Other Visions

Work Your Magic: The Hook
By Elliott Smith and Ian Quick

About the Authors from the Authors: Elliott Smith has entertained corporations, television audiences and travelers across Canada, the United States, Europe, the Caribbean and Mexico for over 39 years. A member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the distinguished Order of Merlin, Elliott has performed his special brand of magic and comedy for two past Prime Ministers of Canada, International Ambassadors, the late Liberace as well as Jay Leno – host of The Tonight show. His interactive magic brings fun and excitement to any event large or small. He is a Master of stage and close-up magic, escapes and mind reading. Today, he continues to perform his own brand of trickery to wider audiences, but now on a whole new level - using his magic to provide team-building and motivational training for some of the largest companies. Elliott performed his successful stage show - ‘Smith & Quick in Mod-Vod’ for a one month run at the Theatre du Casino du Lac-Leamy, at Dark Hall in Regina, for the opening of the new North Grenville Theatre in Kemptville, and as the headline act at Keyano Theatre in Fort McMurray, Alberta. In 2007, Elliott performed a one month tour in Barbados entertaining at the Barbados Hilton, the prestigous Almond Resorts, the Plantation Dinner Club and Limelight Cafe – a new entertainment club to name a few. He is co-author of the internationally acclaimed book, Highway to Success – The Entertainer’s Roadmap to Business (www.happymediumbooks.com) a unique book designed to help performers, entrepreneurs, home-based business (and indeed, anyone who is following their dream) to develop business savvy. According to Mr. Smith "Learning magic tricks teaches people how to focus their minds and train their hands. It teaches patience, dexterity and determination." His book has been sold throughout North America and Europe and last year was published in Indonesia. Elliott was named and chosen as one of 'Ottawa’s Top Fifty' influ ential people by Ottawa Life Magazine in 2003, was inducted into the Order of Merlin by the International Brotherhood of Magicians in 1999 and nominated for Small Business of the year by Ottawa Tourism in 1996.

Ian Quick has been performing magic since 1992 and has quickly climbed the ranks to become one of the country’s premier magicians. Following a brief career as a lawyer, Ian left the law and became a full time entertainer by popular demand. Some of Ian’s larger clients include Chapters, the Bay, Bell, JDS and Ford to name a few. Ian has performed on some of the most prestigious stages including a month long run at the famous Lac Leamy Casino Theatre. Mr. Quick is also a specialist in educational programming and has toured extensively throughout Ontario and Quebec performing educational magic shows for both elementary schools and high schools. Ian’s unique mix of performance and pedagogy has inspired tens of thousands of children to read more, and motivated teenagers to believe they can attain their dream careers. Ian Quick is a founding member of Smith & Quick, a Vaudeville style magic troupe that blends classic comedy and magic with a unique family twist. Ian is co-author of the internationally acclaimed book Highway to Success: The Entertainer’s Roadmap to Business. This book has been recognized as the definitive business guide by the magic industry. Mr. Quick has also been a columnist for the international publication Magic Magazine and now writes for Magic Scene.

We’ve met a lot of magicians and other entertainers throughout the years, and one
thing that’s always stuck out about most of them is their lack of business savvy. Let’s face it, we’re entertainers! We want to entertain, so why bother to learn the business side of things? The answer is quite simple - if you want to entertain professionally, you need a paying audience. Unfortunately, audiences don’t come knocking at your door asking for a show. You have to go out and find that audience. You need to run the business of show business. That’s where we come in.This being our first column, we thought we’d tell you a bit about who we are before starting to dispensing advice. That way, you can judge for yourself if we’re worth the read. We are Smith & Quick. More specifically, we’re Elliott Smith and Ian Quick, authors of Highway to Success: The Entertainer’s Roadmap to Business. We literally wrote the book on business for the entertainer. Elliott’s background includes years of training in sales and marketing, restaurant management, office administration as well as over 37 years of performing magic. My (Ian) background is in law. I’m a former corporate lawyer turned full-time magician. I’ve been performing for about 12 years now.

Do we sound business enough for you?

Hopefully, most of you are a little intrigued by our story which brings us to our
first official topic - the hook. It’s important to follow a daily business regimen of building up a client base and marketing yourself properly, but what if you could get local, state or even nationwide media to do the marketing for you? They will if you give them a proper hook. The hook is that special story about you that makes you stand out from the others. It doesn’t have to be outrageous or grandiose, it just has to be interesting.

So what’s your hook? You may already have one you’re exploiting, or you may
not have a clue. Let’s see if we can inspire you a bit. I’ve been using my hook for years and it’s paying off nicely. People love to hear about a guy who quit a lucrative law career to become a magician. They think I’m either very courageous or completely insane.

Either way, I get a reaction. In fact, that hook has led to dozens of newspaper, magazine, radio and television interviews in the past year alone. I’m even going national as part of a feature length documentary which will be broadcast nationwide in Canada. It’s also put me on lecturing tours including the IBM in Cleveland this July.

Some of you may not have such a drastic hook. I also don’t recommend going to
law school just to quit it and then becoming a magician. It’s a long and expensive
process. You should find a hook that works for you. Take Elliott’s hook for example. It’s more subtle, yet he’s been able to exploit it for decades. Elliott simply talks about how he’s become a success at doing something he loves. Sounds too simple, right? Think about it for a moment. Over 80% of people hate their jobs. Of the other 20%, only a handful of people absolutely love what they do. The rest are rather indifferent. Now add the fact that’s Elliott’s job is rather exotic compared to most of the workforce and you’ve got yourself a hook.

You’re probably thinking, “Why would the media want to tell this story? There’s
more important stuff going on in the world.” Believe it or not, the media is constantly
searching for new and interesting stories. Of course, topics like war or an alien invasion will take precedence over you, but nonetheless, the media will be interested in hearing your story. You see, news people like to bring in positive stories when they can. They’re called human interest stories. They’re a nice change of pace from all of the troubles in the Middle East, the rising gas prices and other social woes. It’s not front page news, but it’s still newsworthy.

Elliott Smith