Lilija
I was going to blog this, but I decided to post it here, in case anyone might benefit from my discoveries and experiences.
As some of you might remember, I had an event coming up, at a bar. It was a girls-night-out sort of party, where I was the resident tarot reader. I didn't pay for table space, which was good, but the event planner offered a free three minute reading as part of the ticket. I wound up doing more readings in one night than I've ever done. My previous record was 15 separate readings for 12 people, at a house party. This was somewhere around 35 people over 4 hours, from 7 to 11ish. I had a few between 7 and 8 p.m. even, before the party, but as the crowd warmed up and got rolling was a concentrated hot-seat from 9 till 11. It was all non-stop, no breaks.
First, the good things:
Networking: Even before the party started, I handed my card out to two different event planners, the whole bar staff, discussed even further with the owner of the bar, about a regular psychic night. One of them was sort of a mystical themed event planner. Made some tentative plans for a Halloween party. I feel like it was a "on the fly" job interview, and I feel like I aced it. No one flinched when I named my hourly rate. I exchanged a reading for a massage with the massage therapist, and she took a stack of cards. Many of her clients also see tarot readers. I did likewise. I think we actually became friends, which is a nice side thing. For the actual sitters, I handed out at least a hundred cards. Everyone took at least one, sometimes taking a handful. I made a few appointments for house calls, last night.
Readings: Lots of first timers! Definitely feel like I reached out to a good cross section of women, in many different life situations. Connected well with more than half, had stellar crystal clear overwhelmingly awesome readings for about 10 (one of them, regarding pregnancy, miscarriage, and future children was almost tearful for both of us), and got a few blank stares, and skeptics, and the easily distracted. A handful of drunks, but not as many as I expected.
Popularity: I half joked with my friend that I'd bring a book to the party, in case no one popped by my table. Some early birds were bugging me at 7 p.m hour before the actual event, before I even settled into my table, and my list was full, till the end of the night. I was the last one to take my table down. I had some friends at the party, and they said the buzz about the tarot reader was overwhelmingly positive. Yay! I think there will be more people lurking around the bar, looking for me. Many asked if I had a regular night, and no, not yet. Many of my sitters told their friends, that weren't at the party (at the downstairs bar, where regular bar patrons/non ticket holders were hanging out) As I was walking out, I was hailed by bar patrons for more readings, although I had to turn them down, because I was ready to collapse.
Negative aspects, stuff I didn't see coming (but should have) stuff I'll watch for next time.
Readings: Many people sat down with blank expressions, and it took me a few minutes to get warmed up with them, shuffling and engaging them in conversation. I had to, by the end of the night (more on why, in a bit) sort of hustle people along, and say "the more specific you can get with me, the better I can help you in 3 minutes time". Many people caught on right away, and I had very satisfying and concise readings, and I sent these people away satisfied. Others sat down with a shrug. I'd pull some cards, and outline things about their lives, and they'd say "but I already knew all that". Well, great, but I didn't. Towards the end of the night, I felt like they were wasting my time, as well as their own, and just taking the service because it was free. It was difficult to limit it to 3 minutes, and often I went over. With at least 3 girls, we talked for over 10, because things were really rolling. I got appointments out of these.
Free: Which brings me to the free thing. People who make appointments and seek me out want a tarot reading. Drunks at a party stumble into my chair because it's there, and yet still expect miracles in 3 minutes. Everyone at the party signed up, including other vendors, the kitchen staff, etc. I got to everyone, but there were some catty girls, and women annoyed at the aspect of waiting. Seriously, a fight broke out between a pair of women (and their little respective groups) at who was first on the list. I solved it, satisfactorily enough, I suppose. But totally unexpected.
Money: I got some tips, and I sold some extra readings, on top of the freebies. Not quite enough to compensate the 4 hours I was there, but it was alright. I was surprised at how much people wanted for nothing, and how reticent some were at paying $5 for five extra cards, and some extra time, especially since the freebie reading only really just got us started. (meanwhile they're spending $6 a pop for ginger vodkatinis). About a dozen of the earlier readings asked if they could come back for more, after the list dwindled down. I feel like the limited time, huge crowd, cut into my profits, because I was so busy cranking out the freebies, that I couldn't get to some that wanted to pay for more, "later".
The setting in general: Early on, the environment was great, moving around, lots of chatty bubbly energy. Around halfway through, DJ Pete turned the lights down, popped on the special effect lights, and my corner became jet black and extremely loud. Candles were found, so I could continue wading though my ever growing list. By the end of the night, as the party was winding up and up (kudos to the DJ, by the way, the man could really get a crowd pumping) I was reading in a very loud club environment. The poor last few, I had to shout to. My voice still hasn't really recovered.
It was overall a satisfying evening, and I feel like I met, networked, and connected with a lot of people. There were some definite drawbacks, some things that you guys warned me of, and some things I never would have realized till I experienced them myself.
As some of you might remember, I had an event coming up, at a bar. It was a girls-night-out sort of party, where I was the resident tarot reader. I didn't pay for table space, which was good, but the event planner offered a free three minute reading as part of the ticket. I wound up doing more readings in one night than I've ever done. My previous record was 15 separate readings for 12 people, at a house party. This was somewhere around 35 people over 4 hours, from 7 to 11ish. I had a few between 7 and 8 p.m. even, before the party, but as the crowd warmed up and got rolling was a concentrated hot-seat from 9 till 11. It was all non-stop, no breaks.
First, the good things:
Networking: Even before the party started, I handed my card out to two different event planners, the whole bar staff, discussed even further with the owner of the bar, about a regular psychic night. One of them was sort of a mystical themed event planner. Made some tentative plans for a Halloween party. I feel like it was a "on the fly" job interview, and I feel like I aced it. No one flinched when I named my hourly rate. I exchanged a reading for a massage with the massage therapist, and she took a stack of cards. Many of her clients also see tarot readers. I did likewise. I think we actually became friends, which is a nice side thing. For the actual sitters, I handed out at least a hundred cards. Everyone took at least one, sometimes taking a handful. I made a few appointments for house calls, last night.
Readings: Lots of first timers! Definitely feel like I reached out to a good cross section of women, in many different life situations. Connected well with more than half, had stellar crystal clear overwhelmingly awesome readings for about 10 (one of them, regarding pregnancy, miscarriage, and future children was almost tearful for both of us), and got a few blank stares, and skeptics, and the easily distracted. A handful of drunks, but not as many as I expected.
Popularity: I half joked with my friend that I'd bring a book to the party, in case no one popped by my table. Some early birds were bugging me at 7 p.m hour before the actual event, before I even settled into my table, and my list was full, till the end of the night. I was the last one to take my table down. I had some friends at the party, and they said the buzz about the tarot reader was overwhelmingly positive. Yay! I think there will be more people lurking around the bar, looking for me. Many asked if I had a regular night, and no, not yet. Many of my sitters told their friends, that weren't at the party (at the downstairs bar, where regular bar patrons/non ticket holders were hanging out) As I was walking out, I was hailed by bar patrons for more readings, although I had to turn them down, because I was ready to collapse.
Negative aspects, stuff I didn't see coming (but should have) stuff I'll watch for next time.
Readings: Many people sat down with blank expressions, and it took me a few minutes to get warmed up with them, shuffling and engaging them in conversation. I had to, by the end of the night (more on why, in a bit) sort of hustle people along, and say "the more specific you can get with me, the better I can help you in 3 minutes time". Many people caught on right away, and I had very satisfying and concise readings, and I sent these people away satisfied. Others sat down with a shrug. I'd pull some cards, and outline things about their lives, and they'd say "but I already knew all that". Well, great, but I didn't. Towards the end of the night, I felt like they were wasting my time, as well as their own, and just taking the service because it was free. It was difficult to limit it to 3 minutes, and often I went over. With at least 3 girls, we talked for over 10, because things were really rolling. I got appointments out of these.
Free: Which brings me to the free thing. People who make appointments and seek me out want a tarot reading. Drunks at a party stumble into my chair because it's there, and yet still expect miracles in 3 minutes. Everyone at the party signed up, including other vendors, the kitchen staff, etc. I got to everyone, but there were some catty girls, and women annoyed at the aspect of waiting. Seriously, a fight broke out between a pair of women (and their little respective groups) at who was first on the list. I solved it, satisfactorily enough, I suppose. But totally unexpected.
Money: I got some tips, and I sold some extra readings, on top of the freebies. Not quite enough to compensate the 4 hours I was there, but it was alright. I was surprised at how much people wanted for nothing, and how reticent some were at paying $5 for five extra cards, and some extra time, especially since the freebie reading only really just got us started. (meanwhile they're spending $6 a pop for ginger vodkatinis). About a dozen of the earlier readings asked if they could come back for more, after the list dwindled down. I feel like the limited time, huge crowd, cut into my profits, because I was so busy cranking out the freebies, that I couldn't get to some that wanted to pay for more, "later".
The setting in general: Early on, the environment was great, moving around, lots of chatty bubbly energy. Around halfway through, DJ Pete turned the lights down, popped on the special effect lights, and my corner became jet black and extremely loud. Candles were found, so I could continue wading though my ever growing list. By the end of the night, as the party was winding up and up (kudos to the DJ, by the way, the man could really get a crowd pumping) I was reading in a very loud club environment. The poor last few, I had to shout to. My voice still hasn't really recovered.
It was overall a satisfying evening, and I feel like I met, networked, and connected with a lot of people. There were some definite drawbacks, some things that you guys warned me of, and some things I never would have realized till I experienced them myself.
. All in all, you had a really good experience. Might get some more gigs from it, which is always a good thing. 