Creating a Brand of Kids Stories and Toys:

One Entertainer’s Tale of Vision and Commitment

Tom Hayes knows about obstacles and the determination needed to overcome them. Follow the story of how a handful of tiny beans have given one man the energy to see his vision of a range of kids storybooks, audio books, mascots and a toy line one day be on everyone’s lips …

In this episode we discuss:

This episode will remind kids entertainers to use your bean, trust your heart and follow your character.

“Use your bean, trust your heart and follow your character.”

Producer, creator, comedian and voice over artist, Tom Hayes started in sales, then onto a kids entertainer, then onto a life of stand up comedy and keynote speaking then came back to doing a kids radio program that has grown into a series of Audio Stories for kids that have little beans as central characters.

Discover what doctors told Tom when he was 13 years old that would profoundly change his life and let him understand the most of the barriers in life are mental, not physical.

Tom was born into a family of magicians yet ended up in the medical field and took up using magic to entertain after a surprise encounter with a salesman who showed him the power of a simple magic trick.

Tom won the funniest person in Massachusetts.

Doug Henning, David Copperfield, Siegfried and Roy, Penn and Teller created a popular platform of magic appreciation that helped Tom get into the comedy market.

Can you use YOUR story and your ability to speak in public as a launching pad to a speaking career which pays much more than doing entertainment shows?

How do you transfer from comedy magic to creating short stories that appeal to younger audiences?

What does Mick Jagger dreaming the song Satisfaction have to do with writing storylines for kids?

These audio stories for kids run 5-8 minutes. The stories focus on the characters of BeanTown.

Is there an intuitive sense of story telling and writing storylines? can this be as effective as studied story construction.

“The Muppets”

Do you know how Jim Henson became famous as the creator of the international puppet success … the Muppets

What happens when your big plans don’t play out as you had hoped? Where are the new opportunities? Tom shares how he took to the new world of opportunities provided by the internet and resurrected the marketing of his Beantown stories and characters.

How are you writing the material for you shows? Are you writing for the under 5 audience? Is this limiting the effectiveness  of your material? Should you be writing for the tweens?

The importance of staying flexible enough to adapt to new the new paradigms of social marketing.

Resources mentioned:

Hear Tom Hayes on BeanTownPals radio

Meet the beans who are causing all this hoo hah and kerfuffle at BeanTownPals

Get the real bean stories on good ‘ol CD

Find all the bean adventures on iTunes

Connect with Tom Hayes

Connect with Tammy Pooler

Tom recommends Writing Down The Bones by Natalie Goldberg  for writing tips

Get bulk CD runs at Kunaki

Learn more with Julian and Ken’s other podcast: Magician Business Podcast

Our sponsors are…

Practical Magic – First class international mail order service for kids magic props, videos, dvd’s books and more.

ClippedCardTrick.com – The Most Cost Effective Magic Giveaway That Costs Less Than 2¢   For a Kids Entertainer Hub $20 off special use the code: kidspod

Now it’s your turn!

What did you think of this episode? Please share your comments below. Thanks for listening.