Performance Standards In Your Magic Business

One of my best friends was in a gang as a teen. His main job was to enforce debt collection for the drug dealers in the group. Despite his sketchy past, today he’s one of the smartest guys I know. And he once imparted me this piece of advice:

“People aren’t stupid. If something is good, someone will figure it out, and they’ll find a way to get it.”

Remember this saying, because I suspect it’ll be a recurring theme throughout this blog. It applies to so many different areas of your service. (you don’t “do magic” anymore, you “provide a service”)

For today we’re just going to talk about the difference between practice and rehearsal, and how it affects the quality of your service. The difference is small, but in no way trivial.

After watching a video or reading a book, the typical hobby magician will pick up a deck of cards and do the moves over and over. Sometimes he’ll practice hundreds of times until he does the move perfectly, but usually not. Either way, he’ll go out and start his own magic business so he can start showing people as soon as possible.

The result is usually something like this. (No disrespect intended. We were all like this at one point)

A professional magician takes a different approach. He’ll watch the video and practice until he does the move correctly. Then he’ll sit down and write a script, complete with choreography. If you ever watch a full-time pro, you’ll notice that every trick at every show is performed exactly the same way, with the same words, timing and movements.

Of course, there’s some occasional ad-libbing. But that’s the exception rather than the rule.

This is the typical process that a full-time pro will go through before adding an effect to his repertoire:

• The professional will learn a trick and spend 25 hours practicing the moves.
• Then he’ll spend another 25 hours scripting, choreographing, memorizing and rehearsing the new act under real-life conditions. He’ll keep doing this until he does it exactly the same way, with the same timing every time. Just like a robot.
• Then he’ll spend another 25 hours rehearsing his robotic act until it seems more natural.
• Only now will he test it in front of a live audience, constantly refining the act and making small changes as needed.

And that's when the effect gets added to their repertoire. The result usually looks something like this.

Beautiful.

And after all this work, the trick might get thrown out if it doesn’t quite mesh with the audience or suit the performer’s personality. And the whole process starts over again.

That's the difference between practice and rehearsal.

Keywords: Magic Business