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my first year seeing clients it was entirely IRL. i would do one session a day at my apartment. sometimes the client and i would hang up to three hours, drink tea, snack, smoke. i& #39;d do this up to 4x a week. it was energetically sustainable (but a lot of actual cleaning). (thread) https://twitter.com/alicesparklykat/status/1381736924646359047">https://twitter.com/alicespar...
i moved to a city for a year where i didn& #39;t know anyone. my expenses were low. business was slow. i did online readings by request for previous clients only. i honestly didn& #39;t like it (i love it now) so i just started commuting on weekends to cities i had clients and friends.
then i was homeless/transient for two years, so i made housecalls. it was lovely, the client would feed me but sometimes i& #39;d travel an hour on public transit just to get to them. i started charging more. still one a day, two if people were in the same neighbourhood, max 5 a week.
i& #39;ve read for clients in their kitchens and front porches, in public parks in dead heat of summer, under trees in the rain, in an empty mall food court, in the front seat of their car, sitting in a tree 12ft in the air. my consult skills were honed in the oddest of circumstances.
during the transient years, often i& #39;d wait to visit a city until i had enough people wanting sessions there that i could afford to rent a place i could host readings. i& #39;d book two a day tops. i kept my rates the same as short term rentals are expensive. this was the most fun.
with my health and school i took a week or two off whenever i was sick or needed to study or had made enough cash i could chill for a bit to write or see friends. i& #39;ve always offered sliding scale (still do) so sometimes how much i worked was based off what others could offer.
in 2019 i went overseas to study with UK astrologers. i began offering solely online readings but with limited availability as i& #39;d also gone back to school, had funding, and spent my days studying, researching, and writing. i began to prioritize learning to do online client work.
when i returned, i moved to the west coast. i had enough funding and astrology clients both IRL and online to get my name on the lease of a little one bedroom perfect for client work. after sleeping in over 80 places between early 2016 and late 2019 i wanted some stability.
as my rent was a lot, i started charging more. when i had someone over IRL, i& #39;d do one reading a day. when i saw folks online maybe two. i only saw clients two days a week as my focus was my graduate work. my online skills had improved, but i found it tiring (made me so hungry!)
in January 2020, i began teaching an in-person monthly class series that was surprisingly popular. i also read the first NYT piece about covid. i knew the astro weather, of course, so i stocked up on hand sanitizer for my consultation space and classes.
by February 2020 i realized i was going to have to do a lot more online work than i preferred to afford my apartment after my degree was done. i also got the message i& #39;d need to be lightfooted again soon. i gave notice, found a room, and started looking for shared office space.
then lockdown hit. i put what little stuff i& #39;d accumulated into storage (i never bought an actual bed) and moved back east to where i was comfortable. the demand for my services increased, so i offered more online readings. i had to take a break from school so this was amazing.
my temporary housing situations in the city were less than ideal to work during a pandemic, but I was seeing 2-3 clients a day 2-3 days a week. then i was offered a calm place to stay in a rural area. since September 2020, i& #39;ve had more quiet and stability and ease than in years.
the spaciousness gave me time for client work, focus to actually finish my MA (submitted last week!), and energy to build p
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❤️" title="Rotes Herz" aria-label="Emoji: Rotes Herz">trehttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💖" title="Funkelndes Herz" aria-label="Emoji: Funkelndes Herz">n support for writing the book on the IC (the working title "The Astrology of Coming Home" probably makes more sense after reading this thread).
i realized the uncertainty of our world, as well as my living/health situation, meant being booked out months in advance was not a sustainable option for me. i decided to shift for now to a quarterly month of dedicated client work with time for teaching and writing Coming Home.
now six years into doing astro professionally and a year entirely online, i& #39;ve learned that while i love one-off readings, my values, skills, and temperament are best suited to serve folks who see me more frequently. so i& #39;ve changed my pricing and booking process to reflect that.
now in a client work month i see 3-5 people a day 3-4 days a week. i think this is possible because of my years transient and working IRL. to be able to sit in the same spot, in energetically managed space, and see folks specifically aligned with my work is a relief and a joy.
i love client work so much, i want to be able to do it for decades to come. i want to see the same folks for decades, if we& #39;re right for each other. i want us to live through these wild times and learn and adapt and change together.
the best thing i do for my practice to stay sustainable is to *change* the way i work whenever it becomes clear i need to. whether that& #39;s my rates, intake process, the way i prep for a reading, the tea i drink. i have mutable angles, so this comes more naturally to me than some.
i& #39;m so grateful for this strange work and honoured to witness as astrologer and friend so many folks embarking on their paths as astrologers themselves. i hope my windy weird few years are illuminating to the trial and error and accidents and blessings that can create a practice.
if you want to read more about my practice itself you can visit my website. there& #39;s links to writing, teaching, the Coming Home project, and details of my booking process (May books are released end of April fyi). grateful for all your stories. grateful to Ace for this thread. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💕" title="Zwei Herzen" aria-label="Emoji: Zwei Herzen">
