Hey there occulties,
A prospective client sent me the following questions and I found it interesting enough to share, to which this person agreed (of course, I'm keeping them anonymous,) as I thought it was one of the more insightful consultations I've had. The prospective client is in italic type, I am in regular type. I've also discarded the personal questions about the person's problem for obvious reasons… it has just been a long time since someone asked me so many creative questions that I thought I'd share. 😉
I saw you were offering a month of work for a discount. Can this be used to get multiple 7-day castings at different times?
At this writing (12/5/16) I am actually offering a deep discount on the month service, but if someone wanted to pay the month-fee at any time for five weeks of spellcasting spread out, I'd gladly work that deal out with them, yes. It would be a huge savings for people who like me to do lots of spells for them. For other people, one round is enough and the problem is taken care of, and then I don't hear from them for like 2 years until they need my services again, haha. 😉 For them, five weeks of spellwork is probably not a super investment.
Is there a fee I can pay monthly to keep you on retainer? For example, if I paid for seven days up front and then didn't need the service now, could I just pay a maintenance amount?
There would be no maintenance required. I offer what I refer to as "pre-buys" which means a week worth of work at discounts all of the time. So long as the transaction was less than 5 years ago, the money is always good. I don't need you to pay a maintenance fee like a bank would. Just like you could buy a month of work and spread the work out over time (and not for a greater cost to yourself,) so can you pre-buy a week of work. While 7-day spellcastings are my basic package, I've even had people purchase this and have me do a few individual spells instead of the full 7-day package.
I realize nothing can be guaranteed and that some expectations would be difficult to fulfill, but if someone offered you a large amount, say $2000, would you be willing to take on a case you normally wouldn't?
Probably not. I mean, I like money as much as the next person, but if I feel I can't be successful, my best answer is "I can't help you." I don't do this to be mean, or even because I want more money – I do it because I don't feel I can be of help.
If you retire, what would you do if someone had money "on retainer?" For example with my 30-day hire question, what if you retired and 2 weeks of service were left?
I've thought of retiring from the for-hire business more than once. I've been doing it for over a decade, and it's a difficult and draining job. 😛 That said, I would never reject my clients, students, or anyone with money on their account, even if I stopped taking new sales. I've made several good friends over the years at this job – clients – and I would never want to turn them away if they need my help. If someone had money invested in my services, I would provide these services, even if I'd entered into a new industry and was no longer offering services to the general public.
Are you going to raise your prices after your book comes out?
Probably not. I am hoping the book can actually allow me to cut back on the amount of active cases I take on, though. Right now, I work at least 12 hours a day every day.
Do you ever offer in-person services?
Rarely. The person would have to live nearby to me for me to do that. It's not that I don't want to help, but travelling long distances can be difficult.
What would you say your biggest weakness is?
I'm a horrible mailer. Horrible. I have one bill I don't pay online for this very reason, and I'm lucky since that's a payment I drop off. 😦 So, when I need to mail things out to people there is often a lot of issues with that. 😛 This is why I rarely sell material items. I've had a few people ask me if the post office blew up or something, because I'd not mailed something out to them for a few weeks. 😛
If I wanted you to work for something until I got the desired end, could I pay you a weekly fee?
Yes, I've been willing to do that before. It is actually cheaper to purchase a 30 day hire than pay me on a weekly basis though. I actually work 35 days on a 30 day hire, doing five weeks of work.
****
Anyhow, I thought it was interesting. Most people want to know if I really really really believe I can get so and so back, or do spirits come out of my mirrors at night, or do I shoot fireballs out of my eyes. 😉 This, I thought, was relevant. Anyhow, I will get back to typing up that controlling spell article, as I know many of you are getting excited for it. :)
~Cat
Added bonus… This prospective client literally asked "Can I pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today?" To those of you who think I have no sense of humor? I totally laughed. 😉
Cat’s Rants: Confessions of an Occult Mastermind 