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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
I guess once you get yourself established in your area, you really do gain more time for yourself to do those things you want to do. Maybe it is just getting to that point that scares people the most from doing it. Possibly that and the fact that there is not a sure safety-net of sorts.
Can anyone elaborate on this. How hard was it when you first made the jump to full time? Did you dive in head first or slowly make the switch? How long did it take you to get yourself to that comfort level of having the gigs coming in and not having to worry about it? Thanks all for your great posts. I always enjoy them.
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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Billy Whizz Special user Plymouth, UK 576 Posts |
All the very best of luck to you Scott. Go for it! What part of the UK are you from?
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Cabrera Special user Seattle 513 Posts |
Going into magic full time is easy. Just perform the "Miser's Dream" and never stop. The money will keep rolling in......Ka Ching!
"The quilt of life is woven with many different threads"
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Scott Special user UK 799 Posts |
Quote:
On 2003-10-15 10:05, Billy Whizz wrote: Thanks Billy, I live in Leicester. I see you are in Plymouth. I haven't been down there for some time. I did 6 years in the Navy 1980 - 86 so I spent quite a bit of time there in my younger days. Thanks again. Regards Scott |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
With all you lads from the UK. I am feeling a bit left out. hehe It must be something in the water over there that just makes you want to do magic huh?
Cabrera: Just do the hundred dollar bill switch in reverse and save yourself a lot of time.
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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Dynamike Eternal Order FullTimer 24148 Posts |
I'm not tired of my paperwork just because I do magic. It is because I enhanced my business. My company use to be "Dynamike the Magician." Now it is "Ace Productions." My business now deals with clowns, pony rides, moonbouncers, plus other types of entertainment.
One of my magician friends started on the same track as me. At first he retired from magic in his 30's because he has one of the biggest entertainment companies in the midwest. He started magic back again now because he got enough employees in his office. I am putting out "help wanted" posters now to get the right office people. My website is not finished yet. Let me know what improvements it may need: http://www.aceproductionsusa.com |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Mike that sounds really great. Congrats on your success. I am a grapic designer by trade. If you would like, I could review your site for you and give you some pointers and feedback. Just PM me if you might be interested. It would be my pleasure.
PS: What worked best for you when you were first starting out and trying to get your name out there?
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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Dynamike Eternal Order FullTimer 24148 Posts |
Ok Kyle,
When my web site is finished, I'll let you know. Thank you for your time. P.S. I'm at the front door of the "Inner Circle" waiting for you. See ya soon. |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Mike:
Not a problem at all. I would be more then happy to review the site for you and give you any suggestions or feedback on it from a designer's perspective. It would be my pleasure. I look forward to seeing it. Thanks about the warm greeting to the inner circle. Have a nice cup of coffee waiting for me. hehe I am so glad I found this web site a while back. I have met so many great people here like yourself.
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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Dennis Michael. Regular user Denver, CO 103 Posts |
I sort of fell into being a full time entertainer after not making it as as photographer. I had some experience street performing in Stutgart Germany while stationed there in the Army. I was a photographer for the army and in my spare time got into photographing street performers. One guy was an American student who was very pivitol in getting me started. I did magic as a kid and in talking to him he showed me how he could travel anywhere he wanted and make a living. I was blown away.
After getting out of the services (post Gulf War part one) I worked for a while as a photographer but found mostly seasonal work. In looking through the paper I found a company that would train me to be a balloon entertainer in restaurants. I loved it! Nights and weekend work, parties too with good pay... To wrap this up... I worked my way into that company becoming an office manager, learned the ropes of a booking agency while developing my performances. I eventually bought the company and ran it for a while, then sold it and moved out to Denver for a fresh start. I thought about other work but couldn't get myself motivated to do anything else. So I stared up another booking company. I've been out of that and on my own now performing full time as a magician for a few years now. It has always seemed to me that the act I had been doing throughout those years never got beyond a certain point. It never got the attention it needed. Hats off to anyone who can run a booking agency and keep their act polished. Now I'm on my own and making more money than I ever had without all the hassles and time consumption of running the agency. Sure it would be nice to have a nice retirement package, but I'm saving my money for investing and have found good health insurance. I've had my share of hard times but as far as I'm concerned I've made it, and from here the sky is the limit. I don't think I could have gotten to where I am at any other way. I think you have to just throw yourself in all the way head first! (sink or swim) You can always go back to the 9-5 but if you let your struggle be your motivation to creativity and drive you, you can accomplish your dream. I'm certainly happier than most of the people I have observed in some of the cubical type jobs I've had the pleasure to go in an perform for. (to raise company morale) Hmmmm?
I'm Back
Dennis Michael Denver Colorado |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Dennis:
Congrats on making it and doing what you enjoy doing. May I ask what kinds of magic you do and what types of shows do you perform for your various clients? Do you find that certain types of magic performances pay off better then others in your area? Are children's type shows more lucrative for you than coprporate style shows? Just curious to know from a professional full-timer.
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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Emazdad Inner circle Plymouth UK 1954 Posts |
<<<<<<<Can anyone elaborate on this. How hard was it when you first made the jump to full time? Did you dive in head first or sllowly make the switch? How long did it take you to get yourself to that comfort level of having the gigs coming in and not having to worry about it? >>>>>>>
I was lucky, I had it easier than most people. For the first 5 years my magic business was run along side my Naval career. Luckily my final 18 months were spent working at the maintenance base here in Plymouth. This meant I could do lots more shows. Bookings increased and I still hadn't thought about going full time. I was doing my resettlement in my last 12 months and couldn't find anything I wanted to do, so I took the bull by the horns and put all my leave owed, resettlement leave and Terminal leave together and left the Navy in Febuary 2000. The leave meant I was still paid by the Navy until the 14th June. This gave me a safety net and allowed me the luxury of being full time and paid at the same time. A unique situation. Without the restrictions of work or duties stopping me my workload went through the roof and I've never looked back. When the navy pay stopped I didn't even notice it. Mind you it didn't stop totally... I do get a good navy pension. I like all the free time and have no plans to expand etc like Dynamike has. To me that would be like having a real job and involve work. But each to their own some people like the challenges and as we always say in the Café, if it works for you and you're happy that's all that matters. One tip for those that are thinking of going full time and have been part time for a number of years. Every time you get an inquiry for a show that you can't do because of your normal job, make a note of it. At the end of the month you'll see how many extra shows you would have done if your job didn't get in the way. You'd be amazed how many bokings you turn away. If you have caller display you'll also see all the phone calls you miss while at work. Not everyone leaves a message.
Yours Funfully
Clive "Emazdad" Hemsley www.emazdad.com "Magic is a secret, without the secret there is no magic" Remember there are only 3 types of people in the world, those that can count and those that can't. |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Clive:
That was a really nice situation to be in. To have a sort of safety buffer must have made things a little less stressful for you and give you the time to get the ball rolling. I do not have any intention of going full time, only because I love my day job too much to ever do that. I guess that is the problem with having two hobbies I really love to do. I just want to learn all I can to maximize the shows I do want to do. Your information, and others, has been a huge help. You do bring up a good point about how many shows you turn down because of your day job. I have had numerous ones I had to turn away or give to another performer.
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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Dennis Michael. Regular user Denver, CO 103 Posts |
Quote:
On 2003-10-15 17:19, magic4u02 wrote: I have a regular restaurant gig that I do every Tuesday and Friday night. I do ocassional school shows in the mid-week and my weekends are full of children's parties, grand openings, parks and rec, other events etc. Then there are always seasonal events, boy scout shows, and more. As far as the magic I do...I shoot for originality in my show and performances and being slightly outlandish. My performances change slightly with each audience either because of audience age, size, venue, or situation. I have a great children's show (I'm told often by the people that hire me that I'm the best they've seen.) That's all nice, but a part of me still hungers for the adult audience. (I am guilty of slipping jokes into my kid show for the adults.) I have a lot of fun (a different kid of fun I guess) when I do my adult level stand up show. I am a proponent of using mostly everyday items. Short of sponge balls,and a set of linking rings with my own strange and unconventional handling, I try not to use anything that looks like it was bought in a magic shop. (I am not meaning to sound critical of those who do.) I have been doing children's shows for a long time now and I do get good corporate work on ocassion. However, if I'm honest about it, I almost hate to say that I seem to make better money in the long run from my children's shows than I do from my corporate gigs. (Thanks for asking. It made me re-evaluate all of that again...) :)
I'm Back
Dennis Michael Denver Colorado |
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Chrystal Inner circle Canada/France 1552 Posts |
While no one can argue that childrens parties are the bread and butter of the industry and are lucrative. I have found the opposite in terms of the dollars made. It's been my experience that a corporate show can pay sometimes up to 5-10 times what one can make at a b-day party. Although granted these gigs are not as common as a children's b-day party, (common in terms of they are not held weekly). I only have to do 1-2 corporate show and get paid the same what I would make at 10 parties.
Saying that sounds a bit elitist and that's not what I'm trying to come across like at all. I was told this intially from one of my marketing professors in my business classes when she was originally trying to get me to raise my fees. Her reasoning was if you do X amount of shows at 100 dollars per hour you need 10 shows to make 1000. Raise your fees and reduce the amount of shows needed to make that 1000. Sounds reasonable enough doesn't it? (I'm using a base price of 100 to make it easier to follow this thread.) Some parents ...can't or wouldn't pay 500 for a kids b-day party let alone..1000..but a corporation can. So in fact doing one gig for a corporation at the cost of 500 or 1,000 lessens your workload. Having said all that...I still above all enjoy doing childrens birthday parties and it's NOT ALWAYS about the money. I just wanted some people to perhaps think of marketing strageties when quoting prices or those that are unsure of what venues to pursue. Either way choose what makes you the happiest doing. |
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Emazdad Inner circle Plymouth UK 1954 Posts |
Your right Crystal,
Corporate gigs do often pay a lot more especially if it's a big company. I like doing the shows where I get a lot more money, but I don't activly market myself towards any particular group. I just leave my reputation and advert to do it for me. A lot of the big corporate jobs come through agents, I'll only do those that come to me direct as I avoid agents as much as possible. It would be nice though to get to a stage where I was doing one big corporate show a week and nothing else, there would be a lot more time for golf. But I think I'd miss the birthday parties as I see so many kids over and over and enjoy watching them grow up. Pricing is always a problem as some bookers won't book you if you go in to cheap, and others consider a reasonable fee too much and want top class entertainment at bargain basement prices, and this applies to the big corporations as well. We had the local HMV record store here in Plymouth phone round for a balloon modeller for a promotion they were doing. They wanted someone in the store from 12-4pm on a Saturday, Their budget for the balloon modeller was £50 for the afternoon. The lady from HMV who was phoning round couldn't understand why no-one wanted the job.
Yours Funfully
Clive "Emazdad" Hemsley www.emazdad.com "Magic is a secret, without the secret there is no magic" Remember there are only 3 types of people in the world, those that can count and those that can't. |
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Billy Whizz Special user Plymouth, UK 576 Posts |
Quote:
On 2003-10-21 00:58, Chrystal wrote: Sounds good Chrystal, But in my experience over here, I've NEVER EVER known a company pay between 5 and 10 times as much for a corporate show. Maybe for a close up performer or a stage illusionist, but definately NOT for your general childrens show. Maybe I should move to where you are. :o) |
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Bryan Gilles Inner circle Northern California 1732 Posts |
Question: What's keeping you from being a fulltime performer?
Answer: My financially-knowledgeable wife! Seriously though, I would love to make that transition and am on the line and ready to take the plunge. It would be interesting to hear more on this subject! -Bryan |
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harris Inner circle Harris Deutsch 8812 Posts |
I love my work with students (middle and high school). I am actually contracted through a mental health agency. Along with my work individually and groups I also use my entertainment skills. Just this morning I shared a workshop on theatre and puppetry. Whether working as a counselor or an entertainer I am professional setting up, during the appoinment or show...or during the follow up.
Thanks to all who have shared. Harris
Harris Deutsch aka dr laugh
drlaugh4u@gmail.com music, magic and marvelous toys http://magician.org/member/drlaugh4u |
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Donald Dunphy Inner circle Victoria, BC, Canada 7563 Posts |
Hi Bryan -
You might want to check out some of Jim Snack's materials. I don't have is Success-In-Magic Course, but I've heard that it covers the topic you are interested in. - Donald
Donald Dunphy is a Victoria Magician, British Columbia, Canada.
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