Not Dead Yet
Such a long gap between posts could indicate that the blog was dying however that’s not the case I’m pleased to say. I have been away on holiday, (which other than the kids having a great time did turn into a kind of Groundhog Day meets Dante’s Inferno), and on my return my trusty iBook G4 died. The result is that I have been forced to invest in a rather large iMac and have spent too long getting it all together. It was however a labour of love as I am a huge Mac fan and now I am good to go.
As a professional magician it would be good to think that my clients are booking me because they are a huge Pete Wardell fan and the possibility of using someone else just doesn’t occur to them. It’s certainly something to aim for.
The factors that make me return to the high priced Apple Mac such as ease of use, great aesthetics, etc. may not be directly transferable to the work I do but they make great guidelines. How many of us are performing with props that look like shit and that we leave strewn across the table or stage after we’ve finished performing? How many of us deliver badly constructed, confusing performances and rely on the effect and peoples low expectations to carry us through?
It’s a simple enough exercise in improvement: take a service or product that you love, and I mean LOVE and ask yourself what it is that you are so passionate about. Does the magic or performance you deliver match up to those standards? Probably not but at least you now know what your aiming for. Magicians spend too much time looking at other magicians and that’s why our gene pool is so shallow. It’s why every other magician wears his baseball cap sideways, or his jeans half way down his arse and the rest are experts in mind manipulation.
In business it’s understood that you can’t out-Google Google, or out-Amazon Amazon, well you can’t out-Blaine Blaine or out-Derren Derren, they’re too far ahead of the pack and have too much behind them in terms of resources and experience. So stop following the herd, (or football as Richard McDougall pointed out in a recent lecture), and look outside at things that get your juices flowing – use these as your inspiration. It doesn’t have to be another performer or art form it can be anything that you REALLY love. Only then do you give yourself the chance to be unique and have values and standards that others aspire to.
