The world is full of lonely people. Some of them are lonely because they are quiet, withdrawn and shy. Some have social problems, some have autism or aspergers, some are lacking in confidence. Some are very busy and do not have time to go out and meet people the normal way, or housebound or disabled.
Many of these people would love to have a friend. Someone they feel is there for them when they need a listening ear, a laugh and joke, some sympathy, a feeling of having an emotional bond with another human. This is where you an fit in.
The lockdown caused many to be very lonely and isolated. More and more people turned to finding someone online. Many ended up speaking to scammers who were only after them to rob them of money. One of the reasons the idea of a professional friend sprung up was because so many people could not find a friend they could talk to and enjoy being with. Since the lockdown has ended it is still necessary for some people to hire a professional friend and have that person to talk to. Sometimes online, sometimes face to face.
Sometimes the person hiring the professional friend may feel that they should not really be paying or hoping that the person they hire is going to become a real friend later – simply because they don't want to pay later. But that makes no sense because no matter how much the hired person enjoys being with them they have no reason to stop charging for their time. Lots of people enjoy their work, they still expect to be paid, they still have expenses and bills to pay and they still could be working another job instead. The person who is well suited to this type of work will be friend, chatty but at the same time firm and not gullible enough to say their clients can phone them whenever they want for a chat or have credit.
During my years of working as a professional agony aunt and psychic, both on and off line, I have had lots of potential clients contact me asking for free sessions. Some do this after one or two sessions others straight away. I promise you that if you say yes to one you end up saying yes to many, and very often these people are not short of money and have more money than you. But they choose to spend it on expensive clothes, car, holidays etc rather than pay their way with other things if they can.
You may be very keen on working as a professional friend or listener but you must have rules and boundaries too. You must not feel that you have to be availble to just anyone or whenever it suits them. You must also have times and days when you are totally unavailable and a list of things you are ok with and other things you are not ok with. Remember too that some people who have no friends or few friends are in their situation because they are self centred and selfish, only thinking of things from their own point of view, and they may think that because you are advertising your professional friend services they can talk to you anyway they like, even if they are trying to avoid paying. I know what this is like I've had it with agony aunt and psychic clients.
I've often found that the ones who want it all free or dirt cheap are also the ones who expect sessions instantly or late at night or sunday. They are also the ones who expect hours and hours free or for a pittance. The genuine nice and more realistic people are the ones who realise that normal people need to sleep late at night or would be having a day off and not working on sunday, and not giving masses of time very cheaply. I learnt years ago that you can soon tell who the nice people are and the unrealistic selfish ones and and don't bother with those. I can be busy enough without having to lower myself to that. If you have a regular job or a guaranteed income anyway you may think the same as me, why lower yourself to that, just select the nice normal ones and leave the rest.
If you would like to work as a professional friend worldwide online you need to sign up with the directory. You can find this at ask agony aunts advice. All of the information about it is there. Including how much to charge, how to set it up etc. Everything. If you decide to sign up on the directory make sure your listing is informative and interesting. People are reaching out to you, they are showing you they are lonely and vulnerable, it's good for them to see that you are open too. Anyway they want to have an idea of what sort of person you are before they offer to pay you for your time. Listing your hobbies is one way of doing this.
You can also get comfort from a site such as one set up by an online clairvoyant, maybe an accurate psychic, maybe a psychic medium.
