"Offering Free Shows"

I had a really good return from a series of free shows I offered.

There is a school that hires me every year. This year, they couldn't budget me in. I decided to just do the shows anyway, it's a gamble that I might lose real paying gigs but they've always been good to me.

I ended up booking 6 birthday parties from the free shows. So, it was a smart trade.

You have to be careful though of the free shows. Mostly they lead to nothing except people taking advantage of you. The lower the price, the more phone calls, the more moving the show time around and the complete lack of respect. Even though you are giving hundreds of dollars worth of product, you are likely to be treated like the delivery person.

Things are slow, right now. I am thinking of offering some shows for promotional purposes. But I want to do it scientifically.

Why did this last free show work so well?

The children knew me from my videos and from past years
There is a heavy parent involvement in the school
The school is large.
The school really encourages parents to support their vendors, in my case, they make sure every child goes home with my postcard.

It's hard to know about the school until you get in there. I do know though, you do need a large group and agreement by the director to talk you up.

I try to think of win win scenarios. I am not the type to talk myself up. So the school gets my full show and gets the value of live entertainment for the children. The asking price is they do small promotion and hand out my materials.

I'm also thinking targeted locations will likely be most effective. I live in San Francisco, we have very wealthy communities. It's very likely the children that go to these schools are also from families that value entertainment at their child's party.

I may or may not try this. It's tough to give away shows. There is value in doing this and it is very focused marketing.

"Pushing On..."

I had an interesting conversation with my 17 year old son yesterday.

He goes to a very very tough high school. For instance, he just finished his genetics midterm. When I was in high school, I was seeing if I could shoot a pencil out of the middle of the typewriter when hit certain keys in order...

This isn't so much about him though.

Junior year in high school is intense, you are working on grades for college, you are looking at colleges preparing taking the SAT, the AP tests, you are also taking hard classes that are pretty much on par with college classes. Not to mention the social aspect or nearly being an adult. My son is old enough, with my permission, to join the Marines. So just about an adult!

There is a burn out though that he was telling me about. He did his midterms, they just had their prom, he took the SAT test and they are tired and don't feel like working.

This is exactly where humans are most vulnerable.

It's so easy at this point, however you are relating to this overwork scenario, to sit on the couch and watch TV. I use TV metaphorically, because it might be watching youtube or playing on your Playstation for hours or simply talking on the phone and not getting anything real done.

I never had much use in my life for people that give into this I've done enough, time to sit on the couch thing.

And this is not to say I don't sit on my big old clown butt more than I think I should.

I realize though this is where I can make a difference.

When I was getting my black belt, it was the toughest two or three months of training of my life. The physical stuff was not that hard was the thing. Once I was training, I knew the moves, I just needed to work it over and over to precision.

The get your butt off the couch part was, the nagging voice in my head, "why?" To put myself through the challenge of constant correction, learning to keep my mouth shut (the hardest part for a smart ass like me) and just take class after class no matter how I felt.

Doing a martial art is just a discipline. I could have been studying yoga to a higher level or learning to play a musical instrument.

The point is where you get stuff done is when you are like my son, really sick of what you are doing. On the other side you have a tremendous breakthrough.

Of course until the next thing that gets in the way. But hey that's life if you are trying to get ahead!

Couch or keep moving?

The little angel and the little devil on your shoulder are opposite of what you think. The little devil is the one saying "you've done enough..." he's saying "I don't want you to succeed" The angel is very quiet and says, "you need to keep working" The angel can be very quiet but listen to her, she's the one that will bring happiness, fulfillment and lots more money in the end.

"A Good Handler"

My son has been doing a few gigs for me over the years.

He's 17 now and started doing a costume character for me a few years ago. So, when I get called to be Rudolph at a street parade or be the Easter Bunny and take pictures, I can sometimes line it up for him. He's very good at it. We always go over character movements and finding a repeatable interaction with kids.

On Easter, he was the fancy bunny at a fancy fancy hotel here in San Francisco. So, this is one of these $100 a person buffet things, really nice.

I wasn't working, so I went as his handler. I've dealt with handlers, good and bad, mostly lazy over the years, I've come to realize what an important job it can be.

The job is to ensure the safety of the performer. They can't see real well and they are sweating a lot, it's your job to keep them healthy.

Here's the part that people miss. Keep your eyes open, there are probably kids really exited just out of the performers limited view, you have to quietly say to the bunny, "turn to the left". Then they get a great big hug.

Being a handler is a job. You have to pay attention and be really really friendly and act like you are working for the country club or hotel.

It's cool to take care of performers especially when they are your life!

"Create, Working Backwards"

A lot of times, I try to think from the end point when I work on my show.

I am human so I can give advice and a lot of times, I don't listen to my own advice. This is one of the most useful techniques I've found, yet, I tend to fight it still.

I'm in the very early stages of writing an entirely new concept show. I'm creating a newer character, this will be stage only. It's a big step for me and I'm only in the creation process right now. But I'm trying to think backwards.

Thinking backwards works like this. We'll use my show as an example, you can and should use this technique for any big project, including a wedding, landscaping your lawn or having a happy child get to college.

Here is a leap. Working backward you have to know you have already accomplished what you've set out to do. You have a picnic in your new backyard with 20 people in attendance. I have 10 bookings for my stage show. Each show has been sold for $1500 and the theatres hold 400 plus audience.

I'm already there. OK, I have performed my show and it is on a large performing arts stage. How did I get here?

I'm now going to work backward. My stage show is being performed July 1, 2012. What happened to get that booking...hmmm. March 1, 2012, I signed a contract. That means December 1, 2011 I sent out promotional pieces. That means all printing was done and in my hands November 25, 2011...work went to the printer November 15...Final designs were approved Novermeber 10th...

I'm sort of brainstorming here. so I can see with my project I need a couple of time lines. I've got the promotional aspect. That tends to be easier for me, it's more black and white, it's either printed or not, I have 10 addresses and names or not.

Harder is the writing of the show. So...

July 1, 2012, I have performed my new show in a performing arts center that holds 400 plus people. That means, June 1, 2012, I have performed the show 25 times on stages for audiences of 50 plus. April 1, 2012, contacted 20 places that will have me perform the show (I have connections). March 1, 2011, first full rehearsal with tech. Feb 1, 1011, set back from builder, secured location for rehearsal.

so you can see the workings here. As I work on this, I see I need to do a timeline for the set design. My show will also have a lot of video production within it, so that means, I have to do a timeline for the videos, including editing. the idea is to interact live with the videos, so I may have to re shoot, after I see how it's working on stage...

Just writing this gets me thinking and working. It's creative. This project has been on my mind for weeks, I go back and forth on ideas but this makes it concrete. Pretty nifty. give it a try.

"Where's the Work?"

So what's a clown to do?

Living at the whims of an unstable economy is a pretty strange feeling. There have certainly been times I have been slow but the prospect of no work is really a funny feeling.

I like that pun...funny feeling! (it's funny because a clown always "feels funny" ahhh never mind).

To all those that tell me, "it must be great to do what you want for a living...it must be great to be your own boss" um, maybe, if you like food stamps.

Here is the cool thing about being a self employed performer, you live off of hope. Hope you'll get called, hope your business cards will get in the right hands. I eat hope, it's delicious.

When I am down, something always comes in at a massive amount of money and saves me. The cool part of being self employed, when you do get a bunch of things all in a row, it really can be a lot of money. I always say, look at me, I'm a millionaire!

Hope is like magic. Last year I took a bunch of time to work on my black belt in Aikido, magically, I got a massive teaching to a large corporate client. I worked two days and made nearly my months normal salary. Stuff like that seems to happen.

So, bounced checks aside, I'm hoping. I'm pretty good at my job and I'm beloved.

It's just a bit freaky to have $9.41 in the bank (real figure!) Come on hope!