Stephen Gillham and Leon McBryde are two entertainers who work year round as Santas. We caught up with them in a noisy corridor at the Kidabra Kids Magic Convention in Tennessee.

In This Episode We Discuss:

• The difference of Santa not being a magician but magical things happen when Santa is around.
• Using the stage that exists in people's mind to take them on a journey back into their childhood.
• Living up to society's ideals of what Santa is.
• The 3 types of Santa: family, community, professional
• What you need to be a Santa
• Creative ideas to add to your Christmas magic shows
• How to educate clients to the benefits of employing a Santa character
• The HUGE marketing advantage Santas have ... and how to play this to your advantage
• Even Santas need up to date marketing photos
• What is a Smart Santa? Find out
• A simple way to grow an audience of children from a few to hundreds
• What is the power of wrinkles
• Career opportunities for Santas

Stephanie Lee Harper aka. Super Steph was driving to gig in her signed up van. At a traffic light a car pulled alongside and the man driving enthusiastically waved a balloon sword at her. She could have driven off but she didn't. This strange meeting led to Stephanie creating a business where she recruits, trains, books and takes a cut of the performance fee of Super Hero party characters. Find out the nuts and bolts of ....

running a business model like this and discover the importance of 'outsourcing', whether it is finding people to take extra bookings you have earned or finding people online who will do administrative tasks that you dislike doing. Lots to learn in this information packed episode withe Stephanie Lee Harper.

In This Episode We Discuss:

How to move towards a protected income as an entertainer

Should you create different price points between a magic act and super hero characters

Can you outsource your phone enquiries? Playing to your strengths ... can you actually get someone to take phone bookings because you don't like phone work

Where to find entertainers to be on your books

Who are the best type of people to hire?

Which age is best?

How to interview entertainers for the positions.

How much should you pay 

The first steps you should take to begin outsourcing bookings to other entertainers

Secret Tip to help you secure more bookings

Eric Citron went from doing corporate trade shows to performing kids and family shows, the opposite of most magicians stories. The life on the road worked until the stresses on family life made him seek work closer to home.  Then the  300-500 show a year workload of the kids/family market wore him down too. Looking for a happy medium Eric found mentalism . He discovered local hotels had empty function rooms that were not bringing in money. He simply asked if he could play his Totally Mental Show in these empty rooms. The answer might surprise you ....

In This Episode We Discuss:

• Working and travelling with a wife and a young family ... the upsides and the downsides
• His Totally Mental Show he does weekly at a local hotel
• It's a one-man, family friendly mind reading  parlour show
• Finding venues for your show is probably easier than you think
• What do hotels want?
• "Cure For The Boring Mondays" ... What is this?
• Starting at the top with the general manager and working down
• How long should your show be?
• Creating the opportunity for hotels to serve food and drinks
• How to split the money between the performer and the hotel
• Using the hotel facilities to market in-house
• Using 'rack' cards to market outside the venue
• How to create 'ambassadors' for your show
• Using your local chamber of commerce
• Using the hotel's mailing list to your advantage
• Getting paid to showcase your act for private bookers

Dominic Reyes set out to help people improve their magic performing skills and to earn a little money on the side. Sales took off and the all consuming work of fulfilling orders and getting them out the door squashed his immediate dreams of helping other magicians. After 14 years in the magic shop business he has found ways to create a good balance between giving and providing security for his family. There is so much we can all implement contained within this interview with Dominic Reyes ...

In This Episode We Discuss:

• How helping others is good for you both ethically and to improve sales / bookings
• The concept of reciprocity in business
• A KILLER email tip that you can use today
• Are you struggling maintaining your interest in magic? Are you alone on this?
• Mentoring is vanishing along with brick and mortar magic shops. Are you affected by this and don't realize?
• Hear Dominic's advice for magicians starting out
• His relationship with TV magicians like Dynamo and how he got to be in this position
• Do you want to start a magic shop? What are the hurdles? What are the benefits?
• The biggest problem beginners face
• Dominic talks candidly about his biggest failure in online business and what he is doing to overcome it.