talkmagic.co.uk

After many years of dabbling I have finally decided to market my services as a reader. I took the plunge by pairing up with a close-up magician at a nightclub on Thursday. We were meant to do an hour. He was doing tricks; I was doing palm readings and Chinese numerology.

Two and a half hours later I finally managed to get out. I enjoyed myself, and left them wanting more. As a result I have already got a second booking. I like this way of doing things. The club pays me, so the people who are getting the readings never have to cross my palm with silver. And I am out earning on a night when I would otherwise be at home with a good book.

A big thanks to Mark Lewis and Paul Bell. Their respective courses in London recently were mines of great information. They turned a lot of theoretical information and a mish mash of experience into something far more organised and effective.

Very good Tony. You may wish to stop at the entertainment type readings and in fact Richard Webster said if he had his time over again he would stick to this kind of reading and only market to corporations and events where he is booked to appear rather than taking money directly from the client.

However if you do decide to do the more serious and ethically difficult type of readings where you do take money directly from the client Ireland is the best place in the world to do so. Now I know that Ireland has been hit hard by the recession. The good news is that there is no recession in the psychic business and in fact business increases.

And the more you work in Ireland the more likely you are to come across people that had readings from me 20 years or more ago. I started in this business in Ireland in 1987 and left the country in 1992. I had 5 very productive years as a psychic there. I expect you will too.

Good luck.

Incidentally remember that after an hour the close up magician will probably be sent home but you will have a long line of clients wanting readings. Excuse yourself for a break and run and get the client and tell them you have a long line waiting for readings and that you are willing to stay longer but you need to be paid more. They often won't want to upset the waiting guests and you will be kept on for more money.

And I will tell you another thing which I may have mentioned in my lecture. The greatest close up magician in the world will not be able to compete even with a mediocre fortune teller. It ain't fair but it happens to be the truth. Make the most of it.

Since many of you did not attend my lectures but may want to learn this stuff from me you have two choices. You can wait for International Magic to put out whatever DVDs they are going to do of my lectures and order them either from me or from them directly. I believe they will be out before Christmas.

The other option if you are in a hurry is to order my psychic DVD course which is actually available right now. I did a similar lecture 12 years ago to a much smaller group in Toronto. A DVD course was made out of those lectures covering similar material to the London lectures although inevitably I am sure there will be certain differences. There are five different DVDs plus one old fashioned audiocassette tape for sale. They can be purchased all together or separately. If you buy them all at once I will work a good deal for you.

Contact me privately if any of you are interested.

Mark, I would love to tackle the longer readings. But I have a small personal quirk that prevents me. I don't like working one on one. It is why I don't do hypnotherapy. Its also why I don't do close-up.

All your other points are very valid. The close-up guy I was working was was very good. He was also younger and better looking than me. But he could get out at the end of the evening. I couldn't. That leaves me in a very strong bargaining position. Either I get hired for longer (and better money) or I get hired on a weekly basis. Either will work for me.

I see a great opportunity here - and you are right. Psychics boom in a recession. And it's time I began to make the bad times work for me.

I'm looking forward to seeing the DVD of the London session.

So Tony, firstly - well done...

secondly, you've been quite vocal about your beliefs in your past (and havent we all) - so how does billing yourself as 'psychic' fit in with all of that? just curious...

Good question Iain. I make no claims, and if anyone asks me whether I am psychic or not, I tell them that I am simply using an intuitive ability we all have. But I have worked hard at honing mine.

I have been asked the usual during readings - how long will I live, how many kids I will have, etc. I never answer those questions. I have also been asked to contact dead relatives. I am always honest and tell them that no one can do that for them. I just do character readings, which I hope people find entertaining and informative.

So far everyone has been happy with this. Part of the reason I won't do long one to one readings is that in an entertainment setting people accept readings on my terms. And I won't do them under other terms.

Well done Tony, sounds like things went really well for you

out of interest Tony, how long did you do for each person ?

Tony will have to answer for himself but generally at these events you do no more than 5 minutes for each person. Sometimes less if there are masses of people waiting. Sometimes more if there are fewer people at the event.
I personally talk quickly so they get a lot of information in a short amount of time. In a private office reading I slow the pace down dramatically.

Mark is right; about five minutes would strike me as the ideal time. I was averaging seven minutes per person, because I am used to doing longer readings under less pressure. However I will work on it and shorten them slightly. Perhaps I will leave out the Chinese numerology chart, though that is a handy way of giving out my contact details.

I have another gig coming up later this week, and I will bring the average down to five minutes, with the aim of doing ten to twelve readings an hour. The idea is to give out twelve tickets an hour, and those with the ticket will get a reading. It means I will be there a little over an hour for every hour booked, but that creates the impression I am giving value. The tickets might also serve as a way of giving out the contact details.

I will be making myself available for hen nights, birthday parties, etc, but not for private readings.

I must say I enjoy this far more than I ever enjoyed close-up.

TonyB wrote:
I must say I enjoy this far more than I ever enjoyed close-up.

Well done Tony and good luck with your future endeavours. I must say that I too have always enjoyed being a "walk-about" reader. It's great fun.

I don't do walk about readings although it is a valid technique. I don't like approaching people and that is one reason I am not too keen on walkaround close up magic either. I feel like a beggar.

Instead I sit at a table and a long queue forms very quickly when they know what is happening. And word gets around pretty fast, believe me-especially if you are any good.

I give out my business card to everyone and sometimes do Chinese Numerology and sometimes not. If I do it I do it very quickly. You can do it in about 60 to 90 seconds if you are pretty sharpish. Then I follow with a palm reading. And sometimes I have done Chinese Numerology only and lengthened it. However, palmistry is always more popular.

When I talk about walk-about I mean sit down - one of the attractions of it. And you are right - the queue forms quickly.

TonyB wrote:When I talk about walk-about I mean sit down - one of the attractions of it. And you are right - the queue forms quickly.

I've done/do both. Both have their advantages. Sit down means you get to take the weight off your feet, but means you have nowhere to hide! Doing genuine walk-around means you do have to approach groups of people (who can sometimes look at you like you're a piece of dirt, but hey, that's walk-around), but if you're mobile you can escape more easily at the end of the night!

I far prefer to sit down. You seem to have more status that way and you don't have to approach anyone. And I don't necessarily want to escape at the end of the night since I can earn more money by hanging on. In any event I often do walk around close up magic for an hour or so to start and take the opportunity to advise my audiences that I will be reading palms later in a quiet corner.

By combining my close up magic skills with my palmistry skills also increases the fee.

This is a good plan if you have to be there several hours. You can go nuts doing the same thing all the time so a change of pace is quite welcome and in fact I have sometimes done a little 20 minute cabaret act as well if conditions permit. During the show I announce that I will be reading palms in a quiet corner.

When I used to do 4 hour harbour front cruises in Toronto this is precisely what I used to do. I was stuck on the boat for four hours anyway so I found this the best plan. I would do walk around close up magic for the first hour. Then take a break for some food. Then I would do my cabaret act and after doing this take a shorter break. And then came the palm readings for the rest of the evening.

I was told by the boat owners, "We have had all sorts of magicians trying to sell us their services and they all brag what they can do. But we use you because you can tell fortunes as well"

And my readings are always the strongest part of the entire evening for the guests. And it will be for anyone else too providing the expertise at readings is strong. If this is the case people will be raving about you.