Yes typos. Ugh.

The way 99% of performers do close up it isn’ta show at all. It isn’t a performance of any sort. It is at best a distraction to most.

I can shed some additional light here:




What MindPro is talking about here is creating an ideal customer "Avatar." This is a technique I used to use in real estate training. Here's the run down: Who is your ideal client? What do they like? What do they do for a living? How much money do they have in their bank account? Where do they live? Are they upwardly mobile or downsizing? What are their greatest fears? What kind of car do they drive? How many kids do they have? Where do they go on holiday? Etc., Etc., Etc.

Once you figure out who your ideal client is, you can use that info to learn everything about that person, even though that client doesn't actually exist. Once you KNOW this information, it will change the way to speak to people, the connections you make, the tricks you do, the purpose for doing what you do.

I had a lawyer friend who I did this exercise with. I asked him to describe to me his ideal customer. He knew how to answer the question, even down to a name of an individual that represented his ideal client he just described. It was beautiful. Then he asked me why I asked. I told him, everything he does from now on, every promotional item he sends, every social media post, etc. is to be written as if he's having a conversation with that one client. He immediately understood what I was saying. I've used this exercise many times over the years and find most people don't understand the law of attraction. You attract what you put out into the world. So if you want better gigs and better clients, then you have to attract those gigs and those clients. Most people will feel that they are "limiting" themselves, but that's just not the case. You can perform for anyone, but you only speak to the ONE. When I sold the most houses, I knew my ideal client was a mid-30's woman who was the bread-winner & decision maker in her home and she was attracted to homes with some architectural pedigree. She was married or had a significant other and either young or no kids. She drove a modest car and had an artistic view of the world. Most cases, she wouldn't actually buy the home she was interested in. But that didn't matter: I spoke to "her" in a voice that attracted these clients in droves. Had a few great years because of having that knowledge and knowing what they wanted even before they knew what they wanted themselves.

You have to figure out who your customers are and what you can do for them. Once you do, things will begin to change. Until then, you'll just flounder and struggle, eventually giving up, feeling bad because "no one appreciates you" when in fact you didn't offer anything of value to your client base. To be honest, you answer may be "Do something else besides magic." The questions will still remain, regardless of what you choose to do with your life. My favorite quote is "What you do for yourself dies with you. What you do for others and the world remains and is immortal" by Albert Pike. Pick up a copy of "The Go-Giver" and read it. Figure out who your customer is and what you can do for them.

Also, I'll point out that your income is directly proportional to the number of people you serve. This is why MindPro will tell you to do the "Standup" over the "close up." Ever complain that professional athletes are paid too much? They're not. They are paid what they are worth and they are worth a lot because they are able to reach so many people. The more people you touch, the more you are worth. It's a matter of scale. In a case where cost/head is constant, it's better for perform for bigger audiences. Perform for 10 people and make $100 or perform for 100 and make $1000. Simple fact, larger audiences are worth more money.

If you apply the above to your current situation with the venue you're in touch with: Who's you client? Is it the venue? Or is it a customer of the venue? If it's the customer, which one?

Let's assume the venue does its biggest business doing weddings and you want a piece of that action... So now what is the customer? Most likely the bride. What does she want more than anything? Not a far stretch that she's in competition with her friends who are also getting married. She wants the biggest dress, the most flowers, the wedding to end all weddings.

Obviously, this is gross generalization, and couples getting married today are probably far more sensible, but let's just push on with this for now and assume your ideal client is bridezilla. What do you have to offer her that will make her wedding unlike any other ever before?

I'm not saying you should do weddings. This is just an example. If you client is the "Venue", then what service do they need that you can fulfill? My guess is the venue doesn't book acts directly, so is that your best client?

I don't know these answers. Just trying to get you asking yourself these questions. The issue is always that we don't know what we don't know. Think it through. Forget for a second you are on the list and are looking to books this venue for yourself in a non-magic scenario. If you were a customer using this venue, what would you want? Why would you book there? Would entertainment even be on your list?

That's the point I and also probably Danny have been getting to this whole time. The venue, or any venue, can not possibly be your client or an ideal client. For several reasons, but mostly because of the variety of events they host they can't possibly be an ideal client or meet an avatar or "ideal customer." To put it bluntly a venue is NOT an ideal customer prospect. This is why we have been saying he could be wasting a lot of time and effort for no or very poor results with his perceptions of approaching venues to "get on the preferred vendor list."

I also believe entertainment business is much different from conventional business, and this includes the ideal client avatar exercise you mentioned. Unlike conventional business where this is common and a common approach to determine who and where to target market, this is different for entertainment business. I have seen many performers read about creating an ideal customer avatar in a book, course, or from some online marketing guru, and think "oh this is what I need to do for my entertainment business operation, only to do it and find it does not result in what was expected or promised.

Creating an avatar is more of a marketing tactic, which is fine as one approaches a point when getting ready to go to market, but there is so much more that needs to be firmly in place operationally before ever thinking of going to market or attempting to go to market prematurely. Also these other components could and likely will have an impact on creating such an avatar.

While this CAN be part of the entertainment business Foundational process, it is used differently and at a much different point than in conventional business which is why I always say learning things and doing things in the right order (sequential learning and application) is so important. This is a great example of this. This is also an example of why the right education and knowledge should be gained first as part of the process.