How much I make Busking
This post was inspired by one a few posts back, but Id like to note the importance of sharing your experience and take from busking.
Arts aren't a typical 9-5 . It is important to know how much to charge/expect. It's a lot like being a restaurant server, but not having a check-average to base your budget on.
Instead, you have to decide what your art is worth and how much money makes sense for you.
So anyone asking the question "how much do you make" is an incredibly valid and VALUABLE question.
As a personal example: There are no active balloon artists in a 50mile radius of me.
How in God's name do I decide what to charge? Base it on my materials? What about the materials I use to practice? What about the time spent learning a skill? What about drive-time to the gigs? What about making a "reasonable" profit?
Most advice on here is "Look at what others charge." But that isn't a viable answer if everyone is quiet about what they earn.
This reticence about financial talks is why so many companies can under pay.
We don't have a "market rate" except what we and others charge.
This is NOT something that should be locked because of hurt feelings.
I have a very different opinion of you mods, now.
Now, that said: I'm a balloon artist and I busk as a side hustle.
If I plan the "event" right, I make about $50 an hour (minus costs). I've also had nights where I made $5 over the course of 4 hours.
None of those numbers include materials and time spent.
It is important to know how to value your work, and people getting upset is NO reason to lock a thread.
Help this be a helpful community, not somewhere that caters to hurt feelings. Thanks, Mods!