In this interview, Annie Banannie takes us into her career as a balloon storyteller. She talks about working with children, satisfying clients, and ultimately making a difference in the kids lives.

Annie is a children’s book author who doesn’t just write and sell her books, but also creates “balloon theater” where she uses balloons to tell stories. Her shows are tailored for elementary schools, public libraries, preschools, and family events, and her mission is to help children realize that they have amazing creative ability hidden within themselves.

With her, every balloon has a story.

Kris' Recommendation of the Week

I just finished listening to the audio version of Steve Martin's book Born Standing Up and I get something new out of it every time! If you haven't read it, you should definitely check it out.

Interview with Annie Banannie: Success Mantra

Ship! — Seth Godin If you wait until everything is perfect, you’ll never do it.  

Balloon Theater and Working with Children

• What is balloon theater?

• With kids, laughs per minute isn’t as important as interaction with the humor.

• Never be afraid of straying from your plan.

• Making you volunteer have more fun on stage than anyone else in the audience.

• Working with special needs kids on stage.

• Making a difference on kids lives.

• Having a special needs kid up on stage being successful isn’t only for that kid, but all the other kids in the audience as well, breaking down the barrier between the common kids and the special needs kids.

• Working with the client (teacher, parent, principal, etc.) to achieve their goals.

• Working within the school’s schedule.

• Being reliable.

• Librarians talk about who they hire for entertainment and are brutally honest on how they liked or didn’t like them.

• Pitching your show and educating your prospects  

Other Topics Covered

• Not waiting until things are perfect.

• Selling your product before you make it.

• The importance having a coach and always learning.  

Failure Moment

Tells how she botched a silent act in Japan where she wasn’t prepared enough in front of 2,000 people.  

Favorite Success

Talks about how out of necessity of not having her props. she blew up a bunch of balloons and did a “create your own story” for the audience which turned out being a huge success!  

Parting Advice

Play. Have fun.  

Recommended books and resources:

Note: Many of the links in this section are affiliate links, meaning we earn a small portion of any sales. If you're enjoying our podcast and decide to purchase one of the recommended resources or books, please consider using our affiliate links to help support the work we're doing here at the Successful Performercast. Thanks!  

Resources: Podcasts and audiobooks.  

Books:

Purple Cow and The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Where can we find Annie Banannie?

Balloonstoryteller.com

thesecretlifeofyourlibrary.com

facebook.com/balloonstoryteller

Dr. Electric Takes Over the World on Amazon

balloon-animals.com - Buster’s Site

In this interview, Avner Eisenberg, who performs as Avner the Eccentric, talks about his career and his approach to performing silent comedy. Other topics that come up are creating material appropriate for your character, being easy to work with, and where he finds inspiration.

Avner is a clown, juggler, mime, sleight-of hand artist, and actor. He's been featured on TV and as The Jewel in the Movie Jewel of the Nile. He’s been a featured performer at various comedy, magic, and theater festivals world-wide, where he’s won multiple awards like the Edinburgh Festival’s New Faces award, and special jury awards at many other notable festivals. In 2002 he was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame.

In addition to this, Avner is an instructor in his craft, teaching on physical comedy and silent theater.  

Success Mantra

Always take a nap before a show.  

Avner’s Approach to Comedy

• Fear of not being interesting.

• Performers and Audiences being afraid of each other.

• Be interested, not interesting.

• Contract between the audience and performer is to share the same hallucination.

• Make them love you and then you can do anything. Even card tricks.

• The objective isn’t not to make people laugh.

• Laughs can be an interruption that you have to deal with.

• A performer should never be foolish, but also never be afraid of looking foolish.

• There is no failure, only feedback.

Communicating Without Words

• Keep your mouth shut. :)

• Make what you’re pretending to do more compelling than what you’re really doing.  

Other Topics Covered

• Talks about how he accidentally fell into entertainment.

• Tells about his the structure of his one-man show.

• How he became a silent act.

• Talks about a lucky break he received (a glowing NY Times review) and how things took off.

• How audiences have changed as well as their expectations.

• Keeping his act fresh.

• Putting obstacles in the path of the person trying to accomplish a goal. But they have to be obstacles that you can get around.

• Where he finds inspiration.

• Creating things that fit within your character and killing or modifying things that don’t.

• How his show has evolved over his career.

• Being easy to work with.  

Failure Moment

Getting a woman up on stage with him who was sloshed and couldn’t follow directions, so he let her go back to her seat to get someone else up to help out. She turned out to be just as wasted as the first.  

Favorite Success

A fun and amazing coincidence which only could have happened to Avner. And then in a completely unrelated account, winning a competition he didn’t realize he was competing in.  

What’s worked best in building his career?

Running on Broadway and playing The Jewel in The Jewel of the Nile. Asking for reviews and building his press kit.  

Biggest Professional Challenge

Playing the Jewel of the Nile  

Interesting Story from the Road

Tells a few stores which involve arriving late to a show and having to setup in front of them, another instance where a young girl wet herself on stage, and yet another instance where he was attacked by a drunk man on stage!  

Parting Advice

Be interested, not interesting. If you can’t succeed every time, learn to fail magnificently.  

Recommended books and resources:

Note: Many of the links in this section are affiliate links, meaning we earn a small portion of any sales. If you're enjoying our podcast and decide to purchase one of the recommended resources or books, please consider using our affiliate links to help support the work we're doing here at the Successful Performercast. Thanks!  

Resources:

Avner’s Full Tech Documentation  

Books:

Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel

Uncommon Therapy: The Psychiatric Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. by Jay Haley

Aikido in Daily Life by Koichi Tohei

Where can we find Avner Eisenberg?

avnertheeccentric.com 

In this episode, magician Jon Armstrong talks about his career so far in magic and why he has no Plan B!

If you’re a magician and don’t know who Jon is, you’re probably new to the club or have been living under a rock. Jon has performed in such notable venues as Walt Disney World, Sea World, and Caesar’s Magical Empire where he headlined. He’s also taken his act around the world performing in over 30 countries.

He’s a sought after director when it comes to producing quality magic acts and has consulted on films and TV shows like The Mentalist and Spider Man 3. This is in addition to many TV appearances, his most recent being a performance on Pen & Teller’s Fool Us.

There’s almost too much to mention about Jon, like his comic series Smoke and Mirrors, his products for magicians, and his involvement in the Academy of Magical Arts. Even this is just scratching the surface!    

Kris' Recommendation of the Week

Chris Ruggiero Podcast - a show where variety entertainer Chris Ruggiero interviews other entertainers he meets in his adventures. In this show you’ll find incredible stories that will leave you intrigued, inspired, and ready to live your own dreams. He’s interviewed entertainers like Justin Flom, Jeff Civillico, Brett Loudermilk, and Barry Friedman.  

Interview with Jon Armstrong: Success Mantra

Having a fallback plan means you can fall back.  

No Plan B

• Talks about his early days.

• Either he hustles or doesn’t eat.

• Talks about some of his lean times.

• Tells about some of the “day jobs” he’s had.

• Gives a brief synopsis of his career up to this point.

Jon’s Time at Walt Disney World (WDW)

• Talks about how he got his gig at Rose & Crown at Epcot.

• What they initially wanted him to do for his act and what he ended up doing.

• Talks a little about the character he developed to Epcot.

• Developing his material, some of which he uses to this day.

• This is where he cut his teeth.

• Reformatting his material out of “the British” character for venues outside of WDW.

• Within a show, you can say anything to anyone as long as you beat yourself up first, and deliver your jab or witty remark to them with a smile on your face.  

Jon’s Time in Vegas

• Talks about his first steps when getting there.

• Connecting with other professional magicians in the area.

• Working with Joey Burton, Apollo Robbins, and Armando Lucero doing strolling magic at Caesar’s Magical Empire.

• Tells how he got lucky and became a featured performer at Caesar’s.

• Why he left Vegas.

• Surrounding yourself with people who are doing what you want to do and will challenge you to further yourself.  

Persistence and Overcoming Challenges

• Dealing with dyslexia and overcoming it in daily dealings.

• Systems he has in place to hep him work around it.

• Why he’d much rather jump on the phone with someone rather than correspond in written form.

• Nobody likes writing, they only like having written. Living and Working in LA

• Performing at the Magic Castle and handing out business cards.

• Engaging and befriending people and getting their cards or contact info.

• Getting people on his email list.

• Looking for creative ways to add value to people’s lives.

• Focusing on his strengths in that he’s a really good people person so he uses that.

• Sending “stuff” to his top clients.

• Personalizing his interactions with his email list and clients.

• Creating cool different ways to keep in front of his clients and prospects.

• Referring other magicians when he’s already booked.  

Failure Moment

Tells about a time very early in his career where he learned about the importance of hygiene. He literally felt like his career was over.  

Favorite Success

Wining Close Up Magician of the Year from the Academy of Magical Arts.

Parting Advice

Go out and make as many friends and genuine connections with people as you can. Make human connections.  

Recommended books and resources:

Note: Many of the links in this section are affiliate links, meaning we earn a small portion of any sales. If you're enjoying our podcast and decide to purchase one of the recommended resources or books, please consider using our affiliate links to help support the work we're doing here at the Successful Performercast. Thanks!  

Resources:

Show Cues

Mint.com for Keeping Track of your finances  

Books

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

Ken Dyne's Gig Flow

Where can we find Jon Armstrong?

www.CardJon.com

Tiny Plunger

Twitter @cardjon | Facebook | LinkedIn  

In this episode, Ellusionist General Manager Adam Wilber talks about the ins and outs of publishing your own effects to sell. He also tells some of the ways he's drumming up his own business and booking gigs.

Boasting clients like CBS, NatGeo, SyFy, C|Net, and Discovery Channel, Adam spends his time in the corporate arena giving his clients “entertainment that doesn’t suck” with both close up and stage magic. Not only that, but Adam is also the General Manager for Ellusionist internet magic shop and has also created a number of products in their catalog including Pyro, which allows you to shot fire from your hands, and The Working Man, a video which takes you through some business strategy to help you start making money performing magic.  

Success Mantra

Purposely stay busy.

Don't get too tied up comparing yourself with others because there's always going to be somebody far greater than you and somebody far less than you.

Don't compare your beginning to someone else's middle.  

Ellusionist

• Talks about his role as GM for Ellusionist.

• What is Ellusionist looking for when adding something to their catalog?

• Who to talk to in order to pitch a product to Ellusionist and what to send.

• Do your due diligence

• How earnings are split between the creator and Ellusionist.

• Talks about his first trick he submitted to Ellusionist.

• It also needs to fit Ellusionist.

• They should me times point you in e direction of a different online magic dealer.

• Talks about some of the bad submissions he gets.

• Take a look at some of the other new tricks out and see what they are and what some of the best selling products are.    

Failure Moment

Tells about a failed emailing he did that went out to 400 emails where there was a very unfortunate typo.

Favorite Success

Bigget Professional Challenge

What Would He Have Done Differently?

Other Topics Covered

• Having a destination or goal for what you're working towards.

• Mentions the miracle morning book.

• Talks about how he got involved with Ellusionist.

• Talks about what he's doing right now to start marketing himself in Boston having just moved there.

• Contacting a company in a creative way using magic to break the ice.

• Unique selling point

• Defining who you want to work for, and going after them.

• The magic isn't about you (the magician), it's about your client, the guest of honor, the product your selling, etc.

Parting Advice

Stay busy with a purpose.  

Recommended books and resources:

Note: Many of the links in this section are affiliate links, meaning we earn a small portion of any sales. If you're enjoying our podcast and decide to purchase one of the recommended resources or books, please consider using our affiliate links to help support the work we're doing here at the Successful Performercast. Thanks!  

Resources:

Squarespace

Seth's Popup Creator for Squarespace

Leadpages  

Books

Miracle Morning

Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz

Maximum Entertainment  

Where can we find Adam Wilber?

Adamwilber.com Ellusionist Items Instagram Videos

In the second half of this series, Josh London goes in-depth on how to setup a Google Adwords campaign, what to have on your landing page, and specific strategies to help you get results from your internet marketing efforts.  

Google Adwords Overview

• This is the main platform to do paid advertising.

• Differences between ads and organic search listings.

• Have your website in order first.

• Advantages of using paid traffic vs organic traffic.  

Settings for Google Adwords

• Creating a campaign, and which type of campaign to use.

• Start small, then expand your search parameters.

• Choosing networks to display your ads on.

• Choosing geographical locations and using it’s advanced features.

• Setting up your bid strategy.

• Setting up your daily budget. (Generally between $10–20 per day)

• Delivery method.

• Wading through advanced settings.  

Creating the Ad

• Knowing your target audience and taking that into account.

• Know your end goal and work backwards.

• Look at your competition and do something that stands out. Something different and unique.

• Portent.com/tools/title-maker for ideas.

• Make sure it matches your landing page.

• Headlines and description lines.

• Split testing ads.  

Keywords

• Start with Google’s planner tool, but know that you’ll have to do a lot of tinkering.

• Types of keywords: broad match, phrase match, and exact match.

• Negative keywords.

• Let data drive your decisions.

• Longtail Pro is a good service to help you with picking keywords.

• Keep in mind: Everything is setup for Google to make money.

• How to tweak and adjust things as you have your ad running.

• Tips to finding keywords you should use.

Landing Pages

• What should your landing page have?

• It should complete your goal.

• Call to Action

• Have an opt-in incentive to get them to give you their email address. Something like a price sheet. This is often more effective than a contact form.

• Mailchimp is a great service to use for this.

• Everything needs to line up from the landing page, to the ad, to the search terms they originally used to see your ad.

• Make it as easy as possible for your client to get in touch with you and get your prices.

• Begin to build a relationship with your prospect.

• Building your list is the best way for you to make sales online.

• Create dedicated landing pages for each ad group that you have.

• Don’t have ads point to your home page.

• Unbounce and Lead Pages help you to split test your landing pages.

• Your landing page is the most important part of your online marketing campaign because, that’s where the conversions are made.  

Where can we find Josh London?

Clickconvertprofit.com

Flying Solo

In this interview, I have my very first return guest! Josh London goes in-depth on internet marketing, first talking about your website, and then going over SEO to help you create a solid foundation for your own internet marketing strategy.  

Sponsors:

Acting for Magicians by Richard Ribuffo — Pick up your copy today and SAVE $5!

Getting a View of the Landscape

• Differences between Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization

• What the large pieces of an internet marketing campaign are.

• Making sure you’re creating good quality content.

• Making sure all parts of your campaign line up with each other. No disconnects.

• Three stages to buying: Awareness, Research, and Buying.  

Website Design

• Make your website as simple as possible

• Get your user the info they want as fast as possible

• Build on a wordpress framework and use a responsive theme to make it mobile-friendly

• Create the hierarchy of your website: Homepage, About Page, Blog (keep it updated), Contact page

• Don't try to make it "clever." Clear and simple is the better way to do things.

• The importance of having a mobile friendly website  

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

• White hat vs black hat SEO techniques.

• How to get your site in top rankings in Google.

• Yoast Wordpresslugin will help you with your SEO.

• Using keywords in your title, meta description, and body copy.

• Optimizing your images.

• Don't "stuff" your page with keywords.

• Write for the user, not the search engine.

• What people might overlook when trying to make their site more SEO friendly.

• Using header tags within your copy.

• How to do keyword research.

• Using closely related keywords.

• Having a call to action.

• Look at what everyone else is doing and make what they're doing better.  

Website Content

• You want to have engaging content so that people don't leave. You want to lower your bounce rate.

• The importance of a blog.

• What should entertainers blog about and not blog about?

• Blogging and content marketing is an art.

• What should be the focus of your blog? Create content that your user wants and that will get shared on social outlets. (And not just by your mom.)

• The content that you blog about should be different than your static pages.

• Talk about the benefits of your services to your customer. Don't talk about yourself.

• How often should I update my blog?

• Don't create blog posts on a whim. Try buzzsumo.com

• Commenting on other peoples blog posts on your topic.

• Strategy of getting your blog posts shared.

• Out reaching for your content.

• Ninja outreach.com

• Your blog is another way for you to stay in front of your audience. TOMA

Parting Advice

It's all about content and making things easy for your user navigating on your site. Coming up: pay per click keywords.  

Where can we find Josh London?

Clickconvertprofit.com

Flying Solo

Richard Ribuffo talks about Acting for Magicians teaching us how and why acting and theatre training are amongst the most valuable tools for magicians and how we can benefit greatly from understanding how to apply these tools.

Richard, will be the first to tell you he’s not a “successful performer, per se but a succeeding performer.” He does have tremendous value to offer though, when it comes to having a great product to sell. As David Ogilvy said, "Great marketing only makes a bad product fail faster,” so Richard is here to talk about how to improve our product, our show.

Sponsors:

Acting for Magicians by Richard Ribuffo — Pick up your copy today and SAVE $5!  

Interview with Richard Ribuffo: Success Mantras

What do you want them to Do, Think, or Feel? How do I get them to do that?

Count the pennies, and the dollars will count themselves.  

Acting for Magicians

• Talks about his background in acting

• Talks about his book and how it’s structured.

• Giving more thought to why you’re doing what you’re doing. It goes beyond just doing tricks.  

Artistic Method

The process of creating art from the point of view of the audience.

1. Experimentation

2. Observation

3. Discussion

4. Formulation

5. Disruption  

GOTE

Goal - What do you want your audience to do, think, or feel?

Other - Who is your other? If it’s your audience, who are they?

Tactic - How will you achieve your goal?

Expectation - What do you ecpect the outcome to be?

Cool exercise to help you understand GOTE better: Watch another performer’s act, deconstruct it, and try to figure out their GOTE.  

Contest!

Prize: An Autographed Copy of Acting for Magicians

In order to win, share your own GOTE by posting it in the comments below the show notes and in two weeks on 10/2, I'll announce the winner on my show.

Other Topics Covered

• How he made his jump to full time and what he’s doing right now to make it work for him.

• Mentoring and being mentored

Parting Advice

Always make the more interesting choice.  

Recommended books and resources:

Note: Many of the links in this section are affiliate links, meaning we earn a small portion of any sales. If you're enjoying our podcast and decide to purchase one of the recommended resources or books, please consider using our affiliate links to help support the work we're doing here at the Successful Performercast. Thanks!  

Resources:

Facebook Groups: AMA, SME Talk Magic

Take acting classes

Zero to Booked Solid in 30 Days by James Munton

Where can we find Richard Ribuffo?

Acting for Magicians

Richard the Magician

In this episode, variety entertainer Carisa Hendrix takes us through some of her personal steps to success which includes hiring a full-time assistant, Facebook Ads, press releases, and doing things out of order!

Hailing from Calgary, Carisa is a variety entertainer who for the past ten years has professionally performed magic, sideshow, circus, and fire acts. She’s taken her act all around Canada and the world. She’s been featured in Ripley’s Believe it Or Not, Vegas Strip Search, and the Guinness Book of World Records where she holds the record for “longest duration fire torch teething.”

She’s a skilled entertainer with a wide range of talents which also includes artistic director of Ballyhoo Entertainment where she crafts and designs custom entertainment options for corporate and special events.

She’s a trusted authority in fire eating and teaches on the subject via her blog at Firepedia.com.

Let’s just say she’s not the sort I’d like to happen across in a dark alley.  

Sponsors:

Acting for Magicians by Richard Ribuffo — Pick up your copy today and SAVE $5!

ManageGigs.com — a system that helps you manage all your customers, gigs, set lists, and more! ManageGigs is looking for a small group of working performers to serve as beta testers. Click here to sign up for your chance to be a part of the Beta program.

Contest: Win a Book!

I'm proud to report that we've recently gotten to 50,000 downloads! Thank you for all your support! As  thanks, I'm giving away a free book to one lucky winner. The book is Dan Kennedy's No BS Direct Marketing book.

To enter, click here and leave a comment telling me your favorite moment in one of my episodes, or one thing you've picked up from an interview that's helped your business. I'll announce the winner in a couple weeks.  

Interview with Carisa Hendrix: Success Quote

• A generous spirit.

• Authentic relationships.

• Consistent, considerate, and complete work.  

Carisa’s Road to Success

Carisa tells about the broad topics of knowledge she has that have contributed to her entertainment business success.  

Hiring an Assistant

• Hiring a full-time assistant, and what’ she’s learned in the process.

• Hiring someone that wants what she’s accomplished, so she’s also mentoring someone as well as paying them.

• The value of having a personal assistant.

• How she realized that she needed an assistant.

• How to interview and pick your assistant.

• Writing a good job description.

• Bringing a non-biased third party to the interviews.

• Job duties of her current assistant.

Press Releases

• Cultivating relationships with the press.

• How write press releases.

• Have something to offer them.

• Write it so the editor doesn’t have to do anything.

• How to spin things to be more attractive to editors.

• What needs to be in a press release?

• Try to figure out what would make a good story. An interesting hook. Why now? What’s happening now?

• Who do you send press releases to? How do you build your press list?

• Not limited to just news press, but blogs and other new media avenues  

Facebook Ads

• Using Facebook ads to reach very specific audiences.

• Using ads to build their community.

• Getting in front of and staying in front of the people who have already seen their shows. Top of Mind Awareness

• Starting conversations around their brand.  

Doing Things Out of Order

• When working on a goal, take a step back and see if you should be doing things in a different order.

• Don’t obsess over the specific order of things. Sometimes, it may be more effective to do things out or order.

Other Topics Covered

• Sometimes you need to fire clients.

• Entertainment is art in the pursuit of joy.

• Talks about some of the “normal” jobs she’s had.

• How she almost went down a different road entirely.

• Having to re-learn some things.

• Her parasol act that she uses as a CEO piece.

• The things that get measured, get managed.

Parting Advice

If there’s something you really want to do, find out under what circumstances it would be pleasurable, and make you feel successful. Know why you’re doing what you’re doing.  

Recommended books and resources:

Note: Many of the links in this section are affiliate links, meaning we earn a small portion of any sales. If you're enjoying our podcast and decide to purchase one of the recommended resources or books, please consider using our affiliate links to help support the work we're doing here at the Successful Performercast. Thanks!

Resources:

Quickbooks or Manager Sal

Carisa's Fire Eating DVD  

Books:

Step by Step to Standup Comedy Workbooks by Greg Dean

Workbook 1: How to Write Jokes

Workbook 2: How to Improve Jokes and Routines

Workbook 3: How to Remember Jokes Naturally

Workbook 4: How to Be a Funny Performer

Workbook 5: How to Get the Experience to Be Funny

Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

The Practicing Mind by Thomas M. Sterner

Where can we find Carisa Hendrix?

carisahendrix.com

Learn Fire Eating      

In this episode, Chipper Lowell talks about being raised around the circus, his approach to comedy, and the importance of branding yourself!

With his comedy, magic, and fun, crazy antics, Chipper has made a living performing for over 25 years. He’s headlined casino showrooms in Vegas, Atlantic City, Tahoe, and Reno. Brought his show aboard top cruise lines like Princess, Holland America, and Celebrity. He’s also become a favorite of top corporations performing at their events and trade shows. Add to this, he’s also toured with his one man show, “The Chipper Experience, where comedy and magic collide,” in performing arts centers, theaters, and casino show rooms throughout the US and Canada.

When it comes to accolades, Chipper has twice received “Comedy Magician of the Year,” “Specialty Act of the Year,” and was nominated two times for “Stage Magician of the Year.” He’s also been listed among the “Top Funniest Magicians Performing Today” in Magic Magazine.

The Reno Gazette Journal says "He sparkles with funny one-liners."  

Contest: Win a Book!

I'm proud to report that we've recently gotten to 50,000 downloads! Thank you for all your support! As thanks, I'm giving away a free book to one lucky winner. The book is Dan Kennedy's No BS Direct Marketing book.

To enter, leave a comment on the show notes page telling me your favorite moment in one of my episodes, or one thing you've picked up from an interview that's helped your business. I'll announce the winner in a couple weeks.  

Interview with Chipper Lowell: Success Quote

Go with the flow. Pay attention to every detail.  

Chipper’s Approach to Comedy

• Inspired by Karrell Fox and subscribes to his philosophy of “come up with the routine and material first, then figure out the method."

• Does a small case study on his “Trained Turtle” routine.

• Put as many speed bumps and walls as you can into your routines, because then you’re creating more opportunities for funny moments. (Tip from Teller.)

• Making up bizarre rules like “the woman cannot be closer than 10 ft from you."

Being Clean and Branding Your Act

• He doesn’t care whether he’s clean or dirty, but his product is clean.

• When you work dirty, you define the places you can work.

• It really came down to how he wanted to brand himself.  

Failure Moment

Tells about an instance that could have been a failure but with a little creative thinking and attention to timing, things went off without a hitch.  

Other Topics Covered

• Designing your life by writing your eulogy and working backward from that.

• Looking at how Disney does things and modeling your business after them.

• Talks about being raised on circuses and being on the road with his family.

• How he discovered comedy magic.

• How he got a job juggling for Disneyland…after shaving his mustache of course!

• Dealing with outside distractions while performing.

• Being honest about your performances and the audience reactions.

• Variances in audiences, and bending your material accordingly.

• How taking improv courses (with The Groundlings) helped his act.

• Staying within time constraints for performances.

• Eliminating your competition when people call and want to book you specifically.

• Controlling the environment in which you perform in.

Parting Advice

Go with the flow.  

Recommended books and resources:

Note: Many of the links in this section are affiliate links, meaning we earn a small portion of any sales. If you're enjoying our podcast and decide to purchase one of the recommended resources or books, please consider using our affiliate links to help support the work we're doing here at the Successful Performercast. Thanks!

Resources:

Voice memo recorder on your smart phone.  

Books:

Where can we find Chipper Lowell?

In this episode, Seth Kramer brings us insight into the ins and outs of trade show magic! Seth Kramer is a trade show, traffic-stopping ninja! 

Having been in the game for over 30 years, Seth spends much of his time in trade show booths selling his client’s products using magic. In addition to this he also does other corporate events like hospitality suites, sales meetings, and even customized special events. Every day of every week holds something new for him and he’s certainly up for just about any challenge!  

Kris' Recommendation of the Week — Stories of the Magic Podcast

I'd like to recommend a podcast that I'd been listening to for a couple months now, called Stories of the Magic by Randy Crane. In my opinion, nobody has been able to bottle magic better than Walt Disney and if you'd like to get more into his mind, this is the show for you!

Stories of the Magic is a positive and story-filled Disney podcast offering positive stories from Cast Members, Imagineers, artists, actors, and more—including guests—promoting a mutual love of Disney, celebrating and preserving the Disney Magic, and inspiring people to live their dreams just as Walt Disney did.

Stories of the Magic Web | iTunes  

Interview with Seth Kramer: Success Quote

If you love what you do, you won’t work a day in your life.  

Trade Show Magic

• Tells how he got into performing at trade shows.

• Being mentored under Bob Elliott and Bud Dietrich.

• The company isn’t paying you to “do magic” but to stop traffic at the trade shows, amplifying their message, and getting leads for the company.

• Working with the company to develop the message they want presented from their booth.

• Tips to boiling things down to one concise message for his pitch.

• Building a custom act for his clients and demoing it for his clients.

• Talks about gathering crowds and keeping them at the booth.

• How important booth location is and spots to avoid.

• Performance pace.

• Getting people to step in closer to lock in the people in the front rows.

• How he recommends people break into the trade show industry today.

• Using a aerobics stepper as a riser to get you above your audience.

• Talks about his Modern Trade Show Handbook.

Interesting Story from the Road

Having to perform him show in Germany without knowing any German. This involved an impromptu translation from the conceriege at his hotel and fast thinking!  

Other Topics Covered

• Talks about getting started performing professionally.

• Tells how he went to law school and decided it wasn’t for him.

• Performing at every opportunity.

• Making people aware of all the services you offer.

• Be a specialist. Not a jack of all trades.

• Tailoring your show to your clients.

Parting Advice

There are really no secrets in this business. Keep educating yourself.  

Recommended books and resources:

Note: Many of the links in this section are affiliate links, meaning we earn a small portion of any sales. If you're enjoying our podcast and decide to purchase one of the recommended resources or books, please consider using our affiliate links to help support the work we're doing here at the Successful Performercast. Thanks!  

Resources:

Animoto helps you make video with stills and music.  

Books:

Where can we find Seth Kramer?