Discourse in Magic

This week Jonah shares with you three tips to help you get better at booking gigs. Over the course of the last two years Jonah has helped about sixty magicians book virtual gigs and over the past few months he’s helped a couple dozen magicians to book real-world gigs. Jonah will walk you through the three biggest problems that magicians struggle with when booking gigs. #1. Missing Authority At first Jonah thought it would be good to market himself as an all purpose magician. But very quickly realized that if you are an everybody magician, if you are an all-purpose magician, like all purpose flour, then you’re a magician for nobody. Nobody’s going to go to your website and say, “oh my goodness, this person is perfect! They’ve done so many bookings, just like this”.  When looking at all of the successful magicians that Jonah knows, one thing that just became immediately clear is every single one of those magicians performs for one type of audience. What is the first big thing that people struggle with when they are booking gigs? That is missing authority. Overall,the way to really unlock getting bookings is not to try to be everyone’s magician, but to try to first pick a specific group.You want to figure out which group of people is the perfect group for you. #2. Sales Discomfort Not every single person is naturally inclined to say very high numbers and say risky numbers. And a lot of the times when Jonah speaks to magicians, they either don’t talk to their clients on the phone or they quote themselves for very low prices because they don’t want anyone to say no. What is the solution? You have to be really comfortable. How do you do that? You have got to know what you’re selling. You have to know the price that you’re selling it at, and you have to be confident about that. And you have to be able to sell it on the phone and know what to say and how to say it. And a system is the best way to do that. #3. Lack of Leads The truth is it is Show and Business. You have to be good at the show, but you also have to be good at the business. The big issue that magicians struggle with is not that they don’t have gigs coming in, it’s that they don’t have leads coming in. And what are the three easiest things that you can do right now to help you actually book some leads? Number one, peers and past clients, your very close friends, and people who you’ve maybe done volunteer or some paid gigs for in the past. Number two is social media, a great place to connect with people who love you and want to support you.  And number three is email outreach. There’s many different systems using software and data scraping to connect with your target market. Need More Help? If you are interested in working together, Jonah has a group starting this week to help magicians get 3k to 5k a month in magic gigs. It’s a 10 week program and it is starting next week. If you think that might be for you email info at discourse dot com and send Jonah an email with the word “gigs” as the subject line.  If you’re already at 3k to 5k a month, and you want to get up to six figures a year, then send Jonah the same email but with the word “scale” as a subject line. The post Magic Appetizer: Getting Gigs appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

This week Jonah connects with Jeff McBride to talk all about the theatre of magic, the phases that every magician might go through, and his thoughts on the growth of virtual magic shows. Jeff comes from an era of magic when there wasn’t street magic and social media but a strong emphasis on theatre. Combining his love of various forms of theatre and rock icons like David Bowie and Alice Cooper, Jeff’s on stage presence is a unique style that has left its impact on the magic world. Mystery School Jeff McBride’s Mystery School has been online and streaming every week for eleven years so when the world locked down during the pandemic Jeff was already in a unique position help fellow magicians and aspiring students to get set up in order to face the challenges of the year to come. Fitting The Virtual Screen Jeff is a master of stage magic, creating theatrical experiences, but social media magic has to fit into a small frame on a small screen. Adapting his theatrical background to virtual zoom shows hasn’t been without its challenges but Jeff has found online performance to be very rewarding and he believes that it’s here to stay, both in the corporate and public market, so Jeff has been shaping his performances to fit into the virtual screen.  Phases of Magic Jeff teaches classes on the styles of magic, what he calls the Trickster, Warlock, Oracle, and Sage stages. Each of these are the archetypes and different ways that people access information. Most of us get into magic because of the wonders of magic, the trickster stage. If one sticks with it and hones their communication and stagecraft they might end up with a career in magic, the warlock stage. Some people dive deep into the magic and examine the philosophy and psychology of magic, the oracle stage. Finally, the sage stage represents how most people interact with magic, not as performers but as collectors and lovers of magic. Plugs You can reach out to Jeff directly at jeff(at)mcbridemagic.com, and while it might take him a week to get back to you he does respond to every message.  If you’d like to learn more about the Magic Mystery School, visit magicalwisdom.com The post Teaching Magic Theatre with Jeff McBride appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

This week Jonah connects with Giancarlo Bernini to talk all about his journey navigating the pandemic so soon after his major breakout in magic on Fool Us and his innovations in bringing magic to cryptocurrency NFTs. The Year That Wasn’t When Giancarlo graduated college and soon after appeared on Fool Us the rest of his year in 2019 skyrocketed with more bookings and more opportunities than he had ever had. And Before he could even get close to experiencing all that momentum’s full potential the pandemic hit and put a stop to all his plans. From that time he’s worked to reinvent his magic in the new virtual era, which has in turn encouraged him to develop new strategies into his live in-person shows.  Protecting The Ownership Of Magic While developing his own magic, Giancarlo has a particular interest in tackling the tricky problem of magic ownership. As you know, there’s really an easy or elegant way to patent a magic invention, or claim a copyright, or request royalties without eventually publishing your secrets in a way that can be easily accessed by the general public, if they know where to look. Working on that problem led Giancarlo to the current rise in the popularity of crypto currencies, block chains, and NFTs. He helps break down what all these means with Jonah and shares his solution that believes will allow future magicians to protect their intellectual property without also exposing their secrets to the world around them.  On The Road Again As the pandemic has waned and vaccine rates have risen, there’s a growing interest in audiences who want to return to attending live shows in person. But corporate events and other big booking shows that many magicians depend on are still mainly existing in a virtual space. So Giancarlo put his foot down and set in motion one of his bucket list life goals and embarked on his first national tour. How did he choose which cities to visit? And how does he find the venues to perform in? He shares with Jonah his entire strategy for booking and planning a national tour that continues to pick up steam and is lasting a lot longer than even Giancarlo thought it would. Wrap-Up Endless Chain Blaise Serra. He’s the best sleight of hand artist that Giancarlo has ever met. He also does incredible stage stuff, has an incredible eye for theatrical stuff, and has consulted for some incredible people.  What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? Giancarlo likes the intimacy that magic is becoming, especially with certain performances that are redefining what to expect at a magic show.  He doesn’t like to see magic clubs continue to dwindle and disappear and hopes that new and upcoming magicians will still be able to find mentors to learn under.   Plugs You can find more about Giancarlo Bernini at berninimagic.com As well as on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook all under @berninimagic  His tour continues all over the United States and he hopes to see you. You can find out more at berninimagic.com/tour  And be sure to message him if you’d like him to attend your city! The post Reinventing Your Magic with Giancarlo Bernini appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

This week Jonah connects with Tyler Rabbit to talk all about his amazing work with coin magic and his thoughts on the suspension of disbelief and the rise of exposure videos. Tyler Rabbit is an incredibly talented coin magic performer, who has also performed at The Magic Castle. But it wasn’t always this way and this conversation Tyler shares with Jonah his love-hate relationship with magic and what pushed him to give up on magic entirely before returning seven years ago and starting fresh with a focus in coin magic. Performing With Limitations Tyler admits that coin magic has a well deserved reputation of having the smallest effort to pay-off ratio. You’re going to put in a lot of work and ultimately you’re not getting that much magical effect out of it compared to putting in the same level of effort into card magic.  That limitation and challenge is one of the reasons that Tyler is so attracted to coin magic. He shares with Jonah how he challenges himself to innovate with such heavy (and with coins that’s literally heavy) limitations. By focusing on making sure his sleights are in service to his concept and plot he’s discovered limitless possibilities for his routine. The Fake Exposure When Tyler is not innovating with coin magic he’s battling online content creators who expose magic secrets. And while he’s found some success in engaging in the comments section, including having some videos taken down, he’s found a more novel approach to both combat exposure culture and satiate his weird sense of humour.  On his Coin Magic Underground channel on Youtube he released a video entitled How To Vanish A Coin From A Spectator’s Hand, a fake exposure video that is the first step in a series of hidden clues and puzzles that will eventually, if the the person is dedicated enough, reward you a treasure trove of actual coin magic explanations. Tyler doesn’t actually hate exposing magic’s secrets, after all it was from a library book that he found that got him started in the first place, but he does believe that someone should put in the legwork if they want to learn the tricks of the trade. Wrap-Up Endless Chain Jackson “Jax” Ridd is one of Tyler’s closest friends and one of the minds behind Four Suits Magic. Cydney Kaplan is an up and coming magician performing at the Magic Castle right now.  Mokoto is wise beyond his years and is primarily known for his coinistry and street magic. What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? Tyler likes all the new stuff, including cardistry. He thinks cardistry is awesome and they go really well with card magic. He also loves that it’s flying in the face of the male stoicism that persists in magic circles. Tyler is not crazy about exposure videos and tutorial videos. He also personally doesn’t like doing Zoom shows. He recognizes that there is amazing work being done there but doing magic live on video just doesn’t do it for him.  Plugs The Coin Magic Underground YouTube Channel You can follow Tyler on Instagram at @tylerrabs The post Coin Magic & The Suspension of Disbelief with Tyler Rabbit appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

This week Jonah connects with Colin McLeod to talk about his return to his live show at the Mirage in Vegas. Together they talk about his journey from comedy to magic, and the very different goals they each have with the audience, and his thoughts on making sure that his brand of mentalism is being presented to the audience in an entertaining but also ethical way. Comedy vs Magic Colin shares with us how his pursuit of magic and mentalism came after his pursuit of comedy. It was the deceptive quality of magic that turned him away and instead he was drawn to the world of comedy because of its ability to connect to apparent truths. Because of this comedy background, everything Colin does is done with the framework of connecting with the audience and impacting them in some way. He would rather use his performances using magic and mentalism as a bridge rather than a barrier. The result is his performances are very interactive and focus on Colin presenting himself as an authentic real self rather than the mysterious god-like magician that an audience might not be able to relate to. The Real Connection When audiences buy into you they then will buy into what it is you are doing. Colin breaks down how his Sherlock Holmes character builds those bridges. The character that will work for you most, according to Colin, is the one you enjoy being most. It will be a version of you that accentuates and highlights aspects of your character that will then further accentuate highlights of your magic. Being the Best You Can Be Very early on Colin made a list of the things he wanted to accomplish. The people he wanted to work with, the stages he wanted to perform, and so on. Having that list gave him the goals to aim towards and pushed him towards being the best he could be in those areas. What Colin really wants to see is other magicians pushing themselves and being the best that they can be in all of their weird and wonderful ways. Wrap-Up Endless Chain David Gerard, the smartest person that Colin knows. He’s been the co-writer and director of every live show and major TV appearance that Colin has done. What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? What Colin likes is also what he dislikes. Which is that a lot of great ideas have come out during the pandemic but the flip side of that is a lot of those great ideas have since been stolen by others, which is a real double edged sword.  Colin loves being in Vegas and being spoiled by all the amazing magic shows. Plugs Colin releases a lot of magic through Theory 11  You can also visit his personal site at psych-artist.com  But you should absolutely be safe and visit Las Vegas to see his live show, Limitless, with Shin Lim at the Mirage. The post Truth & Deception with Colin McLeod appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

This week Jonah has advice to help you succeed during the most important time of the year for a professional magician. This month, and the next three months, are very important months for your magic business. September, October, November, and December are ridiculously important months for your magic business. The Most Important People To Reach Out To So aside from doing everything with your marketing to find new people Jonah recommends three groups of people that you may have forgotten about and to go reach out and say hello.These groups are people who are very likely to say yes. The three groups are your Yeses, your Nos, and your Maybes.  If you have been in magic for any amount of time, you’ve had a lot of bookings come through inquiries. You’ve had lots of bookings that will work and not work. And this right now is a really good time to collect the list of everyone you’ve ever done a paid booking for and everybody who’s ever said, “no” and everybody who’s ever said, “maybe”. That list of people is a list of people who already know, like, and trust you. And it’s a list that is going to get you a whole lot of movement this time of year, because it’s very likely that if they put on an event last year, around this time, they may be looking to put on an event this year, around this time. You should be reaching out to them right now. Need More Help? If you need help reaching out to your past clients, if you need help converting past relationships into new bookings or finding new bookings then email info@discourseandmagic.com with the subject line “gigs”. Jonah will tell you about the program he’s doing right now to help you get some gigs right now, a program to help magicians get from $3,000 to $5,000 a month in virtual or in-person magic income. So if you need some help booking gigs, whether it’s for the first time to get to the scale of $3,000 to $5,000, or if you’re just trying to return there, or you want some help with your past clients or with your marketing material, then email Jonah info@discourseinmagic.com with the word “gigs” in the title. The post Magic Appetizer: Yeses, Nos, and Maybes appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

This week Jonah is thrilled to connect with the legendary Bill Malone. Whether you watched any of his DVDs or saw him on YouTube as a kid, or don’t know who he is yet, this is going to be an incredible conversation with someone who embodies the very aspect of Discourse in Magic.  Bill Malone is one of those guys in magic who basically has it all covered. In sleight of hand, he is absolutely at the top of his game. As an entertainer, he is hilarious. And he’s the most entertaining force with a pack of cards that you’ve ever seen in your life. And in business, he is known as being one of the top paid magicians. This is somebody who is building incredible relationships and giving you the tools.  The First Job Bill Malone never thought he would ever perform in front of an audience. He was interested in the techniques and the artistry but not the performance at first. But a mentor encouraged him to apply for a job a bar in Chicago called A Little Bit Of Magic and, after originally lying that he didn’t get the job because he assumed nobody would hire a kid with only six months experience, he started performing in front of live audiences.  There he learned on his feet about how long to spend with each audience member, how to perfect his routine, and how to speak to total strangers. Despite scary it was it was sink or swim and if he wanted to swim he had to figure it out quick. Building Relationships Today Bill is one of the highest paid magicians, mostly performing for corporate events for some of the most powerful companies in the world. Of course, that didn’t happen overnight and Bill shares with Jonah the years of bad choices and mistaken strategies he had to navigate before learning how to build trust with clients and grow his business.  He’ll offer you some tools to use the next time you’re performing at a party or a corporate event, what language to use, and how to communicate with people from the business world, who expect a certain level of class of presentation, to maximize the potential that they’ll be asking you to perform at their next event. Malone’s Magic Bar Bill also opens up about running Malone’s Magic Bar, a place that, among other things, was also used as a way for Bill to train and mentor magicians that caught his attention. At Malone’s Magic Bar, Bill is not looking for the flashy poses or the best tricks but for the performer who can connect with the audience on a personal level. The best thing you can perfect is how to relax and just talk to the audience member, to walk up to them and communicate in a way that lets people in.  As Bill talks about Malone’s Magic Bar you’ll learn more about what he’s looking for in magicians, and it should be no surprise to find out that the actual audition was often not the deciding factor but the ten minutes before and after when you would just be talking to each other. Wrap-Up Endless Chain Charlie Fry. He’s real show business.  Lance Pearce. As far as a guy who knows magic, slight of hand, performing, everything, he’s just brilliant.  Finally, Steve Forey What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like? I do think there’s a lack of. Presentation. And I think it’s because magic is, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but magic is going back towards “it’s all about the trick”. Watch this trick and effect and that’s it. I don’t agree with that. I still think that the magic is in you. It’s what you do that brings you out.  I see some beautiful magic. When I saw Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself I thought this is the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen. I’ve always known Derek as being a great sleight of hand magician, and he’s always been a good friend, but what he’s done, he’s just gone to another level. Plugs Bill is pretty hard to find online, he doesn’t get on the internet much except for the rare collaboration, but keep your nose out for a book he’s beginning to put together which is going to collect all his stories into one place. The post The Best Magic Show Of Your Life with Bill Malone appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

This week we share with you an episode from the Between Dreams podcast with Chris Ruggiero, who recently featured Jonah as a guest.  Chris and Jonah have a lot in common as both have shifted from primarily being entertainers to now helping with production and advising other creators. Chris is a legend with a history as a professional juggler and an eye like nobody else, producing a really great show.  In this conversation they talk about how Jonah blended his business and magic training and why he chooses the guests he chooses to interview on Discourse in Magic. To find out more about Between Dreams with Chris Ruggiero visit chrisruggiero.com/podcast The post Between Dreams Podcast with Chris Ruggiero appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

This week Jonah offers up three tips to help you boost your magic creative output. Tip 1: Challenge Yourself Jonah is, right now with Ben, participating in a challenge they’ve called the Tarbell Challenge. It is a monthly challenge on YouTube from the Tarbell course in magic. Ben and Jonah take a book a month and come up with a trick from the book. They make it their own and then publish it on YouTube. And the reason why the challenge is so helpful is because they each want to beat each other and come up with a better thing than the other. Because of that, they’re both working very hard. And they know that when the time comes and they’re going to be filming, they don’t want their thing to look not as good as the other’s does Tip 2: Have A Deadline. Most of the magic that Jonah has ever created was because of a deadline. Those periods of a deadline, those periods right before you actually have to present or perform really helps. So if you have an event that you can sign yourself up for an open mic, a public show, a private event that you get booked for. If you can do some sort of gathering, you can even make the event by saying, okay, on this day, I’m doing this, I’m inviting 10 people to be a part of it. And you just fabricate yourself a deadline. The truth is, committing to completing a project before a moment in time allows you to complete that project way faster and way better. We want to get more output out by having more deadlines that we need to complete things by. Tip 3: Collaborate Coming up with things alone is fun, but sharing things with others and getting feedback and trying again is a whole different type of fun. When you’re collaborating, you’re playing, and isn’t that the reason why we all got into magic? There’s something really cool about working on magic with multiple people. You’ve likely got friends who would love to help you and bring them questions, bring them problems to help you solve. And it makes it a lot more fun. If you struggle to create magic, but you want to create magic, then stop doing it alone and invite other people to be a part of the procedure. Not only will you make more, but it’s going to be a ton more fun.   Take The Tarbell Challenge! If you’d like to join Ben and Jonah in the Tarbell Challenge check out the Toronto Magic Company’s YouTube channel by clicking here! The post Magic Appetizer: 3 Tips For Being Creative appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

This week we share a segment from the Three Questions with Jake Strong Podcast, in which Jonah was recently a guest on.  Jake’s podcast is a simple premise, he asks his guests three questions. That’s it! And in this episode he asked Jonah about the misunderstood aspects of running a magic business, the preparation that goes into interviewing his guests on Discourse in Magic, and his strengths and weaknesses with the Toronto Magic Company. Along with Jonah, Jake has also interviewed Ben Train from the Toronto Magic Company. Be sure to check out more of Three Questions with Jake Strong by visiting threequestionswithjake.podbean.com or subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts. The post Three Questions With Jake Strong Podcast appeared first on Discourse in Magic.