On 2008-07-13 22:11, ThomasBerger wrote:


The point I was making was don't ask your friends, work mates
even you parents (in my experience) don't really support a
"radical" career move into the notoriously unreliable entertainment business.

On 2008-07-13 21:40, ThomasBerger wrote:
I thought I would add a few of my experiences.
I have been a full time mentalist since 1993.
I left my job as a computer engineer.

In my experience, you will have very little support becoming
a full time entertainer.

Most people will think you are crazy.

Part of the problem is that unless you are on the top corporate end of this business, there is very little respect for this kind of business.
If there is any whiff of magic or magician, you will be pigeonholed as
a clown or childrens entertainer. Psychic connotations are also unsaleable in the corporate market in my experience.

If you feel you want to try to go full-time, do it.
Don't ask people what they think.
You need to bite the bullet, plan on earning less for quite a few years, and with luck and good judgement, you can crack it.

Make sure you go after markets where there is good money.
Otherwise you are just in a job with bad hours.

I have finally cracked the corporate market
and am listed exclusively with Speaker Bureaus.
At that end of the market, the $ can become huge.

But you will forever have to give up private gigs, weddings, etc.
If someone sees you at a wedding, you will never be able to get 5 times more with a corporate gig from them.
Also, the Bureaus require you to have a minimum fee
( which is way over any other market)so that they can market you properly.

You don't have to be a speaker to get in this market (I'm not)
I don't consider myself much of an entertainer either, am not outgoing
or really enjoy the stage much...but I have still managed the crack the market.

I prefer to fiddle on the computer, and have several projects going,
but at this point mentalism is my sole source of income.
I am hoping to cut back the mentalism even more in the future.


Part of it is that most performers are bad.
There is only one metric that is used by bureaus--
whethere the client raves after the show (what they write in the evaluation) and whether you get rebooked.

Rebooking is the metric you will live or die by.
Every gig is evaluated by the client--you cannot afford to have many "bad nights".

Also, in my experience forget trying to get help and advice from anyone working in this game. People are far too protective of their livelyhood, especially considering how magicians/mentalists are notorius for knocking off effects.

Do you own work and research.
Use your own judgement..
If you want to make money, study people who have done it.
Ditto for this.
If you want to go pro, study pros.
Read all their eviews, figure out wht what they are doing works.
Study copywriting.
I have an excellent book I have used for 20 years--
CashCopy by Jeffrey Lant.

Here is the most important aspect IMO--
Work out what makret you want to crack,
then dvelop an act for it!

Do not do it the other way around...dont try to peddle an act to a market.
If you want to sell products to a market...stufy what is being sold in that maket already! don't try to sell them something because it is what you have.
Your probability of success will increase dramatically by study what
works in that market...then develop something along those lines.

If you attack the right markets, you can make a lot of $
with a good 40 minute act. Its not rocket science, it just takes work and good judgement. You can easily get 10 times the hourly rate for a lawyer
fiddling with envelopes and paper. That is the nature of this game.

One last thing...as with cassidy, I get most my ideas and presentation outside of mentalism. If you want to do corporate, you need to have a wide range of interests.
You need to read a lot and talk convincingly on different topics.
Read a lot of different books. Often the client has a dinner spot at their table for you. Have different interests. be an interesting person without doing tricks.

That's my 2 cents.
Cheers.
Tom Berger

On 2008-07-14 02:03, ThomasBerger wrote:
>>Someone works as psychic doing readings (tarot, etc) and also as a performer?<<

My recommendation, based on the gigs I am talking about (corporate Speaker Bureau jobs)would be to keep your marketing of psychic separate ie, have 2 different web sites etc.

One thing I have learnt is that all rules can be broken.
Unless you find psychics listed on a Bureau you want to approach (and I have never seen one) I would keep that separate. Do your own marketing for psychic readings.

Ironically, I am now earning more but cutting back on marketing.
I am no longer using yellow Pages.
I can't book Yellow Pages gigs at the Bureau rates.
In fact, I can't book any jobs at Bureau rates.
No-one can book jobs at Bureau rates except Bureaus.
I am turning over all my leads to the Bureaus to negotiate now.

It keeps my fee consistant--if your fees are not consistant the Bureaus wont market you.

But let me emphasise--this market is a different world.
There are plenty of gigs you can perform as a psychic and do a show or whatever.
I have worked nearly all markets over the years, and it nearly always pays to keep
markets separate.

In marketing it's called a niche market.
To sell to everyone is to sell to no-one.
You will earn more in a niche.

So marketing teaches you to create a niche where you are best or second best.
Position yourself (with your website, copywriting etc) so that you are NOT GENERIC.
Using generic terms like psychic or mentalist will get you pigeonholed.
People work with assumptions, it creates shortcuts in thinking, so you don't have to work hard at figuring things out.

Have you ever seen the Gordon Ramsay cooking shows on TV??
He rescues restaurants just about to go bust.

What stands out to me is the number of cooks that
cook their favourite dish and have no idea that people hate it!
All the chef knows is that he loves it, and he likes cooking it.
They never use feedback from diners, and never know what people really think.
They are giving people what THEY LOVE TO COOK!
Its the wrong way around.
Just like many acts are in our business.

Its amazing, because its common sense but you get blinded in your own business.
It is always safer and better from a marketing point of view to find out what people want give it to them.

It took 30 years in the US to convince men to use deodorant.
Life is too short to convince people--give them what they want and what works,
and don't try to start trends.

I forgot to mention above to anyone hoping to go out on the
professional road, it is absolutely critical to get testimonials.
Never stop asking for them.
If you do a good job you will get them.
It is the easiest way to sell yourself.

As the persuasion expert Robert Cialdini says..
when people are unsure what to do, they look around at people
LIKE THEMSELVES to see what they do!

So every niche market needs its own testimonials.
don't do readings and try to sell a stage show with a testimonial from readings.
It's not the best way to do things.

Anyway, enough of my rambling.
Thanks for the comments Tony and Gerry.
We all do things a little bit differently.

Ace--I think education is critical, informal and formal so far be it for me to tell any kid to chuck in their schooling.
I am not trying to be a role model.

I was trying to point out that in big events in your life,
you become insecure and uncertain and human nature being what it is....
we tend to ask our closest friends and colleagues whether we are doing the right thing because we are looking for confirmation.

That's my point--forget the confirmation from people ill equipped to give it.
Make your own decision.

I worked the corporate market in Sydney for many years, then 6 years ago decided to move interstate...to a little island state of Australia with only 500k people
where I didn't know anyone.

Every single person thought my wife and myself were crazy.
Not one person thought it was a good idea.
My only regret has been that I should have done it years ago!

So my point is, don't expect to get warm and fuzzies from friends and relatives when you want to break your (and theirs!) comfort zone.

It won't happen.

My view.
Cheers.
Tom