I know it’s been a while since I blogged, and the reason why I haven’t is because I’ve been so flooded. This uplift from this year’s Chinese New Year demand for consultations is so much higher than last year’s and way above my expectations. It is the first time in my career as a metaphysics consultant that I actually feel overwhelmed and I had to ask some clients to wait up to a week for their initial reports to be sent to them.
I finally managed to clear some of my backlog and I’m squeezing in whatever little time I have left to write an entry and communicate with the public again.
This is going to be a personal entry again. Nothing technical. I’ll get to writing technical entries again in future when my bandwidth frees up.
As this sideline of mine grows, the need for me to communicate to my readers and the public grows as well. I don’t exactly enjoy the limelight, nor do I enjoy being showy or flashy. The reasons and the events of my life that pushed me towards metaphysics have also made me become someone who would rather enjoy a low profile life with no drama. However, since this sideline is growing way faster than I ever imagined, it’s hard to keep it that way sometimes. I remember the very first paid consultation I gave and I could remember how elated I was receiving my very first side income. To me, it took the pressure off paying rent, and I started to treat myself a little better by eating better food instead of at the hawker centers all the time.
I’m not a showy or flashy person and I’ve gone through enough things in life to not need that kind of shallow validation, but I think I’ve come to a point where I need to reveal some things so that I can get everything to think and see more things from my perspective before you seek a consultation with me.
There was a time when my website only had 10 visits a day – I wish I still had that data to show you all. That was when I first started my website under the domain – www.seanchan-bazi-fengshui.com (no longer exists). If you click on it, you’ll realize it directs to my current website, which basically means I own both domains. It’s my first website, so I honestly didn’t know the art of choosing a nice domain name. I wanted “seanchan.com” or “sean-chan.com” but it was already taken up, so I eventually settled for “masterseanchan.com” although I really don’t want or need to be called Master. I’m just a normal human being who has read too many books. I still have so much to learn in this field, and I don’t think I can ever truly master this field in this lifetime.
The screenshot above is basically from my Google Analytics page, where I track how my website is doing and explore audience behaviour. My website has grown to a stage where I get around 160 visits daily or 4800 visits a month. It’s currently averaging 200 visits in the first few days of February. That’s 16 times the traffic I used to get when I started. I’m not sure whether this is considered high because I don’t have a benchmark, but knowing that my website ranks rather high for many search terms, I’m guessing this number is on the high side, considering the average of this field.
A lot of people have been asking me how many consultations or engagements I get in a month out of curiosity. It varies. All I can say is that the traffic that ends up on my website is highly relevant traffic, meaning people who end up on my site already have the intent of seeking some service or answer regarding metaphysics because they find me via Google. I don’t advertise much because I feel this field isn’t something that I should be pushing sales for, and whoever is ‘destined’ to find me will find me. This sideline of mine will never be something I like to boast about because if this sideline ever becomes an ego trip, my clients are the one who ends up suffering because I my focus and intent would be in the wrong place. I do know this post feels a bit like a humble brag, but it’s really not my intention. I really need everyone to know my struggles and challenges doing this all on my own, and I’m always trying to make this service have a human touch and keep myself accessible. I’m seeking everyone’s kind understanding so that both you and I can have a better experience during the consultation. I’ll leave it to everyone to do the numbers and estimation on how many people out of the 4800 who visit my website every month end up engaging me and the number will only keep growing.
Am I tired? Stressed out? Exhausted? I can tell you for sure that I am – especially when I have to keep repeating things and everyone is pouring their life’s issues on you and expecting you to somehow solve it for them or guide them out of it. It’s not that the practitioner always knows what is the best thing to do. Ultimately, we are giving is our opinion, just that the opinion is more objective and not marred or clouded by the client’s own desires or issues. These observations are actually very simple unfoldings of cause-and-effect that people don’t usually have the patience to appreciate, but we as practitioners do.
Before I digress too much, I think most of you who spent some time on my website know that I have a full-time job, and I don’t exactly plan to stagnate or stay put at the same level for my corporate job. My responsibilities at work are growing, so there are even more things added to my plate now on top of my growing sideline. Will I do my sideline full-time? I will say it again – no. I’ve already explained my reasons umpteen times at different places on my website, although I’ve yet to write a dedicated entry on this. Doing this as a full-time job puts unnecessary pressure on me and I don’t want this sideline to risk becoming something I have to push sales for so that I can make a living.
Now, here comes my message to everyone and prospective clients who have yet to engage me for the first time, especially those that will eventually become my difficult, toxic clients:
I know everyone’s probably thinking, why I don’t just do what the “famous” practitioners are doing to make things easier for myself. First of all, there is a reason why I don’t want to conduct this sideline of mine like other practitioners – training other people to do readings and getting them to do readings for me. This field will never work this way and no job that requires a very specific, deep level of knowledge will work this way. You would not fault me if I were to say this is common sense. Secondly, I really don’t care if I’m famous of not. It matters more to me and my conscience that I’m good at what I’m doing rather than putting up an act pretending like I’m good at something just to get more business. The greatest satisfaction I get from this sideline of mine is when clients walk away getting clarity and feeling like they genuinely benefited from a consultation and it is money well spent. My prices are on the high side, but they are not ridiculous or unreasonable, and there is a reason why I give you 7 days of my time for the Q&A, so that you can ask questions, and get more insights as we go deeper into your chart. Ultimately, you’re not paying for that first report that I am sending you – I am charging for 7 days of my time so that you can know what’s ahead.
For me to break down your entire life in one email, is not possible. If that’s something you want, then I wouldn’t be charging the price that I am right now.
I have my own way, and style of doing things. Most of the people who approach me have absolutely no clue what metaphysics is, and have never done anything like this before, which is why I break down the chart, step by step and by theory. If you have done a reading before and have some background on it, and find my report too long winded, fine, I can give you the answers you are seeking in a line or two. If I were to do that, then please do not challenge me on how I got my conclusions. What’s worst is that I do both – explaining the theory and the steps I took to come to a conclusion – and you didn’t even bother to read it carefully, or you didn’t bother to fill up the form properly with your questions.
The main message is: Try not to come to me with your own expectation of how a consultation should be like. I am different from a lot of the practitioners out there. I am doing things the way I do it, because 99% of the people have benefited from the way I conduct my consultations. They have the right to know how the analysis of their charts is derived.
A consultation is also not a way for you to leech off me and get a free lesson off from.
As my website grows, frankly, the number of difficult clients I get increases as well. I really, really don’t like dealing with such clients. No one does.
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I know the the testimonials left by my clients paint me as someone friendly and nice, and honestly, the reason why they feel that way is because they have been extremely friendly, respectful and kind to me as well, and it’s natural that I treat them in kind. I do need to make it clear that I have a side that people don’t usually get to see – I have my fierce, stern side, and anyone who exhibits any form of toxic behavior tends to get to see that side of me. When I say toxic behavior, it includes thinking that metaphysics, BaZi or feng shui is some magical shortcut to their life’s problems. Nothing irks me more than that, and to engage me without first doing some research or reading through my blog not only displays laziness, but irresponsibility for one’s own life. Someone with knowledge in metaphysics will definitely be able to tell that I have a fierce side if they saw my chart, but I don’t show it unless I really need to or have to. I honestly don’t like this side of me, because of course, it does have its downsides and risks, but I would reckon it is still necessary.
To anyone who wishes to engage me, really, spend some time reading my blog first. I don’t think you will find any other practitioner out there who gets as personal as I do or blogs about all these things that I do. There are times, I don’t blame other practitioners for training other people to do readings for them, because surely they too have realized how draining and difficult it can be dealing with clients, but alas, that is not a route I will take because something about it is wrong in my opinion and some of my clients have gotten the shorter end of the stick because of the kind of business model they are adopting. I know it feels like you are the only client I am serving, but in reality that is hardly the case, so I really need you to do your part as well if you really want this to be a fulfilling engagement. Of the 4800+ visitors every month: Some of them will result in actual engagements; some will end up emailing me with questions; some will reach out and ask for a free reading. I’m really doing my best to give everyone the best consultation that I can.
Anyway, things will probably settle after Chinese New Year and I will find regular time to blog again. There are some exciting developments. Remember the shipping company that engaged me for a corporate feng shui audit last year? They invited me back again this year to take a look at their office and this time, I finally got to speak to their CEO and also to the COO again. I can’t tell you how valuable the experience was for me and how I saw the application and manifestation of feng shui unfold in front of me. I will blog about that really soon. Also, my friend/partner in the US that I’m working closely with has also begun passing me some feng shui cases to work on, and we have this huge mansion to work on now and it’s really cool.
Lastly, do check out my latest guest post on 99.co! If you’re the sort who worries about feng shui every year, it’ll be very relevant to you:
Cheers,
Sean
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