From Avocation To Vocation: “How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Magician Daniel Chan
Take less gigs and focus on quality. When first starting I tried to take all gigs and do all gigs, but ended up sending
myself on a fast track to burn out. One Halloween weekend I ended up booking six gigs in one day. That day ran from 9 am to nearly 4 am — driving hours included — and although I did a good enough job to get hired again by these clients the next year, I was so worn out because I had gigs the day before and the day after. The next day gigs were way less energetic and I probably looked like I didn’t care all that much. Burnout is a real thing — it’s really important to pace yourself or your work will start to suffer.
As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniel Chan of owner of BayAreaDinnerShow.com and DanChanMagic.com.
Thank you so much for doing this with us Daniel! Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?
I grew up in San Francisco, CA. My parents divorced when I was very young, and I was picked on a lot while growing up. Looking back on the pictures I was a bit of a goofy looking kid. It didn’t help that I was a pretty nerdy Asian kid who acted goofy as well. In Middle School I really didn’t want to be known as just the nerdy little Asian kid so I started lifting weights. I was probably the most buff kid in high school. I also started dabbling around with magic and juggling for fun because no matter how hard I tried fitting in “with the crowd”, my inquisitive nerdy side never quite went away. READ MORE….