Jim, UD hit the nail on the head. You have to promote yourself and the locations where you will be performing. I had a big 24 X 36 inch, color poster made that I could place at the locations where I would be performing and at the bottom of the poster it listed the time and dates of the performances. Worked like a charm.
Essentially, in the OMB entertainment biz you have to be a jack of all trades and master of all as well. You could be the best musician and singer on the planet, but if no one but you knew about it, your audiences would not exist. I was never a trained musician, however, I was blessed with a good singing voice and could sing the telephone book to any audience. But to get those audiences, you must be a good at promotions, public relations, advertising, and most of all, interact well and responsibly with people from all walks of life. Add to the previously mentioned list, you must be a good book keeper, tax accountant and salesperson. You are selling a product - your entertainment skills. And, you must do all those things effectively and efficiently, every day of the week, including weekends and holidays. No one would have known I performed in Baltimore's Little Italy had I not put the word out where I was performing using every tool at my disposal. With the owners permission, I was able to place that large, framed poster on an easel or hang it on the wall near the entrance of the restaurant a week prior to my performance. It was extremely effective and the owners liked it because it drew in customers the night of the performance that normally would not be there that particular evening.
DNJ had an extremely successful dance club job that he established in an American Legion Hall. He agreed to rent the hall every Thursday evening, do the clean up afterwards, 52-weeks a year. Prior to his grand opening, with permission of the owners and managers, he placed 8-1/2" X 11-inch posters, advertising the event, in gas stations, grocery stores, senior centers, etc..., any location where he could hang one. Within a few weeks, it was a huge success, drawing 250 people or more to his 3 hour, Thursday night dances. He charged a cover charge of $8 per person, which included snack food, coffee and soft drinks, which he purchased in bulk to keep the overhead expenses down to a minimum. The American Legion gave him a break on the rental price as well because he rented the hall on a night when it was unlikely to be rented and he was renting it for the entire year. Additionally, anyone that wanted something stronger to drink, mixed drinks, beer, wine..., could order it from the adjacent American Legion Bar, which provided them with a lot of added income every Thursday night. Donny did this very successfully for more than a decade.
Once you've become established, word of mouth helps keep those audiences attending, however, without additional promotion, those audiences will eventually die off and you'll be out of a job. This is an ongoing job that requires a lot of effort 365 days a year. In order to accomplish some of this, I utilized National Pen Company
https://www.pens.com/us/ where I purchased pens, calendars, thank you cards, and other neat, advertising tools, all of which were very, very effective. For just a couple hundred dollars you can reach out to hundreds of potential customers using direct mail and targeting your audience.
Jim, don't get discouraged - you CAN do this. Guys like UD, DNJ, and others are more than willing to help you in this endeavor.
Good luck,
Gary
