[color=cyan]What do I do next?[/color]

So I have a good(small) collection of paint, brushes and sponges! I have my facebook up with the pics I have! Now I need to start booking! Money is tight at the moment to spend on a ton of stuff..I plan on making business cards and a few shirts(homemade)

What else can i do to get booking for the summer? I only have one party for June! How can I use facebook to get more bookings!

hey you are in Dallas,,,I lived there till Aug of 1999 and moved to wisconsin..check out your local restraunts that have kids night...I work 2 here

Do you work every night or just like kids eat free nights?

you need to build connections, maybe you already did but I strongly suggest that you get together with other painters/entertainers in your area (if there are any). When I first started I was lucky and painted in a big soft play center which gave me lots of experience very fast! Then I met up with two local painters, a clown and even a balloon modeller for coffee and they were very kind and would forward some jobs on to me that they couldn't do themselves. From those first few jobs I got to hand out my cards... then I got a spin off job... then hand out more cards... and get more work... then started to getting word of mouth reccomendations. You just need to get your foot in the door somewhere
I get most of my work through word of mouth, the Facebook page is just another way of displaying my portfolio, despite being top of google for my area I only get 1 enquiry a month from it, people usually ask for me because they saw me at another party or event.

So...Once you get afew clients and some feedback then you can really pump up the marketing materials. BTW, DO NOT pay for advertising, stick to free listings, FB,school/community centre notice boards and invest any money you can spare into yourself/ training or your kit instead.

Coral x

We have a guild in Dallas.

I get at least 3 or 4 calls a week from my website. (I am a clown, though, and I find that is a MUCH bigger market for birthday parties). I would suggest you try to get a local festival. I get calls all year long from festivals where I have handed out business cards. Oh... you have to try gig salad! I have gotten a LOT of business from there, and it's free.

When I begun I made a flyer with some of my pics and my information and ask at the local costume stores to post them, party stores, etc, I recive my firts calls from there then I affiliated to gig masters.com, and got more gigs, then little by little the people where calling me like" I was at my friends party and you were there, etc" a good idea is to find local catholic private and public schools, they use to have events, school fairs, summer camps, and they love to have a face painter at their events, local festivals are good too!!

Read the forum like crazy (business & marketing section). This forum was the gem that took my business from a few jobs every few months to having to turn down business because I'm way too busy.

Awesome y'all and thank you so much, i am going to use all of the info y'all gave me!

Today I am going to make up fliers to send out to all of the Churches and daycares in the area. I know they always have summer days there. Then Friday I am thinking that I am going to have to swallow my shyness and bite the bullet and go into the resturants and talk to them about a kids night. So those might be good steps for you too for this week. Good luck!

great idea..and good luck to you too!!!