Update on my mermaiding adventures not so great... Rough gig

[Mermaid Joie]

So I had my second (ever) gig in tail I still haven't had a wet gig yet this one was for a Halloween Fall Festival for Atlanta Parent Magazine which I am hoping was a great opportunity. Originally they had contacted me for face painting they had 5000 attendees last year normally they charge vendors $300-600 something dollars to come but because they never have enough face painters because they are all volluntees bla bla bla something about fundraising. Basically I don't get paid but it is a great promotional opportunity so I asked if I could wear my mermaid tail and give out my bussiness card and they were cool with it.
I love working for causes but sometimes I feel taken advantage of because of a few bad experiences I have had face painting.
I am not sure it my experience is typical or not but it was rough. I would love some feedback I am really struggling with taking responsibility for everything and doing school I have an exam tomorrow. I am under a lot of pressure because my H.O.P.E scholarship runs out in the spring so I have to pay full tution in the spring. So it is really important that I get this going. Idk if I can book mermaid gigs in the winter. I strained my hip somewhere in the process of my first photo shoot and hit my head I had a goose egg that de-swell just in time for the event.
All this is leading to alot of stress but my job requires me to be happy... God has been working on my heart in just trusting in him I talk more about that on the Christian met fellowship thread you can read about that there. This thread is about my gig in detail.

So at the gig, I wanted to make a great impression and have everyone hire me! But so many things went wrong I finished my website the night before at 3am, (I have been slammed with school and a bit of my own stupid procrastination.) I didn't get to make all the mermaid hair clips I wanted, my mermaid bussiness cards did not come in time even though I payed for 2 day shipping, I ended up gluing tiny pieces of paper with my website and my phone number to seashells and handed them out I told the kids they were magic seashells that they could use to summon me on their birthday, by some act of God I had exactly enough and I gave out some of my old bussiness cards. I have no mertender so I stayed in my tail the whole time in a chair painting faces, I didn't pee from 9am to 4:30pm and I forgot about food. The first 2hrs were great but I suddenly we got a really long line and people were getting angery waiting 2hours in line for face paint even though I was moving as fast as I could without it looking like crap. There was a much more talented face painter next to me that had lots of happy "customers" so I tried to amp it up with my designs but my experience level it just not there yet so I was not as fast. I scraped my tail on the cement and it now has some holes in it and scuffed up areas.

The kids loved me though! For about 2hr everything was blissful. I took photos with the girls and they loved me and then the line got crazy long!

I made $9 in tips woo-hoo.... a dollar an hour.... it was from 2 people one very nice and one who's kids were extra demanding.
I am very happy I went just EXHAUSTED.
I knew my sleep was messed up and if I took a nap I would be up all night. So... I asked my dad to drop me off at school and I went for a swim in my tail. Good news I am neutral in water now and I used to float, so tricks will get easier?.... I definately feel the drag in the tail a lot more. One of the life guards started asking about my tail and she has a fin fun so we started talking about mermaid stuff 💛 I think I will invite her next time we have a meet up at Allatoona.
I went home and crashed.

Please give me some feedback on this is this a typical day will I be this exhausted all the time? How can I do this better?

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[AniaR]

Ugh I am sorry

Ok first off, I wouldn't do things like this for free in the future. I don't do any gigs that ask me to pay to do them, unless it's something like a tradeshow etc. They're using you to get people to come in. So, lesson learned. You're right, you get taken advantage of. But it's OK, all a learning experience. Especially for something like this, tips are NOT enough. You can't eat exposure.

This was all a big learning experience for you! So don't write it off as bad, you've learned so much from this.

The seashell idea was brilliant. Great back up.

Yes not having a merwrangler is really problematic and you need to be able to pee. Now you know for next time

You can't help people waiting for a long time, it sadly happens, so don't take it personally.

To avoid tail scraping in future I usually bring a tarp and put that down underneath me.

You will get the hang of this. My first few gigs sucked. Haha I learned so many things the hard way. <3

[Mermaid Joie]

Thank you
I was really hoping this would just help me get my foot in the door and maybe I could be featured in their magazine it is very popular in GA. I built a good relationship with the lady that invited me she was also frustrated that she could not pay me and it seemed like they had this problem before with the face paint line. I don't think they were directly trying to take advantage of me but.... Yeah they did just with face paint... the rest I offered... so now I know.

(Btw I read all all your books) they were very helpful.

I just wasn't prepared for the barrage of people.
I have burned like this before and it sadly starts to effect the way I treat new customers I end up expecting that they will try and take advantage of my generosity. Some people are great, some are clueless, and others are terrible and demanding.

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