The primary time Eddy Wealthy dressed up as Santa Claus, he was simply doing a neighborly favor.
It was 1995. His neighbor breathlessly ran down a hill, round a cul-de-sac and to his entrance door in Tucker, Georgia, to inform him that the Santa she’d employed for a celebration immediately canceled, and he or she had an empty go well with to fill, the now-68-year-old recollects.
Placing on the costume and bleaching his lengthy beard made him “really feel like a superhero,” he says. Thus started his three-decade side hustle as Santa Claus, starting at native events and migrating to personalized video website Cameo — an internet market the place folks can purchase personalised video greetings — in 2018.
Final yr, he and his son Chris Wealthy — a 32-year-old property supervisor who helped set up his dad on the platform, and manages his presence there — made roughly $52,000 from Cameo, together with $14,700 in the course of the week of Christmas, based on paperwork reviewed by CNBC Make It.
They’re poised to carry out equally this yr: They’ve made greater than $30,000 as of Friday night, with Christmas week nonetheless to return. The daddy-son duo sometimes divides the cash in a 60-40 break up, Chris Wealthy says.
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“[Eddy] is a grasp of his craft … He simply actually, actually cares about making good movies,” says Cameo CEO Steven Galanis. “He isn’t simply doing effectively [compared to other] Santas. He is performing in addition to anybody on the platform.”
When he began as a celebration Santa, Eddy Wealthy charged about $125 per hour for in-person occasions. He might might attend, at most, 5 events per day, spending hours sitting in Atlanta visitors, Chris Wealthy says.
Now, throughout peak vacation season, Eddy Wealthy movies as much as 20 movies per hour, as much as 10 hours per day, he says. Chris Wealthy works a further 5 hours per day sorting via requests, writing scripts and trimming the movies. The workdays are lengthy, however at $26.25 per video — the quantity the Riches take house, after Cameo retains 25% of every transaction — they might make as much as $525 per hour.
The common Santa earns round $60 per hour, according to job search platform ZipRecruiter.
When Eddy Wealthy first obtained began, he purchased a $550 Santa go well with and paid $80 for a customized belt, with a four-inch brass buckle forged by an area jeweler, he says. He nonetheless makes use of that belt, and buys his go well with items for $40 every at costume low cost shops, preserving about 5 pink jackets and two pairs of pants in rotation at a time.
Eddy Wealthy in his “workshop” for Cameo movies.
Chris Wealthy
He movies in entrance of his front room hearth, adorned with nutcrackers and a garland. He makes use of a hoop gentle, a stand and an iPhone 13 Professional Max to movie, says Chris Wealthy. “He is the colonel, I am the Elvis,” Eddy Wealthy says with a hearty giggle.
Acting from house helps Eddy Wealthy spend much less time bodily on his toes, no small consideration for celebration Santas. He can take breaks extra simply, too. One yr, he took a few days off when he obtained laryngitis, and was in a position to shortly log again on and unfold Christmas cheer when his voice returned, Chris Wealthy says.
Today, Eddy Wealthy is retired from his full-time profession as a provide retailer supervisor. Further money in retirement is sweet, however he largely spends his Santa cash on others, he says.
“I’ve at all times been frugal, however this has made loosen up slightly extra,” says Eddy Wealthy. “I at all times go away large suggestions after I exit to eat, as a result of [wait staff] are working their butts off throughout December. I attempt to unfold it round and maintain folks.”
“If we wish to go do one thing, or we wish to purchase any person a present, we are able to do it and we do not have to suppose twice about it,” provides Chris Wealthy.
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