The Tarot Avenue 2016 Awards

Wowzers – Tarot Avenue has been up and running for almost a year and what a year it has been!  I wanted to share with you some of the highlights from 2016 so I’ve had a bit of fun and put together the first ever Tarot Avenue Awards!

What I am most proud of is being able to build a really strong community, or ‘tarot clan’ as I like to call them.  I am very grateful to get feedback, ideas and business from my fabulous supporters.

What has been so great for me personally this year is that I have truly experienced a lot of growth, both personally and business related.

Most people my age start asking what else is out there, have a mid-life crisis and buy a sports car!  I chose to start a tarot business haha.  Not much difference.

These are my awards for the year:

My Personal Highlight

Launch of Tarot Avenue candles. – www.tarotavenue.com/candles.

This has been quite an experience and a lot of work went into the launch.  I knew that there would be a market for high end candles that were also good for the soul.  I therefore learned how to make soy candles, worked with a graphic designer on the labels, designed the tarot tags myself, worked with a printer in China and set up the e-commerce part of my site myself – phew!!! Easy right? haha.

The candles have indeed been a big success and I like to think that I’m putting out some love and light to the world every time one of my candles is burned.  They are certainly made with love.

My Most Popular Blog Post

Thanks to this post being promoted by my ‘tarot idol’ Brigit at Biddy Tarot  this post was by far my most read and shared.  I’m so happy that this resonated as my aim was to bring a bit of comfort to anybody experiencing grief. You can read the post here.

Biggest Learning Curve

It’s hard to pick one thing as I am learning day by day.  However, I think the biggest learning curve was setting up my WordPress site on my own.  Having had no previous experience, I am very proud of what I have achieved.  I am still far from an expert but I have learned my way around WordPress.  I do want to take my site to the next level but baby steps.

Favourite Tool

Aside from my tarot cards, my most frequently used tool is Canva – www.canva.com.

This is a very easy to use design website which I use pretty much every day.  I do all my social media posts on Canva as well as my e-books, gift vouchers, video graphics etc.  There is a free version and I can’t recommended this enough.  It has been an invaluable tool for me. This little graphic was knocked up in about 30 seconds.

Biggest Inspiration

This was a tough one for me to choose as I have 2 inspirations who I love. I’m declaring a draw:

Biddy Tarot – Brigit from Biddy Tarot has been absolutely amazing.  She is a demon (in a good way :-)) when it comes to marketing.  Brigit is bringing tarot to the mainstream and her style and passion is truly inspirational.  This year saw Brigit launch the Biddy Tarot Community.  This is a place for new and experienced tarot readers to communicate, practise reading for the public and gain deeper knowledge of everything tarot related.

The Tarot Lady – I just love Theresa.  She is so kind and smart.  She has always given me advice and help where I have needed it.  This year Theresa launched The Tarot Coloring Book.  Check it out here – how cool is that?

My Proudest Achievement

I’ve always wanted to put together a course so I decided to dip my toe in the water with a free 7 day challenge.  This was a course that was delivered over 7 days to help participants activate and strengthen their intuition.  www.tarotavenue.com/intuition

This was very well received and The High Priestess meditation that was part of the course was very popular – http://tarotavenue.com/high-priestess-meditation/

My Favourite Podcast

This has been a tough one to choose as there are so many that I listen to.  You can read my top 5 here.   However, the award goes to Pat Flynn at Smart Passive Income.  He consistently delivers excellent content.  Every episode inspires me.

My Favourite Tarot Deck

It may be boring to some but I pretty much always work with the Rider-Waite.  I just love the imagery and symbolism.  My intuition goes into overdrive when using this deck and every time I use it I see something new!

I also absolutely love The Wild Unknown and it’s probably my favourite to photograph.  I always get loads of ‘likes’ for my card of the day when using The Wild Unknown!

My Most Shocking Moment

I decided to write a post fairly soon after launching my business which had tips and quotes from my tarot idols.  I reached out to some of the top names in the business and I was astounded to see that almost everybody got back to me.  Everybody was very generous with the information they shared.  This post was a huge hit for me. You can read it here.

The Post That Changed My Life

I’ve always been somebody who goes through life working hard but never really knowing where I am heading.  I started to get inspired by some podcasts that I heard about goal setting so decided to explore this further.  I did a lot of research and came up with my own workbook.

Since taking my own advice and writing goals I can honestly say that my life has changed hugely for the better.  You can read about some of my stories here – www.tarotavenue.com/goals

My Favourite Tarot Spread

I use a lot of different spreads but the one that I always come back to it The Horseshoe.  I do a lot of custom spreads and I’m soon to launch my Book of Tarot Spreads so keep an eye out!  You can read about a few of my favourites here.

My Favourite Tarot Shop

They say the best things come in small packages and that can certainly be said for Two Sides Tarot.  Marianne only stocks independently published decks.  She has a small selection but I love everything that she sells and she is my go to for new decks, gifts etc.  It should also be said that the customer service is second to none and you can tell that she is somebody who cares greatly about every customer.

That’s it for the 2016 awards.

I look forward to connecting with you next year.  There is a lot in the pipeline for Tarot Avenue and I can’t wait to take you all on the journey with me.