January 29, 2024 • 36 mins
Today’s episode features an interview with award-winning magician and mentalist Josh Pele, who shares his origin story and journey in the industry. He emphasizes the significance of saying yes to opportunities and networking to secure more gigs. The importance of finding one's niche and combining talent with business skills is highlighted. Belinda and Josh discuss the need to say yes and no in order to succeed, as well as the importance of engaging with one's fan base and making decisions to achieve success.
Chapters-
[00:50] Belinda asks Josh to share their journey into magic, which started three years ago on a plane to Italy.
[02:26] Josh discusses their evolution in the field, from performing on the streets of Milan to working in New York City and doing shows for celebrities.
[02:52] Josh attributes their success to always saying yes to opportunities and learning as they go.
[04:12] Josh talks about their journey as a magician, starting with residencies and venturing into performing at nightclubs in New York.
[06:36] Belinda discusses the importance of saying yes to opportunities and finding a balance. [08:07] Belinda encourages taking action, continuously improving, and knowing when to say yes and no.
[10:03] Josh discusses the importance of understanding the business side of being an artist and marketing oneself.
[15:00] Josh emphasizes the importance of engaging with fans and networking to achieve success.
[16:03] Belinda asks Josh about their strengths and talents.
[16:41] Josh discusses their ability to hyperfocus and how it has helped them overcome challenges.
[20:11] Josh emphasizes the importance of appreciating and acknowledging the support of others and remembering important details about individuals.
[21:15] Josh discusses the importance of keeping track of information and creating a CRM system for fans.
[24:14] Josh discusses the concept of finding one's routine and working from a happy and relaxed place.
[26:20] Belinda discusses their routine and the importance of having a schedule and routine for a productive workday.
[27:53] Belinda asks for advice on starting out in the arts.
[29:26] Josh emphasizes the importance of pursuing one's passion and not being motivated by external factors.
[31:12] Josh discusses new projects they are working on, including starting their own show in New York City.
[32:11] Josh provides instructions on how to perform a card trick called the card spring.
Meet Josh-
Josh Pele is an award-winning celebrity Magician and Mentalist who specializes in Private events, corporate events, restaurants, and nightlife entertainment. Having residencies in some of the top restaurants and nightclubs across New York City.
Interact with Josh-
Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/joshpelemagic/?hl=en
Linkedin- https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshpele-magic-084189243/
Website- http://www.joshpelemagic.com
YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/@joshpelemagic
How to Connect with Belinda:Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/workfromyourhappyplaceLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/belindaellsworthInstagram -https://www.instagram.com/workfromyourhappyplace/Website - www.workfromyourhappyplace.com
Join my membership program and discover the art of creating and sharing amazing experiences with like-minded people, all from the comfort of your own home. You get to connect with others online, learn new skills and techniques, and grow your network without ever having to leave your computer screen. To know more, click on the link https://workfromyourhappyplace.com/vip/
You can listen anywhere you get your podcasts and it includes the Apple podcast app, any Android podcast app, Google Play Music, Spotify, Stitcher, Podbean, and via www.workfromyourhappyplace.com
Chapters-
[00:50] Belinda asks Josh to share their journey into magic, which started three years ago on a plane to Italy.
[02:26] Josh discusses their evolution in the field, from performing on the streets of Milan to working in New York City and doing shows for celebrities.
[02:52] Josh attributes their success to always saying yes to opportunities and learning as they go.
[04:12] Josh talks about their journey as a magician, starting with residencies and venturing into performing at nightclubs in New York.
[06:36] Belinda discusses the importance of saying yes to opportunities and finding a balance. [08:07] Belinda encourages taking action, continuously improving, and knowing when to say yes and no.
[10:03] Josh discusses the importance of understanding the business side of being an artist and marketing oneself.
[15:00] Josh emphasizes the importance of engaging with fans and networking to achieve success.
[16:03] Belinda asks Josh about their strengths and talents.
[16:41] Josh discusses their ability to hyperfocus and how it has helped them overcome challenges.
[20:11] Josh emphasizes the importance of appreciating and acknowledging the support of others and remembering important details about individuals.
[21:15] Josh discusses the importance of keeping track of information and creating a CRM system for fans.
[24:14] Josh discusses the concept of finding one's routine and working from a happy and relaxed place.
[26:20] Belinda discusses their routine and the importance of having a schedule and routine for a productive workday.
[27:53] Belinda asks for advice on starting out in the arts.
[29:26] Josh emphasizes the importance of pursuing one's passion and not being motivated by external factors.
[31:12] Josh discusses new projects they are working on, including starting their own show in New York City.
[32:11] Josh provides instructions on how to perform a card trick called the card spring.
Meet Josh-
Josh Pele is an award-winning celebrity Magician and Mentalist who specializes in Private events, corporate events, restaurants, and nightlife entertainment. Having residencies in some of the top restaurants and nightclubs across New York City.
Interact with Josh-
Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/joshpelemagic/?hl=en
Linkedin- https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshpele-magic-084189243/
Website- http://www.joshpelemagic.com
YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/@joshpelemagic
How to Connect with Belinda:Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/workfromyourhappyplaceLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/belindaellsworthInstagram -https://www.instagram.com/workfromyourhappyplace/Website - www.workfromyourhappyplace.com
Join my membership program and discover the art of creating and sharing amazing experiences with like-minded people, all from the comfort of your own home. You get to connect with others online, learn new skills and techniques, and grow your network without ever having to leave your computer screen. To know more, click on the link https://workfromyourhappyplace.com/vip/
You can listen anywhere you get your podcasts and it includes the Apple podcast app, any Android podcast app, Google Play Music, Spotify, Stitcher, Podbean, and via www.workfromyourhappyplace.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Work from Your Happy Place, the podcast that equips you with the
knowledge and inspiration to live your dreamsand find your own happy plays. You
will be encouraged by and learn fromentrepreneurs and artists who are already working from
their happy place, all while pursuingtheir passion with a purpose. Be sure
(00:20):
to sign up for our free weeklynewsletter for our recap of the week's guests
and a preview of what's in store. We also have two special gifts for
you, a video, the fivecore Principles to living a half Yer Life
and a printable download title Top tensales strategies. Go to Work from Your
Happy Place dot com, forward slashfree. Fill out the attached form to
(00:43):
receive your gifts and be added toour newsletter. And now here's your host,
Belinda Ellsworth. Hello everyone, andwelcome to this show. This is
artist edition of Work from Your HappyPlace, and I am very excited to
introduce you to an amazing artist today, Josh Hayley. And Josh is an
(01:06):
award winning celebrity magician and mentalist whospecializes in private events, corporate events,
restaurants and nightlife entertainment, having residentsin some of the top restaurants and night
clubs across New York City. Itis my pleasure to welcome Josh to our
show today. Hi, thank youfor having me. Yeah, so,
(01:27):
Josh, this will be fun.I don't think we've had We've had some
forms of magicians, but not areal magician mentalist, like really doing it
on the show. So I'm kindof excited. So let's fill in some
of the gaps from your bio andlet us get to know you a little
bit better, and then tell ushow you became involved in this work.
(01:49):
Sure, so the origin story isnot quite like most magicians typically. Theirs
is they were fooled as a kid, and that sold them. They had
a kid, and that sold themsomething sold everyone as a young child.
Never had that moment as a kid. I got into it about three years
ago. I was on a tripto Italy and I brought a deck of
(02:13):
cards with me for the plane,for the sole purpose of fidgeting with it
in the chance that I don't fallasleep. I really like sleeping in planes,
and so what I did was Ibrought that deck of cards with me.
I didn't fall asleep on the plane, so I'm just fidgeting with it.
I don't know magic, I don'tdo card drinks. It's just my
toy. And throughout that six hourflight, I came up with an idea.
(02:34):
Again without having magic experience or knowledge, there's no way to know if
the idea makes sense, if it'sa trick, what is a trick?
All questions that now I could havehindsight and explain. But back then,
younger Josh was like, what doI do? So I went around the
streets of Milan to people that don'tspeak English, and I didn't speak Italian,
and I was just doing the sametrick over and over and every single
time I got really good reactions.And a few years later, I'm now
(02:59):
doing this everywhere, so it's reallyreally fun. Wow. So originally with
the trick, had you seen itsomewhere else before, like you're on this
playing sort of practicing it, oryou just made it up? No,
it just came to me right,I'm playing with this deck. I don't
know any tricks. I haven't seenany magic. I don't watch magic online
or follow magicians or anything. Ijust have a deck. I'm looking at
(03:21):
it. I think of something like, what if I did this to someone
and they were like no, andthen I correct them this way would that
get a good response? And Iwas right? It worked out. Wow.
So then how did you sort ofevolve from there? So you started
doing that, and then how didthings kind of really evolve that you're now
(03:43):
doing all these events and working inNew York City and having a great time.
Yeah. I think it just comesfrom being the person that says yes
to anything, even if I shouldn'tsay yes too. So I've getten a
lot of moments within the last fewyears where I was not ready for something,
and I always said yes, andby the time it came to do
it, I always did it.You know, if you say yes and
(04:04):
you don't know how to do itand you end up doing it the next
time it comes like you've already doneit, and it just grows from that.
That's how I got my first show. That's how I got my first
stage show. That's how I gota lot of different stuff that I hadn't
been used to, and just bysaying yes. So I come back home
to the US and I go onFacebook and I go I'm a magician.
I know two three tricks. I'ma magician who wants to hire someone.
(04:25):
Can you do a kid's birthday foran hour? Yes? And I know
two three tricks? What am Igoing to do for an hour? All
hour is a long time, itis, But I said yes, and
I figured it out and I gotpaid and I was like, ooh,
this is cool. And I didit for a bit and then I tried
to do too much too fast.I think the excitement overwhelmed me and there
was just too many things. Iwas like, I gotta do this and
(04:46):
this and this and this, andyou know, not knowing what I'm doing,
not that direction, throwing too manythings at once. It was just
a lot, and I burnt outand I just didn't want to do magic
at all. I stopped and Iquit. I was like, yeah,
it's it's exhausting. And then Igot an opportunity about a year and a
half ago to do a restaurant.It was like a brunch nightclub restaurant Vibe
(05:08):
and this guy you got to domy restaurant. So I was like sure,
So I went and did it andit was really fun. The show
went great, and I was like, ooh, I should do this again.
And then I got a residency ata nightclub the next week in New
Jersey, and I was doing thatplace every Friday. And then I got
a different residency at a restaurant wherethey had me every Saturday and Sunday.
And then I ventured out into NewYork. And now I'm like, how
do I get paid to do thenightclubs here? Because this is different?
(05:30):
How do I get paid to domagic for celebrities? How do I even
do magic for celebrities? Because thatwould be cool to meet celebrities. And
I kind of ventioned into that endeavor. In New York is the city of
opportunities. Celebrities everywhere, So onceyou kind of establish yourself, you get
opportunities here and there. And fromgoing out more and going to more events,
I got more events to book me. I got more charity events and
(05:51):
galas and birthdays for celebrities, rappers, album releases, single releases, all
these things I didn't even think wereevents. I didn't really care to look
into, and now I'm going toall of them. I'm like, oh,
you know, this is fun.And then it just grew. I
got into this environment. I understoodthe mechanics. Where did these events come
from? Who runs the events?Where do the budgets come from how do
(06:11):
I convince someone to hire me?And then all of that built onto my
resume to a point where I couldjust you know, go to someone or
not like cold call them, butjust say, hey, these are your
top five competitors that do what I'mgoing to ask you to hire me to
do. And when they see thosenames, it was almost like all those
people had you. Yeah, ifthey're doing it, we got to have
you. And now it's kind offortunately a position where I can, you
(06:32):
know, my resume stands out.I could say I do this, this
and this, what do you thinkAnd just from hearing that, they're kind
of already like, it's pretty impressive. We should at least try it.
And for me and what I do, really it's really hard to be bad
at magic, like what to doit the way I do it and to
get the consistency in the business that'sa different story, but in general,
(06:54):
like you can't really go wrong withit in the sense that people don't know
what bad magic is compared to goodmagic. So you could do a trick
poorly and magicians might say that wasterrible, but they're not the ones paying
you, right, that's not yourbusiness. You could. I could care
less if a magician hates all mywork. I'd be more concerned with someone
who doesn't know anything about magic comingto me. And I didn't like anything
that should be alarming, because that'swho I want to enjoy it. So
(07:17):
for that sense, it was,you know, all I need is one
opportunity, whether that's even just showingone trick. Sometimes I just throw it
on the line, like one trick. You decide right then and there,
you don't like the trick, Igo home. I'm not going to try
a different one. Maybe at thetrick's not for you. It's very just
put myself out there. What Ireally love about this for people listening is
that there's a couple points that andthat is one learn to say yes,
(07:41):
say yes too, especially in thebeginning to everything. But then it sounds
like you really tried to diversify tooquickly, like trying to do multiple things
instead of finding the lane that youreally really loved. So I think that
that's also a good lesson. Sosome people listening my so, how do
you say yes to everything and thenyou know and then not end up in
(08:05):
that way? I think you sayyes to figure out like what parts that
you really like, and just bevery mindful or intentional when you're kind of
choosing that lane. The other thingthat I love is you seem to have
a pretty natural A lot of peoplewith that are super talented, they sometimes
lack those business skills like reaching outto somebody and saying, here's your competitors
(08:30):
hiring me for this, And soI hope all of our artists are paying
attention because that's where both sides ofbeing good in business and being talented really
come into play. So I justkind of want to point those out because
and referrals it's you just got togo out and do to get more.
(08:52):
And that is where people get stuck, like they want more to start doing,
and you have to do to getmore. And it really does work
just that way, and yet Isee so many people get stuck in the
well, you know, I'm notready or I don't know where to go
and do this. It's just godo it somewhere. And if you're good
(09:13):
at what you do, and evenif you're not great, but if you're
good at what you do and peoplelike you and your personable, and then
you'll get hired to do it.Again and you're you're right. You can
perfect your talent as you go along. Yeah, it's it's definitely a game
of two important skills which are invery different stages. Of what you're striving
is learn to always say yes andlearn to say no. And those sound
(09:37):
contradictory, but it's the stages.Right. If you're starting something, you
don't know what you should expect.Right, So me, I didn't know
anything about magic, the business,the programming. You know, how do
you write contracts? How much doI charge this and that? So you're
saying yes to all these things andyou learn, right, you see what
kind of things are involved in thistype of business. And it doesn't matter
if you're a magician. Right,you could be any other industry. You
(09:58):
can be a service worker, right, you could help people move houses.
You could be a carpenter. Youcould do a blue collar, white collar
job. You could be an accountand you could be a business. You
could sell a product, sell aservice. You can be a cleaning lady,
you could be a dancer. Right. It all comes to if that's
what you want to do, yougo for that and you say yes to
learn all these things and as theycome together, right, the skills come,
the knowledge comes, the understanding comes, and then how you grow from
(10:20):
there is now that you have thisknowledge and your subject matter expert in your
field. Now you see these areshows you don't want to take because the
time spent to travel and do allthis stuff could be better spent on this.
And you kind of are able tobalance your life. But you can't
make that balance if you don't understandthe difference between you know, Show A
and Boston, which is paying youlet's say this much, and Show B
(10:43):
which is Home, which is payingyou half as much. But there's all
the background noise that you would neverbe able to be able to filter.
Otherwise, you here are able tokind of get that understanding because you've done
it all, or you tried itall, or you at least looked into
it. And then you get tothat point where like, Okay, this
is what I want, this iswhat I don't want, and yeah,
the business is what's important, becauseagain, if you're an artist, if
(11:03):
you're a creator, right, thehardest thing is to be a businessman.
And if that's what you want todo full time, right, you need
to make sure that you're paying yourbills and making the money that's not going
to come down to your skill level, because you could have the most amazing
artwork. Maybe the most amazing painterin the world doesn't sell their paintings.
Maybe the most amazing dancer in theworld isn't on stage. And the reason
is maybe, yes, it's possiblethey don't want to do it, but
maybe it's because they don't know how, they don't know how to get out
(11:24):
there. And again, if thisis something you're passionate for, you're going
to have to learn how to makeit into a profitable business because that money
coming in will allow you to developyour craft and perform more and put out
more and be able to show up. So it's really all about just if
you want to do it, goout and do it, and the rest
will come and you'll learn the importantthings. Just don't forget to focus on
(11:45):
the business aspect as much as thetechnique aspect, because there's magicians that are
probably a lot more technical than meand don't do as many shows. And
the opposite is true. There's magiciansthat probably I might be better then,
but are doing a lot more businessthan I am, and you know that's
great for them. Okay, it'sall about going out there and just remembering
that you have your artistry is alwaysgoing to come. If you're an artist
and you're working on it, you'reonly going to get better. It's not
(12:07):
like you practice drawing to get worse, or you practice to trip more,
mess up off beat or do magicmore to reveal how you're doing the tricks
that's going to come. And bypushing the business right, you're getting yourself
more shows, more connections, andthat's going to give you more opportunity to
perform and express yourself and grow.So you kind of have to find that
right balance between those two. Yeah, absolutely, So tell us about a
(12:31):
favorite performance or memorable experience that you'vehad a memorable experience. There's been it's
been a while year for sure.I think one of my favorites was I
went to Mexico with my friends togo to a music festival, and because
it was on a resort, thisisn't this is a resort, This isn't
something set up for stages and musicfestivals. You could always build the stage
(12:54):
on the beach, but the ideais like the layout of the pools and
the desk chairs, that's for peoplevacationing, not for hundreds, if not
thousands of people swarming too a musicfestival and I had a VIP band,
So the way they did it wasthe VIP bracelets were the ones I can
come close to the stage. Sothe front near the stage is your VIP
and then the back is your generaladmission. And I have my deck of
cards and I'm in the very frontand I'm just fidgeting with them. There's
(13:16):
this move called card spring, andwhenever you do it, people love it.
And all it is is really youjust have a deck of cards and
you just spring them from one handto another. And you can make this
more fancy. You could do itin emotion. You could do it fast,
you could do it slower. Andthis is really easy to learn,
Like it could take you like fiveminutes to get used to it. Maybe
(13:37):
in like ten fifteen you'll be doingit. And then the more you do
it, the more you're in control. And just doing that in front.
As someone from the festival walks by, it's like, why do you have
cards? A magician? He tellsme to show him one thing and if
he likes it, he'll help me. So I do one trick. He
loved it. I got to gobackstage perform for all these artists, probably
some of the first few celebrities Iever got to do, and I was
(14:00):
like wow. And then fast forwarda year later, that same music festival
comes to New York and that guyhappens to be working it, so he
invites me to go, and Iget a pass to network with all these
people, and now these are peoplein New York and this festival is now
going to be in New York,which is amazing. And then one more
year later this year, I gotto be hired as the magician for it.
(14:20):
So that was cool to go fromnot knowing these artists now I perform
for them all, to now I'mgetting paid to see them. It was
incredible. I think that was afun memory for sure. That comes absolutely
and I love sort of how thatstory progresses right from year to year.
It just keeps it. And thatis one thing I think there's a lot
(14:41):
of people out there that are likesort of ready to just throw in the
towel or whatever, and it canalways be one thing, one event that
you going to that event and oneperson seeing you do that turned into look,
how much business you could probably traceback to that one trick that you
(15:01):
did in the front row as aguest and a music festival. I mean,
like seriously, yeah, it's great. And then this year for that
festival, right, not only wasI hired to do it, but I'm
working and two people that worked likeradio, so they're covering the music festival.
They had their own events separately.So one of them was a father
who just had his daughters bot Mitzvah, and I was hired for that event.
(15:22):
And one of his co workers justcelebrated her thirtieth birthday party and I
was hired for that too, Sonot only did I get this show,
but I got new shows from goingto this show. So it just keeps
growing. And then maybe the peoplefrom those two past shows, which were
very recent, will book me forother things, and it's a chain that
just always extends. The one thingfor artists is to know that opportunities will
(15:43):
keep coming, but they don't comeif you don't take them first, in
the sense that your first opportunity mightbe the early one, but you go
to that one and you're going tofind the next one, and at that
next one you find it, andthen eventually you have so many going that.
Yeah, you pick and choose yourmoments and you know two things at
once, you decide which one.But to get to that point, to
be overbooked, you have to bebooked, and to be booked, you
have to, you know, goout there. So don't shy away from
(16:07):
an opportunity to meet someone or goout. And yet it's obviously not easy
to talk to strangers or network.And of course with what I do,
it's my stuff is hard, right, you can't be sold on my social
media. But the opposite is ifyou see me do it in person,
you're sold. For other artists,they could show their displays in this but
maybe you meet someone, it's noteasy to just pull up your artwork or
(16:29):
dance in front of them if you'rea dancer or saying. But even still
just going out there and meeting thosepeople because they'll see your work, like
you connect with them. They'll checkyou out at some point, and when
they do, you know they're obviouslygoing to love what they see. You're
not going to put out stuff you'renot proud of, so all that hard
work is going to be noticed andit's going to be the same position.
So everyone has kind of their ownsuperpowers, their own skill sets that they
(16:53):
just naturally are good at. Whathave you identified as yours? What do
you think strengths have helped you inthis journey. I think my strengths were
definitely I don't know if hyper focusis the word, but it's a focus
that just gets me in places likeI just focus in on these challenges with
(17:14):
no knowledge or intent, right LikeI have the nightclub idea. I was
like, I want to work innightclubs. I don't know people in nightlife.
I don't know how to get intonight life as a magician. I
don't know how to get paid.I don't even know how to pitch that.
But that's what I want to do, and I somehow find your way.
You kind of when I focus inon a goal, I just zone
in on that's what I'm going todo. I don't have a plan,
(17:37):
I don't have an idea, butjust try and work towards it or figure
it out. I end up figuringit out and it works out. I
think that zoning in on targets andhaving objectives and goals work very well.
And I think the important part ofgold setting is you don't need it to
make sense. Right, You don'tneed to know how you're going to do
if you want to be a CEOof a company, if you want to
be performing on Broadway, you don'tneed to know how you're going to get
(17:59):
there. The hardest and most importantpart is deciding that that's what you want
to do make You have to justmake that decision for yourself. And I
think there's a lot of moments andcareers and artists where there's moments to decide
things and you don't realize that that'sa big decision. Like even just making
the decision I want to be unbroadthat doesn't seem like a decision, right.
It seems like, oh, that'sa hover to know. Like if
you see it as a decision andyou make that decision, now you're ready
(18:22):
on the path to do it.And I think that identifying decisions and moments
of action when there seems to belike turning passive thought into active decision making
is definitely where most of the businessturns critical and I think that's where I've
succeeded a lot in absolutely I teacha whole thing on these five days of
success. And it's interesting because I'llask people what do you think, what
(18:48):
do you think they are? Andthen people always shout out determination or desire.
And I've been teaching this for likethirty years, and it's like it
all starts with the decision because youknow, you have to decide what are
you determined about? You don't evenknow what you're determined about, and so
it's just I am. I'm onboard one hundred percent with the decision making
process. It really is. It'salmost like once you make it, even
(19:11):
if it's difficult, one things startto happen. And I think it's you
consciously or even subconsciously start moving towardmaking those things happen. So love that,
(19:32):
all right. So engaging with yourfan base is a big part of
being an artist or allowing people toknow what you do. And you've done
very good about networking about with that, but like, what are some other
things that you do to really nurturethat fan base. I think that just
comes down to seeing, you know, your fan base is it's your network,
(19:53):
right, whether it's someone that's bookingyou, that's paying you to do
it, or whether it's someone thatsaw you perform and love what you do.
It's very important to kind of youknow, remember those people because both
of them work well for you.Right. If someone's booking you, right,
they're paying for a service. Butwhat if they book you for a
ticket at event? You need peopleto buy those tickets, and that's going
(20:14):
to come down to the fans.I think a huge part of it is
just being intent with every single person, right, every person matters. You
never know who's connected, You neverknow who has wed for me. The
diversity of shows I do, everysingle person has work for me, a
businessman or a company or a restaurant. The business the company has the holiday
part of that. But a randomperson on the street. What if they
have kids, there's a birthday party. What if they're Jewish, there's a
(20:37):
bar mitzvah. What if they havea daughter they's so sweet sixteen? What
if they're personally engaged, they're awedding. Like these are all events that
I do, and for me,it's about remember these things, right.
Remember people tell you remember people's birthdays, because that's an easy iceberger that's brilliant.
It's how do you keep track ofall these people? Right? If
they ask you questions, get backto as many people as you can,
right if they're always engaging on yourposts, DM them say, I see
(21:00):
you engaging on my posts. Ireally appreciate it. Thank you for the
love. If they share your stuff, you appreciate them, like just noticing
all those moments. Don't let slightdeeds that are work in your favor from
others go unnoticed and they come inabundance, right, you appreciate those.
And now they're even more of yourfans because they might be supporting other people
and those people don't take the timeout of their day to go to them,
and you know it's really heartfelt andit's genuine. And then also as
(21:23):
you grow, which I've learned,isse, I meet so so many people.
I never know who's the one thatI need to remember. And you
don't want to have those moments whereyou're like, oh this this Belinda,
she was she was amazing, Butwhat was her What was her Instagram?
Because her thing might not be ablein Elsworth, right, It might not
be her name, it might beyou're like, I know I have like
you could have it somewhere and stillnot be able to find it. So
(21:45):
now I'm in a position where I'mtesting methods on writing stuff down as soon
as I finish a show, I'mrecording whatever I could have, like this
is the person, this is whereI met them, this is what I
have from them where there was socialmedia and now and kind of kind of
like creating a CRMs your customer relationmanagement. But don't just do it with
customers. Do it with everyone,right, do it with fans. If
your fan bought something from you,will write down what did they buy from
(22:08):
you? Right when did they buyit, what is it, and just
kind of keeping track of as muchinformation as you can and just continue to
engage right randomly message someone, randomly, say hi, Randomly bring up ideas,
just you know, never forget thatthose are the people that got you
to the point you're at, andthey're also probably gonna be the people that
get you to the next point you'regoing to. So with that in mind,
(22:29):
you'll always remember to kind of beappreciative of it and just keep in
touch. I'm still learning a lotof ways of you know, organizing it,
but in terms of you know,showing my gratitude appreciation, I think
I do a very good job ofthat because I never like to see anything
as a one man thing, andso I extend all the success I've had
to anyone that was a part ofit and they look at me, they're
like, I didn't do anything.I just watched. I'm like, no,
but you're watching was a part ofit. Even if you don't think
(22:52):
that way. I don't care ifyou agree with me. I think that
way, So I appreciate you anyway. And it's a funny thing for them
to hear. So i'd definitely sayshow that kind and as much as you
can. I do think that that'san art that is a dying art.
I will tell you it's like makingnotations of people that you met. I
mean I used to even have cardson people, especially like at vendor shows,
(23:15):
especially if they were somebody that Iwas going to be calling after I
got back home, and it's likeI'd even write down what they were wearing,
because then that helped my memory toconnect to Oh, yeah, I
was that woman that was standing theretalking to me, and she owns a
such and such and she was wearingX and I think that's women probably are
like that more. But you remember, you remember somebody that had an interesting
(23:37):
hat on, or you remember something, and because when you're looking back on
your notes, even when you're readingit for me, that was it was
always a memory jogger, and Ijust don't talk to people who keep really
good notes about people that they met, like what that experience was or how
they're connected. And I love I'malways writing everything down, but I hadn't
(24:00):
really considered doing voice recordings of that. Even post. I have a post
podcast sheet because if I think aguest was really good and they might be
great for my Mastermind group, orI think they might be really good for
a summit that we do, sothen I've got a figure. I got
to write that down. So nowI'm like jotting that down, so I'm
(24:22):
not going through a hundred of themtrying to figure out who would be good
at this. I've got my notesthey would be great at us. So
just always trying to perfect that alittle bit. So I might take your
voice recording idea and put that intoplay. Yeah, definitely, it's fine,
I do. Yeah. So that'sthe other fun stuff is I didn't
even know, you know, youdo masterminds, but I do mastermind stuff
(24:45):
with people like that's you know whatI mentioned, Like everyone always has all
these projects and it's always good toyou know, co create and come up
with unique ideas and that's what Ilove doing absolutely So. Our sort of
signature question of the show is whatdoes work from your Happy Place mean to
you? Oh? I like thatquestion. I think working from your happy
(25:06):
place is if you ever if youever watch karate, like those people in
like those temples or out in Asia, the ones that dedicate their whole lives,
you know, to the craft.You see like the rigorous training that
they do, and you see likethe rigorou stuff they do. And there's
this one term called kada. Ibelieve it's pronounced kada, and it's basically
a formation of moves, like theirset kind of routine or formation of moves
(25:30):
that they repeat over and over.And I think that that term or that
ability kind of applies to everyone workingfrom home. It's finding your kada right,
like your routine, your regimen,that's like, that's you. It's
where you're relaxed, it's where you'rehappy. And it's not going to be
from you know, doing random thingsright, your consistency, your behaviors right,
things you like doing in abundance aregonna be happy. Right if you
(25:52):
did something randomly like skydiving and youloved it, like that's awesome, your
adventurous like kind. But you're notgoing to be going to skydie to find
that zen. You know, tofocus, to be happy, to calm
yourself down if you're worried. Soyou're gonna have those those smaller wins where
that's your thing. Like maybe you'realways so happy when you do a run
in the morning, maybe you're happywhen you journal, maybe you're happy when
(26:12):
you when you stretch. So workingfrom your happy place, that's that's your
kada, whatever activity or thought orcombination of those, that is like your
way of getting in the zone.That's your happy place, right, it
doesn't have to be or maybe it'sa specific location. Maybe you work better
if there's greenery in the background,maybe nice lighting. Maybe you just love
(26:33):
the color red and if you havesomething red in the room that you could
look at that exciting. So I'dsay working from your happy places, finding
your cota or your combination of ticks, but positive ticks. Right. Everyone
uses words like triggers and ticks andnuances. They always think like something bad,
like a trigger is something that makesyou annoyed, or said, well,
what about a positive trigger? Whatabout a happiness trigger? Right?
(26:53):
So I think that you finding thosecombinations in the positive way that will get
you to work from place. Soworking from a hap place is whenever you
have your kinda going on. I'dlove that so much. And it's funny
because I had a pretty darn goodroutine down that was pretty much the same.
(27:15):
It's like i'd tell I would sayto you. It varied here and
there, but it was pretty prettydarn much the same for twenty five years.
And then then COVID happened and mywhole routine changed, and I have
struggled with finding it's what I'm listeningto you, I know that that is
(27:38):
it. It's like I've struggled tofind find the flow, you know what
I mean, to get back intoa routine now that is a new routine
for me that I like. Ithink doing kind of that same routine for
so many years and being successful atit, that made it harder for me
(27:59):
to figure out, well, what'sthis new routine. But I'm working on
it every day. And the onething I do have down is Tuesdays,
and this is the day we recordpodcasts, so like and I love it
because even though it's a busy dayfor me, I know from the moment
I wake up what it looks like, and I know I'm going to meet
(28:22):
really great people, and I knowthat it's just going to be interesting,
fun day that it's gonna and Ilove that, and I already know the
schedule of it and I know theroutine of it, and that is there's
a lot of truth in that,and then that makes you happy and it
makes you feel like I had areally great day at work today. Absolutely,
(28:47):
So what advice would you give toothers wanting to start out in the
arts? I would say it's justalways going to come down to you know,
you versus you. But you're nevergoing to compete with another artist.
You're never going to compete with anyone. Like I said, there's magicians that
do much more work than me.I'm not competing against them. They're doing
a lot of work that's great,Like good for them. I'm going to
(29:10):
do that work too, eventually.You know, everyone has their stages,
and you know, there was apoint where I didn't do any shows.
Then there's a point where I wasdoing a few shows, and now I'm
at a point where I'm doing alot, and maybe in the future there'll
be a point where I'm a lotmore so. The number one thing is
just doesn't matter what you do.Like I mentioned, it always matters the
same principles, the same ideals,and the number one is that belief in
yourself. Right, If you alwayshave confidence in what you're doing and you
(29:33):
always put your best foot forward,the rest will come. Don't look at
someone and think, wow, they'redoing this or that, like there might
be a bunch of reasons that youcan't control why they're at where they're at,
But what you can control is whateveryou do today to get you closer
to wherever you're trying to go tomorrow. Right, and you know, just
always remember that's what you want todo it for yourself. Do it because
(29:53):
you love doing it. Do itbecause you want to do it. Don't
do it because of the money.Don't do it because someone else is doing
it, don't do it for anyreason that's external to you. And everything
will come right if you focus onyourself and your passion for it. Right,
you just have to remember, there'sa reason you want to do this,
there's a reason you start, andif that reason is genuine, right,
that reason is something you know thatgoes to your heart. It's not
(30:15):
like I'm doing this because I knowsomeone else makes a lot of money.
That's not genuine. And if you'redoing this because you love it, you're
doing this because you're passionate about it. You're doing this because you like it
like those are genuine reasons, andif you stick to it right, you
always be having fun because you're passionateabout it. The rest will come.
The business will come, the moneywill come. You can't learn about the
business until you try to do thebusiness aspect of it. You can't get
clients until you look for clients.You can't know how to negotiate prices until
(30:37):
you've set prices, and so allthat comes from experience. It's not something
you read a book about. Imean, yeah, masterminds are amazing and
books are amazing, and always useyour resources, but that will come in
time. For now, focus onwhat you want to do. Decide what
you want to do, figure outhow you're going to do it, and
over time that might change how you'redoing or what you want to do.
But as long as you never giveup on yourself and just trust in your
(30:59):
instincts and whatever you're doing, you'llalways go further than where you are now.
And I think that's where people fallapart, is when something goes wrong,
they forget why they started, orthey stop believing in themselves and they
just quit. Hardships are going to, you know, push you a lot
further than anything. I want toget challenged. I want to have people
reject my shows and me wonder,how do I get those shows next time?
(31:21):
What went wrong? Because you learnfrom that, right, You're never
going to learn from a smooth asmooth seed. Never never raise the skilled
sailor, is what they say.And so if you want to learn to
navigate the ocean, you need tolearn how to go through those tides,
in those currents, and if you'reconfident yourself, you'll make it out to
the other end or to wherever you'regoing. Yeah, that's great advice.
So anything new and exciting you're workingon, and where can our listeners find
(31:45):
you? Yeah, definitely some newprojects I'm working on. I have a
couple of celebrities that I'm about toperform for the next few months. I
haven't disclosed them yet. I usuallydo it once they come, but I
have some stuff I'm preparing for theirprojects. You know, their endeavors,
so those are exciting. I'm hopefullygoing to start my own show soon in
New York City where I'm going tobe hosting my own events weekly or bi
(32:07):
weekly or monthly. I haven't decided, but that'll be fun to have me
be the one booking myself instead ofsomeone else. I've never tried producing,
so it's a cool challenge for me. And then deciding if I'm going to
be the sole performer, if I'mgoing to cycle out entertainers throughout the week,
So that'll be cool. No etaon that, but maybe within the
next year, if not quicker.And then in terms of finding me,
(32:30):
I'm Josh Pale Magic, Josh jO s H. PLEA p E l
E Magic, m A g IC. You can find me on Instagram,
on YouTube, on Twitter, onTikTok, you can google me.
You can find my website Josh Palemagicdot com. You can reach out to
me Josh Palemagic at gmail dot com, whatever you prefer. Well, I'll
tell you one challenge that I'm goingto take on after this call. I'm
(32:53):
going to learn to do that.What did you call it? A spring
with those cards? Oh? Thecard spring. So the card springs are
really easy. It just takes time. So you take any deck. I
don't know how it might be reversedin the mirror, but essentially what you're
gonna do, and I'll give itlike a vertical view. Is I'm a
lefty or a righty, it doesn'tmatter whatever hand you prefer. You're gonna
(33:15):
hold the corners. So I havemy middle finger on one corner and the
exact corner diagonal is going to beyour thumb. So it'll either be these
two or those two, depending onif you're left you or alrighty okay.
So once you have it and youcan see from this angle, one finger
on each, this is really allyou want. You're just gonna try to
bend. You're gonna get a bendin the cards, and I do that
(33:36):
by curling in my thumb and mymiddle finger like this, and you see
the cards will bend. And thenas you do that, so once the
cards are bent, it's hard tostop. But once the cards are bent,
you're gonna slide your thumb and yourfingers up, so it's gonna look
something like that. It's gonna looksloppy, but you're just kind of letting
(33:57):
go. So as I'm doing that, like my thumb is just coming higher
and it's whatever it's not touching isfalling. Okay, And then the idea
is wherever your thumb is pointed,that's where the cards go. So if
your thumb's pointed to your hand,it's gonna start falling in your hand,
and you're doing the same thing onthis end. You're just releasing the cards.
So at first, like I said, it's gonna get like weird or
(34:20):
slappy. You just gotta get usedto just getting that bend and just sliding
up, and then once you doit a few times, it'll be more
natural. When it's fast, itlooks cool. When it's slower or in
motion, it looks like that,like for promo videos, it's like that,
and slow down you see each cardfalling because they're changing. But it's
really simple. You just got toget those corners and just get used to
(34:44):
this bending motion and sliding. Hardto do it one by one, but
eventually you just get it. It'sreally cool and it's not hard to learn
at all. I think anyone cando it, so it could be a
great challenge for all of our listenerstoday. Oh yeah, just Google card
Spring. It's literally your just springingcards. It's very fun. It's probably
I mean, the YouTube tutorial hasgot to be at least like two five
(35:05):
minutes. It's nothing more than justhold the corners and get used to the
bending. All right. Well,Josh, this has been a pleasure.
Thank you so much for joining ustoday and sharing your wisdom and your enthusiasm.
It's very clear that you're very excitedabout what you're doing, and it
comes across in everything that you talkabout, so really appreciate that so much,
(35:28):
So thank you for being here andsharing that with our listeners. Of
course, thank you so much forhaving me. It was a pleasure.
Yeah, and for all of ourlisteners out there, thank you for tuning
in. We know that you havechoices that we're to spend your time,
and we're really grateful that you choseto spend it with us today. Please
follow our subscribe you can leave areview, we'd love those, and check
(35:49):
out our website. We've got somecool things happening right now. Our new
planner is available and we'd love youto check it out. So we'll see
you next time on work from yourhappy place.
Welcome to Work from Your Happy Place, the podcast that equips you with the
knowledge and inspiration to live your dreamsand find your own happy plays. You
will be encouraged by and learn fromentrepreneurs and artists who are already working from
their happy place, all while pursuingtheir passion with a purpose. Be sure
(00:20):
to sign up for our free weeklynewsletter for our recap of the week's guests
and a preview of what's in store. We also have two special gifts for
you, a video, the fivecore Principles to living a half Yer Life
and a printable download title Top tensales strategies. Go to Work from Your
Happy Place dot com, forward slashfree. Fill out the attached form to
(00:43):
receive your gifts and be added toour newsletter. And now here's your host,
Belinda Ellsworth. Hello everyone, andwelcome to this show. This is
artist edition of Work from Your HappyPlace, and I am very excited to
introduce you to an amazing artist today, Josh Hayley. And Josh is an
(01:06):
award winning celebrity magician and mentalist whospecializes in private events, corporate events,
restaurants and nightlife entertainment, having residentsin some of the top restaurants and night
clubs across New York City. Itis my pleasure to welcome Josh to our
show today. Hi, thank youfor having me. Yeah, so,
(01:27):
Josh, this will be fun.I don't think we've had We've had some
forms of magicians, but not areal magician mentalist, like really doing it
on the show. So I'm kindof excited. So let's fill in some
of the gaps from your bio andlet us get to know you a little
bit better, and then tell ushow you became involved in this work.
(01:49):
Sure, so the origin story isnot quite like most magicians typically. Theirs
is they were fooled as a kid, and that sold them. They had
a kid, and that sold themsomething sold everyone as a young child.
Never had that moment as a kid. I got into it about three years
ago. I was on a tripto Italy and I brought a deck of
(02:13):
cards with me for the plane,for the sole purpose of fidgeting with it
in the chance that I don't fallasleep. I really like sleeping in planes,
and so what I did was Ibrought that deck of cards with me.
I didn't fall asleep on the plane, so I'm just fidgeting with it.
I don't know magic, I don'tdo card drinks. It's just my
toy. And throughout that six hourflight, I came up with an idea.
(02:34):
Again without having magic experience or knowledge, there's no way to know if
the idea makes sense, if it'sa trick, what is a trick?
All questions that now I could havehindsight and explain. But back then,
younger Josh was like, what doI do? So I went around the
streets of Milan to people that don'tspeak English, and I didn't speak Italian,
and I was just doing the sametrick over and over and every single
time I got really good reactions.And a few years later, I'm now
(02:59):
doing this everywhere, so it's reallyreally fun. Wow. So originally with
the trick, had you seen itsomewhere else before, like you're on this
playing sort of practicing it, oryou just made it up? No,
it just came to me right,I'm playing with this deck. I don't
know any tricks. I haven't seenany magic. I don't watch magic online
or follow magicians or anything. Ijust have a deck. I'm looking at
(03:21):
it. I think of something like, what if I did this to someone
and they were like no, andthen I correct them this way would that
get a good response? And Iwas right? It worked out. Wow.
So then how did you sort ofevolve from there? So you started
doing that, and then how didthings kind of really evolve that you're now
(03:43):
doing all these events and working inNew York City and having a great time.
Yeah. I think it just comesfrom being the person that says yes
to anything, even if I shouldn'tsay yes too. So I've getten a
lot of moments within the last fewyears where I was not ready for something,
and I always said yes, andby the time it came to do
it, I always did it.You know, if you say yes and
(04:04):
you don't know how to do itand you end up doing it the next
time it comes like you've already doneit, and it just grows from that.
That's how I got my first show. That's how I got my first
stage show. That's how I gota lot of different stuff that I hadn't
been used to, and just bysaying yes. So I come back home
to the US and I go onFacebook and I go I'm a magician.
I know two three tricks. I'ma magician who wants to hire someone.
(04:25):
Can you do a kid's birthday foran hour? Yes? And I know
two three tricks? What am Igoing to do for an hour? All
hour is a long time, itis, But I said yes, and
I figured it out and I gotpaid and I was like, ooh,
this is cool. And I didit for a bit and then I tried
to do too much too fast.I think the excitement overwhelmed me and there
was just too many things. Iwas like, I gotta do this and
(04:46):
this and this and this, andyou know, not knowing what I'm doing,
not that direction, throwing too manythings at once. It was just
a lot, and I burnt outand I just didn't want to do magic
at all. I stopped and Iquit. I was like, yeah,
it's it's exhausting. And then Igot an opportunity about a year and a
half ago to do a restaurant.It was like a brunch nightclub restaurant Vibe
(05:08):
and this guy you got to domy restaurant. So I was like sure,
So I went and did it andit was really fun. The show
went great, and I was like, ooh, I should do this again.
And then I got a residency ata nightclub the next week in New
Jersey, and I was doing thatplace every Friday. And then I got
a different residency at a restaurant wherethey had me every Saturday and Sunday.
And then I ventured out into NewYork. And now I'm like, how
do I get paid to do thenightclubs here? Because this is different?
(05:30):
How do I get paid to domagic for celebrities? How do I even
do magic for celebrities? Because thatwould be cool to meet celebrities. And
I kind of ventioned into that endeavor. In New York is the city of
opportunities. Celebrities everywhere, So onceyou kind of establish yourself, you get
opportunities here and there. And fromgoing out more and going to more events,
I got more events to book me. I got more charity events and
(05:51):
galas and birthdays for celebrities, rappers, album releases, single releases, all
these things I didn't even think wereevents. I didn't really care to look
into, and now I'm going toall of them. I'm like, oh,
you know, this is fun.And then it just grew. I
got into this environment. I understoodthe mechanics. Where did these events come
from? Who runs the events?Where do the budgets come from how do
(06:11):
I convince someone to hire me?And then all of that built onto my
resume to a point where I couldjust you know, go to someone or
not like cold call them, butjust say, hey, these are your
top five competitors that do what I'mgoing to ask you to hire me to
do. And when they see thosenames, it was almost like all those
people had you. Yeah, ifthey're doing it, we got to have
you. And now it's kind offortunately a position where I can, you
(06:32):
know, my resume stands out.I could say I do this, this
and this, what do you thinkAnd just from hearing that, they're kind
of already like, it's pretty impressive. We should at least try it.
And for me and what I do, really it's really hard to be bad
at magic, like what to doit the way I do it and to
get the consistency in the business that'sa different story, but in general,
(06:54):
like you can't really go wrong withit in the sense that people don't know
what bad magic is compared to goodmagic. So you could do a trick
poorly and magicians might say that wasterrible, but they're not the ones paying
you, right, that's not yourbusiness. You could. I could care
less if a magician hates all mywork. I'd be more concerned with someone
who doesn't know anything about magic comingto me. And I didn't like anything
that should be alarming, because that'swho I want to enjoy it. So
(07:17):
for that sense, it was,you know, all I need is one
opportunity, whether that's even just showingone trick. Sometimes I just throw it
on the line, like one trick. You decide right then and there,
you don't like the trick, Igo home. I'm not going to try
a different one. Maybe at thetrick's not for you. It's very just
put myself out there. What Ireally love about this for people listening is
that there's a couple points that andthat is one learn to say yes,
(07:41):
say yes too, especially in thebeginning to everything. But then it sounds
like you really tried to diversify tooquickly, like trying to do multiple things
instead of finding the lane that youreally really loved. So I think that
that's also a good lesson. Sosome people listening my so, how do
you say yes to everything and thenyou know and then not end up in
(08:05):
that way? I think you sayyes to figure out like what parts that
you really like, and just bevery mindful or intentional when you're kind of
choosing that lane. The other thingthat I love is you seem to have
a pretty natural A lot of peoplewith that are super talented, they sometimes
lack those business skills like reaching outto somebody and saying, here's your competitors
(08:30):
hiring me for this, And soI hope all of our artists are paying
attention because that's where both sides ofbeing good in business and being talented really
come into play. So I justkind of want to point those out because
and referrals it's you just got togo out and do to get more.
(08:52):
And that is where people get stuck, like they want more to start doing,
and you have to do to getmore. And it really does work
just that way, and yet Isee so many people get stuck in the
well, you know, I'm notready or I don't know where to go
and do this. It's just godo it somewhere. And if you're good
(09:13):
at what you do, and evenif you're not great, but if you're
good at what you do and peoplelike you and your personable, and then
you'll get hired to do it.Again and you're you're right. You can
perfect your talent as you go along. Yeah, it's it's definitely a game
of two important skills which are invery different stages. Of what you're striving
is learn to always say yes andlearn to say no. And those sound
(09:37):
contradictory, but it's the stages.Right. If you're starting something, you
don't know what you should expect.Right, So me, I didn't know
anything about magic, the business,the programming. You know, how do
you write contracts? How much doI charge this and that? So you're
saying yes to all these things andyou learn, right, you see what
kind of things are involved in thistype of business. And it doesn't matter
if you're a magician. Right,you could be any other industry. You
(09:58):
can be a service worker, right, you could help people move houses.
You could be a carpenter. Youcould do a blue collar, white collar
job. You could be an accountand you could be a business. You
could sell a product, sell aservice. You can be a cleaning lady,
you could be a dancer. Right. It all comes to if that's
what you want to do, yougo for that and you say yes to
learn all these things and as theycome together, right, the skills come,
the knowledge comes, the understanding comes, and then how you grow from
(10:20):
there is now that you have thisknowledge and your subject matter expert in your
field. Now you see these areshows you don't want to take because the
time spent to travel and do allthis stuff could be better spent on this.
And you kind of are able tobalance your life. But you can't
make that balance if you don't understandthe difference between you know, Show A
and Boston, which is paying youlet's say this much, and Show B
(10:43):
which is Home, which is payingyou half as much. But there's all
the background noise that you would neverbe able to be able to filter.
Otherwise, you here are able tokind of get that understanding because you've done
it all, or you tried itall, or you at least looked into
it. And then you get tothat point where like, Okay, this
is what I want, this iswhat I don't want, and yeah,
the business is what's important, becauseagain, if you're an artist, if
(11:03):
you're a creator, right, thehardest thing is to be a businessman.
And if that's what you want todo full time, right, you need
to make sure that you're paying yourbills and making the money that's not going
to come down to your skill level, because you could have the most amazing
artwork. Maybe the most amazing painterin the world doesn't sell their paintings.
Maybe the most amazing dancer in theworld isn't on stage. And the reason
is maybe, yes, it's possiblethey don't want to do it, but
maybe it's because they don't know how, they don't know how to get out
(11:24):
there. And again, if thisis something you're passionate for, you're going
to have to learn how to makeit into a profitable business because that money
coming in will allow you to developyour craft and perform more and put out
more and be able to show up. So it's really all about just if
you want to do it, goout and do it, and the rest
will come and you'll learn the importantthings. Just don't forget to focus on
(11:45):
the business aspect as much as thetechnique aspect, because there's magicians that are
probably a lot more technical than meand don't do as many shows. And
the opposite is true. There's magiciansthat probably I might be better then,
but are doing a lot more businessthan I am, and you know that's
great for them. Okay, it'sall about going out there and just remembering
that you have your artistry is alwaysgoing to come. If you're an artist
and you're working on it, you'reonly going to get better. It's not
(12:07):
like you practice drawing to get worse, or you practice to trip more,
mess up off beat or do magicmore to reveal how you're doing the tricks
that's going to come. And bypushing the business right, you're getting yourself
more shows, more connections, andthat's going to give you more opportunity to
perform and express yourself and grow.So you kind of have to find that
right balance between those two. Yeah, absolutely, So tell us about a
(12:31):
favorite performance or memorable experience that you'vehad a memorable experience. There's been it's
been a while year for sure.I think one of my favorites was I
went to Mexico with my friends togo to a music festival, and because
it was on a resort, thisisn't this is a resort, This isn't
something set up for stages and musicfestivals. You could always build the stage
(12:54):
on the beach, but the ideais like the layout of the pools and
the desk chairs, that's for peoplevacationing, not for hundreds, if not
thousands of people swarming too a musicfestival and I had a VIP band,
So the way they did it wasthe VIP bracelets were the ones I can
come close to the stage. Sothe front near the stage is your VIP
and then the back is your generaladmission. And I have my deck of
cards and I'm in the very frontand I'm just fidgeting with them. There's
(13:16):
this move called card spring, andwhenever you do it, people love it.
And all it is is really youjust have a deck of cards and
you just spring them from one handto another. And you can make this
more fancy. You could do itin emotion. You could do it fast,
you could do it slower. Andthis is really easy to learn,
Like it could take you like fiveminutes to get used to it. Maybe
(13:37):
in like ten fifteen you'll be doingit. And then the more you do
it, the more you're in control. And just doing that in front.
As someone from the festival walks by, it's like, why do you have
cards? A magician? He tellsme to show him one thing and if
he likes it, he'll help me. So I do one trick. He
loved it. I got to gobackstage perform for all these artists, probably
some of the first few celebrities Iever got to do, and I was
(14:00):
like wow. And then fast forwarda year later, that same music festival
comes to New York and that guyhappens to be working it, so he
invites me to go, and Iget a pass to network with all these
people, and now these are peoplein New York and this festival is now
going to be in New York,which is amazing. And then one more
year later this year, I gotto be hired as the magician for it.
(14:20):
So that was cool to go fromnot knowing these artists now I perform
for them all, to now I'mgetting paid to see them. It was
incredible. I think that was afun memory for sure. That comes absolutely
and I love sort of how thatstory progresses right from year to year.
It just keeps it. And thatis one thing I think there's a lot
(14:41):
of people out there that are likesort of ready to just throw in the
towel or whatever, and it canalways be one thing, one event that
you going to that event and oneperson seeing you do that turned into look,
how much business you could probably traceback to that one trick that you
(15:01):
did in the front row as aguest and a music festival. I mean,
like seriously, yeah, it's great. And then this year for that
festival, right, not only wasI hired to do it, but I'm
working and two people that worked likeradio, so they're covering the music festival.
They had their own events separately.So one of them was a father
who just had his daughters bot Mitzvah, and I was hired for that event.
(15:22):
And one of his co workers justcelebrated her thirtieth birthday party and I
was hired for that too, Sonot only did I get this show,
but I got new shows from goingto this show. So it just keeps
growing. And then maybe the peoplefrom those two past shows, which were
very recent, will book me forother things, and it's a chain that
just always extends. The one thingfor artists is to know that opportunities will
(15:43):
keep coming, but they don't comeif you don't take them first, in
the sense that your first opportunity mightbe the early one, but you go
to that one and you're going tofind the next one, and at that
next one you find it, andthen eventually you have so many going that.
Yeah, you pick and choose yourmoments and you know two things at
once, you decide which one.But to get to that point, to
be overbooked, you have to bebooked, and to be booked, you
have to, you know, goout there. So don't shy away from
(16:07):
an opportunity to meet someone or goout. And yet it's obviously not easy
to talk to strangers or network.And of course with what I do,
it's my stuff is hard, right, you can't be sold on my social
media. But the opposite is ifyou see me do it in person,
you're sold. For other artists,they could show their displays in this but
maybe you meet someone, it's noteasy to just pull up your artwork or
(16:29):
dance in front of them if you'rea dancer or saying. But even still
just going out there and meeting thosepeople because they'll see your work, like
you connect with them. They'll checkyou out at some point, and when
they do, you know they're obviouslygoing to love what they see. You're
not going to put out stuff you'renot proud of, so all that hard
work is going to be noticed andit's going to be the same position.
So everyone has kind of their ownsuperpowers, their own skill sets that they
(16:53):
just naturally are good at. Whathave you identified as yours? What do
you think strengths have helped you inthis journey. I think my strengths were
definitely I don't know if hyper focusis the word, but it's a focus
that just gets me in places likeI just focus in on these challenges with
(17:14):
no knowledge or intent, right LikeI have the nightclub idea. I was
like, I want to work innightclubs. I don't know people in nightlife.
I don't know how to get intonight life as a magician. I
don't know how to get paid.I don't even know how to pitch that.
But that's what I want to do, and I somehow find your way.
You kind of when I focus inon a goal, I just zone
in on that's what I'm going todo. I don't have a plan,
(17:37):
I don't have an idea, butjust try and work towards it or figure
it out. I end up figuringit out and it works out. I
think that zoning in on targets andhaving objectives and goals work very well.
And I think the important part ofgold setting is you don't need it to
make sense. Right, You don'tneed to know how you're going to do
if you want to be a CEOof a company, if you want to
be performing on Broadway, you don'tneed to know how you're going to get
(17:59):
there. The hardest and most importantpart is deciding that that's what you want
to do make You have to justmake that decision for yourself. And I
think there's a lot of moments andcareers and artists where there's moments to decide
things and you don't realize that that'sa big decision. Like even just making
the decision I want to be unbroadthat doesn't seem like a decision, right.
It seems like, oh, that'sa hover to know. Like if
you see it as a decision andyou make that decision, now you're ready
(18:22):
on the path to do it.And I think that identifying decisions and moments
of action when there seems to belike turning passive thought into active decision making
is definitely where most of the businessturns critical and I think that's where I've
succeeded a lot in absolutely I teacha whole thing on these five days of
success. And it's interesting because I'llask people what do you think, what
(18:48):
do you think they are? Andthen people always shout out determination or desire.
And I've been teaching this for likethirty years, and it's like it
all starts with the decision because youknow, you have to decide what are
you determined about? You don't evenknow what you're determined about, and so
it's just I am. I'm onboard one hundred percent with the decision making
process. It really is. It'salmost like once you make it, even
(19:11):
if it's difficult, one things startto happen. And I think it's you
consciously or even subconsciously start moving towardmaking those things happen. So love that,
(19:32):
all right. So engaging with yourfan base is a big part of
being an artist or allowing people toknow what you do. And you've done
very good about networking about with that, but like, what are some other
things that you do to really nurturethat fan base. I think that just
comes down to seeing, you know, your fan base is it's your network,
(19:53):
right, whether it's someone that's bookingyou, that's paying you to do
it, or whether it's someone thatsaw you perform and love what you do.
It's very important to kind of youknow, remember those people because both
of them work well for you.Right. If someone's booking you, right,
they're paying for a service. Butwhat if they book you for a
ticket at event? You need peopleto buy those tickets, and that's going
(20:14):
to come down to the fans.I think a huge part of it is
just being intent with every single person, right, every person matters. You
never know who's connected, You neverknow who has wed for me. The
diversity of shows I do, everysingle person has work for me, a
businessman or a company or a restaurant. The business the company has the holiday
part of that. But a randomperson on the street. What if they
have kids, there's a birthday party. What if they're Jewish, there's a
(20:37):
bar mitzvah. What if they havea daughter they's so sweet sixteen? What
if they're personally engaged, they're awedding. Like these are all events that
I do, and for me,it's about remember these things, right.
Remember people tell you remember people's birthdays, because that's an easy iceberger that's brilliant.
It's how do you keep track ofall these people? Right? If
they ask you questions, get backto as many people as you can,
right if they're always engaging on yourposts, DM them say, I see
(21:00):
you engaging on my posts. Ireally appreciate it. Thank you for the
love. If they share your stuff, you appreciate them, like just noticing
all those moments. Don't let slightdeeds that are work in your favor from
others go unnoticed and they come inabundance, right, you appreciate those.
And now they're even more of yourfans because they might be supporting other people
and those people don't take the timeout of their day to go to them,
and you know it's really heartfelt andit's genuine. And then also as
(21:23):
you grow, which I've learned,isse, I meet so so many people.
I never know who's the one thatI need to remember. And you
don't want to have those moments whereyou're like, oh this this Belinda,
she was she was amazing, Butwhat was her What was her Instagram?
Because her thing might not be ablein Elsworth, right, It might not
be her name, it might beyou're like, I know I have like
you could have it somewhere and stillnot be able to find it. So
(21:45):
now I'm in a position where I'mtesting methods on writing stuff down as soon
as I finish a show, I'mrecording whatever I could have, like this
is the person, this is whereI met them, this is what I
have from them where there was socialmedia and now and kind of kind of
like creating a CRMs your customer relationmanagement. But don't just do it with
customers. Do it with everyone,right, do it with fans. If
your fan bought something from you,will write down what did they buy from
(22:08):
you? Right when did they buyit, what is it, and just
kind of keeping track of as muchinformation as you can and just continue to
engage right randomly message someone, randomly, say hi, Randomly bring up ideas,
just you know, never forget thatthose are the people that got you
to the point you're at, andthey're also probably gonna be the people that
get you to the next point you'regoing to. So with that in mind,
(22:29):
you'll always remember to kind of beappreciative of it and just keep in
touch. I'm still learning a lotof ways of you know, organizing it,
but in terms of you know,showing my gratitude appreciation, I think
I do a very good job ofthat because I never like to see anything
as a one man thing, andso I extend all the success I've had
to anyone that was a part ofit and they look at me, they're
like, I didn't do anything.I just watched. I'm like, no,
but you're watching was a part ofit. Even if you don't think
(22:52):
that way. I don't care ifyou agree with me. I think that
way, So I appreciate you anyway. And it's a funny thing for them
to hear. So i'd definitely sayshow that kind and as much as you
can. I do think that that'san art that is a dying art.
I will tell you it's like makingnotations of people that you met. I
mean I used to even have cardson people, especially like at vendor shows,
(23:15):
especially if they were somebody that Iwas going to be calling after I
got back home, and it's likeI'd even write down what they were wearing,
because then that helped my memory toconnect to Oh, yeah, I
was that woman that was standing theretalking to me, and she owns a
such and such and she was wearingX and I think that's women probably are
like that more. But you remember, you remember somebody that had an interesting
(23:37):
hat on, or you remember something, and because when you're looking back on
your notes, even when you're readingit for me, that was it was
always a memory jogger, and Ijust don't talk to people who keep really
good notes about people that they met, like what that experience was or how
they're connected. And I love I'malways writing everything down, but I hadn't
(24:00):
really considered doing voice recordings of that. Even post. I have a post
podcast sheet because if I think aguest was really good and they might be
great for my Mastermind group, orI think they might be really good for
a summit that we do, sothen I've got a figure. I got
to write that down. So nowI'm like jotting that down, so I'm
(24:22):
not going through a hundred of themtrying to figure out who would be good
at this. I've got my notesthey would be great at us. So
just always trying to perfect that alittle bit. So I might take your
voice recording idea and put that intoplay. Yeah, definitely, it's fine,
I do. Yeah. So that'sthe other fun stuff is I didn't
even know, you know, youdo masterminds, but I do mastermind stuff
(24:45):
with people like that's you know whatI mentioned, Like everyone always has all
these projects and it's always good toyou know, co create and come up
with unique ideas and that's what Ilove doing absolutely So. Our sort of
signature question of the show is whatdoes work from your Happy Place mean to
you? Oh? I like thatquestion. I think working from your happy
(25:06):
place is if you ever if youever watch karate, like those people in
like those temples or out in Asia, the ones that dedicate their whole lives,
you know, to the craft.You see like the rigorous training that
they do, and you see likethe rigorou stuff they do. And there's
this one term called kada. Ibelieve it's pronounced kada, and it's basically
a formation of moves, like theirset kind of routine or formation of moves
(25:30):
that they repeat over and over.And I think that that term or that
ability kind of applies to everyone workingfrom home. It's finding your kada right,
like your routine, your regimen,that's like, that's you. It's
where you're relaxed, it's where you'rehappy. And it's not going to be
from you know, doing random thingsright, your consistency, your behaviors right,
things you like doing in abundance aregonna be happy. Right if you
(25:52):
did something randomly like skydiving and youloved it, like that's awesome, your
adventurous like kind. But you're notgoing to be going to skydie to find
that zen. You know, tofocus, to be happy, to calm
yourself down if you're worried. Soyou're gonna have those those smaller wins where
that's your thing. Like maybe you'realways so happy when you do a run
in the morning, maybe you're happywhen you journal, maybe you're happy when
(26:12):
you when you stretch. So workingfrom your happy place, that's that's your
kada, whatever activity or thought orcombination of those, that is like your
way of getting in the zone.That's your happy place, right, it
doesn't have to be or maybe it'sa specific location. Maybe you work better
if there's greenery in the background,maybe nice lighting. Maybe you just love
(26:33):
the color red and if you havesomething red in the room that you could
look at that exciting. So I'dsay working from your happy places, finding
your cota or your combination of ticks, but positive ticks. Right. Everyone
uses words like triggers and ticks andnuances. They always think like something bad,
like a trigger is something that makesyou annoyed, or said, well,
what about a positive trigger? Whatabout a happiness trigger? Right?
(26:53):
So I think that you finding thosecombinations in the positive way that will get
you to work from place. Soworking from a hap place is whenever you
have your kinda going on. I'dlove that so much. And it's funny
because I had a pretty darn goodroutine down that was pretty much the same.
(27:15):
It's like i'd tell I would sayto you. It varied here and
there, but it was pretty prettydarn much the same for twenty five years.
And then then COVID happened and mywhole routine changed, and I have
struggled with finding it's what I'm listeningto you, I know that that is
(27:38):
it. It's like I've struggled tofind find the flow, you know what
I mean, to get back intoa routine now that is a new routine
for me that I like. Ithink doing kind of that same routine for
so many years and being successful atit, that made it harder for me
(27:59):
to figure out, well, what'sthis new routine. But I'm working on
it every day. And the onething I do have down is Tuesdays,
and this is the day we recordpodcasts, so like and I love it
because even though it's a busy dayfor me, I know from the moment
I wake up what it looks like, and I know I'm going to meet
(28:22):
really great people, and I knowthat it's just going to be interesting,
fun day that it's gonna and Ilove that, and I already know the
schedule of it and I know theroutine of it, and that is there's
a lot of truth in that,and then that makes you happy and it
makes you feel like I had areally great day at work today. Absolutely,
(28:47):
So what advice would you give toothers wanting to start out in the
arts? I would say it's justalways going to come down to you know,
you versus you. But you're nevergoing to compete with another artist.
You're never going to compete with anyone. Like I said, there's magicians that
do much more work than me.I'm not competing against them. They're doing
a lot of work that's great,Like good for them. I'm going to
(29:10):
do that work too, eventually.You know, everyone has their stages,
and you know, there was apoint where I didn't do any shows.
Then there's a point where I wasdoing a few shows, and now I'm
at a point where I'm doing alot, and maybe in the future there'll
be a point where I'm a lotmore so. The number one thing is
just doesn't matter what you do.Like I mentioned, it always matters the
same principles, the same ideals,and the number one is that belief in
yourself. Right, If you alwayshave confidence in what you're doing and you
(29:33):
always put your best foot forward,the rest will come. Don't look at
someone and think, wow, they'redoing this or that, like there might
be a bunch of reasons that youcan't control why they're at where they're at,
But what you can control is whateveryou do today to get you closer
to wherever you're trying to go tomorrow. Right, and you know, just
always remember that's what you want todo it for yourself. Do it because
(29:53):
you love doing it. Do itbecause you want to do it. Don't
do it because of the money.Don't do it because someone else is doing
it, don't do it for anyreason that's external to you. And everything
will come right if you focus onyourself and your passion for it. Right,
you just have to remember, there'sa reason you want to do this,
there's a reason you start, andif that reason is genuine, right,
that reason is something you know thatgoes to your heart. It's not
(30:15):
like I'm doing this because I knowsomeone else makes a lot of money.
That's not genuine. And if you'redoing this because you love it, you're
doing this because you're passionate about it. You're doing this because you like it
like those are genuine reasons, andif you stick to it right, you
always be having fun because you're passionateabout it. The rest will come.
The business will come, the moneywill come. You can't learn about the
business until you try to do thebusiness aspect of it. You can't get
clients until you look for clients.You can't know how to negotiate prices until
(30:37):
you've set prices, and so allthat comes from experience. It's not something
you read a book about. Imean, yeah, masterminds are amazing and
books are amazing, and always useyour resources, but that will come in
time. For now, focus onwhat you want to do. Decide what
you want to do, figure outhow you're going to do it, and
over time that might change how you'redoing or what you want to do.
But as long as you never giveup on yourself and just trust in your
(30:59):
instincts and whatever you're doing, you'llalways go further than where you are now.
And I think that's where people fallapart, is when something goes wrong,
they forget why they started, orthey stop believing in themselves and they
just quit. Hardships are going to, you know, push you a lot
further than anything. I want toget challenged. I want to have people
reject my shows and me wonder,how do I get those shows next time?
(31:21):
What went wrong? Because you learnfrom that, right, You're never
going to learn from a smooth asmooth seed. Never never raise the skilled
sailor, is what they say.And so if you want to learn to
navigate the ocean, you need tolearn how to go through those tides,
in those currents, and if you'reconfident yourself, you'll make it out to
the other end or to wherever you'regoing. Yeah, that's great advice.
So anything new and exciting you're workingon, and where can our listeners find
(31:45):
you? Yeah, definitely some newprojects I'm working on. I have a
couple of celebrities that I'm about toperform for the next few months. I
haven't disclosed them yet. I usuallydo it once they come, but I
have some stuff I'm preparing for theirprojects. You know, their endeavors,
so those are exciting. I'm hopefullygoing to start my own show soon in
New York City where I'm going tobe hosting my own events weekly or bi
(32:07):
weekly or monthly. I haven't decided, but that'll be fun to have me
be the one booking myself instead ofsomeone else. I've never tried producing,
so it's a cool challenge for me. And then deciding if I'm going to
be the sole performer, if I'mgoing to cycle out entertainers throughout the week,
So that'll be cool. No etaon that, but maybe within the
next year, if not quicker.And then in terms of finding me,
(32:30):
I'm Josh Pale Magic, Josh jO s H. PLEA p E l
E Magic, m A g IC. You can find me on Instagram,
on YouTube, on Twitter, onTikTok, you can google me.
You can find my website Josh Palemagicdot com. You can reach out to
me Josh Palemagic at gmail dot com, whatever you prefer. Well, I'll
tell you one challenge that I'm goingto take on after this call. I'm
(32:53):
going to learn to do that.What did you call it? A spring
with those cards? Oh? Thecard spring. So the card springs are
really easy. It just takes time. So you take any deck. I
don't know how it might be reversedin the mirror, but essentially what you're
gonna do, and I'll give itlike a vertical view. Is I'm a
lefty or a righty, it doesn'tmatter whatever hand you prefer. You're gonna
(33:15):
hold the corners. So I havemy middle finger on one corner and the
exact corner diagonal is going to beyour thumb. So it'll either be these
two or those two, depending onif you're left you or alrighty okay.
So once you have it and youcan see from this angle, one finger
on each, this is really allyou want. You're just gonna try to
bend. You're gonna get a bendin the cards, and I do that
(33:36):
by curling in my thumb and mymiddle finger like this, and you see
the cards will bend. And thenas you do that, so once the
cards are bent, it's hard tostop. But once the cards are bent,
you're gonna slide your thumb and yourfingers up, so it's gonna look
something like that. It's gonna looksloppy, but you're just kind of letting
(33:57):
go. So as I'm doing that, like my thumb is just coming higher
and it's whatever it's not touching isfalling. Okay, And then the idea
is wherever your thumb is pointed,that's where the cards go. So if
your thumb's pointed to your hand,it's gonna start falling in your hand,
and you're doing the same thing onthis end. You're just releasing the cards.
So at first, like I said, it's gonna get like weird or
(34:20):
slappy. You just gotta get usedto just getting that bend and just sliding
up, and then once you doit a few times, it'll be more
natural. When it's fast, itlooks cool. When it's slower or in
motion, it looks like that,like for promo videos, it's like that,
and slow down you see each cardfalling because they're changing. But it's
really simple. You just got toget those corners and just get used to
(34:44):
this bending motion and sliding. Hardto do it one by one, but
eventually you just get it. It'sreally cool and it's not hard to learn
at all. I think anyone cando it, so it could be a
great challenge for all of our listenerstoday. Oh yeah, just Google card
Spring. It's literally your just springingcards. It's very fun. It's probably
I mean, the YouTube tutorial hasgot to be at least like two five
(35:05):
minutes. It's nothing more than justhold the corners and get used to the
bending. All right. Well,Josh, this has been a pleasure.
Thank you so much for joining ustoday and sharing your wisdom and your enthusiasm.
It's very clear that you're very excitedabout what you're doing, and it
comes across in everything that you talkabout, so really appreciate that so much,
(35:28):
So thank you for being here andsharing that with our listeners. Of
course, thank you so much forhaving me. It was a pleasure.
Yeah, and for all of ourlisteners out there, thank you for tuning
in. We know that you havechoices that we're to spend your time,
and we're really grateful that you choseto spend it with us today. Please
follow our subscribe you can leave areview, we'd love those, and check
(35:49):
out our website. We've got somecool things happening right now. Our new
planner is available and we'd love youto check it out. So we'll see
you next time on work from yourhappy place.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com