How to Become a Professional Kids’ Entertainer

Ever dreamed of becoming a professional children’s entertainer, but aren’t sure where to start? This article is for you!

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Becoming a children’s entertainer can be an incredibly rewarding career choice, but, as you might expect, it’s not all about attending parties and having fun! You’ll need creativity, skill and dedication, plus business, marketing and admin skills.

However, if you genuinely love working with children and have the necessary patience and perseverance, you can undoubtedly turn your passion for entertaining kids into a fulfilling and rewarding career.

So, to help you kickstart your new career, we’ve created this useful list of 10 important steps to success:

1. Skills and Talents

Take some time to reflect on your strengths and interests and work out what you do best. Are you good at magic tricks, puppetry, balloon art or something else? Identifying your talents will help you focus on the type of children’s entertainment you want to specialise in and help you as you become a professional kids’ entertainer.

2. Find your Niche

Defining your niche will enable you to tailor your offering to a specific audience, making it easier to attract clients who are looking for the type of entertainment you offer. Don’t make the mistake of trying to be an expert in multiple areas; parents who are looking for a children’s magician, for example, are more likely to hire someone with a great stage persona, who specialises in magic tricks, than they are to hire a jack-of-all-trades.

3. Identify your USP

Ok, so now you know what you want to specialise in, you need to take it one step further. Advertising yourself as a great magician or balloon artist isn’t enough; to be successful you must identify what it is that sets you apart from other magicians or balloon artists. In other words, what is your unique selling point (USP)? Don’t forget that while you may be a children’s entertainer, it’s parents who’ll be booking you, so you should be asking yourself what they are looking for too.

4. Gain Experience

Use every opportunity you can to practise and hone your skills. Gain experience by performing at community events, birthday parties or even in schools. This will help you refine your act, gain confidence and build your portfolio. You may also want to consider taking workshops, classes, or online courses that will help you further develop your skills and learn new techniques. This is especially important for children’s entertainers as children can be very unpredictable at times!

5. Build your Brand

Once you’ve identified your target customer and your USP, you’re in a good position to start creating a brand identity that reflects your personality and style as a kids’ entertainer. Develop a catchy name, design a logo and establish yourself on social media platforms where you can showcase what you do and connect with potential customers.

6. Market Yourself

Want to ensure you’re always in demand for birthday parties, events and more? Then you need a strong online presence. You will need to set up a website that showcases your talents, complete with photos, videos and reviews from happy customers. When it comes to social media, it’s not enough to simply have a profile on various platforms, you need to engage with potential customers and promote your services.

Another important aspect of marketing yourself as a kids’ entertainer is networking. Attending local events such as fairs, fundraisers and school functions creates the perfect opportunity to meet clients and build relationships with other like-minded professionals.

To really stand out from the competition, you’ll need to get creative with your marketing strategies. For example, you might consider partnering with local businesses and hosting free workshops or demonstrations to showcase your skills to a wider audience. The more you can think outside the box with your marketing efforts, the more likely you are to attract attention and book parties. While this often involves working for free, the exposure you gain, especially when you are just starting out, is extremely worthwhile.

7. Provide Top-notch Customer Service

Great customer service is key to building positive relationships and generating repeat business; from initial enquiries through to booking and the performance itself, the way you interact with parents and children is massively important. Therefore, it’s essential that you respond to emails promptly, and are prepared to answer endless questions – even if the answer’s already out there on your website! Great communication is the cornerstone to delivering exceptional customer service, so ensure you listen attentively to any concerns or special requests and address them quickly and professionally.

Excellent customer service also means being approachable and friendly, so it’s imperative that you engage with children and their parents with a big smile and positive energy. Show genuine interest in their happiness and satisfaction throughout the event and be prepared to go the extra mile to meet their expectations. Your dedication and commitment to making every event truly magical will reap dividends.

8. Be Flexible – Expect the Unexpected

Another important aspect of excellent customer service is being adaptable and flexible. Kids can be unpredictable, so be prepared to adjust your activities or performance to suit their needs and preferences. It’s up to you to stay proactive and ensure that everyone is having a great time – and that includes the adults as well as the children.

9. Feedback and improvement

Keep yourself updated on trends in children’s entertainment, ask for feedback from clients and continually strive to improve your act and services. Do a regular audit on your performances to make sure they are still fresh and appreciated by adults and children. If you are to remain relevant and successful in this competitive industry, it’s imperative that you embrace opportunities for growth and adaptation.

10. Get Insurance

Assuming you don’t have employees, insurance is not a legal requirement. However, choosing not to have insurance can prove to be a costly mistake. At very least you should have public liability insurance which will protect you financially if a member of the public is injured, or property is damaged, because of your business activities. This type of insurance would pay your legal fees and any compensation awarded; in short it offers financial peace of mind against unexpected accidents. You may also want to consider cancellation insurance to cover any expenses you might incur if you were unable to run an event, plus equipment insurance, which would cover you in the event of damage or theft to your party equipment.

We hope you’ve found this blog post helpful. Becoming a professional kid’s entertainer requires patience, perseverance and a genuine love for working with children. However, if you’ve got talent and determination and are prepared to work hard to establish yourself, you can turn your passion into a fulfilling and rewarding career.