One of those shows! You know! your counting on starting at the designated time that you agreed on with the client. For example 1:45. You arrive on time to set up your equipment.
The client comes up and says "Things are running a little behind and you will have to start at 2:30." The party started at 12pm and when you arrive they are still setting up tables and blowing up balloons.The party attendees aren't even there yet and it's 12:45. Your supposed to start at 1:45 and people are still rolling in.
I think when this situation happens to a performer it puts us in a unsettling, unfair and disappointing position. What if you had another show booked afterward? Despite the disorganizing and chaos. You grin and bear it. Thank goodness you didn't have any shows booked afterwards (or did you?) because if you did it could turn into a domino effect.
You do your magic and everything is great. Altogether you were at the clients party for about an hour more then expected. It's time to get paid and your feeling confident that the client will give you a little tip for all your extra time, but all you get is the normal amount. You thought if you tried to go the extra mile and be understanding and easy to work with that you would get paid for your time. You could ask for more money for your time, but that could also be a little uncomfortable when you don't talk about those things up front in the beginning of them calling asking about information on your magic show.
This has happened to me a few times and I came up with some communication tools to help prevent this from happening.
When the potential client calls me and asks me for info on my magic show. I first ask them the time and date before going into my sales pitch. Lets say for example the party is Saturday, July 6th at 2pm. I tell the client that
"I need to look at my magic show bookings and see if I'm available." As I'm looking at my available dates I tell them that, "yes! I am available, but I have another show at 4:00pm. I'll be happy to book you, but I must start on time so I won't be late for my next show. I'll be able to wait about fifteen minutes the most if your running late, but after 15 minutes I have to start. If I do have to start later then the 15 minutes I will have to charge 30.00 for every 15 minutes over." This does a few things. First it shows the client your in demand and second that your willing to work with them. The third establishes that your time is very important and that you have other shows booked.
I find that people are generally not always out to take advantage of your time. They themselves may just be unorganized people. So you have to take control. Your the performer. You have to be a performer and a business person. Establish what you expect up front. Be honest. Your client will less likely take advantage of your time if you communicate on how you do business. I would love to here from other magicians on how you handle these situations. Thanks for reading. I hope it helped you.
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