Building Your Business on a Solid Foundation

It has begun.

The picture above is of our back deck. Or what used to be the deck.

We are moving my wife’s hair salon from its current location a few miles away to our house.

Before they can build out the addition for the new salon, we need foundation work.

Turns out the guy who had the house before us cut corners left and right, leaving us with a host of problems to correct before we can build the salon.

The foundation will be key to that. In fact, a solid foundation is important for any business.

Even magic.

I’ve had several performers reach out to me this year. They want help marketing themselves to book school assemblies.

But many of them have never done school shows before. Or at least, not many.

Some of these folks want to bring their existing ‘just for fun’ show into schools. And they seem very surprised when I tell them they should build the show first.

Having the right product is crucial for any business. And in magic, the right show for the right market is your bedrock.

Without the right show, your marketing efforts will stall out.

And this is true for any market, not just school assemblies.

Trying to break into the corporate market? You need a show that is appealing to HR directors.

Want to do more children’s birthdays? You gotta have a show that appeals to young kids and their parents.

Without a deep, thorough understanding of your market, any advertising or marketing efforts will likely fail.

I know I’ve written about this before. But today I wanted to shine another light on this topic.

When constructing your show for a specific market, you can’t cut corners.

You need to put together an exciting fun show that fits the market you’re pursuing completely.

That means you’ll likely have to buy or learn new tricks.

I recently had a phone conversation with a magician wanting to get into the school market. When I explained the need to create the show first, this magician assured me their show was already complete.

The only thing left to do, this magician said, was to add a few messages to the existing show.

The magician explained that another so-called expert had imparted these words of wisdom.

I was aghast.

Trying to cheap out on a brand-new show will only torpedo your efforts in trying to break into the new market.

I remember magic marketer Dave Dee telling his subscribers a similar story in his newsletter or one of his courses.

He had been approached by a company to perform at their trade show. But they wanted something really big. A show with illusions and lots of production value.

But Dave tried to cheap out. He hastily built a trick box of some kind and the whole thing fell flat. The client passed on his services for their event.

All because Dave tried to take a shortcut.

So you can’t take shortcuts when putting together a new show.

Don’t misunderstand me – this doesn’t mean you have to spend thousands of dollars on new props. Depending on your marketing, you may only need to learn a few closeup tricks.

Let’s say you want to break into the restaurant market. (Not sure why anyone would want to get into that market. Magicians willing to work for tips have pretty much killed that market. But I digress.)

Putting together an act for restaurants wouldn’t necessarily require a huge amount of cash.

Even in the school market, where you’re performing regularly for hundreds of kids at a time, you don’t necessarily have to spend huge sums of money.

I tend to buy expensive tricks because those are the ones I like. But that’s a personal choice.

And the corporate holiday parties don’t necessarily need a lot of expensive tricks either.

I used to bring all kinds of expensive tricks to my corporate shows. Especially my one-person murder mystery/magic show, Murder By Magic. But over time, I changed the show.

I changed the show for two main reasons:

1. My tastes changed. I began to gravitate toward more mentalism.

 
2. Demands of the market. Most of my corporate bookings were for holiday parties.

When I arrived, I was told I’d be performing in front of the buffet line. And of course, the buffet line would be running in full swing until about 15 minutes before my show was to begin. Then the catering staff had to break down everything.

Most of the time I had about five minutes to set everything up before my show was to start.

In earlier versions of Murder By Magic, I needed about 30 minutes of set-up time. Eventually, I created a version of the show that could be performed out of a briefcase. So my setup time (including the sound system) was…five minutes.

(Buyers of Murder By Magic know that while the original version of the show had a few expensive props, alternate versions of routines make it very easy to put together a version for a very low investment.)

My point in all of this?

Before you start marketing in a given market, you need to build your efforts on a solid foundation of a show crafted to perfectly meet the demands of the market.

Have a great week!

--Cris

P.S. By the way…whenever you’re ready, here are 5 ways I can help you grow your magic business to book more shows at higher fees:

 
1. Grab my FREE report for professional working magicians.

It’s called “The 2-Word Secret to Eliminate Your Competition & Become Your Area’s Busiest Magician.” This report reveals a strategy that almost NO magicians are using (and the ones who are don’t use it correctly). Get your free copy HERE.

2. Get my website video training for under $10:

 
In this 2-hour video training, I’ll reveal exactly what your website needs if you want to succeed as a professional entertainer in the 21st century. Get all the details HERE.

 
3. Get a complete business-building plan handed to you on a silver platter.

 
Not sure how to move your magic business forward? I’ll analyze your complete magic business (website, market, competition, and more) and give you a complete game plan for getting your performing business to the next level. Find out how HERE.

 
4. Work with me privately.

 
Need help in multiple areas? I can help you with your website, direct mail, email, or other marketing strategies. I also offer consulting services for crafting magic routines or even entire shows. Want to find out more? Shoot me an email at cris@theprofessionalmagicianclubpro.com.

5. Check out my extensive line of magic routines and marketing products

I have several professional routines, marketing courses, books, and other resources to boost your shows and make booking shows easier and more profitable. Check out my line of products HERE.

To find out more how I can help you book more shows at higher fees, click the button below to see my list of services.

© Copyright Cris Johnson, Inc.