How I self-funded my education was by working restaurants, ideally ones with longer wait-times. A nice looking suit, a few good card routines, and work hard. The tricks don't have to be cutting edge, ultra difficult tricks. Oil & Water, ambitious card, coin sleights, ring tricks, they tricks don't have to be at the level of Copperfield to help diners pass the time before the food is done. Plus it's a good place to try out new patter for an existing trick. I spent a year working basically the same concept with a dozen different patter presentations.
When you can afford more expensive tricks, keep on doing the older routines until you have the new ones perfected and then cycle them into your performances. The magician is where the magic is, the tricks are just interested presentation pieces. Once you figure out how to keep a crowd invested in what you're doing, you can do the safety pin gag and have people begging to see it again.
