S8E7: Katie Marchese - Running a Magic Biz & Working with Her Husband

Last week I interviewed Mario the Magician. Katie is his wife and other half. She works with Mario as a team and handles all the business and marketing aspects of their business. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s essential for your spouse to be onboard and supportive of your entrepreneurial efforts, and this week, we’re diving into that very perspective!  

 

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Interview with Katie Marchese: Success Mantra

Define your normal.  

 

Katie’s Take on Their Business

• How children change the dynamics of things, even in business.

• Gives her take on how they built their business and took it full time.

• Going for things 100%.

• Talks about initial marketing efforts, how they’ve changed and how they look now.

• Dealing with rejection.

• Letting go of things that don’t work in favor of giving new things a chance.

• Being diverse vs niche-ing down.

• Knowing what you’re strong at and not trying to be “everything to everyone."

• The stigma of children’s performers.

• Connecting with both kids and adults.  

 

Katie’s Business Responsibilities

• Takes care of booking inquiries.

• Running social media, scheduling posts.

• Reaching out to various outlets and possible venues.

• She does all she can so he can focus on his performing.  

 

Thoughts on Social Media

• Talks about how things have changed with social media and how now they’re trying to engage people in their story. Business and personal life are now connected.

• People want to know “your story."

• People do business with their friends and social media helps proper to know their business connections better.

• People also want to feel like they’re supporting something. If they feel like they’re connecting with you on a personal level, when they do business with you they have a stronger feeling of supporting you.  

 

Challenges & Blessings of Working with Spouse in Business

• Hard to turn things off when the work day is “done."

• Not having specific business hours.

• Scheduling “work" conversations.

• It brings them closer together because they’re working as a team.

• Possibility of including their kids in the business in the future.

• They try to expose the kids with the family business as much as possible while still being sensitive of their needs and desires.

• Disconnecting from business at the end of the day.

• Having a schedule that helps them to have routine and then unwind.

• Not taking things personally.

• Celebrating together.

• Getting to work with someone you love.  

 

Failure Moment

Talks about a tour they planned that flopped spectacularly! Learned not to force things but to let things happen smartly and organically. Katie shares how they might go about that today.  

 

Favorite Success

Their Kickstarter campaign that got funded and raised $36,000