posted November 27, 2015 10:27 PM            

First, she does real readings for friends, and for free. Such readings leave her tired, but she's very good at them. Yet she found many strangers didn't want real readings, instead they wanted "a reason to keep getting out of bed every morning." This is usually in regards to money and love, but those who need their egos stroked (like them being the reincarnation of some Atlantis priestess, for example) was also popular. And if you didn't give it to them then they found another reader. And if you did sell them what they wanted to hear then they'd usually come back no matter how often the reading they paid for turned out to be wrong.

And interesting enough, my friend was popular for being young and pretty, even female clients seemed to prefer her. Personally, I'd associate such skill with age (and if a crone, so much the better), but that's apparently a minority position.

Of course plenty are willing to prey on these people, and reading people is a lot easier than reading tarot or the stars, for many people. Not only is cold reading and leading questions very effective, but the internet has aided such people readers/scam artists as well.

And they don't like competition. The biz is filled with people who will stab each other in the back, and when I thought briefly about becoming a phone tarot reader, I was warned that the company hiring would demand that I keep people on the line as long as possible, even if the caller was on welfare or otherwise should not be throwing her money away, and not even if they were begging for help in finding a lost pet, child, etc...and the corporation was cold enough that it would hire fake callers to test their paid tarot readers to make sure they'd go that low. Naturally, such slime has no problems ripping off their own hired psychics when they feel they can or otherwise have no more use for them.

My friend was a face to face reader, and as a result she had a few people who needed her advice on EVERYTHING, some even found out where she lived as well as her personal phone and became major nuisances (this is why I decided if I was going to do professional readings then it would be with a barrier between me and them). She ended up having to work from home because when she worked out in the public, rivals would call the cops on her to harass her (though she wasn't doing anything illegal, but it drove biz away all the same), and when she arranged to do readings through a store where she became popular, the other psychics threatened to drive biz away from that store if they didn't get rid of her.

All things considered, it's not a biz I'd get into. But if I were then I'd advertise by word of mouth only (no phone books or new age stores, not unless the store owner was both above reproach and world wise), starting with my own friends who could put the word out, and perhaps through say a Unitarian Universalist church for more clients who are more likely to use the services of a psychic in the right way rather than feeding their ego or trying to fool themselves that their never-to-be lifestyle or romantic fantasy they dream about is just around the corner. But doing it this way probably won't be enough by itself to pay the bills.

posted December 01, 2015 10:12 PM            

You could start on Fiverr, for example, which provides the option of offering brief and cheap readings - so no need to feel that you have to be the perfect reader. Some of LL members have started there. You could ask Leeloo about her experience.

posted December 03, 2015 02:33 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by PixieJane:

......And they don't like competition. ...

..... and as a result she had a few people who needed her advice on EVERYTHING, some even found out where she lived as well as her personal phone and became major nuisances (this is why I decided if I was going to do professional readings then it would be with a barrier between me and them). She ended up having to work from home because when she worked out in the public, rivals would call the cops on her to harass her (though she wasn't doing anything illegal, but it drove biz away all the same), and when she arranged to do readings through a store where she became popular, the other psychics threatened to drive biz away from that store if they didn't get rid of her. ....

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