Bring Your Magic

When I was 9, my mum bought me a magic book for my birthday. I loved it! I practised hard and with several effects under my belt, entertained, amused and hopefully astonished a small group of friends, neighbours and family members.

Since then, I’ve remained fascinated by how magic can transport us to other, deeper realms.

Magic can be a superficial rabbit-out-of-the-hat trick. After exclaiming “Wow!” and wondering how it was done, we forget the effect and forget the magician. However, magic can also be life-changing, as used by Arial in one of Shakespeare’s finest plays, The Tempest.

When I first tried to bring my business online, I lacked that deeper layer of magic. As a result, I suffered obscurity and severe lack of business.

So, I took the advice of any number of marketing gurus. These essentially kind-hearted folk, had built their online businesses decades ago and their reputations had grown to something like monolithic status. They each produced “systems” featuring formulas, templates and scripts.

A diligent student, I filled in the blanks for avatar descriptions, I recorded the language of my ideal clients describing their biggest challenges, I chiselled away at a number of lead magnets (aka freebies), I wrote and rewrote landing pages (aka where the freebies were offered) and scripted numerous sales videos.

Over a 5-year period, I invested in excess of $110,000!

Up until just 2 years ago, my return on investment was a grand total of $1500.

In other words, I’d made a whopping 98.6% loss.

My indefatigable attempts to build an online business brought me to the cliff-face of bankruptcy not once, but twice. Things reached an all-time low when I had to borrow money from my elderly, retired mum. God bless her, she lent me the money without question.

It was pretty obvious that something was wrong - but what? I was following powerful and well-known marketing and sales experts. Could that be the problem?

I considered at the advice I’d received. In essence, this was:

Define your niche
Define your ideal client
Build your language and offers around that client
Build your list
Nurture your list
Increase your sales value
Systematise your processes
Hire others to do the work for you
Build joint venture partnerships and advertise
Retire and wallow in a beachfront lifestyle

There were variations, of course. Different gurus had different nuances when it came to attracting clients and getting them to buy...

But hold on!

Everyone who knows me will tell you - I’m a natural born salesman.

I’ve mastered presentation skills, spent years acting, directing and writing drama. I’ve appeared on some of the biggest stages, screens and studios of the world, alongside world-renowned professional performers.

I’ve chiselled and hammered and coaxed and shaped my work over four decades. Invaluable experience that I successfully delivered around the world.

So why was the online world not listening?

I suspected that templates and formulas and scripts made my material look and sound just like everyone else. Inadvertently, I’d become a cliche.

Imagine my horror! I prided myself on my creative energy and originality. I’d become no more than a digital carbon copy!

Once the penny dropped, I started to shoot unscripted, raw, unedited videos. I covered every conceivable subject. After months of sweat and suffering, I aligned my unvarnished truths with a section of the market.

I banished scripts, formulas and templates. Instead, I drew up Three Inviolable Rules of Charisma On Camera:

Instead of scripts - professionally honed improvisation.

Instead of formulas - profound presentation principles.

Instead of templates - concision, power and originality.

Within two years, I went from total obscurity to successful author, from ignored cliche to respected Charisma Coach for Senior Executives and Seasoned Entrepreneurs around the world, and from a paltry $1500 to a solid five-figure business.

What does this mean to you?

Firstly, I want to inspire you that there is indeed magic on the other side of the camera lens.

Secondly, I hope that you will sense (if you don’t already) the limitations of scripts, formulas and templates.

Lastly, I trust that you will bring your unique magic to the screen so you can shine a light for others along the way.

Together, let us light a path and illuminate the smiling faces of a million charismatic presenters to come...

Here’s to your magical - and charismatic - success!