talkmagic.co.uk

Hi everyone!

After all the posts and all the things ive read on "TalkMagic" Im amazed I haven't come across the site sooner - but, there you are!

Im a 29 year old magician from, as the headline says, Redhill, Surrey!

Ive been, well, if I had to categorise myself, I'd say a "Hobbyist" for about 15 years now, and am starting to move into doing magic "Professionally". Ive recently done several shows for friends, family, the company I work for (unpaid of course, the experience is what im looking for at the moment!). And im really happy with how things have gone. My main type of magic is the pasteboards! I also do a few coin and mentalism effects. My favourite effects at the moment are Paul Curry's "Out of This world", I have several 2 or 3 card transposition effects that i use, Jay Sankeys's "Paperclipped", John Bannons "Twisted Sisters" and also John Bannons superb "Play it straight Triumph". I absolutely love "Ambitious card and the other main one that comes to mind is Larry Jennings "Impossible" - a truly wonderful piece of magic - the theatrical build on that one is great!

I'd love to hear from fellow magicians, old, young, experienced and inexperienced with any advice on how to pursue my magical career and maybe how to take the plunge into the professional world!

In the meantime, im sure im going to have a lot of fun here!

Justin

Hi Justin, welcome from another UK member

Yo!

Hello and welcome

hi m8 i used to go to thr royal alexandra ans albert school in reigate / redhill surrey so well met fellow professional and if i can help in any way feel free to pm or mail me.

Welcome my friend I am a full-time professional magician. The way i got into it was to do a few free shows for friends and family etc to get my name known in my local area. I then put a series of small adverts in local papers, they can be cheaper than you think. After that i got several bookings via word of mouth as well as though the adverrts. I continue to advertise in several different sources and i am now considering advertising on one of my local radio stations.

The best advice is can give is to enjoy it, remember to set your prices at the right level. If you charge more than your local magaicians then it may put some people off. Another thing i did ages ago was to do some free shows for charity (that got my face in a paper). It also helps to have a distinct style so people remember you (for example i do a lot of comedy magic).

It can be hard at first if you have not got many bookings coming in as you will be low on cash. Another mistake some new professionals make is not adding travelling expenses on to their fees (for example i know someone who did a gig for £60 but the travelling expenses were over half that).

You also want to consider if you want to hire an assistan(s) or not as that cost will eat into your profits and of course don't forget our friend the tax man!

If you need advice then please PM or email me.

all good sage advice from stephen there you may also want as you get some more experience to contact sales agencys like the duty free at airports and sales cunsultant agencies because if your lucky you can get bookings teaching salemen who to improve there sales rates through magic which is a nice little earner and can take you all over the country just doing bussiness card type tricks and general closeup magic.
remebering to credit the origionators of the moves of course.

yes! you have just reminded me about something. When you get a potential booking (and you go meet them in person) i always do a trick with my business card. For example there is a trick called hot leads that lets you hand out a business card that is on fire! also a trick called showbiz card is great. I have had many bookings confirmed after doing a business card trick. So they are really worth learning.

Thank you everyone, for such a warm welcome and for some sound advice! I've been debating getting "hot leads" for some time now, i think i'll go for it!

any advice on where i can get some good ideas for business card designs and printing etc?

thanks again!!

Justin

have a search on the net. I know a company that does free business cards (they put their website address on the back in small letters). So search for free business cards.

If you want to learn business card tricks then the DVD easy to master business card miracles is really good

you cant beat a genie card trick i evan have this on my plastic bussines cards people always get a shock when there card apears printed in the cloud on my bussiness card indelably in the plastic, i have that and the number 14 for the easy dice trick .

as for tricks to get bookings i've always used the haunted key my pet favourate.

yes love that haunted key. Cheap and cheerful! i also use drunken deck and write my details on the back of one of the 'drunk cards' or (depending on lighting) i have used 'Spooked' as a demo trick.

Plastic business cards are a great idea.

After I make my business card appear, I always put my card face up on the table and then do a card trick with a force.

The forced card is of course printed on the reverse of the business card when they turn it over. I know it's an old one but it's very visual and it adds another dimension.

I always find that if you can do two or three tricks with your card before handing it over, rather than just one then the impact increases.

Another option is to use an 'ASH PEN' (those in the know here will understand that!). That gives very interesting options with business card magic (clients name appears on the back of your business card etc). You force a card, find the wrong one and so on...