The first issue of the Build Your Metaphysical Business email newsletter is going out on TUESDAY, May 13! If you’re on the list, you’ll get it free in your mailbox. If you’re not, you won’t. If haven’t yet signed up for the newsletter, sign up now so you won’t miss it!

Here’s what you’ll find in the kick-off issue:

• Your “back to basics” marketing checklist: Whether you’ve just stepped on the path or the road is long behind you, EVERYONE should be using at LEAST these 7 tools, bare minimum. 5 are free, the other 2 are low cost. All are easy. If you don’t know where to start, start here.

• Your Questions Answered: One or Many? How to market yourself when you do more than one thing. Also: a blogging conundrum solved!

• Mindset Insights: The “dark side” to being an entrepreneur, and the unique advantage metaphysical business owners have over it

• Elizabeth Recommends: A couple of my favorite favorites (not all business-related - hey, I love the books and decks as much as anyone!)

• Lastly, I’ve got a very special announcement to, well, announce!

Remember, you’ll only get the newsletter if you subscribe. Don’t miss out!

Have a great weekend, everyone! Look for the newsletter on Tuesday.

I want ‘em!

The first issue of the Build Your Metaphysical Business Newsletter is coming! Soon! Very soon! I’m still figuring out what the publication schedule will be and all that -it’ll be a work in progress for a little while. But I do know I’ll feature a Q&A section, where I’ll be answering your questions. This means I need your questions!

You can leave questions in the comments, or email them to me at elizabeth at [domain name of this site].

As I said, the BYMB newsletter will be a work in progress. I’m thinking of making the Q&A’s newsletter-only. No matter what, however, there will be stuff in the newsletter you can’t get any other way, so definitely please sign up if you haven’t already. (Upper right hand corner of BYMB.com has the boxes for your name and email addy - just hit submit. In case you’re wondering, I repeat this every time because many folks are reading this from an RSS reader, not on the site proper!)

Anyhoo, bring ‘em on.

In other news, I need a snappy name for the newsletter. Anyone got any ideas?

A couple of weeks ago (waaay back when I started this blog - don’t know if you guys remember ) I talked about how NOT to be a commodity. That was my first mention of USP, one of the fundamentals of marketing.

USP stands for “unique selling position.” It’s the thing that sets YOU apart - the thing that answers the question, “Why should I do business with you, or have a consultation with you, as opposed to the squillion other readers out there?”

Finding your USP is the first step to reaching more people, increasing your income in a major way and yes, having more fun in your business too. So we’ll be looking at it a lot in the BYMBiverse. (I.e., the universe of BYMB - except I can’t figure out how to pronounce “BYMBiverse” - if anyone can figure it out, definitely let me know!)

I’ve never liked the term USP as it relates to metaphysical consultants. Yes, we are selling - I think we know that, and most of us are okay with that. But it doesn’t really capture the essence of what we do, does it?

Still, I hadn’t been able to think of anything better. Luckily, I didn’t have to. At the workshop, Anastasia of TarotPathways.com came up with something really cool. Check this out: Unique Service Position.

Yeah, that’s more like it.

(At least, I think that was Anastasia - someone correct me if I’m wrong!)

[This work is copyrighted material. Please visit http://www.buildyourmetaphysicalbusiness.com to claim your free 90 minute marketing brainstorming session with Tarot Pro James Wells.]

Here’s a little bit of fun for any of you who happen to be around on a Saturday - old pictures of Tarot events!

RS 2006 (who is that lovely lady next to me?):

Me and Lon (a.k.a. The Lon-inator), RS 2006:

And hang on to your bananas - it’s me and Elinor Greenberg at the New York Tarot Festival, 2002!!

That just kills me!

Ok, so 2006 isn’t exactly vintage. But y’know.

Yes, I invented the term “The Lon-inator”. I amuse myself.

(All photos courtesy of Debbie Lake!)

Yes, they’re out there! And one of the coolest things about marketing is that you get to pick ‘em.

We could talk about this all day, and then another day, but my goal with this post is to not ramble. So I’m just going to list a few strategies to get you thinking… and writing. (Get a pen and paper handy - you’ll want to jot down a few things as you go through this list.)

1. Start with who you know. Namely, your current perfect clients! Think for a few minutes about who is coming to see you now. Can you name three favorite clients? What is it about them that’s so awesome? Jot down specific attributes. Anything goes, from how they act in sessions to what they wear. Jot it all down… then go deeper. That handmade vintage playing card jewelry that one of them wears is probably indicative of a creative personality and that might be attractive to you.

2. Then move on to the wish list. In a perfect world, what would all of your clients look like? Nothing is too wild.

3. Don’t be afraid to monetize this exercise. Yes, it’s perfectly OK to say you want to work with people who can afford to pay you - and then some! How much would you like to earn for each reading/consultation? What kind of a person could pay you that fee?

4. Make a list, draw a picture. This one’s pretty self-explanatory: use the information you’re gathering to create a picture of your ideal client. It’s ok if it’s a work in progress - you can always add to your list or picture later.

5. Tell everyone you know. Once you’ve got a good idea of who you want, start talkin’. You might not know it, but I bet you’ve got a great network around you right now - friends, family, and service pros like the guy who changes your oil, the mailwoman, the guy at the deli, the drycleaner… people who have lots of contacts, some of whom might be interested in getting some guidance from you, if they only knew…

Ah, but I hear you saying, “Ask the mailman? Dude, are you kidding?” Many times we don’t want to ask for what we want because we’re worried, even subconsciously, what people will think about us. So turn it around by simply answering the squillion dollar question: what’s in it for them? That way, the focus is on them, not you.

6. Go where they go. Where do they hang out? If you want to work with, say, yoga teachers, you probably won’t find as many of them at night classes for auto mechanics as you will at, say, a school for yoga teachers. OK, that’s a snidge facetious, but you see what I mean I hope. The real question to ask is, “Who has access to the people I want to serve, and how can I get access to them?” One simple example: if you want to work with stay-at-home-moms, perhaps there’s a group or club or networking organization you can speak at or lead a workshop for.

7. Don’t be afraid to let go. Yep, I’m talking about firing clients. Those clients. This might seem completely off the wall if you’ve never considered it, let alone done it, but bear with me here. “Those clients” may be paying your rent… but they’re also sucking up your time, energy and brain cells. When you create a space, create an intention, and back it up with smart and supportive action, not once but consistently, the results are fairly easy to predict. But you need that energy to do it. Don’t be afraid to release problem clients “for the good of all.”

Those are just 7 quick strategies to get you started. Don’t worry, we’ll talk about more! In the meantime, I’d love to hear your ideas and strategies in the comments.

[This work is copyrighted material. Please visit http://www.buildyourmetaphysicalbusiness.com to claim your free 90 minute marketing brainstorming session with Tarot Pro James Wells.]

Okay, now that I’m back and I’ve talked marketing a little, here’s more on what went down at The Readers Studio!

I’ve found a couple of updates so far that are bound to be much more involved than this one will be. Debbie has a detailed four day recap, Joanna has a lovely wrap-up as well. Any others? (Keeping my peepers peeped for one from Corinne, whom I didn’t get to talk to much - dang!!)

The highlight of the weekend for me was meeting old friends and making new ones, without question. I hadn’t seen Barbara Moore since… goodness, I can’t even remember. It had been a while! And she gave me some of the very best readings of the weekend, hands down - like, sit-and-ponder-change-your-life kind of readings. Very helpful to me, indeed. And Mary Collin, UK business coach and leader of the popular Readers Studio Tarot Round The World webinar series - what a lady! You guys are in for a treat because Ms. Collin is quite the expert on marketing herself and shared some great ideas at my workshop, which I’ll be passing on to you shortly here on the blog or in the newsletter.

Also wonderful was getting to thank James Wells in person for his expert interview here on BYMB (if you haven’t nabbed it yet, be sure to sign up for the newsletter in the upper right hand corner of the BYMB homepage). And Matt Brooks! Holy smokes, Matt Brooks in the house! I’ve known Matt since the ATA days (for some reminiscences, see this post on my personal blog). And the Aeclectic peeps!

See what I mean? The Readers Studio is all about the people.

I can’t do a play-by-play ’cause it would take too long. Here are some highlights…

One of the big themes that kept coming up again and again: oracles as the antidote to what Thalassa calls “our fractured culture” - our sound-bite culture, our lack of connection to one another and the speedy dwindling of all that is Sacred-With-A-Capital-S in the dominant culture. This “fractured culture” stuff is a big theme for me (it’s something I think about a lot) but I’d never considered my work with Tarot as “subverting the dominant paradigm” or a remedy to that particular rift. Of course, it makes perfect sense. Psychics as agents of change. Definitely something to chew on.

Kevin Quigley shared an amazing 7-card spread to evaluate ourselves as readers. Check out Debbie’s post for positions and details. This was incredibly useful to me, not to mention illuminating… in that Tower sorta way, if you know what I mean. (”Wait, I do what?” “Them cards don’t lie…”) I highly recommend you check it out - I might even ask Kevin if I can pass it along it here.

Like Kevin, the highlight of Thalassa’s session for me was the spread - this one about how to move through massive change. I am very much a how-to/practical solutions kind of reader, so it resonated. (Again, Debbie’s got the deets on positions of the cards.)

The deck highlight of the weekend for me was the Bohemian Gothic, hands down. I know the BG is probably old news to everyone reading this (after all, there is that massive thread on Aeclectic), but still, I’d not yet gotten around to ordering one of my own. Well. Barbara had her silver out for the Foundation Reading (first session), and let me tell ya - I made a “do not pass go, do not collect $200″ beeline to the Tarot Garden table. It was “I cannot be without this deck for a minute longer” moment! My freebie goodie back deck was Tarot of the Thousand And One Nights, featuring Léon Carré’s splendid illustrations (not seen since a Sir Richard Burton edition of The Arabian Nights from the 20’s) - also good stuff. (And apt- I have a webcomic that’s a modern-day send-up of the Arabian Nights called Scheherazade, incidentally. It’ll be a Real Big Project someday when I have the leverage to do it right.)

It felt like I got a lot of messages this weekend, which is probably not a bad thing for a Tarot conference. From the cards I drew to what my session partners were telling me to the mid-session doo-dads (”You are POWERFUL!” on an affirmation card), it felt like the antennae were UP more than usual. Now to ponder over it all…

I’d love to hear more Readers Studio stories, so if you’ve got ‘em, be sure to leave ‘em in the comments!

Last but by certainly no means least, here’s the link to my pictures on Flickr - I’ve added a few since I posted last.

I had to do it:

http://www.myspace.com/buildyourmetaphysicalbiz

Go ahead and add me to your friends list if you’re so inclined!  (I have a personal page, too.)

One of the coolest parts of The Readers Studio for me was… the people! (But of course!)

I had about 30 of the 120 attendees sit in on my workshop. Many others told me they wanted to come, but darn it if that pesky, spritely Shawn Nacol didn’t have his own killer gig on writing going on at the same time (a tough call to be sure - lucky for me, Shawn gave me a copy of his handout, which should keep me busy for a while).

Many, many folks came up to me to talk marketing. Which was especially cool, as I got a bunch of great tips I can share with everyone on the blog. One of whom (let’s just call her our heroine) told me this story.

Our heroine is a client of Ruth Hayden, a financial consultant who works with women on the psychological aspects of money. Being tax time not too long ago, the two of them were going over the books.

“The books” don’t always add up, as we all know. Only in this case, the discrepancy might not be what you’d expect. After scanning the documents, Ruth turned to our heroine.

“So tell me,” she said, pointing to the Tarot reading section, “are you taking this thing seriously?”

Our heroine was a bit stunned. “Um, what?”

“Are you taking this ‘tarot thing’ seriously?”

“I thought so,” said our heroine.

“Because these numbers here aren’t showing me that!”

Are you taking your business seriously? As seriously as the readings themselves? It’s a fair question, no?

So often, we’re taught to thing negative, stay small, discount our accomplishments, whatever. You guys know all the baggage already, I’m sure. But then as readers, consultants, or whatever we choose to call ourselves, we have even more resistence to contend with. “Tarot|Astrology|Numerology|What-Have-You - you’re not… serious about that, are you?”

Dead serious, man. These are our clients’ lives we’re talking about. And our own.

Are you a professional tarot reader? A professional astrologer, hand analyst, or numerologist? Are you getting paid for your consultations? Maybe you don’t have goals worked out yet per se, but are you at least a step beyond “casual readings”?

Congratulations! You’re an entrepreneur! And that comes with a whole host of rewards… and responsibilities too.

In my workshop this weekend, we talked a lot about how much of your marketing is completely under your control. We talked about taking control. Step one of taking control is taking yourself seriously, even when others don’t.

You get to define what “taking yourself seriously” means to you and your business. But no matter what you decide, here are the three responsibilities that come with it (these too are from Ruth Hayden):

1. Knowing when you’re at work
2. Knowing when you’re not at work
3. Doing the stuff you don’t want to do (eek! more on that in a later post!)

Taking your passion seriously and yourself seriously is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. I invite you to ponder the question a bit today. I know I will.

Then go do just one thing…

PS: Are you signed up for the newsletter yet? First issue will go out in about a week or so. Just enter your name and email into the boxes in the upper right hand corner, click submit, check your email for one that says “RESPONSE REQUIRED”, and click on the link in that email.

[This work is copyrighted material. Please visit http://www.buildyourmetaphysicalbusiness.com to claim your free 90 minute marketing brainstorming session with Tarot Pro James Wells.]

Back from The Readers Studio, refreshed and energized. (Unlike every single other multi-day event I attend, be it a seminar or a workshop or convention or whatever, The ‘Studio seems to leave me with more energy, not less, despite the level of activity… which is really saying something, if ya asked me!)

Before I launch into more blogging about the event, I just want to be sure to take the time to extend a big thank you from the bottom of my cockles to all of my workshop attendees! I was absolutely floored at the response, and the subsequent outpouring of thanks from all of you.

For the rest of the weekend, I had folks coming up to me to let me know how helpful they found the workshop, how they could have sat through another two hours, etc. That meant so much to me!

I have to admit, I didn’t know what to expect… so I kept my expectations for turnout low. I would have been thrilled with just 10 attendees. We had close to 30!

I’d also like to extend special thanks to Maribel, who videotaped the session, and Sasha, who took care of bidness (leaving me free to teach).

I should let you guys know something right up front. I’d been hemming and hawing with the idea of this site for so long, but I’d been afraid to throw myself into it wholeheartedly because I just wasn’t sure marketing how-to’s was something metaphysical practitioners wanted. Now I can see that you guys aren’t afraid of marketing, you’re hungry for it. Message received!

Just keep an eye on the blog and be sure to sign up for the mailing list… I’ve got much more in the pipeline, I’m tellin’ ya!

Thanks so much again.

[Thank-you image by Kathleen, who has a wonderful blog, found by way of Google Image Search. ]

What a day!

All was well at the end of Day One at The ‘Studio… I floated back to my hotel room in the best mood I’ve had in a little while (did I mention all those deadlines at the end of April?) Kevin Quigley’s session, while obscure in spots, was nonetheless grand, the cocktail party kept everyone chatting (and fueled - the “hors doovers” saved us all a trip to the Bistro) and the study groups were rockin’ far into the evening (if I do say so myself!).

The lovely and sweet Maribel of Liquid Video VIDEOTAPED my session! How wild is this? Let me tell ya, it was really a case of the Universe granting my wish… a couple of weeks ago I got to thinking “Wouldn’t it be great if…” which then became, “Gee, I really should…” and then “I do not want to let this cool thing go by without…” But I didn’t have a solution. I really started to come to grips with the idea of not getting it done (there’s only so much I can do) early this week, when Maribel called me out of the blue. A total godsend. Thank you, Maribel!

And if you’ve never seen Maribel’s work before, let me be the first to introduce you. Here’s a bit of Wald on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BXb79ZneLM

So if you’re in the New York/NJ area and need professional video done (we’ll be talking about the benefits of video here on the site), she’s the lady to call! I’ll be adding her to the “Resources” section when it’s up.

Ordinarily I like to chill out in the hotel lobby in the evening (’cause that’s where Wald always is, don’t you know), but last night I was just beat. So beat, in fact, that I didn’t even try to make Robert Place’s session this morning, as I knew it would test the laws of physics (getting there, not the session itself). That’s what The Readers Studio does - gets ya blissfully tuckered.

I must confess, I’m finding it difficult to get articulate blog posts together while in the thick of it, and my Internet access time will run out (it’s not free in the hotel rooms). But I’ll post more when I get home.

In the meantime, I did add some more pictures…