Building a business

[Chance Marmalade]

Go for it! You wont be sorry! There are far better vaudevillians on YouTube than me as well but I put stuff up anyway. They may not have the same concept as I do, and even if there are a million clowns there is only one clown like you.

[saphireSue]

just an update, I've have not had an add in the phone book and as I told you in my little town I'd be the only one, well they came out yesterday [don't have mine yet] and I got two calls yesterday, and one booking. YEAH.

[The_Princess_of_Bozonia]

Great Sue, congrats!

[bugaboo the clown]

The best investment you can make in my opinion is in your yellow pages. I have business card size add and because of my name Bug a Boo I am at the top. Most customers looking for a clown will start at the top of the list and work down. You also need to list a website link on your ad.

The second best investment is a simple website. People love to see what they are getting. If you are the only clown who has a website you may end up getting most of the jobs.

Business cards are great. Full color photo on one side with all the other stuff on the flip side. Again make sure to list the website.

Another thing I use is post card size flyers. www.clubflyers.com You can mail these out to schools and business or any potential client. They do not fit in a pocket so they won’t be lost as easily. When you design them make sure you allow room for address labels and a stamp.

When I do volunteer work I limit it to real charities. As a Shrine clown I already donate hundreds of hours a year. When I am asked I limit them to charities that are what I believe are category C3 charities. You can deduct the full amount you would have made if you were being paid. You need a letter from them on original letter head with the details to claim this. Like someone else said on this subject don’t allow people to use and abuse you.

Finally I want to add networking with other clown in your area. I am lucky to live in a big city and can pass along jobs I am unable to do to other clowns. They do the same in return. By

[OkiDoki]

Networking works indeed very well. Anyway it did for me. I mainly have contact with colleagues that can almost bring the same product for the same price as I do (I think that this is important, at least the quality/price is about the same). It always looks good when you can help costumers further when you aren't available yourself. The other way around, I regular getting jobs through them. With some of them I even sometimes work together, when more clowns are needed to do certain jobs. It's also handy to have them as backup for example when you become ill etc.