Balloon twisting is a fun and fulfilling hobby to get into. But, for Balloon Josh it provides twisters a big opportunity to make a living out of twisting balloons! Today, Josh gives us his essential tips in twisting in restaurants for more earnings.
How to Make More Money at Restaurants Twisting Balloons
Today I would like to talk to you guys about how to do well and make a lot of money, specifically at restaurants or festivals. Right now, I live in New York city and there's a lot of opportunity to just go to Central Park or Times Square, basically lots of public areas where you can just pull out the balloons and start twisting.
A lot of people also go to restaurants and they twist for tips only. When talking with other twisters, I found that I tend to make a lot more in tips than they do. Typically, in restaurants, I tend to make between $100-$175 per hour in tips. Normally when I do restaurants, I don't require the restaurant to pay me anything, because I'm already making pretty good money on tips only.
The end game is basically to not need restaurants. You want to get to the point where you have private events, and people call YOU. This is where I've gotten right now. Tipically, I don't do a lot of restaurants anymore, but when I've given my restaurants over to other twisters, they're telling me they're struggling to make $80-$100 a night, and asking how in the world was I making $400-$500 a night just at restaurants?
#1. Make Friends
And this is what I wanted to share with you today! First, if I'm going to a restaurant where my friend is a waiter, and I sit in their section, when the bill comes, they're probably going to get a better tip than just a normal person that's not my friend.
So, my goal whenever I go to a table to make balloons at a restaurant, is to get them to think of me as family, and that way I'll make more tips. So I'm telling jokes and sharing parts of my life with them. I'm making them feel at ease with me so that they're more likely to tip better if they feel a personal connection with me. I'm also trying to find what's something we have in common. And that's just something you should know about in general - it's always a good idea when you meet someone, to find common ground. It is not uncommon for me to get a $20 tip or a $50 tip. I usually get at least one $100 tip once a week, if not once a month. So getting those larger tips especially, a good start for that would be to make friends with the people that you're doing the balloon twisting for.
#2. Be Entertaining
The second thing is to be entertaining. It's not just about the balloon. Yes, the quality of the balloon needs to be artistic and elaborate because that's what people are paying for. At the same time, you want to also sell yourself in a way - you're not just selling the balloon. Find a way to incorporate jokes if you can. I try to have a series of jokes that I'll do or a schtick. For example, I have a balloon dog tattoo on my arm. So I'll joke around with people when they say "So is your name really Balloon Josh?". And I'll say yes, and point to my balloon dog tattoo saying "Well yeah my mom had to name me that because I was born with this balloon dog birth mark!". And of course they know it's not a real birthmark, but it's just having fun, making jokes, and being in character. This adds to your perceived value.
If you come across all akward and quiet, you're not entertaining them. So what you want, in addition to them getting a balloon art from you, they're also getting a show. They're getting dinner and entertainment, and that is sometimes worth more to them than the actual balloon.
Sometimes I've had other tables give me a tip, and I didn't even make them a balloon. They're just giving me a tip because they found that what I was saying to this table entertaining enough to tip me. Again, you want to keep in mind that even when you're working a certain table, speak loud enough that other people can hear you. Don't be abnoxious about it and don't shout. A lot of this depends on picking your restaurants carefully. There are certain restaurants you can be louder at, and certain restaurants you might need to tone it down a little.
#3. Pick Your Restaurants Wisely
I will say that I found that part of making money at restaurants, is picking your restaurants wisely. You want to look for restaurants that cater to families, and not just to kids. Meaning the restaurant should also be serving alcohol. This is because the kids are getting the balloon, but the parents are paying for the balloon, and a lot of times, drunk adults will tip you more money than sober ones. So you want to find that balance of a restaurant where both kids and adults can have fun.
Another important thing to keep in mind when choosing a restaurant, is the restaurant's price point. A restaurant that is too pricey or too cheap is not really a good idea.
#4. Tips Over Set Price
Another thing that's really important, is not to tell people how much you charge for your balloons. I never tell people how much to pay me. If I tell people $5 per balloon, I will make way less than if I just tell them tips only. Here's why I think this is happening, psychologically speaking. If you say $5 per balloon, some people right off the bat will say "I'm not paying $5 for a balloon!", and you just lost that customer. Then you have people that are really generous who would be willing to give you $20, but since you told them $5, now they're only going to give you $5. As long as you make something that's of value, and you make good quality balloons, and are also entertining, that's going to raise the value of what you're worth.
Another thing you'll notice when you take tips, is let's say the dad pulls out a $1 bill. What I don't do is this: I don't look at that dollar bill, and immediately think "I'm going to make a really simple, lesser value balloon." No, I'm going to give him the same balloon I would have made if someone had whipped out a $20 bill, and here's why. Most of the time, as I'm making the balloons and as I'm telling jokes, and being entertaining, I've seen parents keep pulling money out, because they realize that this isn't just a simple balloon and that they're also getting entertained. Plus, I'm also reaching the people around who are watching.
Those are just four of my basic tips for making more money balloon twisting in restaurants!
Get your twisting balloons here : https://www.clownantics.com/collections/twisting-balloons
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Joshua Clark popularly known as Balloon Josh is a professional balloon twisting master! He made various tutorial videos for us and even did several Facebook Live sessions in our fan page.
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4 comments
Sounds incredable that you get $20 tips. But for some reason I believe it. Now is it all about money and that’s it? All you’re interested in is money and nothing more? So let’s say you tell people you’re going to make them the simplest balloon animal in the world. Then you look in your apron and say: “It’s crawling around here somewhere, oh here it is.” Then you pull out an uninflated brown balloon and hold it up. “It’s a worm.” Some people may sigh, while others may think it’s funny. And if you got a $20 bill for that, you wouldn’t care….you’d be happy? I’m using this as an example. You’re there to entertain, not just to see how much money you can pull from people’s pockets. I know, it’s how you connect with the people. “My father did the same kind of work.” Are you trying to milk the people in getting as much money as you can from them?
It’s amazing to watch a figure being made. “WOW, look what he made!” When the people leave, you want them to go home talking about how talented you are with the balloons. Isn’t that something…amazing! Sure you’re there to make money! You’re not just there to give balloons away; after all, the balloons do cost.
As the saying goes: Birds of the same feather flock together.
I was very disappointed that the video said “not available.”
Same here
No video
Your video does not run. I even looked you up on you tube and this particular video is not showing up.