A picture says 1000 words. What are those words? Are the spelled correktlee? Are they legible? Are they actually what we want to say? A perfect photographer can take a perfect photo that isn’t good at all. Just like if someone made me the perfect high heel shoe, that’s not the kind of shoe I’ll ever wear.

A good photo has a message

Shana is a balloon artist. She had this incredible photoshoot. Looked really amazing and it was shot in a cactus garden – ironic and fun! Here’s one of the photos from that shoot. Great color, lighting, and flattering.

When I talked to her about her brand — what was really valuable about what she does… It’s not balloons for one thing. People with deep pockets aren’t just looking around for the best balloon artists. They are looking for someone who can give energy to them — especially for dreary online Zoom events.

She has so much positivity, playfulness, and charisma. Super fun that makes her stand out… not just from other balloon people, but from all people. She has a great thing she can do online on zoom with requests.

It was a bummer for me to not use these cactus pictures, but they just weren’t the thing we needed. We needed that charisma and we didn’t need balloons in the foreground distracting from the real message of value. I texted her. Asked if she was wearing makeup. sent her a picture of the pose and told her to give it some energy. She took this picture with her webcam and we were done!

Quality is communication

A good photographer is good at communicating what’s happening in a moment. Taking a 4D world and translating it to 2D is not easy. A good photo will make it clear…

• what the subject actually looks like
• the nature of the skin : smooth, evenly colored, moisturized
• the nature of the eyes : wet and round
• the location (in some way)

Basically, we need to know what’s going on. A subject that doesn’t stand out from the background is a little confusing. We might need to guess where their edges are. When the lighting is a mix of colors, we can’t see what the skin is really like or that it’s even real skin. When the eyes are not well lit, we can’t tell if the person’s alive.

Two days ago, I wrote about audiences labeling our stuff. We can do the same thing ourselves. We can label what we do… then ignore it… then phone it in.

This is so clear to me now that I hang with my toddler. He’s fascinated with a thing over and over again. It seems that he’s seeing something new in it every time and learning something and enjoying it.

If we think we’re doing our same show over and over again, we’re wrong. It’s new every time. It’s the first time it’s happened in that moment. The familiarity is good for getting us to a more natural state without paralyzing adrenaline, but eventually it can lead to apathy if we don’t watch out.

Here are some things I do to keep it fresh.

• Look around the environment and pick out something special about place
• Try to experience the event the way the audience does. Walk through the same doors. Watch them and empathize
• Pick out one audience member to entertain. Think about them never seeing this before
• Think about if my act means something different at this time in the world
• Put some broken glass in my shoe so I slowly lose most of the blood in my body
• Try to impress the soundman
• Get full of oxygen – almost hyperventilate – before the show to get myself into a higher energy state
• Remember that this is a special moment I get to do what I do
• Think “what if I was doing this joke for the first time?”

I made this Chrome extension so you can get kudos / testimonials / reviews off the following sites…

• Linked in
• Yelp
• The Bash
• Gig Salad
• TripAdvisor
• Google Reviews
• Facebook Reviews
• Thumbtack

Watch the video to see how it works…

We all label things and people. It helps us survive. The quicker we can label something, the quicker we can ignore it. We need to ignore a lot of things so we can look out for danger. We ignore the sticker on the windshield so focus can be put on what’s outside the windshield.

We don’t want our audiences to label our show. If they can write it off as something they understand, it is not going to be entertaining. It can not feel totally safe.

Every time I’m on stage, I need to change the pace to establish my leadership role, but then I also need to do something or say something that doesn’t make sense. Then, I need to do another thing that doesn’t make sense in a different way. This establishes that there’s no pattern to find. This is how I tell the audience that this is not about finding a pattern and relaxing. This is about getting involved mentally. We are going to see what’s around the next corner and we’re not going to be able to rest because we’re in a game right now.

I like peanut butter that’s just peanuts. Maybe a little bit of salt. When I’m at the normal grocery store, I can usually get it. I don’t need organic, but I like simple, so I go for lowest price all peanut butter. That is the best one for me. There are probably 50 varieties of peanut butter at the grocery store near me. Seriously, but the one that’s the lowest price that’s pure is the best in the world for me.

If I were in some peanut butter emergency, and I had to go to the 7 / 11 to get peanut butter I might not buy the same thing and i might pay way more for a worse product. That peanut butter is the best in the world for me. Whatever reason I can’t go to the normal grocery store or whatever reason the convenience store can’t provide a nice spread, doesn’t matter. At that moment for where I am, it’s the best in the world so I buy that one.

Our service needs to be the best in the world or our clients will not buy it. They will buy the best. Maybe we’re the only one they know about, maybe we’re the only one close enough, maybe we’re the only one inexpensive enough, maybe we’re the only one without a criminal record. These are not just hurdles, these are actual qualities that make us the best in the world.

If our promo and our communication make us look awesome, our potential clients might decide it’s not worth the time and headaches to look elsewhere. That’s what happens. If we’re being compared to a lot of others, we need to show up more awesome so that we’re best of that set, hence the best in the world.

Empathizing and understanding our audience’s world helps us understand what we’re good at. Jif is really good at being in a convenience store.

I saw a guy at a stoplight trying to click his shoes into his bike pedal. I share this story from the limited perspective of me driving by quickly, not knowing the guy, not knowing what his story is. So, this is kind of fan fiction based on a little bit of movement I saw.

Dude does not look like an avid cyclist, but he looked prepared. He had the…

• bike shorts,
• the bike shirt,
• the water bottle,
• the headlight in case he decided to go out at night,
• the fantastic road bike,
• the clip on shoes,
• the bike bag

The story I told myself is this is his second time out with this new plan for fitness – bicycle riding. He bought all the everything. This story that I made up struck me.

This is the trap I get myself into sometimes. I get ready. I get really ready before I start. I don’t even know if I like riding a bike. I spend my time going to several metaphorical bike stores. Comparing equipment online. Talking to experts. Subscribe to cycling monthly and, there I am trying to click my shoe into my pedal.

I hope you know what I mean. I try to think my way through and be completely prepared before I get started so that whoever is watching doesn’t think I was foolhardy. It’s craziness and insecurity and a lot of time wasted.

A story that’s true and is not in my imagination is I’m trying to get people to hire me to make websites because I can make the best entertainer websites they can get. My sites help people get good gigs, so every great entertainer that doesn’t hire me is at a disadvantage. I am doing people a disservice by not letting them know what I have available. Shy is selfish. My brain cleverly turns my shyness into “preparedness” So, instead of just telling someone what’s up, I think about how I need a better portfolio, or a sales plan or gotta buy a CRM or something. It’s really not cool.

Chris Ruggiero, in his book “Just Go” says to “Just Go” — get started before you’re ready. If I get started talking to performers now, I can see patterns, I can get better at communicating, I can learn if other’s see my websites are as good as I believe they are.

I encourage the reader and myself to just go!

• “Please tell your friends about my show”
• “Share this link”
• “Let’s get the word out about my album”

These phrases almost don’t need to be uttered when we have a strong brand. If we don’t have a strong brand, they’re even more useless.

What we do is not for everyone. So many people tell me what they do is for everyone, or that they need everyone to know about what they do. This is wrong.

Having a weak brand and getting a new purchaser of a ticket to my show for example sucks. They come to the show, most likely, it’s not for them. They’re not happy. I’m not happy. It’s not going to lead to them buying merch, becoming a fan or an evangelist and I have to go find a new ticket buyer again. It’s expensive and unfun at the same time! We’re throwing a seed at a rock. It’s not going to grow.

Instead we want to know who we are, what we do, what the result of the experience of our service is. We want to know who our fans are gonna be and what their other options are. Then we get the right seeds in the right soil with the right moisture and PH balance and our stuff blossoms and grows!

The brand is how we make consistent impact and how we get really valuable people in our sphere. Not every ticket buyer or fan or whatever has the same value to us. Getting the right booker to know about us when we know who we are means big cash!

I discern entertainment as a craft instead of an art because it has a goal. If we forget that it has a goal, or we ignore the responsibility to the audience we don’t do what we’re supposed to. We’re supposed to entertain. We sign up for it and we come through as heros with as much consistency as possible. That means refining the product, but also being as agile as we need to be to adjust to incoming situations.

Performance is an art. It’s okay to be a performer who does it for ourselves or to express the inexpressible, but entertainment is not about being subjective. It’s about capturing the audience and giving them a rewarding experience.

We probably all have more than one thing to offer as entertainment pros. We can offer a small show or a big show; a dirty show or a clean show; a short one or a long one. We have 8 different costume styles.

The multitude is a negative

I am kinda grossed out when a restaurant has too many menu items. There’s no way they’re putting care into each one. It’s either a freezer to fryer situation or they’re doing some majorly careless cooking back there. It’s very likely that when they have a short menu, that each thing is good and they put TLC in it — my fave ingredient.

A performer who does a million things probably doesn’t have a thing they do that really kills.

Specializing

Picking a specialty and going with it, repeating it, owning it, learning everything about it — that’s good. That’s helpful and gives us an edge if there’s enough work in that specialty.

Collectizing

One way to counter the “Jack-of-all-trades, master of none” syndrome is to harness the power of all the jackiness into one core value.

• “7 different circus skills to keep up the excitement“
• “we speak 5 different languages, so we can communicate with your audience every time“
• “I’ve performed in every kind of venue, and I know how to always connect with a crowd“
• “We create stunning looks : perfect for any environment”

What’s the thing that makes your multitude a powerful singletude?

I might go to a repairman who can repair anything if I have something very rare that I can’t find a specialist for. I might go to a store that has everything so I don’t have to find the right store. I might go to someone who does a lot of things for advice because they can connect dots that I specialist might not see.

When we’re doing marketing of any kind, we’re speaking to one person at a time. Each of our fans or clients or whatever can only experience the world as a single person. So, we can remember to talk to them as individuals instead of a crowd. Even people in a crowd are having their own individual experiences.

Eg: Email blast “I want to tell you” is better than “I want to tell everybody”

When thinking about how to sell tickets to a show, I think about how to sell one or a few to each person who already wants one. What do they each need to complete the purchase?

I posted this question on Facebook and didn’t get an adequate answer, so I’m making up a word. Here’s the facebook post…

I am an expert at making things complicated. I love complicated stories and people because they’re a great escape that my brain continuously puzzles over. When I’m working on a project that I actually want to finish, my puzzly brain works against me in creating endless tangents and murkiness in the goal.

I can get really into the idea of having a cafe or something – thinking that would be a really simple business to run. Just make sure i have the best products for the best price and make sure everyone knows about it. The problem is that my mudwashing brain will act up every time I encounter failure or perceived failure, so you can be guaranteed by cafe would have a bunch of performances, a postoffice box service, and a local radio show in no time.

Failure is evidence

Sticking to a goal and being connected with reality is how to achieve the goal. Simplifying it to … “I am trying to do this… These things are working… These things are not working…” is the ultimate way to move efficiently and mentally stay clear and fulfilled. The whole thing is a bunch of experiments and failure and success are common occurances along the path, not endpoints. The real end for a project is not failure, it’s the decision to end the project.

Mudwashing looks smart

Let’s say I’m trying to sell more tickets to a show. It might be that I focus on no other growth for the show for a month. All I do is count how many tickets I sold before, how many i want to sell, and try different things to sell more. I can make this goal muddier by saying “a new customer is worth more than an old customer. So, I’ll count how many new customers I get too.” then I say… “If I can get group sales, the experience might be better.” This stuff might be true, but constantly thinking and figuring and clevering this stuff does not end. Then, I’m spending all my jellybeans being a wizard and not selling tickets. Then, I probably won’t have a clear end goal, so I can’t really fail.

Fear of public scrutiny (what most people call fear of failure) is the motivation

When our goal is muddy, we’re off the hook. We can’t miss that goal because it doesn’t really exist. We can’t be blamed. We can’t be criticized. This is good sometimes. It sucks to be on the hook for everything.

The things that are important to us — the really big things — we want to be on the hook.

Reversing that social pressure

Social pressure is a strong force and we can’t just ignore it, but we can turn it to the other side. Instead of feeling the social pressure to not have a clear goal, we can feel the social pressure to stick to the goal. This is called accountability — another word I made up. We can get some people that we cannot escape that know our goal and what we’re exploring to accomplish it. Then, the pressure’s on to stay on track instead of obliterate the track.

In May 2021, I produced a fundraising event for the Francophone School of Oakland. We successfully raised them cash in their first ever Zoom auction and online day.

They originally were thinking of having an online gala to match their previous in-person galas, but I came back with the idea of an entertaining Portal Day so families could celebrate together and be reminded of why they love the school.

I created teasers for them, made fliers, helped with email communication, built an event website, ran ticketing, produced the zoom show and even made appearances at their online school assemblies to tempt the students!

Here are a couple videos from it!