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After another hiatus I decided to come back and write another of these threads and talk specifically about something I've been getting up to a lot of lately: networking. For those unfamiliar, networking in a business context refers to the practice of actually getting out there and building...

"We need to make books cool again. If you go home with someone and they don't have books, do not [sleep with] them." -John Waters, filmmaker I may be a bit cantankerous about telling people to read more books, so please enjoy this humorous take on the subject from one of my favorite directors.

Performing is one of those things that everybody thinks they can do, and they're usually wrong. It's a set of skills, and like any other skill, you need to invest time to learn it and become better at it. Most of you believe you're already doing this with OCD levels of practicing your sleight...

This comes up every now and again. A fresh-faced young guy comes in wanting to learn more about psychology thinking that it's the key to mental superpowers, especially so if he's interested in becoming a mentalist. Well I've been studying psychology in formal education and on my own for about...

I wanted to go into more detail about copywriting in these threads, so here's a continuation on that. Last week we talked about writing good headlines, offers and calls to action. Now we need to talk about testimonials. While it's true that you need to talk yourself up instead of being too...

Been a while since I got to working on this series. But after giving it some more thought, I decided that there really should be a separate write-up on copywriting and direct marketing. Both are things that everyone thinks are easy, but are actually hard to master. Let's start by saying...

The change of seasons now begins Witches laugh and skeletons grin In Autumn chill we seek our thrill With hounds all baying to the wind Pumpkin seeds and apples fresh Hearth and harvest, time to thresh With leaves of red to greet the dead We feast this eve with masks and flesh...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnMBix9Zq5o This is the lead single Elevate from the debut album of The Winery Dogs, a new supergroup composed of Richie Kotzen (Poison) on guitar and vocals, Billy Sheehan (whole bunch of stuff) on bass, and Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) on drums... and it bloody...

Last week, our heroes recovered the Teslatronic engine from Baron von Chaos and were speeding toward the border when his minions attacked the train and... wait no, sorry. That's the serial I'm writing. In last week's thread, I talked about interacting with potential customers and turning...

Last week I talked a little about finding a target market, then suggested that what you want to do is be remarkable enough that people would actually want to give you their business. To that end, we have to talk a little bit about being sociable and about marketing. In the social arena...

Originally I was going to talk about building a website, but I decided instead to talk about something a little more important. Find Your Target Audience The problem I see all too often with magicians and other artists trying to make it as solo entrepreneurs is that they make no attempt...

Drawing on six years of successes and failures, associations with people who understand business and those who don't, reading books on marketing and skill mastery, here's the first in a series of write-ups I'm planning to give all of you hopeful future pros a quick crash course in how to make it...

I'm going to be uncharacteristically brief on this one. When talking about the making of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, John Rhys-Davies, who played Gimli, said that, "By its very nature 90% of all improvisation is garbage. Sometimes it works, sometimes it just makes a mess. Sometimes it does...

As I write this, the Steam Summer Sale is in its 4th day. On Saturday, I snagged the latest expansion pack to Civilization V, Brave New World. OCD poster child that I am, it chewed up my weekend as I beat two playthroughs as the Shoshone and Poland. I'm part Polish, so I just really wanted to be...

I've been fascinated by language for some time now. Even as I struggle to learn a second language myself, I find myself more and more drawn to the idea of language and its use in art. I want to start by talking about language a little and then share some of my thoughts on using it in magic...

This is a bit unusual for me, but as a favor to a friend I'm putting out a call. To all manipulation artists looking to get in front of more audiences and try your hand at actual gigs, I know a gentleman who is actively looking for people with your talents. A local rock band in the Pittsburgh...

Recent discussions have challenged me to put my money where my mouth is. I've complained a lot lately about bad video to the point where I really should just dump all my thoughts into one thread right now. So here is my experience as a digital video director on how you can improve your...

Those of you who read my blog probably remember last year I put up a 3-part shopping guide for magicians to add new stuff to their wishlists. One of the sites I reference was ThinkGeek. Well, there's still time before Christmas, so if you're looking for a Dickensian holiday (I still dream of...

I'd love to see manipulation routines with more variety to them, so I'm going to take this opportunity to present this challenge to all you manipulation artists out there. I won't be competing because I'm not a flourish or manipulation expert, but I want to see some genuine talent go...

http://pittandpendulum.blogspot.com/ My blog on performance theory, psychology, audience management, scripting, and any other burr I've got under my saddle. Coming up on the two-year anniversary and still writing for it, though the last month has been pretty slow for me. Join me, won't I?