I am part of a local business group called The Business Network which meets in a hotel once a month for two hours during which members eat a meal and discuss their businesses and commerce in general. I’ve been a part of this particular group for almost 30 years and I have found it interesting to hear what other business owners are going through, and useful in the bookings that it has produced.
When you attend for as long as I have, naturally enough you get to know some of the members quite well, and as a result conversations with them tend to extend beyond superficial pleasantries. You hear about the ups and downs of all sorts of different business sectors, and there is often a level of honesty in conversations that can only come when you are chatting with someone who knows and trusts you.
There are two questions that I often get asked, particularly at Christmas. One is, “are you busy?” and the other, which is really just a variation of the first query, is “I suppose this is your busy time of year, isn’t it?”
Now with people who you don’t particularly know and with whom you have yet to establish any sort of rapport, the answer to either of the above enquiries ends up being, “oh yes, December is always a busy time of year.” You naturally want them to get the impression that you are successful and busy, as this creates a good impression in their mind of you and what you do, irrespective of whether it’s actually true!
However, what if you’re not busy? What if the number of Xmas bookings is down this year? What if things are really not going that well? Should you still automatically lie and put a brave face on it, even with those people who you know well?
Over the last few years I have gradually wound down the number of shows that I do. The need for regular large sums of show income has diminished as I have got older, and so I see no point in wasting my time any longer endlessly chasing bookings in the way I did earlier in my career. My perspective on all the work I do has changed to the point where I have the luxury of basically only taking on what I feel like doing or which seems fun! And I’m happy with that state of affairs.
So when a fellow network member enquires about whether I am busy or not, I have altered the way that I answer. My response these days is along the lines of, “well, I’m very happy with the amount of work I’m doing at the moment, thanks” which shows that I am active, because I am, but which does not require me to imply that I am super busy.
In fact I do have a lot of things going on in my life, but whereas in years gone by my time was dominated by the work I was doing, now my work/life balance has shifted and the job side no longer totally dominates in the way that it did, something which I think is healthier and which means that when I do work, I have more enthusiasm and energy to put into it.
Some magicians I know always like to boast about how incredibly busy they are, about the huge number of shows they do. It’s as if they think everyone will be impressed that they don’t have any spare time away from entertaining. Performing is usually fun but it’s not the be-all and end-all to life, and it’s a pity when there are those who perhaps discover that too late.