minrice
This weekend I'm signed up to be a vendor at a festival. I'm going to sell Tarot bags and I was going to do readings as well.
I thought I would do 3 card readings for $5, little ones that are basic and would amount to a paragraph if I was doing them here. Like the little ones I do in the exchange thread. To me a 3 carder like that is like charging $5 for 5 minutes of time.
That way, if the person wanted to explore something more in depth they can email me or give me a call and we can set something up to where I can have 1 on 1 time with that person in a more intimate setting than a huge festival.
I thought it was a good solution to take the pressure off of me, because I have done face to face readings with strangers, but not in a crowd or in this situation. I thought it would be a good opportunity to just introduce myself and people can get a feel for my reading style. And also, people who aren't familiar with Tarot can see if it is for them without paying for a $30 reading. I feel it makes Tarot more accessible to the majority who don't have $30 to spend.
I'm not saying that a reading isn't worth $20, $30, or even more than that. Absolutely not. I charge that on my website and I charge that when I have face to face appointments and I can spend quality time with that person. I just don't think that in this setting I personally am comfortable with doing a long reading for more money. And for me, personally, if I was to charge $30 I would need to give a great reading. I feel like it would be too much pressure on me, and I feel like I owe it to the person I am reading for to give my absolute best effort if I am charging that much and I just don't know if I can do it in a stressful festival situation in a crowd with a lot of distractions.
And honestly, I feel like in this situation people are going to take away 5 minutes of what I say (even if I did a long reading) and remember 3 of the 10+ cards I would use in a long reading anyway. So why not shorten the reading and charge them less in the first place? So I honestly thought a $5 reading, a small brief one, would be a good solution. It evens out to the same amount $5/5 minutes that $30/30 minutes would be.
I was told that this would send the message that a Tarot card reading isn't worth much at all. I was also told that if I did little readings for $5, I would make enemies with other readers at the festival and I didn't want to alienate myself from the community. I was told that if I did little readings for $5 it was impolite to the other readers there and I would be taking money away from them. That this was their living and I needed to respect that. I was told that if I charged $20 instead, that still wasn't a lot of money for a reading, people would know that was cheap, and they "wouldn't expect much anyway". That statement in particular bothers me, it just seems jaded to me. Maybe some people wouldn't expect much but to me and most people I feel like $20 is $20 and when someone comes to us most of the time they really want help and advice. And it is our duty no matter what we are charging, to take that seriously.
This is all such disheartening news to me! Never did I think anyone would mistake my intent here. Some of you here "know" me and "know" that I am a good person and I would never take anything from anyone or be impolite. Its shocking to me to think that my business model would make me enemies. I don't want to compete, I wasn't aware it was a competition! I'm shocked and upset actually. Because I feel like either I charge $20-30 for a short amount of time which I personally don't feel comfortable with or I don't read at all because I don't want to take anything from anyone. I honestly don't understand it, I feel like I alone am responsible for whether or not my business is a success and it has no bearing on what other people are doing.
Other readers can charge what they want and do what works for them and I would never, ever bear them any malice. I would never think of it. We all have to do what works for us, right? Tarot is love, that sounds lame but that's how I feel and to put it in this light was just so dark and ugly to me. It's not what it's about, it's about helping people and spreading the message. I didn't think that the bottom line was money, although don't get me wrong I understand readers need to make a living. Absolutely, I just didn't think it would be cutthroat like this.
Maybe I'm just too idealistic? Am I wrong? What do you think I should do? Because right now I am leaning towards not reading at all. Because I'm personally not comfortable with doing a long reading for more money and I don't feel right charging more for a little reading.
I respect all readers, I respect this community, I love this community, I really do and I'm not trying to take anything away from anyone. I would appreciate any insights from you great people. Especially insights from other readers who do work festivals!
I thought I would do 3 card readings for $5, little ones that are basic and would amount to a paragraph if I was doing them here. Like the little ones I do in the exchange thread. To me a 3 carder like that is like charging $5 for 5 minutes of time.
That way, if the person wanted to explore something more in depth they can email me or give me a call and we can set something up to where I can have 1 on 1 time with that person in a more intimate setting than a huge festival.
I thought it was a good solution to take the pressure off of me, because I have done face to face readings with strangers, but not in a crowd or in this situation. I thought it would be a good opportunity to just introduce myself and people can get a feel for my reading style. And also, people who aren't familiar with Tarot can see if it is for them without paying for a $30 reading. I feel it makes Tarot more accessible to the majority who don't have $30 to spend.
I'm not saying that a reading isn't worth $20, $30, or even more than that. Absolutely not. I charge that on my website and I charge that when I have face to face appointments and I can spend quality time with that person. I just don't think that in this setting I personally am comfortable with doing a long reading for more money. And for me, personally, if I was to charge $30 I would need to give a great reading. I feel like it would be too much pressure on me, and I feel like I owe it to the person I am reading for to give my absolute best effort if I am charging that much and I just don't know if I can do it in a stressful festival situation in a crowd with a lot of distractions.
And honestly, I feel like in this situation people are going to take away 5 minutes of what I say (even if I did a long reading) and remember 3 of the 10+ cards I would use in a long reading anyway. So why not shorten the reading and charge them less in the first place? So I honestly thought a $5 reading, a small brief one, would be a good solution. It evens out to the same amount $5/5 minutes that $30/30 minutes would be.
I was told that this would send the message that a Tarot card reading isn't worth much at all. I was also told that if I did little readings for $5, I would make enemies with other readers at the festival and I didn't want to alienate myself from the community. I was told that if I did little readings for $5 it was impolite to the other readers there and I would be taking money away from them. That this was their living and I needed to respect that. I was told that if I charged $20 instead, that still wasn't a lot of money for a reading, people would know that was cheap, and they "wouldn't expect much anyway". That statement in particular bothers me, it just seems jaded to me. Maybe some people wouldn't expect much but to me and most people I feel like $20 is $20 and when someone comes to us most of the time they really want help and advice. And it is our duty no matter what we are charging, to take that seriously.
This is all such disheartening news to me! Never did I think anyone would mistake my intent here. Some of you here "know" me and "know" that I am a good person and I would never take anything from anyone or be impolite. Its shocking to me to think that my business model would make me enemies. I don't want to compete, I wasn't aware it was a competition! I'm shocked and upset actually. Because I feel like either I charge $20-30 for a short amount of time which I personally don't feel comfortable with or I don't read at all because I don't want to take anything from anyone. I honestly don't understand it, I feel like I alone am responsible for whether or not my business is a success and it has no bearing on what other people are doing.
Other readers can charge what they want and do what works for them and I would never, ever bear them any malice. I would never think of it. We all have to do what works for us, right? Tarot is love, that sounds lame but that's how I feel and to put it in this light was just so dark and ugly to me. It's not what it's about, it's about helping people and spreading the message. I didn't think that the bottom line was money, although don't get me wrong I understand readers need to make a living. Absolutely, I just didn't think it would be cutthroat like this.
Maybe I'm just too idealistic? Am I wrong? What do you think I should do? Because right now I am leaning towards not reading at all. Because I'm personally not comfortable with doing a long reading for more money and I don't feel right charging more for a little reading.
I respect all readers, I respect this community, I love this community, I really do and I'm not trying to take anything away from anyone. I would appreciate any insights from you great people. Especially insights from other readers who do work festivals!