I'm 15 yrs old and want to become a card magician but..

[chiragqatar]

My parents say ultimately life is about success, study and money does matter. Im good at studies and they want me to become something like an Engineer not a magician. They believe I will not be able to lead a decent and comfortable life as a magician.(they mean I cant earn enough money as a magician and only one out of millions can make a fortune like Criss Angel or David Blaine and others are tallented but still not successful). Im pretty good at card magic and they support me and let me buy a few magic supplies or dvds but want me to take it as a hobby not profession. What to do??
They wont listen 2 me......

 

[RealityOne]

How much money do you think you need to be comfortable in life?

How would you make money performing card magic?

How much money could you make and what do you have to do to make that much money?

 

[Martin Eret]

I would suggest taking small steps which would still be considered "taking it as a hobby", but at the same time proving that you do have what it takes to take this more seriously. Things like going around to community pools and restaurants, providing free entertainment and creating relations so that you can eventually speak with the manager about trying out an hour or so of paid performance one night. Restaurants are great because you can do stage magic and close-up magic for customers as they're waiting for their food or in line to get into the restaurant. DisturbReality has some incredible interviews and vlogs about building rapport and business skills. As you gain more experience, keep track of your skills learned and profits made. Eventually, you could even arrange for a residency, or a once a month performance ar a certain venue. Approach your parents with a prepared showcase of everything you've done, and see if they might allow you to do that. That would be the biggest step - after locking down a regular income, even if it's a small one, you should be able to expand more quickly (it will still take a lot of work however).
This might seem like a big leap at your age, but remember, getting this kind of experience this young is vastly useful as you get older too, which you can remind your parents about. Gaining business, communication and social skills will be important no matter which field of work you go into. If you truly love doing this and can see yourself doing it long into the future, try to build your confidence and go out to make those connections. Best of luck

 

[mclintock]

My suggestion is to take it like music. Musicians will preform their gigs and still have a job to keep food on the table, more often than not they don't make it big. However the point is they tried, the average life span is almost 79 years (in America) so you have time to try soemthing, then possibly move on to something else.

 

[timsilva]

Consider what Rick Lax did. He went the "traditional" route and did everything that your type of parents (well intentioned & pragmatic) would hope for. Then, right before committing to a career in law, he did a brief foray into his long term passion for magic and he made it work because he simply wanted it badly enough. There are countless lessons to learn from his story and virtually anyone who is making a living in the industry. You only have one life; if you really want to be a professional magician, grab it. Make it work, and be prepared to play the long-term game with ups and downs. It will require learning about business, marketing, personal branding, social media, and many other skills. Luckily, at 15 in 2015, you have access to free and endless resources and examples on all of those subjects. (As a bonus, learning any of those skills would actually help you in any other career as well, so if your passion goes into another direction, you can take that value with you.)

...or you could do what I did and be happy as a hobbyist magician with a totally separate career.

Either way, I wish you the best of luck on finding something that brings you fulfillment. Also, you have my empathy for not having support from your parents. I'm sure they mean well, and hopefully they will leave some room for you to invest time towards your craft. Sometimes, the doubt the people have about your dreams can be used as fuel to prove them wrong.

 

[Khaleel Olaiky]

You are too young to take a decision like that ... do magic as a hobby first something for your friends, family, a school party and maybe on the street sometimes, after a year or 2 you will be ready to consider if you want to continue doing this for your entire life or not, believe me, changing opinions about this decision happens a lot, I graduated high school last year and choosing my college major is so freaking hard, but that is another story what I'm trying to say ... give yourself time to decide.

And about the supporting part, everybody needs support in life but the crushing fact is there are some close people to you who are the least supporting.

At the end, I wish you the best and good luck achieving your dreams.

 

[XabierL]

Why choose? Days are long enough in order to do both things! You can study, go to university, finish a career and practise card magic at the same time. I am currently studying software engineering and I've never stopped learning new magic, going every week to our local magic club and enjoying every bit of both worlds. You don't have to choose, humans are lucky enough to be able to do different things at once, when you have the chance to be a professional magician, you'll have the opportunity to throughly think about it.

 

[chiragqatar]

Why choose? Days are long enough in order to do both things! You can study, go to university, finish a career and practise card magic at the same time. I am currently studying software engineering and I've never stopped learning new magic, going every week to our local magic club and enjoying every bit of both worlds. You don't have to choose, humans are lucky enough to be able to do different things at once, when you have the chance to be a professional magician, you'll have the opportunity to throughly think about it.

There is no magic club in my country!!!

 

[Timewise64]

I am now 65, an 'old' guy by your terms. One of the most important things I have learned in life is that you never know what is coming at you in the future. Those that have multiple plans always come out better then those who throw themselves down one road in life. I always operated within my career with a plan A, plan B, and plan C!

You can pursue being a Magician and an Engineer! Believe it or not, one will complement the other! Engineering knowledge would make your future development of 'new creative tricks' better than most! Understanding how to fool the mind and the eye from the study of the art of magic, would help you as an Engineer in design and implementing new products or theories. So do not limit yourself....be all you can be! Learn all you can learn about both field of study. Work hard and you will find you way....

Good Luck

 

[mclintock]

I've never stopped learning new magic, going every week to our local magic club and enjoying every bit of both worlds.

What is this "magic club" you speak of?

 

[englandzilon]

My parents say ultimately life is about success, study and money does matter. Im good at studies and they want me to become something like an Engineer not a magician. They believe I will not be able to lead a decent and comfortable life as a magician.(they mean I cant earn enough money as a magician and only one out of millions can make a fortune like Criss Angel or David Blaine and others are tallented but still not successful). Im pretty good at card magic and they support me and let me buy a few magic supplies or dvds but want me to take it as a hobby not profession. What to do??
They wont listen 2 me......

First i would say why do you have to throw away your studies and do full time magician. Since your studies is good. Why don't continue get a good certificate, find a job, work and do magic as a part time. Many magician which are good, also are not their main line of income. Like father alex he is a priest, he release downloads too.

If you really want to do full time magician. Pretty good is not enough. As a full time magician nothing is good enough. That mind set has to change. If you think you are pretty good. Our brains will tend not to work harder compared to you think your suck and want to work extra hard. Is the same as you bought a new game and you are rushing to get till the highest level and full armors and then after you get it. You just roam around relax. Same.

And as a full time magician you will have to spend lots lots of money to buy books, study, apply. Spend like 8-9 hrs a day to further improve your skills, scripts. Is just like IT. You need to always keep up with the newest and studying how a old sleight has involved to the modern sleight.

So where do you get the money? From parents? Yes now you are 15. How about 5 more years down the road, when you are 20 are you going to still ask them for money? you have to work right. So one stone kill 2 birds. Study, go to good school and get a good cert, work and use the money to invest on yourself. Then part time do shows. After few years of doing this, by the time you are old enough to see if you can really get booked and get payed more than a good school with good cert. Juggle

cheers.

 

[JCash]

I'm 15 as well and looking at performing as a career vs other options and my advice from what my mindset is at is this:
Magic will not likely be able to support you, that's just a fact, however it is possible to make a living off of it. When people think "professional magician" they think big TV shows and Vegas stages when really you could make a living off of corporate events, parties etc. My plan is to work towards a college degree but always, always have magic in my back pocket. I've made a deal with my parents that I can spend a summer travelling and seeing how difficult (or even how easy) it is to support myself off of only magic.

 

[Josh Burch]

My parents always thought that I'd grow out of magic. I never did. I just graduated from college and I teach school. I'm working on my masters currently and what I get from magic is about a third from my income. I have a job that give me insurance and security. Magic is a great second job because it rarely conflicts with a regular 9-5 job. I can't see myself quiting education for any reason soon. Even if I can earn more with magic I can continue to work as an educator for the most part.

My point is that it wont hurt to be a well qualified professional. Many popular magicians have college degrees.