Time to Dump That Trick?

The picture above is of my new canister filter for my fish tank.

I’ve always loved having an aquarium. I’ve owned several over the years of various shapes and sizes.

My current one, a 20-gallon, was a Christmas gift to me from my wife two years ago.

She bought everything: tank, stand, rocks, filters, heater, and even a gift card to buy fish.

Just add water.

Unfortunately, the canister filter she bought was a pain in the a** from day one. Canister filters live outside your tank on the floor.

Two hoses are mounted inside the tank. One for taking in the dirty tank water. The other spits the water back into the tank.

Because the filter lives outside the tank, you gotta prime it to get it started.

And the one my wife bought was SO hard to prime. Each time I serviced my tank, it took me an hour to get the filter operational again.

I hated it.

But I kept it because I knew it wasn’t cheap. And my wife had bought it for me.

A few days ago, I finally had enough.

I went to our local fish store, talked to one of the workers, and brought home a new filter from a different company.

I set it up, primed it, and it worked beautifully.

I should have done this months ago.

And I used to do this all the time with my magic.

I’d buy what was supposed to be a great trick. Then I’d work on it and put it in front of audiences.

And the thing would flop worse than The Rock’s Black Adam movie.

Sound familiar?

I think there is something ingrained into magicians. Just because we buy something doesn’t mean we have to use it.

Many of us think, “Well, I spent so much money on this that I just have to get my use out of it.

So we perform the piece to a symphony of silence and indifference.

The same is true for sleight of hand.

We put the work into a routine, polish it, and put it into our show.

And sometimes audiences respond well.

Other times they don’t.

This doesn’t matter how well-reviewed a product or routine is either. And cost doesn’t mean a thing. It could be the best thing in the world.

Magicians I consider close friends may perform it to rave reviews from their clients.

I do the same thing and I get crickets. I think some of us are just built differently.

Here’s a great example. Many magicians I know do a mouthcoil routine. The way most people do it is vastly different from how I do it.

I’ve seen them get decent responses to their mouthcoil routine.

Me? The way I do it, I could close the show with a mouthcoil routine.

On the other hand, I have seen multiple magicians get incredible reactions from Professor’s Nightmare.

Me? Crickets. Every. Time.

You know what? That’s okay. I can get by not performing Professor’s Nightmare.

Ultimately, our audiences should dictate our show.

If you work on something long enough or buy that expensive prop and put it in your show, you want it to play well.

But sometimes it doesn’t play. And there could be a dozen reasons why.

Here’s an example from my own repertoire.

Fifteen years ago, I bought a Losander Floating Table. If you’re a regular reader, you’ll recall my table recently went up into the sky to Dead Props Heaven.

I’m still mourning, but I digress.

When I bought it, I practiced every day. I had it perfected. Anyone who does the Floating Table will tell you that on the initial lift, your hands can’t move at all.

Mine handling was simple and magical.

But I couldn’t buy a good response.

Finally, I did two things to the routine.

First, I switched music. Switching the music forced me to add a delay in the initial lift.

The new music had a great initial build to a ‘ta-da!’ moment. It was like the music was created for my routine. ‘Cept it wasn’t.

Originally, as soon as I got my hands in position, the table was lifting.

But with my new music choice, I paused. This pause lets the kids focus on the table. And it built anticipation.

After that, my Floating Table was my go-to closer for years.

That was an example of reworking the routine. Success!

Other times, I have reworked a routine over and over and it still doesn’t play for me and my audiences.

Like Professor’s Nightmare.

So what can you do?

Use it as a learning experience.

I once lamented on the podcast that I wish I had not blown through so much money in my life buying props that just didn’t work out.

But my good friend Jim Kleefeld pointed out that all those experience with purchases that did not work out is part of your education.

He’s right.

I’m able to earn a six-figure-plus living to magic. The price of all those props was my tuition to an Ivy League college equivalent.

Now when I buy a prop, most of the time I know exactly how it works before I buy it. This lets me avoid props and routines with methods I don’t like.

And I listen to my audiences. If they don’t like it, it’s out.

After all, ultimately, they are the ones who decide if I’m going to ‘stay ‘employed’ or not.

One more quick tease for an upcoming release I’m working on…this will help many of you who have contacted me directly about how to make more money in magic.

Have a great week!

--Cris

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