We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daniel McGuire. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daniel below.

Daniel, appreciate you joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I’ve been a balloon twister for 12 years, and a full time entertainer for the last 8 years or so. I started small, training as a part-time balloon artist for an agency in my college town, working for someone else much like folks work for me now. After graduation, I became the general manager, so I had the opportunity to learn how the business works, and learn what they did right and wrong.

As manager, I felt rather limited creatively as a balloon artist, and began spreading my wings in other areas. I cross-trained with a local face painting company, started my own side business as a balloon decorator, and began juggling and working on magic tricks in my spare time. A few years later, I graduated from graduate school, moved across the country, and opened a new business combining all of my skills.

I anticipated working at another job for a year or two, while setting up the framework to make my business grow. However, my success came more quickly than I expected, and I never acquired the “real job.” I scraped by in year one, and by year two was making as much as I ever had. What really helped was working on local search engine optimization and soaking up a ton of web traffic, but my industry is very niche and unpopulated, so I had a unique opportunity to rise quickly.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a children’s entertainer, and specialize in comedy, balloon twisting, face painting, juggling, and magic. Add it all together, and you get a CLOWN!

What sets me apart from others in my industry is the variety of arts I specialize in. Many focus on balloon animals, or focus on face painting, and organizers absolutely love to acquire just one entertainer that can do both. Being able to do everything at a professional level allows me to set myself apart for clients regardless of what they need. Why hire that face painter, when this face painter also does magic?

My bread and butter are birthday parties where I do a total package of balloons, face painting, and a magic show. My favorite question to get when I’m twisting balloons is when parents ask me where to find the face painter, only to be shocked and impressed when they hear that I’m the one doing that too.

Business benefits aside, having such an array of skills allows me to create a wonderful experience for the children as well. Watching them smile in the mirror at their face paint, proudly show their balloon animals to their parents, and laugh uncontrollably at the magic show all impact me more profoundly than any impressed parent ever could.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect to me is the freedom that comes with being your own boss and creating your own schedule. I work as a full-time entertainer, but I try to limit myself from working everyday and try to be protective of my schedule to ensure that I get the breaks I need to live my life and keep myself fresh. My business in particular is seasonal, so I’m able to use the winters to travel and recharge. I’ve done a few tours abroad with Performers Without Borders, spending those winters teaching circus arts to at-risk youth in India and Kenya. Having the opportunity to give back and share the arts that changed my life are a key aspect of gratitude to me.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The company I first worked for had issues with artist retention, in large part due to the detachment of the owners and the relatively low pay. Initially I was very impressed by the business model, but over time running my own business, I realized that many of the methods they used to make money were not as productive as I’d have liked in the long-run as the relationship with the talent was not always mutually-beneficial. After a few years in business, I boosted wages, adopted a more artist-friendly approach, and focused more on creating a community of performers rather than a team of contactors. It makes it more difficult to compete on price, but it leads to an overall boosting of the artistic community, more referrals for high quality work, more satisfied customers, and a more sustainable business model.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.simplysmilesco.com
• Instagram: @daniel-clown
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/simply-smiles-denver