By the way Dan and Donald is love to hear the same from you if you had time.

I was actually just going over my summer numbers this morning so I can give you the exact percent. Since the start of May, 52.38 percent of gigs tipped. This counts everything though, not just kids parties. This was easy to count, just took the total amount of shows and decided by the amount of individual tips. Counting just birthday parties would take longer and I don't have time at the moment.

Darn fine percentage Fedora.

Yes, in this day, age, and economy, 40% or better is good.

Dude I intend to die in office!

I can not imagine you giving up something you guys have spent so much time to build so correctly. Hard to retire from something that doesn't even really feel like work.

LOL!

When I met Jen, she was teaching physics and chemistry to High School students. She gave that up to become my face painting and balloon twister. Can you imagine what her parents think of me? Well, I can tell you she is MUCH happier as a children’s entertainer.

Why I’m blessed is because, despite the amount of time we spend together (like almost all the time) we still like each other.

I kind of feel like that too. However, there is the occasional kid show that goes horribly wrong. I simply want to put myself in a financial position to have the option to say, “Never again!”

Okay, you asked for it. LOL

I never intended to be a children’s entertainer. I was going to be David Copperfield, even before David Copperfield was a thing. Then I went through my Lance Burton phase. Through trial and error, I realized that not only did I enjoy performing for children, I was good at it. And I could see a clear path to a respectable income in this field.

I went through high school KNOWING that I’d be a professional magician. So, why go to college? I hated school anyway. So, when graduated High School I declared myself a professional magician. The next 3 months I booked TWO SHOWS! I had a decent act but had to admit I knew nothing about business. Very discouraged, I ran to first minimum wage job I could get at JCPenney.

It would be almost 10 years before I got the courage and confidence to try it again. But this time I knew about business from 8 years at JCPenney and later worked as salesman. I took several college courses about business, and most importantly I learned about positive thinking and persistence.

At this point I found myself with a wife and 2 young children to support. So, I had to keep my full-time job. I worked Monday through Friday at the sales job and did shows on the weekends. It seemed the only time I could practice and learn new routines was early in the morning when the kids were asleep. So, my normal time to get up was 4am, an excellent habit that still sticks with me today.

I was ready to try it again in the summer of 1995. I successfully booked myself at restaurants 6 nights per week, and my weekend business was still good. But at the end of the summer all but 1 of my restaurant jobs came to an end. So, I needed to go back to work, but I didn’t want to give up my weekend work. And to complicate things further, I was know separated from my wife. I had custody of our young children Monday through Thursday.

My plan was to go to Blackjack school and become a dealer at the Atlantic City Casinos and work the weekends on the 4am to noon shift. This way I could do my shows after my shift.

I was hired at Trump’s Taj Mahal. That’s right, I worked for Donald Trump. LOL. For 3 years I got up at 2:30am, worked my 4am to noon shift at the Casino, then did my shows, sometimes up to 5 per weekend.

Monday through Thursday I took care of my kids. But that’s not all I did. This is the time period where I put together my first school assembly and everything I needed to market it successfully.

The fall of 1999 would be the first year my kids would both be in school all day, leaving me the ability to work on weekdays.

When the mass mailing hit the schools for my ‘Just Say No’ Magic show it was big success! Now with steady weekday income AND strong weekend business I felt comfortable quitting my job at the casino.

So, I’ve been a full-time pro since the fall of 1999. When I met Jen is 2001 it was the icing on the cake. Her face painting and balloon twisting was great add on.

Did I leave anything out Danny? LOL

Sure lol!

How did the packages evolve? That had to be tough with this path.

Incredible story of success Ken. Very inspirational. The path forward is never a straight line. You just kept moving to it.

Now THAT is a story I’d pay to hear as a motivational speech!!!!

Thank you for allowing me to interrogate you.

As another 4:00 a.m. riser, I'll probably be the first to respond here, lol. Great story Ken.

I've found that every successful performer has a similar type story behind them. I felt so happy for you in 1999 for both going full time and discovering school assemblies. School Assemblies and fundraisers is also the market that changed my life as well, so I can relate. So many talk about poor magicians, but it is even worse in the school market. So many think the market is simply doing your kids show with a message on a silk or banner, but there is more to it than that. To me, it is one of the greatest performance markets once you truly understand it, what it is not, and all that it entails, which very few do.

Learning entertainment business is so important. Also you dealt in real honesty in admitting that you didn't know the business side and took action to learn and change that.

I think many that decide to do this (performing) have a period where their commitment is tested and it is hard, but also it is usually just a matter of time before a shift happens and it can really pay off.

I love hearing about what not to do or what one had to do in order to commit, grow, and become established before finding their success.

Thanks Ken! Great job, you should be proud. Being happy and doing what you love successfully is a life accomplishment.

That's a great story, Ken. Thanks for taking the time to share. And congratulations.

I had to smile when you said you wanted to be the next Copperfield before he came along: back in my teenage years, I wanted to be the next Thurston or Carter. Actually, Carter used to live in San Francisco, as did I, so one day I took the bus to his old house on Camino Del Mar hoping it would inspire me (let's say I made a pilgrimage). Even funnier, a few months later, one of my clown gigs was at a house right across the street from his.

Almost all of us have SOMETHING or someone who inspires us to take the path we do. The best part is when we find out that nobody will ever be the next XXX but rather will be the ONLY one of you there is.

Give me a good linking ring and rope routine and I'm your audience. I love them both! haha. I'm also a fan of ambitious card so there's that.

If Linking Rings are 2,000 years old, then that means 1,999 years ago audiences were saying “oh man not that $#% ring trick again!

I don't keep track of what percentage of bday clients add caricatures, I should, but that's now how my brain works! I'm guessing about 30-50% depending on the month, and depending on how much I try to sell the idea. Caricatures are a harder sell than balloons and face painting for various reasons. I did balloon twisting also for 25 years but quit cause it hurts my hands and I got sick of it, but that really helped me get more gigs cause I could do a show and balloons. It also helped when I did a little game leading and face painting as an add-on, but got tired of doing all that. The biggest tip I got was $500 for doing caricatures at a house party on new years eve - the client had a nice house but didn't seem rich, and I really was stunned.

I think caricature art is a FANTASTIC add on. It would hit me INSTANTLY as something that would be really cool for the party.

Do they take long to do?

I agree, and wish it was a skill I had. I have trouble drawing anything other than a snowman, basic geometric shapes, and maybe some stickman drawings - that's about it. We do quite well with Caricature artists both old-school (by hand/analog) and electronic (tech). Both always go over very well.

I draw 15-20 people an hour, I got used to being quick from having long lines. When people think of add-ons for birthdays they don't think of caricatures that much unless they've seen me do it. They tend to think of face painting and balloons since they see it done everywhere, same with their kids. They also tend to think it's slower than it is, or that kids wouldn't have the patience to sit, or that they wouldn't be interested. When the parents bring it up to the kids sometimes they like the idea, but often the idea doesn't compute, and they would rather have balloons or face painting. Other times it's the cost or that they have other stuff planned. But I can often get them into the idea, and if they want my show specifically, then the only add on option is the caricatures unless they get other people also. The downside of add-ons is if you make less per hour that way, then that may prevent you from doing other gigs due to the time conflict - so when that happens you've stabbed yourself in the foot. For example, if you spend 2 or more hours at a party, and you can do 2 gigs that day, you might end up making less than if you did 3 shows on one day without the add-ons. It's hard for me to figure out what works out best, but it seems like the add-ons are a good thing overall. Sometimes they may hire you specifically because you do a show AND other stuff.