I'm just curious, if you're a part time performer, what's stopping you from going all out and and going full time? I've been 'full time' for 3 years now and performed 'part time' for 14 years before that. Looking back, I wish I had jumped in 'full time' many many years ago.

It's a good question and one I've been pondering for some time.

With regards to magic I work part time which means weekends and occasional weekday (usually evening) shows. I perform about 150 shows in a year and that for me as a part timer is enough. My own family is important and I have regular commmitments, such as my children's martial arts class, which have priority over my 'magic' work. I also take a regular periods 'off' so I can spend quality time with my family.

My other work is reasonably well paid and I have studied and worked hard to get to the position I have reached. I enjoy this work and get alot from it other than financial.

However, finance is important, and like most of you I have a mortgage, regular bills and so on. The non magic work is a source of income that is guaranteed - in other words I know it will pay the bills.

My dilema is that to generate enough magic work to reproduce the income I get elsewhere I would have to dedicate a lot of time to extra publicity and business generation. To do that justice I would need more time. Also to undertake the work I would need extra time. For example I do virtually no (about 10 a year) school time shows. To do more I would need to eat into my anual leave. Christmas is also difficult as anual leave has to be used.

So it's a Catch 22 - to work magic full time I would need more business. To get that work I would need to reduce my hours elsewhere, and of course I have no guarantee of getting that work and therefore lose income which is needed in my everyday life.

What it boils down to is risk and risk taking and for me to do that now - quit my job and regular income - is not a risk I can justify. However, I do have a target in mind as a magic income which is my 'go' button. As soon as I reach that as an annual income then I'll take the leap.

To be honest, the reason why I am not full time is because I love my full time job. I am a graphic designer and the company I work for is just amazing to me. They are more like a family then a place of business.

I am very lucky to have a job I and a hobby that I love.

A few reasons:

1. I love my full time job and it's much more lucrative than a full time magician would make in my area.

2. I've known a couple of magicians who have gone full time in this area. One was Mike Wong (of "Dragon Thread" video fame) who was full time here in the 80's. He is an excellent magician and basically ran out of audiences. He moved to So. California and has been very successful there. I live in Anchorage, Alaska. Half the state's population is here, but even then that's not much. It isn't like somewhere in the lower 48 states where you can drive from one big city to another and have towns in-between.

3. Frankly, I'm not sure I'd like it as much if I did it full time. It would become much more like "work" to me.

4. As a part-timer, I'm less tempted to take the less desirable bookings. I don't have to think that not taking a booking could mean food not on the table. So I concentrate on the higher paying bookings and those that are more desirable to me (ie I prefer to not work outdoors, so I'll pass those on to a friend).

5. I don't feel pressure to keep changing my show. I've heard of full time magicians who go through material like water. You can almost bet you'll soon see them do that new trick that had its full color ad just come out in a magic magazine. I prefer changing my shows much more slowly. I feel I personally give a better show because of it.

Those are the reasons off the top of my head. I'm sure if I thought about it, I'd come up with some more. I feel I have the best of two worlds by staying part time.

Thanks,

Mike

My 9 to 5 pays too well and has way too many perks for me to give it up in favour of a full time magic career.
Magic has a really lousy retirement package and really expensive medical. The income is steady and the chances of me getting laid off here are nill.
My job doesn't keep me from performing as I have all my evenings and weekends free and can take time off for those lucrative daytime gigs that pop up from time to time.
The money I make with my performing I can spend on new effects, props and books instead of such mundane things like food or rent.
For me magic makes a great second income but a lousy primary one.

I went fulltime 8 years ago. I had a good job with great benefits. They let me go part time so I could get my feet wet with my magic career without having to let go my security blanket that I had. And that security blanket is hard to let go of.

I am glad I took the leap into fulltime magic. But there are those days when I would love to be home on Saturday and not have to go and do 4 or 5 birthday parties. There are those times when I look into my calendar and I see that Nov. is rather slow and not looking too good. But everything comes together. Thank God!
I am at a place now that I feel secure with my career that I can pick and choose my jobs. When we first start out we take anything anytime and at the end of the day you have killed yourself. Working as a magician is not easy. I look back and sometimes look at my old job and think how easy it was to go in at 9 and get off at 5PM.

All in all I am thankful that I get to do what I love and that is magic. The day that it becomes not fun for me will be the day I need to get a real job. I see so many guys who hate performing and they really don't have a passion for the art as a career. I really think you have to have a passion for what we do.

My 2Cents

ken

I think Ken nailed it when he stated about that time when it no longer becomes fun for you. I think that is I ended up doing it full time, I would at some point reach a state where it no longer has the fun and enjoyment level that I get from it.

I love doing the weekend shows at parties. I also enjoy going to the resturants on weekdays. The only thing I dislike about full time is marketing. I must stay in my office a lot to work on phone calls and do paper work. That is not my style. If I find the right receptionist, secretary and telemarketer it will take a lot off my shoulders.

I think a lot of people who think about going into magic full time really do not have a thorough understanding that you often do more NON-performing then you spend actually doing your show.

You really must become a businessman because you really are now a business. This means the paperwork, taxes, cold-calling and marketing etc.

I truly admire anyone who does magic full time and has been able to not only make it work, but still get out of magic what they did when they first got into it. My hat's off to all of you. I am sure it is not easy.

I have my own air fragrance dispeller route business that I have built up the past 10 years by using magic as my ice breaker. Since most of my customer base expects to see magic when I stop by, this makes my service more unique and fun! These customers are also willing to pay for private shows or company shows such as birthdays, special events etc. This is another way of doing magic to make a good income, by intertwining it with your sales, marketing and service.

HI,
I like being full time pro basicaly because I enjoy performing and I enjoy the free time/money it also gives for me. I like the balance magic gives for many years I was part time pro and although I enjoyed it I was glad to turn full time for the rest of 40 hours a week plus the shows.
Phillip

Personally, I'm not sure what the answer is for me. For five years all my income was from magic..so guess I was considered full time.

A few years ago, however, I missed the comeraderie of working with others as we all know that performing magic all the time leaves us little room for socializing especially on weekends. I decided to return to working in the Special Ed Dept at the School District.

The combination for me is perfect!! I am employed by the District and my hours are only between 21 and 25 hours per week and I still have the energy to perform 3-5 shows weekly. (Thinking I put more hours into magic) It puts me into contact with kids daily so I'm always up to date as to what is popular and I find a nice balance.

Ironically when I went to purchase a house earlier this year..the bank did not take my income from teaching ...instead they looked at my earnings from magic. Go figure?

<<<<<<<<<You really must become a business man because you really are now a business. This means the paperwork, taxes, cold-calling and marketing etc<<<<<,

When I'm not performing, I answer the phone when it rings, do my paperwork which takes no time at all, I play golf as often as possible with Billy Wiz, and take my dog for a walk. On days when I'm not up early playing golf I get to read my paper in bed. I don't activly market myself or cold call etc. I don't need to look for work. I keep my books and have an accountant do the rest. I spend a lot of time thinking up new things for the act (95% of which never get past the thought stage), and making bits and bobs etc but this I don't consider work; it's fun.

After 23 years in the services I love having lots of free time during the day. I couldn't go back to a real job.

The hardest part about going full time is letting go of the safety blanket. But when you eventually do you'll always look back and wonder why you didn't do it earlier.

I actually found I enjoyed performing a lot more when I went full time. I had been working 45 hours a week in my day job & doing kids parties in the weekends. I was overworked, overstressed & living off convenience foods. I was single at the time & being single socialising was very important. It was quite difficult to do especially going out late when I always had to work early. The people in the UK might be familiar with a UK sitcom called 'The Office’, well my day job was just like that. If you guys in the US don’t know that TV show, then you are missing all the best stuff. One day I had a major disagreement with my boss & on the spur of the moment told him that if he didn’t appreciate me I would be happy to leave immediately. Well I did just that & never regretted it. That is how I came to be a full time magician. Instead of dragging myself up on Saturday mornings to perform kids shows I really looked forward to my weekends & it started to become a lot more fun.

Hi,
I agree with Emazdad. Provided you price correctly, you should find that you have loads of free time (my parents say my job is like being retired) and really how long does it take to do the paperwork, taxes, cold-calling and marketing etc?

Ps I have never and will never cold call
Phillip

That did worry me Mike, but even now after 3 years full time I still enjoy it. Now and again I might have a bad show and think to myself 'Why do I do this?' but then I think of having to go out and do a 'proper' job for less money and realize how lucky I am. I love this job. As Emazdad said, we get to play loads of golf, and have a lot more time to ourselves.

You also mention about being tempted to take the less desirable bookings. I NEVER take a show if I don't fancy the sound of it. I do this job because I enjoy it; if I HAD to take every booking that came in just to make a living, I would look at getting another job.

All the best,
Billy

Can't imagine what it's like not to be full time in entertainment - been a pro. musician and kids entertainer since 1976. Am sat here on a lovely Autumn Wednesday morning looking out at hundreds of trees from my back window. Off into my garden next and then probably will do a workout in my garage. Then going to a little boys party at 4 p.m. Yesterday spent hillwalking in glorious UK Autumn sunshine! Enough said?

Hi Ken,
I agree with you there. That's about the only downside to this job. I've now started putting a line in my diary every month to have a weekend off, or even just a Sat or Sun off. I can then go out for the night with my wife and not worry about drinking too much and having a hangover the next day.

All the best,
Billy

Billy, Andy, Phillip and Clive,

Thanks guys you have made my day.

This is the first time I have posted on this part of the forum, mainly because I haven't perfomed a kids show since I was 20 (now 39).

My job is fairly well paid and I have a mortgage, wife and kids so it is a security blanket.

However I hate it and have recently been upping by marketing with a view to increasing bookings, jacking the job and going full time.

One area I have been looking into again is kids magic (Nearly all my work is closeup and mentalism) as a number of pros I have spoken to have said you limit your market by not offering this service.

So the props have been dusted off and I am working on routines and patter etc. my son has never had it so good. He didn't think I could do kids shows and can't get enough.

So I want to thank you gents for pushing me over the edge and convincing me it is time to make that leap.

As Paul Daniels has said If you turn SHOW business into show BUSINESS you can make a good living.

Regards

Scott

I wish you Good Luck Scott. I'm sure once you get in front of the kids it will all come flooding back and you'll have a great time.