You have something that you do. You are good at it. You are a Ventriloquist. You need to spend all your spare time improving and honing your skills as a Ventriloquist. Unfortunately, most Ventriloquists spent (or waste) a huge amount of their time chasing down leads to get bookings. This may be necessary in order to get shows doing what you do.
It seems to be a Catch 22 situation. You don’t seem to have enough time to do what you do, because you are spending so much time being forced to seek the bookings you need to be able to do what you really want to do. It is a vicious circle.
Here is something to consider. Lets assume that you have 50 hours a week to devote to your art form. If you only get to spend five hours a week actually performing, then you are only spending 10% of your time performing each week. You must spend 10-15 hours (20 – 30% of your time) a week practicing, writing scripts, maintaining your puppets and equipment. There is no way around this time expenditure.
This means that you are spending 30 hours (60% of your time) seeking bookings or wondering how to get bookings. If you are not successful at getting bookings, you don’t get to perform and your week is wasted.
Now consider this. If you have a booking agent, your time is freed up for about 60% of your schedule. Yes, you do have to pay your agent, but only as he/she performs for you. You should be able to find an agent for about 20% of your gross paycheck.
If a good agent is able to book you for 10 hours of performances per week, and costs you 20% of the gross, then you are now getting paid for 8 hours instead of 5. A good agent should also be able to get your rates up and may end up not really costing you much at all. Then there is the part that the agent (who is good at what he/she does) will save you the 60% of your time that you previously spent looking for bookings.
This may not be for everyone, but we make puppets. When the car breaks down, we find a mechanic who fixes cars. Unless you have a natural gift as a booking agent, you might want to consider getting an agent. Then when a client calls you, simply say “Call my agent”, which all by itself makes you look more important to the client.
Thats all for now folks,
Steve and JET