My shed has just been broken into and the thieves stole a unicycle. Ive been contemplating moving for some time now and with that decision comes a few criteria:

1) I want to move to an area that has a lack of children's entertainers, and any children's entertainers in that area wont be undercutting me.
I currently live in a town with lots of competition, and would prefer to move to an area where I can be less worried about rushing to answer the phone to secure the work before they ring the next entertainer in their list. Being the only entertain in town helps with getting the work further on in the years and takes away a bit of the stress.

2) that area has to be heavily populated so that the need for a children's entertainer is present. So a one street village is out the question.

3) it should be near good motorway access points getting to all parts of town reasonably quickly. Living out in the countryside for example will only add an extra hour to my travel time to and from shows.

4) I want the area to be safe. The reason I am moving is safety. I can buy a cheap house in a part of town with a very bad crime rate. My goal is to move up in the market. But how does one know where is best?

5) the house itself must have off-street parking. This is important as I have a lot of gear in my show, and while a garage would be superb, Ild settle for off-street parking knowing my car and equipment inside was safer than street parking gives.

6) mid-week work busking. In some towns, there is a busking presence in shopping centres. While I am not eager to enter this type of entertainment again, it would be nice knowing that should times get tough, I can always just do a few busking shows in town to get the bills paid. Again, will hopefully not be nessersary, but doesn't hurt to have a backup plan.

7) I would like to keep my profession a secret. If my car is sign-written, I want it out of view so that it is not a target for thieves and Ive learnt from my current home, that having the kids on the council estate know what you do is nothing but trouble. They are constantly knocking on my door asking to see a trick, and if I say no, or am out - they take it out on the car...

Ive done a general google search for kids entertainers in areas that I feel are 'more wealthy' places to live, but would appreciate any thoughts on making a move like this, how business is effected, friendships and how to scope out an area for competition and the need for another entertainer amongst their community.

Lol, good one. I thought you were serious for a moment.

Yey,Stephen's back. He's my favourite. He's also entirely serious, Danny.

Sorry to hear about your unicycle,Stephen. Good luck, with the house hunt.

Yes, I realize he is probally serious. Not making fun of him in no way either. Let's pretend I was a gold prospector, and asked similiar questions.

I am looking for a new place to pan for gold where the gold is plenty and there isn't any competition for it. It's very safe to pan there without being harassed or robbed, and I won't have to do much work to make a lot of money. Now, let's say I knew of a place, I'd be out of my mind to reveal the location and give up any of the spoils. It's not a dumb question to ask either, but I don't think anyone is going to say, ''Hey, I live in a city that has just me performing magic. The city is hot for magic and has very little crime. I can leave my stuff in my car on the street and no one bothers with it. No one undercuts me because I am the only guy who does magic. Here is where I live, come move into my neibourhood.

Or...maybe someone will. I have been known to be wrong before.

Seems like a real estate agent would be better to talk to than a group of magicians.

Hey, I live in a city that has just me performing magic. The city is hot for magic and has very little crime. I can leave my stuff in my car on the street and no one bothers with it. No one undercuts me because I am the only guy who does magic. Here is where I live, come move into my neibourhood.

See what I mean. Lol

My question is more about what to look for when choosing an area. For one thing, I'm in the North West, England. So most of you guys Im not a threat to.

But its ideas like searching for local magic clubs and checking how many members it has, which can give you an idea for level of competition. Or if fellow entertainers can advise a bad area to avoid because of a bad experience with the people in that part of town.

What do you look for when choosing where to set up a business?

If it was a brick and mortar shop, then location, passing traffic, parking etc. is important. But in our type of business, what are the key identifying factors when choosing a location to work from, that will help make our business a success?

Is it better to live in a capitol city, with lots of rich business people where you can triple you fees, or in a town where you can only get half the amount but there are more children and schools creating the possibility for more work?

Stephen,

I think it's a double edge sword no matter where you move.

From what I've read about Zucchini and Silly Billy, they both live in major cities and have lots of competition. Yet, both of them appear to have done very well.

Years back I was reading about magician Tommy Windsor. He lived in a small town in Ohio (est. population 35,000), and yet he seemed to work all the time. That's certainly not to say he didn't travel beyond his region.

I would say that you might want to do some Internet searches first, just to get a sense of what you might be dealing with should you decide to move. However, I'll warn you that some of your competitors don't necessary show up on the Internet. In other words, they're there, but you'll have a hard time finding them and they work ALL THE TIME.

Last piece of advice. I would also caution you about leaving your equipment in your car that is parked outside your home. A juggler friend of mine ran into his house and within two hours his car and all his equipment were gone. And he lived in a nice neighborhood.

Best of luck to you.

Gerry

Have we no sympathy for the poor unicycle thief who has no idea what he's getting into if he attempts to ride it?

Ha ha, if I hadn't read a few of Stephen's post in the past I would've probably assumed he was joking. Not many posts start with the premise: I'm looking for a new house because someone stole my unicycle!

Sorry about your bike, Steve. I suggest you move to a leafy suburb of Wigan. JR

You could always move to the desert like Jolly Roger. Nobody will steal your unicycle there and the only security you may need is snake repellant!

- Gary

Move to America like JR, James Munton and Keith Fields did.

If you do indeed decide to move to America, Stephen, I would not recommend Arizona as I have the whole state covered. I would suggest Anchorage, Alaska might be a good choice. Find yourself a nice American girl to marry, and Bob's your uncle!!! JR

Stephen

This book may help you. Check out this review http://ezinearticles.com/?Book-Review---......=5300381 I have read this particular book several times and it certainly has changed my outlook.

Best of luck to you.

Mark

Why, no. No we don't!

And, hey, Jolly! "Bob's" MY uncle and nobody else can have him!

(Seriously, my uncle, Bob O'Neil, is the guy that really got me started in magic. He himself was a magician and he got me my first magic kit!)

Honestly, I always had dreams on moving to Canada. I did look into it and even put my house on the market last year. But the council estate behind my house started to cause a lot of trouble amongst themselves and so a security police camera tower was erected right next to my front door. They never even asked me, they just put it there.

So as you can imagine, my house value dropped immediately and I was reluctantly forced to take it of the market. The tower was then attacked and two hooded guys with a chainsaw took it down in the middle of the night.
One week later, and the police built a cement based super tower with a direct live feed to police HQ. It didn't help lower the crime rate, and now it seems to be more like a challenge for them to test its effeteness.

That tower is still there and this was the third attack on my shed in the last fortnight. The previous two occasions, they only damaged the locks and woodwork, last night was the first successful theft. They really want at it though, with some type of weapon. They must have made a racket, and yet nobody did anything. But the people who live on the council estate are not to be tested with. Chances are they come armed with very deadly weapons.

Anyway, I'm venting. Back to the subject at hand.

Ive always thought about moving to Canada or maybe America. Let me ask this question to you entertainers who have successfully moved to another country, how does one achieve that without marrying someone in a profession like ours?

Was the tower down when they stole the unicycle?

No, but the police can only check the footage if I can tell them the precise five-minute window to check. Even though I know it happened in-between a two hour period, that's apparently too long for them to check.

The fact that the camera must have seen the whole thing and nobody did anything about it is also apparently irrelevant. Why there is a camera there in the first place if its not for stopping crimes like this one is another head-scratcher. All it seems to be doing is lowering the value of my house and stopping me from selling it.

I will ask some questions this week though, as to when I can expect the camera to be taken down, so I can plan accordingly.