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truerserenity New user 16 Posts |
Hi
Just a thought for those here, but do you realise that it's possible to earn a full time income from volunteering to do free shows for old peoples homes and such like? Whilst I am currently not working professionally many years back in the early 90's I tried out an experiment which worked which I'd like to share with you all. Basically I looked through local phone directories and found all of the Old Folks homes within a reasonable radius of my home and there were lots of them. I contacted each of these homes and offered them 90 minutes of free magical entertainment, namely 30 minutes in a cabaret format where I'd do a stand up style performance for all the residents and then for the next hour I'd socialise with the residents in their lounge area and do close up for people. I explained that as at the time I didn't drive I'd need a taxi to and from their home and as the odd bits and bobs had to be purchased to do the tricks that whilst I usuallt charged £150 or more for such work that I'd do it 100% free if they could cover the expenses. Now the first time I asked this much to my suprise they replied that they could indeed cover expenses from their social & recreational fund but that the maximum they paid for any single event was £30. Now the truth is at the time I'd got a weekly bus ticket that cost at the time around £10 for unlimited travel for the week and would be using that so I stood to make £20 profit on first show alone. Now armed with the knowledge that these places are used to paying expenses for such things I continued to contact the other homes and to cut a long story short managed to get the vast majority to book me and happily pay anywhere from £20 up to £35 for expenses. I managed to, allowing for bus travel time as I planned my route well from one home to the next and scheduled things carefully to get to 3 different homes in a day... This on average was giving me an income of £75 a day (sometimes more sometimes less) and I was able to do this five days a week - £75 by 5 = £375 and remember this was all paid in cash and we are going back to early 90's. This amount of £375 on average a week may not sound a lot but compared to many normal jobs was actually above national average weekly earnings and as explained was and I would wager still is easy to achieve. I say still is as now my own Grandmother is in such a home and I know they are still on occasion bringing in entertainers and I am aware that they still happily pay around the £25 to £35 mark for expenses. Oh and I almost forgot to mention that although the home paid you these expenses to show up, I was often encouraged to accept tips from the residents. Now at first I felt bad about doing this until it was explained to me that they would be offended and upset if I did not accept such tips, which whilst usually only a £1 here or 50p there, usually by end of a day with 3 homes being done in a day could easily produce another £40 or more in tips, which over the course of five days is another £200 cash income. so if you're looking for a way to practice new material, gain some working experience and using the aforementioned approach make in excess of £500 profit a week then perhaps this is a solution for you to finally be able to say goodbye to that "normal" job. Obviously these days its easier to find the venues thanks to the internet, William PS: I've introduced myself properly in the correct section of this site so feel free to check out the introductions section of Café. Posted: Jul 11, 2011 4:46am I forgot to mention that assuming you actually entertain the people and they have a good time then its quite easy to get rebooked every few weeks (4 to 8 - although I found 6 to be an average) at the same homes on a repeat basis. If you've got a car (as eventually I did) and are prepeared to plan your route and travel up to 25 miles raius of your home then certainly if you live near Manchester as I do in UK then finding 90 different Old Folks homes between all the local towns and villages to book you should not be that difficult, and that's all you need to be solidly booked as per my example for 6 weeks by which time you can be looking at going back to them all in order again. I personally don't do this anymore as am too busy with home life and other things but I have a friend who is a male vocalist (singer) and he still uses this exact business plan and is still regularly doing 3 (sometimes 4) homes each day of the week, and in his case as hes a workaholic he also does some at weekends as well. William |
Leland Inner circle St Louis 1180 Posts |
I’ve thought about doing this at daycares for small children and rest homes for the elderly. I can probably perform the same or close to the same show every time with little changes.
Did you find that they wanted a fresh show every time, for your repeat sites or were you able to get away with making slight modifications to your show? Great idea now I have to take it and run with it.
Life of Magic!
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Morjhana New user 61 Posts |
Interesting post True. Leland, if you don't mind me saying, be careful how young of an age you perform to. The younger the child (kindergarten and under) the shorter the attention span. I used to do school presentations and would have to do the kindergarten class separately as the attention span is about 10 min max. Younger than that? You're crazy! (IMO)
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satellite23 Elite user 424 Posts |
LOL Morjhana, 10 minutes is easy for me!!!! I can go 15 or 20, I just haven't had much experience going past 15 minutes though....
Anyways, very interesting post. That might actually be fun to do, although I do not drive either. It's awesome when you do something xpecting to go for free, but end up with payment. Just a few weeks ago, I performed at a charity benefit for free, but came away with 10 bucks and 4 movie tickets!!!! That's awesome seeing that itt was my first real gig ever. |
bluemagic Loyal user 271 Posts |
MR Ammar did as he was going thru school.old folks home.
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magicplace Regular user 131 Posts |
There's always something to learn from everything that we do. Performing under any condition helps us learn the do's and do not's of being a magician. There really is no better learning ground for the magic that you perform than under some really tough and not so glamorous situations.
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bluemagic Loyal user 271 Posts |
I like the Idea, what kind of tricks to do?Where do we start,with a phone call or a letter?
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Leland Inner circle St Louis 1180 Posts |
If you're performing for kids the simple effects go a long way. You just have to be entertaining. By that I mean funny, goofy a comedy act. You have to test the waters to find out what works best for you.
Life of Magic!
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bluemagic Loyal user 271 Posts |
How about older people.i do professes night mare and ring and rope.i also do card stab but might not be suited for this type of show.
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DavidLevitan New user 15 Posts |
Kindergarten kids can watch a show for an hour if youare good. Don't underestimate their intelligence.
Do great magic and make it fun |
JonesingForTruth New user 59 Posts |
This is fascinating... I wonder if I could do something similar here just on a smaller scale.
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aalexander Loyal user 232 Posts |
Quote:
On 2012-03-07 22:36, DavidLevitan wrote: I think the key is to remember that the kids don't care if you have a polished magical act, and that you can be comfortable wandering wherever their attention spans take you. They just want to have fun. Grownups are the ones who care if it looks like magic the way that they expect it. |
ronnyman New user Indiana 56 Posts |
As I mentioned in another thread I think the referrals you can end up with from working old folks' homes are well worth it. If you can do some for free-without charging expenses it's a good practice place.
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highcard New user 48 Posts |
Quote:
I explained that as at the time I didn't drive I'd need a taxi to and from their home and as the odd bits and bobs had to be purchased to do the tricks that whilst I usuallt charged £150 or more for such work that I'd do it 100% free if they could cover the expenses. Quote:
Now the truth is at the time I'd got a weekly bus ticket that cost at the time around £10 for unlimited travel for the week and would be using that so I stood to make £20 profit on first show alone. So basically, you lied to them in order to profit. That's not something that I would be comfortable doing as I feel it's unethical. |
Nick_Lande New user 1 Post |
I do most of my performances in small theaters and whenever I have the opportunity I try and convince the house to put the tickets up for free and we can split the profits of the bar if there is one. I have consistently earned more this way and had larger audiences with more opportunities to follow. Plus I usually still make some tips which is nice
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