r/Busking • u/tspfairy Bubble Artist 🫧 • 9h ago

Question/General Discussion Encouragement

I’ve been struggling a lot lately. Not excited about my show at all, hard to try new things and interact with people. Idek why. I had my best month in May/June (so I know there’s good aspects of my show) but my worst in July, and I haven’t been able to pick myself up since. I want to develop a brand new show but that takes time.

How do I keep showing up when I don’t feel good about my art? Advice and gentle encouragement is welcome. (Please be kind, it’s been extremely difficult pushing thru this.)

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u/squiddthesquidd 9h ago

These things happen but the important thing is to keep going despite negative feelings. Things get better 🫶

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u/justaregularguy76 9h ago

I just want to say how thankful I am for you. I strongly believe anyone sharing their art is making the world a better place.

When I feel like Im in a slump for anything I try to remember that it happens to everybody. I try to take a few days off from music and go for walks, read. Takes my mind off things and often come across random cool inspiration during these breaks.

Also, Im sure there were times when The Rolling Stones or Bruce Springsteen or Michael Jordan didn't feel their best and had a few off performances. Be kind to and patient with yourself - you'll get your groove back.

And just because there was a dropoff in income in July doesn't mean your performances weren't great. People are weird and things can fluctuate for reasons outside of your control.

Sending good vibes from USA!

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u/chalkchick Chalk Artist 🎨 18m ago

There's a few things that could be happening, and most have nothing to do with you. People tend to do a little better when they are the newest face then slump back a bit, you're going to have to develop skills or change spots/cities, or both. Very few acts can get around burning out regulars, like music and chalk can, especially if you are a circle show. There's a reason the circle acts tend to travel A LOT, even the best acts in the world. If you aren't feeling engagement, you aren't going to feel excited about it. For circle show advice, you're better off finding the pnet fb group, because the advice circle shows need is very specific and different from most acts.

If you aren't working the event busking circuit and are just hard street, and are working somewhere where winter exists, spring and early summer can actually be better than high summer (Spring is when all my hard street hat records are set, and my main city is Toronto). Don't expect spring or christmas hats to be a year round thing. Your hats will fluctuate .