Hello fellow penguins, Here's where I'm at
I've known for a while now I want to end up doing kids magic (at least for the foreseeable future). I've got a 50-60min kid's show prepared (loosely based on disc 1 of Sean Taylor's No Fail Kids Show Magic, Also quickly how old are the kids in the first DVD??) I've practiced, practiced and practiced some more. Right when I felt I knew it through and through I practiced some more. I feel that I'm ready to start performing.

How do I go about booking show, how do I get my name out there. How did you guys first break through to performing. Any advice you guys can share will be greatly appreciated

Thank you. Jay

P.S I want to get some business card printed up, any tips???

I have a free blog just for people who want to book gigs...

www.paidtoperform.blogspot.com

yes Benjii has that blog about booking gigs. HOWEVER, Benjii is a CORPORATE magus, NOT a kid's show man. These are two very different venues and the tactics will not be the same.

Things differ depending on your age, location, and budget. Give us these details and we may be able to help you more.

In my personal opinion Sean Taylor's performance would fall very flat for todays kids. I have seen all the dvds and wasn't impressed.

A 50-60 minute presentation when you are just starting out in the kids market is not a good idea, cut that in half and aim for 30 minutes.

How do you want to promote yourself?

Do you want to do festivals for kids? Birthday parties? Schools? Daycares?

each one has a different technique...if you can narrow it down some, we'll be able to give you some tips that can help get you started.

I was thinking, to begin with, I'll just target kids parties. See what happens from there.

BTW, for those that don't know. Kyle learned from THE MASTER himself, Mr David Ginn. We have all learned from his books and DVDs but Kyle learned from David personally. Kyle is the Big Kahuna of knowledge about kids shows so LISTEN TO HIM. I do.

Paddy

If you want to target kids parties there are several things you'll need to be sure you have straight before you get started. First of all, this is a competitive market everywhere, so make sure you have a great show that'll stand up to any other entertainers in your area. You'll need to find out what the going rate for a kids birthday party show is in your area and set your prices similar (You don't want to undercut the market...OR yourself).

there are several advertising avenues you can take. 1st thing you should do is take out an ad in the yellow pages. Many people grab the phone book first when looking for a local entertainer. It shouldn't cost too much at all to do this, and it'll be well worth it in the long run.

Another great option is to take out an ad out in family magazines and party planning magazines. If you go to your closest party store such as "Party City" or "Party Zone", you'll be able to find the magazines you should check into.

Get out and perform! See if you can't get involved doing walk-around magic/balloons at festivals. Try to perform mostly for kids and when you're finished, hand your card to the parents! (Be sure to have the word "Birthday" somewhere on your business card!) Things like this are great forms of exposure, and a great way to allow parents/potential clients a way to visually see your work!

MOST IMPORTANT!!!! ...Make a WEBSITE! It'll cost you about $50-$80 per year, but you can make TWICE that in one show...believe me, it's well worth it...especially since EVERYONE is hooked up to the internet. Attach key words to your website search such as "Birthday magician" "Magic Show", "[insert your town here]", "party entertainment", etc so that people who search these things will be directed to your webpage. Be sure to include plenty of pictures and clear descriptions of the services you have to offer!

NOW, you mentioned getting business cards printed up. I highly recommend a company named "Got Print"
http://gotprint.net/g/welcome.do

I use them to print my business cards, and postcards that I send out for advertising. Their quality is AMAZING...with the uv coating the cards are glossy, and waterproof! People are impressed with a nice card. The company is very reasonably priced as well; a box of 1000 cards, color on both sides, with UV coating will run you about $35-$40. Check it out!

We just appeared in a show together in Alabama a few weekends ago. First time I've seen him in a while, but he's still doing great. He had back surgery earlier this year and had to perform a bunch of shows on a stool, but now he's fine and performing on his feet again! I attached a picture of he and I backstage to this post




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Cj Johnson Has Some good stuff I have read his book Its called More Shows More money Goes over all the ins-and outs of marketing.

CJ Is A magician In Texas Hes in The College Market He travels all over the USA.

Check His Stuff Out Its a great Book With A 100% money back guarantee.

This is off topic but I use to have over 500 posts I havent signed in ..in awhile but why did it reset my posts?

Strange