Sorry, You’re Just Not Famous Enough

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I know it’s probably not fashionable to say so, but I have long maintained that social media is one of the biggest time sucks known to modern man! Some people spend a ludicrous amount of their life updating their timeline and responding to anything that takes their interest posted by others who they follow.

Now personally, I am very happy to use social media to keep in contact with my family and friends, but I remain unconvinced that as a marketing tool it is of much use to most performers. Continue reading “Sorry, You’re Just Not Famous Enough”

Making Magic New Year’s Resolutions Stick

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This blog post will be published on the 1st February, by which time the New Year’s Resolutions of many people will have long since been broken! We all start off with the best intentions to lose weight, or to go to the gym more, but life soon gets in the way and it’s all too easy to fall back into the old ways of behaving. It’s human nature.

But what about magic resolutions? Do you make any at the start of the year in the hope of making more out of your hobby, or of learning some new skill, or of catching up with your magic reading? Do those resolutions suffer the same fate as the more general ones? Probably.

So what’s to be done? Well, if you are genuinely serious about resolving to improve your magic life (or your general life, for that matter), there is a way of structuring your behaviour that may enable you to actually achieve your aims. Here are my suggestions. Continue reading “Making Magic New Year’s Resolutions Stick”

Dealing With Charity Shows

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As entertainers we are always in demand with charity organisations who are looking to raise money by putting on all manner of events. The problem that the organisers face is that on the one hand they need to offer something that will excite the interest of potential attendees, but on the other the likelihood is that they can’t spend a fortune doing so if they want to make any profit for their coffers.

So it is that we performers receive an enquiry for our services, and quite often somewhere in the request will be the phrase “we don’t have much money”. The implication, even if it is not expressly stated, is that they are hoping we will work either for nothing or at least virtually for nothing.

Continue reading “Dealing With Charity Shows”

5 Reasons Why Your Bookings May Be Down

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I don’t know whether it is a coincidence, but over the last 6 months or so I have had conversations with a number of magicians who have been bemoaning the fact that the number of shows they are doing these days is less than they have had in previous years.

Often these magicians seem surprised at the downturn and have attempted to either come to terms with the new reality, or have wanted to understand what is causing the reduction in bookings in order to try and arrest the decline.

Continue reading “5 Reasons Why Your Bookings May Be Down”

Advertising – The Importance Of Who Says What And How Often They Say It

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Einstein said, “Insanity is doing exactly the same thing again and again and expecting to get a different result!” Actually, he didn’t really say that, but for some reason it is attributed to him. I suppose whoever did express the idea originally thought it would carry more weight if it appeared to come from a genius such as Einstein.

This does, however, throw up two interesting thoughts. The first is whether the saying itself is actually true, and the second is whether statements or ideas carry more or less weight and validity, depending on who expresses them.

Continue reading “Advertising – The Importance Of Who Says What And How Often They Say It”

Your Self Esteem Makes You A Better Performer

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In order to a good performer I would suggest it is an absolute necessity to be really confident in your ability. That’s not to say that you won’t feel any nerves prior to a performance, but more that once you get out there in front of an audience, you have an inherent self assurance that enables you to be successful.

But where does this confidence come from? Is it purely from having years of successful performing experience behind you? Is it just that you’ve seen it all before, have negotiated previously all the likely stumbling blocks, and so you no longer feel that there is anything very much out there that can surprise you?

Continue reading “Your Self Esteem Makes You A Better Performer”

There Are Some Things That Get Better With Age!

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As you grow older, you can be forgiven for thinking that there’s very little which actually improves for you! Your eyesight gets worse, you feel like you have diminished energy, modern gadgets appear to be unfathomably complicated, and your joints ache. Hmmm, not great!

However, I would suggest that for magicians there are a number of things which do improve as you get older, and so in the interests of redressing the balance, I thought I would tell you what they are.

Continue reading “There Are Some Things That Get Better With Age!”