talkmagic.co.uk

If you're going to perform on the street and then sell the tricks after your performance, you're going to need to be able to draw in a crowd from your performance and you're going to need to make that performance good enough so that people are going to want to buy what you're selling. You will need to be a good showman. And even if you can draw in a crowd, the majority of them aren't really going to be interested in buying the trick afterwards.

Have you worked out what your initial outlay is going to be, you're going to have to buy quite a bit of stock to get started with and have your worked out what you're going to need to sell in order to turn a profit. Many of the big magic shops don't make a huge amount of money and have to suppliment their income by selling jokes and fancy dress.

As someone has said already, perhaps you'd be better off working in a magic shop, you'll have a much more stable income that way and you'll learn alot about the magic business.

If this is your dream then by all means go for it, but it will really pay for you to learn the magic industry first.

so nobody here can help me with a wholesaler in UK?

The biggest wholesaler is Murphy's Magic at http://www.murphysmagic.com but I wouldn't get your hopes up about them allowing you to open a credit account.

why is that dat8962 ? what do you need to have a account with them?

You will likely need to provide proof that you are already an existing trader such as a company registration certificate, possibly some trade references, possibly a guarenteur, proof of a business address etc.

If you have these then all should be well.

You have to consider that businesses don't just send out cartons of their products on the say so of everyone who phones or emails them - more's the pity.

Just give them a call and speak to them - you've got nothing to lose.

noomkla wrote:does a music shop selling guitars have to be good at showmanship? no

So why cant i just sell magic tricks? im not saying im a brick? im just not a huge showman that can get bookings

You're right, you don't need to be good at playing guitar to sell one and that's because, in the case of guitars, the product sells itself. A guitarist will try a guitar that they like the look of and if it sounds nice nice and plays nicely they will then decide that they want to buy it.

With magic the same principle applies but the process works differently. No magician will buy a trick if the only knowledge they have of that trick is seeing someone perform it badly. The performance makes the trick what it is. If you look at this forum you will notice a very extensive review section, where people share their experiences and opinions of particular tricks, you'll also notice that a number of people buy the tricks that get good reviews, that's because as magicians we need to know that the trick is worth buying before we buy it...If we see someone with no showmanship performing the trick we aren't going to have any confidence in the product.

Of course if you have your heart set on this business plan then nothing any of us say is likely to change your mind...even though a large number of the regulars of this forum have a lot of business sense as well as magic knowledge (IMHO you need both to be a working proffesional in this industry).
If you do go ahead with it, I strongly suggest you learn to perform first and I think you will not put a lot more thought into your business plan than you have at present.

i can perform, im a very funny character, im honest too, soo i can tell you that my performance alone is not great, but i love magic thats why i want too sell tricks.

example, i play drums (really well) but im not that good that i can join big bands and do tours, but i would enjoy selling drums.

does that make sense?

noomkla, if you are really serious about setting up a magic shop, then the best of luck to you.

If a business is your interest I'd have a scout around, and talk to people (like Mike Danata - his shop is down in Bournemouth, and there's a link to his website below) who have already gone that route.

Be as careful and polite as possible, and please don't be offended if they simply ignore you, chances are they are all going to be pretty busy and they may well get an awful lot of similar correspndance from time-wasters. If you treat them with respect, I expect the worst that will happen is a polite, but negative response.

The government has an awful lot of information about setting up your own business, becoming self employed and so forth. It's worth seeking out advice in that direction. A lot of their advice is free and easily available, and if you're going to go into business you'll need to know firstly how to run a business - that it's a magic business is mostly irrelevant. This includes the basics like taxes, employee rights and contracts.

Multiple posts on the same topic are a waste of time and space, we've offered enough advice so I think we move on. This thread is now locked, as will be any others on the same topic.