these questions are the most common i have seen on this forum,

so in answer to "am i ready to perform" to break it down,

You ARE NOT ready to work and perform for resteraunts or other gigs unless you absolutley can not mis-perfrom your routines. Practice until you can not get it wrong.

Next, Unless you can make your audience/table/spectator feel comfortable about you interacting with them then you will definantly have a hard time explaining to your boss why you can't do your job as an entertainer.

FInally, if you can not handle both positive and negative feedback from both hecklers and your table/specs, then you should not attempt to do magic proffessionally.

In response to "How do i get a job" well this is how i do it...

I go to a resteraunt i would like to work in and do a few tricks at the bar, and get people talking about me, the bartenders usually say that i should ask about working there (Restearaunts are always looking for ways to attract people to their venue. or i ask if they would be interested in me working for them, then they will usually ask the owner, who 90% of the time comes out to meet me and thats when i say i would like to work for him/her.

Then if the owners are interested i offer to do a nights free work to see what reactions i get, which are always good, and that usually leads to a nice job performing magic.


hope this helps, and hopes that people can add to these answers

Feel free to add to this people, thats just my two cents, i would love to hear other peoples oppinions

maverick1234 wrote:

OK, I won't even THINK of correcting the spelling on this one, but in 10 years I have never even seen, let alone been in a "resteraunt." I have been in and out of a number of restaurants, however.

OK I couldn't help that one. The thing I am going to comment on here is that this is not the right way to get a job. Everybody has "Uncle George" that does "magic" tricks. To do this makes you look like another "Uncle George." If you want to work restaurants you have to give them what they want. It is not an Uncle George, what they want is a PROFESSIONAL ENTERTAINER.

Therefore that is how you have to approach them. You have to talk to the general manager, NOT the manager on duty, you want the BIG kahuna only. You have to have a professional looking brochure. I have a six page booklet with my picture and my statement of how I can HELP the restaurant meet their goals. When I turn the booklet over there is a copy of my performers liability insurance. After I introduce myself I show the cover and then flip it over and tell them that I am insured to protect them and in 10 years I have never had a claim on the insurance.

After proving that I can help the restaurant I give them my price and offer a one night audition. That's it. Always act, think and be professional. Remember they don't want you, they only care about how you will affect their bottom line.

Paddy has said it perfectly, but there are just a couple of additional things would like to add.

1. Before even thinking about performing table side magic in a restaurant, you need to understand how a restaurant works. The wait staff and the management have their own objectives and goals. You need to understand what those objectives and goals are in order to ensure that you can work effectively with these people as a team. If the staff feel threatened by you in any way, or if they perceive you as an obstacle to their success, you will be doomed to fail.

In order to gain a full appreciation of these goals and objectives, I think every good peformer needs to spend some time working in a restaurant, serving on customers, busing the tables, and doing everything else needed to succeed.

2. Working in a restaurant will also have another important benefit. It will get you comfortable in talking with strangers. This is the biggest weakness that many new performers have - they have tremendous technical skill and no personality to go with it. When working in a restaurant, you are much more than some guy performing tricks - you are an ambassador for the establishment and it is your job to ensure that everyone has a pleasant, enjoyable evening. This goes waay beyond the performance of mere tricks.

3. Once you have the ability to approach strangers and act in a positive manner as an ambassador to the restaurant, you have already paved the road to success. There is an old adage that if people like you, they will want you to succeed. This is true in magic as well. You have to think of each table as a job interview. Within the first 10 seconds, people will be making a judgment as to whether or not they like you. If they like you, they will respond much more positively to your magic.

4. This brings me to the next point. To say that you have to be able to perform your tricks perfectly without ever messing up is an unrealistic goal. The reality is that, if you perform long enough, you will mess up at some point in time. The test of a true professional is how you handle things when you do mess up. If people like you, they will want to see you succeed and, as a result, they will be much more forgiving of the "rare" mistake you might make. Above and beyond that, however, you should really think about what might possibly go wrong with a trick and figure out some "outs" for those situations.

5. What about hecklers? Again, if people like you, they will want you to succeed. This, in itself, minimizes the hecklers you will face. After all, if you are a nice, likeable person and you perform your effects competently, what is there to heckle? I find that hecklers come into play more often when a performer sets up a win-lose atmosphere in his performance. In my experience, this type of a "challenge" scenario is not enjoyable for spectators and is only satisfying to the performer. As such, I would encourage magicians to avoid it at all costs.

6. How to get the job? See the above post. Make an appointment with the GM at a time when he is not busy. Describe the benefits that you can bring to the restaurant. You may even go so far as to offer a free hour so he can see you in action. If you do this, remember that the GM couldn't care less about your magic. He cares about the customers. After all, they're the ones bringing in the money. So,. when you perform, be sure to have him watch the customers and guage their reactions. Also have the restaurant place customer feedback forms on the tables so the customers can leave their comments about you.

These suggestions are made with the view of just getting you in the door. Once you are in, there is a whole new set of challenges.

Kent

Excellent follow up Kent.

Well said. I strongly agree with point number 1. Get in there and see it for yourself. Plus it helps you with your people skills (point 2)!

Heh, reading all this makes me want to go back into restaurant again.

Justin