Yes, local community theaters are a great way to go!  Be sure to check your local community college theaters for rentals.  I know that my local cc offers their lab theater for less than $100.  If you charge just $10 like mentioned before, you would rake in quite a bit of profit for just one show.  You can always presell your tickets as well.  Don't forget to make a lot flyers to promote your show and leave them in a lot of areas that have high traffic of children if you are targeting shows geared to them...like libraries, children's boutiques, ymca, daycare centers, gymboreee...etc.  Being a mom, I talk to a lot of other moms who are starving to find more activities for their children.    You could even try your city....talk to the city to see if they have any program fundings for you to do in their local parks.

Oh, and since you build your own puppets, don't forget Etsy!  hehe

Aloha,
Nikole

first, I wanyt to thank everyone again for their opinion. There is a lot of great info here.   I appreciate everyones time and opinion and I hope this thread is usefull for others as well.

I have a lot to think about. It sounds like it may be possible to be a full time working puppeteer with or without birthday shows. I guess my biggest concern is the amount of time it will take to make enought money to live on.  I have no problem doing consulting IT work or PC repair (of which I have about 20 years of experience with) to make ends meet while building a puppet company but there are only so many hours in a day.  My current job leaves about 10 to 15 quality hours of puppetwork and that is not enough!

Anyway, enough complaining, what I have learned so far is that the key seems to be to have a good business plan, find the kind of shows that people will want to keep coming back for at a reasonable price but also that I will want to be doing for years down the road, and then become a shameless promoter (within reason, of coarse). 

I really like the idea of performing in a small theatre or venue that I can sell tickets to.  There are a few theatre groups around here that I may be able to partner with, at least to get started.  I do have a portable stage that I can use for a touring version of the same show perhaps.

MArk

Something to remember is that most business ventures take a approximately 5 years to become lucrative.

This is one of those business that you build up while you have another job to pay the bills.

School shows are good, as are libraries, and day cares, etc.  You may have to offer to do some stuff gratis to get your name out.  There is one yellow pages ad for puppeteers in the Houston phone book. However, she has been doing it for years, and when I talked to her 10 or so years ago she was charging $200 and up per show.  Her puppets are not open mouth puppets!
There is a kids magazine (really a parents magazine in Houston that lists events for kids). It is a give away, and I see many ads there for magicinas, moonwalks, clowns and dress up parties.

Birthday parties are a good way to start. But we found you have to really spell ot exactly what you will do and how much time you will spend. Also, what the parent is expeted to do (keep the kids from getting into the stage, etc.).

do a web search on "Joe Scruggs."  He is a Kids Performer in TX. He does puppets without a stage and is one of he best. He does lots of PTA shows - schools sell tickets as a fund raiser, pay him part and keep part.
I have taken our puppet team to see him perform just for ideas.

Hi there,
Looks like you've had some very good advice here so far!
Its not something I do so can't give you any advice personally but I have a couple of ideas that might help...

Firstly, I agree with Andrew's points about getting financial support and writing a business plan. Even if you don't ever 'use' the plan on anyone it really helps you focus on what you want and get the financial side in order in your head. There are some great books out there on how to start your own business. I'd suggest a quick hunt round your local library, online and also Freecycle (you have that in america right?).

Secondly, from the horses mouth. Most puppeteers are lovely people and more than happy to give advice. See who's performing locally, go see a show and see if they'll talk to you after about how they got started and maybe even letting you volunteer help out on their show so you can see what it really entails. I'm sure many would be glad of the help even if its only shifting equipment in and out of the theatre!

Lastly I know of at least one set of performers in the UK that would be happy to talk to you. They're called Presto Puppets (have a google and you'll find them), they're based in Derbyshire UK and are about to retire but they have years and year of experience performing big stage shows with up to 50 puppets to big audiences and they can give you a good idea of the pro's and cons and how to get started.

Hope that's of some help and good luck!

Wyoh

As much as I would love to jump into a full time puppetry life, I think taking it slowly while maintaining another job is the way to go.  I think i just need to find more hours to devote to my puppets. (like everyone else here i am sure).  I am going to check out some of the resources people have mentioned.

I think a five year plan and a goal of 25 shows per month is manageable. 

MArk

I have made a commitment of doing something of puppetry everyday no matter how tired or exhausted or "don't feel like it today" mood I am in. 

I try to do at least three hours (if not more) per day, but some days are busier,  I can't do less than one hour per day.  This has helped me improve my art two fold and puts me in a routine that when I go full time (business) that I will be use to spending many hours per day doing puppetry and seeing how that feels for me. 

The activities can be anything related to puppetry, such as....reading a book on puppets, practicing manipulating a puppet, writing a script, making a puppet, going to guild meetings, watching other puppet shows locally, watching a video on puppets, and doing workshops.  All these ideas (and more) contribute to my time per day, no excuses!  Any of these can fit into a day easily,  I read puppetry books during my lunch hour instead of gossiping about other workers, one hour down already. I think that it has to somewhat become a little bit of a lifestyle choice to really make it happen as a full time career.

I feel that I have, since I started about 6 months ago, become so knowledgeable and confident in what I know about puppetry and my building has really come along.  I bring puppets to any event that I can go to and practice walking around and interacting with kids (for free) just to see what works and doesn't work and developing believable, fun voices and movement.  Just keep getting your face and name out there as you build both your skills and a reputation.  All this will lead to an easier transition to a full time business.

I hope this gives you some stepping stones to an end result that you want.  It is working for me.....so far. 

Daryl H

I try to do something puppetry related every day too.   Right now its about an hour or so a day. sometimes it is just sketching and drawing new ideas so I can use them later.

That's a brilliant idea to go to an event for free and just walk around and test out ideas.  a great way to get your name out and about and let people see a bit of what you do.  I would think carnivals would be a good opportunity for that.

Much of what I do now for a living needs me to be self motivated.  I have never had a problem with that. Sometimes when I start working on something, such as a new puppet, I can not stop and I will keep at it till the we hours of the morning and my eyes no longer can stay open.  I've even continued to work on it in my sleep. Sometimes ideas just have to come out. It's a bit scary, but its a good scary!

Hey:

What Daryl is saying is kind of like writers trying to develop discipline/work ethic.  Most budding writers and those who teach writing say that you should develop the habit of sitting down in front of the computer/word processor for at least one hour per day, preferably in the morning before you do anything else.  This means even if you are having a dry spell and end up writing nothing on a current project.  At least try writing notes on a story that you've envisioned, characters that might be useful, descriptions of locations, etc.

On going to events for free, there's nothing wrong with that, but you have to be careful if you plan on going pro.  You don't want to become known as the puppet guy that works for free.  I would say that free performances should be done, but with some guidelines. One that I have used in the past as a magician is only working for free for true charitable organizations or charitable events.  Don't fall into the trap of say doing purely recreational events for organizations that sponsor an occasional charitable fund raisers.  If you do, you will always have a willing audience, but you will also never be considered to be a potential paid performer for that group and word of mouth will impact potential future work.

If you do free performances at a public event like a festival, attend as one of the public and get the puppets out for a brief period of time and then go enjoy the other activities.  Also, at these events don't perform near a paid performers area.  This is a good way to get into a confrontational situation at the worst or to get the reputation with pros that you are a rank amateur that tries to steal gigs.  You're even walking on dangerous ground doing any kind of performance near any other performer who is being paid even if the particular medium is different.  Definitely don't try doing puppetry within sight or sound of another paid puppeteer.

Good luck!

Marty

Hey Marty....Great further thoughts on this topic.

Daryl H