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Doing the Commercial Thing
(by MagicDiscoman)

So you're thinking of going commercial.

Good choice but there are many pit falls that I have fallen into that I hope this thread will allow you to side step.

First things first is to list what magic you are good at i.e., cards, coins, props etc, then your style of performance i.e., dead pan, funny, mysterious etc.

These notes will give you a basis for the type of work you maybe able to get into, next decide if you want to be mobile or static with your routines i.e. if you have a sliding die box do you need a table, does your act require special backdrops.

If your show is mostly close up magic then you can add table hopping to your list, if its more prop based / table oriented then you can add kids shows to your list, note these are interchangeable but you don't want to run before you can walk.

my main experience has been with kids, but I have done corporate does, table hopping, spirit / tarot reading, cold reading, stage and club magic.

ok so you have a style and some tricks you like to perform, next you need to put these into a routine one that you can do over and over again and still make it appear fresh. Then its practise practise practise, write down any words or patter you need to say and make this into a script i.e.,


patter

rope trick.

patter - audience member

card trick aces.

caution note

fire cane finish.


Time your routine speeches and note this on top of your script you will need this when people call you.

in the next instalment we'll discuss getting noticed and business cards / advertising so, until then keep practising.

The business school of wisdom is that you spend 2/3rds of your budget on advertising which is fine if you're a plumber but not so for an entertainer.

From my own costly experience its not worth advertising in the local rags or the daily's they are far too expensive and you generally can't get into the right section even if they have one, and as for Yellow Pages, Thomson Local etc, save your money.

Magic is all about reputation you're only as good as your last gig - I'm afraid this is a sad fact and you should be prepared for this in advance.
This leads us on to business cards; well you have two options one is to have your cards printed, nice but can get expensive as you adjust your wording to fit your style / client base.
and option two is to print your own. There are plenty of packages, some free, to do this. MS Word even has an add-on for this very purpose.

A word about printing your own cards: Don't at any time mention money or times, as people will hold you to account for this - one of those holes I was talking about.

Next, where possible, laminate your cards, reasons for this is are that your cards will tend to be chucked into a drawer until needed and a laminated card is more likely to be kept, that's your first psychological hook more details later, and you can then employ statements like "it already comes with its own bin liner so its OK to chuck it". Also it gives you a chance to do a swami gimmick card prediction and have a giveaway.

In summary don't be fooled by advertisers, go for word of mouth first. The next post will relate to selling yourself and explanations of psychological hooks.

Just thought I'd mention that you can get business cards very cheaply from www.vistaprint.com

check out this design especially for the magician
http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/ns/bchome. ... page_ref=3

I have used this company many times and found them to be excellent. You even get a choice of free business cards, all you pay is the postage, which as I recall is around £6, particularly good when you consider they come from the States. The above example is not from the free range but is still very reasonable. They are not laminated though personally I prefer that as I can use them to write on the back, esp useful if your using a stealth wallet type trick as you use the card for the trick and then give it to the person at the end.

If I can add my own opinion on advertising as it's something I've done a lot of, first I fully agree you can't beat word of mouth recommendation.
But I have a slightly different view on for example the yellow pages. I have found different areas work differently. So while an ad in magicdiscoman's area may not have worked, it doesn't necessarily follow that this would be the same in your area.

As an example, I know of an ad ( not for a magician ) that didn't produce one customer over a year, the same kind of ad in a different area is producing around 1 a week. You just never can tell. However advertising can feel very much like throwing money down the drain when it doesn't work. On the other hand it can be the easiest way of getting you going with a steady flow of business.

happy toad thease are all fair comments but this thread is asumeing that your starting out as a comercial venture with limited capital and cant aford to waste money on hit and miss advertising, that is why I'm suggesting the bussines card route as a first line of attack.
this allows you to canvas your local area form ties and links with local bussines's and entertainers.
without a great outlay, most bussines's fail at the first hurdle because they try to run before they can walk.

as for giveaways that the wole intention in post three, you can use a permanent marker on laminated cards and if you use the swamie gimick then you have alaminated prediction that is impossible to deny.

i personaly have wasted hundreds if pounds in advertising in many different guises, but still get 90% of my bookings through customer recomendation's.
as for bussines cards mine are quite special as you see:-

MAGIC DISCO SERVICES.
02392 610470.
magicdiscoservices@ntlworld.com.
Any age, any style of party catered for.
party gifts and birthday present included in fee.
no charge for overtime or setting up.
special needs and occasion's catered for.
competitive rates.

Yea I can understand your reluctance to go the advertising route if you've spent hundreds of pounds and not got anywhere. However I see advertising as an important part of starting a business, obviously if you have no money it is not an option. Though to me hundreds of pounds is very little money in the context of advertising to get a business started.

I suppose it depends on what your goals are, what your budget is etc.

Anyhow I wasn't aiming to disagree with you, rather to give a slightly different slant. In the area of magic I'm pretty much a novice but in the area of getting a self employed business going I do have quite a bit of experience, hopefully my post has added and not taken away from your own.

no offence taken thats the whole idea of this thread one persons view would definately be biased, which it is.

there's a few people who have expressed an interest in going commercial so i hope this thread will allow them to get a good grounding and avoid some of the pitfalls we have fallen into.

input good or bad is greatfully recieved it all helps.

The question of how to promote any enterprise is always going to be a bit hit and miss - unless money is no object. Many moons ago my oldest son started a mobile disco as a sideline when he was at school and muggins here was the roadie ('cos I had the vehicle and could drive!). Most of our bookings came from word of mouth and recommendation - without exception we were asked for a card by several people at each booking and further business came in via that route. For some reason the Thompson Directory people put us in the local edition - no charge as it was only the normal text entry - and we got several bookings from that although they tended to be where they had booked another Disco but had been let down at the last minute. In addition, we had a regular booking for New Year's Eve from the same people for 5 years in a row until we decided to 'retire' as it was all geting a bit much being out and about almost every Saturday night!

For a 'proper' job, I run a small firm and I've always considered expenditure on advertising as dead money - spend it and forget it because it is almost impossible to guarantee what sort of return and response can be gained from any advertising. To a certain extent you have to do some advertising otherwise you'll be performing your miracles to yourself and your possibly bored as hell family and friends for ever more. Sometimes the humble self printed card will generate all the business you can handle so you don't need to spend a lot. One thing to be very wary of, there are firms who claim to publish directories, brochures etc covering the broad entertainment sector and state that they only wish to include one person or business in each category - one Disco, one Magician, One Balloon Modeler or whatever - and you have been recommended. They invite you to be included and very soon you find yourself obliged to pay for them to print your cards to the 'approved' pattern and size, for your entry in their leaflets and so on and the charges are far higher than you can get elsewhere. There's not usually any evidence that these leaflets are actually produced and distributed but you still have to pay up.

If I can chuck in another point, don't be shy in asking for your money! If you're doing all this to make a few quid then make sure it's on a proper, clearly understood basis whereby you get paid at a certain point. In advance would be good but is unlikely. Halfway though may not be appropriate so, as soon as you've finished your set and the audience are still wondering how the heck you did it all, someone should be handing you the cheque (with bank guarantee card!) or the brown envelope full of used fivers. And on that topic, please make sure you take into account that Income Tax etc. is payable on this kind of income. It's very tempting to work cash in hand and no questions asked but, if the Inland Revenue decide to take you to the cleaners, then to the cleaners you will go. And it will cost far more than paying the appropriate amount of Tax. I would imagine that none of us like paying Income Tax but, if you're paying Tax, you must be making some money so grit your teeth and keep yourself above board!

All sound advice... nicely maturing thread going on here...

My tuppence...

I'm in the marketing/advertising/design business, and we also act as 'branding' consultants for startup firms.
Although these are generally a lot bigger than a one-man-roadshow, some of the same rules apply...

1: Before thinking of promoting yourself, be sure to examine and determine your PRODUCT - i.e. what exactly are your strengths and selling points

2: Make the decision as to WHERE to advertise wisely: it is a minefield. The easiest and most surefire way is to put yourself into the shoes of what you imagine to be your IDEAL PROSPECTIVE CLIENTS. Where would YOU look if you were trying to find someone doing YOUR service.
It's contextual and strategic advertising like this which saves you money.

3: Make sure you're prepared to outlay capital for advertising, even if it goes wrong! Many businesses will come to us with advertising budgets of hundreds of thousands of pounds - and want to appear in mainstream magazines etc. We usually tell them to save their money until they've got a proper idea of what the return will be.
This is also true for the instances outlined by Magic Disco Services above... if ONE GIG gets you £100, and you spend £300 in the Yellow Pages for a year, you need 3 GIGS from the Yellow pages to claw back your investment. However, if you can go for a downsize ad for £100 - being as you're a virtually unknown, and theorise that why would someone be booking an unknown just because they have big advert - you're £100 would be gotten back in just one performance - PLUS you're still in the directory.

4: Be different, but be logical. Some modern advertising techniques are quite zany - but people remember the ADVERT and not the PRODUCT. Try to offer something that nobody else can, and make the advert make sense. Trying to be too clever and wacky can often work against you.

5: Business cards and stationery: When getting business cards sorted out, a consideration might be to get some headed paper at the same time. When you've played a gig, give them a receipt on headed paper - or even use it for correspondence. By putting your LOGO or STYLING around like this, it's amazing how much this is acting as free advertising.

6: WORD OF MOUTH. Be a good ambassador to your cause. Always treat the business aspect as a business-like transaction and be professional. Never argue - the customer is always right. Being a professional businessman AS WELL AS being a good performer will help spread your name around. People like dealing with nice people.

I know I've gone off on a little bit of a tangent, but I always do...

okey dokey an update on my present status, due to a worsening of my undiagnosed chronic fatigue (possibly ms), I'm having to give up the disco side.

anyway back to the thread in hand, we already heard alot about the merits of advertising and the pro's and cons of which type so i'll leave that up to your budget.

this portion i will concentrate on preparing for you first gig, i could spend a week generalising on different types of gig but for ease of explanation lets say its a children's party for around 20 - 30 kids aged between 7- 11.

ok first your doing two sets say an hour apart, lets prepare, firstly lay out the magic tricks / props you are going to use for the two sets and make a note of when your going to use them and in what order on your script with apropiate wording betwwen them, use a separate piece of paper for each set even if you have to repeat a script or patter line or heven forbid trick.

make special note of any angle problems or audience contribution witha highlighter, practise and time your sets making any further notes you need.

pack your gear the night before checking everything off on a check list you'l only forget that card in the ice box just once...
run through your sets mentaly before you go to bed, apparently this is called visualisation and is used by all top athletes to prepare beforehand.

when you arive check that you have a safe place to stow your gear away from little hands and eyes, and that you have a place to change, a stall in the loo usualy.

depending on your type of show you will need to have aranged suitable tables, area, stageing, check that this is satiisfactury and that the dj has your music if any and is aware of you que's / intro.

your first set will allow you to guage the audience, so be prepared to allter your opening set as needed.

when i am only doing magic i tend to arrange to do two sets this makes the customer feel they are getting value for money and allows you a recover zone if set one didn't go down as well as planned, it also allows you chance to put your big wamies in the second set to realy sell yourself.

i know ive generalised in this thread section but i will delve deeper into it as feed back dictates after all i dont want to teach your grandma the egg bag trick again..

Great advice yet again - thanks!

I was very interested to read:

run through your sets mentaly.....apparently this is called visualisation and is used by all top athletes to prepare beforehand.

as I often mentally run through tricks as though I was performing them for real. On some occasions I've 'spotted' some really awful possible mistakes or opportunities for things to go wrong - does anyone else do this sort of thing?

okey dokey ive been asked to do a bit on doing a childrens party, please bear in mind that as i do both the disco and the magic some parts might not fit exacly as your party would but the general ideas will be the same.

firstly what tricks and props, well this does tend to depend on age but experience has taught me that thease tricks go down well at most parties:-
sliding die box, a good shouter this one.
change bag silk rabbit to coloured, visual packs small.
appearing cane, good opener.
a4 colour changing kings to aces.
colour changing silks.
colour changing scarf.
linking rings.
stamp book, blank-printed.
multiply sponge balls + ball to rabbit.
tip trunk, to hold whole show

with kids if you float something they say ok it floats so does mary poipins, colour changes and appears and vanishes are best.
kids are no fool's and as i have said on other post's will see all of your mistakes so dont worry about fancy palms and flourishes go for bold where possible selfworking tricks.

i usualy like to start my routines by saying what is the difference between a fool and an idiot?? a fool gets paid and as i have already been paid if you don't want to see any magic then i'll pack up now.

ive posted a lot about hecklers so i wont repeat myself do a search youl find them.

costs for magic only i think the going rate is around £50 for half an hour, i used to charge this for two sets, see earlier post on this thread.

ok the best time to do your set if your not doing the two set deal is about an hour into the party just after they have had there feed, a rolling buffet can be pain, as there more inclined to sit down for a wile to digest.

after you do your introductions, who you are please sit for the show, please don't spoil the trick for others, any grabbing and i go home and you loose out, etc you need to start with a big opener especialy with kids your tricks should have a logical link and your set needs a begining a middle and an end, the opener needs to get there attention thats why i use the appearing cane now in its metal incarnation.
next you might try a production box to produce some rope for a cut and restored rope trick, cut no cut sissors work a treet here, from a rope to a card trick saying that you have just demonstated the use of the fourth dimension, use this secret whole in space to change the colour of the kings viser versa then to aces, then casualy add that magicians usualy cheet rather than resort to sience, would you all like something you can shout about, you would... enter sliding die box.....after die box mention that you have a portable four dimention your change bag, rabbit to colured, to silks (colur changing silks), this is the audience participating section, best to use the birthday boy/girl for this bit.
ok stamp book give them a massive wand or breakaway wand for some laughs, myti sponges - big rabit, after sit down follow with linking rings useing fourth dimension
finish by packing all trick into tip trunk and get eveyone to shout bye bye magic tricks show empty for ending.

alternate ending produce sliks that say thankyou and the end

most tricks including silks avalable from [url]magictricks.co.uk[/url].

For a few more tips, check out: http://www.allmagic.com/magicshow/infan ... wtips.html - it confirms a lot of what's already been mentioned and adds a few other perspectives.

Nice to see the postings by Mark Jay under Large Stage Magic - any tips from the professionals are worth knowing!

Since mentioning Income Tax, I've had a few PM's and e-mails so I thought a proper posting of the topics covered might help. Firstly, I'm not a Tax expert or Lawyer or Accountant so you'll need to double check things for yourselves - this is just to get you thinking in the 'right' directions.

If you're serious about doing magic for money then you're effectively running your own business. There's no reason why you can't run it professionally and efficiently and every reason why you should. I've already mentioned Income Tax and, let's be honest, we've all done jobs of one sort or another for a few quid and the Inland Revenue never knew about it. I don't have a problem with that but if these jobs become more frequent, you need to get back on the straight and narrow. I'd say the first thing to do is contact an Accountant. They don't cost the earth and very often save you more than their fees. Your bank manager might be able to help with recommendations or you could try the local small shops and ask if they can recommend their Accountant. Once they are dealing with your financial matters, you can rest easy knowing the dreaded Revenuers aren't after your blood or unreasonable amounts of money.

I guess most of those who are performing for money will have a decent stock of tricks & effects and these aren't cheap. All these are justifiable expenses and can be set against income. Either make sure you keep the receipts or, if you order from places like emagictricks, print off your order history, as evidence of what you've bought and how much you paid. If you work with just a couple of decks of cards then those are still stock and still need to be replaced regularly. If you need 'posh' clothes to work in then, although the full cost of a dress suit might be pushing things a bit, you could still claim back the costs of dry cleaning to get rid of the pub/booze/tobacco smoke smells and stains. Check whether your personal grooming - haircuts, hand care etc - are allowable expenses. Transport costs, petrol, bus fares or whatever, are part of the cost of fulfilling a booking so put those down as expenses but be reasonable, you don't need to hire a stretch limo for every booking! The cost of business cards, advertising and so on are all deductible and, with any luck, you'll manage to make income equal expenditure so there's no tax liability!

very good points and i have claimed pretty much evey one of thoughs mentioned at some point or other.

i dont think that there is much more that can be said in this thread save for rehashing the heckler side, the only thing about that that needs to be clarified is that when your doing a gig you need to check with the venue what the policy is on hecklers and who your back up is, after all its the party organiser however small to ensure order, its not up to you.

and please people make sure you get paid either well enough in advance for checks to clear or ensure your paid when you arrive not afterwards as you will kick yourself when a check bounces and youv'e just restocked.
also check wether fire / flash props can be used you'll will be amased how many places have draconian health and safty rules.

in closeing if you intend to run it as a bussiness then run it as a bussiness no half measures its no longer a hobby its your bread and butter so treat your employer with dignaty and treat each customer as though there your only one and you should make a go of it.

opening up the topic on advertising again for a moment - and in fact doing magic commercially in general, there are some relevant and other very interesting articles on the on-line-visions site by Scott F. Guinn, called Pro-Files.

http://www.online-visions.com/pro-files/index.html