How I Set Prices in the Beginning...

The solar eclipse is upon us.

In full disclosure, I’m writing this issue on Saturday, two days before the solar eclipse.

I live in Niagara Falls, New York.

My wife has read in the news that our city is supposed to be THE perfect place to watch the eclipse in the entire continental United States.

The tourists are flooding in. And the hotels are taking advantage of the influx of over a million visitors to our area.

Even the most modest hotels are charging ridiculous fees for their rooms.

Check out the picture above.

That hotel chain normally doesn’t charge more than around $150 per night.

Now their rooms are going for over $500.

But only until the eclipse is over.

If a hotel chain charges over $1000 (as many in our area are doing) you could make the argument they are offering a superior service.

I still think it’s highway robbery.

And the chain that’s charging over $500? It’s laughable.

But it gave me the idea for this week’s newsletter.

It’s a topic aspiring professional magicians, especially those just starting out, are very interested in.

What do you charge for your shows?

It’s one of the first things clients will ask you.

Price is a difficult topic to discuss without going into specifics.

And it’s going to be different for every magician. Every market is different. Every niche is different. Every geographic area is different.

I live in Niagara Falls, NY. (But you knew that.)

There is no way I could charge NYC fees for a birthday party around here. At least not if I wanted to work a lot.

our economy just couldn’t support it.

And despite what some ‘marketing gurus’ will tell you, you can’t keep raising your fees forever. Every market has its limits.

For me, my ceiling is about $1700 for school shows. And I typically have to drive around five or six hours to get that.

In my hometown? No way am I going to get that more than once or twice.

But compare that to daycares. The ceiling where I live is around $250 for one show.

If I try to go much higher, I’m not going to get it.

But when I used to travel to New Jersey a lot, I would sometimes get a daycare to book around my school shows. So in those cases, I could get $300-$500 or even higher for the occasional daycare gig.

Now some of you may scoff. And I get it.

I know at least one person reading this newsletter who has recently booked some $5000 and $6000 gigs.

He’s in a great market, does a great job, and his clients love him.

But he’s not getting those fees for birthdays or school shows.

I’m saying all of this upfront just to illustrate how different fees for shows can be.

However, I’m not going to leave you hanging, either. Many magic ‘gurus’ will say, “You’ve got to set fees based on certain factors” and leave it at that.

Me? I’ll share with you what I did.

And I’m going to give you some easy tips for setting your fees if you are starting out.

I have a couple of tips for when you should raise your fees if you have been doing this for a while.

First, for the good folks just starting out, here’s what I did 20 years ago.

I was getting ready to move from Pittsburgh to Niagara Falls to be with my fiancé and later wife Libby.

I had set fees in Pittsburgh that I was happy with. But I knew I had to up my game if I wanted to go full-time.

Still, fees were a good start.

I dug up the local parenting magazine. These are free publications in grocery stores and other public places.

As the name suggests, these are filled with articles to help parents raise their kids.

And there are advertisers in these too. Soooo mannnnny advertisers.

Back then, plenty of clowns and magicians were in the Niagara Falls version.

I simply called up several of these folks, pretended to be a birthday parent, and asked for their fees.

$75.

Yup, most were in the $75 range. Granted, this was 20 years ago.

Even back then I couldn’t make a living doing nothing but $75 shows. So I did the only sensible thing.

I bet on myself and started charging $125 for birthday shows.

And you know what? I got work.

Later that year I had created multiple packages and was charging anywhere from $125 to $300.

Most settled into the mid-range zone of $250.

When I started booking libraries, I reasoned libraries probably had a built-in budget for this kind of thing.

So I charged them $250 as well.

As I started traveling more, my prices went up. I knew instinctively I had to account for the extra gas, wear and tear on my car, and the extra time.

My prices started going up bit by bit.

That’s how I started. Hopefully, there are enough tidbits in that journey to help you get started.

What if you’ve been doing this for a while? When is it time to raise your prices?

There are a few indicators you can use.

First, if your schedule is bursting at the seams, raise your prices. Yes, you’ll lose some gigs. That’s okay.

I had several loyal clients at my super-low rates. These shows almost always sucked.

When I raised my fees, a few of these folks balked, saying I was way too expensive. No problem. Plenty of others filled the gaps.

Another red flag it’s time to raise your fees. When your clients flat out tell you you’re cheap.

Embarrassingly, I have had one childcare client tell me that recently.

They hire me each year to perform two little shows, usually for around six or seven kids each.

Because I’m not actively involved in the daycare market, I haven’t tracked what the going rates are.

These folks always book a year out. This year, they said, “We keep waiting for you to raise your rates!”

So I sheepishly sent them the invoice with a $40 increase.

Other times, clients may flat out say, “That’s all?” when you quote your rate.

And this doesn’t apply only to low-dollar kids shows either.

Many years ago, one of my best friends was making a nice name for himself in the association market. He did a good show with a good message his clients loved.

At the time he was quoting somewhere around $1200.

Nice price, right?

After one show, his client wanted to refer him to another association.

She told him, “I’m just going to say $2500 in the email.”

To close this out, realize that pricing is going to be something you experiment with.

Depending on your market you can indeed raise prices each year.

Just keep an eye on where that ceiling is so you don’t price yourself out of the gigs you really want.

Or go ahead and price yourself out and quote higher fees for the higher-paying markets.

Remember this final bit of advice: Never compete solely on price. There is always some schmo who is willing to undercut you to get the gig.

You are YOU and worth the higher fees if you put in the work, act professionally, do a great show, and make your client’s job easy with a simple booking process.

Have a great week!

--Cris

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Need help in multiple areas? I can help you with your website, direct mail, email, or other marketing strategies. I also offer consulting services for crafting magic routines or even entire shows. Want to find out more? Shoot me an email at cris@theprofessionalmagicianclubpro.com.

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