Countdown to Millions

What, you don't trust business advice from a 40 year old with no shirt and long hair?

As some of you may know, I spent a good number of years as an illusion designer.  Creating and designing large-scale stage illusions and effects…you know, magic tricks.  I did that until last year when a book I had written on the topic, just 2 months shy of release was lost to a hard drive failure.  After losing a book I spent the better part of four years writing, I decided to call it quits for a time and have since been developing and planning other ventures like my Countdown to Millions.

And although I may be out of the “biz” I still carry with me all the lessons I learned from my years designing and performing magic.  So, here are five lessons I learned from magic that can also serve me (and hopefully you as well) in the business world:

5. Show off your Dancers

Let’s be honest, magicians in general are not a good-looking bunch.  Most of them spend their time dancing around in outfits that the 1980’s would have found ostentatious.  So, when they’re onstage, you’ll notice that most magicians hardly ever actually do anything.  They stand around while their assistants dance seductively in skimpy outfits.  They wave their arms mysteriously, while an assistant in a box is doing all the hard work.  It really makes you wonder why the magician is even there.

In business, you don’t have dancers…unless you run a dance studio.  However, what you do have are assets; whether they be products, sales people, or simply a new twist on an old idea.  It’s important to focus on these, because these things create excitement.  Sure there is some creative force behind it all (Like the magician), but without attractive assets to present to an audience, no one is going to care about what you’re offering.

…Unless you happen to work with a lot of tigers.

4. Stay Flexible

As majestic and graceful as a good magic performance looks, there is a lot of torso twisting and back-bending being done by the assistants (and occasionally the magician) in order to pull off the feats that you are witnessing.  There’s a reason that magicians tend to pick flexible dancer-types to be their assistants instead of, say, butchers.  If you can’t easily stick your own foot up your own…well, umm, let’s just say you won’t last long as an assistant.

Likewise, if a business wants to be successful, it and it’s leaders must always be willing to bend and twist to avoid the swords and saws being thrust at them.  And before I stretch this metaphor any thinner, I’ll move on.

3. Always Try to Stay in the Black

As any of your, ummm, “larger” friends can tell you, black is very slimming.  This is a secret that magicians have been exploiting long before the Style network started promoting it for all of their plus-sized viewers.  In magic, black is generally used to thin or obscure a hiding spot for the magician or one of his assistants, tricking the eye into thinking that there is no way a person can fit in a certain space.  So if a magician can stay in the black, he’ll stay out of sight, and not be exposed.  Thus the show goes on successfully.

Similarly, in business if a company can stay in the black, then it will stay out of any bad press.  So, while it’s okay to take on some debt in order to start or grow a business, after a certain point you have to expect a company to make money

…Facebook and Twitter, I’m looking at you.

2. It’s All About the Performance

There are some amazing illusions out there being performed by some of the best magicians in the world, but those same illusions are often performed by some of the worst.  The effect that they are trying to sell is not the important part, their ability to sell it is.  A bad magician tries selling himself, an okay magician tries selling himself, and a great magician does sell himself.  People are not really there to see effects they are there for a performance and a good magician will give it to them with or without the fancy effects.

In business if you can sell yourself or your company as a concept and become greater than your products, then people will give your company the attention rather than just the products.  This is how Apple created their legendary “cult of Mac.”  The experience of owning a Mac (and also Steve Jobs) were built up to be the real product.  Once people bought into that, they practically had to buy the computer to go along with the attitude.

Full Disclosure: I only use Macs, so I guess I got suckered in with this trick too.

1. Criss Angel is only Famous Because he Sold his Soul to the Devil

…Either that or he’s got the best marketing team in the world.

In magic terms, Criss is a hack.  He utilizes camera tricks far too often and is a horrible performer in general, but he is successful.  Why?  His team markets him as the greatest magician ever.  Couple that with his ability to sell himself as the “real deal,” creating a cult out of what would normally just be fans, and you have a very powerful marketing tool at your disposal.

So, let that be a lesson to you: If you want to be a magician, but you happen to be horrible at magic, just get the best magicians around: a PR and marketing firm.

And while good marketing might not be able to save a horrible business, it can definitely help one that isn’t the best.

So, what do you think.  Are there any lessons from magic or any other field that you can think of that can also apply to business?  Let me know in the comments.

-Nick