July 19, 2023

The Business of Spirituality with Jason Freeland

58 minutes

We live in an era where ancient wisdom is now an accessible commodity. People seeking answers are now considered to be consumers, and there's a menu of service providers helping them uncover intangible possibilities with the assistance of commercial technology. Spirituality has become a thriving industry - but is it accurate to call spirituality a business at all?

Giving fascinating insights for both service providers in the spiritual space and consumers who seek spiritual guidance, Megan and Ryan are joined by special guest Jason Freeland. Jason's company Outlook Amusements is the parent company of California Psychics, one of the most well known brands connecting everyday people with psychic advisors across a variety of modalities, from psychics and mediums to tarot readers, astrologers, numerologists and beyond.

This episode is a walk across the bridge connecting the ethereal and material worlds together. As someone who had a front row seat working with the iconic 1990s psychic hotlines, Jason has seen our industry evolve over time. He's witnessed firsthand the transformative power of psychic work and reveals the ins and outs of how he runs such a flourishing business, addressing topics such as onboarding practitioners, handling customer complaints, navigating frauds, and adapting to new technologies and changes in consumer behaviors. He even offers a convincing truth about the notion of "selling spirituality" - a perspective that changed our minds entirely about "the business of spirituality," prompting us to reconsider the way we brand and market ourselves.

About Jason Freeland:

Jason Freeland has been working in new age marketplace businesses for over 30 years. In 1991, Freeland stumbled into the spiritual wellness business by producing the Psychic Friends Network. Freeland has also written and directed the feature film adaptation of James Ellroy’s Brown’s Requiem and a second feature, Garden Party. Freeland holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and attended USC’s School of Film and Television.

Outlook Amusements, Inc. was founded by Jason Freeland and Tim Youd, who met during a “junior year abroad” program at Oxford University during their college years. In 1995, they started their production company in conjunction with Western International Media. At the time, Western was the largest independent media buying agency in the world. In 1997, Freeland and Youd bought out Western’s interest in their business and soon thereafter developed the largest online live psychic and astrology network, which they sold to Keen.com in 2000. Keen.com (now called Ingenio, Inc.) was a Bay-area incubated startup focused on the delivery of live advice via the telephone and computer.

Today, Freeland continues to run Outlook Amusements, which primarily operates California Psychics.

Connect with Jason and California Psychics: