Hey everyone!

I've was into magic for somewhere around three years, but mostly studied and appreciated magic rather than performed. Really, my friends never saw me do a card trick and my family saw the occasional effect. I'd like to get back into magic after being hands-off (although I was never fully hands on!)for two years. My goal is to perform for small groups with the possibility of eventual restaurant gigs to pocket some extra cash (but that's not why I'm getting back into it, I promise!).

I need your advice!

Where should I start? Should I put more emphasis on tricks or technique to start off? How soon should I perform and let my friends and family know "Hey, I can do these cool things now" and allow that entertainment pressure (I'm actually most worried about the pressure to always show tricks to regular people once I have that "magician rep" - but I can't show them the same tricks over and over or keep up with their demand!).

Here are my current supplies:
The Royal Road to Card Magic, Expert Card Technique, Bobo's Modern Coin Magic, Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic, 13 Steps To Mentalism, Practical Mental Magic, some spongeballs, and rope.

I'm most interested in "practical" magic - cards, coins, everyday objects, etc. and not mentalism or stage magic.

How should I begin?

Looks like you've got some great material on your hands. My advise would be to go through and pick out 2 or maybe 3 of your favorite effects and just practice them to the hilt. Until you know every in and out. And also what your going to say so you can just relax when you get to perform. And then show everyone; family, friends, people at work/school, friends of friends. Just ease yourself back into performing. Start casually. Don't feel like you have to make a grand statement about how you're a magician now. Don' worry about the pressure to keep coming up with new stuff. Sooner or later you'll get a 'set' going.
Start small. And you'll find some people will be really interested and want more, others wont - and that's fine! Magic isn't everyone's thing. Just get used to being in front of people doing magic. With time, your reputation within different social circles will grow.
Hope any of that helps/makes sense.
Let us know how it goes!

Thanks!

I think my plan will be to work through The Royal Road to Card Magic and perfect a handful of my favorite effects and then start easing back in. Until I'm in high gear and have a few sets, should I just politely decline continually showing magic to people that have already seen the tricks? Not wanting to give them away and such. I suppose my question is, how should I deal with regular friends and family?

I was told when I started and only did a few tricks (because I was told the same as you, to learn like 3 tricks and really do them well) that if someone wanted to see something new, just be honest and say you don't do anything else. This may motivate you to want to learn more, saying that you don't know any other tricks at the moment. HAVE FUN!

-Ari

I started learning magic when I was very young (maybe 8?) but didn't really get into it until high school (I'm 23 now). I knew a lot of basics, stuff that you get in all the magic kits, but like you, I didn't want to carry around a bunch of weird looking stuff with me. With that in mind, here's my advice. Remember that this is my OPINION and may not all apply to you. Also, I'm not a professional, though I hope that will change in the near future.


Tricks or Technique?:
I would learn tricks. Techniques will come as you go. Magic is no fun if you aren't performing and you can't tell someone "hey, I learned how to force a card, check it out!"


Tricks:
Cards are fantastic. They pack small and can be used to create virtually any emotion you want in your spectators depending on the trick and on your performing style. I've gotten people to freak out, laugh, and get scared in less than 15 minutes with only a deck of cards. Learn a couple of flourishes because, come on, you want to show off just a little. Learn the pass, some forces, and some controls. A good ambitious card routine can force you to learn some great stuff.

Coins. I'm not a fan of coin magic so I'm not the one to talk about it, haha.

I did a lot of magic in high school, and just about everyone there knew who I was. The two tricks that people wanted to see the most (like every time they saw me) were the Self-Tying Shoelace and my metal bending. Check out Banachek's and Morgan Strebler's work on fork bending. It may seem weird to carry around a couple of forks in your pockets, but I was never sorry I did.

Overall, choose tricks that you think are really cool or you won't enjoy performing them.


Practice:
Practice is super important, but do it right. Don't take shortcuts. Of course practice in front of a mirror, or record yourself and watch it so you don't have to divide your attention between watching yourself and actually doing the thing. Find someone you trust to show things to when they're about 75% ready. I've always used my mom. Then I fine-tune it with the input she gives me.


Style:
Be yourself! Don't be afraid to explore different styles, but perform the way it feels natural to you. Enjoy yourself and other people will enjoy it.


Psychology:
Read all you can on WHY magic works. Once you know how people think, you'll know how to fool and impress them. For instance, just taking an extra 5 seconds before turning over the card in the last phase of an Ambitious routine makes a huge difference.


That's my advice, I hope it helps you out. If you're curious what kind of results I get, here's a video of me last night at a talent show here on campus.

http://youtu.be/sNPvpd9RtAk