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ddeckmann Loyal user Paraguay 202 Posts |
Hi!
I live in a capital town where everybody knows each other and we have no common place for tourists. A horrible place for busking. It's called Asuncion, Paraguay. But, when there is an event, normally on the weekends such as a fair or marathon, etc. I go there and start busking, because I love busking and as you know it's a great way to get clients. My question is, how much time should be between each performance so that I don't get the same people (and same kids, which happened to me a few times and start yelling "HE WILL MAKE AN ORANGE APPEAR!")? I thought about having a different repertoire, but none of that matters because I could change the repertoire and still get the same people that already tipped! It's even a bad idea (I thought) to have different shows because that will attract the people that already tipped stay again, watch a different show and leave without tipping (again). My common sense tells me to wait about half an hour. Any advice, dear magi? |
solrak29 Special user NY Metro 936 Posts |
It's interesting that no one has responded to this; especially, the
guys who talk about the "slow build" and/or work/stuck on pitches like yours. I can say the least that it's very difficult question to answer or provide input, but definitely something to consider as you will never know where you will find yourself and have to make it work. For me, I think in terms of efficiency, so I will not do a 10-15 minute show and wait a half hour (though I have when I suck). Plus, I get bored really quick; I have to do something. Perhaps, I would just build until I get the audience that I want and/or need. This is easier said than done; I'm sure. But as you mentioned above, you must have felt it out and see that a half hour wait time is good time for when a "new" audience comes by. But why not, just wait 10 minutes, and use the 20 minutes to build your "new" audience; strategically, positioning/using the repeat audience to build. just something to think about...
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JoeJoe Inner circle Myrtle Beach 1915 Posts |
You just get a feel for it in time.
I myself have two finales, I try to rotate them ... so after I've done my show and I'm passing the hat there is usually someone that wasn't there at the beginning, and I start right over - "you didn't see the first trick did you, here I'll show it to you" ... I start the build over, and then do the second finale. It is good this way because I find I'm not making any money standing around waiting for people to leave. Usually I wipe the slate clean after the second show by pausing a while ... unless I smell fresh money of course, then I'll rotate it again. But in my experience, every other show is a money show - especially when there are a lot of people and you can do fast builds. For me, the first show is a build for the second show. This summer, there was a kid that watched my show ... I had just finished and he was left standing there all by himself. I figured he'd walk away as I'm resetting. His dad stepped up behind him and handed him a dollar ... the kid walks forward and drops it in my hat and goes back to standing in the same spot watching me. I was like "dude, how many times have you seen the show already?" ... "four ... still trying to figure out where that lime comes from". So I showed him another trick he hadn't seen to built a new crowd and he watched it a fifth time. -JoeJoe
Amazing JoeJoe on YouTube[url=https://www.youtube.com/user/AmazingJoeJoe]
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ddeckmann Loyal user Paraguay 202 Posts |
Thanks for your advices!
I'm having 2 intros, 3 middles and right now only one finale. I have other finales but I didn't have the time to prepare the props. I'll be doing a mixture thru the day, but it will be hard for me to get more time gathering people. All my lines & bits are used during the performance of the tricks... I need more lines! and I'm leaving right now to this pitch I mentioned. Monday I'll put my feedback on how it went. |
Gary T. Veteran user 375 Posts |
Ever try setting up close to where people are coming in? rather than in the thick of the fair? then you get all the new people coming in and all the people going out and don't have to worry as much about people lingering.
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ddeckmann Loyal user Paraguay 202 Posts |
I'm back!
Well, the fair was way to noisy (they had a musical band playing in a stage) and I had to make a very long pause because of a women who didn't get sarcasm and said I was humilliatong a kid. If you're wondering what I did/said was a classic balloon gag where you hand the balloon to the kid and it flies away. Anyways, she went and complaint to an administrator or something. And of course about 10 people left the show But I have come to the conclusion that big hats in my country depends on tourists (that we rarely have in public events) and in middle-high class crowd (which is about 10% of the population... Yesterday I had a "circle" show and the hat ended almost empty. Bottom line, I can't make a living in the streets here, I never had. I'll stay in kids parties. Thanks fot the bits. |
JoeJoe Inner circle Myrtle Beach 1915 Posts |
Street performing is hard ... you need to toughen your skin up, you need a leather suit of armor for this. I can suggest you relax a little until your cool down.
Then re-evaluate your sarcasm, quit counting how many people leave your show, stop worrying about the hat, and start focusing on your actual performance. Perhaps even do a few shows without passing the hat ... just till you see what type of adjustments to your show must be made to take it from birthday party to the sidewalk. Bottom line, I think you need to adjust your expectations. Instead of trying to "make a living in the streets", you could perhaps just "have some fun and make some extra money in your spare time". Once you can do that ... then perhaps you will see a path that will lead to making a living. In other words ... learn how to crawl before you try to walk ... before you try to run. Not trying to be rude, just being honest. Hope it helps. -JoeJoe
Amazing JoeJoe on YouTube[url=https://www.youtube.com/user/AmazingJoeJoe]
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ddeckmann Loyal user Paraguay 202 Posts |
Thanks JoeJoe,
I said about making a living in the street because I remember Talksalot saying something like the 3 basic rules: get the attentios, entertain and get the money. Well I had a hard time with part three, but I don't blame it so much on myself. Busking here can relate easily to begging because, believe me, I've never seen a busker here. It's a new thing and with the foreign jugglers beside the traffic lights, people can get confused and donate very little. I don't know why I got upset with the money, because I had a 1 hour kid show for a whole school and charged like 20 times more than I got in my hat (for working around 4 hours) One more thing is, I'm moving to the coasts of Brazil to really make a living there, and I'll probably start on the streets. There I'll be more worried about the hats. But you are right, thank you. I must calm down. I'm just to self-demanding, over analyze everything. Thanks for the kind words. p.s.: and that rough day (yesterday) was my birthday! |
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