Street juggling with a hat

[zwiggelbig]

Hello I have a few questions about juggling on the street.

If Anyone who tried it, what could you earn in a day?
Think if I go juggling a 4 ball pattern people will give me some money?
Will they give money faster then someone playing bad music ?

And could someone give me a few reasons why I should do it and not being afraid of not doing it?.. Thanks!

[Duncan]

Sounds like you need to do some reading:

http://www.jugglingdb.com/compendium/performing/venues/streetshows/

Check out the articles there - lots of sound advice.

For even more: http://www.performers.net/library/index.html

[atte96]

i got 10(euro) for about 3h

[Wis]

I did it once in Mallorca. I got 50 euros in 3 hours. And i wasn't working... full time. you know, mallorca is quite hot and wet (hehe) so i had to rest a lot after each show.

I suppose in these articles from duncan there are also my advices, but this is a resume of my experience.

Get proper clothes, normally dark to keep the atention on the diabolo. Get some music. you don't need a big hifi system, just something heardable from 10 meters. and prepare your tricks coordinated with the music. Well, i was also using light kits, but i think that's no so necessary as the other stuffs.

And finally, the big clue, that i couldn't manage enough. BE FUNNY
You are going to get more money with good jokes and normal tricks than the opposite. For me it was difficult to speak before the show, i'm too ****ing shy, but if you get ready some jokes, it can help you.

About the location... I was working in terraces, because there people is forced to see your show, and they can't run away, because they're sitting down (of course, they can). So after the show you can go to every table with the hat and ask for money. For me there it was easier to speak, at least is 1 on 1, xD.

And remember always to be nice with kids, adult people like this.

I hope i'm not giving bad information, like this is how i did it.

Good luck to everybody

[Hathaway]

The only thing I think you did that I would say is bad is go up to the tables and ask for money 1 on 1, fair enough if there is a bit of a crowd and you give the whole, 'this is my living' banter. But asking 1 on 1 like that is almost begging and a bit unfair on the people sat down. Other than that fairly sound advice.

[Wis]

yes, totally true.
but you get much more money with this method. it's easier if you become a bit worse person while you are working in the street, if not people many times just don't care...
but i know what you mean, sometimes you see in the face of the people that they should had prefer me to stay away from the table. In mallorca this practice is common, so the big problem for them is normally "you know how many people have been asking me for money today?"
and for example if you are working in a traffic light, if you don't go for them...forget the profit

I sound like an expert or something but i have no idea, i just did 1 hour each day, during 3 days, just to demostrate my father that i could survive with this...at least, easily during the summer

[Tipper]

Places with drunk people are your friends!

Theres this big festival at my town with big celebs and people coming from everywhere for the booze and music. Me and a friend stood for under an hour, at a not crowded spot, with no music, no routine, no experience but fantastic performing skills and we earned 15£ in under an hour The only thing we did was to buy some funny hats and a tie each, then find our spot and start playing.

Asking people for money is not a problem when done properly. Dont say "give me money" say for example "cmon guys wanna give a little? its not everyday you see something as fantastic as this " and for gods sake, HUMOR in the voice! Nobody likes cranky street performers with no humor. Joking about your juggling will make people come to you and open up. They will be much more nice and the chance of earning money will improve greatly.

Try finding a big open spot. You do not exactly need music, just your voice. but make sure to put on some clothes that will get you noticed. Do funny tricks like elevators and one of the biggest crowdpleasers i found was the eiffel where you do that horisontal suicide, then show them the tower and ask "now aint that fantastic?" with a big smile and it helps with winking your eye at them. Try taking your time to stop the shows, and just speak with the audience. It helps them connect personally and most people are in fact very curious about how long you have done it. When they know your story, they will most likely throw something in the hat, because now they see you as a friend instead of a stranger on the street asking them for money.

Hope that helped even though it came from a 14 yearold with no professional experience.

After christmas i will be having psychology-classes in school and i will start a project about the psychological aspects of street performing. I'll make sure that the first thing i do is to post my work here, hoping it might help people.

-Tipper

[RLF_]

in France that illegal but I do it and I won 5€ 2 hours playing....

[Tipper]

in France that illegal but I do it and I won 5€ 2 hours playing....

In denmark, it is too. But police are kind here. They respect culture and they know that they cant keep people off the streets. If a kid is juggling on the street, they will let him stay. If it is polish people, tricking people for their money and pick-pocketing them, they will go bust them immediately.

[Diabolo88]

Hope Yokke/Mr.Pink is fine with me posting this:

http://juggleworks.se/juggleworksforum/index.php?topic=413.0

Å ena sidan säger lagen att yokke inte behöver något polistillstånd för att spela sin show, men eftersom polisen tycker att han ska söka tillstånd så ska han göra det. tyvärr så går det inte att ansöka om tillståndet, men det är inte statens problem... Å andra sidan så tycker polisen att showen var olaglig om den spelas utan tillstånd (det var svårt för några att ta sig förbi och värdefull shoppingtid förslösades säkert). Att polisen inte lyckats haspla ur sig vart de anser att lagen inte längre gäller spelar i sammanhanget ingen roll. Yokke borde ha förstått att drotninggatan var en sådan plats. Och eftersom polisen tycker att lagen bröts så bröt yokke mot lagen när han spelade sin show fast han till punkt och pricka följt lagtextens anvisningar.

Basically he got fined 1500 SEK for his streetshow and he was also risking a prisonsentence during the trial. What he was doing wasn´t even a crime according to the law but to the police it was. A bit too much to translate manually so use a translator or something. Apparently you need to be careful doing this stuff. Maybe in these situations you're better off looking less professional like a happy and unaware amateur...

[Marijn]

In most cities in the Netherlands it is perfectly legal to do some streetart-ish stuff. I depends on the city however, but it should be easy to find all the legal documents the specify what is and isn't allowed[1]. In my hometown (Utrecht) it is allowed to do this kind of stuff, there are only some restrictions: not in front of hospitals/policestations/libraries and only live mucis is allowed, so no ghettoblasters etc.

I'm pretty sure I've already posted this before.... but basicly do some google'ing to see what is possible in your own city! And about the money.... it really depends on so many variables. Just try it one afternoon for the best answer.

1.	If you are afraid of getting busted, just make a print of the legal rules and take it with you so you can show it to incompetent policemen

[Jussi]

if doing diabolo on the street is legal and putting your hat on the street is legal then its not your fault if somebody will put some money to that hat, right?

[Sharpes]

You will make 10x as much money with a street show than you would make busking (juggling with a hat out, no talking).  Write a show, best to be at least 30 min. with mostly talking and jokes, and basically following the guidelines in the article by Steve Ragatz in the link Duncan posted.  Jacob and I street performed all summer and made loads of money.  We also were making 5x as much by the end as we were in our first shows, so the best way to get better is simply to do more shows.
-Nate