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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts |
You are special....I'd give you a hug if I was there.
Hey! It's snowing! My heart is full of love for nature at the moment! |
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Terry Owens Inner circle Ft. Wayne, Indiana 1707 Posts |
It's great that we don't have to be cookie cutter performers, just because something doesn't work well for one, doesn't mean it won't work well for others. I couldn't imagine hiring a soft spoken pirate...
Pertaining to rates...I've actually had another performer complain that I charge too much. I told them you charge what you're worth. |
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Bob Sanders Grammar Supervisor Magic Valley Ranch, Clanton, Alabama 20504 Posts |
Relating to the Raleigh discussion. I see a lot of people make the mistake of believing that people in the South are poor. As an old marketing professor, I suggest that you check that one out first. (WalMart is a southern company! Ted Turner, Coca-Cola, etc.) In 1983 I came back to Alabama as a marketing consultant to the largest private day care provider in the world. It served the top 2% of mothers with careers (not just jobs) in the USA. It's international headquarters was in Montgomery, Alabama where it was founded. (It served over 120,000 families a day.)
It does not have the population that other parts of the country have but thrift habits and homeownership will surprise you. Avoid the welfare pockets of population (Selma, etc.) and you'll hit gold. Don't confuse plain with poor. Unlike the rest of the nation, many southerners own their retirements independently of their employers and the government. They are savers and investors. Their credit is good. The mortgage and credit problems in the South are very concentrated in a very few cities. That is not the current picture of the rest of America. About three years ago a group working magicians at a meeting in Tennessee agreed that the going rate for the most basic of children's birthday parties was $250 a pop. (For adults multiply that by 5 or 10 times! I don't do children's parties unless the chairman of the board has a grandchild with a birthday. LOL) Today I would say that $650 is hardly unreasonable for a true middle class family to pay for a child's birthday party. However, If you don't ask, you won't get it! Bob Sanders Magic By Sander |
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JamesinLA Inner circle Los Angeles 3400 Posts |
Bob, you said $650 for the "birthday party." Did you mean, I assume you mean 650 for the magician, not the party's budget as a whole? Thanks for clarifying this.
Jim
Oh, my friend we're older but no wiser, for in our hearts the dreams are still the same...
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Kozmo V.I.P. 5473 Posts |
Gotta ask...who cares anyways james...you can just go work the streets...you can make that on the streets easy!
if you knew anything james you would buy the new capehart dvd set.... :) koz |
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magicgeorge Inner circle Belfast 4299 Posts |
Koz man you gotta get indoors and get the chippolatas
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Kozmo V.I.P. 5473 Posts |
Never gonna do a kids show...hate the little ****s!
koz |
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts |
Hey Bob, if you are refering to me as thinking everyone in the South is poor you should note I was raised in Decatur Georgia and moved from St. Mary's Georgia/Fernadina Beach Florida to California when I was in my early 20's after spending my early teens in California. What I am saying is Raleigh is a small city or actually a big town and can't be compared to a major city with a great number of magicians and other performers. Los Angeles is a different planet. Guess what? What happens in Alabama doesn't mean a thing either when the question concerns another market. You charge the market price if you want or you can charge less or you can charge more. In some places you can get away with charging more, in a major city (that would be a city with over two million people in my book, a big city is over a million, a city over 600k, anything less than that is a town). Now those of you from Yankee states like the Carolinas behave.
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KC Cameron Inner circle Raleigh, North Carolina 1944 Posts |
MS, I am fairly certain you are just trying to stir things up because you have some very intelligent posts. Just in case:
NO, RALEIGH IS NOT LA. I NEVER SAID IT WAS, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU CLAIM I DID. For PURPOSES OF THIS MODEL they are the same, because they both have very wealthy people, as well as a middle class. OK, this is the last time I'm saying this. One can be a $50 kid's magician anywhere. One can be a kid's $250 magician in ANY US city. One can be a kid's $400 magician in any US city. There ARE people who will pay for it, if not currently, the market CAN be developed. I am not that sure one needs to be all that fantastic to successfully charge $400, but it helps. In ANY US city you have the very poor to the very wealthy. The best way I have found to get into the "wealthy" market is to raise one's top show price. Eventually, one's top show rate can become the cheapest show rate as one changes clients. Bob, While I do wonder about the $650 birthday party for middle class - I agree, you won't get it if you don't ask for it. The problem is, if you dive into the deep end of the pool, it is sink or swim. If one is not established with a wealthier clientele, it is easy to sink. For those of us that are full-time entertainers, we don't have a "life vest" (another income) if we do not meet immediate success for the $650 BP. Also, the wealthy are different from the middle class, and it does take some education (unless one is born into wealth). Also, the wealthier expect a bit flashier show, which takes cash that not everyone has, coming out the gate. Bob, I have no idea of your roots, but you have to admit you are NOT middle class now, and I doubt you have had the struggling magician experience for some time. I am NOT saying you have not worked hard for your money, just that your experience and perspective is different than most magicians. In this case, you are a wealthy individual who does not see a problem with a $650 BP in Alabama (significantly higher than MS said LA prices are), demonstrating that the thing holding our prices down is ourselves and our ability to find the market. |
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Bill Nuvo Inner circle 3094 Posts or 2742 Posts |
I think for the sake of the discussion we should outline what is lower class, middle class and upper class. My own views on middle class would not permit a $650 magician for a child's Birthday party. But maybe I'm getting middle class mixed up with working class.
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KC Cameron Inner circle Raleigh, North Carolina 1944 Posts |
For me, middle class is people who make their states median income (in the US any way). That happens to be about 35K for Mississippi and 67K for New Jersey with everyone else somewhere in between.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/in......hi2.html I would like to also point out some interesting information, for what it is worth. According to the US Census, Raleigh's median income is about 10K MORE than LA. Hey - it surprised me too! (I thought it would be higher *G*) http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/R......T160.htm What didn't surprise me is that Raleigh's median income is about 10K higher than the rest of NC, and a bit higher yet than St. Mary's GA. What median income DOESN'T say is how high are the highs, and how low the lows. http://www.city-data.com/city/St.-Marys-Georgia.html |
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts |
Captain, the variance is more the higher the numbers. Los Angeles is taking the range from, if only the city, 4.5 million people and in Los Angeles city there are many areas that have very low reported incomes. The money people do not live in Los Angeles city. The other 6 million people in Los Angeles county tend to do better than the inner city. Los Angeles is viewed as the region (and hell to those of use who lived in Northern California) not the center city. Those areas are suburbs and not called, officially, Los Angeles.
I already told you St. Mary's was a small town and the folks there either work at the paper mill or in support of the sub base. Not much else there. Of course I would never relate St. Mary's Georgia to another area because that would make me an imbecile. For those keeping score based on the US Govt report for 2006 Median income for states: California: $56,645 North Carolina: $42,625 and to keep Bob happy Alabama: $38,783 and where I live now Nevada: $52,998 The states with the two highest I think benefit from location, one being near NYC, the other Washington DC, and those would be New Joisey and Maryland (land of crabcakes and thus should be revered). Counties listed as 'most improverished' California: 0 North Carolina: 1 Alabama: 1 Percentage of population considered 'poor': California: 13.1% North Carolina: 14.7% Alabama: 16.6% These numbers were published Aug of 2007 Do you wish to bring anything else up Bubba? |
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KC Cameron Inner circle Raleigh, North Carolina 1944 Posts |
Nah, I posted that to rile you up. *G* It seemed to work. You do seem insistent on not understanding my posts, but I'm getting old too. *G*
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts |
North Carolina does match California in womens incomes...thank goodness for them eh?
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shooz Loyal user Mercer, PA 269 Posts |
Hi. After listening in on all this discussion, I do have a question...
With all these prices thrown around, Would some of you tell me/us how long a show these prices are buying?? I would like to do more Kid Shows, but don't have a good grasp of how long the show(s) should be. Thanks Scott Shoemaker ...Shooz
With you in thought(s)
Scott Shoemaker... Shooz |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
I can only answer for myself and would not want to answer for the others here. I personaly do a 45 min show for kids ages around 6 and up. If they are 6 and under then my show is geared towards 30 minutes. This is just what has worked well for me and the clients I perform for.
Kyle
Kyle Peron
http://www.kylekellymagic.com Entertainers Product Site http://kpmagicproducts.com Join Our Facebook Fan Page at http://facebook.com/perondesign |
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts |
Same as Kyle only I put the age break at around late fours.
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KC Cameron Inner circle Raleigh, North Carolina 1944 Posts |
Currently I do an hour+ at birthdays (all ages). My school shows run 20-45 minutes. My base show was $295, but since I am new (again) to this area, I lowered it to $250. I plan to be back up at $295 by summer.
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JamesinLA Inner circle Los Angeles 3400 Posts |
My base show is about 40 minutes, my two higher priced shows are both an hour. No balloons, no googie bags, just magic. I took out the add ons as giveaways. Now they have to buy them as an add on. That was one way I sort of "raised my rates" without really raising them, by making giveaways into add ons.
Jim
Oh, my friend we're older but no wiser, for in our hearts the dreams are still the same...
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MagicSanta Inner circle Northern Nevada 5841 Posts |
I'll say that a good pack of kids can extend a show ten minutes.
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