I Should Mention. . . .

[qos]

That this Saturday I will be meeting KH, the girl for whom I did the intense tarot reading/spiritual direction session shortly before Christmas, at her home to work with her again.

I forgot to bring my tarot cards to our last group meeting, so I told her and her friends that we could get together separately and I would do readings for them. I felt like because it was event-connected I didn't feel right charging her -- but this really counts, for me, as my first official session as spiritual director, meeting with someone away from a group event.

And as I approach the meeting, I am realizing how much I need to sit down with myself and come to terms with my feelings about money, and how I'm going to charge people. That part still feels very awkward, and I need to journal about it more to get some clarity.

But I've taken the biggest step: I've connected with someone I didn't know before, and I followed up with her, trusting that I had something to offer that is of value to her, and made an appointment.

And it felt so natural that I almost missed the huge significance of it.

Comments

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

Congratulations. I hope the soul-searching and the session all go well.

[blessed-harlot.livejournal.com]

Oooo, fantastic! What an important step.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_storyteller_/]

Money, mankind’s most banal representation of energy and like energy it remains a complete mystery to some.

It is also necessary. Determining the exchange rate for your time and energy is an important aspect of your business.

I don't know if this will help, but try to think of it not as money or finance. Ask yourself what kind of favor or service you would ask from this person in exchange for your own services, and then think of how much you would pay of their service if you had to. This should help you determine a balanced and fair rate.

If you sat down and did a reading for me, then you might think about it as being the equivalent of me giving you a good hour long massage. (Never mind that we would never charge either of us for these I don't think.) How much would you pay for that massage if you had to pay cash for it? An equivalent amount would be a good base to determine the rate you would charge me for the reading.

Are you interested in establishing standard rates? Or are you going to balance it on a personal case basis. Some readings/services take longer and are more involved then others, some clients may ask more questions.

A lot to think about for certain and as far as I know you do not usually like thinking about money.

Oh! I posted this originally and realized that I completely missed mentioning the other part of your post, which is that this is your first client, I read it and was proud of you. Then I started writing my reply, got caught up in a call and it seems I switched over to accountant mode completely. This is a great accomplishment for you, your first professional client and a large step on your first path. I don’t want the importance of it to get lost.

Congrats!

[queenofhalves]

:)