Any Advice or Resources?

Sep 1, 2007
340
1
Ontario, Canada
Hello, I am a Grade 10 student looking to start preforming semi-professionally. I am a close up magician and I think im pretty good. My family is going through some financial difficulties and I thought this might be a good way to bring in some extra money. I am looking for table hopping or something walk around.

The thing is that I get nervous when preforming? Does anyone have any advice on that?

Also if anyone had some advice on preforming professionally or could point me towards some resources I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you:)
 
Apr 5, 2009
874
1
29
Illinois
don't know what to tell you bro.

i'm a tenth grader who wants to get start professionally as well. its a confusing thing.

i'd like to see some helpful advice from the more experienced forum members
 

RickEverhart

forum moderator / t11
Elite Member
Sep 14, 2008
3,637
471
46
Louisville, OH
Hey Guys...I know I am a lot older than you but I know exactly where you are coming from. I am 32 now and didn't start semi-professionally until I was 29. Everything up until that point was just messing around and for my own enjoyment.

What I did was start performing my close up effects everywhere I went. I did some free gigs in the beginning for friends of the family, school classrooms, etc. Eventually all of the nerves went away and magic became more of an adrenaline rush that I just couldn't get enough of.

I then started charging just small fees for my services. I'm talking like $50 for a full close up show at a private party. As I became better and more well known around my area I was able to increase my rates and then started my website and everything took off from there.

One thing that also helped me is by joining my local IBM ring, once the older experienced guys saw that I had some skill, they started having me fill in for gigs that they had to cancel on or if they got double booked....I would get one of their shows and just gave them a small fee back.

The shaky sweat palms and screwed up sleights will eventually improve. I still get nervous before some of my shows and I think that is a good thing because it shows you are human and that you care about if you mess up. Remember that you are there to "entertain" not fool the audience and they will be on your side.

Speaking of messing up....it is going to happen and you need to learn from all of your mistakes. Everything that I did wrong in the beginning I have learned from and will not make the same mistake. For example: Not giving myself enough time to get to a gig. Believe it or not...accidents happen and you can run into bumper to bumper traffic. What are you going to do? Checking that all your effects have been set up and packing the night before...not one hour before the gig when your nerves are kicking in.

I am just rambling off the top of my head. If you have more specific questions feel free to ask. There are enough experienced guys on here to help you.
 
Sep 30, 2009
272
0
50
Elkhart, IN
I'm WAY past the 10th grade and it would be nice to do what we love and get paid. As far as getting nervous... it happens to me to. I've accually talked myself out of showing stuff to people that wanted to see some magic. I some times feel I'm not good enough yet. That is some thing we have to deal with ourselves. No one can do it for us. As a good friend tells me...it's all in your head, relax and have fun with it.
Not sure if that helps any but thought I would share.
 

DanielH

Elite Member
Apr 21, 2010
65
14
im in tenth grade also and i find the best way to get over being nervous is to keep going into situations that make you nervous and just get used to it take a couple deep breaths and tell yourself you dont care if you make a fool of yourself you probably wont see the people again anyway. whenever i go to the mall i try to find some older man who is waiting for his wife to get out of Jc Pennys (trust me hes got lots of time) and just ask if you can perform for him for awhile and you will eventually get over it. sometimes you may still get nervous but not near as much hope this helps
 
Jan 5, 2010
658
2
Alabama
I still get nervous before I approach people...

Here's what I do:

Take a deep breath
Tell myself I know what I'm doing, and my hands know what to do.
Expect nothing less than the best
Put a smile on my face
Walk up and amaze :D

As for performing as a job, I'm still trying to get hired somewhere. I've performed for a local high school a few times, and impressed the principals there. So hopefully I can generate some buzz.

My advice would be to get business cards, and hand them out during and after performances. Incorporate them into your routine, it can be done.

Also, you can shoot me a PM if you want to chat about any of this stuff. I have no problem helping out :D
 
Dec 13, 2007
803
0
North Hollywood
well I am a little past tenth grade haha I am 19 now, ust turned 19 april 9th so im still kinda young? haha anywyas I perform ona regular basis, this means everyday, every chance I get, if I am outside I will approach random people, just for pratice. let me tell you it was not always like this, I was very nervous hen I first started performing magic a few years back, i am still pretty new to magic. What i did to get rid of it, is choose one trick I knew I could not mess up, and throw myself int t he biggest crowd I saw and asked to perform, at that time it was stigmata. By tackling the biggest crowds you get rid of the fear of smaller crowds, whats pergetory if you been through hell right? First I just approached a crowd did stugmata and that was it, got stellar reactions, then when i was confortable with that effect for people I added another effect tot hat, so i did a transpo, then Stigmata, and performed those two for crowd after crowd after crowd, after a while the nervousness goes away. trust me on that one. I hope this helped, I wish you the best of luck with your job hunt, Im looking at a few restaurants around my area, myself haha. peace out.


PS Sorry for all the typos, Keyboard is very sticky after wasting coca cola into it, apperantly there was no App for that =[
 

Mike.Hankins

creator / <a href="http://www.theory11.com/tricks/
Nov 21, 2009
435
0
Sacramento, Cali
Hello, I am a Grade 10 student looking to start preforming semi-professionally. I am a close up magician and I think im pretty good. My family is going through some financial difficulties and I thought this might be a good way to bring in some extra money. I am looking for table hopping or something walk around.

The thing is that I get nervous when preforming? Does anyone have any advice on that?

Also if anyone had some advice on preforming professionally or could point me towards some resources I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you:)

First of all...mad props to you for wanting to help your family out! Reverhart made some great points, and there is not much more I could add to that.

I will say that I think you are in a pretty good spot to grab gig after gig. Especially with being in high school. You have potential clients all over the place! Birthday parties, school functions...etc. Talk to some of the faculty about hanging some posters up in the halls, or about getting hired out for any sort of employee functions.

Hand out your business card as often as possible to the people who WANT your card. If you don't have any business cards yet, check Google...there are sites out there who will send you out free business cards. They won't be of the finest quality, but remember you are trying to get some money fast! :)
You need advertisement if you want gigs!

Good luck, and if you need anything more, you have a ton of great guys and gals on this site who would be more than willing to lend some advice!

Mike
 
Oct 11, 2007
277
2
I'm in 10th grade as well and have tons of commitments. In between all of that tho you can get a lot of good experience in wherever you as long as you can whip out a deck of cards and generate some interest around you. That will take care of the nerves, just performing, performing, and more performing.

The same thing goes for getting a regular restaurant job, just walk in and generate enough interest on a busy night while people are waiting to bring the manager over. Or you could just send them a cordial letter and offer to perform for him some time if the first piece of advice doesn't work.

Another way that I have found is kid's birthday parties. They are an absolute gold mine for $$! All you have to do is communicate well with the kids and get them to laugh a lott! It's fun and you can easily get paid upwards of a hundred dollars a pop once you have a couple of show under your belt and have your show refined. Look into it more, I would definitely reccomend doing so.

Hope that helps! PM me if you have any more questions!

-emagician
 

Luis Vega

Elite Member
Mar 19, 2008
1,838
278
38
Leon, Guanajuato Mexico
luisvega.com.mx
Hello, I am a Grade 10 student looking to start preforming semi-professionally. I am a close up magician and I think im pretty good. My family is going through some financial difficulties and I thought this might be a good way to bring in some extra money. I am looking for table hopping or something walk around.

The thing is that I get nervous when preforming? Does anyone have any advice on that?

Also if anyone had some advice on preforming professionally or could point me towards some resources I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you:)

Wow...I must admit that I am really proud of you for helping your family...that´s very thoughtful!!

The advice I would give is about Table hopping or going to a restaurant...

I do have a thread about getting started to perform in restaurants...maybe you´ll want to check it out.. http://forums.theory11.com/showthread.php?t=26111

Now..how to overcome nerves very fast...mmm...my advice would be to go to a restaurant with some friends that know about your magic and perform for them in the restaurant...then go to a random table and perform for them...usually since your friends are there you won´t feel so intimidated and nervous...that really helped me out in the beggining...after 2-3 visits with your friends you will feel more confident to perform for strangers...in the 4th visit you can go alone and I believe you will feel very confident

you will also need a hat line...here is one that if you wish you can use it..."So..I am so glad yo enjoy the show, if you would like to help me to buy more cards and tricks, I will be very grateful!!"

if you have any doubts don´t hesitate to send me a PM, I will be more than glad to help you in any way I can...
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
All good advice so far.

Something I've also heard recommended is to get a group of friends together and go to a restaurant where you'd like to get a gig. Then perform for your own table and the waitress. Hopefully that will draw attention, and the waittress will probably be willing to pass your business card on to the manager, or better yet ask to see the manager personally and give him your card.

Another thing, if you can swing it, is to find a local farmer's market or something like that. Find the person organizing and ask if you can perform walk around. They may let you ask for tips without asking for any of the fees the rest of the vendors have to pay, because you won't be taking up any of the event's space, but you'll be another crowd drawer. Pluses all around for the event. Just don't perform for anyone that looks like they're looking at merchandice, the vendors will tank you quick for that.
 

Justin.Morris

Elite Member
Aug 31, 2007
2,793
888
Canada
www.morrismagic.ca
I would add a vote to checking out restaurants for work. If you are good enough to get the job, then it is a fantastic setting to work on your presentation, character, routines, misdirection etc. You need a few good sets to get started (see above thread link), but it is a great place to start.
 
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