This is the thing I would be most concerned with than anything else. I have had sever students/clients come to me after having made bad impressions all over town/or their area. Even though they have gotten better and greatly improved (both in their business and performance) they can not overcome the perception, stigma, and reputation that had developed over the previous couple to few years. It meets him everywhere we go.

One of the services I've offered for years is spending a day, weekend, or week with me either here in Las Vegas or in their home town. These have proven to be so beneficial as most learn more about themselves, their business, and their market(s) than they ever could have imagined. So one of the guys that had me come to his town to see his operation, his market, and his performance (he was interested in my assistance in the business aspects and operations, but also my performance mentoring and producing). I arrived mid-afternoon the day before we were to get together and begin. I had to eat and then started talking to people around town asking if they knew this magician or anything about him. I recorded some of the feedback on my phone's voice recorder. His reputation was horrible. People he would have never thought of (laypeople as well as businesses he was affiliated with) consistently mentioned he was a bad magician, wasn't a real magician, wasn't professional, and even that he was a joke. A small handful had never heard of him but most had and few had anything positive or encouraging to say about him. Of course with this feedback came some of their horror stories.

It was hard to break this to him and his wife, but necessary. He had no clue. He had made the mistake that many performers do listening to the "compliments" he felt he was receiving after his performances. These led him to believe he was doing quite well in the eyes of his community. As we probed deeper into this it was realized that his reputation was so bad that many of the people he approached for bookings (businesses, the town's events, senior living places, churches, schools, and even local charities that offered his services for free said they avoid him and would never even consider using him again in the future. He had no idea of any of this.

Four months later they actually moved to start again in a new community and began coaching. His biggest regret in hindsight? No being properly prepared and ready before attempting to perform and do business in the town he was born and raised. Realizing that he did not know what he thought he knew, and just how bad the perception of him was. Also that he knew nothing about the business of performing and entertainment.

The four months in between our session and their move he attempted to do damage control and let people know how much he had progressed, but no one listened or cared.

Right now this is my greatest concern. Not that Fedora is probably putting his time and effort into the wrong things, that he doesn't know what he is truly offering, and that he is operating from his own me-based mentality. I'm very concerned by the damage he could be doing to himself. I do not believe he is in Phoenix where this could be lost in the volume, but in his community that is much smaller where damage could be lasting and multifaceted.

What are you doing as far as weddings?

Fedora, if you are doing kid shows, let me make a suggestion.

Why not use the kid shows as a step ladder to something else? Tell your kidshow parents that you also do a different show for company meetings, family nights, etc. Some say you should not mix the two, but company people are parents too. And the thinking is why couldn’t a ‘Magician’ do any type of show? Much like the daycare centers are the lead headquarters for birthday parties, birthday parties can be the lead headquarters for other shows. The more you ASK the more you grow.

Tip: To have any success, instead of wearing a costume to the birthday show, wear a suit. Its important to look like a magician, not a clown. Nothing wrong with clown outfits but those won’t get asked to come to the adult meetings. Also, have something with you at every show to do for the parents. If you’re in a small community, you should be positioned to be THE magician for ALL occasions.

For weddings I contact folks getting married directly, most brag on the Internet
months ahead of time, so they aren't hard to find.

Solicitation takes time, but it works, I wouldn't call it regular work, but I do weddings
fairly often.

I believe industry folks goes to expos and whatnot, never been to one myself.

You just don’t seem to have a plan.

You don’t call it regular work but you do them fairly often? What does this mean? I’m sorry but those are meaningless subjective terms and unfortunately this is the way you tend to communicate here.

I don’t understand you’re doing this as you say for a “full time” job as you say.

You just seem so scattered and with no real plan I don’t see how you can realistically expect results at all. Even your plan doesn’t seem to be a plan of any sort. Have you ever written down a business of any sort? Pretend you are trying to sell the idea to some investor and map out your plans for the next week, month, six months, year and 5 years. Not dreams, not goals but absolute plans.

Right now you seem to just be pushing from one unobtainable idea to the next. It is just such an ineffective and incredibly expensive way to operate. If you want to run a business then do so like a business.

I live in the west valley of the phoenix metro area, this particular
town has around 100.000 folks, but phoenix is only 30 minutes away.

I go essentially anywhere in the valley, I do avoid the east side
unless there's a good reason, if you've tried to drive through phoenix
at rush hour you know why.

Regular work and fairly often is two very different things,
to be more specific, anywhere from 0-2 a month depending on the season.

Far from regular work, but still fairly often.

I'd be interested in learning (either here or by PM if you prefer to keep it private) what you are saying to these people when you contact them? Both for weddings as well as the event venues?

Also, I do not understand why you are so in to the solicitation thing? Why chase after very cold non-suspecting prospects? It is so much better when prospects are coming to you. Seeking you out with their interests. The only thing that comes to mind is you are not willing to spend any money on your business (invest in your business) which seems to be a common thread throughout this and other threads (no education, no advertising, marketing and promotion, no mentoring, no training, no market/association commitments, no video, no actual message or positioning, etc.)

My not spending money is a common theme isn't it?

I have no problem sharing my process publicly, it's not exactly gold.

Because you mentioned weddings, I'll talk about that specifically, but other events
are pretty similar.

When I identify a wedding that's occurring, I try to find the contact info for one of
the folks involved, depending on how I heard about the wedding, this could range from
very easy to quite difficult, other events are usually easier because they're often
publicly listed.

My first contact, usually email, is simply verifying that this person is planning a wedding,
getting the dialog started is the hard part.

My number one goal early on is to find something I can help them with, this I do for free,
for example, do you have a photographer for the ceremony? If not, I know a one in
your price range. etc.

None of this is to sell anything, I'm just looking for ways to give free assistance, this is
less effective if they have a professional planner, but if the planner is a bridesmaid,
all the better.

I'm considering writing a pamphlet or short ebook on something wedding related
so I'll have something free to offer at all times.

Anyway, during this dialog, I'm learning about their event to see if it's a wedding that
could have a magician, ie. number of guests, budget, size and location of venue, etc.

If it is, I ask what kind of entertainment they will have at the cocktail hour/reception (it's
good to know by now if there will be a reception).

I try to transition to phone by now if I can.

Usually they will say a band or dj, (if not, I know a guy...) at this point I bring up my own
service and what it can do for their wedding, ice breaker for guests, special memento
for wedding album, etc.

That's essentially it, if someone is reading this and thinking about ripping it off, please go
rip off someone who knows what they're doing.

As for venues, it's considerably more direct, the venue mentioned earlier I opened by asking
for an appointment.

So your goal is to transition from offering “free services” to thinking there are going to pay you somehow?

It is astounding that you get any work in this fashion. What rate of closing so you have when you find a wedding?

Fedora, you mention 0–2 per month. Does that include your kid's birthday parties?

Would you be satisfied doing eight to ten kid shows a month for now?

Or are you just wanting to do something else and completely change markets?

Tom

Helping folks out without asking anything in return is a surprisingly good
way to reach out to people.

The rate of finding a wedding to booking is miniscule, the rate of successful first contact
to booking is quite a bit larger, I don't know the specific percentage (i know I should) but
the rate of folks who return a message and eventually pay has to be at least 10-20%.

Finding the appropriate event, and getting a return after first contact, are the two big obstacles.

The reason for working with venues are to alleviate the first problem, and perhaps a bit of the second
as well.

Wow.

That is the reason he started this thread.

This is exactly what happens when one attempts to do this on their own with me-based beliefs. It's not just Fedora, I hear about/from these guys everyday unfortunately.

One of two things will eventually happen - A.) they eventually will realize none of this works, they aren't really operating a business, and will decide to get trained, educated, and start doing it properly by investing in their business, or B.) they will quit trying to be a magician or just go back to hobby for fun.

Hey tom, I have no problem performing for kids, it just hasn't been my main focus,
in terms of time, 8-10 would be an increase.

The 0-2 was for weddings specificly, the gap is large due to it being very different
depending on the month.

Toms post disappeared, weird.

You don’t even know exactly how many call back and pay?

You asked in another thread of being viewed as a magician hurts. These are the things that are hurting.

I’d recommend stopping all attempts to do things like this and actually set up a business plan. Get your video done, web page done and all that is needed to be viewed as a professional. Because here is a sad bit of news. If you are perceived like this on contact most will assume it won’t get netter when the show arrives. Losing 90% off contracts is unimaginable. You might as well do junk mail the return is about the same and not nearly as time consuming!

The most amazing part is your desire to cling to this model.

They probably thought they were deleting my post and hit his by mistake

I'm not missing a post there it is right there

Tom