Are you an astrologer or a psychic? Do you want to become your own boss? If you answered yes to these questions, then you should consider starting a psychic services business.
When you want to start this sort of business, it is advisable to first look at the existing laws in the country or state you reside in. You would need to pay a visit to the regulatory body in your country to get all the information on what you need to do before you can legally start your own psychic business in your city.
You can start your psychic services business from a small town in the United States and if you are good at what you do, it won’t be too long before your brand becomes a nationally recognized brand.
Steps to Starting a Psychic Service Business
1. Understand the Industry
The Psychic Services industry is made up of establishments that offer psychic and fortune-telling services. Players in this industry usually provide services in the areas of astrology, aura reading, mediumship, tarot card reading and palmistry, among other metaphysical services.
Psychics are people whom some believe are able to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception (ESP) or clairvoyance. Apart from ESP, psychics are trained to give clients information, often about their personal lives and future, using various tools ranging from physical cards to crystal balls.
For example, many psychics use tarot cards for guidance; tarot cards feature images that are meant to have specific meanings, and psychics attempt to interpret these images and connect them to clients and their lives. Psychic readings attempt to provide clients insight and advice. This advice often pertains to subjects that clients are anxious and curious about, such as love and death.
A report published by IBISWorld shows that the Psychic Services industry has grown steadily over the last five years thanks to the recovering economy and growing acceptance of industry services among consumers. The report shows that following a dip during the recession, rising disposable income levels have spurred demand for discretionary services like psychic readings.
In the coming years, improving economic conditions will continue to boost industry performance, as rising disposable income bolsters average customer spending on psychic services. Increased citywide regulations will likely accelerate during the next five years, which will result in slight industry consolidation and slow industry growth.
The Psychic Services industry is indeed a growing industry. Statistics has it that in the united states of America alone, there are about 83,380 registered psychic services businesses in this industry, employing about 86,334 people and the industry rakes in a whooping sum of $2 billion annually.
The industry is projected to continue to grow at a 2.4 percent rate. It is important to state that there is no company with a dominant market share in the industry.
There are loads of players in this industry because the entry barriers for a psychic services business are low. As a matter of fact, the required startup cost for a new organization can be as low as the cost of acquiring an Ouija board, laptop and internet device without the need of employees, significant capital expenses or even an office facility.
2. Conduct Market Research and Feasibility Studies
- Demographics and Psychographics
The demographic and psychographic composition of those that need the services of a psychic is not restricted to a group of people. The truth is that everyone that resides in and around your location and who are likely to seek psychic advice and life guidance are your potential clients.
In essence, the demographic composition cum target market for a psychic services business is not restricted to any gender, race, tribe or group of people. So, if you are looking towards defining the demographics of your psychic services business, then you should make it far reaching.
3. Decide Which Niche to Concentrate On
It is important to state that there are no niche ideas in the psychic services industry but players in this industry may decide to pay more attention or be known to practice one or more of the under listed services;
- Palmistry
- Cartomancy
- Mediumship
- Aura reading
- Astrology
- Lithomancy
- Numerology
- Psychometry
The Level of Competition in the Industry
The level of competition in the business psychic industry to some extent depends largely on the location of the business, your niche area of operation and of course the capacity of your business. The truth is that as a psychic service business owner, you are likely going to experience little or no competition because most players in the business render different services.
But that does not mean that you are not going to be competing against other psychic businesses in and around your coverage area. It is important to also state that you would compete with psychic service businesses all across the globe because a person can fly in a psychic, prophet/prophetess or witch doctor from any part of the world as long as they have the financial means.
4. Know Your Major Competitors in the Industry
Here are some of the most popular psychics in the United States of America;
- Danielle Egnew is a musician, actress, media personality, activist and self-described psychic known in the areas of music, film, radio and television
- Edgar Cayce was an American mystic who allegedly possessed the ability to answer questions on subjects as varied as healing, reincarnation, wars, Atlantis and future events while in a trance.
- Gary Spivey is a self-proclaimed psychic, medium, spiritual healer and spiritual teacher.
- John Edward, is an American television personality and purported psychic medium.
- Linda and Terry Jamison are American identical twins, professionally known as The Psychic Twins.
- Mark Edward is an American psychic entertainer and mentalist, author of 14 books on mentalism, séance theory and production.
- Paul Draper is a mentalist, magician, actor, film maker and anthropologist.
- Sylvia Celeste Browne was an American author and a psychic and spiritual medium.
Economic Analysis
When starting a psychic service, you just have to get your costing cum economic analysis right if your intention of building the business is to generate profits, grow the business and perhaps expand the business.
When conducting costing and economic analysis for your psychic business, you just have to critically examine these key factors; place, pricing, and promotion. As a matter of fact, you would have to continue to review them at regular intervals while running your business.
It is important to note that publicity, running cost and utility bills are some of the most important factors contributing to the overall cost of running a psychic services business and should be considered as a major factor when carrying out your costing and economic analysis.
5. Decide Whether to Buy a Franchise or Start from Scratch
If you are looking towards starting a psychic service, you would have to start from the scratch because available research shows that there is no franchise in the industry.
Besides starting a psychic services business from the scratch is less stressful when compared to other similar small scale businesses. You only need to acquire your psychic license, register your business, purchase your equipment and then leverage on every marketing tool within your disposal especially the internet to market your business.
6. Know the Possible Threats and Challenges You Will Face
If you decide to open your own psychic service today, one of the major challenges you are likely going to face is the presence of notable psychics, witch doctors, fortune tellers and other people that can carry out same services. The only way to avoid this challenge is to create your own market.
Other threats and challenges that you are likely going to face when you start your psychic business are mature markets, bad economy (economy downturn), stiff competition, volatile costs, and issues of trust.
7. Choose the Most Suitable Legal Entity (LLC, C Corp, S Corp)
The fact that a psychic services business is one of those businesses that can be built around an individual means that if you are looking to choose a legal entity for the business, you should settle for sole proprietorship.
But if you offer other services and you want to hire some employees, then you can consider choosing a general partnership or limited liability company. Good enough, there is no restriction on the legal entity you can choose for your psychic business.
8. Choose a Catchy Business Name from the ideas Below
When it comes to choosing a name for your business, you should be creative because whatever name you choose for your business will go a long way to create a perception of what the business represents. If you are considering starting your own psychic services business, you can choose to name the business by your official name or nickname.
9. Discuss With an Agent to Know the Best Insurance Policies for You
In the United States and in most countries of the world, you can’t operate a business without having some of the basic insurance policies that are required by the industry you want to operate from. Thus, it is imperative to create a budget for insurance and perhaps consult an insurance broker to guide you in choosing the best and most appropriate insurance policies for your business.
Here is some of the basic insurance policies that you should consider purchasing if you want to start your own psychic service in the United States of America;
- General insurance
- Health insurance
- Liability insurance
- Risk Insurance
- Workers Compensation
- Building/Property insurance
- Overhead expense disability insurance
- Business owner’s policy group insurance
- Payment protection insurance
10. Protect your Intellectual Property With Trademark, Copyrights, Patents
When starting your psychic service, you may not have any need to file for intellectual property protection because the nature of the business makes it possible for you to successfully run it without having any cause to challenge anybody in court for illegally making use of your intellectual properties.
On the other hand, if you just want to protect your company’s logo and other documents or software that are unique to you or even operation concepts, then you can go ahead to file for intellectual property protection. If you want to register your trademark, you are expected to begin the process by filing an application with the USPTO.
11. Get the Necessary Professional Certification
If you intend starting a psychic services business in the United States of America, you are encouraged to pursue professional certifications; it will go a long way to show your commitment towards the business. Certification validates your competency and shows that you are highly skilled, committed to your career, and up-to-date in this competitive market.
These are some of the certifications you can work towards achieving if you want to run your own psychic services business;
- The IAPLT Certified Psychic Counselor
- Psychic & Intuitive Certification – JVP School of Mystical Arts
- American Federation of Certified Psychics and Mediums
- Certified psychic medium
Please note that you can successfully run your psychic business without any professional certification especially if you are gifted in that regard.
12. Get the Necessary Legal Documents You Need to Operate
It is a fact that you can successfully run any business in the United States without the proper documentations. If you do, it won’t be too long before the long hands of the law catches up with you. These are some of the basic legal documents that you are expected to have in place if you want to legally run your own business in the United States of America;
- DBA
- EIN
- Business and liability insurance
- Federal Tax Payer’s ID
- State Permit
- Certificate of Incorporation
- Business License
- Business Plan
- Employment Agreement (offer letters)
- Operating Agreement for LLCs
- Insurance Policy
- Online Terms of Use (if you have a website)
- Online Privacy Policy Document (basically for online payment portal)
- Company Bylaws
- Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
13. Raise the Needed Startup Capital
Starting a standard psychic services business is not capital intensive especially even if you choose to launch the business on a small scale. Leasing of a standard facility that can accommodate your staff and of course the purchase of equipment are part of what will consume a large chunk of your capital, in essence, if you choose to start the business on a large scale, you will need to source for fund to finance the business.
When it comes to financing a business, one of the first things you should consider is to write a good business plan. If you have a good and workable business plan document in place, you may not have to labor yourself before convincing people to invest in your business.
Here are some of the options you can explore when sourcing for startup capital for your psychic business;
- Raising money from personal savings
- Source for soft loans from your family members and your friends.
14. Choose a Suitable Location for your Business
Psychic services business is a business that can be started in any location as long as there are people that can pay for your services. As a matter of fact, you can start your psychic business in your house and still grow the business to profitability.
But it cannot be overemphasized that the location you chose to start your business is key to the success of the business, hence entrepreneurs are willing to rent or lease a facility in a visible location; a location where the demography consists of appreciable growing population and of course people with the require purchasing power, and lifestyle.
If you make the mistake of renting or leasing a facility for your psychic services business in a not too visible or hidden location simply because it is cheap, then you must be prepared to spend more in promoting the business. It is important to note that a business facility in good location does not come cheap hence you should be able to allocate enough fund for leasing / renting in your budget.
Most importantly, before choosing a location for your psychic services business, ensure that you first conduct a thorough feasibility studies and market survey. The possibility of you coming across similar business that just closed shop in the location you want to open yours can’t be ruled out.
These are some of the key factors that you should consider before choosing a location for your psychic services business;
- The demography of the location
- The demand for psychic services in the location
- The purchasing power of the residents of the location
- Accessibility of the location
- The number of psychic services related services businesses in the location
- The local laws and regulations in the community
- The road network, traffic, parking and security et al
15. Hire Employees for your Technical and Manpower Needs
When starting a psychic business, you will need an Ouija board and other equipment that will aid you in carrying out your job. This equipment can be purchased as fairly used if you are operating on a low budget. In setting up a small office for your psychic business, you will also need computer, printer, software apps, telephones, pager, photocopier, scanner, and fax machine.
When it comes to choosing between renting and leasing a facility for your psychic business, the size of the business you want to own, and your entire budget for the business should influence your choice. Besides, you can operate this business from your home or from a small office space that can accommodate staff working for you.
Good enough, psychic services business can be run as a one – man show, but if you want to build a business with corporate outlook, then you would need to hire some key employees. Averagely, you would need the services of the following professionals; Chief Psychic, Manager, Customer Services Executive / Front Desk Officer, Security Guard and Cleaners.
Over and above, you would need a minimum of 3 to 5 key staff members to effectively run a standard business.
The Service Delivery Process of a Business
The service delivery as it relates to psychic services business is simple and straightforward and it is applicable to players in the industry. Clients typically seek psychic services for advice and life guidance. Psychics encompass people in a variety of roles.
Some are theatrical performers, such as stage magicians, who use various techniques, e.g., prestidigitation, cold and hot reading, to produce the appearance of such abilities for entertainment purposes. A large industry and network exists whereby people advertised as psychics provide advice and counsel to clients.
16. Write a Marketing Plan Packed With ideas & Strategies
The fact that the entry barrier for starting a small – scale psychic business is achievable means that there is bound to be more players in the industry no matter the location you choose to start yours. In essence, you must come up with innovations if you must carve out a market for yourself within your community, city, state or country.
So, when you are drafting your marketing plans, make sure that you create a compelling personal profile. Aside from your qualifications and experience, it is important to clearly state what you have been able to achieve in time past. This will help boost your chances in the market place when marketing your services.
Here are some of the platforms you can utilize to market your psychic services;
- Open your psychic services business with a party so as to capture the attention of residents
- Engage in roadshows in targeted communities from time to time to market your business
- Advertise your psychic services business in community based newspapers, local TV and radio stations
- List your business on yellow page ads (local directories)
- Leverage on the internet to promote your business
- Engage in direct marketing and sales
- Encourage the use of word of mouth marketing (referrals)
- Leverage on the internet to promote your business
- Engage the services of marketing executives and business developers to carry out direct marketing for you.
17. Work Out a Reasonable Pricing for your Services & Products
One key factor that will help you offer your services at the right price is to ensure that you cut operational cost to the barest minimum and channel your efforts towards marketing and promoting your brand name.
You can also try as much as possible to work with independent contractors and marketers; it will help you save cost for paying sales and marketing executives.
So also, if you are able to secure business partnership as it relates to getting referrals, then you will be able to get the right pricing and of course maximize profits from your business.
18. Develop an Iron-clad Competitive Strategies to Help You Win
The psychic services line of business is a competitive industry, and you must come up with a unique and highly creative strategy to be able to outsmart your competitors in the industry. Part of what you need to do in order to stay competitive in the industry is to continue to create easier and cheaper ways of providing the right solutions and counsel for your clients.
In other to stay competitive in this industry, you must ensure that your clients are always comfortable and always ensure that you pay attention to details when carrying out your job. The truth is that if there are fluctuations in the services you provide, customers can choose to shift allegiance and settle for other options available.
19. Brainstorm Possible Ways to Retain Clients & Customers
When it comes to business, no matter the industry that you choose to pitch your tent in, one of the easiest ways to increase customer retention and perhaps attract new customers is to produce results and satisfy your customers always. If your customers are satisfied with your service delivery, they can hardly source for alternative service providers.
One of the strategies that you would need to employ in order to generate repeated sales from your customers and also to retain them is to ensure that you always pay attention to details when attending to your clients and your customer services does not fluctuate.
If your services and customer service fluctuate, you are likely going to struggle to get your customers retaining your services. Ensure that you offer your customers incentives if you want to retain them and of course continue to generate repeated sales from them and also to attract new customers.
Part of what you need to do to achieve this is to track progress, results or outputs with the aim of improving on them quickly as the case demands. When it comes to managing your customers and building a loyal clientele base, you should purchase a customized CRM software.
With a customized CRM system, you can easily stay in touch with your clients (you can carry out quick surveys, you can introduce new products and prices to them without any hitch, you can felicitate with them on their birthdays and other anniversaries, you can keep track of their progress, you can send bulk sms and customized e – mails and above all, you can easily receive compliant and feedback from them).
20. Develop Strategies to Boost Brand Awareness and Create a Corporate Identity
If your intention of starting a psychic services business is to grow the business beyond the city where you are going to be operating from to become a national and international brand by working for clients across the United States of America, then you must be ready to spend money on promotion and advertisement of your brand.
No matter the industry you belong to, the truth is that the market is dynamic and it requires consistent brand awareness and brand boosting cum promotion to continue to appeal to your target market. Here are the platforms you can leverage on to boost your brand and create a corporate identity for your psychic services business;
- Place adverts on both print (newspapers and magazines) and electronic media platforms
- Sponsor relevant community based events
- Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google + et al to promote your psychic services business
- Install your billboards in strategic locations all around your city or state
- Engage in roadshows from time to time in targeted neighborhoods to create awareness of your psychic business
- Distribute your fliers and handbills in target areas
- List your psychic services business in local directories / yellow pages
- Advertise your psychic service in your official website and employ strategies that will help you pull traffic to the site
- Position our Flexi Banners at strategic positions in the location where your psychic services business is located.
- Ensure that all your staff members wear your branded shirts and all your vehicles are branded with your company logo.