I Am Special!

I Am Special
By Jeff Stone

Everyday when I was a kid my mother would tell me that I was special as I climbed aboard my very special little yellow bus that picked me up for school each morning. Ok that was a sick joke; sorry! Don’t call the ACLU. They’re ticked off at me anyway because I made my son mow the lawn. Oh no he di’int!

I’m stalling, sorry. Ok. I’m ready to roll guys. Check it out. We are all magicians. Many of us just do it for fun, yet many others of us doing for a living (and fun). Depending on where you live, you may or may not have some competition in your area. Maybe you’re up against flaxseed the constipated clown who charges 5 dollars and a bottle of Ex-Lax per gig. How can you compete with that? Well, you are special! What’s your competitive edge? Maybe you’ve got the greatest cups and balls routine since Pharoah’s Fools.

People who hire people like to know that you are the expert, and that you are the pro. So with that as our premise, here’s a simple straight-forward idea. Do you want a gig at a particular restaurant on a regular basis? Great, then you are not a magician. You are an “Entertainer Who Specializes in Restaurant Magic.” If you hand your business card to the restaurant owner/manager, and it says, “Butkiss the Clown: birthday parties, family reunions, stage magic, close up magic, corporate events, bar mitzvahs, etc,” what do you think the manager’s gonna do? “Oh yes, Mr. Jack of all trades, you are exactly what we need!” No you’re not a Jack of all trades; you’re a Jack Ass!

Compare that to this business card: “Jeff Stone: Restaurant Magician” Or what about this: “Jeff Stone: Restaurant Magician . .  . I specialize in bringing more customers to your restaurant with magic.” It’s a bit wordy, but man it clearly communicates your specialty.

Ok, but what if you’re a birthday party (children) magician? Great: “Jeff Stone: Children Magician . . . Specializing in making your child’s birthday magical!”

You get the idea. Hey I’m not saying you can’t be a general practicioner. In fact, I think it’s a worthy pursuit. There is much to be learned in all walks of magic that can be applied to all other walks of magic. However, when it comes to meeting your clients, they don’t need to know that you can 17,000 different double lifts. All they care about is if you can meet their needs, yes . . . their needs, not yours. So you can take a couple of approaches. If you’ve nailed down one or two areas that you want to specialize in, then why not have two different business cards, one for restaurant managers, and one for members of the PTA whose children you want to entertain.

Another approach is to have a more generic (still professional of course) business card. Maybe something simple like, “Jeff Stone: Magician” or “Jeff Stone: Comedy Magician.” Then as you hand out your card, you orally tell the prospect what you specialize in. You guessed it; if you’re talking to a restaurant manager you hand him/her your card and say, “I’m a restaurant magican, and I specialize in bringing in more customers to your restaurant using magic.”

The catch, however, is that you had better be darn good! If you suck, and you claim to be a restaurant expert, then you’ve got yourself a whole load of other problems. If you need help in that department, as always, that’s what the rest of this magazine is for:

Remember, just because I was “Little Yellow Bus Special” it doesn’t mean that I’m not “Real Special.” So ask yourself this question: How special are you? What do you specialize in?

Until Next Month . . .

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