Or, as we say in the social media world of today–tact is a...

Or, as we say in the social media world of today–tact is a lost art. Perhaps we can make it a project to recover a bit of it in 2019. 

Happy New Year!

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Or, as Buddhism teaches, you’ll have a happier and more...

Or, as Buddhism teaches, you’ll have a happier and more successful life if you learn to hold things lightly. It is possible to have great passion for the work you are doing, without being overly attached to specific results. Always do your best, but realize that your “desired outcome” should often be just to find out what works and what doesn’t. That way you can save the time and effort you might otherwise spend feeling disappointment and self-pity when something you’ve created doesn’t yield the results you expected.

Once you’re perspective shifts in this way, you go from someone terrified of failure and become someone thoroughly enjoying the great adventure of what life can bring you!

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Business–and life–is really all about the...

Business–and life–is really all about the relationships we build. I find myself smiling when I read on social media that someone is “in a relationship,”–and “it’s complicated.” The truth is we’re all “in a relationship” with everyone we encounter. There are a thousand different ways of being in a relationship–but one of the best is the one where the person you are relating to thinks well of you and wants to please you because you’ve done so much for them. We generally think of these people as our friends. In business, they are the ones we want to give our business to, and the ones we hope will hire us to do things for them. Longtime clients are much, much better for your business than one-time customers. But how do you develop those longtime relationships? It’s easy…just do things for them! Send them gifts, or cards, or share interesting stories and information with them. In order to get a friend, be a friend.

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Businesses only fail when you quit…and the difference...

Businesses only fail when you quit…and the difference between a raging success and miserable failure can be just one or two set-backs. Most really successful entrepreneurs actually have three or four businesses in their past that have failed…but from which they have learned invaluable lessons. So don’t give up! Fail forward fast!

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How many of these have you read? If you’re a magician, the two...

How many of these have you read? If you’re a magician, the two on the left were written just for you. If your an entrepreneur or organizational change leader, the two on the right were created just for you. If you’re BOTH a performer and in charge of your own business… my latest book, Beyond Applause was created just for you. All are now available on Amazon. If you’ve read them, please do leave reviews on the book’s page on Amazon. Your review will help others decide if the particular book is what they are searching for.

Thanks to all!

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The truth is, we’re all in the business of creating experiences....

The truth is, we’re all in the business of creating experiences. Walmart creates one kind of experience, and customers go to them for that experience. Mercedes Benz creates a different kind of experience, for a different kind of customer. Every experience we have changes us–and the businesses who understand what their customers most desire to become will succeed in the biggest ways. No one understood this better than Steve Jobs, or used it to better effect.

As entertainment professionals, we at The Wizard Venture have been specially trained to help you create a particular kind of experience for your customers. Get in touch at any time, and we’ll find a way to help you create the experiences your customers most desire!

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Paul Draper is one of my favorite performers… and someone...

Paul Draper is one of my favorite performers… and someone who has built a thriving business over the past several years. Paul works hard, every day–to build relationships, make sales, improve his offerings, and learn more about how his business operates. One of these days he’ll be discovered as an “overnight success,” and everyone will wonder how he got there!

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Speaking is only half the game when it comes to communication....

Speaking is only half the game when it comes to communication. If you can’t pay attention to the responses your audiences give you, you’ll fail to communicate with most of them. What feedback mechanisms do you build into the various channels through which you communicate?

Learn to listen. Learn to watch. Learn to actually connect. This is one of the key skills we teach in our workshops and coaching sessions…because it is so important, and so difficult to learn without being on your feet in front of an audience.

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As a performer, there are many, many possible business models...

As a performer, there are many, many possible business models which can bring you success. It may help you first to consider: Who do I most love performing for? What problems do they have which my performances can solve? The answer the question: “I use my performances to …” Whatever follows that is the thing you can build a real business on. 

I use my talks to inspire business people to learn emotional intelligence. I use my magic to draw giant audiences to trade show booths and qualify them for the salespeople in those booths. I use my talents as a physical comedian to create memorable family events. Each of these is a viable basis for creating a business…and will lead you to making all the others decisions you need to make in order to create that business.

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Honesty can be difficult. How much easier it is just to smile...

Honesty can be difficult. How much easier it is just to smile and go along with whatever your friends are saying than to raise your hand and question their actions or what they have said. This is just one more aspect of wizard-thinking that sets them outside the mainstream. Wizards change the world, in part, because they refuse to just go along.

Think back through your day or week, and find the places where you have chosen to just let something go, when you really disagreed or saw the error in thinking that allowed it to be. Simply taking the time to notice and reflect on how you’ve felt about those moments is a first step towards changing yourself into a more powerful agent for change.

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“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about...

“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” – Seth Godin

If you want to persuade with your presentations, there’s no more powerful tool than a great story. Learn to convert the facts you think you need to convey into parts of a great story if you want them to be remembered. Even more powerful, convert the change you want to create in your audience into part of a story about a charismatic hero, and you’ll increase your chances of success exponentially!

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A regular newsletter that contains valuable information and...

A regular newsletter that contains valuable information and amusing anecdotes is a great way to build a following. The catch is that you have to actually provide valuable information and amusing anecdotes. A content-free newsletter that just hypes you and your performances will just mark you as a narcissist, and your readers will quickly mark your newsletter as spam and do their best to forget about you.

I like to think of our various posts and newsletter as a way we can provide our services to a wider audience, free of charge. We’re doing what we do, and the distribution is free. If people like what we do in the newsletter, they’ll come to us when they need a bigger dose of what we have to offer. Sometimes that takes the form of online or one-on-one coaching. Other times they might come to a workshop or class with us, and still other times we get invited out to conferences and conventions. Our mission is important enough to us that we’re happy to do it 24/7, with or without pay–because we know that ultimately, that’s the best way to actually get paid to do it.

The newsletters and blog posts and social media presence are all just ways of doing that.

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I just got back from our annual Magic & Meaning...

I just got back from our annual Magic & Meaning Conference–kind of the TED talks of the magic world. This year we had many wonderful talks…but the best ones were the ones where the speaker had a point to make and clear reason for giving the talk. These speakers took that purpose and used all their skill as performers and artists and storytellers to make sure the talks took us through a wide gamut of emotions…all leading us not just to understand, but to deeply feel the point of their talks. It’s not enough just to convey information and logic. It takes stories and emotions to really change minds…and that’s exactly what the best of these talks achieved.

If you’re working on a talk of your own, my Wizard’s Way to Powerful Presentations might be helpful to you. Or, if you’re in a hurry, and have to deliver a great talk or pitch in the next few weeks, get in touch using the contact info on this page–I’m always happy to do one-on-one coaching.

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I work with entertainers and speakers, and it always surprises...

I work with entertainers and speakers, and it always surprises me when they are unable to deliver great entertainment when asked what they do. “So, what do you do?” at a party or in a networking situation is your opportunity to shine, to actually do what you do… to entertain and enlighten. But as with any great show, that takes planning. You have to know the best story you can deliver to both entertain them and make them want more. You have to choose the right words, the right inflection. You have to rehearse that pitch! Otherwise, you’re behaving like an amateur, and not the professional you would have them believe you are. Perhaps we should call it the “Elevator Show,” and then we would be inspired to make it better.

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flowartstation: This Chameleon Is Actually Two Painted Women...

flowartstation:

This Chameleon Is Actually Two Painted Women

Johannes Stötter - Fine Art Bodypainting

Because we love both illusion…and being disillusioned. It’s how we grow.

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The new book is out and available on...

The new book is out and available on Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Applause-Management-Independent-Performers/dp/0977984346/

Let me know your thoughts about it by leaving a review, or sending a note to tobias@yourmagic.com. Thanks!

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This is from the first part of the book, discussing how we...

This is from the first part of the book, discussing how we define a purpose for our businesses. Many businesses lose their way and fail simply because they don’t have a clear purpose and clear goals. Take some time each day to consider what the real purpose is that your business wants to serve. Sure, we all want to show a profit, but that’s not your primary purpose. Every business that succeeds, does so by serving the needs of a particular market… and that is their purpose. What is yours?

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FISM is the world’s largest organization for...

FISM is the world’s largest organization for magicians…and the Theory & Philosophy award is only awarded on special occasion. Jeff McBride has joined the ranks of distinguished predecessors.

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It takes more than knowledge of how to run a company in order to...

It takes more than knowledge of how to run a company in order to run one effectively. It takes a shift in point of view. Being a good performer, a good worker, is not enough. You need to be able to shift your point of view to that of an interested outsider, one who can see the business as a whole and understand what needs to be done in order to make it a success. True entrepreneurs know their job is to work ON their businesses, not just IN the business.

Find this and more in my new book, Beyond Applause, a guide for independent performers who wish to build and market a successful business doing what they love. The book is due out by July 1. Watch this space to find out where you can get it.

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WizMin051518-Beyond ApplauseMy initial announcement (slightly...

WizMin051518-Beyond Applause

My initial announcement (slightly out of order) for the new book “Beyond Applause” - It’s a Wizard’s Guide book, designed for independent performers to learn how to market & manage their businesses.

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WizMin051518c-ServeMarketMy new book, Beyond Applause, will be...

WizMin051518c-ServeMarket

My new book, Beyond Applause, will be out early in June. Here’s just one small tip from the book. 

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I think TR was right… but then, how does one become the...

I think TR was right… but then, how does one become the master of one’s soul? There are lots of simplistic, dogmatic answers out there, and I suppose they must work for some. “Be true to yourself.” “Go to church.” “Be compassionate.” “Honor your elders.” All good advice, but hardly the key to mastering one’s own soul, I think. Something tells me it’s a bit more complicated than that.

For myself, taking time out from the world to reflect is helpful. Testing myself with new experiences, and then reflecting on how I behave in those unfamiliar settings can be helpful. Reading the thoughts of great writers, past and present, considering ideas I have never considered before. Sometimes to imagine that the opposite of what I’ve always believed could be true, and questioning who I am from that kind of contrarian viewpoint can be enlightening.

And is a soul something completely personal? If not, then what could be more personal? And yet, are we not who we are in a context, defined by our society and surroundings and, at least in part, defined by that context? Is who we are something pre-determined by our genes and upbringing… or do we have the choice, the ability to create ourselves?

I have no “final answers,” no “key to life” here. However, I suspect–I hope–we can all be who we decide to be, that we can be the creators of our own lives, our own selves. And then, having created ourselves as we wish to be, I hope and pray to have the courage live that life, that personhood, I have chosen to create. That, I think, is the great adventure that life offers. 

So… what life will you choose? What will you create? Will you have the courage to live up to your own highest ideals for yourself? I wish you success!

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When you’re out there doing your best to change the...

When you’re out there doing your best to change the world… sometimes you’re going to get yourself in trouble. Never mind. Go ahead and take responsibility for having done it, then do what you need to do to get yourself out. Learn the lesson and move forward. You can’t know where the boundaries are until you test them. Have the courage to do that, and you’ll be on your way to doing great things. That’s the wizards way!

www.wizardventure.com

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Elon Musk has been in the news again this week, once again...

Elon Musk has been in the news again this week, once again for “failing in a new way.” This time it was for failing to please top analysts on his official investors earnings call, by calling their questions “dry” and refusing to answer them. They rewarded him with one of the largest stock price drops in months. It was widely reported in many publications. Others though, posted stories about how Tesla is poised to reach profitability in just a few more months, and how the other things Musk reported in his call were encouraging. Who to believe?

For my purposed today, it doesn’t matter. Elon Musk again proves his qualifications as one who truly thinks like a true wizard. He tackles outsize projects, and he always thinks for himself, often in the face of convention. How many others of our current “titans of industry” have the courage to go against the grain, to really think for themselves, and who have the resulting abilities to “do the impossible” that Musk demonstrates time and time again? Of those in the news, I see only Jeff Bezos… but I’m certain there are others who have chosen to “fly under the radar.” Who can you think of? I’d love to know about them!

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Art helps us learn to see our world from different perspectives....

Art helps us learn to see our world from different perspectives. Take the time to notice!

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I’ve been listening to the audiobook version of Walter...

I’ve been listening to the audiobook version of Walter Isaacson’s bio of Leonardo da Vinci. Amazing. It reinforces everything I wrote about him in The Wizard’s Way, and also raises an interesting question, expressed in the quote above from one of Leonardo’s notebooks.

We’ve come to the conclusion in modern neuroscience that the left and right hemisphere’s of our brains do different things–roughly equivalent to science on the left and art on the right. Too few of us, though, actively work to integrate the two sides. We learn at an early age that we are naturally “good” at science and math OR at art and creative pursuits, and then often concentrate on that, to the exclusion of all else.

In fact, it has been shown again and again that science students who are also active in the arts do significantly better on standardized tests in science than those who are not. Being someone whose natural proclivities and talents were decidedly on the logical science side, but went into the arts, I naturally feel that by continuing to nurture both sides of my brain, my work in the arts has benefitted. Certainly, my overall quality of life has been richer for the efforts to develop both sides, to try and achieve a balance and wholeness.

Perhaps that’s why Leonardo continues to amaze and delight me–to be my favorite among the true wizards. His insatiable quest for firsthand knowledge through exploration and experiment, his skills as an engineer, combined wonderfully with his role as “master of the revels” for his various patrons and his amazing painting. Each talent, whether drawn from left brain or right, enhanced the efforts of the other, and allowed him to achieve and inspire much of what pushed our civilization out of the dark ages and into the renaissance.

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Illusion Art

Illusion Art:

Art helps us learn to see our world from different perspectives. Take the time to notice!

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My friend Jeff McBride likes the saying “A goal is a dream with...

My friend Jeff McBride likes the saying “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” If you really want to accomplish something, deadlines are important. Not just, “I’m going to do this thing,” but, “I’m going to finish doing this thing by next Friday.” The deadline forces you to commit, and things really only move forward when we commit to them.

Try it. Pull out your current list of “to do” items. Next to each one, write a date and time you will complete it. Then make sure you live up to those commitments. If you do, I think you’ll surprise yourself by how much more productive you become. And, if you really want to get those projects in gear, let your friends or co-workers know about your deadlines!

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I just read something–I think it was in Fast...

I just read something–I think it was in Fast Company–that indicated January is the least productive month for most of us. I often find December and January to be the most depressing time of the year, mostly because I’m a big fan of lots of sunshine, and 8 hours a day just isn’t enough. But I also tend to be more productive this month than most. I think it’s because I have fewer distractions.

In any event, if you’re feeling a bit blue from all the wintry darkness, Merlyn’s advice here is good. Just find something new to learn, and dive into the process of learning it. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll lose those blues!

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Feeling accepted into a community is one of the “higher up”...

Feeling accepted into a community is one of the “higher up” items in the Maslow hierarchy of human needs. I’ve worked with magicians for nearly 30 years now, and the extent to which magic forms the basis for common interests and community continues to astound me. From the day 30 Hong Kong magicians greeted our plane on my first trip to Hong Kong with Jeff McBride to the incredible welcome the Bay Area magic community offered when I moved here from Las Vegas–I’ve been blessed by this community that reaches out and shares so readily.

So–what is your favorite community? Where to do you go when you need to feel like you’re part of something larger than yourself? If you can’t think of one, perhaps it’s time to figure out the things you love most in life, and find a group who shares your interests. Whether it’s just an online group. one that meets regularly in person, or something else–we are naturally social animals, and the extent to which you get out there and offer your strengths and experiences to a like-minded group, the healthier your emotional being is likely to be!

That said, I think it’s important when we choose our groups to choose ones that encourage inclusivity, that want to serve the larger society. There are groups built around insularity and negativity (for example, the KKK), and if you’re getting your group support from a community like that, you’re also cutting yourself off from most other groups. That “I’m OK, you’re NOT OK,” attitude is a recipe for struggle and strife, and not for the good health of the larger community.

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