talkmagic.co.uk

Sarah Jukes wrote:
Sorry, my bad I thought when he asked about how to get work online he wanted to know how to get work online.

I think he meant was there a website where prospective clients post up adverts or enquiries when looking for magicians to work at their events. There isn't one as far as I'm aware.

This is as opposed to looking for work on-line via the proactive route of a magician posting adverts in order to find work.

Or something.

I have seen a few "community bulletin boards" (very crude) that post such "wanted" ads but they are generally focused to a literal, physical community situation such as a small town, country club group, etc. They also seem to be a thing that's become rather passe (I've not run across one in years).

There are companies out there like Party Pop that can get you work, but as I said, it's generic bookings at very nominal pay and from out of your pittance of income you must pay for fuel, lodging (if needed), etc. If you're lucky you'll walk away with $50.00 net vs. the low end standard of $150.00 to $200.00 (+ costs) the majority of us see for private functions.

Frankly Eshly, I think you need to do a season traveling with a genuine side show so you can see what show biz is really like, literally from the trenches. (and I am talking about an under canvas circus based side show not the pseudo-freak shows like the Jim Rose Circus. While it's an great production, most such shows don't operate from within the traditional parameters of the Side Show, which is what I personally believe a young person needs to taste... saw dust, elephant dung and peanuts...)

Craig Browning wrote:There are companies out there like Party Pop that can get you work, but as I said, it's generic bookings at very nominal pay and from out of your pittance of income you must pay for fuel, lodging (if needed), etc. If you're lucky you'll walk away with $50.00 net vs. the low end standard of $150.00 to $200.00 (+ costs) the majority of us see for private functions.

Party Pop has been the topic of much conversation here already and the general consensus has been to stay away, they employ some very aggressive marketing tactics in an effort to have you upgrade your listings etc.

Craig Browning wrote:which is what I personally believe a young person needs to taste... saw dust, elephant dung and peanuts...)

Perhaps just the peanuts eh?

Gosh Craig, it's almost as if you think this is a forum for helping people and bettering them and giving them advice from someone who's lived it...

A bit of editing has taken place, let's keep it sweet and please don't descend into personal sarcasm OK?

If I was to go to any Magicians Agency, what is the Nb#1 agency in the UK?


Tom
xx

Obvious troll is, again, obvious.
Come on "Tom", haven't we had enough now?

If not.... I suggest Dave Vitty Management

Question is are you talented enough for the Number 1 in the UK.

You're not ready for the #1 agency in the UK. You just started out, you don't have business cards or a website or even a demo video or the experience for it yet..

Why don't you just work on what you got now and then worry about the "#1 Agency in the UK" later on like (like 20 years from now or more.)

Randy wrote:You're not ready for the #1 agency in the UK. You just started out, you don't have business cards or a website or even a demo video or the experience for it yet..

Why don't you just work on what you got now and then worry about the "#1 Agency in the UK" later on like (like 20 years from now or more.)

I was refering to the biggest... I didn't realise they were graded...

Randy wrote:You're not ready for the #1 agency in the UK. You just started out, you don't have business cards or a website or even a demo video or the experience for it yet..

Why don't you just work on what you got now and then worry about the "#1 Agency in the UK" later on like (like 20 years from now or more.)

This is good advice for a lot of us, myself included. I've only been 'gigging' since the beginning of this year, not many at that and quite small affairs. So far it's all word of mouth, recently helped with a business card.

And that's the way it's going to stay for some time to come. I've got to get that experience under my belt, die on stage a few times and work on my stage presence and effects as a result. Going out to agencies saying "Hey, I'm awesome, get me bookings"* is a looooong way away, though I am looking forward to it one day!!

Eshly, I know you like to think of the future, and I've discussed with you how I like the way you dream of big things... but don't get bogged down with which agency you should be approaching. You don't need to concern yourself with the details of those dreams, just so long as you work in the here and now to make those dreams apparent one day.

*Fear not, I'm not actually going to say that

Albert Einstein once said: 'I don't worry about the future, it comes soon enough'. Wise words from a man who spent most of his life working out the nature of time (...and trying to put the cat back in the bag after unleashing e= mc2). Anyhow, I disagree with Einstein on very little and I think he's right on this one too.

NLP will tell you about the well formedness of outcomes being crucial to achieving your desires; that is to say you must have a plan to get where you want to be, not rely on luck, not be ambiguous, state your outcome positivley... and so on. Even our very own Richard Wiseman commented on goals, suggests telling your family and friends for motivation and support, breaking your goal down into sub-goals, reminding yourself of the benfits of your goals, self rewarding for achievements and documenting progress. In fact, when I was talking to Derren Brown himself, he emphasised the importance of being ultimatley realistic with your goals otherwise they never get accomplished. Of course that is just common sense- but it is common sense which has proved itself.

Whilst this is all very nice, I'm with Einstein, Confucious, Schopenhauer, Lao Tzu... and I'm sure many others who advocated an ideology perhaps closer to asceticism. Lao Tzu said that ambition has one hand stretched out to the sky and one foot nailed firmly into the ground. Make of that what you will, but those familiar with Taoist scriptures will understand the notion of 'aimlessness'. Loosing ambition means that failure is not defeating and consequently there is actually less inhibiting one's path to what may previously have been a goal. Ambition for me then, is not an aim, but a way. Ignoring my enigmatic and pretentious aphorism, I am simply saying that you have to enjoy the journey as much as the destination;

For months and months there was this one book I wanted to get around to reading, I wrote it on lists and what have you, but because I had established in my head 'I will do it some time' I never did it. Eventually I realised that I kept procrastinating and my book was not any closer to being read, despite my best intentions and abandonned intending to read it. Then a few weeks ago, I picked it up for no reason- all books start with picking them up. And before that was the most difficult part, but I did not give it a second's thought. Once I was in the book, the aim of finishing it vanished and I enjoyed each page at a time. That is how you read a book.

The journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step.
Lao Tzu

Eshly wrote:

Randy wrote:You're not ready for the #1 agency in the UK. You just started out, you don't have business cards or a website or even a demo video or the experience for it yet..

Why don't you just work on what you got now and then worry about the "#1 Agency in the UK" later on like (like 20 years from now or more.)

I was refering to the biggest... I didn't realise they were graded...

Why would you want to be part of the biggest? Really dilutes your gig probability there.

before this thread goes into 25 pages or something - why don't we just let tom self-educate, try harder at googling and ringing round...

and just let him get on with it...nothing we're going to say will change his mind, and give it a week or so and he'll forget he even asked this question and go back to his stage show/close up/resturant stuff...

or possibly something new and shiny....

he's been given advice - lets leave him to decide what to do with that...if anything...

IAIN wrote:before this thread goes into 25 pages or something - why don't we just let tom self-educate, try harder at googling and ringing round...

and just let him get on with it...nothing we're going to say will change his mind, and give it a week or so and he'll forget he even asked this question and go back to his stage show/close up/resturant stuff...

or possibly something new and shiny....

he's been given advice - lets leave him to decide what to do with that...if anything...

Wise Words