Many professional magicians’ website proudly proclaim they have been performing since they got a magic set for Christmas when they were six years old. Whilst a childhood spent practicing sleight of hand techniques may be an advantage for award winning manipulation acts, it isn’t a requirement for being a successful working magician.
Think of it this way: Imagine you want to play guitar; you don’t need to be a lead guitarist with fingers moving in a blur, just learning basic chords will give you all you need to play many songs and get you started. (Of course, actively improving your skill will open more doors.)
That’s not to say it will be easy. I don’t suggest you learn some tricks (or buy some self-working gimmicks) , set up a website and call yourself professional. You will need to practise, and rehearse. You’ll need to create the patter and presentation. You’ll need experience with interaction with spectators, and know what do to if things go wrong.
There are many different styles of magic performance, from entertaining at a children’s show, close-up magic at weddings and parties through to corporate mind-reading acts. You may already have a goal to achieve success in a certain area, but this course recommends you open yourself up to other areas, especially in the early years when you are growing your business, before niching down as your career develops.
For this reason this course has Sections on putting together magic shows for children, private parties and events, and finally branching into the corporate market and other specialist sectors.
On this note, I’d like to acknowledge that magic is perceived differently in different countries. For example, I am based in the UK and much of my business is generated from working at weddings. Though not a huge industry in the UK, magic at a wedding is pretty much non-existent in the USA.
DON’T ignore these lessons or say “it won’t work here” – it will. When I turned professional in 2006 it was a fledgling industry, and working in that area meant I was one of only a couple of voices. That is a great position to be in.
I know of some UK based magicians who are considering re-locating to the States just to cash in on this, knowing that they have the marketing know-how to start mining an upcoming market-place with no competition. This course gives YOU that know-how.
This course also contains a section on the theory and presentation of magic; so you can understand what sort of material you should at to your act, what material you shouldn’t , and how to perform it.
Having an act is only half the battle. To become professional you need to master the business side of magic, after all, it is called “show business”.
This first section of the course builds up to making your business plan, putting together packages, prices, setting goals and putting you in the position to quit your day-job and become a full time professional magician and entertainer. It contains spreadsheet templates so you can work through the financials before making the leap, and create a business plan that you can take to the bank should you need investment in your company to get started.