1st Returning Querent, but I'm not spiritually connected

[HighPriestesss]

Things were slow at the weekly cafe', so I discontinued my readings there about a month ago.

Tonight my cell phone rang and it was a (the first ever!) querent I read about 2 months ago, looking for another reading. Apparently things I said were coming true and she was looking for further insight!

But feeling disconnected from "tarot," in general, at the present time, I became puzzled as to what I should do. My energy has been involved in other things, the holidays, traveling, etc. But it was my intent, over the summer, to build up a clientele.

I did return her call, thanked her for thinking of me and contacting me, and explained the above. She understood what I meant and requested whenever my energy returned to the tarot, would I give her a call for a reading. We established nothing was pressing at the moment and no decisions needed to be made, but she was merely curious what the cards would've said.

What do you do when this happens?

 

[Apollonia]

What is your current priority? If it is still to be a professional reader with a steady clientele, I would advise doing readings regardless of how you feel. If that isn't possible, then doing it professionally may not be for you, because to be professional at anything requires consistency and reliability if you are going to get the referrals that will build your business.

With many regular clients only returning every six months or yearly, you can't build a clientele unless you consistently put the time in. And if they find you are available one time and not the next, they will not refer their friends to you, which is how you build up your practice.

So it depends on what you want, but if you want a long-term career as a Tarot professional, in my opinion, consistency is the key, and that means sometimes reading when you don't particularly feel like it. (I think you will find, though, that if you do go ahead and read at those times, the reading will fall in to place just fine.)

 

[HighPriestesss]

(I think you will find, though, that if you do go ahead and read at those times, the reading will fall in to place just fine.)

Easier said than done! LOL It's very nerve-wracking!

As for my current priorities, just trying to survive in this wicked Michigan/national economy. Struggling to get through the holidays and beyond. But I'm also one who bores very easily and that's what happened with tarot. Just not into it right now. Not into anything right now.

 

[Sulis]

I agree with Apollonia. If you're going to be a professional reader then you need to be able to read when folks come to you for a reading - especially if they are returning customers coming back for follow up readings or for more insight.

If you can't do it when the people want you to do it then professional reading probably isn't for you.

 

[franniee]

I agree too. You have to find a way to get out of your own space and plug in. (not sure if that makes sense)

 

[AJ]

Especially in this economy, what you do for income you do whether you are 'spiritually' connected or not; reader, train engineer, grocery clerk, CEO of GM... Everyone has days they are not at the best, but you still have to do it, and those days lead to better days. Just get back on the bike.

 

[Grizabella]

Not only did you lose one potential steady customer, you've also put a blotch on your future chances of getting regular customers should you decide you want to go back to reading. Word of mouth is your best advertising and now the grapevine will be telling people that you're not reliable.

We all make mistakes, though, and then have to go back and try to rectify them later on so it's not the end of the world. If you decide to go back to reading professionally, you'll just have to work harder at it to establish reliability and to prove that you won't be there one day and gone the next on customers who rely on you.

 

[magpie9]

The only way to absolutely garuntee failure as a Pro Reader is to turn customers away because you don't feel like it. You can get away with being 'too booked', or sick, or not being available to read that moment or even that day....but they do not forgive you for not being interested enough in them to read for them.
You can probably save this client by calling and setting up a reading with her very very soon....with apologies and some little extra like a free 5 minutes, or equivalent.
Being a Pro means you read when they need you, not when you feel like it. None of us always feel like it when we get called on to read, but if we go ahead and do it, the reading turns out fine anyway...and we keep the customer and the word of mouth business she generates.

 

[KarlThomas]

Nah.


There is no way you can guarantee failure as a reader. You never know, the client might have been impressed enough with the first read that they will wait. It certainly sounded as if this were the case.

In a culture riddled with people simply gagging for cash, I like that there is one soul turning down the green stuff because the time is wrong.

Bravo!

I don't see myself saying no, ever, but I'm an enthusiastic lad.

 

[Disa]

As I read through this thread, I keep hearing Umbrae's words- It ain't about us

(I may have paraphrased rather than written verbatim, but you know what I mean)

I'm not a professional reader...yet, but when friends and family call on me I get right to it. It's not about me, they are calling for a reason.