Your Inner Circle Newsletter September 2008

INNER CIRCLE NEWSLETTER
September 2008

--INTRODUCTION--
Before we dig in to September. A huge thank you for all the support regarding the new Inner Circle blog home page. I am pleased that you are finding it a lot more useful, after all that is why I write this every month - to be of some use to you.

If you do have any ideas of things you'd like to see added, things you'd find useful, any advice I can include or even anything you think I am wasting my time in writing please do let me know. I do this for the love.

This month I am off to Barcelona which I am very much looking forward to. I'll be working but there is plenty of time to play too. So on to the newsletter.

--TALKING POINT--
Shiny shoes and nasty suits with even worse shirts. It's been a month full of them. It seems that even when working nice corporate gigs some people just don't know how to dress. I'm going to get on my soap box again. It's not just about the tricks, I'm sure you know this but here is some fashion from Kennedy (fashion tips from someone who looks like me - ironic isn't it? ;)

If you're wearing a suit jacket first of all don't wear a belt it's too much. If you're wearing a suit without the jacket, wear the belt. A 3 button jacket, always leave the bottom button unfastened. A 2 button looked better worn open but if you absolutely must fasten it, just do the top button up.

Wearing a waistcoat. This is something I see a lot of magicians wearing but most of them don't know how to. You NEVER fasten the bottom button of a waistcoat. Phew.

Okay maybe you don't have the cash to get an expensive suit and and expensive shirt to go with it. The please make one of them expensive. An expensive suit can make a cheap shirt look good. But impressively an expensive, nice fitting, good looking shirt can make a pretty cheap suit look great!

Consider your tie. Why do you wear one? What is it saying about you? I am personally of the opinion that if everyone else is wearing I tie, I do not and visa versa. Similarly if everyone in the room is in black Tuxedos, I'll be wearing a gray-brown fashion suit. I'd hate to be mistaken as just another guest (just, how damn disrespectful of you Kennedy!!)

--BUSINESS--
So so you have a website and you know that when people get there they like what they see and most of them hire you? (If you don't know what kind of conversion you're getting from your website install Google Analytics, its a totally free service that allows you to see where people are going on your site, how many of them are visiting and where they leave. Go to www.google.com/analytics).

Here is a really amazing thing you can do to increase your web traffic. Start a blog.
I have a friend by the name of Dean Hunt (deanhunt.com) who is a web marketing genius. In June this year Dean set me a challenge to blog every single day for the duration of July. However, being the madman he is he pushed it to another level - I had to do a video blog every single day. So, I thought 'what can I lose?' and went ahead and did it.

Yes I felt tied to the laptop and camera for the whole month but I can tell you, it was absolutely worth it. Its strange because you might think that your life is boring, that you might lose your mystique or whatever however that really is not the case.

From doing a blog every single day some incredible things happened that changed my business dramatically. Here are just 10 Reasons to Blog off the top of my head:

1st, current fans of what I do got a better insight in to me, who i am, what I eat, when I get my hair done, my likes and dislikes, where I've been so they feel like they actually know me. They feel like they are my friend. What's great about that is people buy from friends and people they know. So my bookings increased from that point of view.

2nd, since I was blogging every single day (and still am doing a written blog every day now) they get to follow the kinds of shows you are doing, where you're performing the KINDS of things you're doing and that means that over a long period of time you get to tell them all of the applications of what you do - its like one long sales pitch broken down over days and weeks. You're essentially laying your catalog in front of them and giving them mor eideas of how and why they should hire you.

3rd, people who haven't seen you before get a sense of who you are, how busy you are, and all of the benefits of the above. It's a great way of engaging new potential clients.

4th, since you blog about things that are related to what you do as well as the shows, you are positioning yourself as an expert in this field. This is building your credentials.

5th, there is a link back to your official website so once they like you and understand you they will want to click through to your site where you can hit them with more direct sales messages.

6th, you're using keywords all of the time, so linking back to your website increases your effectiveness in search engines.

7th, if your content is good it could go viral, people sharing it and there are various ways of making it easy for visitors to do just this.

8th, allowing visitors to make comments gives you real live feedback.

9th, allowing people to subscribe and displaying your subscriber numbers shows off your popularity and means new visitors see just how 'cool' you are.

10th, with increased popularity and traffic to your blog to can earn additional revenue through displaying adverts on your blog and affiliate links that would look hideous on your official website but are acceptable on a blog.

There is a lot to learn about blogging and how to make it profitable, John Cow has a free e-book on the subject if you're interested click here.

--RECOMMENDS--
Recommended reading is a difficult one this month. Have I read anything at all that I have enjoyed? I've been re-reading Mind Myth and Magic, its a great book isn't it.

The only think I can think of this month is Mel Mellors - The Undiscovered Wonder. Mel is a funny gent from the UK who performs a blend of mentalism and magic, but leans more toward the mental side of things. His latest DVD The Undiscovered Wonder has some great presentational plots surrounding some classics such as Confabulation in which the audience decide details of an embarrassing rash. There is a classic style book-test on the discs too along with some more magic style presentations. I think what I enjoyed most about it is Mel's presentation.

One other thing, this month was the Edinburgh Festival. In Scotland's big city each year hundreds of entertainers do their thing, hoping to get noticed. Two shows I particularly enjoyed were Colin McLeod's 'It's all in the Mind' - since he's my closest friend I won't review it because I am completely biased - and a really excellent show from The Grey Man - Phillip Escoffey. In his show, Philip came across as the skeptic that he is known to be from television shows such as Britain's Psychic Challenge and played devils advocate while performing some really great mentalism that included a chair test, some ESP cards and a 7 Keys to Bladpate. If you are in or near Edinburgh in the next few weeks I'd recommend you see Philip. I learned a lot about structuring and pace from watching his show.

--IDEA OF THE MONTH--
Some months I share a whole routine (see the Kennedy Catch-Up for them) and others I suggest an idea. This month I have a suggestion of an idea and have opened up the comments below this post so that you need not register or anything to add your suggestions, ideas and thoughts.

Desired Effect: 3 volunteers whom you have never met before join you on stage. Each is asked to make a drawing on a piece of card and seal it in to an envelope. The envelopes are collected by one of the three and mixed before being placed on a table. The three then freely take an envelope each, only to discover they have been drawn towards the envelope containing their own art-work.

Please let's not stooge them, make it just as amazing for the participants as it is for the audience at large. Post your solutions, ideas and comments below this post.

--TO CLOSE--
Before I leave you alone for another month, a big welcome to the massive influx of new members who have joined the Inner Circle over the past month. I hope that you enjoy these newsletters. I do take some time over preparing them to give you a dose of mentalism from the perspective of someone who's doing it, learning a lot and loving it.

Also, the comments below each edition of the newsletter are open, you can comment and add ideas without having to register, you can just put your name in or even share anonymously if you'd like. It would be great to hear from you.

They say that these email systems are here to make your life easier, the one I'm using is making mine a living hell - if you're having problems with the emails do let me know as I'm trying to fix things. Thanks for your patience.

Finally, my no peek- no impression drawing duplication, 'Drawing in The Dark' is selling well, if you'd like a copy click Here.


Until next time, do take care!
Kennedy

"Do you have suggestions, an idea you want to share on the
newsletter. Email me info@mindofkennedy.co.uk!"