DIVERSIFICATION IN MAGIC

IN  MY LAST POST CALLED ‘FULL TIME PERFORMER’, I PROMISED TO SHARE MY THOUGHTS ON ‘MAGICAL DIVERSIFICATION’  SO HERE WE GO.
 
A few months back I was talking to a full time closeup magician who has been in the business for forty years when out of the blue he asked, 

“are you getting many gigs? I am finding it more and more difficult to fill my diary these days”.

I have to say at the time I probably wasn’t getting as many performance gigs as he was but was probably a lot busier none the less.

This is because I believe to stay ahead as a full time magician or mentalist (especially in this day and age) you cannot rely on one style of performance.

Let me explain what I mean by that. For example the magician who will only work close up shows whether they be restaurants or weddings, limits his market and the guy that spends thousands on stage illusions and will only do stage shows, limits his market. Now don’t get me wrong, it is, or at least was, possible to make a good living only doing weddings, or only performing in theaters, but as magic props and once hard to learn secrets become readily available and as the performance market becomes flooded with wannabee full time performers, I believe, it is better to  think laterally in order to have your fingers in enough magical pies so that if one area falls flat, you have something else that is still making money.

PLEASE DON’T CONFUSE DIVERSIFICATION WITH BEING A JACK OF ALL TRADES, THAT IS DEFINITELY NOT WHAT I MEAN, I BELIEVE SPECIALISED DIVERSIFICATION IS THE KEY.

For example the jack of all trades magician is the guy who has ‘Magic for Every Occasion’ printed on his business cards. He does coins, ropes, sponge balls, cards, balloon modeling and mind reading in his close up sets. He mixes dove magic, mentalism, escapology, juggling and illusions in his stage shows and makes himself available for kids shows when required.

The magician who is a master of his trade, may specialise in just card magic, but he performs it in close up, can perform it on stage, lectures on the subject, gives lessons to beginners and maybe even writes books or releases card magic DVD’s.

Obviously that is a simplified definition but as a full time performer who has chosen to specialise in mentalism alone, I have discovered that the need to eat has stimulated my lateral thinking. To give you an idea of what I am talking about here is a list of the different areas I work in at present.

As a Mentalist for the corporate market:
• Full Cabaret/Stage Mind Reading Show
• Close Up Strolling Mind Reading
• Nonverbal communications Lecture
• Perception and Persuasion Lecture
• Memory Techniques Lecture/Workshop

As a Psychic Entertainer, all of the above plus:

• Group tarot readings
• Tarot Parties
• Private Tarot Consultation
• Tarot lecture and Demonstration
• Tarot teach in and Psychic development workshops

For the magical market

• Multiple lectures
• Publication of Multiple Ebooks
• Design, Manufacture and sale of Mentalism Props
• The Release of instant download DVD’s

At present that is fourteen strings to my bow and I am always looking for other outlets for my creative juices. So when gigs are thin on the ground, which happens at certain times of the year I still have an income. Or when gigs come in that I really don’t want to do (I’m getting picky as I get older) I can turn them down or pass them on without worrying about cash flow.
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THAT IS THE WONDER OF DIVERSIFICATION.

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