Welcome to The Divination Nation blog!
We are Pleasant Gehman and Crystal Ravenwolf, a duo of divination divas, “spiritual sisters from another mister”. We’re life-long Tarotistas, obsessed with all things esoteric and paranormal. Look for our forthcoming book, “Walking The Tarot Path” in late 2016.
We’ve created this blog to share our knowledge and to connect with the vibrant worldwide metaphysical and paranormal community. We hope it’s as fun for you to read as it is for us to write…Enjoy!
Something
you were once keenly interested in- Tarot, Reiki, witchcraft, palm reading, or whatever- has morphed from a hobby into a part-time or new full time job. You’ve
been taking on clients and a few of them have become return customers. That’s
fabulous! But now you want to take you’re your business to the next level.
Keeping up a healthy metaphysical business is
a lot of work…it’s not all just playing with potions and throwing cards. As spiritual or occult professionals, we are
usually on our own, with no support staff.
That
means you’ll be doing everything by
yourself. You’re your own PR person, secretary, personal assistant, and travel
agent. You do the negotiations; you book the gigs and travel. Most of us don’t
have “management” to rely on; we’re our own bosses… that means we
also wind up doing all of the work! For many, this part of their
career is something they don’t bargain for when they were dreaming of becoming
professional. But doing this often-tedious
work is really what enables us to be successful at what we really want to do…making a living off
the practices we’ve diligently studied and become good at.
Here are
some common mistakes that many metaphysical and spiritual practitioners make on
the internet…and how to fix them:
1) YOU DON’T HAVE A WEBSITE
You need a professional website.
It’s
important for many reasons- it allows people to connect with you and to read
your bio, access your schedule for appearances, book live or Skype readings,
attend classes or workshops that you’re teaching, buy your products and
services, and to get a general feel for what you do.
The
people who visit your site will be able to “see” you, to contact you, and to
take you seriously, realizing that you truly are a professional, and a trustworthy
businessperson, not just a dabbler. It doesn’t need to have all the latest
bells and whistles, but it does need to impart the who, what, where and why of your
career.
“But
I have a Facebook page!” We can hear you cry, “Isn’t that good
enough?” No, it’s not. Not if you’re serious about your career.
Ok,
a Facebook page is better than nothing, but you still
need a website! Your website and your Facebook page should be
linked. If for some insane reason you don’t have a
Facebook account, this brings us to:
2) YOU DON’T HAVE A PRESENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Social
media is awesome in general, but it’s especially great for connecting with your
fans, potential clients, and/or sponsors or for events. It’s great for engaging
in spirited (and spiritual!) discussions,
shop talk and conversations about occult history, as well as for joining groups
that will inform you even more about your area of interest. These
interactions are extremely important for our careers!
If
you aren’t actively involved in social media, you’re doing yourself
and career a serious disservice.
Social medial equals free marketing!
Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram really are where it’s happening, they’re terrific promotional
tools that can link you to others who share your interests. We know it sounds trite, but it’s
true. If you don’t have accounts on these top sites, take the
time to set one up and learn how to use them. They’re fun, yes, but they’re
also extremely important to you as a professional. You
can get hired, get professional advice, learn about conferences, acquire
new clients and buy the tools of your trade via social media.
If
you’ve been holding off on this, now’s the time to explore it…which brings us
to:
3) NOT USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
Many metaphysicians literally shoot themselves in the foot while
using social media.
One
common mistake is to set up a page on (any) social media site, and
then let it die a long, slow death by not doing anything with
it. Ok, so you set up a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram
page…and you can’t see the big deal about
it. You’re not so happy with it because you have like, four
followers…. You can’t see what’s so great about having an occult-oriented
professional page, cause nothing is happening.
But
did you think to yourself “If I Build It They Will Come?”
Nice
fantasy, but that isn’t how it works! If you’re using social media for
marketing, you need to put the necessary time into your page, or it’s going to
go belly up really quickly.
“But
I don’t have the time!”
This
is a common complaint, but it means you need to make the time- remember, social medial equals free
marketing!
Do
some posts and interactions with your morning coffee… you can even
set an alarm so you don’t go over ten or fifteen minutes and get
sucked into a rabbit hole. “Like” a few pages or make some comments while
you’re waiting for your first client… log on from the dentist’s office, while
the baby’s asleep, at a dog park, a show, the airport or in line at the grocery
store.
In
order to get an audience, you have to engage an audience. Like
courtship, you have to woo people to your page. Invite people to
your page(s) and make sure there is something interesting and fun for them to
enjoy…so they will be sure to check back for more updates.
Don’t
blast out promotions non-stop, it will be off-putting to your
followers…though you do need to be consistent with announcing a gig, a reading
special, a new book or a new magickal product, cause posting just one time
isn’t going to cut the mustard. People visit many different pages,
and their newsfeed is getting updated by
the second by all of their friends, as well as all the pages they
like.
That
means your post will come and go in the blink of an eye, so you definitely
have to post multiple times. Just don’t over-do it, and please, for the love of
god, don’t tag people who wouldn’t be interested.
Engage
with others by “liking” and commenting on their status posts,
be personal and personable! Make sure your social media interactions
find a balance between the fun stuff and hard-core promo or people will start
tuning out.
4) OVER-SHARING ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Ok,
so we’ve just told you to post a lot of stuff…pictures, event
announcements, videos, etc. But if you have a fan page or
group set up just for your spiritual practice, please keep it
“on topic”. A really common mistake- and one that makes
many people actually feel embarrassed for you- is to “overshare” or
post TMI, the abbreviation for “too much information”.
If
you’re running a metaphysically oriented page, people don’t need (or
want!) to know that you’re having your period, fighting with your significant
other, having a rough day emotionally, fell off the wagon, or that a
relative died…or you broke a nail.
Your professional page should reflect your professional
career.
It
isn’t a tell-all site, or a place to get virtual hugs. Use your
personal page for that kind of post…if, indeed you really and truly want to
post all your dirty laundry on the Internet!
Presumably
the reason you made your page on
any social media site is because you want to grow your career. It’s
doubtful that you would walk into your day job and complain about any of this
stuff, right? If you want your spell crafting or Tarot reading to be
your day job, then you need to behave professionally when you’re online.
There
are a few exceptions to this rule. For example, if something went
horrendously wrong at a gig, but it turned out to be a funny story- something
that many can relate to- then go ahead and post away! Similarly, if your
addiction is Lenormand decks, buying state of the art ghost hunting equipment,
or something like that- as opposed to some sort of illegal
controlled substance- go ahead and post about it…cause many will relate to
it. Also, if something not so good
happened to you- maybe you got into a fender-bender on your way to a psychic
fair or your cold turned into bronchitis- please feel free to post about it,
but be brief. It will be a way of letting
everyone know (all at once) why you
aren’t showing up or have to cancel some sessions. And in a tough situation like this, which
everyone can relate to, you will probably be pleasantly surprised at how
supportive and generous your clients, students, fans and the worldwide
metaphysical community can be!
#
Visit our website to book metaphysical and occult workshops, Tarot readings and healings, or to have us come out for a paranormal investigation: https://www.facebook.com/TheDivinationNation?fref=ts
Connect with us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TarotAlimah
To find out more about Pleasant or request a reading or healing session, click here: http://pleasantgehman.com/tarot.html
For more on Crystal’s background, or request a reading or healing session, click here: http://crystalravenwolf.com
 |
| Pleasant and Crystal: Photo by E. Kohan |
No comments:
Post a Comment