If you are interested in doing nursing homes or retirement communities, you will be happier and less harried if you use the services of an agent. The commisions that you will pay are more than worth the work you will avoid. I work for two different agents who specialize in senior citizen facilities. One agent charges the facility a flat fee and pays me directly. The other charges me a percentage of my fee. I never try to screw an agent by passing out my own business card at a agency job and, if a facility that I have played through an agent tries to hire me directly, I refuse, politely. I understand that these jobs are not as high paying as other jobs and I know that when I pay a commision, I am recieving even less than I might but, I can assure you that I wind up with more money at the end of the year and my life is much easier than it would be if I had to do my own booking. Here's a hint. You will need a small sound system that is sufficient and portable. You will have to dress appropriately (not like a folksinger), recreators care about things like that. You will have to be super dependable, many activity directors consider reliability the numero uno trait. Good luck.

Mike Miller