Wizdom For Wizards with Brian Richards Part 1

 9 Benefits of Creative Routines For Kids Entertainers

Well, let me start this off by saying it is an honor to be one of the contributors to the Kids Entertainer Hub!! My name is Brian Richards and I have been a full-time educational performer for over 15 years and in the business for over 30 years. My goal is to share with you key strategies and systems that will help you become a better performer,help you achieve your dream and as a result get you working MORE! Find out in this 6 part series how you can increase your perceived value to the people booking you …

The strategy of effective marketing can be the difference between making a few extra bucks to earning a living that is beyond your wildest dreams!! So Wizdom for Wizards will be a “go to” resource for marketing your shows. I look forward to sharing many incredible strategies and systems with you so let’s get started.

Now before we dive into the marketing we need to start at the beginning. We need to start with your product….your show!

To be more accurate the real product is you and your show is the delivery system.

The key to effective marketing is to be a valued commodity in your area of expertise.

But we are a special breed because we don’t sell a widget, we sell our personalities as performers! You want to be unique and stand apart from your competition. So let me share a viewpoint that some may have a hard time swallowing.

You need to take the time to create an original and one of a kind vehicle to showcase YOU!

 

So whatever it is you do as a Kids Entertainer I want to start with making your program creative and all about you! While we can observe and learn from other performers you need to create your own vehicle that is you and not be a copy of somebody else.

Let me suggest that one way to do this is to be more creative in your presentations. I believe the best strategy to success is to have a top notch show. And one way to have a top notch show is to make the show original with you. That means TAPPING INTO YOUR CREATIVE FLOW! If you create the show it will be one of a kind product that only you can supply.

The next few blogs will focus on creativity and your show! Now since my area of expertise is magic I will be using examples that pertain to magic. But please understand that the strategies I share with you will work with whatever performance art you specialize in!

Right about now I would suspect that you might be asking, “What are the tangible benefits in nourishing my own creative abilities?”. That is an excellent question and to end this first episode of Wizdom for Wizards let me share my top 9 benefits of creative routines:

1) A Creative Presentation Makes Your Show More Marketable

Have you ever surfed the online yellow pages in your area and looked under the heading of magicians. Do you ever wonder how you can compete with all of them? Creative presentations are the only answer. I mean if you have a show that includes the usual generic effects, you know the kind of show I mean, the kind of show where 50% of the act has appeared on “The World’s Greatest Magic Secrets Revealed”. If you are the owner of a generic act than your competition is every magician in the yellow pages. But if you have a unique creative act, say one that combines magic with the 10 key points in closing a sale you become more marketable. Suddenly, out of all those magicians you may be the only one who does such an act. You have found a “niche’. The other advantage is that you become immune to other magicians who undercut your price. They don’t have the product that you have created, they become a non-issue.

2) By Being Creative In Your Presentations You Have Ownership In The Work You Present.

Having a sense of ownership of your routines gives you a sense of pride. Having pride in what you do reinforces your own creative beliefs and to top it all off, you make the field of magical entertainment more commercial and legitimate.

3) There Is A Greater Perceived Value For Your Client.

People pay more for an original piece of work. A number of performers I have worked with are reluctant to blow their own horn and tell a prospective client that they have created the act that they will perform. I tell them to bring it to the forefront. A prospect likes to know they are getting an original one of a kind product (Remember I’m not talking about the actual tricks you do but the original way you present them to the world at large).

I am often asked what happens if you spend all this time creating this original act and some unethical magician steals it hook line and sinker. Well, don’t despair, it’s a fact in marketing that people want and will pay more for the original. If a client listens to your presentation and says, “Well that sounds great but the Amazing Ding Bat does a couple of those routines to!” You may respond that the Amazing Ding Bat may do my act but I am the originator and creator of those presentations. Suddenly, you have some leverage you are the authority instead of just some unethical performer who lifted a show.

4) Creating Your Own “Works Of Art” makes the process of rehearsing new routines more fun & rewarding.

I really believe one reason magicians have a hard time rehearsing is because it is all “old hat”. What I mean is they do an effect the way it’s always done and there is no challenge. When you take an effect and create your own presentation rehearsal becomes exciting because you don’t know what to expect. It’s a very involved process taking an effect and crafting a script around it. You can really take the effect and treat it like a prop.

The prop is essential but it is meaningless if it isn’t surrounded by a good script.

So it transforms the mundane process of rehearsal into a treasure hunt with hidden nuggets of gold. Finding new things to add, things to take out, areas to expand etc.

I’ll share a quick example. I do a routine called, “After Shave, After all”. It is a prediction effect where I predict a cologne that is picked by an audience member. The prediction is located in a box under the tray of colognes. After rehearsing this routine a number of times it suddenly hit me that it would be fun to find something in addition to the prediction.

I was hungry at that moment and thought that a giant SNICKERS bar might be humorous. So I restructured the script to say my wife has me on a diet. When the SNICKERS bar is revealed with the prediction (it’s a big laugh). I explain it’s for those emergencies during my diet. Now this came to me during a rehearsal session because I am always asking questions during rehearsal.

The questions I ask will be covered in a later chapter. I just came up with the Snicker addition about a month ago. The reaction is great. The result is that I look forward to rehearsals now.

5) You Can Charge More Per Show

As the creator/originator it is perfectly justified to be paid more for what you do. Like I said before, you are unique, something more than 90% of the magicians on the internet. As the creator of an exclusive product you are in a different league than SILLIDINI the magician for all occasions. Remember don’t be afraid to share all the time, care and work that goes into what you do. By sharing this with a prospect you gain respect and appreciation.

6) You feel a genuine sense of personal accomplishment by being creative and original.

You will feel a wonderful sense of personal accomplishment as you watch the reactions of your audiences knowing the excitement, smiles, laughter and gasps have been caused by something you created. After the show make an effort to just listen to the comments and the impact it had on them. Slowly, you will feel something wonderful swell up inside you, it’s called SATISFACTION.

7) This blog will help you develop and refine your creative muse.

No matter how creative you view yourself by using these strategies and taking action you will strengthen your creative ability and will be able to apply it in all areas of your life besides performing. It is no different than cardiovascular conditioning, you must exercise the heart at least 4 times a week for 30 minutes or your conditioning suffers. Same goes for your creative ability.

8) Creative Ability Will Give You A Sense Of Security In A Very Insecure Field.

The inner confidence your creative juices gives you is incredible. You will know deep inside your being that you may create whenever you need to create. This is especially applicable to the service industry. The most important phrase you can utter in this field is, “How can I help you?”. If you ask that question with sincerity and listen, then follow-up with creative action you will be a big asset to your prospect. You can help solve potential problems and smooth out the rough spots at an event. You become more than a performer in the prospects eyes you become a consultant with a level of expertise. With sincerity of purpose you will no longer have a prospect, you will have a CLIENT!!

9) By Practicing and Exercising Your Creativity It Will Become easier and Faster

As with any skill the more you do it the better you get. This blog will share a daily regimen of things to do to stimulate your creativity. Understand that you don’t have to create a final product every day but daily challenges of your creative abilities are essential to mastering the creative flow.

There you have it 9 excellent reasons to start mastering the creative process. I will close for now but in the next episode we will have some strategies to creating a vehicle to show off your product….YOU!!