My prices start at $500 for weekend evenings and $300 for all other times — and then go up from there.

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Charging any less is an act of charity.

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Here's why.

 

1.) I work 60+ hours per week, 3,120+ hours per year. The time I spend in front of an audience is only a small fraction of the work I do.

2.) Most of my working hours are non-billable. I am only paid for what I do in front of an audience.

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3.) My billable hours are very limited, because at least 99% of live entertainment requests are for...

• Saturday evening

• Sunday evening, or

• a holiday. (Morning and weekday shows are relatively rare.)

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4.) There are only 104 Saturday and Sunday evenings in a year.

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5.) Every time I say "yes" to a prime time booking, I am automatically saying "no" to any other offer that comes my way for that precious time-slot — no matter how lucrative the other offer may be.

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6.) $500 multiplied by 104 prime time slots per year equals only $52,000 before taxes, expenses, and benefits.

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7.) Subtract 40% for expenses — and my yearly take-home pay (assuming a very busy 104 shows per year at a rock-bottom $500 per show) would only come out to $31,200 per year.

 

The fee I quoted you is not based upon greed. It is based upon basic business math. Professional live entertainment is expensive because it has to be. 

 

To suggest that a professional entertainer should work for less than $500 is to suggest that professional entertainers should not exist — because any less than $31,200 is certainly not a professional's wage.

 

If you meet any entertainer who accepts less than my minimum for any reason other than charity, then I guarantee you — strictly by the laws of economic necessity — that you are dealing with an amateur.

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