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Al Kazam the Magic Man Inner circle Living in Perth Western Australia 1042 Posts |
Hi Kyle,
I've been following this thread for a while. Sounds like it's coming together for you. Keep it up! All the best, JoJo
Magic guy in Perth Australia
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
JoJo:
Thanks so much for the kind words. It has been a great year so far and I continue to always learn more everytime I head out to another festival gig. I really enjoy being outside and meeting the people and the money is really good for my wife and I working this market. I just hope that through my own experiences, I can share some insight into this market for those wanting to try it out for themselves. Thanks again. Kyle
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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MagicalPirate Special user Shamokin, PA 828 Posts |
Hi Kyle:
What kind of tent are you using for your staging area? Just remember the more you protect your stage by enclosing it, the more you have to deal with the dangers of high winds. You need to make sure you stake your tent down real well in solid hard packed ground. I am set up to run on the street as well as on the ground. When on the street I use a 60 gallon plastic drum with about 35 gallons of water in it. I picked it up used for about $20 at a container company. It works wonders at keeping the tent on the ground. However, this weekend we had a sudden storm come in that caused me to tear down early as the wind gusts were actually moving my legs on the ground and I only had the top on no sides. I hate bad weather, that storm cost me about $350 in sales at night that I normally get from that show. I scare a lot easier than I used to. In 2002 while doing a show by myself in Kansas (which is what I do most of the time now) a storm came through with 70mph straight line winds and pulled the back of my tent stakes and all out of the ground and bounced it around. While trying to stabilize the tent and put my merchandise away in the big plastic boxes I use, I got drenched from the wind blowing the rain sideways through my tent. I did get it stablized enough to weather the night, but when I came in the morning I found I could pull the stakes straight up by hand. I also had Easy Up tents demolished all around me. I packed up and cut that fair short. When I got home I checked the weather and found it was a good choice as the same happened that night and the following night as well. Of course, I drove 600 miles home in one day from that show. A trick I use as I run a 10 X 20 tent is to run a line in the middle of the tent from the peak. I stake this line to the ground inside the tent. This generally stays dry even in severe rainfall and retains its staying power. This line is what saved me at the show I mentioned above as the outside stakes were all drenched and weren't really holding the tent anymore. I think I talk to much sometimes. Anyway, be careful about how you set the tent if you will be using sides. Martin
Martin Blakley, CSH, DASH, CMSA
http://www.thehypnoguy.com/HYPNORESOURCES http://www.docgrayson.com/ How To Sell Anything Online http://tub.bz/?r=1z Copyright to my own words retained 100%. |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
I am currently using a Quick Shade brand awning that is about 10' by 10' and has a cover for the top. The sides are open to allow wind to go through without any problems at all. It worked out great for us this past weekend. I had thought about sides, but may think against it.
I anchor it down with stakes when on ground and I use bag weights when I am on the pavement or doing a street fair. So far it has worked quite well for us and it packs down into a travel bag with wheels. I LOVE your center stake line idea to the peak. If I work the festival on ground and not the street, I may want to use that suggestion if it would be ok with you. Kyle
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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Paddy Inner circle Milford OH 1571 Posts |
Kyle, you have mentioned the Magic Kits you sell in the festivals and said the price was $10. Where do you get these kits or if you make them yourself, what is in the kit?
Thanks Peter |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Well there are 12 tricks in the kit and all individually wrapped with instructions. Since I am a graphic designer, I redesigned and packaging for it to customize it to my show.
Not to come off mean or anything, but I do get my kits from a source. I just am not ready to reveal this source just yet. It is nothing personal by any means. It is just a great source I have found and I want to try to keep this as a personal secret for now. If the word got out too much, I would have a real problem trying to obtain the amount I need for my festival season. I hope you all can understand. But, with any kit, you need to make sure that the tricks look good, are colorful, made well, have instructions for each trick and are EASY TO DO. The Easy To Do part is the most important. I want to encourage kids to want to learn magic through my magic kit. Every trick in it a child can learn to perform in under 3 mins. This encourages the child to want to continue with it rather then getting frustrated. So far, the kits have been a big success as part of my BOR sales at the festivals. Last weekend alone I sold over $150.00 worth of kits alone. This was done in about 2 hours when I was not doing the strolling magic. They seem to be a big hit. Make sure you demo them as well. Kyle Just letting you all know I am going to be testing out my new raffle system this weekend. I will let you all know how it goes and what I learn from it. My hopes are that I will get enough good leads that I can then market to for birthday parties etc. Kyle Hey gang, I am back from my second festival of the season and things are going quite well for us so far. We have had great weather and that is always a blessing. I just wanted to share with you an idea and concept that has worked really great for me. It is something that I have done a lot in the past, but I did not realize the importance of it until this past weekend. I thought I would share it with all of you in hopes it might help you as well. When doing the festivals this past weekend, we were set up on one street section off of the main road. My goal was to get people and more traffic down our street and so I started making more announcements about the shows we are performing and it started to get people interested. It certainly did work. But, what I also did was to make announcements and talk about the vendors that were all near me. I mentioned them by name and told people to go and see these vendors and then stop by and watch a free magic show for the entire family. In this process I could not believe how many of the vendors came over to personally thank me for doing that for them. I certainly did not have to do that and they all thanked me time and again for taking the time to help them out as well. This did several things for me: - I made really great friends with the people around me. This made it easier for me later on when I needed to move my car in for loading and unloading. People were much more helpful and did not mind because they new me. - It allowed me to really get the chance to talk to these people and network. From just doing this, I met 3 vendors and got e-mails fro all of them We are now in the process of sharing each others festival and contact list information. This is a HUGE benefit as a lot of these people work the festival circuit as well and they have inside information that canbe very valuable. - One of the other great benefits was the fact that I made friends with several of the food vendors. This was key as the day was 88 in the shade and I was offered free drinks, fries, smoothies and even a bag of kettle popcorn. All of this was offered to me for FREE just because I was kind enough to think of them as well. SOOOO bottom line is I realized the importance of getting to know your vendors near you when at any festival event. You can gain so much useful information and it really can benefit you in numerous ways such as I mentioned above. Kyle
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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MagicalPirate Special user Shamokin, PA 828 Posts |
Sounds like you were on one of those orphan streets and made Lemonade out of the lemon you were given. I have always hated being on one of those streets because the weekend winds up being flat due to the lack of traffic. I'm glad you found a way around. You did yourself a favor and the Festival Committee as well. Those vendors won't be forming a vigilante committee to get the show promoters due to your act of kindness.
Great to hear you are having great weather, that is always of the utmost importance at outdoor shows. Keep us updated Kyle. We look forward to the great tips that just keep popping up on this thread. Martin
Martin Blakley, CSH, DASH, CMSA
http://www.thehypnoguy.com/HYPNORESOURCES http://www.docgrayson.com/ How To Sell Anything Online http://tub.bz/?r=1z Copyright to my own words retained 100%. |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
You're most welcome. As I continue with the season, I will be posting a lot of tips and suggestions and just comments based on thinsg that have happened or things I have learned or come across. If they can be of help to others, then I will post them here for you all.
You are right; it was on one of those side streets and there was not much I could do about moving as the vendors had all been selected spots. Next year I will work around this. I just did the best job I could and the vendors near me thanked me for it. It worked out ok. Kyle
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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Salazar Magic Veteran user New Jersey 344 Posts |
Is there a difference between fairs and festivals?
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Donald Dunphy Inner circle Victoria, BC, Canada 7563 Posts |
Anthony -
Read the first post on page one of this thread. Kyle explains the distinctions there. Perhaps you missed it. - Donald.
Donald Dunphy is a Victoria Magician, British Columbia, Canada.
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
Donald is right. I talk about the distinction in the early part of this thread, but incase you may have missed it...
Festivals are usually 1 day and possibly 2 day events that are usually local in nature and oput on by an area township or municipality. They usually have a volunteer staff that puts the festival together and their budgets are on the lower side of things compared to the Fairs. Fairs, on the other hand, are usually week long events or longer. They are usually put on by a Fair organization or association. These people are hired to work on the fair and coordinate all the details all year around. The budgets tend to be a lot higher as well. Marketing to each of them should be handled differently as they really are two different monsters all together. I try and specialize in the festival market as there are many more near me and they tend to be a bit easier to get into when first starting out. They also usually fall on the weekends, which works better for me and my day job. I hope this does help you. Kyle
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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Salazar Magic Veteran user New Jersey 344 Posts |
Yup... I missed it.
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Jon Gallagher Veteran user Elmwood, Illinois 395 Posts |
Quote:
On 2004-05-14 15:58, magic4u02 wrote: I just wanted to add a word of caution here... many states (mine is one of them) consider raffles to be a form of gambling and it is regulated. Be sure to check local and state regulations before doing anything. -Jon |
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Donald Dunphy Inner circle Victoria, BC, Canada 7563 Posts |
I think Kyle may be using a free draw, and calling it a raffle.
For it to be a raffle, doesn't it mean that you are charging money for the entry tickets? - Donald.
Donald Dunphy is a Victoria Magician, British Columbia, Canada.
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
I may be using the wrong terminology. I am not charging for anyone to enter. This is a free draw and they can enter at no risk to them.
It is the ticket information that is of the most concern to me and I can use that information in my lead generation. If I am using the wrong terminology, please let me know so I can correct myself for future reference. Kyle
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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Jon Gallagher Veteran user Elmwood, Illinois 395 Posts |
A drawing for a free show is okay. A raffle is in fact where you pay money for a ticket with the hopes of getting something in return. Here in Illinois, the only raffle you can do without a permit is a 50/50 drawing.
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MagicalPirate Special user Shamokin, PA 828 Posts |
That must be the reason I see so many 50/50 drawings put on by non profits and Chambers of Commerce at festivals. No permit, no hassle. As a vendor they always irritate me because they don't do it once; they do it all day long, sucking up the all the money so they don't spend it on merchandise. I don't go to these shows to make a contribution to the chamber coffers; I go to make money. Just the ramblings of an irritable vendor... don't mind me.
Martin
Martin Blakley, CSH, DASH, CMSA
http://www.thehypnoguy.com/HYPNORESOURCES http://www.docgrayson.com/ How To Sell Anything Online http://tub.bz/?r=1z Copyright to my own words retained 100%. |
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magic4u02 Eternal Order Philadelphia, PA 15110 Posts |
I apologize for using the wrong terminology. Yes, I am NOT charging anyone to enter. It is a free drawing for a magic kit.
The information they enter into the drawing form becomes valuable information for me that I can use for lead generation. Kyle
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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Paddy Inner circle Milford OH 1571 Posts |
All Right, Let's not let this topic turn into a frog and croak!! Kyle you talked about your first festival of the year, how has it been going since??
Are your BOR sales as much or have they dropped. Curiosity has me so I'll ask and understand if you tell me where to go. For your BOR items, do you mark the products up 50% (double wholesale) or is your mark up closer to 3 times wholesale? I have heard that things will sell at a festival if priced less that $10. More than that and the sales drop off. Is that true? OK I have followed your suggestion about my sales letters and how to make the first phone call. I have also sent out emails using the suggestions you made for calls. So far I have ad almost 100% positive response. I have gotten the name and address of the people that hire entertainment and only had one person tell me that "we have a very low budget and may not be able to pay entertainers." A lot better than when everybody was telling me similar tales. Peter |
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MagicalPirate Special user Shamokin, PA 828 Posts |
At festivals you are dealing with a crowd a step above parade people, unless there is a parade, and then you are dealing with the parade crowd. As a rule they are not big spenders. The ones who spend tend to be the ones who come out at night, after it cools off, to the street dances. That being said, at $10 you are reaching your glass ceiling. The other factor is the area that the festival is being held in. If you are working with a higher class crowd, you can take $20 dollar bills and see the kid come back in 10 minutes with another $20.
When working festivals or fairs you want a minimum or 3x your cost and even better if you get 4 or 5 times. You really have to factor in the cost of goods sold, your space rent - even if they trade that against your performance fee - your traveling and lodging expenses if that applies, especially at today's current gas prices. If you don't get these type of mark ups you will find yourself not making enough profit to make the effort worthwhile. This year being an election year you will find the pickings slimmer than usual. Sales are as much as 50% off or more from year ago sales and that is bad if all you do is take money from selling merchandise. Also, in response to markups, the example you gave above with 50% the correct representation of markup for double wholesale is 100% markup. The 50% would be your gross margin per sale (sorry took two years of bookkeeping and accounting in school and couldn't help myself on that little lesson). Hope this helps, I'm sure Kyle will put more input in on this one. Martin
Martin Blakley, CSH, DASH, CMSA
http://www.thehypnoguy.com/HYPNORESOURCES http://www.docgrayson.com/ How To Sell Anything Online http://tub.bz/?r=1z Copyright to my own words retained 100%. |
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