A story from someone who needs a bit of help.

[tcp.Az]

Hello

I warn you, this is going to be a long post. I'm asking for help, though, so bear with me.

I've been going over my life plan. Which is never good when you're 19, to be honest. My academic track includes one year in electrotecnics, it's computer + electronics, based on my affinity for computers. One year made me kind of hate computers. I am now in Education Science, trying to move on to Psychology.

However.

I am trying to get into Psychology because it interests me. But not all of it. I wanted to incorporate actual notions into hypnosis, mentalism, the way I present myself, all the benefits of understanding how people work.
But this is a 5 year degree. Getting (and paying) for this for magic is rather dumb and expensive.

Appart from this more common education, I was in a music school for 7 years, (2 "pre-school" equivalent to the 3rd and 4rd grade + 5 actuall "grades") learning the theory behind music, playing pipe organ (I have great foot work. Or maybe not) and being and directing a choir. I am also in an acting crew. I compose, am in a band and above all this, I do magic.

Recently, I purchased an harmonica. For no other reason but wanting to try my hand at a new instrument, a week ago. I played it with relative ease. And realised how much I like music. And acting, and drawing (poorly) and magic. Maybe it's due to my music education, but I take myself as an artist. And this has stirred a few thoughts.

First, there is no degree for magic in Portugal. I cannot get a diploma certifying I can make a plane disappear or multiply money (I swear, if I hear one more joke about this one, pennies will rain).

Second, the main curriculum in my country does not attract me one bit. Maybe it's because I'm lazy, maybe I can't keep up with the level required, maybe I'm a hipster, I don't really know. While the degree I'm in is interesting, I have no wish of working in this area.

What I want to do is perform, in magic, mainly.

My family is also not the most endowed, my dad is currently in Angola and hasn't come home for around 2 years, sending some cash, but not really a monthly thing my mom can work on.

All of this made me consider my plans for the next year. I have a very close friend, he is a magician for a bit longer than me (I went on a hiatus during my childhood) and loves what he does. He was very happy, around 4 or 5 years ago, to meet someone with the same look on magic and entertainment as his. While he doesn't have the same artistic education I had, his view on what he wants to spend his life on is very much the same. Whenever he could, he'd phone me, out of the blue, talking about a work offer he got, in such place, paying this much, this kind of gig, can you go? I normally couldn't, but the fact he did this meant and means a lot to me. No one ever gives their work offers away.

One day, I had an idea. What would take to create a network of artists, spread across the country, that you could hire, based on the kind of artist you need? A community made by artists, I very much dislike people that are in charge of this sort of thing without having a clue about the area they are getting into since they are normally all about the money, engulfing magic, fire manipulation, music, and some others(magic and fire were the first things to cross my mind though)? Someone could come to us, tell us what and where they need, and we'd discuss it internally, choosing someone to go and backing him/her up along the way. Pretty much an event animation company with nothing but artists.

I discussed this idea with my friend and out came a project. Something that will make me very happy and fulfilled if I am able to execute it.

But at this point in life, I'm thinking, should I finish this year and leave college, apply for a cashier job, team up with my friend and together try to work towards our passion for magic?

I know this is a lot and my point, even to me, seems confusing. All this reflection creates the following questions:

1. What do you, artists, think of the idea? (even though you're probably not in Portugal)
2. What advice do you have, given my outlook on things?
3. Are there any pros that dedicated themselves to magic, not taking Medicine and Engineering and such?

And of couse, anything you'd like to chip in with, I'd love to hear it.

Thank you for reading all this.
Paulo

 

[RickEverhart]

What you are referring to is basically what most agents do for their entertainers. They have a select few workers who work under them and they hire them out to events / clients to fill the needs of that particular event. Most agents take 20% commission off of EVERY single gig that they get the magician, juggler, etc.

I can go more in depth later. I'm at work now.

 

[tcp.Az]

Indeed, I have figured as much. However, they rarely have a decent idea of what the artform of their workers is about, what they need. Also, here in Portugal it gets hard to start out, it's not the most common thing. The idea right now would be to have a smaller group that, while starting out, works for both themselves and the others.

Well, I can't really express the kind of environment I imagine. The most important, I guess, is that we are starting low but aiming as high as we can. And if we ever get high, like a TV appearance where we can promote this project, it'd be a place where others could not only get started performing as a job but also talk with everyone else, and learn from the other members. Kind of like a magic club that accepts jobs. I've been on a concert, played, actually, and other artists simply didn't make contact with others. They are simply the most famous band in my city, very well known countrywide and as such, they've become closed up. It's one of the things that annoys me nowadays about most artists. Maybe it's a local thing.

But even if we don't go on TV, my aim is not to create an agency for upcoming magicians, but a community where I can learn from others and teach what I know.

Thank you so much for your reply!

 

[rocket92]

At my school, we have a magic club. I know this isn't exactly what you're referring to, but I can draw a lot of similarities. As a club we have a significant amount of recognition around the university, and we accept gigs as a club rather than individually. And we all go perform together at these gigs, which gets working experience for all involved. The money we make is cycled back into the club to buy magic stuff for ourselves, but you could just as easily split your earnings among the members that participate in the gig. It probably wouldn't be enough to make a living off, but it is a way to get gigs for those who have no reputation, and for those people to build their reputation. We also teach each other magic. If you PM me I'll send you a link to our website which outlines parts of the way our club works, if you want to look just to get ideas. I don't know if I can post it on here.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

That's a noble goal, for sure. Keeping the business in the hands of the artists seems like a great idea, but the problem I foresee is that artists tend to make lousy business people. Also, the more people that have to be consulted before a gig, the more points of failure there are. Say someone needs a card magician in Area X, which has 10 available performers. Which of those performers gets the gig? The first one to respond? Do you really expect an 'artist' who is wanting a pay day to say they can't take a gig, even if it's not best for them to do it?

You've got some kinks to work out before this can succeed, most of them being in the category of 'human nature', but I wish you luck in your endeavor.

 

[tcp.Az]

You do make a valid point. As it is, there are not enough artists to, for instance, fill all kinds of magic. I'm the main close-up/card magic guy, along with mentalist, we have someone else for shock and stage magic. Even though I can perform stage magic easily, it's not my "thing" and as such, I'm more than happy to give the gig to my friend. On a small scale, it works minimally well, but yes, you're right, on a larger scale we'll have to change how we operate. It will be a long way before we actually get big. But I will think about that, it is something that should be ironed out from the start. Thank you so much for your output!

 

[Craig Browning]

Ok, I'm going to play the Parent part of this chat. . . I am the token old fart around here I believe, so it's my job.

First of all, you're a typical 19 year old "kid" who is impatient and therefore "blind" when it comes to where the formal education can and will take you. So start by looking at the cold hard facts; less than 25% of the people involved with magic actually make a full-time living from it that exceeds $50,000.00 a year U.S. The majority of magic lovers must work a day job and do magic on the side, which is why SAM, IBM, etc. have a membership category called "Semi-Pro" i.e. less than 60% of your living income is generated via magic performance. This makes up about 30% of the magic population leaving us with a very high percentage of folks that dabble, collect, and dream about things they will probably never do. This is a fact with magic and if you look at the demographics of show biz, they are slightly better than what you'll find with musicians, and aspiring comics or actors.

Yes, you can perform right now; many a noted performer actually paid for their college education (or a good chunk of it) by performing during the off season (we have a 3 month shut down here in the States); even Lance Burton worked an amusement park during his school days as did Mark Wilson and a plethora of others. In other words, stay in school, get your degree in Psychology & Counseling Certification and most importantly, pass the exams on Hypnosis and get certified as a REAL Hypnotist vs. the questionable antics currently being pushed within the Magic Community; you will find that there is way more to it than you've fallen in love with thus far and thus, you'll be able to do far more with it; INCLUDING using your day job as a high paid Hypnotherapist to promote your evening shows and vice-versa -- you'll have established validation around your claims and both, legal as well as scholastic consignment that says You Are the Real Deal and not just some kid following a trend within the entertainment world.

Augment your current class schedule with a Theater Minor so you can learn a bit about what show biz is really about, what's involved, etc. Get some business training under your belt as well -- basic bookkeeping, management of a small business and marketing is a must in that this is a Business not to mention being a possible vocation.

There Is a Trick to creating a successful life regardless the vocational path one chooses to follow; you must get yourself prepared by building a practical foundation that will help you grow towards that vision, which brings us to the next big issue you've failed to do that every small business must do in order to know a taste of potential success; you haven't created a business plan. I'd suggest you start with Richard Webster's book "Plan for Success" (scroll down, it's on that list along with several other books you should look at IF you plan on doing Mentalism full time)

Yes, you can create a program that would have income bearing potential, there are several paths by which to do this, especially when it comes to Mentalism/Psychic Entertainment depending upon which school of thought you embrace; old school principles will give you a far wider sense of advantage over the newer "psychological horse pucky" magic show thinking so many have embraced in the past 15 or so years. The latter will not allow you to work Home Parties & Lady's Night type gigs generating top dollar for the time ventured, for an example, and the small group gatherings is where the money and opportunity tend to be for us.

I could give you a ton of reasons to slow down and think things through, hopefully I've given you enough to apply a bit of pragmatism to things so you don't become another failed statistic of the entertainment world.

 

[tcp.Az]

Ah, yes, I do appreciate the Parent role, do not get me wrong.

There are however a few details to that. My father is away from the country and my mom doesn't really make all that much, having one son away from home, another with brain palsy (I believe you call it that, even though it's severe) who will never drive or work in a normal setting and a younger one soon to be 18 and hopefully go off to college. She also has cataracts and it's getting really bad, to the point she's afraid to drive but has to, but she is having surgery soon, I believe.

I did consider your hypnotherapist route, I will be trying to get into hypnosis, so, with proper training, maybe I could do it. Unfortunately no one at college (Psychology and Educational Science) seems to really know how to get into that, they say "maybe through Psychology".

So, the bottom line is, the sooner I can provide for myself, even if I can't buy fancy stuff, the better, since my mom will be able to rest a bit.

I do appreciate your reply and am not disregarding it. Thank you. And for the book reference, I'll try to find it!