times - took me a week to get over it! LOL! I did get more calls than that sometimes, so just spread them out to the following weeks 'til I was comfortable taking more.
Is it far too soon to think about paying for a domain name - so far I've paid nothing and don't see a need to - or is it sensible to get a domain name now, so as not to change URL "halfway" when I begin to have regulars?
Domain names are cheap (fifteen a year?), you can link it to your pro readings page at your current blog, and it helps people find you easier when they just have to remember "MandMaud.com" instead of "MandMaudTarot.blogspot.com" or whatever your current address is. But even if you don't want to do that right now, you can do it later and keep the current web address along with the domain name (you can set it to where both MandMaud.com AND MandMaudTarot.blogspot.com both go to the exact same page).
