I am 13 years old and I perform for many people in the city and at the park. Its really fun and i enjoy it but im looking to make some extra cash. I have been doing magic for about 7 years now and I have only made a few bucks here and there. How could I earn money on the streets??????

Get a Da m good act and start busking. But at 13 bring along a parent to watch your back.

As for more information, if you have to ask how to get an act together, you're not anywhere ready to perform.

Paddy

Take Paddy's advice

Also "hit and run" or "Blaine" type of street magic...you seldom get $$ for..have you ever seen anyone on Blaine's videos offer $$ ?

Go through these forums and look at pretty much everything paddy and DaveV have to say about this subject. They have a plethora of knowledge on the subject and will definitely help. You just have to do some research yourself. Also, you may want to search for Gazzo (he has a book on the subject) and Jim Celini (he has some products as well, I believe a movie and possibly some more material, I blank right now though).

Videos about Cellini can be found at www.kozmomagic.com and include "The Art of Street Performing" volumes 1-3, "Lord and Master of the Rings", and "Magic that can be performed anywhere". Cellini's book "The Royal Touch" also describes Cellini's street magic.

None of it is a "How To" make money guide, but learn from Cellini and the money will soon follow.

Everybody thinks that street magic is an easy way to make money. Then they see Blaine and Angel with their group of actors pretending to be a crowd and going "ooh." that is all staged and pure CRAP!

My sidewalk show is 16 minutes long. Not 14 minutes or 17 minutes but 16 minutes. The "ad lib" lines are all rehearsed, even the heckler lines and yes you will be heckled by some idiots. I just bought a "steel ball routine" for $97 from another place that I won't mention and am incorporating it into my act. It takes about 7 minutes. So far I have practiced it for 8 hours and am showing it to my mentor in magic for his suggestions to make it better, then I will start to rehearse it for a minimum of 8 hours, then I will rehearse my new act for 16 hours minimum before I put it on the streets. Yes I am keeping 8 minutes of my act and changing 7 minutes so why rehearse the whole act? to get it RIGHT so that it FLOWS well and can make me money. I use the stage actors formula of one hour of practice and one hour of rehearsals for every minute on the stage MINIMUM.

Practice is what actors call "blocking" going thru the motions without the words and rehearsal include the patter you have written.

Why all this effort? because what we do is an art form. if we screw up we will expose how an effect is performed or we might even ruin someone's enjoyment of the act. O mission it to make sure that anyone who stops to watch us forgets about the buills and worries for that short part of rthe day and just laughs and enjoys life for a short span of time. we don't have a job, we have a calling to entertain.

Paddy

If you're serious about earning money with your magic, my advice would be to take it off the streets. Performing in restaurants or at parties is much more likely to earn you cash, provided you have a good act lined up.

Not true. I average $100 an hour for each hour I am on the street. Obviously I make zilch for the first hour or 2 until the crowds get there, then I make much more when they are there. But $100 is a good average. I am not even CLOSE to what Kosmo, Bobby Maverick, or Gazzo make. In fact there are some local buskers that put me to shame, they work mabe 4 hours a day and pull in close to $1000 a day.

You don't make that in restaurants. but busking is not for everybody either, it takes a certain amount of balls to get out there on the streets.

Paddy

Paddy is correct. If you have a great act, and work hard, busking can be profitable. But also remember, there is a risk there too.