#15 The Heart of Success with Todd Lamanske

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello everybody, welcome to the possibility
mindset podcast.
I'm your host, devin Henderson,and I believe that something
greater is always possible foryou.
Good morning, todd Lemansky.
Good morning.
Well.
Before I introduce Toddformally, because it's going to
be super formal we're going toput our tuxes on just for the

(00:26):
introduction.
But before we get there, I wantto give, of course, the normal,
well-deserved shout out toEGCEDRA Shawnee, who is just
crushing it.
We just had breakfast, so thankyou to Shane and the manager,
michael Phyllis.
Chris, sean, excuse me, sonia,our server.
I know their names.

(00:46):
It's like trying to name mykids.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
I'm like.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Eva, I mean Haven Met .
I do that with my servers andthey're very confused and
seriously.
Egcedra, thank you so much forthe space.
They give us the place and theygive us the time and the
breakfast, so they're a sponsor.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Well, we do have to mop the whole restaurant once,
and for all.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Okay, you're not supposed to tell that to my
listeners, do you?
I'm trying to keep an imagehere, right?
I don't show me mopping theplace afterwards.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
I'm replacing a couple of shingles on the roof.
It's a whole thing, but they'renice, they're very nice.
Oh man, oh, my goodness.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yeah, this is going to be a long episode, as you can
already tell Todd, before weintroduce you, how was the
Despierda burrito?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
It was very good, like really really good, Very
filling.
I actually couldn't finish it,but I know.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Now that reminds me of Anchorman, when he's like
this burrito is good, but it isfilling, and he throws it out
the window and Jack Blash saysso, did you say that?
That's all I could think about.
So it was good, it was filling.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
It was excellent.
I had Mayouche.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
They're awesome here.
Sonya remembers my order everytime because I always order the
same thing.
I get a veggie omelet and thenoatmeal and she's just like boom
.
So she even knows all thedetails.
It's amazing.
Let's just talk about Ect For awhile, forget about you.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
It's amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Hey everybody, this is my very good friend, todd
Lemansky.
I was going to read Todd'sintroduction, like I have for
some of the other speakers andwhatnot, or just pull their bio
off their website, but what Ithought I would do is play a
little.
I'm just going to throw outsome fun facts that I know about
Todd, because who's better atintroducing someone than
actually their friend?
Because I don't know about you.

(02:20):
I go a lot of places.
People read our introductions.
Some people crush it.
They read it word for word.
Sometimes they'll add thingsand that can either add to or
take away.
It just depends on who it is itusually takes away, but go ahead
Right right, I'm with you, butthen sometimes it's just someone
who's like I am reading thisbio.
This person went to the moonand back, very exciting.

(02:41):
You're like, oh man, okay, somepeople have a video
introduction, which is reallycool.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Let's cut to that now .
We didn't have the budget.
We didn't have the budget.
Sorry what I like to do.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
we didn't have the budget, I didn't have the budget
.
This is my deal.
Yeah, you're just disappointed.
As soon as he walked in, he'slike oh, a little ring light in
your own camera.
But before we get to yourintroduction.
Do you ever just have someoneyou just say, hey, this person's
fun, they're awesome.
Hey, here's a couple of funfacts about me.
Just get up and talk to thepeople like you're a normal

(03:17):
person and set me up in the bestway possible.
Have you ever done that?

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, but it's rare.
Usually I want them to stick tomy intro, just because most
people don't know how to give anintroduction.
If I don't care too much, orjust a small group, I might just
say you can just say whateveryou want.
But generally I give thembecause my introduction is
pretty short, yeah but you gotsome hard-hitting things in your

(03:43):
intro.
I remember the first couple oftimes I saw you on stage.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
I was like I didn't know some of these things about
you.
So let's start with.
Todd is an incredible magician,that's like whoa, whoa.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
I know You're not going to start with handsome,
you're not going to lead withhe's really handsome, I know.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
That just shows how much I think your magic is so
good that it's like overridesyour hands on this.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Sometimes, sometimes Today.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Today for sure.
No man, he's an incredibleclose-up magician, stage
magician.
He's been performing Iapproximated about 35 years,
based on how long I've known you.
Does that sound about right?

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Believe it or not.
I mean, he just depends on like45, really that was when I was
young.
But yeah, 35, yeah would be anaccurate.
You started learning maybe whenyou were 45 years ago.
Okay, cool.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
I'm thinking more like professionally making money
career-wise.
Yeah, because I've been likeI've finished my 20th year
professionally, so you got 15years on me.
You're 15 years better than I,am you punk?
But Todd's magic has beenfeatured in TV commercials.
He has been a regular performerat the Magic Castle in
Hollywood, which is huge.
A lot of people always ask meyou're performing in the Magic

(04:52):
Castle?
And I have to say no, but myfriend has.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
That's always my no, but I know a guy, he's very
handsome.
Yeah, I hope you threw that in,yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
I have it at every other bullet point.
You just caught me on the oneoff, but I didn't get it.
You performed at the inauguralball for George W Bush, which is
incredible.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
That was incredible yeah incredible.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Yeah, maybe we can hear more about that.
You performed for a variety ofother celebrities and he just
did a trick for our server.
Phyllis blew her mind and I sawher out there.
I didn't tell you this shit,but I saw her.
She was.
My mind is still blown.
My son would have loved that.
He's 21.
And she said we watched thosetwo people who were on A&E.

(05:35):
Is that the channel there?
The?

Speaker 2 (05:37):
WE yeah CW, yeah the CCW, thank you.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
We watched that.
I can't remember the names.
I was like Penn and Teller andshe's like, yeah, I was like,
yeah, he was on there and shewas freaked out.
Oh nice, so she's probablygoing to want to touch you on
your way out the door, of course, of course.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
So anyway, she was fun.
They can all line up for $5.
It's not a big deal.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
But you can, probably they can watch your Penn and
Teller, which was awesome.
Just Google it, youtube it ToddLemansky on Penn and Teller,
you'll love it.
So, most importantly, on top ofall of that, todd's a family
man, he's a husband, he's a dad,he's a grandpa, just to name a
few.
I know he does not look like agrandpa, but because he's
incredibly handsome you'rehandsome grandpa.

(06:16):
Today the reason I want to bringTodd on.
I knew it would just be a funconversation, because when we we
haven't done this for a longtime and we need to do this just
go on a road trip together, man.
When one of us is performingout of town, we'll take the
other and we'll just like laughso hard in the car it's almost
like you got to pull the carover Dangerous kind of laughter.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
It's always fun.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
It's so crazy, yeah, and Todd's the kind of guy that
I can just call anytime.
I don't have to have a reason,I can just be like, hey, dude,
what's going on?
It's true, it's really fun.
So really good, friend, we'rereally tight.
But today I wanted to bring himon, especially because you know,
this is the possibility mindsetpodcast, and a theme that I've
seen in your life over and overagain is just like unexpected

(06:56):
things happening but thengreater things happening because
of it.
So I feel like you've reallyhad that possibility mindset and
that you said, okay, this thingthat happened, that I wasn't
planning, but what else ispossible?
Which is what the possibilitymindset asks, and I've just seen
you achieve incredible thingsin your life.
So I hope that you listeners,that my vision for you is that

(07:18):
you'll kind of glean from someof this wisdom in his experience
today as we dive in.
So anything from theintroduction excuse me, anything
from the introduction that wasme burping deep down, don't
worry, they'll edit that outtotally.
I don't all be edited out.
I've got a team and a soundcrew over there.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Hey, crew, wave to the crew.
You're doing this on the wrongside.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Am I doing that on the wrong side?
No, is that go over here?
My bad, I don't have cameraawareness.
Anyway, man, anything we needto add that I've missed from the
bio or the rap sheet.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Nope, I think that's it, hey, listen really great
chat with you how many feloniesI?
Forgot to mention that justevery road trip we get one.
Every road trip One per One per.
That's awesome, man.

Speaker 1 (08:04):
Oh, by the way, people think we look a lot alike
.
I've been mistaken for youseveral times.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Yeah, and vice versa.
We don't really.
Maybe when I was a littleyounger and thinner, and that's
when people say that I say, yeah, that's Devon, he's younger and
in better shape.
I hate him and I do actually dosay that I'm kidding, we're
best friends, but yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
And then you swing at me the first time you see me,
absolutely.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Well, I've got a.
You're on my dartboard at home.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah, yeah, totally, you can't even recognize me
anymore.
It's ridiculous man, but anywayit is funny how, I think, just
being in the same industry, inthe same town, you know people
hasn't seen one of us for awhile they're like, oh, is that?

Speaker 2 (08:40):
you know, is that taught us at?

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Devon.
So is that anyway?
So all right, man.
The other thing I have to sayjust get ready for this.
I have in my podcast right now.
I have a lot of oh and, by theway, this before we start.
Oh and by the way, this beforewe start, and then we never do a
podcast which is it's all these, uh asides, and then it's like
it's over.
He's a lot funnier than I am.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
Meaning that, like in general conversation, I'll come
up with a joke and then healways just takes it to here and
I'm like how do you do that?
Every time it's like I come upwith a punchline and he just
then he takes it to the grandslam and it drives me crazy.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
So I do want to say this I think there was a time,
maybe because I'd been doing itfor a long time, when you were
still pretty green, I'd beendoing it for a while.
So I think maybe there was atime that maybe I was funnier
than you, and I'm not so surethat's the case anymore, because
all of your years with thestandup comedy and dude, you're
funnier than you think you are.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
Well, thank you Thank you.
That brings us to funny contestnumber one Ding it's just
coffee.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
I swear it's just coffee.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
It is just coffee, I was but.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
I like doing this here.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
What did you do, yeah ?

Speaker 2 (09:55):
I was just water, yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Jeez, you're like one of those people on the talk
show late at night when it yeah,are you?

Speaker 2 (10:00):
okay.
Yeah, I'm all right, I was justacting All right man.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
So, dude, let's take it way back.
Let's take it way back you howyou started magic, right?
Yeah, like I said, unexpectedthings happen, amazing things
came from it.
You broke not just your arm,you broke both of your arms when
you were a young kid.
And that led to what?
How'd you break your arms?

Speaker 2 (10:20):
So I'm going to back up even a little bit further.
Sorry to do that to you.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
So you just asked how far are you going to back up?
So, not that far.
Okay, not that far.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
So just as far as like how magic started for me,
the magic bug bit me when I wasabout seven years old.
My brother got a trick deck ofcards, a little magic deck of
cards, and I saw it.
I was like that is awesome.
So that was kind of my firstexposure to it and it was I fell
in love, probably about age 12or 13.

(10:55):
I think I got a magic kid forChristmas and so then I was
doing that and studying that,but at 13, that's when I broke
both my arms.
So I was lifting weights and Iwas just standing in my living
room and I had 95 pounds over myhead and my knees buckled and
so I fell.
And when I fell, you know, Ifell kind of like in the

(11:17):
military or the bench pressposition basically.
But you fell, you felt back, Ifell back and the barbell hit my
arms so hard so you can seeabout where the bar would have
been.
It would have been at least six, eight inches maybe from my
chest.
It buckled my arms so bad thatthe bar bruised my chest so it

(11:38):
really crunched my arm.
So yeah, sorry to be so graphicwhen I left arm I had to cast
just halfway up and then thisarm I had to cast, you know, all
the way up to the bicep and thearm was bent.
And I do remember.
I do remember when I got to thehospital they had to set my arm
so they put me out for it.
And back then hospital bedsweren't plastic, they were all

(11:58):
you know.
The rails were those metal,like kind of chrome metal rails,
and I will come.
You know, I came out ofrecovery and I'm waking up and I
don't really know what's goingon and I just remember it was
like slow motion.
I lifted my arm and it went boomand it hit that metal and I was
like, oh no, and I realized Ihad two casts on and that was

(12:21):
like, I think, six weeks for oneand then eight weeks to get the
other one off.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
So you didn't feel anything when you did that?
No, it was just the realizationof the cast.
This wasn't a dream.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
I am oh this is bad.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Did you black out when you hit the floor?

Speaker 2 (12:34):
No.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Okay so you were wakefrogging.
You were just yelling, I'm sure, In fact.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
I didn't know.
This arm was broken.
This one was clearly broken.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Okay, there was no mistaking.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
It was broken and my brother helped me because I
didn't have a shirt on, becauseat 13,.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
I didn't have a shirt on.
He's not wearing a shirt rightnow.
I'm not wearing one right now.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
This is CGI.
But so he real gingerly helpedme get a jacket on and then, as
soon as he got that one on, hegrabbed this arm to stick it in
and I was like ah, so yeah, sothey were broken, jeez Anyway.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
He was doing that to get the hospital.
It was a cold day?

Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yes, exactly, I don't remember.
Yeah, it must have been.
But so while I was in thehospital, one of my mom's
friends bought me some books onmagic.
She bought me seven books onmagic, and that's when I started
.
You know, I couldn't doanything at that point, but I
was reading, and so that was.
That was kind of a big turningpoint.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Man, can you imagine like the pain?
I mean, that was before thedays of viral videos, but had
you been videoing that, that'sone of those that would have
gone out there and not a greatway, but man yeah, I can't.
Why were you lifting in yourliving room?

Speaker 2 (13:42):
I mean.
So keep in mind the house Igrew up in.
I'm the baby of eight, right,so 10 people in my family 900
square feet house.
It was living room, kitchen,there was like a little hallway
and there was three bedrooms andone bathroom.
So there was four boys in onebedroom.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
No basement.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
No, there was a crawl space.
You had to go outside to get tolike if there was a storm you
could go down there or whatever,but no, no, no basement.
Wow, I'm telling you, dude, ifyou saw it you'd be like there's
no way 10 people could havelived in this house.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah, so yeah, I should have mentioned that about
all the siblings.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
So when you say, why in your living room?

Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah, no, it makes sense.
Yeah, for sure, I mean yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
Outside would have been the only other place to be
doing it.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
Well, not a lot of space to put in a CrossFit gym.
Huh You're just doing barbellsin the TV.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
No, I got this physique the hard way.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
Because the CrossFit people get it the easy way.
Yeah, Come on, flippin' tires,Come on, Wow dude.
Okay.
So then you're reading booksand I can relate because my
journey happened when I wasabout 11.
So around the same age youstart sort of reading, digesting
and taking all this in, butwhat's frustrating for you is
you couldn't do anything with itat the time.
You're learning all this coolstuff, thinking oh, I'd love to

(14:58):
try this card trick in sixmonths.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
Right, not that long, but yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
So crazy man.
Okay, so you get this fastforward, so you get through high
school, and then how does magicbecome like a job?
How do you start?
Getting paid for gigs.
What's?

Speaker 2 (15:14):
that progression like .
I met a guy when I was 18.
He showed me a couple of tricksand that's when I started kind
of taking a little moreseriously.
I mean, it was still a hobbybut I was putting more effort
and work into it.
But when I was 21, I wasselling office supplies and I

(15:35):
was like an outside salesman.
So I would call on companiesand my thing was I wanted to set
myself apart from anybody elseselling off supplies.
So I would just casually bringup that I did magic.
And just you know, I would kindof try to make it seem organic.
I would just go oh yeah, I dida magic show over the weekend.
And then I'd be like oh yeah,you didn't know I was a magician
.
And then so it just got towhere my clients knew that I was

(15:57):
a magician.
So whenever I'd pop in to seethem, like every couple of weeks
, I would do a trick for themand so kind of gave me a little
bit of an edge over thecompetition.
But then that turned into likecompany Christmas parties and it
just kind of snowballed fromthere.
I just started doing events.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Crazy man.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah, this story is so exciting that I need more
coffee to hear the rest of it.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
You're not a coffee drinker.
You wouldn't understand Acouple of things I pulled from.
That is number one set youapart, which you know.
One thing I always encouragepeople with is share your magic,
you know, because we all havesomething unique.
So, even if you don't do magictricks, what is that thing about
you that's going to set youapart?
If you're in sales, say, youknow you're trying to build
relationships, you know what isit about you?

(16:41):
And for some people it's justtheir sense of humor, their
personality.
Maybe they, like they havelittle gifts that they give away
.
Maybe they're a goodstoryteller and you just always
count this person to tell astory, maybe they have a joke of
the day or whatever, and I justthink it's cool that you had
that thing that set you apart.
I think that's great.
And then the fact that it'slike, wow, this became something

(17:04):
, and just how it starts.
So I always talk about startsmall and end big.
You were just starting theselittle things and then it just
started turning into partieshere and there, and then I'm
like look at you now, man,that's cool, you just followed
your passion.

Speaker 2 (17:19):
Well, it is weird.
I think a lot of people thinkthat there's this moment of
clarity when it's like this iswhat I want to do and maybe
that's the case for some people,but that wasn't the case for me
it just kind of became that.
It just kind of became that Irealized, oh, I can do this for
a living.
You know I can, this can be myfull-time thing.
And there wasn't that moment.

(17:41):
I do know I've talked to othermagicians who said, yeah, there
was that moment where I knewthat's what I wanted to do.
That wasn't the case for me, infact, when I was 18 graduating
high school man, that was aconfusing time for me because I
didn't know what I wanted to doand I felt like a lot of my
friends knew what they weregonna do and I was like I don't

(18:02):
really know.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
Well, by then were you pretty proficient in magic.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
By the time you were graduating, I was okay, but it
wasn't like I had even thoughtabout that, for, like when I was
trying to figure out what I'mgonna do with my life, it wasn't
like that even dawned on me asthe way I'm gonna go.
It wasn't till, like I said, 21, you doing it for companies
when I called on them to sellthem off supplies.
That that's when it startedlike, okay, I can, maybe I can

(18:30):
do this.
But even back then it was stillpart-time for quite a while.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So then you fast forward.
You had a day job for a whileand then you were able to part
ways.
You had the opportunity to partways with your day job
eventually, and so obviouslythis is now what you do
full-time.
You don't.
This is your day job, and thatI think that's scary for a lot
of people, which we're not outhere saying everybody quit your
job, right now but.

(18:55):
I think there's that message ofare you living your best life?
Did you follow your calling?
Did you give up on a dream tooearly?
And I think a lot of people arethinking like how can I, how
can I move on in this area of mylife?
And maybe the message isthere's something that you have
to let go of it.
It might not even be your job,maybe it's like an old way of
thinking, or it's a relationshipthat's toxic, that's not good

(19:19):
for you or something.
But you were able to let go ofthis, which was scary.
It's always scary to let gobecause there's a sense of
security in it.
And for you it was like youwere making so much in your day
job, so much as a magician, buthow could you let go of that?
So, telling about that like howwas that scary?
But also, how did it?
You know, how did you embracethe possibility mindset through

(19:41):
that process?

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, so the day job I had right before I started
doing Just Magic.
Only I was there 16 years andat the beginning I liked it and
liked everybody I worked with.
Towards the end I hated it.
I absolutely hated my job.
I mean I hate to say it, butthat's just.
That was the reality.
I hated going to work every dayand it was just miserable.

(20:05):
And yet I was still resistantto pulling away because, like
you said, I have this big chunkof money that I'm making for my
day job.
I was actually making about thesame amount of money as from my
day job as I was doing Magic.
The problem was you put thosetwo together.
I've got this decent incomethat if I walk away from the day

(20:26):
job, I now have to take thatthe magic money and double it
and fortunately for me, I'm veryblessed within a year.
I did that, yeah that's amazing.
It really is.
It really is.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
I watched it happen.
I'm not patting me on the back.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
You and I both share the same faith, so I'm very
blessed, yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
I watched it happen and it was like, in theory,
people might be like, hey, youlet go your day job, you'll be
able to focus here, and it'skind of like, is that really
gonna happen?
It happened with this man andthe reason I think I mean, on
top of being blessed and yourfaith and all that I think the
way that I saw it happen was youwere able to focus your energy,
your effort, your resources,your finances, your passion into

(21:10):
this one thing that you lovethe most and you're gonna work
way harder for that because youlove it than you ever would have
that old job.
And because of that, you didn'thave to say no to any gigs
because you had a day job.
You had to work around thatschedule.
You could go anywhere anytimeand that's what freed you up to
like I mean, your businessexploded.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I give it to God, but yeah, I mean
honestly, that's where I put myfaith as far as like cause I'm
not really doing anything tomarket like, which maybe goes
against everything you'repreaching here.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
Don't listen to this part.
Entrepreneurs no, I'm kidding.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
I think it, you know, like for me, when people have
asked me for advice, and that Ithink the first thing is you
gotta make sure you have aproduct that's good and I feel
like I'm good at what I do.
I don't wanna say I'm great, Iknow what I am, but I mean I'm
good.
You know, if you book me for anevent, I'm gonna deliver.
Yeah, I'm going to, it's true,it's very true, right.

(22:08):
But so I mean I think you haveto have that, you know.
So if you're thinking I don'tneed to quit my job and I'm
gonna be a skydiver, whatever itis like, make sure you know
what you're doing in that otherthing.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
Yeah, you know that's .
Right man Maybe common sense,but Well, it reminds me of what
Steve Martin says be so goodthey can't ignore you.
Yeah, you know, and I'll hearso many magician speakers say
you know, how do you get outthere?
How do you market yourself?
It's like, man, just be goodLike.
I think it's.
People just need to focus moreon how good are you Like?
Are you just rocking the stage?
Are you crushing like?

(22:42):
What kind of feedback are yougetting?
If it's not, you know, then whymarket yourself Right?
Why market a less than goodproduct?
I remember a guy in the speakerindustry.
For years he worked with thespeakers bureau.
He said nothing kills aspeaker's career faster than
great marketing with a badspeaker.
Yeah, and then that's true, andI've experienced that too,

(23:03):
where I've gone to the nextlevel with my website and my
demo video, where I'm like whoa,this is like better than I am,
so I need to like.
But instead of being like I'mgoing to not get a new website
or not get a new video, I'm likehow can I make myself better to
make sure that I'm really goingto deliver?
I don't know why you'relaughing, but deliver on this
level of demo video or whatCause?
It's like I need to make surethat when people hire me they're

(23:23):
not like.
His three minute trailer wasawesome, but he was awful.
You know that's not what youwant man.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Well, here's why I'm laughing, because it reminds me.
There's a female comedian fromyears ago and I think her name
is Margaret Smith or MaggieSmith or something like that and
she's, she's kind of got thisway of delivering stuff this way
.
She talks and she says my momsays why don't you wear a
lipstick on stage?
And she goes well, ma, but whatif I'm not funny?

(23:51):
It'd be like being a crummyoutfielder with a paisley glove.
And that's why I would laugh,because it's true, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
Totally man Well it is funny, cause sometimes I do
think about what am I wearing?
How's my hair, you know likewhat's?
What's my appearance like whenI come in?
What do these people know aboutme?

Speaker 2 (24:09):
But it's like oh man, so I see you stopped caring
about that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
So I let myself go and now things are soaring.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
My career is like you lost that one up.
I had to swim, I did.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
I liked to lob things up to you unknowingly.
But yeah, man, but it's justlike, oh man, I forget, like
more I could go up there andT-shirt and jeans If I'm helping
people transform their livesand go, wow, that's profound.
I can apply that to mysituation, my work, my life,
right now you know and for you.
You know you didn't didn'treally haven't really done the
speaking thing You've.

(24:43):
I've tried to nudge you there acouple of times with some
messages, but it's like I meanyou make people's lives better
too, just making people laugh.
You know, I know there's beensituations.
You and I have both worked inrestaurants you longer than I
have but people will come in andyou'll approach a table and
they just seem down and out andyou just find out they just came
from a funeral or something.
And then you can justcompletely transform their day.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
You know so it's, it is true.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Your work is just as valuable as any motivational
speakers in terms of liftingspirits up, making people smile.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
I know you know this.
Your audience may or may notknow this, probably doesn't know
, don't know this.
I had quintuple bypass surgerya little over two years ago and
I remember laying in thehospital and and, by the way, I
got a huge appreciation fornurses.
I think we all know nurses areawesome.

(25:35):
We all know that, everybodyknows it.
But it was like big time wakeup call for me on what nurses do
, like they are rock stars,saving lives every day.
Nurses, you guys, heroes, rockstars.
I love you.
But as I'm laying in thehospital, I'm looking at what
the nurses do and what thedoctor did to save my life and I

(25:57):
was thinking about what I doand I mean I felt small.
I felt like I do card tricksfor a living.
I know that's over simplifyingit, but it made me feel small
and I remember talking to acouple of people that said, no,
what you do is important, peopleneed that and you do bring joy
and it.
It took me a little while tofully embrace that, but yeah, I

(26:21):
mean I do believe that now thatit is, it's important.
It's not saving lives, I knowthat, but I do believe there's
value to doing that.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
So, yeah, good, and I'm glad you see the value in it
.
It's true, and I think about,like you know, todd and I kind
of started from the same placemagicians, entertainers and then
at one point someone challengedme to start being a
motivational speaker.
And I don't see that as a Itook the right step or I went
the right direction.
But I do believe I went theright direction for me and if

(26:53):
you did that, maybe it wouldhave been the wrong direction
for you.
You know, I don't know what'sin your future.
I don't know what's in myfuture, obviously, but it just
shows that, like to me, twopeople can still have this, be
putting out the same value, butit just has different forms.
But we're doing what's true toour calling.
Maybe if you try to be amotivational speaker, you'd be
like this just isn't me, like Ican just impact people more with

(27:17):
just this entertainment factor,you know.
So I'm still gonna try to pullyou over to the dark side.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Hey, I probably need to.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
Only because I see so much.
I see that there is so muchthere.
But if that's not your calling,then I only see it because
that's what I do.
So of course I'm naturallygonna see people's story and the
value in it and how it canimpact people, but maybe that
story is just meant for you knowpodcasts.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
Well, it's interesting you're saying that,
because I feel like sometimespeople may try to define success
for you.
Let me give you an example.
I feel like most people equatewhen they look at an entertainer
.
They equate success with fame.
So, like I think people, if Iwas on America's Got Talent or

(28:08):
if I was on like something, somenational stage, they're like oh
, to them, that's you know, andI know guys who are millionaires
, magicians, who aremillionaires doing magic.
You don't even know who theyare, but for some reason, if
they have fame, oh, they work.
Like here's what I will hear ona fairly regular basis Like, why

(28:28):
aren't you in Vegas?
And like to them that's thegauge, that's the oh man, if you
were in Vegas, like that's whenthe reality is, I'm exactly
where I wanna be.
I don't wanna.
First of all, I don't wanna bein Vegas because my family's
here.
My wife is here, my daughterand my grandchildren are here.
One of my daughters is here,but I don't wanna be in Vegas,

(28:51):
they're all here.
So for me, success is that Iget to do what I love and make a
good living and I get to bewith my family.
I wouldn't trade that to youknow.
So I guess don't let otherpeople define what success is
for you, you know.

Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah, I love that and I know this isn't what you're
saying.
But it made me think when yousaid you know some people are
millionaires but they're notknown.
But also, money doesn'tdetermine success, you're just
using the best example.
Yes, yes, yes, thank you, Thankyou for yes, I know you didn't
mean that, but I wanted to bringthat up because it's like, even
if, like for us, like there'sbirthday party magicians right.
so at one time I was a birthdayparty magician and then I moved

(29:33):
to corporate because for me itwas like there was a next level.
But I've often told my wife Iwas like that doesn't mean that
that's what every birthday partymagician is supposed to do, to
make some shift to you know,bigger, higher paying audiences,
whatever.
Because if, like, your callingis to be a birthday party
magician for life, that issuccess.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
If that's your calling, Not to mention you were
killing it back then, you weredoing a ton.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Yeah, yeah, I love birthday parties.
So as far as that goes.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
You were very successful at that.
But people again, people couldview that as well.
He just does kids parties and Ithink there are some magicians
who would maybe look at that.
But for what you were doingvery successful, you were doing
20 to 30 a month, weren't you?
Yeah?
Yeah, that's crazy.
That is crazy.
That's before kids.
So I could do that.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
I could do four birthday parties on the Saturday
.
That's true man.
But you know, I remember when Iwas doing, I was working at
Fizzoli's on kids night, youknow, walking around doing magic
, and there was this girl that Ihad known because I used to
watch her in after schooldaycare, and her family would
come into the restaurant andafter I'd been working there for
a few years, she goes you'restill here.
This child is telling me thislike kind of like that, why

(30:40):
aren't you in Vegas?
Now?
You know, and honestly, I atthe time I didn't have this
knowledge of thinking, well,yeah, this is a success for me.
I was like, yeah, you're right,I need to get out of here.
And I eventually, you know, butshe didn't probably mean it
that way.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
She probably meant like she thought you it was more
of a compliment than you thinkit was.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
Right, right right.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
You're still here because I think you're so good
you should be, you know, toanother level or whatever.
In her mind that was so shedidn't mean it as an insult.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
Well, it's funny because the offense is in the
eyes of the beholder.
So, it's like if people definesuccess for us, it's only
because we're letting them dothat Right, they can compliment
us or whatever they want to.
Oh, you should be in Vegas.
And it's kind of like, yeah, Icould be, maybe my skill set
warrants that, but, man, I'mhappy right here, this is right

(31:27):
where I want to be, and I'm thesame way, you know, like I feel
so blessed to be where I am.
My brother-in-law just sharedthis last night that he's up for
a worship leader position at achurch, at a small church, and
he's got some high credentials.
You know he's like performedwith people who have like worked
with Michael W Smith and justlike he's an incredibly musician
, can play multiple instrumentsand during the interview process

(31:49):
they're like why do you want towork here?
Kind of the same idea, like whydon't you want to go to some
mega church or something huge?
And just you know his answer islike this is my calling, this
is where I've been put right nowto something more like this.
And but I think people do, Ithink the general public sort of
see that the perception of manyou're up here, so you should,

(32:09):
you'd be long in a certain placewhere it's like who's to say,
you know?
So all right, man, so youcovered the heart attack thing.
I was gonna talk about that.
So what's that?

Speaker 2 (32:21):
Sorry, I got it no no , no, no, no.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
I'm glad you did, I'm glad you.
I just didn't want them tothink that I hadn't say that's
the pride in me going.
I was gonna say that I wasgetting to it.
I can't just let you have yourmoment.
I gotta be like no, I was gonnado it.

Speaker 2 (32:34):
If you want, you can just edit it later.

Speaker 1 (32:36):
I will.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
You look like you asked about that.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
I come out like how was that heart attack?
I'm like crazy, huh.
You're crying.
So I mean, yeah, I mean again,I talked about things in your
life that were unexpected andthen amazing things happened.
I mean, and you've alreadytalked about you've just, you
know, you're thankful for nurses.
You see different things inpeople that maybe you didn't see

(32:59):
, where you didn't see valuebefore, value in yourself.
What else came from that?
You know experience in terms ofnew possibilities or a new
mindset.
Yeah, hey, sonya, come on in.
Yeah, oh, I'm good, I'm good,thank you, yeah, totally, she's
out of the shot, I think.
But that's Sonya, hi, sonya, hi.
Yeah, she's our incredibleserver here at Etc and your

(33:20):
husband, tony, is gonna beserving me next week I think
probably next time yep One ofthe few times in.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
November.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
Okay, in November, maybe a guest on the podcast,
perhaps.
Okay, all right, coming soon,tony, all right, sonya's awesome
.
So yeah, man the heart attack,the surgery, being in the
hospital for so long.
Are there what greater thingscame from that experience in
general?

Speaker 2 (33:45):
I think for me the biggest thing is prior to that,
and I think we're all guilty ofthis is that we look at age as a
number and you know sometimesit's like, oh my gosh, I'm
getting ready to be 50 or I'mgetting ready to be 60 or
whatever the number is for you,that those numbers can be scary,

(34:06):
and I don't look at thatanymore.
Old is the goal is what I say.
Old is the goal.
You wanna get old.
I mean, you don't wanna fallapart, but you wanna get older.
So those numbers don't botherme at all.
I won't get into big detailhere, but I almost died.
I had three heart attacksleading up to the five bypasses.

(34:30):
I shouldn't even be here.
So when something like thathappens, it's eye opening, it is
yeah you just.
It makes you take everythingand appreciate it all so much
more.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
Everything, everything.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
So I mean, I guess what I would say is I appreciate
the fact that I can do magicfor a living.
I mean, who gets to do whatthey love?
It's a rare thing.
It's rare you get to do whatyou absolutely love.
And a lot of people may liketheir job Some people hate their

(35:09):
job but to actually love itit's pretty rare.
And I get to do that and I'mstill here.
I got an awesome wife, kids,grandkids.
It's just like I'm blessed inso many ways.
I'm blessed in so many ways.
So I guess the biggest thing Iwould say is I don't take any
debt for granted anymore.
Like I try to embrace that.
And as far as like my work, Imean nothing has really changed

(35:34):
for me, as far as, like I'mstill doing the same thing.
I guess I need to push myselfto do some more speaking, or
just some speaking, not moresome speaking, because I think I
do have a couple of messagesand things that I could share,
but ultimately I just try toembrace each moment of each day.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yeah, it's crazy, man .
I mean we, like you, say wehave the same faith background.
Our faith is in the Lord, thatthere's something better for us
after this life, and we've hadthese conversations on the phone
.
I know it was a hard time foryou.
Crazy.
That like the transformationwas all just up here and in here

(36:16):
.
It was in your mind, in yourheart.
It was just.
Your faith grew, yourrelationships grew, that sense
of gratitude became deeper.
You know, that's one thing Italk about in my talks.
They always give thanks, butuntil you experience something
that deep it's, I feel likeyou've hit like a new level of
gratitude, not taking things forgranted.
You know I mean when you're thatclose to death, right, it

(36:38):
really makes you think aboutyour life and everything about
it and what success looks like.
So I know we both married up wesaid that several times.
Yeah, Kim's awesome.
How did she support you in allof this?
I mean, I know there's a lot ofobvious ways, but yeah, I

(36:59):
didn't know, you know.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
So sorry, take your time, she's a rock star, she's
everything to me, my best friend, she's everything.
So something happened, maybe acouple of months after all the

(37:27):
stuff, my recovery was awful.
It was very hard.
I talked to other people whohad, you know, multiple bypasses
and they were like, yeah, itwasn't that bad.
Well, mine was hard.
I mean, it was full two monthsbefore I could really do much of
anything.
I missed a bunch of work.
And, by the way, this guy heshowed me love in a way that was

(37:49):
unexpected and amazing and I'msure if you were to ask him
about it he would say it was nobig deal, but we don't need to
share any details about it.
But ultimately he did somethingfor me that was amazing when I
couldn't work.
And he's Devon's a good man,you all know that, I'm sure.
But so while I was on the so Ihad three heart attacks.

(38:13):
While I was on the table, theywent in to do the heart cath,
where they shoot die into yourveins and that can tell you
where the blockage is.
While they were doing that andI was on the table, I had three
heart attacks After, I thinkafter I had my first heart
attack.
They actually brought Kim in.
Let me come back to that.
So when I got home from thehospital, I could barely stand

(38:45):
long enough to brush my teethTaking a shower.
We're talking 10 minutes.
Max wiped me out.
I didn't just have to sit down,I had to lay down after that
and that lasted for at least twoweeks to a month.
That kind of just no, no energy, no stamina, like I would get
up to walk or I would just makea loop around through my dining

(39:06):
room, my kitchen dining room,back to my living room, and I
would do four of those and we'renot talking very far at all and
I was wiped out.
So anyway, during my recoverythere was a point, maybe a
couple of months into it, mywife and I we had a couch that
the two end things like recline,and we got that right.

(39:27):
It was a blessing we got thatright before any of this hard
stuff happened.
It was nice because I actuallyslept on that for a while
because I couldn't sleep in abed anyway.
So what we love about thiscouch is that we can sit and
watch TV and hold hands.
I know that sounds silly, butwe're still in love and we'll
sit and hold hands.
And so we're sitting thereholding hands and I looked over

(39:50):
at my wife.
She looked at me and I winkedat her and she started crying.
I said what's wrong?
And she said that when theybrought her in to see me when I
had my first heart attack, theybrought her in.
They said it's getting, it'sbad.
Do you wanna come in and seehim?
And she said they brought herin and I looked over at her and

(40:10):
I saw her and I winked at herand that reminded her of that.
And she said then she had to goback out into the waiting room
by herself and wonder if she wasgetting ready to lose her
husband.
And up until that point as crazyas this sounds I had not even
thought about what she wasdealing with.

(40:33):
During all that I was juststruggling to get through my
recovery and figure out how I'mgonna.
Everything about the recoveryjust was all about me and what I
needed to do, and I hadn't eventhought about how it had been
affecting, how she was affected.
And at that moment they broughther in.

(40:54):
She knows I'm having a heartattack and multiple heart
attacks.
I wink at her, they take herback out and now, anyway, I
hadn't thought about her andwhat that was doing to her until
that moment, like two monthslater, and I felt terrible that
I hadn't been thinking about her.
At any rate, she was awesome.
She took care of me big timeand if I lived to be a thousand,

(41:18):
I will never be able to repayher for whatever, everything she
did for me, nor does she wantme to, but you know you get it.
But yeah, it was, she was.
She was amazing.
She did everything for me cookmy meals, cooked healthy food
for me and, you know, help me.
I had to put these likeStocking things on my legs so

(41:39):
you wouldn't, they wouldn't getswollen.
She'd help me do everything.
So, yeah, it was just yeah,she's, she's amazing.
I know you've got an amazinglife too.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
Yeah, so your marriage became stronger.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
Oh, you're trying to tell yeah.
I think you can easily say that, yeah, yeah that's.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
Yeah, you know it's too bad.
I think that sometimes thingshave have to happen like this.
Not saying yours you know thisis not a shot at you at all but
you watch so many marriages Fail, relationships fall apart,
before something like this couldhappen.
You know what I mean where it'slike oh, how many, how many,
not not the years was in jailyou already had a great marriage

(42:18):
I for some reason I'm justthinking about, you know, like
the divorce rate is like 50%.
It's like how many marriageswith something like this have
saved you know yeah it's just arhetorical random question.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
Yeah, that's an interesting take.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
Yes, it's kind of like huh, like, because, because
, man, if you already loved herthat much, yeah, and it went to
here.
It's like what potential isthere for love and for caring
and for nurturing and foraltruistic love?
That's like right at ourdisposal but just the right
circumstances have.
So I guess then the question isdon't wait for a heart attack

(42:52):
Right for this to happen.
How could this, I mean but, butreally I mean what's, what's
the message to?

Speaker 2 (42:58):
so how can you generate what?
How can?
What do I have to do?

Speaker 1 (43:06):
And, in my case, just eat whatever you want for many
years and and cross your fingersoh man, see this what you get
when you get taught them andTake it from crying to laughter.
But but really I mean I don'tknow, even know if I have the
answer.
I was gonna be marriage andfamily therapists, but you know.
But I know there's books,there's how to's on how to grow
closer.

(43:26):
I think that's what it is.
It's like it doesn't have to besome significant moment.
I think really it just takesnurturing over time and this is
a dramatic part of your story.
But even for you it's been thenurturing, the love over time
that even maybe help you getthrough that.
Because who knows, maybe, maybeheart attack sometimes is the,
is the thing that breaks peopleapart.
It, you know, it's kind of likeit was already hard.

(43:48):
Now it's really hard.
I'm done, you know.
So it's kind of what came first, the chicken or the egg, that
the strong marriage of the heartattack.
What really made it, I don'tknow, but I guess.
I guess the point is I think weall it's just easy to give up
Early on things, and this is nota shot at divorced people, I'm
just saying, like if you're in arelationship, it's on the rocks

(44:09):
.
I mean you start Lookingoutside yourself because, like
for you, you're laying thehospital bed.
You wouldn't even think itabout her.
I think that's where we are.
A lot of times I'm thinkingabout Devon, devon, devon.
What is Devon need?
Oh wait.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
And it sounds like I'm self-centered and I'm not
right.
But in that time Understandably.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
You know that's the thing.
Survival.
You're like okay, what?

Speaker 2 (44:28):
what?
How do I need to?
And she was focused on that too, so it was all like everything
every day, from wake up to go tosleep, you're focused on okay,
what do I need to do today toget better?
I need to walk.
Okay, I've got to take thismedicine and everything is about
me and getting better.
Yeah so, yeah, it sounds on thesurface it's like you didn't
think about her at all.
Yeah, you're not thinking thatway.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
Yeah, you're just not yeah, well, but to parallel
that it's true for life, eventhough it's less dramatic and
your life isn't physically inthe light at that point.
We're all in survival mode.
We're all thinking about how amI gonna get through today?
Yeah, you know, without a drink,without gambling, without
whatever addictive behavior, orjust you know how am I gonna get
through today?
And you just are not lookingover here to when you get caught

(45:11):
in that trap of selflessness,of isolation.
That's when your relationshipsstart to deteriorate.
Now I'm, you know, I don'tspeak as a relationship expert,
but I we've all seen this, youknow, so it's like I think.
For me, I think this is more.
I'm probably just airing out myown dirty laundry here.
Oh man, I need to focus more onothers.
Love other people more.

(45:32):
That's always the goal, butit's so easy to get that you
know You're in survival mode andyou're just.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
You're just looking at yourself when you get home
today, you're gonna wrap yourarms around.
That's just wink at her.
Just wink at her and she'll belike Just wink.
That's gonna be the name of mynew podcast you and me together
just winks, it'll be a Todd castoh.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
Todd cast.
That was worth it.
Yeah, yeah, man.
Okay, dude.
So thanks for sharing that,thanks for going there.

Speaker 2 (45:59):
Yeah, of course I really appreciate that man.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
So, okay, we, you know, we've kind of talked about
you know, man, todd could be amotivational speaker.
I mean, with that story, rightthere, he's ready for the stage,
right, you know, comment, letus know, should Todd be a
motivational speaker?

Speaker 2 (46:15):
again, not trying to like, magic dude calm, just book
me now and that's and that's.

Speaker 1 (46:21):
He's not kidding.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
It is actually magic dude calm.
It almost sounds like you werejoking.
Yeah, magic dude calm magicdude, calm it's.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
How do you get that URL?

Speaker 2 (46:29):
I had to pay for it.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
I guess, yeah, quite a bit, I mean because it was
like people wanted that one yeahcuz.
A lot of people probably dubthemselves the magic dude.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
Yeah, probably, so yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
Yeah, so you're like oh, business card.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
Yeah, I've been thinking about you.
Some of I should probably dothat, I should.
You need to get a website.
I should get a website.
And an act.
I should get an act, yeah but.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
But there's this one story that you told me a long
time ago that I'm always likethat's that could be your whole
brand Right now.
This is.
This was pretty hard attackthat I had this idea, so you
know.
Anyway, both would be part ofthe story, but your mom right
Like your mom Passed awayrecently, like six or seven
years ago.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
Oh, actually ten years ago.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, been tenyears.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Yeah, I know yeah okay, I, I've known you longer
sometimes than I realize, like.
I know my oldest, my former,sixteen year olds.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
Yeah, we go way back where you were married.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
Yeah, yeah, it's true .
Before I was married, I wasthinking about that Because you
had a gig.
You're so dang successful.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
You were like I don't think I want to marry this
chick.
And I was like come on, goahead and take the Plunge.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
I don't know, I'm kidding, I'm kidding by the way,
no, man, there's a story aboutyour mom when you were a kid and
I'll let you tell the story.
But will you tell me the?
Tell the story?

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah and and, by the way, like you helped
me and convinced me that Iactually have used that as kind
of just like a little shortkeynote at the end of my act a
few times.
But yeah, so what you'rereferring to, I believe, is the,
the Splashing story, the puddlesplashing.
Yeah, so my mom, so my dad.

(48:09):
This is probably irrelevant,but he died when I was eight
years old of a heart attack,ironically.
But so my mom ended up raisingall of us.
Like I said, there was eight,eight kids, and by that time a
couple of the older ones werealready gone, but at any rate.

(48:29):
So my dad worked at cats.
It was a KATZ cats warehouse.
It was in North Kansas City andI Remember we must only had one
car for some reason, but Iremember that we had to go pick
him up at work and the route wetook, and I couldn't even tell
you what streets it like now,what streets they were.
But if it had rained, there wasone street that always had a

(48:52):
big puddle of water kind of onthe side of the road and Instead
of avoiding the puddle, shewould drive through the puddle
and it would make a big sprayand I loved that and she knew I
loved that.
So she would.
Anytime that was an opportunity, if there was water on that
street, she would do thatbecause she knew I loved that
and that that's the thing thatwe talked about.

(49:12):
That, that puddle splashingmoment, that just a small thing
that she did to make my day, andthat we all have that yeah, we
all have that ability.
We all have that ability everyday to be a puddle splisher, to
go out and do something, go outof your way, and sometimes you
don't even have to go out ofyour way.
I mean, how hard is it?

(49:33):
Sonya comes in here.
How is it hard for Devon to say, hey, man, you are awesome
today and you have no idea theimpact that that may or may may
not even register, but it mightbe something that changes their
day or their life.
You have no idea how some smallpositive thing that you do that

(49:54):
isn't even a big thing, likelike the thing you did for me
when I was going through mydifficult time, how amazing that
was.
And For you I'm sure it waslike, yeah, it's not a big deal.
He did a show for me and it was.
It was amazing.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
I didn't perform a show for him in the hospital.
It made it sound like I cameover to clown suit and I'm like
all right, todd, it's your turnto be entertained.
What's?

Speaker 2 (50:25):
that behind your ear.

Speaker 1 (50:27):
Use a little soap and water to clear that up.
That's Todd's joke.

Speaker 2 (50:30):
If you haven't, if you haven't ever booked Devon.
That is what his act is like.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
Yeah, very clown-ish and yeah, but so.
So what I'm getting from you isthat, with Sonya today, I was a
puddle splasher for her andimpacted her in a way maybe
bigger than she realizes, andthat everybody listening Can
also be puddle splashes in theirlife and in their work to
impact the, the relationships,whether it's you know, the

(50:55):
people at home, their customers,their co-workers, and that if
you were on stage as aMotivational speaker, you would
be encouraging all those peopleto be puddle splashes as well in
their life and their work.
See me, I see so much gold inthis message and potential,
whether it's a calling or not, Idon't know, but I've been every
time.
Every time Todd has a gig wherethey're kind of like Can you
give us a little message at theend?

(51:16):
Like recently, you did it forsome teachers in California.
Mr Success travels all over thecountry, coast to coast is not
just a you know thing.
He says, yeah, but you did itfor a teacher like an in-service
or a back-to-school thing, andthey wanted some kind of message
at the end.
So he, he calls me.
It's like okay, time to time dothis puddle splashing thing
again.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
I think you call me about, like it's so fun.
That's.
One thing we do is we call eachother and whether we're working
on a trick or whatever it is,we're like, hey, I'm trying to
do this and so many of my, somuch my comedy and my tricks
have been up level just justfrom our Bouncing things back
and forth and I think you had it.
You had a question aboutsequence of yes, yes, this me
better.
This me better.
What should I close with?
And I turn to what you're doing.

(51:54):
The puddle splashing thing,right, and I think you were
already planning on doing it,but for me that's, I think, the
best way for, like anentertainer who's wanting to go
to the speaking side, it's justto start talking more.
That's what someone told me.
Just add that five minutes atthe end of your magic show to
show People, well, you've gotsome content here, and then let
that part of it just startgrowing.
Yeah, right, and so for me,that ending with that story.

(52:16):
And did you end with that storyfor those teachers?

Speaker 2 (52:19):
I.
You know what I told you?

Speaker 1 (52:21):
I forgot I remember you gave me an update.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
I can't remember what so I do a trick with money and
it ends up inside of a lemon andthat's usually my closer,
because it's just this crazyimpossible thing and that's what
people always talk about.
And I said do you think Ishould end with them, the money
in the lemon, or should I endwith the little keynote about

(52:44):
puddle splashing?
And you said, for sure, endwith the puddle splashing.
And I was just nervous about itbecause here's what happens.
As you know, we've been doingthis for long enough.
We know, we know what will work.
Yeah, and that was the thingfor me.
Like I know that if I closewith the bill and that that's

(53:04):
gonna bring the house down, butI don't know if Ending with the
puddle splashing will.
So I, before I brought themoney back out of the lemon, I
did the, I did do the okay, thepuddle splashing story and then
brought it back and did so.
I remember this now.
Yeah, I, yeah, I remember theconversation.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
Because what?
Because I actually validatedhim on that decision, because
you trusted your gut and yourgut.
You were there more as anentertainer than you were as a
speaker and you wanted to closestrong and since you were hired
Mainly as an entertainer, it was, I think that was the right
call.
Yeah to do that now, if theywere like we want the message to
really be the thing that hitshome Make sure you emphasize the
mess.
If they would have said that,then maybe the puddle and I

(53:44):
would have, yeah, and thespeaker thing in me was like
well, of course, because I've,I've had coaches, show me how,
when I, when I for me, since I'ma speaker first, magician
second right opposite of whatyou were.
That day yeah since I'm, sinceI'm a speaker first, if I end
with some hard-hitting crazymagic, it makes it about me.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
Yeah, this is my production, and thank you.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
But if I end with the story, then it's about look, I
did all this, this was fun.
This is what it means for you,and this is the last thing I
want you to remember.
You know, keep asking what elseis possible, and so that's so.
I remember that conversationand saying, hey, you trusted
your gut, you did the rightthing so no, that's, but that's
smart.
Yeah, but anyway I see value inthat.

(54:26):
I mean obviously that the storyis there, the ability is there.
I think the question is is thecalling there?
You know so I'd never want toforce you into it, but you
better do it Is this.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
is this just an intervention?
Is that what this is?

Speaker 1 (54:37):
come on in, tony Robbins, let's go.
You got me, but but got me good.
So, but I am just curious howdoes that land with you, is that
?
Not that you even have toanswer this, but I, I am curious
.
Is it something you think?
Do you see in your future?
Any kind of motivationalspeaker?
I do?

Speaker 2 (54:55):
I do and the thing is and we've talked about this in
the past I have other ideas forthat, so I think that's maybe
what clutters it is.
It's like, do I because I'vethought about doing a keynote on
communication, because, workingin customer service, I just
I've got a ton of ideas aboutcommunication.

(55:15):
That's definitely.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
What you have over me is you've worked in corporate
America.
I've just worked with peoplewho have worked in corporate
America.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
You actually have the grinding in the trenches
experience, yeah, yeah.
So there's that and thenthere's.
You know, I could go in thedirection of the puddle
splashing and just that you knowjust.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
Well, and I could see those two maybe going together.
Because, by the way, thecommunication thing is, we joke
about this over time, but whenwe're talking over the phone
trying to explain something andI have to explain, okay, because
we use a lot of props I'm like,okay, this props, imagine a box
that's I don't know.
You're like is it the size of adeck of playing cards or a
shoebox?
Devin and Todd can just likehey, when you're explaining

(55:56):
something to me, though, it'svery clear, you can just somehow
know what I don't know andexplain that to me over the
phone.
You have that ability, you havethat strength.
So, before the puddle splashingthing came along, like over a
decade ago I remember talking toyou about you should do some
kind of communication you coulduse mentalism talking about the
end, but I could see the twogoing hand in hand, because if
we talk about communication howto be clear, but also how to

(56:16):
communicate in a way that servesother people I mean that falls
into that umbrella of puddlesplashing, you know, like that
could be kind of what it comesto.
Because why do we want tocommunicate effectively?
Why do we want to serve peoplewith the way that you know that
we talk?
Well, here's why you couldchange someone's life and here's
how someone communicated loveto me in a way that didn't even
use any words you know yeah.

(56:38):
Let me tell you about puddles.
And then you talk about thepuddle splashing thing and I see
puddles splashing.
You need to buy that URL, bythe way, before someone takes it
.
Yeah, but I just see that being.
And then obviously, the heartattack thing coming in the wink,
there could be a lot ofnonverbal communications, which
are the two most powerful formsof communication the wink from
the heart attack story and thepuddle splashing, two incredibly

(57:00):
modes of communication that had, you know, crazy impact.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
I think we just wrote your keynote Awesome, I think
we just did it.
And you know what dude I wasgoing to.
I was.
We were thinking about titlingthis episode, something like
making moments of magic withTodd Lemansky, but I'm more like
how do you define success?
And you had talked about maybedoing a trick on the podcast,
which obviously is harder forour listeners people who are
only listening, that is but Ihonestly didn't want to do it

(57:28):
because, while he's incredibleat magic, you can go look at him
online at MagicDude and YouTubeTodd Lemansky.
I didn't want that to take awayfrom what this conversation you
know.
I didn't want it to become allfunny and jokes.
And so I'm really glad we got toa lot of the meat and a lot of
the heart of what you're about,man, because you're a deep dude
and people when you come up inthe restaurant and you do a
five-minute show, I mean theyget to see some awesome magic,

(57:50):
but they don't always see like,oh man, this guy's been through
a lot.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
I think it just would have cheapened it.
If we would have done a trick,wouldn't it have just cheapened
the whole thing somehow?

Speaker 1 (57:58):
Absolutely that would have taken away from it so
thank you for refraining fromany kind of pyrotechnics or
anything like that For you,buddy.
Yeah, yeah, people listeningfor that moment.
To make sense, you'll just needto go watch on YouTube.
That's all I'm gonna say.
That was good, by the way, forthat trick right there.
You became somewhat famouslocally because they featured it

(58:20):
in a Royals game, not justlocally.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
It blew up, okay yeah , so do you want to hear that?

Speaker 1 (58:27):
Yeah, absolutely, it must be a good one to close on.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so sorry.

Speaker 1 (58:33):
We got all day.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
My wife and I and another couple were at a Royals
game.
This would have been believe itor not, it was the week before
I had my heart attacks.
The week before it was July 5thor something like that.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
That's great, because you called me right after it
happened and that was rightbefore your heart attack.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
Yeah, yeah, wow, crazy, okay, so at a Royals game
and a guy walked by with acamera.
He walked.
How did it go?
He walked by with a camera,like, and I said to my wife
joking guy.
I said, oh, they found out.
I'm here Just joking, obviously.
And the guy heard me and Iwasn't intending for him to hear
me, I assure you and he turnedaround and looked at me and he

(59:09):
came back and we were sittingkind of like the door's, like a
little aisle right next to ushad really good seats, and he
turned and came and stood righthere and aimed the camera right
at me and I was like okay, so Ipulled out my wallet and I have
a wallet that I can catch onfire and I lit it on fire and
you all just saw the listenerslike what.
So I light the wallet on fireand I closed the wallet and that

(59:34):
was it.
I thought no big deal.
So we're at the game and Istart getting texts that hey,
dude, you're on TV becausethere's like the Royals local
channel that they I guess theyshowed that on there.
I thought, okay, that makessense.
Then a little while later,somebody texted and said dude,
you're blowing up on Twitter.
I'm not even on Twitter.
So I was like, okay, cool.
Then, and then Harold Koontzfrom channel 41, I believe he

(59:59):
had he had tweeted the video.
Nice.
And then I get a text PatrickMahomes just retweeted your
video and I was like what he'sthe?
quarterback for the Kansas CityChiefs.
He's the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
That's the guy that throws the ball.
No, no quarterback.
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
So then the next day, like I woke up and I know a guy
that was that lives inIndonesia, and he messaged me
and said dude, I just saw yourvideo and I was like what is?
going on and channel 41 calledme, wanted me to come, like, do
a spot on there.
But what was crazy was on FoxNews, like on the website, I was

(01:00:44):
trending above Britney Spears,which was a big deal at that
time.
Like it was, it was nuts.
It was just all because of thissilly.
I mean, I was honestly wasn'teven thinking about that, I was
just messing around.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
Yeah, you were honestly.
In a way, you were like puddlesplashing that day.

Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
You know what I mean.
You're like hey, here's a guyI'm just gonna, because that's
your gift.

Speaker 1 (01:01:03):
And it's like something that's like whoa, you
know and sometimes that's,that's a gift to people,
something unexpected and safe,albeit it's fire, but still it
was, you know, in an unexpectedmoment.
How cool is that.
And I was not expecting you todo that on this podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
I should have been, but here's what.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
I love about like in a way, you proved me wrong, that
the magic, I feel like, addedyou know, and gave us this
awesome story.
Now I'm getting all lessonmotivational speaker on you, but
in a way it's kind of like inmy speeches, you know, I don't
want to come out and lead withmagic tricks.
I'm going to be doing magictricks is like oh, we got a
clown, we don't want to clown,we want to speaker.

(01:01:39):
But then you bring the magic inin a very tasteful, subtle,
fast, relevant way and itactually adds rather than the
tracks.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
And I feel like your trick added today.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
I'm serious rather than taking away.
That's how I sell it to myclients that, hey, they weren't.
Sometimes, even after speechpeople like oh, I had heard you
did magic.
I wasn't sure if you were goingto do any.
I'm glad you did Rather than,rather than beforehand.
Are you doing some of thatmagic, you know?
Because they don't really knowwhat that means.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
Are you?

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
going to be like pulling scars out of a hat Right
but after they see the kind ofmagic you and I do, it's like,
oh okay, I see how that wasbetter, but you can't always
advertise it that way.
You know when you're a speaker.
First, so, anyway.
Motivational speaker ToddLemansky.
Ladies, and gentlemen, I'mexcited man, even though you
know, as we cultivate yourmessage I say we because I've

(01:02:29):
already claimed myself hisspeaking coach you're going to
be creating one of my toughestcompetitors, especially here in
the Kansas City Metro area, soI'm going to have to somehow
figure out how to make youdisappear.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
Wait that would have been a cool place to end the
were those heart attacks acoincidence or were you trying
to eliminate?

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
email in the mail.
Hello, fresh, awesome.
Well, hey, two, two real quickquestions.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
If that's cool before we close out, man.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
It's been so good.
Thank you, man.
This is like more than Iexpected.

Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
Honestly yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:01):
Yeah, okay, first of all, before the last two
questions, thanks again to etcetera and Todd endorses the
Despiata burrito.
I do, the burrito was good butit was filling.
And yeah, thanks to Sonia andShannon and Michael and Phyllis
and Chris.
And then we got Minsky's nextdoor.
That's a story for another day.
They're awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
If we keep talking, we'll be.
We'll be the last time you knowme.

Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
Okay, we've already touched it, but how can they
find you, how can they connectwith you?

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
Yeah, best way.
I mean, I'm on Facebook, butmagicdudecom, that's my website
and you can.
There's videos and informationabout my services.

Speaker 1 (01:03:37):
Magicdudecom.
Awesome, okay, last questionfor you Can you give, since
you're also a dad of daughters,can you just give one piece of
advice for my daughters?

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
I know Hit you with this one.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
Yeah, this is not planned, because I don't know
I'm not going to get back to mein a week Advice for your
daughters.

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
If my daughters are listening to this and you were
to say, hey Devon's girls, whatwould you tell them?

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:07):
A piece of advice yeah, don't screw this up.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
Your dad is much cooler than you think he is.
Thank you, that's true.
That's true because theyprobably don't know how cool you
are.
They just don't, I wonder.
They just I mean, maybe they do.
I haven't seen your daughtersfor a while.
There's some of your daughtersI haven't met.
You know that I am, but he'smuch cooler than you think he is
.
Otherwise I don't know.

(01:04:30):
Dude, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
Oh well, you've given a lot of advice in the fabric
of this whole podcast anyway, sodon't worry about it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
So what I'm hearing is that was a terrible answer.
Maybe they can clean somethingfrom.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
Rewind hit back 15, few times.
No man, Thank you.
No, I am cool, Let it be that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
Come on, you're good, you're good.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
This is Aaron, the manager of Minsky's.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
You won't see him in here.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
We're wrapping up I know you have your party.
We're wrapping up and then wewill get out of here.
Okay, either man, okay, heyy'all.
Thank you so much.
Minsky's needs the room.
Yo, thank you, et cetera.
Thank you, todd Lamansky, andremember never stop asking the
question.
What else is possible?

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#15 The Heart of Success with Todd Lamanske

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