Well 2018 and so too the Santa School season With a LOT of choices this year from various schools
I will be teaching the "Santa and the Business of being Santa" school with the 4 instructors that have franchised under my Brand.
There are 4 US instructors working across the lower 48 and 1 in Canada. The current schedule for classes are:
Greater Atlanta, GA – Saturday & Sunday, Feb. 17 – Feb. 18, 2018 – 8 am to 6 pm
SUN CITY, CA EDITION –Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 24th-25th, 2018 –
" One word only. What's one word you could give a new Santa or Mrs. Claus that is starting out that sums it all up? " I found this an interesting thought project! My answer was "Build". My one word of advice, "Build".
But what did I mean? What do you "Build"? (Another word for "Build" would be "Develop") and so the the source for this particular blog. Lets begin at the start, shall we? When you first decided to portray "Santa" you needed to put together the look you will present as Santa Su
"You pays your money and takes your chances"
Since my last writing in this thread, I have helped 6 Santas find work in malls, 5 Santas find work in Bass Pro Shops and 1 Santa hook up with a photography studio that does Christmas portrait sessions. Not a one was for "BIG MONEY" but they did pay decently for the amount of effort that would be involved on the part of the performer. All those positions could lead to future employment for those individuals as well.
The economy is in flux and th
Everyone! Is! Picking! On! ME!
Or the subtitle
Everything I write revolves around me!
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Caution!! Long post of a blog and if you do not like my writings? Skip over it! Nuff Said on that!
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ALright, there was a thread on the SatBobS group that started out with a very valid point about Santas and what they earn with a side comment about self promotion by telling the lay public how much they were paid started by Der
Everyone has an idea what it takes to be Santa. They then go forward to follow that idea into reality. Where the fantasy meets reality is where some problems occur.
No matter how you conduct your Santa performance service, you are conducting one of two different things in the eyes of the IRS. You are either spending your money on an expensive hobby which you are not allowed to write off OR you are operating a business Which has to show a profit 1 out of 3 years or as my accountant says 2
Everything Changes.
I advise people that work in the entertainment business as performers to learn to adapt to the current Environment. By that I mean you look at the opportunities available to you in your area of operation and then look at how this can be made to work for you. In the previous (rambling) blog on this subject I used my school as an example of how I used this idea when in competition with other schools and education opportunities. Since that is still an experiment I will give a
The most recent change in how Bass Pro Shops handle their Christmas seasonal business has once again inspired people to grab a handy soap box and pontificate upon how "They" would prefer the Bass Pro Shop Corporation to do business the way "They" would prefer since the "Bone head Greedy new guys in charge" obviously do not know what they are doing. Besides it affected "My" pocket book! "This will come back to hurt their business!" and often seen "It is all the fault of (someone that has absolut
The 2016 SatBobS School Tour
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GORDON BAILEY·TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
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16 Reads
Well another year of operation and another Textbook is added to the class. Why should you attend? You have the White Beard. You have the Belly. You have the $1500 custom made Red Suit. You have the $900 pair of Boots. You have the real leather Belt with the $450 Gold Plated Lazer Cut Brass “Santa” Buckle. You have the Bag. You knock on the door an
The Santa and the Business of being Santa school (Also known as the SatBobS school) has begun its third year of operation. A traveling school I bring the education to your area saving you the cost of transportation, time and in many cases housing. In 2015 the SatBobS school drove through 17 states and held 10 classes.
Now I am working on the schedule for 2016. Had the first class in January in Sun City, California.
The class is presented over 2 days and includes 16 hours of lecture and full
Ok folks, the second textbook for the SatBobS Santa school is now available through Amazon! Check it out! http://www.amazon.com/Santa-Business-Being-Nuts-Bolts/dp/0692582908?tag=onlytoyscom-20
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So here is the updated list of where you will find the SatBobS traveling school and myself peddling my books and other wares.
2015 list of locations:
April 11th & 12th Simi Valley SatBobS school
April 25th - 28th Las Vegas Nationwide Santas event
May 4th & 5th Springfield Mo.SatBobS school
May 9th & 10th Memphis Tn. SatBobS school
May 15th & 16th Nashville SatBobS school
May 23rd & 24th Dallas SatBobS school
May 30th & 31rst Houston Satbobs
About 2 years ago, Santa Ian Loxton​, Tim Connaghan and myself all came to the same idea at pretty much the same time and Tim coined the term "Santa Emeritus". Basically there comes a time when a Santa simply cannot do the work of being Santa due to illness, injury or simple old age.
That does not mean they have to hang up the suit and stop. There is a slowly maturing technology based Santa visit that has just had it's start in 2012. This is the "Video over the Internet" visit with families.
It started as a concept. A new story tradition. An amalgamation of "Old World" traditions brought to this "New World." Just like the banjo and the stumpt fiddle, "Santa Claus" was born here in America. From a small start the tradition grew as it embodied a new direction while keeping alive many of the old traditions.
First mentioned in print in 1772, as St. A. Claus. The new tradition left behind to the "Old World" many of St. Nicholas’s companions such as Black Peter and Kram…pus, Santa was
From time to time, we all encounter someone who is convinced that, “Magic dealers are ripping off magicians!”
The reasoning goes something like this: If a shop can afford to run a sale, then the shop’s regular prices are too high.
I have heard this claim firsthand from magicians in person and I have seen similar comments online. Recently, on a popular magic forum I read about a shop running a 40% off sale and the commenter said if the shop could afford to sell merchandise at 40% off, then reta
Various Credit Card Capture devices and Protocols
A cautionary tale included
https://squareup.com/?nan_pid=1802144615&sro=1
https://www.flint.com/
http://www.60secondmerchant.com/pappc/
http://plusbyems.com/?ad=compinc
http://www.groovvit.com/papp1/
http://www.PayPal.com
There are now many different means of accepting Credit Cards and ATM Cards for payment. Care must be taken to use the devices carefully and correctly as otherwise you are in for a lot of trouble.
I have liste
The Myth of the Non-Refundable Deposit
This is why I never take a Deposit!
Has this ever happened to you?
"Hi, we were going to have you be Santa for our home party but we just decided to go to the Bahamas for Christmas instead. I know this is short notice but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the whole family and we just have to go! I know this is short notice but can we swing by and pick up a refund of our deposit in the next couple of days? Thank you and Merry Christmas!"
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Blogs, Writing and publishing. How they can benefit YOU!
I was thinking about this for a while now (I know, dangerous activity) and it occurs to me that folks "Blog" for many different reasons. Some like to share what is happening in their life at the moment. Others think it is a great way to share what they ate that day. Some,like myself like to share the experiences they have learned from to help inform others of possible "problems" they may encounter when pursuing a particular activity.
This is a 70 year old lump of coal given to me today by a very nice lady! She learned I was a Santa and had to give me a lump of coal! Lol! the book is only there to give scale of size of this puppy! Lucinda had kept this in her family from her Grandmother to her Mother and then to her sister to her and she gave it to me. This was from a Kaiser Steel mill originally.
I placed it on the book to give you a sense of size. I am working this "Return to Santa" into a story for this year's season. I w
Everyone has a reason for doing something in Daily life or Life in general. Surprisingly sometimes these go deeper that "Seemed like a good idea at the time." which is usually prefaced by "Hold my beer!" Since 1987 I have had an interesting peice of art work hanging on my wall where ever I call home. It is an "Artist's Statement" made by W. Dan Cantrell and though it caught my fancy back then, over the years I have come to appreciate the deeper meanings. I share with you today.
an "Artist S
Jan. 29, 2014
A topic that no one wants to approach.
One way of looking at it is:
"“Naughty” Joke To Adults Get's Beloved Macy's Santa Fired"
or another headline on the same story:
"Bad Santa Fired From Macy's Over Lewd Joke | The Stir"
Two different headlines on the same story. This happened back in 2010 and was perhaps a bit of an over reaction on the part of the adults involved (No children were present or privy to the joke telling) and also of that on the part of Macy's but it is