Missed Opportunities
By Scott Wells
How often have you wished
that you had a chance to do it again? We encounter
more missed opportunities more than we know.
Times that we wish that we could have a "do
over." Times that we wish that we had known
more about this situation or that person before
your encounter. Times that we should have
spoken up or times that we should have been
silent and listened. Although this question
can be applied to anything in life, let me
focus it toward our craft.
Hasnít there been several
times when you wished that you could take
back what you said or what you did? If you
could just do that trick over, you would handle
it better. Your misdirection would be better.
Your patter would be more direct and entertaining.
Your handling would be smoother. You wouldnít
forget one of your funnier lines. This is
where practice enters in. Although you could
practice an effect for what you think to be
an adequate amount of time, your performance
in front of a real audience will differ from
your performance in front of the mirror. Even
though you may rehearse your script, it will
play slightly different for each audience.
It is true that you can practice
everything but your timing and misdirection.
You can, of course, anticipate audience reactions
but you can not be sure of them until you
actually do it for "real" and do it several
times. This way you learn all of the little
nuances of the trickís handling and find the
places where something could go wrong. You
also find through actual performances how
spectators might react different from the
response you expected. Itís through repetition
of performance that the routine becomes an
act. It becomes solid. The lines, the responses,
the handling, all become set and, as they
say, "commercial." With the proper mix of
practice and performance, you should never
have to worry about that missed opportunity
to be the consummate conjurer.
What about those times that
you failed to ask the right question when
attending a magic lecture. Too often we never
ask questions in magic lectures because we
donít want to seem trite, uninformed, nor
amateurish in front of our peers. Other times
we may ask questions directed at "how" the
trick was done (e.g., "how" the fingers are
held, etc.) rather than "why" the inventor
devised his particular method. Often we are
so enamored by the trickís handling and/or
cleverness that we overlook "why" a trick
works or "why" it was constructed just so.
A more appropriate line of questioning might
be to find out if the inventor developed this
trick or method to avoid "flashing," or did
he intend to make the effect more angle proof,
or did he want to provide better misdirection,
or was the move devised in order to introduce
the "gaffus," or was there some other equally
practical reason. We need to better understand
"why" the trick works before we can fully
comprehend what really makes the trick into
real magic. Asking proper and direct questions
aids our learning process and stimulates our
creative juices to come up with our own variation
or application to another of our effects.
Never be hesitant to ask a question because
the odds are that someone else is also curious
but harbors your same fears in asking the
question. Youíve heard it before in school
. . . the only "dumb" question is the one
never asked.
There are also times that
we pass unknown opportunities like ships in
the night. There may be a fairly unknown yet
very skilled professional magician sitting
next to you on an airplane. His skill, knowledge
and potential friendship that you could have
shared will slip into oblivion without you
ever having met. A missed opportunity. Unless
one or the other of you happens to be reading
a current magic publication or playing with
cards or something, the other party will never
know of the interest that you share. How will
you ever know? Perhaps you wonít and that
could be better than knowing that you had
the opportunity but missed it. I would hate
to think that I had been sitting in an airplane
just two rows away from (fill in the blank
with the name of your favorite magician) only
to learn that he was aboard after I deplaned.
Then there are the times
that you missed booking a show. Perhaps you
were overpriced (under priced?) or that you
had a conflicting engagement. Perhaps you
just missed the phone call. Your answering
machine was broken or full of messages. Maybe
you could have had a repeat booking but this
yearís program director didnít know how to
get in touch with you and you havenít contacted
them to see what their needs were. It could
be that you havenít adequately "networked"
with agents or other business contacts. More
missed opportunities and these mean lost revenues.
These kinds of missed opportunities are due
to negligent business management. They could
have been easily avoided by planning your
work and working your business plan.
Whether or not you are losing
a show because of price is food enough for
a whole column; however, let it suffice now
to say that if you are losing more than 20%
of your bookings because you are too high
priced, then you should lower your rates.
If you are not losing any bookings because
of price, then you are working too cheap and
you need to raise your rates. Start high and
negotiate down if you must, but donít give
yourself away before you know what the client
can afford. There are times when they can
afford more than they are telling you that
they have in their budget. They often want
the cheapest entertainer that they can get,
not necessarily the best quality. If they
want a cheap magician, then you may fill the
bill as your conscience (and mortgage) dictates.
Keep in mind that cheap magicians cheapen
the appearance of the art and contribute to
the death spiral of professional rates.
Some opportunities are missed
because we procrastinate. We might put off
practicing that trick or buying that book
until tomorrow. Sadly, tomorrow comes all
too quickly. Then we wish that we had practiced
that trick more or bought that book before
it became a collectorís item. The opportunity
comes then passes when you could have performed
that little impromptu effect and made it look
like a miracle. Perhaps, for example, you
wanted to see David Copperfield, but when
tickets to his live performance became available,
you put it off until it was too late and they
sold out. Another missed opportunity.
We are all going to miss
opportunities . . . thatís life. Even after
reading this article, you will still miss
some opportunities. But the best way to miss
the fewest opportunities is to be aware of
whatís going on around you, know what you
want in life, plan ahead and be prepared for
that next opportunity so it doesnít miss you.
