Tim Mannix's Fun, Amazing, Magic Blog

The Opportunist Price-Hunter During Our Recession

2009-03-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

Lately I’ve noticed a trend with certain consumers. Given the challenging times, everyone these days (including affluent customers) seems to be discount-crazy. I don’t fault anyone for attempting to get the most bang for their buck, but come on people!

In fact I’ve noticed, even people with who haven’t lost their jobs and still have lots of money in the bank want a discount. These are people living in wealthy communities. You know the “right” zip code. But why? Well, because…there’s’ a recession going on, right? This to me seems a lame and remarkably convenient excuse to seek the deepest possible discount. A little too advantageous if you ask me. Hey, I realize many people are in dire straits and are in some very real fear. Those people are NOT calling me for a magic show. I’m a full-time professional magician in the middle of a recession – trust me – I’m all too aware of the “slow-down” in the economy. Hell, sometimes I can barely pay attention.

Recently I had a high-dollar school call me regarding performing at one of their school assembly programs. I happen to be fully aware of this school, their location, (west San Fernando Valley) and know they have heaps of money. After inquiring about my magic show and asking for the price, the lady responded with “Wow, that’s a lot of money.” Cunningly playing numbskull while being fully aware that this school was an affluent Christian school, I asked her, “Is this a low-income school?” She laughed out loud, as well she should’ve. Of course, after her cackle subsided she said “no” and went on to reason that she was asking for the discount because of “the recession.” At the time, I told her I was all too happy to perform my magic show for her school, but that I could not afford go lower than a certain dollar amount. I was frank, direct and to the point.

She understood, sort of, but ultimately must have chosen to either forego the assembly program altogether or go with another magician who gave her a better price. I won’t criticize somebody for wanting to work and giving her a better price. There’s a recession going on, you know. Bottom-feeders have babies too. Okay, that could’ve gone without being said, but you get the point.

What I should’ve asked was if her school had lowered their tuition rates in direct response to the recession? Hey, there’s a recession going on, you know. I’m sure she’d never ask for a discount unless they themselves as Christians were doing the same, right? Don’t know, but I think not.

Hey lady, how come I have to lower my prices if you’re not? If it sounds like I’m complaining, I am.

The hallmark of a professional is to set prices then adhere to them. I don’t want to be stupid, and yes, I want to work, but what’s the point of setting prices if people just want to make up their own. I already offer a 5%-15% discount, but people seem to want more. I say save your money if things are that tight. Baby will just have to suffer NOT having a magic show.

Would I be considered a cynic? What’s a magician to do? Telemarketing? God, what a world!

Hey, here’s a good one. Next time you’re going to see a movie , try telling the box office you’re NOT going to stay for the WHOLE movie, that you won’t’ watch the ENDING, so you just want to pay half-price. Try it. See what they say. I’ll bet they say, “The price of the show is the price of the show, take it or leave it.” But, try it.

Oh and don’t forget to remind them there’s a recession going on!

Curled up in a fetal position and holding the fort,

Tim Mannix, Los Angeles Comedy Illusionist & Live Performance Artist
www.funamazingmagic.com/

Make Your Websites Sell Like Crazy

2007-06-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

I'm writing today because I want to share an amazing product that's made my product sell like crazy!

Nope...it's not because I had my salescopy redone.

Nope...it's not because I had JV's promoting my site.

Nope...it's not because I used another whiz-bang software that claims to give you a ton of traffic...

Guessed what it is yet?

It's the brand spankin' new "CopyAndPasteGraphics" Volume 2!

This package contains a mother-load, a ship-container load, a universe-load worth of graphics that will make your websites sexy, spicy and most of all profit-pulling.

Click Here To See Exactly What I'm So Excited About!

I know you're busy, so in a nutshell, here's just a touch of what you'll get in this amazing graphics package:

* 390 professionally made buttons,
* 70 bullets & arrows,
* 20 seals & badges,
* 10 "animated" order buttons,
* And many more graphics that can help beautify your
sales pages and increase your conversion rates through
the roof!

Click Here To See Exactly What I'm So Excited About!

To your higher converting site,

Tim Mannix, Variety Arts Entertainer
www.FunAmazingMagic.com

Salute to Recreation Family Festival

2007-06-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

I am proud to report that yesterday (Sunday, June 3, 2007) I was given a return engagement to perform at the Salute to Recreation Family Festival at Northridge Park hosted by the City of Los Angeles Department of Parks & Recreation . It was a great deal of fun and I got a chance to perform a new routine featuring my new "BIGGEST WAND", which is a 12-foot magic wand.

It is a hilarious visual since I use a small child (usually a girl) and the wand juxtaposed against a 3-foot child is a great crowd-pleaser. I will post a photo of this event very soon.

If you want to read more about the history of the Salute to Recreation Family Festival and its 25-year history, just keeping reading below.

~~~~~

Salute to Recreation Family Festival
JUNE 1, 2, & 3, 2007

Northridge Park
10058 Reseda Boulevard, Northridge, CA 91325

Northridge Park, in June of 1982, was the scene of the first Salute to Recreation Family Festival. At that time, the event consisted of a carnival, food booths, petting zoo, live elephant ride, chili cook-off, three stages of continuous entertainment, miniature train ride, arts and crafts and free fireworks show. Many community organizations and businesses were involved, and the event was an immediate success, attracting 50,000 people.

The Annual Salute to Recreation Family Festival has continued to add many new attractions and our attendance surpasses 80,000 participants and spectators during the festival weekend. Over the years our event has included: Fireworks, 50+Dance, Tennis Tournament, Sports Zone, Inflatables, Petting Zoo, Hawaiian Village, Children’s Village, International Food Booths, International Marketplace, Carnival Rides and Games, Community Organization Booths, Health Fair, Art and Mural Competition, Recreation & Parks Department Display, Silent Auction, Video Zone, Rockwall Challenge and more.

The Salute to Recreation Family Festival seeks to introduce families in the San Fernando Valley and surrounding communities to the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks programs and other recreational opportunities. The Salute to Recreation supports and promotes recreation for people of all ages, gender and diversity. Major newspaper ads representing the sponsors and activities of the Salute to Recreation are published throughout the Santa Clarita, Conejo and San Fernando Valleys. Promotional materials are also distributed to schools, libraries, Chambers of Commerce, businesses, the media, local newspapers, magazines and more.

www.laparks.org/salute/index.htm

Tim Mannix, Variety Arts Entertainer

"Creating Lifetime Memories, One Show at a Time!"

(888) 619-0866

www.FunAmazingMagic.com

Magicians Swap Tricks in Fresno

2007-01-27T20:48:00.000-08:00

What can I say? The Swap Meet was an incredible success and exceeded even my wildest expectations!

We had over 250 people in attendance and everyone had a great time! I want to thank all of you who attended and for the nice emails, phone calls, and cards since. We'll definitely be doing this again this year, and we'll keep you posted on the upcoming dates, so stay VERY tuned!

For those of you who attended and could not attend, check out the photos and captions below for a full report:

The night before, I took everyone to dinner at the Joy Luck Club Restaurant, where we were treated to great company and a ridiculous amount of food!

So there you have it: quite the day. I don't think anyone went to sleep until the next morning... Oh, before I forget, Mark Wilson has invited Hocus Pocus to be one of the featured dealers at Dealer's Day at the Magic Castle on Sunday, February 25th, so if you're in the area, we'd love to see you there!

Hope you enjoyed all the photos and once again, thanks to all for participating and making the first Hocus Pocus Swap Meet & Get-Together a huge success!

Until next time,

Tim Mannix

Ring 21 Lifetime Award

2006-10-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

On the evening our our annual IBM banquet I recieved a very unexpected award and rare compliment from my fellow Ring 21 members.

I am very proud and pleased to report that Ring 21 (the Caryl Fleming Ring) otherwise known as the Hollywood Ring #21 of the International Brotherhood of Magicians on Thursday, October 2, 2006 awarded me a lifetime achievement award. I was very pleased to serve as president for 3 years and vice president as one.

The award was totally unexpected and I am very honored to have been given this award and plaque. But, mostly it's the recognition of a job well done that means so much to me. I am very touched and proud to have been honored by my fellow Ring 21 members.

The plaque reads:

IBM Ring 21 presents to
Tim Mannix
A Lifetime Membership in
The Caryl Fleming Ring
In Recognition of His
Many Outstanding Contributions
To Our World of Magic

October 3, 2006

Magic Expert on ExpertVillage

2006-10-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

There HERE...there HERE..!

Finally, they've posted the videos to the ExpertVillage website from THE official resident magic expert of ExpertVillage...ME, Tim Mannix. That's right. I'm the expert magic guy for a new online repository of instructional “how-to” videos for learning a myriad of topics. Cool, huh?

Last July I shot these videos somewhere out in Santa Clarita with a filmmaker that ExpertVillage.com had hired to find and film various experts of all kinds of subjects for their website. Its taken months, but finally they've posted lots of new videos on the site (including mine) for folks to learn by an array of things just by watching.

To view my new magic videos (17 in all), just go to the link below to see what I have in store for neophytes to aficionados of the Art of legerdemain.

http://hobbies.expertvillage.com/interviews/magic-tricks.htm

Oh, and hey! If you will, rate these videos. However, to do so, you must become a member of ExpertVillage by signing up and THEN returning to the individual videos to rate them.

These videos have just been posted to the ExpertVillage.com website and I'd welcome your feedback and comments. PLEASE. Thanks.

Enjoy!

Tim Mannix, Children's Variety Arts Performer
"Creating Lifetime Memories, One Show at a Time!"
(323) 848-8922
www.FunAmazingMagic.com

The Tim Mannix T-Shirt

2006-09-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

Just recently I have added a new feature to my Titanium Birthday party show package -- a customized Tim Mannix t-shirt -- as a way of leaving some part of the show with children. It's something they can wear as a remembrance long after their special day is over.

It comes in kids sizes and it's going over like gangbusters with kids and parents alike!

The Titanium package is my biggest and most elaborate kids birthday package which features making the birthday kid appear from nowhere, a mid-air suspension, the t-shirt, hardbound magic book, plus a personalized Junior Magician trophy and all kinds of other cool things for up to 25 birthday guests!

The Tim Mannix logo (pictured above) was custom-made for me by GotLogos.com, which is an awesome service I cannot more strongly recommend as a VERY inexpensive and effortless way to get a logo for your online business or to begin brand identity. They do a great job and the basic price starts at just $25. Wow! How can you go wrong?

Of course my tagline, Creating Lifetime Memories One Show at a Time, Guaranteed appears underneath the logo.

Hey, marketing is marketing.

Baby's Party in a Bar?

2006-09-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

Recently, a woman engaged me to entertain at her child’s 4^th birthday party having seen my preschool show at her child’s daycare. Being a local businessperson she decided it would be a great idea to have the party at her workplace – a restaurant and bar.

Eureka! What a great idea, right? Me thinks NOT! Since she owns the place it must have seemed like a perfectly good idea. The party was to be held on a weekday night at 6:30pm.

Well folks, truthfully, a restaurant is NOT the ideal location to have a child’s party. In fact, not even close. But if there’s a private room that's inaccessible to the general public it can work okay.

To my dismay, upon arriving at the restaurant I found that it was not to be held in the restaurant portion of the eatery, but in the bar. Uh-Oh! Nevertheless, I wheeled into the bar with the party going full tilt. The bar was dimly lit as bars tend to be, with a single window behind the stage area and dusk fast approaching. The environment was chaotic at best with parents talking loudly in order to be heard and children running amuck. The only light source was coming from a shoulder-high window BEHIND me. We magicians hate light coming from behind us, but for brevity I’ll refrain from elaborating on this grisly point.

Although informed of their low-levels of sugar intake, the kids appeared to have been on 30-minute sugar IVs prior to my arrival. Trust me, they were swinging from the chandeliers. Also, several of the parents were consuming alcohol – not very common at preschool-age parties. It could have been disastrous had I not brought my sound system with me. The sound levels were at a fever pitch. And so began my perilous uphill battle to entertain these folks with my dinosaur-themed magic show.

FAM Newsletter is Back!

2006-09-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

Finally, I will be getting back to publishing a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter to clients, customers, and friends letting them know news, information and perhaps useful information they can pass on.

My fall version of the FunAmazingMagic newsletter will feature the collage (pictured at left) from my 4th of July show at the City of Commerce Independence Day Celebration and was photographed, compiled, and created by magician friend Matt Savin. He and his wife Aimee attended the festivities and watched the show. I thought that was pretty nice of them to just show up to see the show -- cool friends, huh? Matt sent the collage to me via email and I will feature it in my fall FunAmazingMagic newsletter as part of my recap of Summer 2006. The newsletter should hit mailboxes on or about September 15th. Be on the lookout for yours.

Remember, Halloween and Christmas are just around the corner and what with school now back in session, I am going into my busy time...thank goodness, 'cause August can get a little lean.

If you'd like to receive my monthly newsletter, just drop me a line at tjmagic@sbcglobal.net and I will be sure to include you as a recipient of the newsletter.

Until next time....

They Want Me for Govenor!

2006-09-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

Last May 19-20, 2006 I attended the Northwest Magic Jamboree in Newberg, Oregon just outside of Portland and had an absolute blast with magicians friends Don Kenney and Bill Turner.

Between the shows, dealers and awesome magic auction (I unloaded everything I'd brought and bought a couple of treasures), and the down-home and friendly attitudes of attendees it was truly one of the best magic conventions – if you can call it that -- I've had the pleasure of participating in.

While lunching on the first day, I noticed a political sign that I just had to get a shot of outside our restaurant. I can just see the headlines;

Newberg Spellbound by L.A. Humorist Tim Mannix, Proposes Governorship with Aggressive Fastrack Campaign

or perhaps...

Oregonians Enthralled with California Magician, Locals Insist Mannix Enter Gubernatorial Race

Yes, now I can tell people, “They loved me so much in Oregon they want me for Governor!” You know, I do believe I could get used to this sort of response to my casual visits.

Magic Castle Performances

2006-09-02T23:31:00.000-07:00

This weekend I am appearing at the Magic Castle and it is indeed a pleasure to get the opportunity to be there and to live my dream. Years ago I dreamed of appearing at the Magic Castle when I was a little kid growing up in Oklahoma City.

Honestly, it's sometimes a little intimidating being amongst so many talented performers. But, I just have to remember that I've got a right to be there and to take my place among the other great performers that go out into the world to share our gift of live Performance Art...magic.

This definitely is NOT the best weekend to be appearing there since it's Labor Day weekend, but it's my fifth time there. Seems most people are out of town or doing some "last-chance-to-be-outdoors" activity rather than be indoors. Still, I'm having a lot of fun presenting my newest favorite trick, the appearing bowling ball -- it fries people -- leaves them speechless. Magicians live for this kind of reaction from laymen.

As always, I invite my customers and friends to contact me for passes to the Magic Castle. It's a really cool place to go and have fun with family and friends. It's especially fun to bring people for there first time. Just email me @ tjmagic@sbcglobal.net.

Remember, if ever you want to go...the passes are yours for the asking.

Tim Mannix