Career paths that aid your magic?

Hi guys.

So I'm going off to college soon, and I really want to find something that I love to do (aside from magic), that I can fall back on. I also want this career choice to be something that can be of great use in helping me as a magician. My mom thinks I'd be a good psychologist, and I'm sure that could be a strong arm to my magic, but are there any others that would be good?

All suggestions welcome! :)

-Z
 
Jan 1, 2009
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Back in Time
Generally Business and Marketing classes are good too and will also make you a bit more marketable OUTSIDE of magic as well. (The same can be said for Public Speaking and a few acting and improve classes.)

Another class to look into is accounting and financing. A lot of entertainers don't know how to properly save money or put it toward the right investments and end up going broke really fast. (This will also help outside of magic as well.)
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
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A note about psychology: It's currently an extremely saturated field. If you don't have a doctorate of some sort you're going to struggle to get a job that isn't guidance counselor or talking to drug addicts in rehab. I don't want to discourage you if you really feel this is the path you want to follow - but be aware of the realities of the field before getting yourself a half million dollars in debt.

Any degree will be good, really. But things that help marketing and business are definitely a direct benefit for your desire to be a professional. Many performers don't know how to handle the fact that it's a business.
 
Jan 10, 2009
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University Park PA
I had similar thoughts when I was looking at colleges. I chose psychology. However, while it will help you understand people, as Christopher stated, it's almost impossible to get a psychology related job without going to grad school.
For me, since I have no interest in grad school right now, I'm going to end up going into theatre.

The decision depends on how much you want to try to do magic as a career. If you do, then pick business or marketing. And make sure to take theatre classes. If you want to keep magic as just a hobby, then major in anything you want, and just take classes in business, marketing, and theatre.
 
Dec 18, 2007
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Business Major and if you can handle the workload counseling/psych as well as theater as minors; these are the big 3. You can always find work in counseling though the pay may not be all so great initially. To improve on that point get certified in Hypnotherapy so that you have a specialty; become versed in Ericksonian or "conversational" hypnosis first and foremost. I'd suggest that you even order the FACS system and start now in mastering it because it will prove of significant benefit as you move down this path as well the classics (and not so typical) systems such as the work by Sheldon on Body Types, Asian Face Reading, and good ole Body Language interpretation/NLP. A lot of which can be developed outside of school as part of your independent study and ALL OF IT is applicable to magic or mentalism on some level.

BUSINESS is the big baby that you MUST embrace and make your friend with Marketing and Communications standing are the fore. If you don't learn to be an effective speaker and communicator you will fail. This is where the 2nd minor comes into play and learning basic showmanship skills, improvisation, how to speak and use your voice and most importantly, how to address and connect with a large group of people, making everyone in the room feel as if you are addressing them as an individual. . . this is an art and it takes time to develop as well as lots of "face time" (practice).

Marketing must be part of this strategy in that you can't sell a product or create an image without knowing how to frame it and where to push it. I'm currently going through this insanity but I'm having to pay for assistance from working professionals that do copywriting as well as the photographers and even image consultants. . . having this knowledge will aid you in your initial steps with shows and projects even though you'll want outside eyes on things as a safety check/critique point.
 
Nov 9, 2010
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Business - This one speaks for itself, really. If you're going to try your hands on a career in magic you better be able to handle the business part because you'll be your own boss.
Marketing - already mentioned as well. Marketing and advertising can help you learn how to promote yourself, know how to pitch your magic and know how to catch people's attention.
Psychology - Naturally, psychology is an important part of magic. Misdirection relies on psychological reactions and overall knowing how the audience reacts the way it does and why. You can't be a great magician without knowing a bit of psychology, be it studied or self-taught.
Literature/writing - knowing how to tell stories will help improve patter and how to present and set up an effect.
Theatre/film studies - knowing dramaturgy and how to use it can take an effect's reactions from ok to amazing.
Graphic design - OK, this one might be a pet peeve of mine, but there are SO many incredibly bad examples of flyers, posters etc when it comes to magicians. Having chops in graphic design could help you avoid those same pitfalls, and that could help my migraine a bit.
 
Apr 1, 2009
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California
Careful when choosing psychology as a path to aid your magic. I am a psychology major but not because of it's aid to magic. Majoring in psychology should be done due to your interest in why people are the way the are and how you can help people based on knowing what makes them tick, how they're wired, and knowing how to navigate your way around the human mind to find solutions. Does psychology help magic? Yes. But not in the way you think. You're not going to go into the class room and learn how to misdirect an audience so that you can pull off a sleight. Choose a major that is an extension of yourself. Something that will help you develop as a person and get you work later on in life. I don't necessarily recommend majoring in theater or mythology though. you can surely study that on your own time, but majoring in it will bring you nothing but tears and bills.
 
Your Mom is right,you should opt the psycology ,it will enhance your magic skills, parallely you should perform some theater shows since now.It will help you a lot.I would like to share the biography of a very famous magician, how he grown up as a successful magician, it will definetly help you to choose your carrer here is the link - "http://www.masterofthemind.com/guy-bavli-biography/"
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
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Your Mom is right,you should opt the psycology ,it will enhance your magic skills, parallely you should perform some theater shows since now.It will help you a lot.I would like to share the biography of a very famous magician, how he grown up as a successful magician, it will definetly help you to choose your carrer here is the link - "http://www.masterofthemind.com/guy-bavli-biography/"

No disrespect intended here - but this post really comes across as if you're just trying to promote yourself.
 
Jul 13, 2009
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I agree with Draven that you should take some classes in all of the above listed. However, as far as a degree I'd get whatever you find interesting and will actually pay back the college loans. I'm speaking anecdotal now but psychology and business degrees really do saturate the field. This is a problem because there are not enough jobs to keep up with all the business management majors, etc. What I'm going to say is explore your options in career paths and keep your magic secondary. Another thing about degrees and careers is that it has come to the point that a degree isn't a guaranteed job anymore. Experience is king. I do not have a degree, but have been working since fifteen. I've held many jobs in banking, culinary, customer service, and theatrical services/entertainment all of which was because I had experience under my belt. But to bring this back to the original post don't let magic dictate what you get your degree in.

Try to find work in local playhouses, amusement parks, or entertainment venues. I've been with SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment for two years now and have learned an invaluable amount of information in regards to stage lighting, blocking, script writing, show production, administration, audio, pyrotechnics, and a plethora of practical stage hand experience (follow spots, band load ins/load outs, stage setting, and scene changes) all skills very much so relevant to magic. Why pay a school to teach you all of this when you could be getting paid to learn?
 
Jan 1, 2009
2,241
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Back in Time
Also, learn how to do some balloon twisting. I know it SOUNDS dorky, but it will help keep you busy when you are not being booked for magic and the more you can offer people, the more marketable you become to them.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
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Also, learn how to do some balloon twisting. I know it SOUNDS dorky, but it will help keep you busy when you are not being booked for magic and the more you can offer people, the more marketable you become to them.

I've heard this one many times: Once you start twisting balloons, you will never stop.

Personally I find the idea of being a catch-all to be a negative. I've seen plenty of guys that can do it all - and they usually don't do it for very much money. Sure, they pile up the gigs, but what they make in 5 gigs I make 1. This is because no one else in about 50 miles does what I do.
 
Jan 1, 2009
2,241
3
Back in Time
I've heard this one many times: Once you start twisting balloons, you will never stop.

Personally I find the idea of being a catch-all to be a negative. I've seen plenty of guys that can do it all - and they usually don't do it for very much money. Sure, they pile up the gigs, but what they make in 5 gigs I make 1. This is because no one else in about 50 miles does what I do.

well I'm not really talking about the basic dog and cat stuff, I'm talking about the bigger stuff. Look up David Brenion or Buster Balloon and you'll see what I am talking about. And it is possible to do both, you just have to be smart enough to know not to mix them. If you are hired for magic at a gig, then you do magic. If you are hired for balloons, then you do balloons. It's one or the other.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
well I'm not really talking about the basic dog and cat stuff, I'm talking about the bigger stuff. Look up David Brenion or Buster Balloon and you'll see what I am talking about. And it is possible to do both, you just have to be smart enough to know not to mix them. If you are hired for magic at a gig, then you do magic. If you are hired for balloons, then you do balloons. It's one or the other.

As my personal opinion, it's too much work to keep everything separate. I will also admit a certain biased against balloon twisters. I've seen some amazing things made from balloons but it's just so typical of the current magic world. Fluff. No substance.

Here's the thing. I check out magician's web sites and I see things like, "Click here for my Illusion Show! Click here for my Kids Show! Click here for my Adult Show! Click here for my Balloon Sculptures! Click here for my Strolling Magic!" and all I see "Oh god, please hire me. Please?! Please hire me. Just one night. I'm cheap! Please! Oh god I ate saltines and mustard for dinner last night I'm so broke please hire me"

You can get around that a bit by having separate stuff for each thing you offer. But then you've got separate sites, separate emails, separate business cards - How can one possibly develop a good show for any one thing when they are constantly splitting their attention between so many shows? People like a specialist. Being a specialist makes people think you are better at what you're doing than the generalist who is too spread out.

I understand there's guys out there making a decent living doing this sort of thing and that's fine for them. But I've also seen a lot of guys trying this and floundering because they have no clear brand - they just come across as desperate.
 
Jan 1, 2009
2,241
3
Back in Time
So let me get this straight. YOU want me to listen to your point, but you want even bother to check out the guys I mentioned?

OK, then. I can see that arguing with you is going to be completely pointless.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
So let me get this straight. YOU want me to listen to your point, but you want even bother to check out the guys I mentioned?

OK, then. I can see that arguing with you is going to be completely pointless.

You realize this doesn't actually make sense or refute anything I said, right?

I've looked at their sites. They're good at making things out of balloons. How does this contradict anything I said? If anything, it emphasizes that you should have a specialty. You would hire these guys because they are good at twisting balloons. But if you saw them somewhere else, you'd think, "Those are the balloon guys!" After a cursory look at their sites, all I know they do is balloons, nothing else. So how does that go against what I'm saying?

Brand is important. These guys' brands are a specialty of balloon twisting. Dan Sperry's is being a gothic illusionist. Derren Brown's is the eccentric psychology master. Eugene Burger's is the naughty santa. Dai Vernon was the professor. David Copperfield is the suave man with powers. Penn & Teller are the bad boys of magic.

How many magicians have you seen that are basically interchangeable? Those guys don't get hired because of who they are - they get hired because they do magic tricks and are cheaper than the other guy that does magic tricks. They are "the magician". Someone who wants Dan Sperry isn't just going to hire "the magician"; they are going to hire Dan Sperry. But someone who doesn't care that much is going to hire "the magician" who charges the least. The name on the check is irrelevant to them because these people do not have a solid brand. They are the guys who will do anything if you book them.

These balloon guys have their brand. The one guy does Acme-esque balloon sculptures and the other ones do - well, as far as I could tell, complicated and big balloons. That's their brand.

To shoehorn this back to the original discussion - The classes one takes should be to enhance the brand of the performer. Preferably it will also give the performer a backup income because performance is a really difficult way to make a living.
 
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