Ivan Pecel talks about his career as a professional juggler, targeting specific markets, and his take on comedy.

Ivan is quite an accomplished comedy juggler based out of Los Angeles, CA. As funny as a stand up comic, and as skilled as a chinese acrobat, he's appeared on MTV, America’s Got Talent, and the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

He’s become a favorite performer for a wide variety of venues like corporations, colleges, trade shows, comedy clubs, cruise ships, and casinos.

An interesting fact about Ivan is that in the twelve years he’s been performing professionally, he’s never had a slow time in his business! We’ll delve into that topic for sure!

Sponsors:

Click Convert Profit — This episode is brought to you by Josh London's Click Convert Profit and his book Flying Solo, the Smart Solopreneur’s Guide to Making Money Online.

Click here to get $10 off and for my listeners only, the free ebook "4 Ways to Find Your Most Profitable Keywords”.  

Success Quote

Talent is overrated. — Geoff Colvin  

Having a Great Video

• Invest in a good camera.

• If you don't have video editing capabilities, hire a good pro.  

• Targeting your video to the market you want to work in. 

• Make sure the exposure is correctly adjusted so you;re not washed out.

• The better the video quality, the better the video.  

Comedy is King

• Knowing your audience and telling appropriate jokes that relate to them.

• Getting the comedy out of audience interactions.

• How "far he goes" in his antics.

• Acknowledge the heckler once, then twice, then ignore him.

• Hecklers: watch this video of how Ivan almost completely lost control of his show as the drunkest woman in the world heckles him. 

Failure Moment

Tells how he cancelled one gig in favor of a better gig which fell through because he didn't get a contract.  

Favorite Success

1. Doing a show in Vegas called Jubilee. 2. Being on Jay Leno's show.  

Biggest Professional Challenge

Crushing the stigma of being a juggler.  

Interesting Story From the Road

Juggling at a restaurant and having a kid up on stage with him pee on his leg.  

Other Topics Covered

• There's more to show biz than just having a good show.

• Meeting with agents and event planners.

• His desire to work on cruise ships and what he did to get there.

• Never put all you eggs in one basket.

• His email list and how he interacts with it.

• Content for his monthly email newsletter.  

Parting Advice

Just do it! Show biz is not a part time job.  

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!  

Resource:

TripIt

FlightAware

GateGuru  

Books:

Born Standing Up by Steve Martin

Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin  

Where can we find Ivan Pecel?

Ivan Pecel's Website

Twitter @ivanpecel | Facebook | Instagram | Vine

Matthew McCoy gives some great theatrical advice for magicians in some practical steps you can take to improve your act!

Matthew is a theater actor, director, choreographer, and producer up in the Bay Area of Northern California. He’s the founder of BAM!, or Bay Area Musicals and currently serves as Artistic Director.

Holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre he’s acted professionally in countless productions like The Wiz, Guys & Dolls, The Sound of Music, Chicago, and Hairspray. He’s also choreographed and directed such shows as Cinderella, The Music Man, Dracula, and Mary Poppins.

This is just naming a few. Finally, he has an extensive background and knowledge of magic which has made him a sought after asset to direct new magical theater projects in the United States and around the world.

Sponsors:

Click Convert Profit — This episode is brought to you by Josh London's Click Convert Profit and his book Flying Solo, the Smart Solopreneur’s Guide to Making Money Online.

Click here to get $10 off and for my listeners only, the free ebook "4 Ways to Find Your Most Profitable Keywords”.  

Success Quote

Follow your bliss and the universe will open up doors where there were walls. — Joseph Campbell  

BAM! Bay Area Musicals

• Where his inspiration came from in starting this project. 

• Spotted a need and aimed to fill that need.  

• Forming a board of advisors.  

• Creating a business plan.

• Branding.

• Raising funds.  

Coaching & Direction for Magicians

• Common magician mistakes: not knowing your audience, not knowing the story, not making eye contact, originality, taking criticism.

• Variance - adding variety "so you're not just doing cards or split fans."

• Specificity - every single second should be accounted for. This allows you to test and measure things and find the best options for timing and movement, etc.

• Physicality - the physical life and nature of your persona on stage.  

Some tips for magicians:

• If you don't have a script, write one.

• Kill all stock lines.

• Take an acting class.

• Exercise and take care of your body.

• People don't care about you or the show. They're looking for an escape from their day-to-day life.  

Failure Moment

Called the music incorrectly when calling cues for show. They weren't able to recover. Ouch!  

Favorite Success

BAM! Starting Bay Area Musicals!  

Biggest Professional Challenge

Raising capital. You don't want to set sail until you can afford to sink.  

Interesting Story From the Road

A quick fun story involving Master Magician Chris Capehart  

Other Topics Covered

• Talks about moving out to San Francisco and how he went about it. It was very calculated and planned.

• Talks about his background in magic.

• His involvement in Magic at the Beach and producing variety shows.  

Parting Advice

Honesty, originality, and professionalism.  

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!  

Resource:

Apple Calendar with alerts and a giant wall calendar to show a bird's eye view.  

Books:

The Viewpoints Book by Anne Bogart  

Where can we find Matthew McCoy?

Matthew McCoy's Website

Champions of Magic

BAM! Bay Area Musicals

This week I talk to musician and school assembly performer Pete Ellison about how he started his very unique school shows and how he keeps all his show booking and client info straight!

Pete Ellison is the founder of One World Rhythm, which provides live, interactive, musical entertainment for schools, libraries, churches, and other private events. Their show combines multimedia with live instrumentation, even placing instruments into the hands of the students to create a unique, interactive musical experience for everyone involved.

Pete has studied for multiple years with Drum Circle Music, and is a Vic Firth Educational Artist. He's also founded other notable groups like The Black Knights Drum Corps, which is a nonprofit youth organization in Burbank, California, and he was a founding member of the Southern California Percussion Alliance which serves over 3,000 youth percussionists each year.

In addition to this, he's also created Show Operations, the ultimate show contact and booking system for entertainment professionals, which pretty much allows you to ditch your spreadsheet and Rolodex in favor of a more intuitive system.  

Sponsors:

Click Convert Profit — This episode is brought to you by Josh London's Click Convert Profit and his book Flying Solo, the Smart Solopreneur’s Guide to Making Money Online. 

Click here to get $10 off and for my listeners only, the free ebook "4 Ways to Find Your Most Profitable Keywords”.  

Success Quote

Job security is not the job you go to each day or the time clock that you punch. Job security is the skill set you develop along your life's journey and that will always give you job security. It's the things you know and can do. — Pete Ellison  

Show Operations

• Tells what Show Operations is and what he was trying to solve in creating it. 

• It's basically a system that keeps all your client, show, and book-keeping info all in one place. It's kind of like a virtual assistant. 

• It's browser-based, so all your data is stored in the cloud. You have access to your data wherever you have access to the internet.   

Special offer for Successful Performercast listeners! 50% off for the lifetime of your account. Click here!  

Failure Moment

Made a cultural faux pas performing at a Jewish Chabad candle-lighting.  

Favorite Success

Winning a bid to work for Radio Disney.  

Biggest Professional Challenge

Getting the word out about his business.

Other Topics Covered

• The difference in mindsets of entrepreneurs vs. those that punch a clock.

• What is job security really?

• Tells how he started his business, how he tried different markets for his drumming idea and eventually decided on the children market.

• Don't be consumed by a failure.

• Tells how he took his idea and pitched it to schools and libraries. He had the added challenge that nobody was currently doing what he was wanting to do.

• How he keeps control over 200 kids with percussion instruments in their hands.

• When you give kids something to do, they're not doing things that you don't want them to do. It's replacing undesired actions with desired ones.  

Parting Advice

Go out there and take action! You're not getting any younger.  

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!

Resource:

Show Operations  

Books:

Be Our Guest! by The Disney Institute

Dan Kennedy books on Marketing  

Where can we find Pete Ellison?

OneWorldRhythm.com

IncredibleSchoolAssemblies.com

Show Operations

For this episode, I had the honor of interviewing Post Modern Vaudevillian, Michael Rayner about his career in juggling, mayhem, and on doing audience warmup shows! Yeah, he's one of the guys that entertains live audiences between takes during TV show filmings!

To call Michael just a juggler would do him no justice, because his hilarious stunts range everywhere from balancing various objects on his face to spinning a cheeseburger on an umbrella.

As an actor you may have seen his appearances on Judging Amy, Sesame Street, Late Night with David Letterman, numerous appearances on Nickelodeon, and on countless commercials. He’s also a TV writer having written for The Game Show Network, E! Entertainment Television, and Nickelodeon.

Finally, he also warms up audiences watching filmings of sitcoms, but something tells me this is just scratching the surface of Michael’s world.  

Sponsors:

Click Convert Profit — This episode is brought to you by Josh London's Click Convert Profit and his book Flying Solo, the Smart Solopreneur’s Guide to Making Money Online. 

Click here to get $10 off and for my listeners only, the free ebook "4 Ways to Find Your Most Profitable Keywords”.  

Success Mantra

Anarchy! He really likes a show where literally anything can happen!  

Audience Warmups

This is a specific area of performing where you warm up the live audiences watching the taping of a sitcom.

• Tells how he broke into this particular arena of entertaining. 

• It's not about you or how funny you are, it's about making the sitcom look as good as possible. 

• You have to scale your own performance so you're not funnier or more entertaining than the show. 

• Read the script to make sure you're not "stepping on any jokes or bits" or other material from the show.

• How to break into doing warmup shows. 

• Targeting your resumé to warmups. What looks best on a resumé?

• What to do for your audition.

• How to prepare for your first night performing.

• Being able to estimate how long it will be between takes.

• Having enough material.

• Knowing the cast and the production team.  

Failure Moment

Splitting up the Olsen Twins when announcing them during a warmup gig. You NEVER split up the Olsen Twins. Never.  

Biggest Professional Challenge

Realizing that he doesn't have to be a "big name" to be successful. The fact that he's making a living means that he's won! (Plus, he married Mo from Nickelodeon's Guts, for the WIN!)

Other Topics Covered

• "Taking the offer" in improvising.

• Found Object juggling show.

• You don't need a lot of money to start performing.

• His approach to creativity.

• The science and finer points of spinning a hamburger on a parasol. 

Parting Advice

Figure out how you can make things a little different and be open to new experiences.

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!  

Resource:

PODCASTS!!!  

Book:

True & False by David Mamet  

Where can we find Michael Rayner?

MichaelRayner.com

Twitter @brokenjuggler | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube  

In this interview, Shawn Popp talks about adding music to your performances and answers many questions that people have asked about his app Show Cues.

Shawn Popp, AKA the Magic Dude, is one of Colorado's favorite performers. He's built a career traveling the country performing his magic at corporate events, trade shows, private parties, and other special events. His thouroughally entertaining show includes magic, mentalism, comedy, and music.

Speaking of music, Shawn is also the mind behind the iOS app Show Cues, a sound control system which helps you to bring music to your shows. It's almost like having a sound engineer in your pocket.  

Sponsors:

Click Convert Profit — This episode is brought to you by Josh London's Click Convert Profit and his book Flying Solo, the Smart Solopreneur’s Guide to Making Money Online. 

Click here to get $10 off and for my listeners only, the free ebook "4 Ways to Find Your Most Profitable Keywords”.  

Success Quote:

Make every day great and fun as well as every show!  

Magic and Music

• How important music really is to a magic act.  

• How he chooses music for his shows. 

• Each performer needs to find what speaks to them and their own style.  

• Having a well-defined character helps when picking music.  

• Be aware of your audience.  

• Common places in a show where you can add music. 

• Three steps to adding music to your show.  

About Show Cues App

SPECIAL FOR SUCCESSFUL PERFORMERCAST LISTENERS: For three days only, May 1–3, 2015, Shawn is offering 20% off of both the Show Cues App (taking it from $89.99 down to $69.99) and the Show Cues Remote (taking it from $59.99 to $47.99).   

• What it is and why he created it.

• Android version coming soon.

• They're open to feedback from users and take it into account to make the app better.

• A universal app (iPhone and iPad) is on the horizon and current users will be able to upgrade for free if they currently own one or the other.

• Why so expensive?

• Addresses questions and concerns regarding remotes not working with the app.  

Failure Moment

Talks about a failed "card stab" on stage and what he did.  

Favorite Success

Being booked over and over by the same clients year after year.

Other Topics Covered

• Talked about how he shifted into performing full-time which involved him freelancing as a graphic designer.

• Saving up money before you "jump ship."  

Parting Advice

Don't sell yourself short. Do great magic. Price yourself accordingly.  

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!

Resource:

Show Cues

Manager Sal

Showbiz CRM

Evernote  

Books:

Secret Agenda by Roberto Giobbi

Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith

The Expert from Out of Town: Marketing a Business Nationwide by Anthony F. Perry    

Where can we find Shawn Popp?

Open the Trap Door

Shawn Preston's Website

Conjuring Cabinet

Twitter @magicdudeco | Facebook