Do You Know Your Destination?

Where are you heading?

That is, do you know the direction you’re taking your magic career?

That’s today’s topic in this issue of The Professional Magician’s Life. Thanks for taking time out of your busy life to read this.

My inner-nerd forced me to try and find an Indiana Jones-style map complete with red line as the pic for this article, but alas, Pixabay only had maps and compasses.

Goalsetting is important in any part of life. Maybe you want to exercise more. Or spend more time with your family. Many of us want changes in our lives, whether it’s big seismic changes (like I’m going through) or smaller changes.

And it all boils down to a system and specificity.

Effective goal setting starts with knowing your destination. What do you want out of your magic career?

Back in 2002 when I made a serious go of becoming a full-time magician as my sole source of income, I knew how much money I needed to make. That was a very specific goal. From there, I started scaling up.

Now, as I’m older, my goals continue to change and evolve. Now my goal is to do only the kinds of shows I want to do within three hours of my house. Depending on other parts of life, that number will change. Soon I may not take any gigs more than two hours away.

Years ago, that wasn’t possible as I had certain financial goals I wanted. These days? I’m got my hands in a lot of different income streams so now I don’t have to make my living purely on the back of live shows.

Your goals may be different than mine.

So, let’s get into this.

First, what do you want? Your goal needs to be specific.

Let’s say you want to be a full-time magician as your sole means of making money. Great. To get there, you gotta know your numbers.

Look at what you need to make each month. Consider all your expenses. Your expenses might include:

·         Rent or mortgage payment

·         Cart payments

·         Utilities

·         Health insurance

·         Food

·         Gas

·         Equipment and/or supplies

·         Marketing expenses

Depending on your situation, your monthly expenses might also include childcare, medications, and a host of other things. And I’m not even getting into taxes and a host of other details. For now, I’m just gonna keep it simple.

Whatever your number is, that’s how much you need to make every month. And really, I recommend making two or three times what you need to account for rainy days. Even before the pandemic, some months were busier for me than others.

So, you’ve got a specific number in mind. Awesome.

Next, you need to know which markets are going to pursue?

While “magic for all occasions” sounds attractive because you’re going to ideally appeal to everyone, the reality is you won’t have enough time or money to hit every market imaginable.

You may not be able to turn away certain gigs as you build but trying to directly advertise to them all is going to be tough.

If you decide to focus on birthday parties, for example, other gigs will come your way. When you start getting busy with birthdays, word will get around. Assuming you’re doing a good job, you will get inquiries for family picnics, daycares, etc.

While being a specialist may not be in the cards for you just yet, you can at least consider focusing your efforts on two broad markets: kids or adults. Why?    

To properly market your services as a kids or family entertainer, you may have a heart me, at least initially, showing adults you can do a great job for their events. Again, in time that may change, but when you’re just starting out, trying to appeal to both kids and adults is a dead end.

Once you decide you are going to focus on kids or adults, then it’s time to look at your act. Do you have a professional-grade act that will appeal to your market?

Many of us started performing magic because there were tricks we like, and we want to share them with the world. I’ve been guilty of it myself. (I may do an entire episode of the podcast dedicated to the dumb decisions I made early in my career with trick selection.)

So, you have to get real about your material. Offer to do a few free shows in your local market for your target audiences Hand out evaluation forms, film the shows, and get honest feedback from the person who booked you. Most importantly, listen to your audience. Their reactions will tell you if you’re on the right track.

This part of the process is enough material for the entire module in my upcoming mentorship and training programs!

Next, once you know your goals and your markets, you have to look at whether your goals match up with other aspects of your life.

Consider cruise ships. The idea of performing on a cruise ship appealed to me when I was younger. I love the open sea and many cruise ships have gorgeous theaters. But cruise ship performing does not align with my current lifestyle goals. After traveling the country for the better part of the last 20 years, my goal is to be in my own bed every night.

And you have to consider the loved ones in your life.

My wife and I had a very real heart-to-heart conversation. She’s okay with me taking the occasional gig where I have to stay in a hotel, but we both agreed that any more than 6-010 nights a year is way too much.

Our goals are aligned.

So, involve those living with you in your decision-making process.

Once you have these things in place, it’s time to hit the next phase, which is knowledge. That will be a fun topic for next week!

Thanks for sticking with me during this shift to a weekly format. My plans for the entire “The Professional Magician” brand are evolving rapidly! I’m in the middle of planning a webinar series, mentorship program, and a slew of other fun projects.

P.S. By the way…whenever you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you grow your magic business to book more shows at higher fees:


1. Grab my FREE report for professional working magicians.



This report reveals a strategy that almost NO magicians are using (and the ones who are don’t use it correctly). Get your free copy by clicking HERE.


2. Get my website video training for under $10:


In this 2-hour video training, I’ll reveal exactly what your website needs if you want to succeed as a professional entertainer in the 21st century. Get all the details by clicking HERE.


3. Get a complete business-building plan handed to you on a silver platter.


Not sure how to move your magic business forward? I’ll analyze your complete magic business (website, market, competition, and more) and give you a complete game plan for getting your performing business to the next level. Find out how by clicking HERE.


4. Work with me privately.


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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