Things I have learned being a professional mermaid

[AniaR]

I thought it would be funny to share some of my experiences trying to be a professional mermaid - some of these things are dead serious, some are funny (and still true) and I thought it would be funny if others would share. But I also think for all those trying to be a professional it could be a helpful tutorial!

1. Networking- twitter, facebook, g+, DA, anything you can get your hands on to put your name out there

2. Invest in your own website and URL. You can do this for seriously 10$ through google and it's big time worth it

3. Always plan too much for events, so you'll have backups if something goes wrong

4. Always have a back up top and costume parts- wardrobe malfunctions happen- LOL

5. Know your target audience

6. Decide what your goals are, what do you stand for? You don't need to be an activist mermaid but it's easier to plan things, answer questions, and promote yourself if you're grounded in your own catch phrase, rules, or code.

7. Put yourself out there. Make use of online classifieds. That's how I got 3 of my interviews!

8. Business cards! (I dont have any yet, believe me I wish I did) you can often get them cheaper if you wait for promotions

9. Invest in a real photoshoot- at least once. Sometimes you can do this by doing time for print with a photographer, or you may need to hire one. But having SOME professional photos will make a big difference in how people see you and perceive you.

10. Remember you're calling yourself a professional so act like it. Especially on your networking sites. Because people WILL call you out.

11. Fans can be scary. Truth: http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?161-dealing-with-difficult-fans/page2 protect yourself.

12. Invest in your tail, get the products you need to maintain it and maintain it on a regular basis so it doesn't lose it's lustre. Account for drying times etc.

13. Underwater cameras dont need to be big giant apparatuses to get the job done. Point and shoots with or without view finder windows do excellently and are cost effective- especially if you get one during a big sale like boxing day.

14. Make youtube videos! And link to your website/facebook in them. They're one of the best ways to get new fans.

15. It's great to see the number of likes go up on your page but make sure you're investing in local likes! People from your area who will book you!

16. Link everything, everywhere. Anywhere you post mermaid stuff- have your links to your other mermaid stuff :D

17. Kids will listen and be respectful if you're confident, have a plan, and assertive. Even the ones who insist you're not real.

18. It's good to tell kids they may see you with your human legs, for some magical reason, so if they see you in public they don't call you a liar. LOL

19. Always answer booking emails even if you're booked - it shows people you take them seriously and they will consider you in the future.

20. BE FLEXIBLE WITH YOUR RATES. Charge what you are worth but remember, it's good to offer discounts for people who can't afford your normal rates. Because there may be people in attendance who CAN and they're watching you do a super awesome job.

21. Volunteer- when appropriate. Don't do EVERYTHING for free. But if you're doing an event where everyone else is donating their time, that's a good time to do it.

22. You wont make money for a long long time. In the beginning this is a big $$ investment if you're aiming to do something like Hannah or Melissa etc. You'll spend more than you make, and likely incur some debt. You may get famous, but you likely wont get rich ;)

23. Keep copies of invoices, receipts, and CONTRACTS. Always have contracts even for little stuff. I have found out the hard way if people think they can get away with not paying you that's exactly what they will do.

24. Trade services. I am doing a friend's kid's bday party, and her husband is doing new photos of me in my new tail. Great way to network and get things done cost effectively.

25. Get involved with other organizations. Look for a performer booking agency, acting agency etc and register with them. You may even be able to get representation.



These are SOME of the tidbits I've been learning, I'll be happy to share more once I think of em or have new experiences!

[New York Mermaid]

4. Always have a back up top and costume parts- wardrobe malfunctions happen- LOL

18. It's good to tell kids they may see you with your human legs, for some magical reason, so if they see you in public they don't call you a liar. LOL
!

Im going to assume you have one SERIOUS malfunction :)

and yes always have a reason why you have legs instead of fins- " I have a special gift, i can change my fins into legs but shhh dont tell anyone"

lol Raina let me guess - its happened to you a whole bunch of times huh.

*You missed one- Even at a dry event- you may get wet..lol*

[AniaR]

*You missed one- Even at a dry event- you may get wet..lol*


So true!!!!

[Taylor is a Mermaid]

I'm not a professional mermaid and don't plan on being one, but there is one thing I think is really important: children need to come first. When you're in the tail, your first priority should be keeping the magic alive for them by paying attention to the children and treating them with kindness and respect.

[Odette]

raina, you touched everything i could think of dealing with the subject. you even told most of the free advertisemnt opportunities. bon travail!

[ide]

Nice list! In my experience, the best ways to convince skeptics (whether you are convincing them that yes you can fly & you're a real faerie, a real mermaid, etc.) is to be confident and persistent. Kids (especially those between the magic ages of 7 and 10 when they realize they don't know who or what to trust and start to view the world differently) may try to get you to break character for hours, but don't let it get to you. By the end, they may be baffled, they may even think you're crazy, but they won't think you're lying. That makes them second guess reality.

It also helps a lot to have fast answers to their strange questions, so get quick on your feet. I've been to around 230 kids parties, and you'd think I would have heard it all before, but they still can come up with some new questions. I like to answer with something really weird and act like it's obvious, and then suddenly realize of course they wouldn't know about that, they're human. How very, very strange. Real humans... Huh.

If you can sing well and you sing around kids, that adds to your "not human"ness in many children's minds because it is uncommon for adults to walk around singing in front of kids (unless they are from a very musical family). Not because people can't sing, but because they are frequently too shy or not in the habit. I've had about a dozen little girls whisper to me that they are sure I'm a real mermaid because of the way I sing, and I'm not phenomenal at it, I can just hold a tune & not act shy.

One of my co-performers really likes to turn questions around on kids when she's faerie-ing. "How do you fly?" "How do YOU fly?" repeat until they get bored and/or stop asking. Apparently it works great.

Also, if you're ever in a dry-mermaid costume and near a pool, my reason for not getting into said pool was that I was a salt-water fish and my mom said it wasn't safe. I frequently differ to my mother when I can't let the kids play with my balloon-pump, or facepaint themselves, etc. "I promised her I wouldn't let anyone else use it in case it broke."

[ide]

Oh, and take deposits when you're booking with someone "to reserve the date", so that if they cancel at the last minute you aren't shafted because you turned down another booking and now you have a Saturday with no income.

If you do this via Paypal, use the "gift" option to avoid surcharges.

[ide]

Last note for the night!

Don't charge less than you are worth! Not only is it unsustainable for you (think of how many gigs per month you need to eat & pay rent & live comfortably, keep your car in mind), clients take you less seriously when you're super cheap & it damages the market for other artists/performers. Find out what other folks are charging (ask for quotes, research) and place yourself right in their ballpark. For their sake, and yours.

This is a serious issue in the SF Bay Area with aerialists, but luckily, corporate clients have two key things in common: They know what a professional looks like & they aren't friends with a lot of amateur circus performers.

Don't forget that if you want to get gigs at schools doing just about anything, you *need* insurance. It's great to have performers insurance even if you won't ever be swimming, and many of the best sources of income you'll find require it up front. You can get some for as cheap as $200 a year, so it can be paid off in a single gig and is worth every penny. I use the International Jugglers Association, which covers all kinds of variety entertainers via e-willis at a discount. :o)

Oh! And your mermaid tails, costumes, etc. are all tax write-offs! Yippee!!

[AniaR]

Ide those are all great points. I just recently had an issue where I wasnt paid, so Im looking into making contracts do you have any suggestions for that end of it? I dont know if I should be sending contracts out for every little thing or what, and what's the best way to get them back and forth. The big gigs Ive had have all had their own contracts so that's been okay. I'm certainly going to be charging deposits now.

In regards to performers insurance I never ever thought of that and it's certainly so smart. I just have NO IDEA where to go about doing that yet in my province so I'm going to look into it. A lot of people have been suggesting to me to start claiming this stuff on my taxes- but that'll all come next year so I've just been saving every receipt etc.

I will totally use the paypal thing too, great idea!

[ide]

I love being helpful to other performers, and I've learned so much in the past 3 years, it's great to be able to give something back. I was a street-performer in high school and in SF that actually pulls a good 40+ an hour, so I've never had a job that wasn't performing arts. After school, I went straight into Circus and children's entertainment.

I have not yet had an issue with getting payment from someone, but I think that charging deposits makes a huge difference.

I have an interesting perspective on all of this, because I have two jobs -

Job #1: I work for an entertainment company that does mostly birthday parties (some corporate gigs, I was just working for Google last week) and that's where my 230 kids parties come in (we do magic, balloons & facepainting, among other things). For this company, I don't do the booking, but I work somewhere between 2 and 6 parties a weekend (I actually had to request to not do more than 4 a week because it was too exhausting) and I get a good cut of it (I pull about $900-1200 a month if I'm working every week, we took a pay-cut a while back when we switched from independent contractors to employees, but taxes are a lot lower, so it evens out) I don't buy my own costuming or supplies for this job. They book the shows, I make confirmation phonecalls two days before the weekend starts to confirm everything & instill confidence in parents (post-deposits and all that, which the company handles) and then I go, perform, and collect in Cash. Only. (checks sometimes bounce, so we refuse them on policy). More often than not I get a tip, too, and a couple of times my tip has been higher than my pay rate, which is super flattering and nice.

job #2: I produce, run & direct a circus troupe. We're a start-up in that we've only really being having regular shows for about a year and a half. We just completed our first cross-country tour where we performed mostly for tips in front of new audiences. After gas & food we still managed to do a little better than break even, which is unheard of for a first tour and I am extremely proud of my cast for rocking so hard across 5,000 miles of the USA. It is hard to making a living doing this, but entirely possible.

At home, the circus has one monthly show in a regular venue that barely makes money, but because it's monthly, it has helped us build a fan-base, practice in front of live audiences, and get a lot of press & photos. As a result, we have more recently started booking at private functions and big festivals and things, and those bookings are what feed us and pay the rent when they happen, but they don't usually involve the whole troupe. Initially we would get one every month or two, and now they're popping up more and more. They come in bunches, one month you won't have any, the next there will be 3. Maybe you won't work for three weeks, but on Saturday of the fourth week, you'll make $800+ in a night, this is why it's important to take deposits & get everything in writing/Email.

When booking a show, I don't always send a contract (I do if it's for a big public show, or if they ask for one), but I do always send over an invoice, our proof-of-insurance, and I ask for a 30% deposit, which is fully-refundable up until one week before the show, at which point it is withheld as a cancellation fee. Really, asking a 50% deposit isn't unusual. Because bigger sums of money ends up changing hands for this circus shows than for say, a kids birthday party, we do accept checks, so things like the invoice, and making sure all negotiations happen in writing (Email) becomes important.

If you do it right, you can quite comfortably making a living working just two days a week, especially if you're self-employed. But it takes a while to get established, and you need to just keep working on it until it's sustainable. Don't undervalue yourself, and don't be scared of having people out there who can't afford you. It's better to work less often for more pay than work all the time and barely make ends meat. Our rates are going to increase as soon as bookings become more regular, and that cycle will then repeat itself.

Good luck! It's not an easy way to make a living (it's mostly an office job, believe it or not), but it's really, really fun.

[ide]

Speaking of work, if anyone wants to *like* my new facebook page *sheepish smile* it's an off-shoot of my circus company and is mermaid specific.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/SwimmingMermaidcom/228118267231667

The circus troupe is here:

http://www.facebook.com/vespertinecircus

[AniaR]

I'll like them! I cant comment on anything cuz of a FB issue but the love is there

[ide]

<3 Thanks! As you can see, the mermaid page is brand new, and I haven't bombarded my friends with it yet. ^^;

[Spindrift]

As someone who has always had a big interest in busking and street performing (hard not to, growing up next to Waikiki), this thread is very informative. Thanks guys :)

[Mermaid Saphira]

Thank you for sharing this helpful information! I apperciate this :)

[Gem Stone]

wow. lots of information.

[Princess Kae-Leah]

Does one in general need to know how to swim and have a high-end realistic tail in order to get mer-gigs? I know there's little chance of anybody, even if they're an Olympic-caliber swimmer and have a very realistic tail, becoming rich from mermaiding or doing it as a full-time job, but for what market that is out there for mers, what do the people hiring you look for?

[Odette]

something i learned today that i totally messed up on:
make sure you shake everyones hand and introduce yourself..always intruduce yourself to everyone even if they are not going to be a job lead. for some reason i felt nervous and avoided eye contact i almost messed up with some important people today because i was stressed out before i even got to the meeting. thats bad. always be on your toes!they were some good connections.tsk tsk

[Anita Mermaid]

I'm surprised this thread isn't longer. Well, here's my addition:

-as a swimming mermaid, make sure your tail FITS. You look silly showing you swim bottoms like that.
-My shell top broke in the center midway through a gig. I insist you have a backup
-have a plan for what you are going to do at your performance
-great photos and videos help you get gigs

*shrug* that's as far as my experience goes.

[Merman Ray]

How about having a merman with you at a show? I'm sure it would be very hard to find the right guy to do this but I would like to see how something like this turns out. What do you think?

[Aziara]

Oh! And your mermaid tails, costumes, etc. are all tax write-offs! Yippee!!

OMG!! So that's how I afford everything! How do I list that on taxes though?

[AniaR]

consult a tax specialist! I know one of my fans who posts on the forum from time to time, Joseph, may be able to help you :)