*This post is for people that actually want to do something with magic, and give some insight into what it takes to actually make money with magic. If this ain't you, just pass it by. It's a pretty long read. LOL!*
------------------------------------
Want to make a living performing magic? Want to start doing more gigs? Then you need to realize that there is more to magic than magic. I mention this time and time again that it's better to be a mediocre magician and an excellent people person than a mediocre people person and an excellent magician.
One thing is that you have to be an entertainer. And there is a huge difference between a magician and entertainer. A magician does tricks. An entertainer does magic, but makes everything they do entertaining. This is where patter comes into play, and just having a HUGE PERSONALITY. If you want to be successful in magic, it’s crucial that you have a great personality, and get the audience to love you. I’ve also said before that if you get them you love you; they’ll love what you do. It’s that simple (well…maybe not, but you get the point. LOL!).
Myself, I don't think of myself as a magician. I'm an entertainer that does magic. Totally different. A magician needs 5 tricks to fill a 30 minute show. An entertainer can take 3 tricks and do a 40 minute show and have the audience think that it was still too short. What are you?
Criss Angel is a magician. David Blaine is a magician. They’re boring, and would never be able to get the big paying gigs if it weren’t for their name. They’re not entertainers. What’s entertaining about a magician that says “look, watch…here it goes. Watch closely…did you see it?” Nothing! That’s what!
Michael Finney is an entertainer. Denny Haney is an entertainer. Jay Sankey is an entertainer. If you don’t know who the first two people I named are, then shame on you! Those people are REAL ENTERTAINERS. They entertain with magic, and can take 3 simple tricks and turn them into a professional show. That’s the difference between a magician, and someone that entertains with magic.
------------------------------------
You also have to be a sales person. Someone that can close a sale, and make people believe that they need to hire a magician for their next event. This is where sales and marketing comes into play. It makes a huge difference, and definitely helps. You have to know how to find a target audience, and market towards them. Your whole style should be towards your target audience.
Example. Say you want to start working the corporate market. That means your going to be marketing your shows towards the corporate guys. You need everything to reflect that. Your business card is not going to be filled with balloons and bunnies if you’re trying to get the corporate shows. Your website isn’t going to have pictures of you performing at your cousin’s b-day party while you’re dressed in jeans. No, you need to reflect what you it is you do. You need testimonials from big companies. Pictures of you performing for big companies, such as Coca-Cola, NASCAR, Budweiser. Those are just some examples of picking a target audience and marketing towards them.
Another aspect of being a professional magician and getting more gigs is being pro-active. You can’t just sit on your ass all day and wait for the phone to ring. If you do that, your phone is going to be pretty quiet. Instead, you have to get out there and find them! That is the only way to get more gigs.
So…how exactly do you get more events planned, and start booking more gigs? Well, you start finding them.
Well...how do you do that?
1. Sub-contracting. Call up some local places that could use a magician, or where people go to for parties. Maybe a party store, arts and crafts store, etc. Talk with the owner and try to get permission to put some business cards/flyers around their store. A party store would be perfect IMO. People going there to get some stuff for their son's b-day party, and bam! An advertisement for a magician right there. Perfect! It might be more last-minute gigs (as people pick that sort of stuff up only a couple days before), but still a gig none the less.
2. Schools. See if you can buy some advertisement in some local elementary school. I know some have flyers/papers that go home to the students monthly, with events and such coming up. I think at my elementary school they sold the space on there to help cover the cost of various events throughout the year. Ask around.
3. Grocery stores/Food chains (McDonalds, Burger king, etc) often have bulletin boards for you to post stuff on. Throw some flyers on there, and have some slips with your contact info on it. My local Baskin Robins also has something like this. Check with places like Coldstone, Toys R Us, KB Toys, etc.
Of course, this all comes back to picking a market, and selling yourself as the top magician for that market. The ideas above are for people looking to pick up more b-day gigs, but could work for other areas of magic. You just have to be creative, and give it some thought.
------------------------------------
There is also this saying I think, that goes…”If you work your numbers, your numbers will work for you.” What does this mean, and what numbers am I talking about? Well, it goes with sales. There are 3 numbers involved. The first one is the number of people you call. Those are your contacts. Say you call 20 contacts. The second one is the number of people that agree to listen to your presentation. You pitch 10 presentations. The last one is the number of people that say yes, and hire you. Say 2 people hire you. So your numbers are 20:10:2.
You called 20 people, made 10 presentations, and booked 2 gigs. In theory, if you increase your contacts to 40 people, you make 20 presentations, and book 4 gigs. That’s what I’m talking about when I mention numbers. Eventually, they start to even out and will start being more consistent. Then you can use your numbers to help determine how many shows you plan to do. But of course, it’s all in theory. Many things can cause them to change, such as location, time of year, other important things happening, etc.
But, you get the point. And you're probably asking yourself, what's the point of this thread? To give you an idea of what it takes to be a professional magician. It's not just performing magic and passing out business cards. If that's all you do, it's not going to get you very far. You have to take the initiative and go out there and find the gigs. There's moe to magic than magic...that's a fact.
So…sorry for this long-winded post, but these are just a few things I thought I’d touch on. If you read all this, then thank you. But also, I hope you got something out of it that can be of use to you, and actually help further your magic and help make you some money. Please, don’t hesitate to PM me if I can be of more help to any of you. It would be my pleasure.
Best.
Steve
------------------------------------
Want to make a living performing magic? Want to start doing more gigs? Then you need to realize that there is more to magic than magic. I mention this time and time again that it's better to be a mediocre magician and an excellent people person than a mediocre people person and an excellent magician.
One thing is that you have to be an entertainer. And there is a huge difference between a magician and entertainer. A magician does tricks. An entertainer does magic, but makes everything they do entertaining. This is where patter comes into play, and just having a HUGE PERSONALITY. If you want to be successful in magic, it’s crucial that you have a great personality, and get the audience to love you. I’ve also said before that if you get them you love you; they’ll love what you do. It’s that simple (well…maybe not, but you get the point. LOL!).
Myself, I don't think of myself as a magician. I'm an entertainer that does magic. Totally different. A magician needs 5 tricks to fill a 30 minute show. An entertainer can take 3 tricks and do a 40 minute show and have the audience think that it was still too short. What are you?
Criss Angel is a magician. David Blaine is a magician. They’re boring, and would never be able to get the big paying gigs if it weren’t for their name. They’re not entertainers. What’s entertaining about a magician that says “look, watch…here it goes. Watch closely…did you see it?” Nothing! That’s what!
Michael Finney is an entertainer. Denny Haney is an entertainer. Jay Sankey is an entertainer. If you don’t know who the first two people I named are, then shame on you! Those people are REAL ENTERTAINERS. They entertain with magic, and can take 3 simple tricks and turn them into a professional show. That’s the difference between a magician, and someone that entertains with magic.
------------------------------------
You also have to be a sales person. Someone that can close a sale, and make people believe that they need to hire a magician for their next event. This is where sales and marketing comes into play. It makes a huge difference, and definitely helps. You have to know how to find a target audience, and market towards them. Your whole style should be towards your target audience.
Example. Say you want to start working the corporate market. That means your going to be marketing your shows towards the corporate guys. You need everything to reflect that. Your business card is not going to be filled with balloons and bunnies if you’re trying to get the corporate shows. Your website isn’t going to have pictures of you performing at your cousin’s b-day party while you’re dressed in jeans. No, you need to reflect what you it is you do. You need testimonials from big companies. Pictures of you performing for big companies, such as Coca-Cola, NASCAR, Budweiser. Those are just some examples of picking a target audience and marketing towards them.
Another aspect of being a professional magician and getting more gigs is being pro-active. You can’t just sit on your ass all day and wait for the phone to ring. If you do that, your phone is going to be pretty quiet. Instead, you have to get out there and find them! That is the only way to get more gigs.
So…how exactly do you get more events planned, and start booking more gigs? Well, you start finding them.
Well...how do you do that?
1. Sub-contracting. Call up some local places that could use a magician, or where people go to for parties. Maybe a party store, arts and crafts store, etc. Talk with the owner and try to get permission to put some business cards/flyers around their store. A party store would be perfect IMO. People going there to get some stuff for their son's b-day party, and bam! An advertisement for a magician right there. Perfect! It might be more last-minute gigs (as people pick that sort of stuff up only a couple days before), but still a gig none the less.
2. Schools. See if you can buy some advertisement in some local elementary school. I know some have flyers/papers that go home to the students monthly, with events and such coming up. I think at my elementary school they sold the space on there to help cover the cost of various events throughout the year. Ask around.
3. Grocery stores/Food chains (McDonalds, Burger king, etc) often have bulletin boards for you to post stuff on. Throw some flyers on there, and have some slips with your contact info on it. My local Baskin Robins also has something like this. Check with places like Coldstone, Toys R Us, KB Toys, etc.
Of course, this all comes back to picking a market, and selling yourself as the top magician for that market. The ideas above are for people looking to pick up more b-day gigs, but could work for other areas of magic. You just have to be creative, and give it some thought.
------------------------------------
There is also this saying I think, that goes…”If you work your numbers, your numbers will work for you.” What does this mean, and what numbers am I talking about? Well, it goes with sales. There are 3 numbers involved. The first one is the number of people you call. Those are your contacts. Say you call 20 contacts. The second one is the number of people that agree to listen to your presentation. You pitch 10 presentations. The last one is the number of people that say yes, and hire you. Say 2 people hire you. So your numbers are 20:10:2.
You called 20 people, made 10 presentations, and booked 2 gigs. In theory, if you increase your contacts to 40 people, you make 20 presentations, and book 4 gigs. That’s what I’m talking about when I mention numbers. Eventually, they start to even out and will start being more consistent. Then you can use your numbers to help determine how many shows you plan to do. But of course, it’s all in theory. Many things can cause them to change, such as location, time of year, other important things happening, etc.
But, you get the point. And you're probably asking yourself, what's the point of this thread? To give you an idea of what it takes to be a professional magician. It's not just performing magic and passing out business cards. If that's all you do, it's not going to get you very far. You have to take the initiative and go out there and find the gigs. There's moe to magic than magic...that's a fact.
So…sorry for this long-winded post, but these are just a few things I thought I’d touch on. If you read all this, then thank you. But also, I hope you got something out of it that can be of use to you, and actually help further your magic and help make you some money. Please, don’t hesitate to PM me if I can be of more help to any of you. It would be my pleasure.
Best.
Steve
Last edited by a moderator:
.
