Successful Performercast by Kris Sheppard | Successful Performer Cast | Weekly Interviews with Professional Entertainers | Show Business, Showbiz, Performer, Magic, Magician, Juggler, Comedian, Musician

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February 2016
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This week, I bring you an interview with Steve Chezaday who shares some advice and insights from his years performing full-time. Topics include dealing with clients, pricing, managing your money, and customizing and maintaining your props. There’s a lot insight to be gained from this chat.

Chezaday is a magician who’s pretty much done it all from close up magic to grand illusion. His energetic show has taken him all over the country. He’s toured with Abbott’s Magic Festival and is also quite handy when it comes to building props and stage illusions. And he can do it all while rockin’ an air guitar!  

 

Success Mantra

Always be prepared.

Always have your money work for you.  

 

Personalizing & Maintaining Show Props

• Personalizing props.

• Custom painting goes a long way.

• Putting your own twist or spin on routines.

• Constantly capturing your own ideas on paper so you don’t lose them.

• Importance of quick reset.

• Preparing and maintaining larger props.

• Having protective cases for everything in a stage show.    

 

Other Topics Covered

• Talks about how he gets shows.

• Stacking shows. Knowing your setup & teardown time and being efficient.

• The importance of saving and investing your money.

• Talked about how he had a part time job for a long time which helped him to build his magic career.

• How his correspondences with clients are mainly online through email now.

• Making your clients feel like they’re getting a bargain.

• The psychology of charging $295 instead of $300.

• Don’t sell your magic, sell you. You want them to want you, not just “a magician."

• Don’t let people wait, because someone else will get back to a potential client if you don’t.

• Talks about working with the best and the worst in the industry while doing the Abbott’s show.

• Don’t be a prima donna. Try to make everything as simple as you can and treat everyone well. Be reasonable.  

 

Failure Moment

Talks about a last-minute hell gig that came about because of miscommunication.  

 

Favorite Success

Some of the charities that he’s able to work with.  

 

Parting Advice

Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.  

 

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:

Pages on Mac

Rising Card App by Chris Kenner

 

Books:

Me Inc. by Gene Simmons

Beating a Dead Horse by Sandy Marshall

The Magical Life of Marshall Brodien

 

Where can we find Steve Chezaday?

Chezaday.com

Steve on Facebook

Direct download: SPC_095_Steve_Chezaday_-_Rockstar_Magician.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:00am PDT

This week I have singer/songwriter Angela Parrish who shares with us about the importance of having multiple streams of income and how she runs her business. She also talks about how she saved for and completely self-funded $20,000 to record her latest album, Faithful and Tall.

Based out of Los Angeles, Angela creates her own brand of music, drawing inspiration from the likes of Carole King, Ray Charles, Eva Cassidy, Gregg Allman, and Alison Krauss. Her music has brought her great acclaim including second place for her song “The Couple Down the Hall” at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Song Competition, and having her song “Higher” selected as a finalist in the 2013 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. You may have heard her song “Different Tomorrow” which earned a primetime placement on CBS TV last summer. Thats not even mentioning her collaborating with top producers and musicians in the industry.  

 

Success Mantra

I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up. Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things. If you simply didn’t give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the bus with you. - Harrison Ford  

 

Multiple Streams of Income

• Talks about the different streams of income she has which include performing, album sales, and teaching piano.

• Teaching people one on one.

• Limiting how much she teaches so she can focus on the other aspects on her business that she has more passion for.

• Talks about the different percentages each of her streams of income are bringing in and where she’s focusing.

• Music industry in general and where she thinks it’s headed with music being sold online and subscription services like Spotify.

• How people will support the artists they love.

• How Periscope can help to build an audience.  

 

Managing Business

• Tells how she wasn’t good at managing her business and how she got better.

• Read All You’re Worth by Elizabeth Warren teaches how to manage your finances.

• 50% of your income is survival/basic needs, 30% is discretionary, 20% is savings.

• Talks about how she self-funded her album, hiring all of the help she needed in musicians, studio work, designers, etc.

• Tells how much it took to create her album. Spoiler alert: It was roughly 20,000 completely self-funded.  

 

Other Topics Covered

• Having tenacity.

• Not giving up, yet knowing when to quit.

• Fear of rejection.

• Finding yourself.

• How all your experiences make up who you are.

• Taking risks to be true to yourself and your art.

• Talks about her early performing days.

• Immersing yourself in the community that you want to be a part of.

• Balancing business and art.

• The importance of building a following which makes you more attractive to labels and other people to work with.

• Collecting emails. Opt-in magnet.  

 

Failure Moment

Putting out her record without any business knowledge. She feels it isn’t doing as good as it can be and now she’s changing that.  

 

Favorite Success

The songwriter’s hall of fame competition and being recognized by her peers.    

 

Parting Advice

Don’t sell yourself short. Set out to accomplish your dreams. Dance with fear.

 

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:

Paper and physical books.  

 

Books:

All Your Worth by Elizabeth Warren

Writing Better Lyrics by Pat Pattison  

 

Also Recommended

The Dip by Seth Godin

Michael Hyatt’s This is Your Life Podcast

Platform by Michael Hyatt 

 

Album Faithful & Tall

Faithful and Tall by Angela Parrish  

 

Where can we find Angela Parrish?

AngelaParrish.com

FacebookYouTube | Twitter | Instagram

Direct download: SPC_094_Angela_Parrish_-_Singer_Songwriter.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:30am PDT

In this episode, Fantastick Patrick talks about his juggling career which includes performing on TV, dealing with fear & failure, and having a mindset of giving.

Fantastick Patrick is a juggler/comedian/unicycle wrangler/musician/curator of all things fun & awesome! He comes to us from Los Angeles yet travels around the country performing at fairs, festivals, and corporate shindigs. He’s also had multiple TV appearances on shows like The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, Hell’s Kitchen, and the MTV Movie Awards.  

 

Success Mantra

He who tries to shine dims his own light.  

 

Performing on TV

• Talks about what he did to get on TV to perform.

• Tells the story on how he got on the Tonight Show.

• How unpredictable things can be on set.

• How different it is performing on TV rather than performing in a live show.

• There’s multiple takes, so if you mess up, you can do it again.

• There are decades where nothing happens and then there are weeks where decades happen.

• How he uses his TV appearances to benefit his performance career.  

 

Other Topics Covered

• Just letting things flow. Don’t try too hard or you’ll overthink it.

• Dealing with nerves before performing.

• Talks about some of his earlier juggling ventures.

• Moving to Los Angeles.

• Talks about how he markets himself.

• Talks about social media.

• People want to hire their friends.

• Focusing on strengths.

• Personal Facebook Pages vs Fan Pages.

• His view on failure.

• Dealing with fear.

• The danger of comparing yourself with others.

• Don’t be afraid to fail.

• Outsourcing aspects of your business.

• Top of mind awareness.

• Wanting what you have.

• Using your gift to inspire and bless other people.

• Decide that you’re going to serve and to give. "The Gift Shift."    

 

Failure Moment

Tells how he let someone else run his career and put them in the driver seat.  

 

Favorite Success

Finding success in his chosen market.  

 

Biggest Professional Challenge

Sticking with it through the tough times.  

 

Anything Done Differently?

Moved out to LA sooner and focused more on business.  

 

Parting Advice

Love what you do, the money will follow.  

 

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:

Get the best sound equipment that you can. Make sure everything is battery powered, you don’t want to have to rely on an outlet.

Sennheiser body packs and make sure you get one of the “legal" ones.

Show Cues for iPhone

OneTrack

Go Button

Shawn Popp’s Interview  

 

Books:

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle 

 

Where can we find Fantastick Patrick?

fantastickpatrick.com

Facebook | Instagram | Youtube

Direct download: SPC_093_Fantastic_Patrick_-_Juggler.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:18am PDT

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