The Magic Industry Changed. Did You?

1. What were you doing for work back in 2019? (Retail & Magic gigs, less & less due to pandemic)
2. What was your big goal with magic at that time? (Being able to share magic with everyone as a full-time job)
3. What do you do for work now? (Currently in retail, and back to doing gigs, but not as busy as it was before 2019)
4. What’s your goal with magic these days? (Learn more about the art, & start performing more gigs)
5. What’s standing in your way right now? (Having a consistent job with retail currently)

1. What were you doing for work back in 2019?
I was working full time for Penguin Magic and part time performing for a world class ski resort in Park City Utah: The St. Regis at Deer Valley.

2. What was your big goal with magic at that time?
Just support my family. I wanted to have more kids, and I wanted to provide a steady living for my family. I wanted to have enough money that my wife could come home and raise our family.

3. What do you do for work now?
I still work for Penguin Magic. I now am the house magician of the Grand Hyatt at Deer Valley. I don’t work for the St. Regis as much anymore but I make more money with magic performances now.

My wife stopped working, she was a school teacher, in 2021. I now sustain my family with magic 100%. We have 5 kids, 3 cars, 2 dogs, and 9 chickens. And magic is my only income. I’m performing more than ever and creating more than ever.

4. What’s your goal with magic these days?
Not a lot has changed for me since I went full time with magic almost 10 years ago. I wanted to perform more, and create more. And that’s what I’m doing now.

I’m expanding a little, and taking on magic students for the first time. This is purley a hobby now but I’d like to be able to teach 30-50 students in the next few years.

5. What’s standing in your way right now?
Not a lot, most of it is just dedicating more time to magic and trying to balance my time with my family.

6. How could Ellusionist help you get there?
I’ve always been a fan of Ellusionist. I’m always surprised when my favorite effects and products are no longer available. Something like Fraud by Daniel Garica was one of the most pivotal tricks of my magic upbringing.

I’m rooting for you guys!

When Covid hit I was working in care and it was at this point I actually started magic. I’ve always had an interest and one of my clients used to do magic so I wanted something to connect with them.

I’m now just about to leave care to start working with a housing association in management but will have more structure to my weeks.

Currently I’m a hobbyist magician performing for friends and family but I also run The Magicians Bookclub having taken it over from Caroline Ravn who’s now a good friend. I have also consulted for another friend who’s a magician and created tricks for their show which with time and both purpose I’d love to develop in the future. Whether it’s mentorship’s and challenges I need or something else who knows but guidance is always welcome

1- I worked full-time at a call center and occasionally had some gigs to perform magic.
2- I was aiming to fully dedicate myself to magic and make a life from events and shows.
3- I currently work at a corporate job and I’m getting more and more gigs to perform magic.
4- I think my goal is still to make a life from magic, but now that I see things with more maturity, I realize it’s difficult to earn enough money solely from magic. I believe it’s necessary to have at least two sources of income to live well.
5- In my city, there aren’t many opportunities to work—for example, restaurants don’t often hire magicians for events. It’s something that’s growing, but very slowly.
6- Ellusionist has helped me with new effects that have allowed me to expand my repertoire and therefore offer more magic to clients. It has also helped me become more professional over time.

in 2019 I was performing full time (went full time in 1997)
I did my first national tour as a Deaf Magician in 2014 and came home from that and continued to travel with shows then met my wife in 2016 when I had come off the road and performing more locally.
got married in 2017 and was planning to do another national tour then the shutdowns came and my agent closed up shop.
I had planned to really go big with the touring and hoped that it would help me gain even bigger presence for my shows.

during the shutdowns my wife and I got into the realestate biz to help cover my not working.

what do i do now- back to magic full time. I had done several shows during the shutdowns and then when things lifted I pushed hard to rebuild my business. the first couple years were tuff as there was still a “fear” of large groups. but the last 2 years have been great and this past year was insanely wonderful.

my goal as a full time Deaf magician is to continue to build the biz. to reach more schools and expand my corporate events.
I also perform faith based shows and working to expand that side of things too.

whats standing in the way has been two fold.
1-personal, my wife suffered major health issues for the past couple years and that meant taking time off and not investing in advertising and my shows.
2-lack of focussing on advertising correctly or finding the actual correct way to advertise. too many “magicians” selling get rich or book a billion shows programs. to which I have never purchased,
honestly I have been lucky to have worked hard for many years and have a very good repeat clientelle and with advertising for years I have done well.

but here is where i am at I dont want 50 small shows now I want 10 big shows where I still work hard and present my bigger show but I am making more money for this one event than i did in 10 smaller events.

thats the struggle right now. how do I properly advertise how do I target the right people, business and schools?
I am working on some things but its all about testing the waters right now

how can ellusionist help- I wonder if there was a way to actually put together a list of real bookers for magic shows. or a program that helps those that are full time but just cant seem to break the ceiling find a way to move to the next level.

I know agents are not what they once were but they still exist. lets be honest here too many times its really who you know and not how good you are.
I am thankful to have been full time for so many years and even after loosing my hearing and becoming deaf (it was really bad for a couple years) as I had to navigate my show with no sound. I did it and landed national tours.
but those that were part of that closed up during the shutdowns and its been very difficult to find somone else to help get me back on the road.

but I will never give up and contineu to work hard to entertain and inspire my audiences.
www.samsandlerdeaf.com