Fake it ’til You Make It

So there you are . . . waiting to meet with your first potential client. You’re nervous. You’re not sure what to say. “What if she asks me a question I can’t answer,” You wonder to yourself. What do you do? Do you work your way through it, or do you turn around and leave? Do you fake an illness? Believe it or not, you’re not alone. Many people experience this same type of fear in all walks of life, not just in the magic profession. Stop and ask yourself this question:

Do you get this nervous when you perform? Or are you pretty confident, calm, cool and collected when you perform? If you’re this nervous when you perform, then you’re not ready to go pro and have a magic business, and thus you shouldn’t be reading this column. However, if you’re relatively relaxed and comfortable on stage (whether your stage is a close up mat or an arena), then you’re obviously in good shape to grow your business.

The funny part is that although we as magicians can easily entertain an audience without the butterflies, we get nervous when it comes to selling ourselves as good performers. Granted, not all of you have this concern, but many do. So what’s the remedy? The answer can be found in the headline of this article . . . Fake it ’til You Make it. Your nervousness when meeting with a potential client is all due to one thing. You’re not confident, so how do you get confident? You fake it, ’til you make it. Confident people look a certain way, act a certain way and sound a certain way.

Remember, as a magician, part of your job is to act. You act like you have magical powers. You act like the card really rose to the top of the deck. You act like the coin is in your left hand when it’s really in your right hand. You act like the card changed into a red-backed card, so why not act like you’re confident. It’s sounds easy . . . because it is.

Start with the way your dress and groom yourself. Dress in clean well pressed nice looking clothes. As my mom would say, “comb your teeth and brush your hair.” Take a shower; use deodorant, etc. Take the time to look and smell nice. Doing this alone will boost your confidence, but even if it doesn’t, you’ll look confident to others. It’s a start. Next, act like a confident person. How does a confident person act? He looks you in the eye. He gives a firm handshake. He holds his head up. You don’t have to be confident to dress this way and act this way . . . just fake it. Pretend like you’re confident.

Finally, sound like a confident person. Speak loudly (not shouting) and clearly. Articulate; think before you speak. Again, you’re just pretending to be someone who’s confident. But think about what happens . . . you look confident; you act confident; you sound confident . . . therefore you are confident. Trust me, this little exercise works wonders. I’ve used it in so many situations in the past. You merely need to play the part of the confident salesmagician, and bam, you are the confident salesmagician. Until Next Month . . .

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