87 Ways to Boost Your Tarot Career in 2014 with Kyana Mayfield

If you're a professional Tarot reader, I'm betting that one of the biggest questions on your mind is, “How do I grow my Tarot business?” Today, I invite Kyana Mayfield of New World Tarot to share with you 87 ways to boost your Tarot career, from personal branding, marketing, community-building and more. Take it away, Kyana… Have you hit a plateau in your Tarot business? Feel like you've done everything right, but there's still no great spike in your sales numbers? Stuck when it comes to thinking of methods on how to grow and attract more clients to your website? There are tons of ways to market your business online, and the strategies I'm about to share with you are timeless and should continue to be used well beyond the year of 2014. Don't settle for mediocrity. Just imagine: you could finally make this the year to achieve ultimate success in your Tarot career.

Branding Strategies

1. Know why you do Tarot readings. It sounds like common sense, doesn't it? But you'd be surprised how many Tarot readers have no idea what their purpose is behind doing what they do. My advice: don't be one of them. Figure out your purpose. Ask yourself why you're in the Tarot business. Is it to help other people understand themselves? Understand their relationships? Or is it just because you thought it would be an easy source of income? Or something your mother used to do, so you thought it'd be a fun hobby? These are only questions you can answer. Know your reasons and make sure they're good ones.

2. Lay out your core principles. It's a good idea to review your principles – especially for the New Year, when your business foundation may need to be tweaked based on what you've learned from previous clients or changes in the industry: What are your principles in reading Tarot? What are your policies? Do you operate under a certain set of “reading rules” that are doing more harm than good for your Tarot consultations? Create new ones that work for your current business model. Also look at your marketing strategy – review the basics of marketing your Tarot business, and change things up if it suits your needs.

3. Write a business tagline. Focus on creating something that reflects the image you want your business to have, and make sure that it aligns with your purpose (review tip #1). When creating your tagline, ask yourself the following, “What service do I offer my clients that cannot be found with any other Tarot reader?”

4. Establish your business culture. Do this only after you've completed tips #1, 2, and 6. This involves integrating your purpose with your business model and operation policies. Your culture will serve as a “screening filter” for every future business decision you make. This will become more and more important as your Tarot career grows and you have tons of opportunities knocking on your door every day.

5. Find your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Find what makes you different from every other Tarot reader out there. Once you find it, make it into a tagline (review tip #3) and use it in your marketing materials.

6. Develop your long-term goals and plans as a Tarot reader. What do you ultimately want to do with your Tarot career? Where do you want it to take you and your family? What opportunities do you want it to provide? How much money do you want to make? What would you be willing to do to achieve your goals? Don't worry about making your answers perfect – the point is to just get it down. Your goals will be the framework for how you choose to operate your business, how you develop marketing strategies, products and services, etc. In other words: it's really important, so don't skimp on this if you want to reach astronomical heights in your Tarot career. Think of it as a business plan – for yourself.

7. Know your vision. What difference do you want to make in the world with Tarot? What service do you think your Tarot readings will provide? Now's the time to get innovative and let your creative juices flow. These aren’t easy questions to answer. But those who do answer come out to be the leaders and the ones with the most impact. Ask yourself, “What dent can I make in the Tarot universe?”

Income Boosting Strategies

8. Get your financial plan in order. This is kind of a big deal, and I think we've all been here before. I see many Tarot professionals (as well as many entrepreneurs in general) make this same mistake time and again: they build a business, get a few customers, earn a few hundred bucks, and in the midst of their excitement they spend all their earned income on a celebration dinner. And then they wonder why their business never grows or why there's never any money left. Sound familiar? I bet it does. The solution? Invest in your business – in things that are going to give you more money, time, and long-term fulfillment. If you already earn a fixed amount per month, set a percentage for how much you will invest in your business – and make sure you follow through!

9. Launch a product. Whether an eBook, online course, system, or tool, showcase your Tarot expertise by creating something of value that customers can use again and again with or without your involvement. It'll be like giving your customers a little “piece of your business” for them to carry around wherever they go.

10. Do affiliate marketing. Earn a commission for every sale you make on someone else's products or services. This is a good long-term strategy, but it can take a long time to implement. If you insist on only doing free readings and plan on making most of your income from advertisements and affiliate links, be prepared to wait awhile before you make a significant amount. The same is true of the reverse – create an affiliate marketing program and pay commissions to other bloggers and business owners who sell your products and services.

11. Create a membership site. If you already offer free content, then you can choose to offer premium content to those who decide to join your site as paid members. The best thing about this strategy is the opportunity for recurring revenue – you can set a monthly fee for access to your private site or forum. The only catch here is that you must consistently provide high quality premium content on a regular basis in order to justify your clients paying for access. If you’re prepared for the challenge, go right ahead.

12. Publish a book. I'm talking about a physical book published by a professional book publishing company. The eBook thing has almost been vastly overdone in the virtual universe, so seeing that you have a physical book for sale could add a boost to your reputation as a Tarot expert overall as well as a bonus to your income.

13. Offer one-on-one coaching or a mentoring program. If you've been at this business thing for a while, turn around and share your success with other Tarot readers. Help them reach their full potential. Don’t go in blind though – if you have no experience with coaching, I'd suggest taking a few classes, reading a few books, or even getting professionally certified. Understanding human behavior and motivation is a must, as well.

14. Teach a class, course, or workshop. This is a form of coaching – but with a group versus one-on-one. Have classes and workshops for a variety of different topics: for example, have one class to teach the meanings of Major and Minor Arcana cards, a workshop to teach readers how to find clients, or even your own certification course: where you offer a series of classes to help Tarot readers become certified as professionals.

15. Utilize PPC and CPM advertising. Your results will mainly depend on how large your site is as well as the number of visitors you receive on a monthly basis. If you have a lot of traffic already, give this a shot. If not, wait until you do.

16. Sell direct banner advertising space. In order to attract high-quality advertisers to your site, you'll need to have a large following and monthly traffic rate.

17. Ask for donations. If you offer a lot of free, valuable content on your site then visitors may want to give you something back for your generosity. Help them by putting a “donate” button on your website. (Note from Brigit: Make sure you know the rules before putting up a Donate button. I put up a PayPal Donate button to collect donations for a charity on the Biddy Tarot Free Tarot Readings page, but PayPal froze my entire account for 2 weeks because I did not have the official documentation or express permission to collect on behalf of a charity.)

Build an Unstoppable Sales Force

18. Design an awesome website. Whatever you do, don’t skimp on this. Put in the research hours or hire a professional to design it for you, but make sure you know what goes into a good site. This is going to be your #1 marketing tool, so leave a good first impression. My advice: purchase your own domain name and hosting, install WordPress.org, and then invest in a premium theme. It'll all pay off big time.

19. Create online and offline marketing materials. Business cards, posters, website banners, flyers, postcards, magnets and t-shirts with your logo on them…get them all if you can. You can use services like Vistaprint or hire a professional to create a custom design for you.

20. Start an email newsletter. Join Aweber or Mailchimp and start a newsletter to keep in touch with your audience. Try to have something new for them at least once per week, whether you're sharing your blog updates, subscriber-only content, or weekly Tarot readings – make it consistent and keep them coming back to your site.

21. Create epic sh** on a regular basis. You may have heard otherwise, but you don't necessarily need to write blog posts to produce epic content. You simply need to create something valuable – through any channel you wish to use. But you do need to learn how to produce good content; so knowing how to write will definitely come in handy.

22. Make videos online. This is becoming less of an option and more of a prerequisite for your Tarot business. Visitors want to see your face, hear your voice, and connect with you on a more intimate level. Plus it gives visitors the satisfaction of seeing your skills with the Tarot “in action”. You can learn more about video marketing here. If you're shy like me, this is probably an issue, but it's a fear that will have to be dealt with gradually for the sake of your business – so just practice by yourself with your digital camera, webcam, or phone.

23. Focus on building your email list. I could write an entire post on this one – I can't stress its importance enough. If you're not working on building your email list, then you're not working on growing your business, period. Give people a strong enough reason to subscribe to your list, learn different opt-in techniques, and make this the center of your marketing strategy.

24. Optimize your “about me” page. Contrary to its name, you actually DO NOT want to make this page about you. You want to make it about your reader and what results your Tarot site will give them. What will they gain by visiting your site? Use this page to tell potential clients why your site exists, why you are qualified, feedback you've received from previous clients, and only give a short personal biography near the end of the page. Oh, and put a couple sign-up boxes in there somewhere.

Get to Know Your Customer

25. Create your Red Velvet Rope Policy. Take some time out of your day to create a profile of your “star client” by listing all of the traits you'd like your ideal client to have. What sort of questions would this client ask you? How would they respond to your Tarot readings? Would they leave comments on your site? Would they recommend your site to their friends? Where are you most likely to find this person? The more specific – the better. This policy will become tighter as your Tarot career grows, to the point where you refuse to work with anyone but those who match your ideal profile.

26. Join a Meet-up group or online forum where your customers hang out. If you need ideas for new content, find out what your customers want to know by going to them. You should know where they like to hang out if you already created your Red Velvet Rope Policy (review tip #25). Listen to what people say in these groups, and offer advice if you can.

27. Be helpful to people for free. People will always remember those who do favors for them. Set no conditions and don't expect anything in return. Simply be helpful in any way you can and the return will set itself up.

28. Establish your own community. Set up a Facebook page, Meet-up group, Google+ Hangout, or an online forum where your readers can share their ideas, ask questions, and get help from your senior community members (readers who have followed you for a long time).

29. Survey your clients for feedback. You'll want to create a list of questions or an online survey to send to customers after a reading. This will help create social proof for your services and also help refine your Tarot reading skills. Encourage customers to leave honest responses – and don't ignore criticism (if it's constructive)!

30. Always see your clients for who they are – not their circumstances. If you can see clients in light of their greatest potential, they'll love you forever. Know why? Because you’ll make them feel special and valued and cherished. Be a witness to their character and potential for greatness, not the sizes of their wallet or friends list. If you can hold this image of greatness, you increase their chances of becoming great. And their greatness will come back to reward you ten times over.

31. Nurture your existing clients. A quote from the movie Vanilla Sky comes to mind, “The little things… there's nothing bigger is there?” The same is true for your existing clientele. Continue to do little things for them: like remember their name, check how they're doing every now and then, send them a gift or even a free reading for special occasions like their birthday or the holidays. Treat this like you would any relationship. Trust me; they'll appreciate your effort.

Professional Development Strategies

32. You, Inc. Make it a priority to constantly work on improving your skills and take at least 20 minutes every day to meditate and connect with yourself. If you want to grow your business, you have to grow yourself – and that means treating your personal development and evolution as a business, too.

33. Find a mentor. Learning from someone with more experience and an impersonal point of view is probably one of the best decisions you can make for your Tarot career. Even if you can't afford a personal mentor, try and do your own research by studying the professionals in your field from a distance and learn to “follow their lead”.

34. Take a course or attend a seminar. Don’t ever rest on your laurels. There's always more to learn, especially when it comes to interpreting the cards in a new way or finding new marketing strategies for your business.

35. Join a professional Tarot Meet-up group, private forum, or association. This option has some of the same benefits of having a personal mentor, except that you're learning from a wide variety of professionals who are all learning at their own pace. You'll get a lot of ideas, but don't take all of the advice too seriously. It's all personal opinion, anyway. Pick and choose strategies that work best for you.

36. Interview experts in related fields. Sit and chat with a few experts in Tarot-related fields, like professional astrologers, psychics, channelers, etc. Chances are you could learn a thing or two from their business experiences – as well as collect some awesome content to share with your readers later on!

37. Know who you want to be and what you want to be known for. Do you have an idea for what you want your public reputation to be and what your business will be known for? What do you want people to think of when they say your business name?

38. Protect and manage your online reputation. Use tools such as Google Alerts and Naymz to monitor your online accounts and track what people are saying about you and your Tarot services on the Internet. If someone says something negative about you, offer to help them with whatever problems they may be having with your business.

Productivity Strategies

39. Create an editorial calendar. Backup your blog with at least 3 months' worth of content and sprinkle it across your blog publishing schedule. This will take a massive load off your shoulders and give you a lot of extra time to be productive in other areas of your business.

40. Outsource minor tasks that take up too much time. Do you really have time to answer every email you get personally, schedule all those Skype appointments with every client, or check your social media account every 5 minutes? You might – but is it really productive or giving you the best results in your business? Probably not. Lighten your load: get the minor stuff out of the way and invest in either automation software or a personal manager to help you manage the little details of your business.

41. Create a schedule or “to-do” list. If you're having trouble keeping track of what needs to be done, make an appointment with yourself once a week to review all the tasks you need to complete as well as the goal(s) you'd like to accomplish in the upcoming week, and create a schedule that outlines all the tasks you’ve chosen to finish in that week.

42. Prioritize your tasks. You'll want to pair this together with tip #41: segment your tasks in order from highest to lowest priority, and always do the most important tasks first. If ALL your tasks are high-priority, then chances are you need to get your Tarot business goals straightened out and review tip #6. For a normal day, you should only have about 2 – 3 (not including readings) high-prioritytasks to complete every day.

43. Hire a virtual assistant. If your workload is getting out of control and you find yourself no longer being able to keep track of the little things, it's best to eliminate the little things entirely from your list of things to do. And this is where virtual assistants come in – like gifts from the universe. (Note from Brigit: This was a game-changer for me. I hired my assistant, Kim, in March 2013 and my business has grown BIG time since then. Having Kim on-board has freed up my time to focus on doing what I do best – creating new material, connecting with my community and inspiring others to read Tarot with confidence. I highly recommend hiring help, even if it's just for a few hours a week. You'll see what a HUGE difference it makes. And no, you can't have Kim!)

44. Allow guest bloggers and speakers on your site. You won’t have to come up with creative content on your own, and you'll be giving your readers some diversity by allowing other guest bloggers and experts to share their stories and advice.

45. Host free and endorsed Tarot readers on your site. The effect of this is two-fold: number one – you help other Tarot readers establish themselves and build your reputation as a Tarot business coach, and number two – visitors will have the opportunity to either purchase or request a reading from someone else…which is extremely helpful if you have way too many orders in your backlog scheduled over more than a couple months.

Collaboration Strategies

46. Take on a business partner. Ideally, you’d choose to partner with someone who fills the gap in areas where you're weak. For example: if you're more of the mystical, creative type, your best bet is to partner up with someone who is practical and knows how to look after their resources. It's all about balance here.

47. Get a store or other large company to host or sponsor your Tarot event. Good for local events, this spreads awareness of your business and can get you known as the “neighborhood Tarot reader”.

48. Pursue joint ventures. You receive all the benefits of having a business partner – with the added bonus of gaining access to another expert’s audience.

49. Consider cross-promotions with experts in related fields. You're promoting each other's business – what could possibly go wrong here?

50. Host a panel, radio show, or conference with other Tarot experts. This will immediately give you “expert status”. Plus you'll make friends with other Tarot professionals you could end up joint venturing or doing cross-promotions with (review tips #48 and 49).

51. Crowdfund a project. This is a wonderful option for Tarot entrepreneurs who need capital fundraising. Good for really complex projects – so you probably won't need to do this often. But it raises awareness of your business really fast with your customers and social network. Use Kickstarter or Indiegogo to get started.

52. Join a Tarot mastermind group. If you can't afford a personal coach or mentor (review tip #33), this is probably the next best thing. Join a Facebook group or Google+ Hangout of around 4 – 6 people and make an agreement to hold each other accountable for projects you promise to complete each week in your business.

Psychological Tactics

53. Add personal development techniques and coaching strategies to your Tarot readings. If you want to make a big emotional impact on your client during a reading, you'll need to understand certain principles of human behavior. Neurolinguistics is a great subject to learn if you really want to get inside your client's mind. As a Tarot professional, it's your responsibility to make sure you use these tools with great care of others' emotions and not to abuse your authority.

54. Study business psychology. Research what motivates people to buy – and use the techniques in a responsible way. A great place to start on this topic is Social Triggers.

55. Read Influence. The title pretty much speaks for itself. All great marketers read this book.

56. Set clear boundaries. Make it clear just how much personal information you will accept from your clients, and how close of a relationship you are willing to have. If you do decide to have a very close, intimate relationship with your clients, the pros are the emotional connection – but if you're not careful there's also the potential of a client growing too dependent on you and your readings, and they might start abusing your services. To avoid this, review tip #25 and read this.

57. Learn how to manage others. If you're going to be hiring anyone, or even outsourcing to other freelancers or companies, you're going to want to learn how to manage people. Now this doesn't mean you need to act like a control freak! Managing people well involves learning how to communicate effectively, share the goals and vision you have of your Tarot business with others, and delegate tasks to people based on their strengths.

58. Develop leadership skills. Get a copy of Leadership 101 by John Maxwell. Understand what makes a great leader and then focus on building your Tarot career around that.

59. Share ALL your secrets. It's no longer sensible to be so concerned with idea theft. I mean, we live in the Aquarian age – information is free-flowing and limitless! And visitors of your site will not tolerate a tight-lipped Tarot blogger. You must come clean – otherwise you'll lose them forever and they’ll just find their information someplace else.

Expand Your Reach

60. Book speaking gigs. Tarot conferences, spiritual universities, psychic stores and research organizations…there are loads of opportunities to expand your speaking career. If this is important to your long-term career goals, you'll want to book yourself anywhere you can.

61. Connect with Tarot partners overseas. The Internet makes this option really easy to do. Ideally, you could partner with people who are bilingual, and offer to host them as endorsed Tarot readers on your site – so that there is always the option of offering your clients readings in languages other than English.

62. Hire a publicist. If you really want to become one of those famous Tarot readers who get interviewed on major TV shows and works with celebrities, then a professional publicist is a must for you. You'll need to come out of pocket quite a bit, though.

63. Purchase advertisements on Tarot-related websites, new age magazines, and local newspapers. As long as you have a strategic plan in place for where you put the ad and why, this still remains an excellent choice to draw more clients to your business.

64. Do TV, radio, and YouTube interviews. Connect with other Tarot readers or intuitive experts on their podcast, radio or television show, or even their YouTube channel. This tactic could end up bringing loads of online traffic, depending on how well known the interviewer is.

65. Volunteer as a guest in another expert's course. Depending on the size of the expert's audience, this option could result in thousands of potential Tarot clients being referenced to your site every day – for as long as the course is made available. This immediately establishes your credibility and visitors will be more inclined to trust you.

66. Offer guest posts to popular blogs in Tarot-related fields. If you're not already doing this one, what are you waiting for? Research popular blogs in astrology, numerology, life coaching, entrepreneurship, etc. and start submitting epic articles for them to publish.

Think Like a CEO

67. Hire an accountant. Once your Tarot career grows to a certain size, managing your financial accounts will probably become more difficult – which is why it's the best time to start thinking about hiring a professional accountant. But that doesn't mean you should skimp on learning the ropes yourself, at least the basics like creating a balance sheet and income statement. After all, accounting is the “language of business”. If you want to succeed financially, you're going to have to understand the numbers.

68. Track and manage your cash flow. You can use your regular accounting program for this or online services like Mint (personal) or Outright (business).

69. Utilize A/B testing. If you want to know which headlines or call-to-action buttons work the best for your audience, then you'll need to experiment until you get it right.

70. Create a system. If you want to leave a big mark in the Tarot community, create your own Tarot system for professionals or clients. Perhaps you could create software or some other automation tool that could add more value to your Tarot readings – then get others to use your system by spreading the word. This will involve a bit of creative thinking on your part.

71. Copyright or trademark your Tarot products, services, and brand names. Though I am far from being an advocate in protection against “idea theft”, I do believe certain precautions should be made when it comes to your products and systems, especially as your Tarot career starts to boom. To protect your assets, be extra cautious and make sure you legally own your own stuff – it’ll save you months or even years of court trouble later if someone decides to come out of the woodwork and claim your stuff as their own.

72. Keep track of your Google Analytics. Track your visitors, bounce and conversion rates. See what keywords and channels people use to find your website.

73. Leave a legacy in the Tarot community. In order to do this, you're going to need a vision (review tip #7). What legacy can you leave in the Tarot universe? Who can you impact and how will it influence the future of how Tarot is practiced? What wisdom will you leave for future generations of Tarot readers? Examples of ancient and modern legends in the Tarot world include: Arthur Edward Waite, Pamela Wilson, Aleister Crowley, Mary K Greer, Joan Bunning, Rachel Pollack, Biddy Tarot, etc. Will you be next?

Social Media and Online Marketing Strategies

74. Choose 3 – 4 social media accounts. Unless you plan on providing consistent, valuable content on each account, then you don't want to spread yourself too thin. Choose just 1 or no more than 4 social accounts that you'll use to interact with your audience on a regular basis.

75. Schedule social outposts. Sign up for a free account on either Hootsuite or Buffer and schedule a few days or a whole week's worth of social media content. You don't want to spend too much time on social media – get this out of the way so you can have more time to focus on more productive business tasks and strategies.

76. Offer free advice and links to helpful sites on your social media accounts. If you're really trying to help your audience, try not to post content that’s purely self-promotional. Offer free advice, Tarot card tips of the day, or even links to other articles and videos that have nothing to do with your site but you know will be helpful to your readers.

77. Develop your SEO strategy. Think of it as a long-term strategy – because that's exactly what it is. There is no “magic formula” to beat the search engines at their own game, so just get that out of your head right now. When you're first starting, don't worry about being on the front page of Google. Simply focus on providing valuable content on your site, and your ranking will gradually improve on its own. Use keywords and meta descriptions that are relevant and accurate for your site, and don't stress yourself over the rest. (As you grow, you can hire a company or person to take care of SEO for you.)

78. Hold contests and giveaways. Be social and active online and shake things up every now and then by hosting friendly contests and random giveaways with your readers.

79. Do webinars and teleseminars. If you're promoting a new product or service, this is a good promotional strategy to initially get people to sign up. However, more and more people online are growing distrustful of webinars, as they usually end up getting a lot of promotion shoved in their face with absolutely no valuable content. Make sure you even out the scale by giving your readers a good enough reason to attend.

80. Launch an app. As the world becomes more mobile-friendly, you'll want to continue to remain in the minds of your readers by giving them something to remember you by. You could hire a developer to create an app that sends out free “card of the day” tips or automated readings.

Ways to Give Back

81. Donate a percentage of your earned income to your favorite non-profit organization. If you want to grow your Tarot career and also work to further an important social cause or environmental concern, then decide on a fixed percentage of your income (between 5 – 10%) that you are willing to tithe every month to an organization you support. (Note from Brigit: I regularly donate to Kiva.org and support women across the world in starting up their own businesses. I highly recommend Kiva as a way of giving back.)

82. Offer free mini readings at orphanages or senior homes. Give everyone a chance to have fun with the Tarot, even those who cannot buy a formal reading from you.

83. Teach local intuitive development courses and workshops. What better way to promote spiritual awareness in your neighborhood or community than to teach people how to develop their intuitive abilities? Also consider offering Tarot classes for your fellow local readers.

84. Authors – donate copies of your published books. There are tons of non-profit organizations and book donation programs you can collaborate with. Also, be sure to promote yourself as a local author by sending copies and offering to give readings at your community library.

85. Connect with psychic research organizations. Speak with spiritual scientists, transpersonal psychologists, and parapsychologists and share your own personal stories or research methods on how you discovered your psychic abilities.

86. Join intuitive awareness campaigns. Offer to speak or partner with groups whose mission is to promote the awareness of our spiritual connection, such as the Center for Spiritual Living community or the Shift Network.

87. Have a bunch of free stuff on your site – a resources list. Offer your readers a list of free tools and resources you used to create your Tarot business, as well as a bunch of free articles and content that will help them get started with their own Tarot careers. The best way to grow is to turn around and give back.

Now It's Your Turn…

Whew! We've covered a lot here today. But all this information is meaningless until you decide to put it into action. So grab a pad and pencil, or open your Evernote, and start putting your action plan together. Now answer the question: What 5 business strategies will you focus on improving this year to achieve ultimate success in your Tarot career? Also, what other business advice or strategies would you give fellow Tarot professionals who are just starting out? Share your wisdom in the comments below.

About Kyana Mayfield

Kyana Mayfield is an entrepreneur, intuitive counselor, and a self-proclaimed conscious business strategist. She specializes in helping spiritual entrepreneurs and holistic business owners transform their online brand and grow into successful conscious leaders who change the world. Visit her website at NewWorldTarot.com.

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