Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision. - Peter Drucker

Congratulations! If you're thinking of starting your very own astrology business, it's a big step and I commend you! Here's some of the basics to get your business up and running. I'll cover the business side of things first, and then get into some of the nitty gritty details like:

  • The documents you'll need (at least here in the U.S., and some resources if you are outside the U.S.)
  • How to start charging for astrology readings
  • Some additional tools you'll need (and no, it's not Solar Fire.)

First thing's first. You will want a business name. You can have this be your own name, in which case, head on down to your local government building and register for a sole proprietorship. If you want an actual business name, like _____ Astrology, you will want to register for a DBA ( also known as "doing business as"). Before you choose a name and decide on it, please make sure you check to make sure the name is not taken. You can do this by looking at your state business entity search. Here is a list of places to search for business entities/names by state. Here's a list of company registeries by country if you are not in the United States. You will also want to check the web to see if your name is taken for a website, social media handle, etc.

Before you do anything else, make sure that astrology is legal where you live. This is going to sound silly. But it's incredibly necessary. In Pennsylvania, for example charging for fortune telling is not legal, and astrology counts as that, even if you don't do predictive readings. I wouldn't want you to walk down to your government building just to get turned away (or worse.)

Once you've decided on a name, made sure it's not taken, and are legally and officially in business, you can get on to charging people. A quick side note: Taking down the time you officially registered your business can help you cast a birth chart for it. Same goes with your DBA, website, etc. But on to the topic we all love and hate: money.

So how do you start charging people? There are a lot of different ways. If you've started out doing readings for friends or family, maybe set up a small tip or donation jar. Some people have suggested doing a trade for readings (a quiche or a quilt may suffice), as that is what feels good to them. I started out by charging a dollar a minute. So a 30 minute reading became $30. An hour long reading was $60. An hour and a half was $90. I did pay-what-you-can readings alongside set price readings for a long time (though the pay-what-you-can readings were written, not via video chat, and were easier for me time-wise) and at one point had a set price + tip based system that worked out fairly well. The most important thing is to think about the time, energy, effort, and money both you and the client will be spending on the reading.

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A good way to build rapport is to ask for a review or testimonial. These are really vital when you're first starting out, whether that be something on your Facebook page, or something a client has allowed you to put on your website. When I first started out, I traded reviews for readings. They were, and still are, worth their weight in gold.

Here is what my astrology readings page looks like if you need an example.

Some additional tools you'll need...

No, it's not fancy astrology software so you can cast cool looking birth charts (though we'd all like it to be!) but here are some things that I find helpful:

  • A website
  • A scheduling software so you can schedule clients quickly and easily.
  • A Zoom, Google Meets, or some other video chat service. I use Google Meet through Google Workspace.
  • Probably this book (it is a LIFESAVER.)

There are lots of different websites you can choose from based on your audience. Milkshake, for example, gives you websites for Instagram. I use Ghost for my website (love it! Support is fantastic and the platform is sooo easy to use!). But honestly, depending on your audience, you may not even need a website. If you primarily do festivals or in-person readings, who's to say you really need one? Think long and hard about if this is for you.

Additionally, think long and hard about if this is something you want to maintain. Websites require a lot of matienence, they're like a little garden. Now, whether this is something you want to do yourself, or have someone else do for you, is a whole different ball game, but I'd still think about it. Shelling out cash for someone else to do website will save you a lot of headaches (I should know, I did mine myself and cried when I had to change my domain host. What a Piscean thing of me to say) but doing it yourself doesn't have to be hard with a website builder like Ghost (I don't recommend Squarespace, I used to use them. Support is an absolute headache and I ended up doing more work to make the site look good than it was worth.)

But let's say you have a lot of clients already - a website may not really be what you need. A scheduler might be what you need. This allows clients to schedule times with you that work for them. A good scheduler can have directions to an in-person meeting (like an address you give your astrology readings at), or can automatically generate a Zoom meeting, so that you don't have to manually do it every single time. For this reason, I don't suggest using Acuity (I could never get it to automatically schedule Zoom/ Google Meet links). I previously used CozyCal, and liked it just fine, but when I was looking around for schedulers was torn between SavvyCal, zcal, and Koalendar (all have a free plan except for CozyCal, which has a free trial). Your requirements for a scheduler may vary, but mine were:

  • The ability to automatically generate a meeting through Google Meet and on my calendars (you may use Zoom or another service.)
  • The ability to collect payments
  • A customizable booking page, so I could ask for date of birth and other things needed for the reading.
  • A nice icing on the cake was the ability to add tips. I haven't found this yet outside of Acuity, but Stripe (payment processor) allows for tips and donations. So I have that on my website here. This used to be how I took my pay-what-you-can readings.

Basically, I wanted a scheduling software that did the work for me, one that I didn't have to wrangle with. I wanted to set it up and be done with it. If it creates more work for me to do, something isn't right. Ultimately, it came down the aesthetics for me.

Some other quick side notes/tips:

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Have an excel or numbers sheet to track your expenses and earnings. It will save you time, energy, and stress later on.
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Have a list of when your recurring expenses (subscriptions, website, software, etc) are for your business so that things don't sneak up on you. You can put these in your excel sheet or planner. It will help you budget.
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A business bank account will help you separate personal expenses from business expenses. I suggest opening one at your local bank or credit union.

Lastly, know that you are not in this alone. There are other astrologers out there who can lend guidance and help you. You can find support through organizations like OPA (they even have a book on how to run an astrological business), ISAR, AFAN, AYA, and more!

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