Voice:

Take a pot full of magic, add a pinch of business, a dash of marketing, and you get the nourishing and highly addictive magician business podcast. Here’s your host, Ken Kelly and Julian Mayfair.

Julian:

Welcome to the maiden voyage of magician business. And this first episode is all about something near and dear to all of our hearts. It’s raising your performance fees briefly first though, we’re just going to set the scene here. We’re going to give you a little backstory so you can frame, uh, what you’re going to see and hear here at magician business. And in case you don’t know my voice, I’m Julian Mayfair and I’m here in Australia and this other voice belongs to

Ken:

My name is Ken Kelly. And I’m coming to you from, uh, Warrington, which is in Cheshire in the UK. And I’m just going to steal the microphone here from Ken briefly because I feel this a stream of thoughts, stream of consciousness coming on. And I just want to blurt it out, uh, when Ken is over there in the UK and I’m here in Australia and we’re a long ways apart.

Julian:

Um, and the way we do things we found out is also a long ways apart, but our ideas intersect very much in the middle. And we found out that we collectively know a lot about online business and marketing. But what we also know is that is just a drop in the ocean compared to what we don’t know. And one of the things that we’re really sure about is that there’s no right or wrong way to do all of this. There are just best practices and there’s no way you can be doing all of these best practices at once. There’s only 24 hours in a day, it’s physically impossible. You just have to be doing at least one of these every day. And, and these practices, they keep on changing except for some core foundational business and marketing ideas. And I guess life strategies as well.

And you’re going to hear us talk a lot about these. So in a sense, we’re going on a journey and we’re going on a journey to find the right people with these best practices, and we’re going to bring them to you. And along the way, we’re going to put these practices into use and you get to follow along and see the results for yourself, because this really is not about theory and preaching. It’s all about action and tested results because Ken and I were not teachers. We very much feel like we’re lifelong students, I guess. And, uh, we welcome you along on our voyage of discovery. So to me, that’s what magician businesses all about. What about you?

Ken:

For me, it’s about you listening to this, having a voice it’s about your input being valued because I value what you have to say on this. And I look back on my career as a performing entertainer, and I look at the greats that I learnt from. And sadly many of them in their older age, they struggled to get by. They struggled to make a living, and it was almost like the way that marketing was going, had passed them by they weren’t able to use the internet and all the tools that are now available and the yellow pages, ads just weren’t working anymore. And this is about giving back. It’s about making free content available to everyone that is a performing artist that hopefully you will contribute to as a listener and we’ll bring together those best practices. What’s working for you. I want to know so that I can implement that into my business. And I guess what really excites me is this first episode that we have, it’s an interview and it’s an interview, I think, with a man that has got a different way of looking at things.

And I look around the forums and I look at what people say about how much do you charge for your show, whether you’re a ventriloquist, whether you are a magician, a closeup, magician, working weddings, if you’re a kids, how much do you charge? It’s a, it’s a, uh, it’s a debate, isn’t it? Julian.

Julian:

Yeah, it certainly isn’t. You know, the big thing I got out of this interview, uh, was that the biggest thing that we can do to improve the amount of income we generate, it costs us nothing to do. It. It’s all really comes down to this amazing self-limiting beliefs that we impose upon ourselves. It was, uh, it was really, really eye-opening.

Ken:

I agree. Uh, it certainly changed the way that I think about my pricing and it made me realize that I don’t charge enough. And I’m one of the more expensive acts within my marketplace. And we’re speaking here about the information that came from Andrew Smith, a great interview conducted by you, Julian. I’m very grateful that I was able to listen to it. He talks about target markets. He talks very much about your mindset and changing the value within yourself, not changing the value within the show that you’re delivering. And I liked that he shared some of the myths that stop you from earning what your worth is. So a great interview, but I’m not going to tell you anymore. I’m going to let Andrew tell you himself.

Julian:

I want to welcome Andrew Smith to magician business. And this is a really interesting episode because it’s more about controlling your own destiny than it is about getting thousand dollar party bookings. So welcome along.

Andrew:

Hello, Julian. And thank you very much for inviting me. Nice talking

Julian:

To you and tell us where you’re talking from,

Andrew:

Uh, from an apartment overlooking the Harbor in Hong Kong,

Julian:

And you’re based in Hong Kong.

Andrew:

I am. Yes, but I’ve got a, um, representation office in London and a representation office in Dubai as well.

Julian:

I don’t have any representation offices except this one I’m sitting in now, before you lay out some of your strategies about how you got into this world of doing thousand dollar parties and, you know, at a point that that’s not the top of the range, that’s actually the starting point of the range. You can go much higher than that, regardless with some of the stories of your background. I mean, you’ll start in entertaining and the less than glamorous realities of doing kids and family entertaining that you started with and compare that to some of the interesting things that you experience now.

Andrew:

Okay. I started off in, I left school at age 18 and did, uh, moved into sales and marketing. And I spent a good 20 plus years in the sales and marketing industry, um, selling drugs for pharmaceutical companies and financial services. And I’ve managed to be the top end, uh, top salesman, um, the top team and had the top, uh, got promoted to be the top manager in the country. And I’ve done really, really well. And then I got made redundant three times in two years and underneath all of this in the background, I had some kids appear and I got into magic with the kids when they came along. And when I got made redundant, obviously I’ve got a duty. And I thought for that, we’re getting made redundant. I’m going to be a, an it expert. And I’m going to do this magic thing as a hobby to pay for the beer money.

And I hated the it thing. And I really got good at doing the kids magic. I enjoyed it. And I spend all my time avoiding the computer course by doing the kids magic. So I was doing the lesson glamorous jobs in, um, getting changed in toilets with wet floors and arriving. And I was doing quite a few gigs, but I was arriving. I just want to get, do my balloon costume, get dirty. And I couldn’t be what wasn’t brave enough to wear it on the underground or elsewhere. And so I changed and I think this is terrible. And it was, he comes the entertainer. Bang. Do you show back up, up until the next show? And it was great. It was good experience. I learned a lot about how to do the job properly, but I wasn’t earning enough money to feed my four kids and pay the mortgage and everything else.

And the ways to increase that was to improve the prices. And so I put up my prices and I targeted my business towards high net worth clients, principally because I saw a article saying that the UK owed billions of pounds on their credit cards. And I said, that’s going to bite somebody’s backside at some stage. I need to be going for people with more money in their pocket, more disposable income because it’s this competing on price is not. The other thing is to go for the high net with guns. And now I’ve been going from changing in the toilets to going to places where there’s a hotel. I have a suite set up for me, a shower before the show, a shower after the show I’ve been flown around the world. Uh, I spent a week in, um, Mombasa in Kenya. Um, and the client said, we’ll put you up.

Here’s the flight. We stay in the hotel with all the guests and oh, by the way, um, here’s 500 pounds, which is what that $700 Sterling for 700 us dollars for clothing allowance, because you’re probably not used to performing in this environment. Here’s some additional clothing allowance, which has thank you very much. So to be treated from, to go from standing in wet toilets, um, to change, to going to a hotel suite, um, to change is, is by far the best way of doing it. And you, you are treated totally different, totally differently. I get tips now regularly, which are bigger than most entertainers charge for a party. Um, and it’s not difficult if I’m average. My name myth, I’ve always been Mr. Average is my show better than anyone else. No, it’s good, but it’s not the best in the world. It’s about targeting the marketing, believing that you’re worth what you’re going for to, to change that position from the toilets to the hotel suite, as it were,

Julian:

I want to work out what the drive is that a person requires to take, uh, you know, the leap, uh, to raise their prices. Like this is part of the drive. Uh, uh, ego is part of the tribe, you know, actually physically needing more money for your family. One of the problems that you had to overcome to, to make this a, it’s quite a mental leap that you made.

Andrew:

Sure. Um, I’d like to say it wasn’t ego, but I’m sure there’s always a bit of that involved with that’s entertainers. Financial was one of the main reasons for children, um, a university to, and to a private schools now, and a big mortgage and, you know, nearly losing the house early on. When I got made redundant, I was, I was earning good money as a sales manager and sales performer, but so money was important and it is important, but there’s only two ways. I see it of increasing your income as an entertainer in, if that’s what you’re doing is either do more shows or charge more money for the shows. And I couldn’t do more. I was averaging seven shows a week at the time, and I was having trouble paying the bills, um, because of the private school education, I went to my kids to go to.

Andrew:

And so it was a case then of saying, I need to put my fees up. I need to put my fees up. And there was no reason why I couldn’t. When I started in this business, I had three comments or whatever price has gone out at is one is at two outlets, too expensive and three yet. That’s fine. You’re booked. That was when I went out at 75 us dollars at a time, I go out at a thousand dollars plus now, and I get out, that’s too expensive to that. Is that all. And three yet find your books. The response to my fees hasn’t changed at all. It’s been the, my belief that has changed that has got me from where I am to where, where I am from, where I was to do, where

Julian:

Just to be clear on that, Andrew, that your show hasn’t changed dramatically. It’s your mindset that’s changed. Yes,

Andrew:

Totally. Totally. Mindset changed. Yeah. And you could, you could do someone else could copy my show and do the same thing. It’s just how, uh, how they market it to the clients. Um, it’s, it’s totally down to that. My show is nothing special at all. I use a paper coil. Um, I use a change bag. I themed my show around balloons, but that’s only because I want you to theme the show. Um, I enjoy the balloons, but it doesn’t mean to say whether it’s a juggling, whether it’s magic, doesn’t matter. I’ve just got to show that works for me. And it would work for anyone else. No, I’m not doing anything special with emotion. I have no secret magic trick. I have not bought something that says that’s going to cost a fortune. I do nothing special in my show, apart from how I promoted and where I marketed.

Julian:

What do your clients say after a show? Do they, do they say anything to you that gives you clues to why you’re different to other shows why they think they’ve spent a thousand dollars wisely.

Andrew:

They say the kids have had a great time and they enjoyed it as much themselves. That, which is what they said all along. You know, I get no change in response now from the, the value or no, no, they don’t comment on the price. Once they booked me, they say, Andrew, that was brilliant. And other people come up to me afterwards and say, that’s great. I need your card. They’ve enjoyed the show. So I do a good job of making sure that the customer has what they want by making sure that the party is about the birthday child and that all the children are rolling around the floor laughing, which is what we all try to do.

Julian:

Yeah. And that’s very interesting to hear that because I don’t charge a thousand dollars a show. I get those same comments. So it’s not the show. It’s not me. There’s something in my mindset that I’m not doing. Yes,

Andrew:

Totally. And I, I believe I used to go to, when I first started as Andrea, you go to magic clubs. You, you listen to other entertainers and they say, oh no, the going rate round here is a hundred us 200, 300 us. And so you pitch in at 2 95 instead of 300. So you undercut them by $5, just so that you get the booking. That’s the wrong way to go about it. And then what they end is that on the award-winning I’m from so-and-so and I’m all my mates love me. And it’s, that’s not what it’s about. If you see, well, the concept we’ll get the concept in your own mind that you are there for the customer. It, you, the idea is to come away from the price. The price is totally, um, set by me because I discontinue take the, I’m trying to think of the words, the link from price to product as to, to, so that people don’t buy on price, but they’re buying the product as me and the price is irrelevant.

Andrew:

People don’t just buy on price. There’s a portion of people that will and will always buy on price. You get those going around the saber store, buying the cheap loaf of bread, whatever. But if everybody bought on price, why would some people be driving around in rolls Royces? And some people will be driving in jalopies. They can bond. They buy the both cars, get from a to B, both have got air conditioning. If you open the windows, both can do the job that you want, but people want something different. They want to stand out from the rest. They want to say, Hey, look at me. I can afford the best. I want this. There are other motivations apart from price. And if you can dig deep into those other emotions and needs of the purchaser, then you come away from price as being the main objection.

Andrew:

And then you can set the price to being what you want providing. You’re giving them what the customer wants. And in our industry, it works across all, you know, weathering trade shows or stage shows, or, but I just thought birthday parties was a good way of putting it too simply is when you get the kids to roll around the floor, laughing, that’s what the parents want. They want to have a memory that they get and they want them out. And their kids come up to them at the end of the party to say, that was the best show ever. Thanks, mum. That’s what you want. They want their kids to be happy. They also want to make sure that the house is not wrecked. They want to make sure that, um, the kids are focused totally. That that’s, that they want all of that. But if you address the client needs and so show them how you can do provide that service for them.

Andrew:

You are then taking, coming away from the price and therefore, you know, you can charge what you want. And then you get into that area, a higher affluent client where there’s nobody competing. I have no competitors. I mean, I do, as far as there are the magicians who are trying to zip in and come and do, but when people see me, they see me, Andrew’s expensive and they tell my clients, tell other people Andrew’s expensive. Um, but he’s bloody good. Fine. Thank you very much. Yeah. That, so that gets me to the low, the high, high net worth counselors. They’re not worried about the price they spend. I’ve been to a party where they spend a hundred us dollars each on the party bag and the party bag came from Harrods. It was gift wrapped. There were 120 guests, um, with party bags. So that was 12,000 us dollars on party bags. What’s more important. The entertainer or the party bag.

Julian:

Yeah, that’s amazing. Oh, I’m just going to jump in there, Andrew, because I mean, there are going to be people, uh, and before I had spoken to you earlier, this is how I thought as well. I’m thinking, well, Andrew’s in Hong Kong. I mean, Hong Kong is an affluent, uh, city with a large ex-pat community. Uh, that that’s all very well for Andrew living near, but where I live, you know, I can’t charge that. So what do you say to overcoming that? I cannot charge that feeling

Andrew:

That okay. Within a two, three mile radius, there may not be anybody driving around in a rolls Royce, but there will be people there are private schools in your district. I’m sure there are people with top quality that there are some expensive restaurants that you may know about. There are people who get on planes and fly overseas. There are own has spend a lot of money on a holiday. There are maybe five star hotels in your area. If you’ve got all of that within a 10 mile radius, you’ve certainly got the purchasing power there with you. If you’re prepared to travel a little bit further, you easily come across this. There are districts or every town and city that are poor. And there are districts in every town that city that are highly affluent, you’ve got to travel out to them. So you’ve got to travel all base yourself there with them. Um, I find that it’s, it’s, there’s gold in them there Hills. You’ve just got to dig for

Julian:

It. So then how do you target those people? Where do you advertise to those people? How do you get in front of them?

Andrew:

I find that there’s different ways, but I find the best way is I get, most of my work is from word of mouth. Now that’s easy for me to say that I’ve already in that market. So I get more of that market. So every time I do a high net worth party, the guests that are coming are in the whole high net worth guests as well. So once I’m in that market, I’ve the people that around, oh, Andrew’s brand lets me have your card. And then off I go and I worked for them because I’m remained in that bubble as it were at the top. But to get into that, you’ve got to identify the private schools, the private hotels, the quality hotels, the, um, private members clubs. And you’ve got to go and make yourself known to the food and beverage manager in these places that these schools, for example, the high net worth schools, um, you’ve got to get in there and do a fundraising event or some other event that demonstrates your worth, um, and your ability so that eggs.

Andrew:

Oh yes. I’d heard of him. Thank you very much. If he comes to the school, he’s gotta be good if they like you and you’ve got a good show, then you’ll get bookings from that. And once you start climbing into these high net worth people, you will, um, get referrals and almonds from there. Another great way that I get quality business is to do events industry related trade shows. Um, and there are several of those around the world. And I make sure I get to as many of those as possible because the people who go there are, um, events, organizers, high net worth events, organizers, and they recommend me to their customers that way they see me working there. And that has been the best thing to do, do not work for free. That’s something I mentioned in my book, but don’t work for free.

Andrew:

If you’re in the school, if you’re in the club, don’t go in for free because you’re not valuing yourself. If you don’t value yourself, the customer will never value yourself. Well, I believe that we, we have a very important job. It is to make someone’s event memorable and to, to do that, we are worth more than we are all being paid at the moment. And I think all magicians should put rates up and charge more money. And I’m a firm believer in, in doing that. I think we all deserve more money. And I think, you know, maybe the socialist union person in me says, yeah, go on strike. We want more money, but really we can’t do that. We’ve got to earn it by creating the memories and the passions that people want from their birthday party.

Julian:

Well, I mentioned that I’m not even religious Andrew, but I mentioned that rising, if everybody rising their prices, we will all all benefit from that in the long run. I just want to go back and pick up on something were saying about, uh, that you go to, uh, you get worked by going to corporate and trade shows and that’s a good place to be seen. Uh, I’ve spoken to quite a few corporate, uh, performers who, uh, say that, uh, you know, magic, uh, people will always assume that, uh, you know, magic is for kids, even though you’re doing a fantastic, uh, you know, adult show in adult performance and really benefiting, benefiting their company, you’ll still get the CEO. Who’ll go, ah, you’d be fun. I, my kid would love to see you. And so talk about that idea that, that, that if you wanted to do that, if you wanted to pick up some birthday party work about the, uh, justification of having a fee difference. So you can’t have a low price for a birthday party and a high price for a corporate gig.

Andrew:

That, that was, that was one of the biggest dilemmas I had when I started putting my rates up was the corporate gig. I was charging 1500 us dollars a day at the time, and I was charging $350 for a kid’s birthday party. And I would, I was ending up staying at the kids’ birthday party, as long as the corporate event and the guy who say, oh, come on, do my kid’s birthday party. Cause you’re here doing balloons and yeah. Yeah. Can you come and do a party? And then they say, this is great. I saw you at that trade show. Do you do whole days on exhibition stands? Yes, I do. And do you do corporate dinners? Yes, I do. Oh, great. Can you come and do mine? Yeah. Yeah, sure. Um, my fears is a pardon. You only charged me $350. Why are you charging more?

Andrew:

And this was such a, a concern that I thought, well, the only way to do that is either put my rates up for a birthday party or bring the rates down for corporate. And I wasn’t going to bring the corporate rates down. So it was a case of saying, yep, I’ll do that. And if you let them know that your rate is that for the, the time they go. Yep. Fine. Okay, Andrew, thank you. That’s brilliant. You, as I say, all along, I’ve had the outlets too expensive B that’s. Okay. And see, is that all, whatever, I’m sure you’ve had that Julian, when people quote always at all and you get those ago, God, I can’t afford that. And you get those that say, yeah, fine, thanks Julian. Here’s the booking and whatever price you go out at, you will find the, who will still get those responses. And it’s important to do just to go with that. And obviously I do less parties now than I did when I was doing seven at a time, 700 a week. Um, but the maths works out. Um, it’s better for me, um, to do two, three, most I’m doing at the moment, it’s four birthday parties a week. Um, and a thousand dollars is not a bad income, but it’s easy to achieve two, $1,000 birthday parties a week. And yeah, that makes a hundred thousand dollars a year. It’s not impractical.

Julian:

Well, talk about, you were talking about the myths that there are these myths around booking thousand dollars part of a thousand dollars arteries. And it seems like these myths are really a convenient excuses that we all, we all pull out of thin air. Uh, so, so we don’t have to take those steps towards, you know, um, right. Raising prices. Yeah, yeah,

Andrew:

Yeah. Um, we, we mentioned one of those myths was that, um, uh, my area does not have the money. If you believe it, then that’s the case. You’ve got to travel a bit further perhaps, but when you’re doing, if you’re pecking in three shows a day, then it may be harder to get across town to get to the high net worth line. But why packing three parties at $300 when you can do one at a thousand dollars and you’re already a hundred dollars up and you’ve done less work. Thank you very much. Um, that sounds good. I’m on number one for being lazy and as I’ve got older, um, I’ve still got the energy to do the kids’ shows, but as I get older still, and that ain’t going to be so much the case, I’m not going to want to throw myself on the floor that many times in a day.

Um, second with that, nobody will pay a thousand dollars for a part in it’s not just me. One of our friends in America is just confirmed a two and a half thousand dollars party in Los Angeles. Um, they parties around there are magazines. There are articles about birthday prices. There was one on the BBC, an article just a week ago on the internet to say that, um, birthday party organizers have, or even for children’s birthday parties, people privately will spend anything from one to $40,000 for a children’s birthday party. And that’s, you know, so is my $1,000 enough, certainly not. Um, another myth is that competitors only charge whatever they charge locally. So I can’t charge more. I’ve got competitors in Hong Kong who charged $300 a party and as struggling to get enough business. And there’s plenty of it around at the high net worth.

Um, another myth is that you’ve got to have a really special show, not special. You’ve got to have a good show. That’s important. You’ve got to be good at what you do, but it’s not about the, uh, it doesn’t have to be super David Copperfield. That’s not what it’s about. Um, the, I may be more talented than anyone else. Definitely not. I’m there are better balloon artists out there. There are certainly better, um, people can do contracts better than I can. Um, I can operate a change bag. It’s in the it’s in the, you know, it’s yeah, I missed her average. I can just talk him, enjoying myself at a party. Um, I mentioned the myth that everybody buys on price. Definitely not. You know, everyone there wouldn’t be Mercedes and rolls Royces and different things like that around. Um, if you believe that you will never be able to charge that rate, then you will never be able to charge that rate. You’ve really got to believe you’ve got to ignore that little voice on your shoulder that says, ah, I don’t think I could do that. You got to tell him to go on holiday, send him off, send him packing and just focus on directing your business down the route of going for new customers. Um,

Julian:

Part of what you were saying earlier, it’s probably a good time to bring in that story about the flowers.

Andrew:

Sure, sure. I went a long time ago to a, um, I’m a firm believer in education and improving my marketing as well as my, um, magical skills, but I spend more money on improving my marketing skills and learning. And 10 years ago I started, uh, I went to, uh, a magic weekend sales weekend and the magician says, stood up and says, you’ve got to charge more money. Who does weddings here? And I said, oh yeah, we all put up our hands. How much do you charge for a wedding? Oh, I charged 200 us 300 us. Okay. Okay. How about those flowers that are on the table in that, um, in that wedding? How much are they? $25 a apart? Yeah. Okay. $25. How many pots on the table? Well, there’s um, 10 tables. That’s $250. So you saying you are worth more or less than those potted flowers on the table and when they go away and they talk about the wedding who talks about the flowers on the table, apart from the mother-in-law, the only person that remembers anything about the flowers will be the mother-in-law, but they will all talk about the entertainment at the wedding.

Andrew:

You are worth more than the flowers. So put your fees up. And that was, that was the thing that, that was like the lightning strike from above that said, yeah, I could do that. Why? Yeah. Yeah. I am worth more. I’ve known it all along. I believed in it. I’ve worked more than the frigging flowers, so yeah, I’m worth more than the wedding dress. I’m sure. But yeah, I’ve just got to make sure I put that over to the customer. That that’s what I am there and that I am not the award-winning balloon artist or award-winning juggler magician. I, not me, me, me, it’s, I’m there to create an atmosphere for you so that your guests will go away with fantastic memories that they will be talking about for years to come. And that’s what you’re there to do. And if you it’s, it’s, it’s just a change of words that can take you from the 200 us dollars to a thousand us dollars. It’s a change of words and a change of mindset that you are worth it and we’re all worth it. Definitely.

Julian:

Yeah. Th that’s it’s, it’s a very interesting, um, subject. Um, I’m, I’m not a touchy, feely, airy fairy sort of a person I’m really, action-orientated sort of person and I’m still going through this pre, uh, process of believing that I am worth more myself. Uh, and that’s, that’s gonna take time. Uh, and, but I’m learnt, and this is only in the past year. I’m I’m learning that, that, yeah, these rights that you’re talking about are well within my grasp. Uh, I want to talk about that this idea that price is elastic.

Andrew:

Sure, sure. Um, is T entirely elastic, if you, it could be a hundred percent set by you as the provider, the entertainer and not by the customer. If you set it in a self created competitive vacuum, and I’m pinching words here from Dan Kennedy, and I reckon we all should read Dan Kennedy’s marketing books, um, by strategically seeing affluent customers, you will have even more flexibility on price. Of course, you’ve got to back it up and support your position. That’s what Dan Kennedy says. I believe prices to be, uh, can be dealings from the product and be reattached the experience and the feelings and emotions of the experience. So you, what you’re really saying is come away from I’m a magician that will be there for an hour, and I will keep your kids happy. And you will have a great time to, as a specialist performer, your kids are going to be transported to a different world where they’re going to be totally engrossed.

You attain, you’re taking the picture away from the price way away in your second, the price, because you’ve now taken them away to that separate world. And once you get into that separate world with their emotions and feelings and moms are going to go, yeah, that’s what I want. That’s really what I want my little Sonny to have. And that’s what I want. I want them to talk about this party for years to come. It’s a competitive business. Moms want to compete with each other. They want to have the best performer. You see it. They want to have better party bags, but they also want to have something different. So by making yourself rare and exclusive, you’re not seeing at every party and do every party within the school class year group, you are picking one or two of those high net worth from that group. And you are giving them something unique because you are unique and no one else is copying you and your show and what you are doing to them. So you set yourself apart and that, um, limited in your search services. Availability puts your price up anyway, because people say, oh, it’s, it’s harder to get. I want one of those limited edition. I need a limited edition balloon, man. That’s what I want.

Julian:

So that’s the theory. I mean, I just, what you said there, I can sit here and I can run that through my head and have a cup of coffee and I can get myself worked up. So you say that putting up your fees is not enough that you have to set a shared pool of fees, and this is a really actionable step. Can you talk me through that?

Andrew:

The process for putting up your fees is to come across more about you, you, you, the client than me, me, me, I’m the number one entertainer. And to be modest about what you say about yourself, apart from the fact that you are brilliant at helping the mother solve her problems. That’s really what I want to say there. And the steps that you can take to do that is to look at the, um, services and tricks that you offer within your show and put them down as a feature benefit, the new appeal statement. And I’ll come to that in just a second, because that way you are telling the customer more about what you are doing for them now feature, and maybe something like that. You’ve got a professional backdrop, um, a benefit. It sets the room up, nicely hiding distractions from behind, okay, that’s a benefit of a backdrop.

Andrew:

The you appeal or a, which means that statement would be that when the children arrive, they get to see that they are all bout to see something special and be transported into a theater in your front room. So you’re the fact you’ve got a professional backdrop. What you’re saying there, it hides the crap in the back of the house. It keeps them focused, but it also gives them the feeling that the kids are going to be transported to another world. And they’re going to be magically in there. Something special is going to happen. That’s really what it is. We all know that we all want that to happen, but we don’t tell the customer, the customer. We do this job every day and we see it. The customer has one birthday for one child once a year. Uh, we’ve got four children. So we got to see a bit more, but you get to see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 a week.

Andrew:

However many shows you’re doing the customer is not aware of that. If you can tell the customer, your prospective customer from your website, what you are able to offer, you will so greatly get an improvement in your marketing copy. Another example would be, um, you provide him invitations as one of your freebie things that you give to the customer. And the benefit of that is that you can download and print them for free that you appeal it. It’s not, it’s only a small step further, but it takes a bit of thinking is having invites will save you time and money, allowing you to focus on other aspects of the party, a photo opportunity. After the show, you stop pause. You organize the kids to come around the cake or stand in front of your backdrop. Whatever that photo opportunity allows you to gather all the children together for a group shot.

Andrew:

The which means that oh, European will statement is which means that excitements and memories of the party will be captured and shared for years to come. Okay? All you’ve done is a photo opportunity. We all do a photo opportunity. Don’t we, if we do great, tell them what you do and what it will do for the customer, not the fact that I’m going to stop and take him for a photo opportunity. He just remind them and they go, oh yes. If you get a whole list of everything you offer in your act, break it down, all the tricks, all the services that you offer, party bags, whatever you do, break them down into feature benefit, a new appeal and IX. Write those out in your copy. You are already leaps and leaps and leaps and bounds ahead of any competition that you’ve got. So

Julian:

It’s that process of taking, uh, features, turning them into benefits and almost turning that into an emotional language, which connects with the person. And that’s, I mean, and in a way, opening up Pandora’s box on copywriting, uh, emotional selling. And it’s, it’s not the right forum for that right now. So we’re just going to move on to about target marketing and about this idea that, uh, not trying to be one size fits all on your website, that you can do everything for every person.

Andrew:

Yeah, sure, sure. That’s very, very, very important. When you are a children’s entertainer. If you do corporate, if you do weddings, if you do whatever you do, be a specialist in what you are, the client who is paying a thousand dollars or more for a birthday party, wants to have a specialist at that job. When they have a handyman, they employ a carpenter to do some work in the house. They’ll employ a proper plumber. They don’t want a Jack of all trades. They want someone to come and do the proper job. It’s exactly the same with us. Now. I’m not saying don’t have, um, a site that is a general site. What I would suggest is having an I’ve got six websites for my different markets and each one of those, I am a specialist for that customer, and I’m a specialist birthday party entertainer.

Andrew:

And I only talk about children’s birthday parties. What I would do for little Johnny at his fifth birthday party, that is a hundred percent focus on that website. If you start mentioning that you do trade shows, you do corporate dinners. If you do whatever, you’re no longer a specialist. And when you’re no longer a specialist, you’re not valued so much. There’s the pyramid. I forget what it’s called now to be a specialist takes you up above the generalist. And then when you become a specialist, there’s another step above that. But if you start aiming to be the number one special person brand in your market, then you are way, way, way ahead of the rest. Be a specialist to get six websites. When you can, when you’re starting to sell a thousand dollar birthday parties, you can easily afford more than one website. You can have separate landing pages have if you want to have a general website do, but I would suggest you go for one brand, one name, one children’s birthday party, and then you have a wedding one, if that’s a big market of yours or then have a trade show one, if that’s what, but don’t link the two together in any way,

Julian:

We’ve changed our focus and we’ve changed our mindset that we can actually do this in charge of the higher prices. And you’ve put thought into your copy and what goes on your website. And now you’re thinking about targeting specialist audiences. Talk about getting into the mindset of your clients and how you get again, to fit in into their world and your appearance.

Andrew:

Sure, sure. Appearance is important. Um, I would like to say they dress in Amani. I’d like to dress in the money. I can’t afford a Marnie suit when I started, but you’ve got to wear the best. Be as smart as you can. You’ve got to have a clean car. You’ve got to have it. Doesn’t have to be a brand new car. If you’re worried about that, don’t park in the driveway, park out in the corner and walk around, walk around the corner, um, or arrive in a taxi that doesn’t matter. You’ve got to be as best presented as you can afford. Don’t borrow money to be, I’m not saying go out and invest in a money suit to go out and do this, that and the other. Just have a nice, neat, tidy costume. I worked with a guy once with a TV company, I was met in London, driven down and they said, oh, we’ve helped you out.

Andrew:

There’s more kids coming. We’ve got a local entertainer. And this local entertainer arrived. He was a large feller. I’m not saying I’m a slim fellow by any means, but he was large fella. The problem was his costume had been through the washing machine. A thousand plus times, all the colors had faded. It was worn there. A stitching was coming on down. He, he arrived with poor clown makeup on his face. He went out and started smoking in the car park. All the things that you don’t do that it’s not good. If you just presented his package better, his appearance, he already had that first impression would have taken him to a different level. At the end, when he came to TV, he was stuck down the back of the hill. And all you saw was the top of his head because they didn’t want him on the television, but they couldn’t tell him that they wanted quality.

Andrew:

They expect neat props. They expect neat, uh, clean props. Wow. I’ve got a friend in London who does high net worth clients. He’s got some great show, but in some of his props, he’s inherited from his father and his grandfather fine, but they look yellow, stained and time to buy new ones. Really, you know, change bag that’s falling to pieces is not really the way to go forward. I think it’s useful to have your props presented nicely. It’s all about the finer details you will around their houses. They’re finally finished. That’s what they expect as well. If they’re paying you a thousand dollars or more of a party,

Julian:

Boy, you’ve taken us on a big journey here already. Andrew. No, it’s fantastic. It’s we, you know, we’ve, we’ve covered a lot of ground. Um, I got a couple of more things to ask you one.

Andrew:

Sure, sure. What are your top three tips for people who want to go out and start booking higher for the fees? What are the top three things I should think about doing?

Andrew:

Okay. Um, one is change your belief that you are worth more than you are charging. Now you can do that one by ignoring that voice on the side of your head to set up because that voice on the side is going to say, if I start charging a thousand dollars now, what about my current customers? I’m going to go through a point where I’m not going to earn any money. Oh, no, help me. Help me. Help me. So perhaps number two is to set up a separate webpage, separate marketing strategy for high net worth clients and focus down that route, keep maintain your current market, maintain your current thing, but offer a different range of packages that you can offer only to the high net worth clients. So look at what you currently offer, what you could offer, um, and look at your marketing down the route of saying features, benefit and European and go down that route to start with that will be the first three steps I would say to, to, to work towards, uh, when you finish, when you get started on after this call, perhaps that’s what I would do.

Julian:

Now. I’m going to ask you in a moment what the very first thing somebody should do when they switch off this, this podcast is to do. But before that, uh, you’re putting all this down in a book. Is that right? The secrets of the thousand dollar party?

Andrew:

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Um, uh, during that, uh, at the moment it’s we should be finished quite soon. Yep.

Julian:

All right. Well, we’ll put a link to that in the resource notes for this podcast episode and Andrew, where can people, what website should they go to? If people want to see what you’re doing or contact you?

Andrew:

Um, I’ve got, uh, a website that I’m just putting together, which was a, an old brand of mine is currently monsterballoon.com.

Julian:

So M O N S T E R balloon.com.

Andrew:

And there will be a link to the book from there as well. Um, plus a couple of other resources, um, at the moment that’s where I’m using that web domain for.

Julian:

Well, look, look, you really got me thinking here. I meant, well, you got me thinking a few months ago and all I have to do is find a, another couple of hours in the day, but look, I’d love to come back and see, uh, where this, you know, uh, maybe in another year or so see where you are, but also like to compare where maybe I am with this, uh, because you know, it’s something that, uh, look I’d like to do. I mean, it’s just common sense why I would like to do less shows for more money. Uh, I just actually have to draw a line in the sand and set a start date and just start doing it. So, oh boy, I’m putting something else on my plight, but I’ll be the Guinea pig for the magician business audience.

Andrew:

I know I helped you out any way I can. And any of your listeners as well, if they’ve got any questions, you know, please fire them. Um, you know, look at the website and fire them at me. I’ll help out wherever I can. It’s it’s uh, the biggest number one thing I think is really now think about putting your rates up immediately. I, people who are charging the same rate as they were 20 or 10 years ago in Hong Kong are still charging the same rate as they were doing back then. They hadn’t even allowed for inflation for pizza. Put your fees up now just a bit. That’s your first step towards it. It’s taking you that little bit closer towards it. Now, you know, put $20, put $50 on, but a hundred dollars on, but $200 on whatever you feel comfortable immediately doing, put it onto your packages, and it will be one step towards your, your thousand dollar parties.

Julian:

And just thinking about this, this must extend into other areas of your life. I mean, obviously it’s financially beneficial, but does it, does it must give you a boost to your self esteem and then that must flow on into other areas of your life and your family?

Andrew:

Yes, definitely. Definitely. I, um, I’ve now get the chance to take my wife, uh, when she can travel with me two extra places that if I’m doing a gig overseas and she’s not working, she can come with me. My children have been able to join me on the odd events. Um, it’s, it’s remarkable. The, and even the biggest, biggest thing this has done, because I’m now working less on this weekend. I’m not doing four on a Saturday or three on a Saturday and two on a Sunday. I’m not getting back to Sunday evening coming home. And you’re sitting in the chair going, ah, and sleeping. I’m now around to see my kids to talk to my family, to, to spend the time with my kids, uh, and then family and enjoys life. And not just spent Easter weekend because I didn’t have to work camping with my son on the beach, absolute marvelous, marvelous weekend I’d had with him. And it was because the freedom that this allows me for not having to go begging and scratching and jumping after every gig that comes at me to pay the bills, I can now pick and choose what I want when I want to do it and easing back. And that’s just the best thing going.

Julian:

And ultimately, this is what it’s all about because you know, we often confuse will. I often confuse our success with being financial success and really that’s not what it’s all about. I mean, you know, you need to be able to pay the bills, but this or all ends up, uh, to making you a happier person.

Andrew:

It’s too bright too. Right? I I’m I’m, I, I was laying under on the beach, looking at the stars on Sunday night and having, uh, talking to my son. And we were just saying, I miss this for the past few years, because I’ve been working so much trying to get a gig in geek. Now I’m going from thousand dollar birthday parties. Plus they’re coming at me on a regular regular basis. I don’t have to worry about it. And I said, no, I’m going to take Easter weekend off and spend it with my son Campbell. I haven’t done that for years. I, I was doing two weeks, three weeks holiday a year, usually in a tent because the kids, you know, paying the school fees, et cetera, I couldn’t afford to go overseas holidays with them all for children’s expensive. So I was camping in a place called close to home. Now I can pick and choose where I work, where I work when I want to work. And it is so, so much nicer. You have to do that. It really is. And you don’t have to change in a toilet and get your socks wet in the wet floor of a toilet.

Julian:

Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s very aspirational to, to hear that. Uh, Ken and I actually have a, um, a little credo, I guess, that we follow for magician business and it’s not very long, but the last point is the most important point. And that is simply, can we help people lead happier lives? So having you on here, Andrew has been, you know, this whole journey with you is, uh, that’s where we’ve, we’ve ended up, you know, the value, uh, you know, the, the most important value. So look, thanks very much for coming on. And, uh, you know, I hope to catch up with you in the future.

Andrew:

Yeah, no, thank you very much for inviting me along. And if any of your listeners wish to send me an email and if I can help them in any way, just, you know, get them to drop me a line. And also with you, I’ll looking forward to watching your progress up to the thousand-dollar party.

Julian:

Yeah. Pressures on. I really hope that that interview helped you. And there’s a way that you can help us and the way that you can help us and help magician business and help us to get the message out and more people engaged and sharing is head on over to iTunes and leave a review for us. I really enjoyed listening to that for a second time. In fact, I got more out of it the second time then I got out of it the first time

Ken:

I learnt as well. It’s amazing. It’s just, it’s evergreen material there. And it speaks to every one of us. It doesn’t matter what level you’re at, and we want to know what the listeners get out of it as well. And there are a number of ways that you can do that. And by doing that, you can help us to help you further.

Uh, so whip on over to magician business.com and click on the podcast tab and look for the show notes for episode one. And you’ll find all the links in there, uh, and anything that was mentioned in there, and you need to go to, uh, any tools, anything that’s actionable. You’ll always find them in the show notes and down the bottom of the show notes, you’ll find a place where you can leave comments. So maybe start telling us maybe what you think you would like to charge, whether you think you’re brave enough to raise your prices. Let’s see if we can get a conversation going on.

Ken:

That’s what this magician business is all about. Uh, Julian, it’s about, it’s about their voice. I want to hear from you guys, what what’s working for you where’s the, the barriers that you guys are facing because this platform is about us sharing, not about us being the experts.

It’s about you guys, being the experts and sharing with one another. So really important. Get on in there into those show notes and leave your comments. I want to hear from you.

Julian:

Well, all I can say at this point, Ken is, you know what I’m saying? Don’t you, this has been a lot of work over the last six months to get to this point here. So really excited, really excited that we’ve actually done this. We’ve got it down in digital form. It’s recorded for posterity. And our aim is to get one of these out every fortnight yep. To start with that’s our aim, but our, I guess, real passion. Yeah. We want to try to take this weekly. Uh, but we’re doing, we’re going to be cautious upfront. We’re going to say fortnightly, and if we can swing it to weekly, that’s where we want to be. Share it with your friends, share it with your colleagues, spread the word magicianbusiness.com is on the map. Talk to your next step.