Practical Ways For Performers to Make Money
By: Jordan Fraser
Tags: Finance, Acting, Money, Performance, Entrepreneurship

Practical Ways For Performers to Make Money

Just because your show has closed, it doesn’t mean the bills stop coming in

Photo by David Hofmann on Unsplash

It can only be read as an understatement if I were to say that we live in difficult or depressingly unique times.

It seems only moments ago that I was underneath a cruise ship stage in full costume, joking with a technician while I waited for my cue.

After ten minutes, the technician would be given the all clear, which would be my signal to duck my head and shuffle onto the waiting lift.

I would stand there and complain to anyone that would listen about how much my shoulders hurt while standing in such an awkward position. Could anything be worse than this?

Things Became Worse

I’m a teacher now, and I wasn’t even forced into the job. I quit my cruise ship job while cruise ships were still sailing, and even considered going back once or twice.

But now, everyone I ever performed with is out of the job, and many of them are wondering what to do next.

Their plan was to perform aboard cruise ship shows until their agent finally took them seriously and booked them speaking gigs on TV shows. This would then naturally transition into movies and eventually, fame and fortune.

These days, only those that are firmly established and have already made their fortune are able to ride out the coma that the entertainment industry has found itself in.

Everyone else is going to need to completely change industries until their chosen profession wakes back up.

But what choices do you have?

Photo by Kat Stokes on Unsplash

Writing

More than anyone else, a performer has the necessary life experience to write and self-publish a compelling book.

By enlisting the help of friends who are talented at proof-reading and editing, anyone can get started as a writer. All that’s needed is a strong recollection of what you went through in getting onto the stage, and what your life was like once you found yourself there.

There are millions of people all around the world who dream of a life on-stage, and have now found themselves bored and in need of something compelling to read.

It’s your responsibility to provide that for them in the form of an exciting memoir! Talk about how you trained for the role, and the horrible audition process you went through.

Discuss the times that you failed, and how these emotions defined the person you became. But don’t leave out all the times you felt on top of the world, what it felt like when the jokes landed, or when the audience gave you a standing ovation.

Leave nothing out, and you’ll find yourself with a best seller on your hands.

Oh, and let me know when the book is released, because I’m also in need of something new and wonderful to read.

Photo by Yura Fresh on Unsplash

App Development

Apple just made news with the unveiling of their App Store Small Business Program.

A knee-jerk reaction from their lawsuit with Epic Games, Apple is rewarding anyone who has an app on their store that makes under a million dollars a year.

The program allows any developer who isn’t AAA to pay only a 15% cut of their profits to Apple, instead of the usual 30%.

For the vast majority of developers, this is extremely good news because a 15% increase in earnings can make a massive difference to their profitability.

Although Apple will never admit it, this development would probably never have happened if it weren’t for Epic Games suing Apple over what it believes is anti-trust behaviour.

Epic Games believes that competing app stores should be allowed on Apple devices, because they really don’t like having to pay 30% of their enormous micro-transaction profits to the tech giant.

This new program was obviously designed to leave out developers like Epic Games, who make substantially more than a million dollars a year from their app. (These are the developers of Fortnight).

But what does this mean for you?

It means that it’s time to develop an app.

There must have been a time in your life when you noticed that an app would solve a problem you had, but none existed.

Think back to these times, and when you’ve landed on the perfect idea, start learning how to get it done.

Courses can be found everywhere, including sites such as Code Academy, Udemy, The Open Code, and many others.

This is the time to educate yourself and transition to a future-proof skill that will keep you paid throughout any future pandemic, injury, age, or grumpy casting director.

The pain of the learning curve now may lead to piles of cash a year from now.

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

Online Courses

This avenue is a no brainer for performers, because we already have the ideal camera personality and training, and a lot of skills that people want to learn.

Whether you’re a singer, actor, dancer, puppeteer, or anything else; now is the time to record an online course.

Put on some make-up, set up some good lighting, and record a series of videos that train the next generation of performers in the skills that landed you a career.

Teach them all the little tricks and techniques that caught the eye of casting directors, and kept you employed.

Sites like Udemy are a great place to host your courses and get paid for your art once again.

The best part is, most existing courses are low quality garbage, so all you need to stand out is competence and effort!

And if you were a performer for a living, then you have both of those things in spades.

Most people teaching performance have never performed for money, so you automatically have an enormous advantage and should have no trouble finding your customers.

So go ahead and start planning your course right away, there are millions of bored house-bound dreamers who are waiting for someone like you to fill them with hope, and teach them how it’s done.

So Get Started!

It truly sucks that you’re out of the job, but that doesn’t have to mean that this is the end. Now is the time to side-step into something that’s going to keep you fulfilled, and pay your rent.

Write a book about your experiences, while also recording Udemy classes with your phone and a couple of high quality lights. At the same time, take some coding classes at night to future-proof your skill set.

Not many app developers are performers, so it may take a performer to think of the next great idea that current tech geniuses would never think of.

It’s up to you to keep yourself going until performing arts is resuscitated and you can get back on the stage. So get to work.

*No links in this article are affiliated or compensatory in any way. They’re just honest recommendations.