Let's see, $200,000 divided by $300 = 667 shows per year = two per day.
When do I have a chance to spend any of my money?!!

Jim

I have no intention of working as a professional magician, but I was floored by how gracious several people who are professional magicians were in putting such detailed answers on this post. I'm fairly new to magic and this website, but I really sense there's a kind of comradere among magicians - a very kind bunch of people if no one is offended by me saying so.

Jay

Well if they are just two 30 or 45 minute shows, I think you have plenty of
time compared to those who work 12 hours a day 5 days a week.

I am going to second the advice that any and all aspiring magicians of school age put full effort into your education, high school, college and beyond.

If the magic works out (and it is a long shot that it will support you and your family your entire life), then the education will let you network better with educated clients, as well as run your business.

If magic does not work out, then you have a career to fall back on.

FWIW

Great advice! You want to be sure you have something to fall back on. It's really tough to find your bearrings as a magician. I am in no way a working pro. More of an armchair magician...a hobbyist if you will. I would love to start performing full time, but due to my work schedule and finances, it's just not attainable at this time. If you want to go all out and do it, then by all means persue your dreams, but always have something under your hat (besides a rabbit) that you can go back to so you have some cash in your pocket and food on your table. I once heard a joke a while ago that said...

Q.How do you get a professional magician off of your doorstep?

A.Pay him for the pizza!

That's my advice...take it as you will.

:cheers:

Phil

When I was 17 I wanted to be a comedian. I wrote a 10 minute act phoned some comedy clubs and got some open-spots (which means you perform for free). After my 2nd spot I got some half-spots (like an open-spot but you get paid half) and some full spots. There were also some competitions where I won money or paid spots.

For a while, everything was great. Doing comedy, getting laughs, being paid it was all great. A couple of newspapers and magazines wrote me up and it felt really good reading about myself, especially when people analysed my style.

Because things seemed to be going so well, I put off doing my A levels and going to university. I thought I could always do them later, which I eventually did.

The reason I'm posting this is to share my experience. I got what I wanted but one day, I woke up in the late afternoon and realised I just didn't want to go to a comedy club that night. It was the first time I'd ever felt that way. Over the next few months I steadily grew sicker and sicker of performing, of hearing the same old jokes, of having different people coming up and saying the same things to me over and over. Imagine a time you went to a club and had a pretty rubbish time and then imagine doing it 4 nights a week.

I had what I wanted and it was great. Did it pay a decent living, no. I imagine you can make more as a magician than a comedian but the money isn't great. The point I'm making is that you can be a full-time magician if you want to. If you really want to be one, it's probably more-likely that you will than to you won't. But be prepared for the fact that one day, you might wake up and realise you don't want to do it anymore.

If you read bios of Ammar, Daryl, and Richard Osterlind, they all love magic and they enter competitions and won. Along the way, they also finished high schools and completed colleges. So I say garcia00 is absolutely right on, continue your education, and still keep an eye on the magic. IMHO, with a good education and experience as you get older, the sky is your oyster!

One small caveat that I heard many times is that people that only aim at making lots of money usu. don't as their hearts are not at the right place. If your goal and passion are to be a very good magician and amazing magic, then money will follow the trail and footpath of you.

I think if a younger person is serious about magic as a profession he or she should go the school and major in thearer and minor in business. In addition to magic the opportunity to use theater training to do voice-overs, commercials,advertising modelling, which is diffrent from fashion modeling, and probably other sources as well. The ability to gain income from different but related sources can be very beneficial during "dry" periods.

This is an important fact. After 15 years, I was tired of investment banking. Did not always want to go to work. And the money was excellent. But it was not fun.

So I retrained as a teacher. Now there has not been a day I did not want to go to work. I hope this will last until retirement, but if it does not, I will retrain again....

Enjoying what you do is an important aspect of any job, and it is possible to get tired of any occupation. Have the courage to make the change.

I have been a full-time professional magician and illusionist for almost all my adult life. I have also been a self-supporting single woman/mom almost all this time. I traveled wherever in the world I wanted with my magic show, but this took careful business planning and thought.

In 1992, I went to college and took theater, comedy classes, and public speech to benefit my magic, in addition to my pre-med focus. I wanted to be a doctor, but my love of magic was far too great. I completed my bachelor's and master's degrees and graduated at the very top of my class. Magic shows paid for it all!

I could get a "good 9-5 job" with my education and I am very glad I gained the educational knowledge, but this is not where my heart leads me. I am still a magician today and I cannot imagine life any other way.

I believe that if you do a job with money as your focus, you will lose the love of whatever it is you are doing. You may have money, but something about your existence will be hollow and empty. You must work for the love of the business, whatever business you choose. This will provide a genuinely satisfying, full life. If you truly love the work, you will excel and the money WILL follow.

I was thinking about this post today, I know get a life..:)...

But simply the answer to this question is yes. But the true question
is how many of us? Or maybe get down to dollars and cents and ask
how many magicians make over 50k a year in magic alone? ...on average?

Just some thoughts that are related I think...

I want to live being a Magician (Kids Magician) for the rest of my life- however have only performed paid for the past two years- I put together a show and we started (me and my wife) doing Birthday parties (first one free) then $75 then $150 for a bit – then $175 for a while - now we are charging $225 per show / one hour.(30 minutes magic show 30 minutes games for the kids) We are in Miami and the heat is very strong. even if you do inside shows it is a lot of work with the weather here.

But to answer your question and I know you posted this a long time ago, and for full time Magicians- (wish I can get there one day)- but in the mean time to give you my average since start. We have only done about 80 shows in total- always weekends- have not yet quit my regular day job(s) – sell software on weekdays and just got my real estate license. (bad times for that though)

I am currently making around 35k on my weekday job- and since your question I have been thinking about – marketing my magic more- but right now I don’t think it would be possible to leave my regular weekday job since we got two kids and a mortgage and credit card payments- but doing the numbers if I advertise more magic and get more shows maybe I can make more money with magic !!!!!!!

Answer to your question:

PART TIME MAGICIAN : 12,500k (extra a year for about 125 hours of work/50 hours show time + time getting ready, set up and set down and put away for each show + practice)

For now at least it has paid back my investment, compare 150 hours in the real world at $20 dollars an hour- that’s 3000

Even though its two of us doing the show I think if you compare the money you come out ahead with Magic and you can have a lot of fun while you are it– but If you are like me and just starting out I think patience is important!!business skills a plus and if you have bills and a family- having another income while you are not that know yet is a must.

Answer to your question: with patience Magic can be a great addition to your income or maybe one day your full source of income. !!! Hopefully one day it can be mine!!

Or if I win the lottery I can just do it for FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I rephrase: LESS THAN PART TIME MAGICIAN on previous post / a part time job will be around 1,000 hours a year - this is about 125 hours of magic work.

Well I see this post has been re-opened again, so I thought it a good idea that I post to tell you all where I am now

The original post was over two years ago, when I had been literally four months in to magic. I have now finished my education and have done over 15 performances for hundreds of different people. I work with my friend (it's more fun that way) and we get decent pay. I am now taking a year out before I go onto fulfil my real dreams (of being an airline pilot), to get the magic going more seriously and to get a lot more shows by advertising, agencies etc etc.
So far we average about one or two shows a month - not too bad, but I am still looking for a *normal* job during the week. We aim to get up to a show a week, but obviously there are busy periods and quiet periods. We haven't had a show for around three months now, but then last week we got three bookings in the space of a few days - all scheduled for September.

So the magic is going well - not sure I'd ever consider it as my one and only job (as I have other ambitions) but it could certainly be a big addition to other work I do - and a lot better pay too.

If you wanna see more about me, feel free to check out my website below

The comments everyone has written are helpful as always, and I'm sure this will be a very useful thread for someone starting out like I was back then.