How Tarot helps me in business and life.
That is, once I got over my bias.
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Confidence with clients.
A client asked me how long it took to be confident enough to start reading Tarot for others.
I wasn’t confident at all when I started — but trusted myself enough to begin. Though I’ve been in business for 20 years, I’m still a little nervous when a new client arrives. Like veteran theater stars say, If you’re not nervous before stepping on stage, it’s time to retire. Fortunately, I was trained in tough city classrooms to appear confident even though I was often a wreck.
Give it enough time and it gets easier. Here are 10 ways that Tarot helps me — and will help build your confidence when working with clients in any industry — especially the healing arts.
You will be nervous. Accept it as part of your growth. Arrogance has no place in readings and will quickly destroy your business.
Clients want a kind, empathetic listener. They’re not judging you on perfection. In fact, they are more nervous you will judge them!
You will get better if you pay attention to what you can do better. There’s no magic trick to gain clients or confidence. It’s session after session after session. You show up and do it better than last time. Dedication pays off.
Study your craft. Read books. Practice. Get a trustworthy mentor. Learn from those more skilled than you. Build a financial buffer. Rest. Take care of your health.
Be grateful. Your clients, money, success, health don’t belong to you but are all blessings — and not guaranteed. All of those things can disappear overnight. What is left is your creativity, flexibility and gratitude to help reorient and reinvent, if necessary.
Form your own method. You may benefit from the ideas of others but eventually you’ll need to create your own method. It makes you more authentic and provides a deeper level of self-confidence.
Listen to feedback. Gather testimonials. Read comments on social media (if you have). Ask clients their opinion at the end of a session, especially if you are a newbie. Massage students have feedback forms, so why not readers/psychics?
As clients return and refer others, your calendar will build and solidify. This takes many years, so be patient and practice all of the above tips.
Learn to focus your energy on attracting the perfect client. You will have clients who will teach difficult lessons — but that does not mean you have to continue working with them. When you focus on the ideal client — and that includes how you’ll feel before/during/after a session — that client shows up. It’s not complex: I merely say, Bring me clients of highest vibration possible. I imagine a fun, easy session that provides whatever they need in the moment and I feel great afterwards.
Devotion and discipline yield results. If you love what you do, you’ll show up — even during scary times, which are sure to arrive. The Wheel of Fortune turns for everyone. Being an entrepreneur — despite fake displays on social media — is not easy. Yet it is more beneficial to view it as a challenge than trial. Say to yourself, I may not have much money right now but it will grow. I trust myself. I love my work. I’m meant to do this. The Divine will never let me down. And really, do I want to go back to a boss? (That statement always gets me off the ledge real fast.)
How Tarot has changed my life — and earlier identities.
The Tarot works on me as much as it helps clients through me.
I never thought I’d do this work. Missionary? Sure. Teacher? Yes. Writer? For sure. Tarot reader? Hell no.
I resisted and resisted and resisted.
Why? Well, you can imagine. The stereotypical nonsense. Religious fear — AND I thought it was corny as shit. I had an image of my life and it certainly wasn’t a Tarot reader.
But here I am, celebrating my 20th year in business as a Tarot reader. Tarot reader/psychic/intuitive or whatever you want to call me. Life is a funny, winding path.
Confidence and flexibility.
Believe it or not, I was a super shy kid and struggled with insecurities. Often I hid that shyness with bravado but as I learned to navigate my fears — thank you, NYC #rip — and became a city teacher, my confidence grew. Then I walked away from teaching to start over in Tarot and thought, Who is going to listen to me? Are they going to think I’m a fraud? With each read, my abilities unveiled themselves and I slowly began to trust what I saw. With client feedback — mostly positive but some not so much — I adjusted what I could do better. Flexibility is best friends with confidence.
Faith, discipline and trust as an entrepreneur.
Being an entrepreneur is a life of faith, discipline and trust, as much as devotion. Trust in myself and trust in God. So much of my success has come from referral, magical meetings and the belief that I am successful, though I didn’t have a clue how to build a Tarot biz, except one read at a time (this was years before YouTube university!) I watched as established readers gave me a session, asked questions and tried different approaches. Most of all, I trusted that my bills would be paid. I’m still here — and despite 2023 being a somewhat of a bust year, my business is doing better than ever.
Healed my relationship with men.
Growing up, I was indoctrinated that women could not teach men and this played out in relationships. I experienced patriarchal dominance in family life, private school, biblical books, classes and sermons. I was a woman with my own thoughts, opinions and brilliance and yet they were not welcome in that community. When I began to read for men — and they were few and far between because I unconsciously blocked them — that same insecurity arose. Would they listen? Be arrogant? Mansplain? Hit on me? It took a long time to realize that I was in the power seat and they came for advice with an open mind. My male clients have played such an important role in healing my understanding of men, who are as confused, curious and lost as anyone else.
Acceptance of who I am — and why I’m here.
According to numerous past life reads, I’ve been a healer and seer for many lifetimes and have been killed / ostracized / damaged for it. (Just to be clear: I’m certain I was not a nice person in many, many lifetimes!) Yet I love a challenge and came back with the gifts of sensitivity and insight. Even if past lives are a creation of the human mind to deal with the mystery of existence, I still am who I am in a modern world that loves to dismiss the invisible, though that scorn has rapidly changed in the last decade (thanks, Gen Y/Z).
I’ve had to heal my own skepticism and religious indoctrination to accept who I am. Even if Doreen Virtue — the once queen of the “New Age” — believes that all Tarot readers/psychics are going to hell, I am who I am. To turn away from my gifts is to reject them and ultimately, reject the blessing that comes from utilizing them.
I am who I am and accept all parts of myself — including the person who reads 78 cards for a living.