Lou Serrano Marketing.com

A Zen poet said, “A person who is a master in the art of living makes little distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their mind and their body, their education and their recreation, their love and their religion. They hardly know which is which and simply pursue their vision of excellence and grace, whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing. To them they are always doing both.”

As a magician, I spend an average of six to ten hours a week performing magic. It’s what I love to do. It’s my passion, but I also spend an average of thirty to forty hours a week, behind the scenes, marketing my business. This work isn’t terribly exciting, and it’s easy to view it as drudgery.

It’s a sad state of mind thinking that I’m viewing a bulk of my life as drudgery. I’d rather live passionately in all areas of my life, so I realized I needed to change my mindset. A change of attitude was in order.

Over the last week I made a concerted effort to live my life with purpose, grace, and ease. Not just in the areas of my life that are easy and fun, but in all areas of my life. The result was a much happier ME.

Some of the work I kept putting off, because it seemed like a chore, is now getting completed, and I’ve been enjoying the process. All it took was a decision on my part to change my attitude. I find it fascinating how powerfully our lives can be impacted by just making a decision and then following through.

The Zen poet said it best. Now it’s just a matter of following through, not just for the meantime, but for life.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Corporate magician, Lou Serrano

I want to share with you the top three reasons why every business owner should have a blog. Whether you’re a magician, musician, variety artist, speaker, coach, consultant, a product-based business, or a service-based business, every business can benefit from having a blog.

1. Create More Value
It allows you to create more value to the people around you, your prospects, and your customers. If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, then you know how much I believe in creating more value for others. You can share your expertise on your subject. You can also educate your prospects and customers on your products and services and how they are of benefit to them.

2. Develop Relationships
After a while you will start to develop relationships with your readers and viewers, even if they’ve never met you before. They will view you as a trusted friend, consultant, and as an authority on your subject. If there’s a time when they have a need for your products or services, they will think of you before they think of your competition, which will lead to an increase in business.

3. Your Social Networking Hub
Your blog will serve as the hub of your entire social networking structure. Think about it this way. Let’s say you have a static website. A static website can be compared to an old newspaper. You read it once and you throw it away. The same is true for a static website. You may visit it once, but there’s no reason to go back. A blog is like having a fresh newspaper ever day or every week, depending on how often you update your blog. There is a constant flow of new information you’re sharing, so there’s a reason to come back.

You can use all your social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Youtube, etc.) to direct traffic to your blog. From there you can direct traffic to your other websites depending on the needs of your clients.

Keep in mind that putting up a blog is not like the movie, The Field of Dreams, where if you build it they will come. People won’t find your blog unless you promote it. You can do that through all your social media networks, along with posting messages in online forums, and writing and submitting e-zine articles.

You will find that as you promote your blog you will increase your sphere of influence. More people will find your blog and in turn your business will grow.

As always, I welcome your comments,

Corporate magician, Lou Serrano

Orison Swett Marden (1850 – 1924) – “A lobster, when left high and dry among the rock, does not have the sense enough to work his way back to the sea, but waits for the sea to come to him. If it does not come, he remains where he is and dies, although the slightest effort would enable him to reach the waves, which are perhaps within a yard of him. The world is full of human lobsters; people stranded on the rocks of indecision and procrastination, who, instead of putting forth their own energies, are waiting for some grand billow of good fortune to set them afloat.”

Corporate magician, Lou Serrano

Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Youtube, almost everyone is on some sort of social media network. The problem is most people have no idea on how to harness the power of these networks to grow their business.

A few years ago Perry Belcher coined the phrase “The Party Principle”, and described how that principle applied to social media networks. The video above describes “The Party Principle” and how you can use it to grow your business.

The real key is to view the social networks as a party. Be a likable person that shows an interest in other people. As people get to know you and like you, you can direct those people to your other sites such as a blog. From there they can get more information by directing them to a sales page where people can place an order for your products and services.

The one major mistake people make is trying to make a sale directly from the social network site. Doing so can be the kiss of death, if it’s not done properly.

Keep in mind that some people will have no interest what-so-ever in what you have to offer, and that’s okay, because if you adhere to The Party Principle, people will still like you, and that’s not a bad thing.

To get more information on growing your magic business, please visit www.SixFigureMagic.com.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Los Angeles magician – Lou Serrano

The late, great Jim Rohn said, “You can’t get rich by demand, you have to become more valuable.” No truer words have been spoken.

People often say, “Lou, you are so lucky.” The interesting fact is the harder I work the luckier I get.

There are two areas of my life that I’m constantly working on. The first is personal development. What exactly is personal development? The way I see it, it’s working on yourself to create more value to the people around you. The second is business development; creating more value for your customers and clients.

Why is it that some people are paid $10 per hour, while others are paid $50 per hour? The one that is getting paid more is considered to be more valuable to the business.

We don’t get paid for our time. We get paid for the value we bring to the marketplace. If you want to make more money in the same amount of time, then strive to become more valuable to the people around you. Give more value to your clients and your clients will view you as more valuable, and in business value translates into income.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Los Angeles magician, Lou Serrano