Mermaid Ayla is at it again!

[Ayla of Duluth]

Jason Davis from Minneapolis MN came up to Duluth to do a story on me a few months ago, and they finally put it up for the public! I got two DVDs in the mail, and I was going to download them to my computer to edit the footage for a nice little video of just me swimming, but wouldn't ya know, he put a copyright protection on it. :( anyways, here's the story! (http://kstp.com/article/stories/S2980447.shtml?cat=26) It didn't turn out half as bad as I had thought it was going to be.

[MerEmma]

So cool! <3

[Thalassa]

That's fantastic! :-3

[Mermaid Caspiana]

Great! So, as a tip for when I start my business... Is 50$ a good pay? :) great job on the video! That I the second one ice seen of you! :) I love your tail so much!

[MermaidBrittany]

Oh my gosh!! I am so happy for you!! That is amazing!! Your publicity is really growing!! :yay:

[Blondie]

Just a wonderful story! I loved it! Good job hun :)

[Kanti]

Awesome!!
That must be so exciting to be on tv and all that!
You swim so gracefully
I absolutely love the part where the little girl is standing on the fluke of your tail xD the little kids seem to love you and you seem so natural around them~

[spottedcatfish]

Wonderful video! I'm glad you finally got the publicity you needed!

[Ayla of Duluth]

Great! So, as a tip for when I start my business... Is 50$ a good pay? :) great job on the video! That I the second one ice seen of you! :) I love your tail so much!

honestly, it mostly depends on where you're from. For instance, the mermaids in florida charge upwards of like 200, 300 dollars because mermaids are in high demand down there, so they can get away with charging a lot more. Also, seeing as its florida, those mers have a lot more experience with things like swimming in tanks, free diving, and other stuff like that. they have a very wide variety of skills that they all use to bump up their price.

Here in Duluth, I am in high demand, but I'm also very new to the mermaid thing, and Duluth has never had a mermaid before. I could probably get away with charging around $100 per hour, but I really want to keep my prices low to encourage those on-the-edge people to go for it and hire me. I think that once people get a feel for what it is exactly that I do, I can start bumping up my prices.

Of course, there's things to consider as well, such as travel costs and whatnot. My rule is that if I have to go past Cloquet (about 20 miles out) my price then jumps to $80 per hour, and on top of which, I tack on travel costs. For instance, one of my clients who just saw the Jason Davis clip asked what it would cost for me to come to a region just outside the Minneapolis area. Well, right off the bat, my price is $80 per hour. Then I tacked on $50 for travel costs, so his total for me to come entertain for an hour was $130. He seemed to be just fine with that, which is nice.

The way I came up with my price range is I looked at other entertainers in my area. Of course, none of them are mermaids, but we do have a couple of Jack Sparrow impersonators who charge the same rate as each other. $80 for the first hour, $50 for every hour after that. I used that as my guideline to figure out how much I should charge. I'm limited to what I can do, obviously I can't walk around or stand up outside of the water or anything, and I'm completely new to the business aspect of things, so I decided $50 was a reasonable price.

Tl;dr law of supply and demand, price based on your region, and shop around for other entertainers of all sorts to see what they charge to use as a guideline of what you should charge. consider travel costs and time, supplies you need to bring, pay for your assistant (if you have one (I do)) and how long of a party you're willing to do.

[Ayla of Duluth]

Awesome!!
That must be so exciting to be on tv and all that!
You swim so gracefully
I absolutely love the part where the little girl is standing on the fluke of your tail xD the little kids seem to love you and you seem so natural around them~


All of my relatives were commenting on the part where the little girl is holding onto my tail and I'm pulling her along for a ride. They said "Why aren't you using your tail? you look ridiculous just doing the doggy paddle." lol

One of the kids favorite activities is to make me face the pool wall with my legs bent at the knees so my tail makes a sort of underwater makeshift diving board. I get MAJOR charlie horses and leg cramps sometimes from trying to support their weight. its not bad if we're in the deep end so most of their weight is supported by the water, or if we've just started the activity and my legs are at full strength, but man, that gets tiring! :)

[Bellasea]

Congratulations Ayla!

[AnnaAbyss]

Awesome!

[Mermaid Saphira]

Great story! You look like such a happy mermaid :3