Author: scot

Flitch (noun): the next, most effective task that has the greatest impact on success.

eg: “I’m trying to lose weight. I’ll work on getting better sleep and exercize soon, but my flitch is calorie restriction.”

more info…

Slackaput (noun): the paradoxical mindset of being simultaneously exhausted and lazy.

If we’re feeling slackaput, daunted by the future, trapped in a dead-end situation, or bummed about the past, it’s because life isn’t a game for us. This is a quick fix of mindset that can change everything. First the philosophy…

Whatever we’re going to do next needs to be fun. According to game theory, it has to be FUN

F stands for “Philanthropy”

We need a cause / goal / mission that aligns with something we care about. That objective that’s truest and most powerful for us is probably one of Philanthropy – we want to help other people.

U stands for “Ability”

Whatever we’re going to work on next needs to be challenging. Stress is healthy in a game. We want it to be in the sweet spot between boredom and anxiety.

N stands for “Knowhow”

We have to have some kind of control. That means we have to know the rules of the task at hand and we need to know that how we act matters.

Examples of FUN

Example 1: Super Mario Bros

In Super Mario Bros, we want to save the princess (F). It’s tough and keeps getting tougher as we progress through each world (U). There are a few buttons to press and each one does a specific thing every time with immediate response (N).

Example 2: House Cleaning

My friend is coming over. I want to clean the house so that he feels respected (F). There’s a time crunch and, even though I can’t clean it perfectly, I think I can get it done enough to send the right message (U). I have cleaned my house before. I know the parts of the house he’ll be seeing. I know what tools I’m going to use to do it (N).

Example 3: Learning a Musical Instrument

I want to bring joy to others through music, whether by performing for friends, family, or an audience (F). Learning to play a musical instrument presents a challenge . I’ll need to practice regularly to improve my skills and tackle more complex pieces (U). I study music theory, practice scales, and learn different techniques. My efforts directly impact my progress in playing the instrument (N).

Examples of unFUN

“I want to make money. I don’t know how.”

“I suck.”

“I want women to adore me. I am unattractive in every way. Girls want crazy things.”

Transforming anything into FUN

Step 1: Identify the Task

We recognize the tasks we need to complete or engage with. These could be work-related, personal goals, chores, or any activities we need to undertake. Often, this involves thinking about what our next task is rather than dwelling on our past or our shortcomings.

Step 2: Define the Philanthropic Aspect (F)

Let’s find a way to connect the task with a philanthropic purpose, even if it’s indirect. We can consider how the task contributes to our well-being, the well-being of others, or a greater cause.

Step 3: Determine the Challenging Element (U)

Together, we should assess the task to identify ways to make it more challenging. It’s important to strike a balance between boredom and anxiety, ensuring that the task requires our active engagement and effort.

Step 4: Establish Our Control and Knowhow (N)

We can break down the task into its components and determine the rules or steps involved. By understanding how our actions influence the outcome, we can recognize the areas where we have control and influence.

performer website pages

The answer to “What pages do I need to have on my website?”

THESE ARE THE PAGES TO INCLUDE IN A WEBSITE MADE TO GET US BOOKED FOR GIGS

1. A PAGE THAT PROVES VALUE
2. AN “ABOUT” PAGE
3. A MEDIA PAGE
4. A PAGE THAT CLARIFIES THE THING THE CUSTOMER GETS
5. A PAGE FOR EACH SERVICE
6. A PAGE WITH A CALL TO ACTION
7. A PAGE WITH CONTACT INFO
8. A PAGE FOR EVERY POSSIBLE KIND OF CLIENT
9. A DEAD BLOG
10. A CALENDAR

ALL THESE THINGS HAPPEN ON ONE PAGE. THIS IS A SINGLE PAGE WEBSITE.

What if it’s not imposter

syndrome? 

What if, instead, I am

wrong about what the

situation requires?

What if it requires less

than me?

video ▶

An additional note not covered in the video

Consider our competition. If we search for our fav keywords and get a ton of great results, overcoming those results will be expensive – either in ad dollars (because high competition words have higher prices) or in time / money spent on SEO boosting.

Here’s an automatic transcription of the video

 Hey, I’m Scot Nery. Here’s how SEO and Google search advertising works. Our goal is to bring in more people who will buy from us. And we have to be strategic to do this. It’s possible to get a lot of people through, through showing up early in search results. And there’s important things to think about.

So, I’ve done this very successfully myself. I have… If you search for Los Angeles juggler, you will come up with this and as you can see, I am number three here, then down here, Los Angeles juggler. That’s me. So if you go there, it’ll go to me and you can click on my website. And if you go down here, that’s another website for me.

So I’m. I have three top results on Google for Los Angeles Juggler. And I did this for a very specific reason. I’ll show you my, my Juggler website is geared toward TV productions. I had two different kind of people coming in when I was ranking for juggler in Los Angeles and those two people were people that wanted a juggler for their kids birthday party or and wanted to pay like 200 or movie productions who needed a coach a consultant or a juggler performer to show up on set and be a union performer so I didn’t want the kids shows I just wanted the TV shows and films And so that’s what I pursued.

I set up the SEO in order to rank me so that I would come up for those productions. I made my website. I have different websites. That website is based on the idea of getting hired for those kinds of bookings for TV and film. I ran Google search ads and I found that the keywords that people wanted were magician and not juggler.

Juggler was like one thing in two months, like one search or two searches or something. And magician was like 500. So people know what a magician is. They know what a magic show is. They know what they’re looking for with a magic show. And magic was a great thing to target for SEO and for ads. Juggler was not.

So So, like, we have to consider what’s our goal and we have to also consider what are people searching for. If they’re searching for us, are they going to find us? The primary purpose of SEO is to be searchable for the thing that you are. Because most people are looking for red flags. Most of the use of websites is people looking for red flags.

So, They hear about you, you’re a contortionist, and they search for your name, and either your name comes up, your first, your first result is your website, or they have to search for your name, and contortionist Jim Tucker, contortionist, then they find your website first. That’s what we want. So, the primary The first goal of SEO is to get your name or your company’s name to rank early in the search, probably first.

And then after that, we can start to think about whether it’s worth it to pursue ranking in your category, or are people even not, not really searching for the thing that You have because if they’re not searching for it, they’re searching for a magician, and I have really high rankings for magician. And then they come to me and I can’t do a magic show.

Or I can’t do the kind of show that they want. Then they go on to somebody else. It’s pretty straightforward. So the downside of pursuing SEO when it doesn’t it isn’t necessary is people waste their time. It takes a lot of time. Sometimes it takes a lot of money cause they’re paying an SEO expert and sometimes it makes their website distracting because they’re trying to add in a whole bunch of content that’s going to rank them high.

The way to make SEO work is to be an expert in your field. So like with, with the Los Angeles juggler site, I, I made this webpage to be, The like result for this is where people want to go if they want to know about juggling, jugglers. They have jugglers that they can hire. They have a lesson. They have a DVD.

They have a blog post, a popular blog post with information about juggling. So Google’s views this as a great resource for people who are searching for a juggler in Los Angeles. And it’s not even I haven’t updated it. There’s not a lot I’ve done with it back here. I could rank higher in this if I just had eight five star reviews, probably I would probably be the top result here.

So the problem with like when you try to have all the information, a lot of times an SEO expert will recommend having a blog full of robust information and If you have a blog and you’re not a blogger, you don’t enjoy it, then you’re going to have an old blog, which makes you look dead. Or it can also confuse people because if they’re looking for red flags, they can look through your blog and maybe find red flags like that you perform in the wrong kind of venues or that you do a different kind of work or you have some political view or something that throws them off.

So that can be distracting from. A website that just gives them like, extreme value and a call to action. That’s my take on the SEO. Thank you for joining me. Hope it answered your questions. Please let me know in my blog comments if you want, or send me a message if you have any questions about how this all works.

SEO can be a great pursuit. Most of the cases that I see people wanting to do SEO, they’re trying to do it as a shortcut to getting more clients. And a lot of times it isn’t the shortcut.

WHEN WE WANT TO WORK WITH GOOD CLIENTS

WE WANT NO FRUSTRATION OR GHOSTING

WE GET THE FULFILLMENT OF GENEROUS, COLLABORATIVE WORK

1. PROSPECT: “MAY I HAVE A PRICE QUOTE OR AVAILABILITY”
2. CALL, DISCUSS PROSPECT NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS
3. ARTIST: “HERE ARE SOLUTIONS FOR YOU”
4. INCLUDE SCOPE OF WORK & PRICES
5. PROSPECT: “NO CAN DO” / “LET’S DO IT”
6. IF NO CAN DO…
7. ARTIST: “WHAT CAN WE CHANGE WITHOUT COMPROMISE?”
8. CONTRACT SENT
9. CONTRACT SIGNED + DEPOSIT PAID
10. CONTINUED COMMUNICATION
11. GIG
12. A GENUINE THANK YOU FROM EVERYONE
13. CONTINUED RELATIONSHIP
14. MUCH LATER… REQUEST TO COLLABORATE MORE
15. CONTINUED RELATIONSHIP

MYTH:

“If I turn my hobby into a career, I’ll hate it.”

TRUTH:

“I can decide what I love.”

if we are afraid of bragging

1. HAVE PROOF FOR EVERYTHING WE SAY
2. SAY LESS, BUT STILL SAY SOMETHING
3. LOOK DIFFERENT INSTEAD OF TRYING TO LOOK “BETTER”
4. REMEMBER THAT PEOPLE WHO NEED US DON’T KNOW
5. LEARN TO CELEBRATE VOCAL & CONFIDENT PEOPLE
6. REMEMBER OTHER PEOPLE WANT US TO LIKE OURSELVES
7. REMEMBER OUR GREATER CAUSE IN LIFE
8. KEEP RECORDS OF PEOPLE GUSHING ABOUT US
9. THINK OF HOW WE CAN INSPIRE OTHERS TO CONFIDENCE

I had a client who wanted to get an agent. She was disappointed with the auditions she had gotten from other agents because they weren’t right for her and she didn’t land them. She was getting auditions with a lot of dialog and competing against people who were generally younger than her. She wasn’t being appreciated for her true value – her charisma, positive energy, body awareness, and sense of humor.

Many agents told her to strengthen her weaknesses – English and genericness – instead of exploiting her awesome traits.

Process

We didn’t go broad, we went narrow and bold. We contacted agents with this message…

“

Hello, I’m █████. I have:

🔥 A Japanese accent

🔥 A dark sense of humor

🔥 Crazy Physicality

🔥 Hot flashes

Would you consider representing someone like me?

Thank you so much!

█████

“

Resistance

This was scary for her. She imagined how many bridges would be burned by people who saw her embracing her accent instead of getting dialect training. How many would turn away from her based on her age. How many people would black-list her for being a little wild. She went for it anyway. It went out to every agent she could find.

Result

She got an agent that was Chinese American, understood her, and landed her two great auditions within a month.

The lessons to learn

• we can look at the big picture of what we really want. Do I want an agent (not necessarily helpful) / do I want perfect gigs (not necessarily in my immediate control) / do I want good job opportunities?
• we can figure out what that means and get specific about what that looks like
• we can ask for exactly what we want
• we can seek out the right people, not just people in general (she didn’t need all the agents. She just needed one)
• we can seek improvement instead of perfection
• opportunity is available to us if we commit

Design solves problems. Art creates them.

Here’s my advice for a magician who wanted to make a general marketing video to progress a sales process…

Maybe having a video about how to hire a magician with a lot of transparency (here’s how different magicians price themselves (I price myself based on the amazing value I provide. Some other magicians price themselves this way too. Other people prioritize taking every gig that comes in so they can offer lower rates and are less specialized.), here’s how different magicians perform(my pristine presentation is important to me, other magicians are highly skilled at jumping in to disorganized events and trying to make it work)) would be helpful to your prospects and help them make a decision. They might be looking for a super funny and sloppily dressed magician. In which case you’re not worth the money. Or they might need someone that really breaks peoples brains and elevates an elegant experience.

Educating them (even before the sales call) could be really helpful and it means you’re a trusted source. Then, they and their friends will always come to you first.