A standup comedian is an artist, which is one of the riskiest jobs you can make a living with. Or can you? As per the popular opinion, you either die broke or win the lottery as an international star. It might be difficult to imagine, but to a certain level, the choice is yours to make. Let’s see, how you can boost your income as a standup comedian.
Okay, so you had your first few shows, and even got paid for it (hey, some of us did not kicked-off career THAT lucky). As an artist, it is quite easy, and to be frank, quite common, to sit calmly and almost even comfortably in this situation. People call you, you travel, do the gig, and collect the money.
At first, it only can be done after your day job, as a part-time position. The income is a great extra, but it is ad-hoc, unreliable and you definitely won’t be able to make a living out of it. So the first question is how to maneuver the landscape to be able to quit your day job.
The Mindset
Regardless of your performance is a form of art, at the end of the day you are selling something. You are selling laughter, a few minutes of fun, an escape from reality to a world where everyday stress cannot reach the members of the audience. If you aim to create a living for yourself, you need to have the right mindset for it.
The right mindset can vary from person to person, depending on capacity, work attitude, life goals, but there are definitely common things that you can make your own to level up your game:
- You are building a business: It is not a regular one, but you can still leverage most of the tactics and action plans that work for other businesses.
- Giving back: Before you can expect support from others, you should give something back to the community. You can teach younger colleagues on how to write the best jokes, or make a few pro bono gigs a year as a charity.
- Mentoring: You need to have a mentor. Not definitely an eastern sage of standup, but somebody, who understands how art as a business is done. Having a mentor will help you keep inspired, motivated, and ahead of your competition.
- Networking: You need to make work-related acquaintances – your close colleagues are not enough. You might want to have somebody to turn to for advice in social media, clothing, acting, or how to create great scenery.
Action Planning
The number one rule from the above list is definitely to master the mindset that you are building a business. Every step you take should contribute to your “comedian startup”. To be effective with that, you need to set realistic goals for yourself. No, being the next Louis C. K. is not realistic, at least as a first step.
Imagine yourself in situations that show you being successful: a local tour, great fans, a paycheck with an, again, realistic amount of money on it. Now you need to create an action plan on how to get there. The plan should consist of the following:
- What? – Your goal to reach, described in detail.
- When? – Give yourself enough time to realize the plan, but it also should be pressurizing. Try to set it like your own boss, a strict one.
- How? – What can be done to reach your goal? Do you need to get in touch with somebody? Do you need to be present somewhere? Do you need to set up a new website? Describe for yourself the requirements, or if you lack idea, ask your friends or the mentor you already have.
This plan might look like a long list of dreams now, but if you break down the dreams into little, daily tasks, you will see that it might just be not that difficult to realize anymore.
Multiplying Your Sources of Income
As soon as you have a steady source of income and you own the mindset completely, you can look around for additional sources of income for your business. Let’s see how you could leverage your own brand to gain financial stability.
Streaming: This might be too obvious, but still made to the top of our list. Starting your own channel on YouTube and Spotify (and on their alternatives) will grant you additional exposure to potential fans and parallel will you make money with them. Don’t expect much at first, but if it is picked up and becomes a steady stream, can help you out in off-season times.
To get many followers for your streaming channels, you need to have partners across all social media (from Instagram to TikTok) to point toward your own channels. How to achieve this? Get in touch with large content aggregator channels and offer them some of your works for free. And I can hear your objections at this point, but think about this – you don’t get money in return directly, but how much would it cost you to get exposed to hundreds of thousands of fans via paid channels? A lot, but this way you can win over fans to your channel super-fast (don’t forget to include it in the agreement that you are going to be named in the video or podcast).
Cross-selling your shows with others: As you are stepping up the ladder, you might want to have a guest performer. If you are selling your own shows, why not add a guest for an increased price, from which you can have a commission.
Become an influence: Apple and Puma are probably out of your league at the moment, however, there are literally millions of smaller brands out there looking for ambassadors. Don’t wait to be contacted, get in touch with them. What do you need for that? To prepare your offering, first, you will require a strong base of active followers on your social media accounts. A Facebook or Twitter page from 10k followers is already useful, a TikTok profile with 1 million followers is something other businesses (Remember, your brand is a business too!) can make good use of.
Become an influencer and use your comedic skills to occasionally (avoid advertising too often) bring in a product or brand in the picture. No posing is required, definitely no B-face, in fact, you can even make fun of the product. That will create a unique experience for the buyers of the product and you might get a commission or a sponsor deal.
When getting in touch with brands and companies, you need to have a great video of one of your previous performances, your follower counts, and ask directly if they are open for sponsorship. If you have a brand that you honestly love and use, be proactive, and get in touch with them with a video you made as a potential advertisement.
The sky is the limit, however, never forget: being true to yourself and what you represent is the most important.