Are You Willing to Sacrifice?

“I think I may have a problem.”

I looked at my wife, who was staring at her phone.

Yesterday was her 50th birthday. We were looking forward to spending the perfect day together, which for us consisted of curling up on the couch with movie theater popcorn during the day and a nice dinner out later in the evening.

My wife owns her own hair salon, and like me, she’s successful. As a one-person salon earning about $100,000 a year, she is by far the most successful single-person salon in our area.

Her problem stemmed from Mother Nature.

We live near Buffalo, NY and our area was due to get hit hard the next day by snow. She had taken her birthday off and was planning on working in her salon the next day.

But the impending snowstorm threatened to derail her plans.

If the weather was as bad as everyone says (SPOILER ALERT: It is) then she would lose out on that income, and she’d have several clients looking to reschedule appointments the following week when she was already booked solid.

So at the last minute, she decided to go to work on her 50th birthday.

My wife understands that being your own boss sometimes requires sacrifice.

Most years I’m not even home on my birthday. It’s part of being a pro.

I remember one of my hypnosis instructors telling me a funny story. He said a friend of his told him he was lucky to be his own boss. He could decide when he worked.

My instructor replied, “Right. I can decide which 16 hours of the day I want to work.”

I meet many magicians who want to go full-time but aren’t willing to do what it takes. That usually means sacrificing trick money for marketing money.

Don’t get me wrong – I know some people have a tighter budget for their expenses. No, I’m talking about the magicians out there who have thousands and thousands of dollars of great props. But they don’t spend any money promoting themselves.

But that’s a rant for another day.

This issue is more about lifestyle sacrifices that must be made if you want to be a full-time pro.

Every market requires sacrifices.

Want to work the birthday market? You’re gonna lose your weekends.

Want to work in the corporate holiday market? You’re gonna lose your evenings during the weekends.

Want to work in the school market? To go full-time in that market, you either have to work a night job or quit your day job. The assembly market demands availability 9:00am – 3:00pm during the week.

Want to work in the daycare market? Same as the corporate market, plus you’ll need to do a ton of shows to make decent money.

Want to work trade shows? You’ll need to travel. And you’ll be performing for people who don’t want to see a show.

Want to work in the cruise ship market? Prepare to spend a lot of time away from your family.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to talk you out of pursuing your dream. But there are sacrifices.

Roughly 4 years ago, my beloved dog Frodo died just after Christmas. But I had a school show I had to go do just after the first of the year. To say it was an awful experience is an understatement.

And roughly 14 years ago, my wife essentially lived 10 miles away for three months as she was tending to her father as he succumbed to cancer. But I had to stay home, look after, the dogs, pay bills…and keep working.

Life doesn’t stop. And if you’re relying solely on income from performing to pay your bills, there may be some times when you have to perform when you’d rather be doing anything else.

Now don’t mistake my message. I don’t regret my choices. As awful as some of those experiences have been, I consider them infinitely better than dealing with a callous boss.

Before I went full-time, I worked for about the most uncaring boss imaginable. I found myself in the emergency room of a hospital when I should have been at work. I had a throat abscess that was slowly preventing me from being able to breathe. If I had waited much longer, my entire throat would have closed.

I kept putting off going to the hospital because as a twenty-something working at a minimum-wage job, I couldn’t afford insurance and didn’t want the hospital bills.

I wound up going, and when I got out of the hospital, I went right to work, almost five hours late for my shift.

My boss (or rather, the boss’s wife) laid into me for missing my start time. She even claimed I was lying.

But life has a way of working itself out.

About a year later, I got engaged to my wife. A year later, I quit my job and have been my own boss ever since.

So yeah, I’ll take the occasional crappy show even when I’m not “feeling it.”

To me, it’s a worthy sacrifice for the freedom of charting my own destiny.

How about you? Are you willing to sacrifice to make your performing goals come true?

Until next time, 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.

To find out more how I can help you book more shows at higher fees, click the button below to see my list of services.

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