“Re-ReLaunching Your Magic Business in a Post Pandemic World”
by Monty Reed: The Backstory of Magic Monty Reed
This lockdown has been very inconvenient and it has given us all a lot of time to think and practice. Hopefully, you have learned a thing or two to advance your magic business. I have met a few magicians that have been able to successfully maintain full-time income using virtual magic. I even created a few tricks just for online conferences and modified a few into “No Contact” tricks.
This was an exercise in adapting, survivors adapt. If you have not yet, it is not too late. You can get back into magic now. Most of the magicians I have talked to during the pandemic have been stuck at home and have NOT been performing. My public engagements had ground to a complete halt. My consulting business kept me busy with online work and I developed new magic material. Now I have 12 complete one-hour shows I can do that are: practiced, rehearsed, and ready to go. Only a thing like the pandemic could have given me the time for this.
For those of you who have never heard of me, let me tell you my backstory.
Child Magician
After watching a Houdini movie when I was six years old, I convinced my brother and sister to chain me up, tie me in a bag and lock me in the wooden toy trunk and I proceeded to try to escape. After a few hours, I realized “There must be a trick to tricks”. Visiting the library was a revelation of how magic works.
I began performing at Senior Living Communities when I was six years old and continued until my last stage performance at age 18.
US Army Airborne Ranger Comando
I went into the Army for what was planned to be a twenty-year career as a Comando, starting out as a US Army Airborne Ranger.
disABLED
My career was cut short in my fourth year by gravity. When the parachute failed it was not the fall that caused all of the problems, it was the sudden stop at the bottom. I broke my right ankle, my back in five places and was hospitalized. Nine months of therapy got me to a point where I could stand up and move around again in spite of the doctors and therapists who told me I would never walk again. My reaction was to apply magic to my health and wellness. The power of suggestion works on our audiences and even better on ourselves. I decided that I would walk, run and even dance again. In addition to daily physical therapy, I trained with nunchucks (nunchaku) made of toilet paper rolls and dental floss weighted down with pencils as my abilities came back.
Recovery
Bicycle riding lead to one-hundred-mile and two-hundred-mile bike rides. The longest of them is a two-day, the “Seattle To Portland” (STP) bike ride that I have completed twice. I now go to the gym daily, take supplements, get regular testing of body fluids and eat right because I plan to live to be over 150 years old. Why not, we already have people who have made it to 100 years old, called, centenarians and they did not have the technology, research, or knowledge base I have access to. Every year on my birthday, in my mind, I turn the same age again. If you think you can you can, if you think you can’t you can’t. The magic of the power of suggestion works.
This magical positive thinking approach to life helped me to recover and succeed at most things I attempted. My physical condition took nine years of aggressive therapy so that I could get to ride a horse and even parachute again. It took a bit longer to train for the 200-mile bike rides. During those early years, I could not work a regular job because standing and sitting were too painful. I started my own retail business and that lead to wholesale marketing and sales as well. A profitable business lead to business owners asking me to come to speak to groups of entrepreneurs around the USA, Canada, and Europe. I traveled as an actor playing the part of a public speaker for decades. T his became very profitable after a video producer started capturing my lectures and selling the video and audios in a closed market that did not make it to the free sites on the internet. Recently I uploaded a couple to the internet for all to view.
Public Speaker
The speaking gigs lead to consulting jobs that paid so much I purchased a 75-acre horse training ranch near Seattle Washington. I am originally from Montana where the cowboy bug bit me. This was so fun for several years.
Research Scientist
All the time I continued to do my medical research in my basement, garage and later my lab to develop the “LIFESUIT Powered Exoskeleton” to help give the gift of walking to the world. My family has a genetic thing that allows us to only need 4 hours of sleep every 24 hours. I would usually do my lab work after the rest of the family went to bed. The research lead to grant money, NASA work, and honors. I am a NASA Space Grant Scholar and one of about 4000 Mary Gates Scholars on the planet. They Shall Walk (www.TheyShallWalk.org ) is the nonprofit medical research foundation I started and manage today. It is one of my passions. The result has been over 500 paralyzed people get to use these machines every day and stand up and walk instead of rolling in a wheelchair. My dream is for everyone who is paralyzed who wants to will be able to get one for FREE. This would take two hundred billion dollars, that is Billion with a B ($200,000,000,000). Paralyzed children will be able to play soccer and football using these machines. More magic was applied to the lab.
I continue to work as a consultant and public speaker as I have for a couple of decades solving problems for business owners. Today my rates start at $5000 and the reason I publish my rates is, I don’t want anyone calling me unless they are serious. Sometimes I will go to a speaking gig for free if it is a school, church, or nonprofit that I deem is a good cause.
~“Being independently wealthy does not need to mean you are rich, to me, this is being at a place where I don’t need to worry about rent or food and my bills are paid. When you get the money thing out of the way then you can start to live your life. You can do what you are passionate about and then you will never have to work another day in your life.”~ Monty K Reed
Returning to Magic
I did not return to magic until right before the pandemic shutdown
November 14, 2019 I joined the IBM (International Brotherhood of Magicians), I joined the local IBM Ring of Fire club and attended my first meeting on the same day. Then I joined the FCM (Fellowship of Christian Magicians) as well. I started to learn card and coin tricks to help my brain start to function in the magician realm again. I had given away all of my magical apparatus that I had built and used and even my books when I went into the Army.
Rebuilding my Repertoire
A retired magician gave me some of his apparatus and a book for free, including a small table, tablecloth, and a double-walled magic bag. A widow of another magician gave me one of his folding top hats, a wand, and a vanishing birdcage. Another magician gave me a card castle he did not need. At a couple of club meetings, I was given several little gimmicks and props that I would need to get back into the game including a flash paper igniter and a couple of old card decks. The kindness of the magician community is so amazing.
Performing as an Actor Playing the Part of a Public Speaker
Because I have been in front of millions of people over the last few years I was ready for the show, I just needed to get ready for the new part of Magician. With these simple things, I was ready to launch my magic business in the December of 2019 when I did my first birthday party free. I trained and began to rebuild some of my apparatus from my childhood. I began busking at the local Pike Place Market in Seattle, after getting a permit. This lead to stage gigs with my first signed contract my market value had been determined at $10 a minute. $200 for a 20-minute show. Woo Hoo. The question of how much to charge was answered. That show was booked in January 2019 for April 2019 and it never happened because of the Covid Shutdown.
January and February 2020 I was on a ten-day book tour for my latest book “Get STARTED- don’t quit!”. When I got home I was preparing for an East Coast Tour of the USA and Canada and a visit to several African countries, India and Pakistan. I was planning on piggybacking my Quantum Magic Tour onto my Book tours.
February I did two live parlor shows. February 10, 2020, where I shared the stage with a few WELL known magicians, and February 29, 2020 “A Night in Brigadoon (variety show)” with another magician, music and theater. People were asking me to perform everywhere. It was so exciting.
Then it all got quiet.
Re-ReLaunching Your Magic Business
Sixteen months was enough, almost too much silence. “I have got to have live interaction with people.” I said to myself. I just got on the phone and started making cold calls. These were actually warm calls because they wanted to hear from me.
~“A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician.”~
Many articles credit this as Howard Thurston’s quote, and he may have said it. Howard Thurston is a famous magician from a hundred years ago. However, in the book “The Last Great Magician in the World” on page 211, the magician, Jean Robert-Houdin explained that “A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician.”
Either way, I use this in my introduction to my Magic Shows. Currently, I am performing the “Quantum Magic Show” where I incorporate many of the concepts, theories, and words from my research work at NASA. Yes, I said NASA, I was honored to be selected to work for NASA as a NASA Space Grant Scholar.
July 2021 I was done practicing in front of my stuffed bunny rabbits and my mirror. I had added enough new material to do 12 one-hour shows and was ready for some live face-to-face performing. Busking had not opened up at the Pike Place Market yet, and most of the free meeting spaces I would normally use were now charging a Covid cleaning fee or were just not allowing any public gatherings at all.
I developed my magic into 15 and 20-minute modular sets
During the shutdown, I developed my magic into 15 and 20-minute sets. These sets were modular and could stand alone. “The Tarbell Course In Magic” taught me about the traditional 5 part magic show and I wanted to be able to fit that. Also, I have been invited to do shows that are 15, 20, 45, 60, and 90 minutes. By turning my repertoire into 15 and 20-minute sets I could adjust and create a show that could easily fit a venue that wants to hire me now.
My modular sets are loaded into trunks and cases that are ready to go. They are clearly labeled “Quantum Magic Show 1”, “Quantum Magic Show 2”, “Quantum Magic Show 3”… “Quantum Magic Show 12” Inside of each trunk I have dividers marking the 15 and 20-minute sets. Also, each trunk or case has a combination of pouches, boxes, and bags dividing each trick with the consumables needed to restock for the next act. On the inside of the lid of the trunk or case, I have an envelope that reminds me to restock fresh or living things and to clean up the mess from a cut-up orange, and to remove the batteries, matches, ignitors, caps, and flash paper from my pyrotechnics. So far I have only caught my car on fire once in an airport parking lot. You do NOT want that to happen to you. The envelope also has restock and refill instructions for water-filled apparatus and compressed gas tanks to be disconnected and restocked for the next show. Some remote locations, like an outdoor party, may not have water available so I may include a gallon or two of water or other liquids. Laundry is also important for the tablecloths and some other fabrics that may get solid during the show. Stage and parlor can be a lot of work, and pay off if you are willing to do it. Close-up magic can typically fit an hour’s show in the pockets of your jacket.
House Gig
Wednesday morning at 10 am I got a phone call from a venue that had a music act cancel the 230pm show the next day. This call came in 28 hours before the curtain call. Because my shows are packed and ready I knew I had already done “Quantum Magic Show 1” for this venue and all I had to do was grab the “Quantum Magic Show 2” trunk, check the restock list, reset some canes, and a wand, add some water, matches, lighter fluid, an orange and two pumpkins and I was ready to go. After that knocking that show out of the park, I was offered a “House Gig” to perform every other month for the next year.
Get Ready
A musician I knew helped me to understand when you are preparing to be GREAT you have to know the difference between: Drills, Practice, and Rehearsal. It was so refreshing to hear Joshua Jay talk about that during his recent visit to Seattle.
Drills
Drills are repeating a trick or a single point of a trick over and over the way a musician might work on one line or the chorus or a rift of a song.
Practice
Practice is repeating the entire trick in front of a few mirrors or a camera and then improving by watching the recording. Practice, review, adjust, practice some more, and repeat.
Rehearsal
Rehearsal is performing the entire set or the entire show as planned including the choreographed music and or sound effects. It also includes “burning through” consumables. So that means: if you have a torch to flower, a burning card, or flash paper in your show you will actually ignite it and burn it for your rehearsal. When you are practicing or drilling you may not necessarily burn the flash paper. When you are rehearsing you will use everything that you do during the live show. If you teleport a card to the inside of an orange you will destroy an orange for your rehearsal. If you pop a balloon, you will pop a balloon. If you tear a card, you will tear a card. I am serious here. This kind of practice helps you to find out you should have three self-lighting matches for every single one you need. When you actually rehearse you will find out the numbers on how many times a match will not light. I determined that I would have the three matches ready and I would have two lighters on standby as well. I thought “Since I need to do a rehearsal, why not do a paid dress rehearsal?
~Why not do a Paid Dress Rehearsal?~
Because my first magic shows were in senior living communities I decided to make five phone calls and see what happens. I booked one out of five and realized either I am really good on the phone or they desperately need me. The latter was the case. They can not pay a lot so I had to fish around on the call to determine the price point that would work for them. The average senior care facility can not afford much for an entertainment act. It is different in every city too. My job is to convince them to move some money around so they can pay me more than that and I would give them a show that was worth the full value. I invoice them for the 45-minute show at $450 and then apply a discount to whatever amount I can manage to get them to pay.
I looked at these shows like paid dress rehearsals and it worked. I am now booking shows in the Seattle area as well as: Chicago, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and even New York.
My strategy is to get a comedy club, theater, restaurant, or casino to hire me for the regular show and then fill in the time on the tour with Senior Living Community shows.
They are too busy and will not be calling
I started by getting a list of senior living communities and then set out to call them all. I also sent a postcard in the mail. 107 postcards got me 2 bookings. This kind of return on mailings is very VERY high. Phone calls usually get me 20% who want to have a press kit sent. Then I need to call them back to book the appointment. They are too busy and will not be calling me, usually. If I am a Magician or an actor playing the role of a magician I need to take responsibility to be my own booking agent until I have one.
Most of All Have Fun
We are entertainers, if you are not having fun, they are going to know it unless you are a really good actor. Have you ever met an angry magician? I have met a few.
For the most part, however, magicians LOVE magic and want to share it. If this can help you be more successful at the business of being a Magician I am grateful that you found this article.
I hope that we can meet up at one of the upcoming live conventions, conferences, or other magic events. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you.
Monty Reed, an actor playing the role of Magic Monty Reed.
(206) 250-5639
https://www.facebook.com/MagicMontyReed
