Winterize Your Business

Greetings friends. A quick pre-Thanksgiving update before
the holiday season begins. We're in the process of getting
ready for a long cold winter here in Tulsa, winterizing,
taking precautions, bringing the plants indoors, making a
list of things we need to repair before Spring.

Just as you winterize your home or car, now is a good time
for you to be winterizing your business. Ask past customers
for referrals, market to cold prospects to warm them up for
the Spring, contact corporate customers to see if they have
money left in their budget for a Christmas Party or if they
want to pre-pay you for an event next year so they don't
lose the remainder of their 2008 funds.

Make sure you update your web site, add new testimonials
and photos and videos. Freshen the graphics and sales copy
up. Maybe update your business card and letterhead. Put
some polish on your props and costumes. Get ready for a
bigger 2009 while it is still 2008.

Most people don't prepare for the year ahead, and when they
find their businesses languishing they blame everyone but
themselves. Look at where the bulk of your leads came from.
What can you do to improve that? What other avenues can you
try to grow the amount of leads coming in? Can you try to
book yourself a quarter in advance or two quarters in
advance in 2009?

What would it mean to you to book 1-2 more shows each
month? Another $5-10K a year? $20-50K? Little changes in
your marketing strategies can make all the difference in
the world.

If you want a second opinion on your current marketing
strategy, please call or email me. I'd be happy to chat
with you and look over what you have at no cost to you.

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You know every web site has a personality of its own. Like
dogs, they tend to resemble their owners. Here are some new
sites we just launched:

ESPO Construction
http://www.espoconstruction.com

InsidePM
http://www.insidepm.net

Clubhouse Tulsa
http://www.clubhousetulsa.com

I'll show you some more in the weeks ahead.

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Heinstein Shuffle: I did it, I dropped $25.00 and
downloaded the video from Penguin. I can't say I agree with
shooting the inventor of this shuffle against a green screen
with a very loud suit on; however, he seems like a really
nice guy who has invented a very cool way of false
shuffling cards in the hands in a very fair fashion.

I watched it over and over again and could not catch it.
Now I have read on some of the magic forums that as people
are learning and practicing this false shuffle that their
hands are aching them.

There's a good reason for this: the inventor has huge
hands. Most of us will need to stretch out fingers and
apply pressure to the deck in some new and uncomfortable
ways.

The shuffle is not hard to learn. It is after all a Zarrow
shuffle in the hands. But like the Zarrow shuffle, the
Heinstein shuffle will require practice to perform the
sequence in a convincing manner.

I would give it a thumbs up, but my thumbs hurt from
practicing it ; )

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New items to look at for Christmas:

Control: http://www.theory11.com/tricks/control.php

Frozen:
http://www.ellusionist.com/product/dvd+training/beginner/frozen-by-adam-grace.do

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I'm out of here folks. Leaving for Canyon, TX to spend
Thanksgiving with wife's family. Have a happy and healthy
holiday.

All my best,

Steven

Wayne Houchin's Control

Good morning, fellow magi. Wanted to give you a quick
review about Wayne Houchin's latest DVD called Control.
After watching the promotional videos on Theory 11's site,
I was instantly hooked. So I went for the video download
option last Friday and went into my man cave on Saturday
afternoon to watch it.

Wow. This guy is good. I had previously purchased his coin
in soda can penetration that Criss Angel performed on his
show, MindFreak. At that time, I thought, "Not only is Wayne
clever, but he seems to really think his effects out to
new levels." He also seems like a helluva fun guy to hang
out with.

Well, a long time ago I watched a mentalist by the name of
Darwin perform a pulse stopping effect at a private magic
get together at my friend, Eric DeCamps' house. I was
fascinated. Other than Kreskin on TV, I'd never seen anyone
else stop their pulse, and never right in front of me. I had
no clue how it worked until some years later when someone
tipped the method to me.

Now I have always liked this type of stuff. I used to do a
whole psychic key-bending act in high school for the English
Department. There was this retired nun who used to teach a
class about the supernatural. She asked if I could bend
keys and I took the challenge.

The first time I used a Zanadu Key Bender on a pull, and
then another time a student gave me a skeleton key to bend.
I told them I would need to borrow the key to examine the
metal, etc. He gave me the key and I used a jeweler's saw
to make a hairline cut and then glued it back together.

When I returned the next day, I laid the key on his palm,
and asked him if this was the same key he gave me yesterday
to examine. He said "Yes." I asked him if the key looked like
it had been tampered with and he said "No".

I then had him hold the key between his thumbs, and I
placed my fingers over the hairline cut. I then began to
gently move the key up and down until it looked like it was
softening. Of course, the screams started, and then I used
my psychic power to break the key in two. He felt the heat
in the key where it broke and swore it melted in his hands.
I developed quite a reputation for this performance. It
really surprised me because it was a very emotional
experience for the kid and his classmates.

Psychic magic has this effect when it is performed well.
I'm not blowing my own horn, but rather just trying to set
up Wayne Houchin's promotional video for Control. Go watch
it on http://www.theory11.com and you'll see what I mean.

He was invited to perform at a small, intimate dinner
party, and after doing a variety of effects he tried
something new. He had a young lady sit beside him and count
off his pulse beats. When she got to 27, it stopped and the
look on her face as Wayne apparently died for a few seconds
was utterly priceless. Wayne played it very subtly but he
is damn good. He knew exactly how to look, what to do and
say. He understands drama and how the effect is perceived
by the person assisting him. It's that powerful. He looked dead.

He revived himself and his pulse started beating again, and
the young lady was both joyful and horrified, afraid, even
uneasy. Wayne recovered, asked for a drink and took his
leave. The guests continued to speak about what they saw
for several minutes. This is all captured on tape. It does
not look staged to me. I think this performance was really
well captured and we could all learn a little about acting
from it. I'd give Wayne the Oscar for this one.

OK, now for the instructional aspect of the video. Wayne
warns you, with the assistance of Daniel Garcia (obviously
good buddies who can complete each other's jokes), that you
will probably want to throw something at the screen once he
reveals the method.

It is not using the standard method that appears in popular
magic literature. To me, it is a totally new method. Albeit
a simple method. But it is totally impromptu and requires
zero gimmicks or preparation. Anyone can do it.

But you do need to pick your assistant carefully and
wisely, and there is some acting required to sell the power
of the effect. Done correctly, Control will become the show
stopper for you.

Included is Daniel Garcia's effect where he stops his
heart. I don't know that I liked it as much nor that I
would do these back to back, but you might stop your heart
for the same audience rather than try to repeat Control and
lose the impact.

I really enjoyed Control and could see myself doing it
under the right conditions for the right crowd. The next
time someone asks if you can read minds or bend keys,
consider stopping your pulse instead.

OK, quick shout out to everyone to go see Eric DeCamp's new
show at the Metropolitan Room in Manhattan. Details may be
found on his site here:

http://www.EricDeCamps.com

He is performing his one man show on Sunday afternoon's at
4 pm through December 28.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving guys and gals,

Steven Schneiderman

Riot by Dan Hauss

Morning friends. It's becoming a regular thing for me to surf the magic sites Saturday evenings after the rest of the family has gone to bed. I came across two things that are hot that I wanted to share with you.

The first is called Riot by Dan Hauss, the same guy who brought you the Sleeping Queen. This is an instant download from Theory 11. It's another version of the Elevator where a selected card is seen to slowly rise through the deck.

I watched the video many times and was completely fooled because the illusion, while simple to achieve, is amazing to watch -- in the same way Panic fools you.

You receive a video and a PDF file with full instructions for constructing the simple gimmick. It looks like it should not fool the eye, but I assure you -- I looked at it in the mirror and it does. The kudos to Paul Harris should have tipped the principle being used, but even then I would not have figured it out. For $14.95 this is a good buy.

Much better than Gecko.

The other thing I stumbled upon by accident was something called the Heinstein Shuffle. It's an in the hands riffle shuffle and bridge that resembles a Zarrow -- though it is all done in the hands. This makes it very impromptu and frankly looks great. You can see the video and learn more about it from Penguin.

Until next time,

Steven