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In Practice: The Business of Tarot!
The Business of Tarot
by Bonnie Cehovet |
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One of the first things that a prospective business person needs to do is to check out local, county and state laws/regulations/guidelines for the type of business that they wish to set up. This is important to do even before developing a business plan, so that you don't have a wonderful vision for your business, and then get whapped upside the head by the legal constrictions in your area.
I can use myself as a prime example here: years ago I needed to become licensed locally to work as a reader on 900 lines. In the 900 line business - you work from your own home. I found a line to work for, and was accepted. I had the requisite second phone line put in. I went to apply for my license - which in my ignorance/naivette, I thought would be a breeze! Guess what! I lived within the boundaries of a large city that banned readers from working from home. I needed to have a "business" location to read from. Did I give up? Nope. I did what did not come naturally to me - I skirted the law by giving the address of a local "mail box" business as my work address, and hung my license there - becoming part of a whole "wall" of licenses that were hanging there for the same reason! In fact, the physician that acted as "Head of Laboratory" for the physician's office laboratory that I ran did the same thing - she hung her license at her hair dressers! (Which prompted the comment from my one of my co-workers: "You mean someone actually takes credit for that hair?!)
The library is an excellent place to start searching for local zoning ordinances and regulations. Most libraries have a help desk that can at least point you in the right direction. There is a benefit to starting your search in your local library - as opposed to starting with local licensing agencies - that you may not have thought of, and that is that no one really gets a "heads up" about what you are planning to do. Unfortunately, that is important in the Tarot world, as Tarot in most states (perhaps all states) still has to work its way into respectability. Where I see "up front" Tarotists working, it is often under the guise of "New Age" centers, which is not necessarily what we want to connect ourselves with.
Your environment may also play a factor in how far you have to check for licensing obstacles. If you live in an apartment, there may be regulations concerning what you can and cannot do as a home business. If you own/rent a home, and have to deal with a home owners association, you will have to do a thorough check of their regulations.
Also, if you plan to work from home, and see clients there, take a look at the type of relationship that you have with your neighbors. Is your business something that they are going to accept? Even when you are in compliance with zoning regulations, neighbors who are at odds with what you are attempting to do can create a huge obstacle to setting up and running a business.
Think ahead. License yourself for all that you think you may want to do. In my case, I was able to be licensed as a Tarot reader and for desktop publishing under the same license. If you are going to be selling anything connected with your business, aside from your services, such as tapes, videos, books etc - you will need to understand the sales tax structure for your state and local area, and obtain a sales tax permit.
If you are going to work under a DBA (doing business as) structure, then you need to apply for that also. In my case, my DBA is The Crystal Gate.
The Internet is also a wonderful, anonymous resource for starting a business. Ladies and Gentlemen - Google is your friend! Google is my search engine of choice, and can be found at www.google.com. You can check your local, county and state business licensing requirements on line in many cases. You can set up your business, incorporate etc. through on-line sites that are set up to do this for you (for a fee). There is a lot of free information out there - go for it!
Now - study all of your material, let it sit for a while until you are sure where you want to go with your business, then contact your local, county and state licensing agencies and get that paperwork rolling!
The lovely business license has finally arrived in the mail. You find a fitting frame, and hang it in your work area (the license has to be hung where it can be seen). Now you need a steady stream of clients to warrant all of the time and energy that you expended in setting your business up (and to pay the bills!). Before you can market yourself, you need to identify "who" your clientele will be.
If you already have a business plan (which you really should do before looking at licensing regulations), you have a very good idea of who your clientele will be. If not, start out by looking at the services that you are offering, and how you are offering them. Are you strictly a reader? What is your reading style? Do you see yourself as a healer, a counselor, a coach, a mentor, or as something else? Do you intend to do any teaching, and if so, in what areas? What tools of empowerment are you offering (i.e. affirmations, visualizations, an action plan etc.)? Are you basing your business on individuals, or are you also going to offer seminar type work to businesses? Taking the time to write all of this down will be a huge help in identifying your prospective clientele. Again, there are many on-line Internet sites that can help you do this.
Now we are going to check and see how well you did at identifying (a) what kind of a reader you are and (b) who your prospective clientele are!
The following spread addresses your "comfort zo
ne" in readings. It will lead you to recognize what kind of reader you are - and it may not be what you arrived at "intellectually"!
4
3 5 1
2
1. What skills do I bring to a reading?
2. As a reader, what do I need to take from a reading?
3. What is my objective when doing a reading?
4. What do I want my relationship with my clients to be?
5. What leads me to want to make working with the Tarot my business?
Be aware that some "shadow issues" may come out here. Starting your own business is a very personal thing, and there may very well be identity issues, or boundaries of one sort or another that need to be taken down before you can be successful at manifesting a reflection of who you currently are. Taking the time now to understand this reading will definitely save time on down the line!
The next spread addresses "who" your prospective clientele might be. Again - they might not be who you thought!
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. How do I see myself as a reader (i.e. healer, mentor, guide etc)?
2. How can I best interact with my clients?
3. How does travel figure into my business?
4. How would offering my services to another business affect me (i.e. business based readings)?
5. What do I need to know about drawing clients to me?
6. What do I need to know about myself in relation to my clients?
Study this reading closely. Close your eyes, and visualize your ideal prospective client. How do you feel about this client? Are you comfortable with them? Are you comfortable with the Tarot as a business? If you are having trouble visualizing your ideal client, if you are uncomfortable with them (or if you don't know how you feel about them), then take the time to regroup. Go back and redefine who you are as a reader, and what is important about readings to you. Take the High Priestess into meditation and see what she has to tell you. Go through magazines and cut out pictures of people that you feel compatible with. Would they be prospective clients for you? Work with this until you can close your eyes and easily, readily visualize your ideal prospective client.
If you realize that you are uncomfortable with Tarot as a business, that does not mean that you shouldn't do it. What it does mean is that there are shadow issues that you need to work out before implementing a business plan. The following reading will help you define and work through your issues.
3
2 1
1. What fears do I have about Tarot as a business?
2. What actions can I take to overcome these fears?
3. What is my next step in developing my business?
You may have to do this reading several times, because as one shadow issue is dealt with, another issue, or another layer of the same issue, comes out of hiding. Dealt with one at a time, all shadow issues can be resolved and personal healing invoked.
Once you have a good idea of where your comfort zone is in readings, and what a basic client profile looks like, you are ready for the next step: developing a marketing plan. Answer the following questions based on your own preferences, then join me next month, where we will be taking a look at different marketing opportunities.
I hope to see you here!
Please contact me at Crystalgate@aol.com with any subjects that you would like to see discussed in this column. I want this to be reflective of the needs and concerns of the Tarot community at large.
(c) January 2004
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Bonnie Cehovet,
Tarot Master, and Reiki Master/Teacher.
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Bonnie Cehovet is a Tarot Master, professional Tarot reader and Reiki Master/Teacher.
Bonnie has been reading the Tarot professionally for over ten years. She has served in various capacities with the American Tarot Association, including Secretary and Web Assistant For Links. She is currently Certification Director and Secretary for the American Board For Tarot Certification. Bonnie is also a founding member of the World Tarot Network.
Bonnie has had her work published in the ATA newsletter, in Geraldine Amaral's "Celebrating The Tarot" print newsletter, on the World Tarot Network and other internet sites. She is editor for her own monthly newsletter "Gateway To Tarot" (Yahoo Groups).
www.tarot.thecrystalgate.
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