Episode 006: Michael Carducci Interview

[02:18] Michael talks about holding down a really, well-paying day job as a software developer while honing his performance skills as a magician. He talks about setting income goal posts for when to quit the day job and how to set up and implement business practices for his performing business.

[06:30] He describes how his two worlds as a magician and mentalis and a software developer collide. Unintentionally, he discovers his unique niche market creating magic programs and keynotes that serve corporate entities of software engineers and technologists. Hear how he develops his own niche entirely by accident to the point now where major companies are calling him.

[11:37] Michael dives back into his childhood and having been one the early diagnoses of ADD as a precursor to why he struggled with the organization aspects of his business.

[13:16]  He highlights the two major points of having Attention Deficit Disorder. It is sort of a superpower and how it makes him a great performer and how it makes him terrible at show business.

[13:57]  Michael shares how challenges present opportunities to adapt and how he used his skills as an enterprise software developer to help him meet his challenges as an entrepreneur. Since 2005 he has developed the tools, he needs to do his work. “To all of the places where I typically drop the ball, I hand it over to a computer and say ’take care of this for me.’”

[15:51]  He discusses how his software product has evolved to work for many artists rather than just himself. After 10 years of refining, his product, Mago:Talent, has been helping artists world-wide to take of the business processes artists find most challenging.

[17:26]  His real impetus for making the shift from scraps of paper and odd spread sheets to seriously putting together the software to manage his business, was the time he missed a gig.

[18:27]  He talks about the lies artists tell themselves as they build their businesses. Needing more leads is one of them. He realized he needed to manage the leads he’s got more effectively.

[19:55]  Now his automated, pre-set emails, keep in touch with his prospects without thinking about. “It’s like finding $15,000 in the couch.”

[21:47]  The #1 benefit that allowed him to go full time and brought his marketing budget to zero was having a consistent process. He describes that process.

[28:49]  The biggest change he made was not on the sales side, but on the after-the-booking side. He explains how he’s automated the Advancing the Date process.

[34:00]  He talks about his mission to help other artists get onto more stages by helping them conquer their business process challenges. He highlights some of the successful people who made it despite their challenges.

[36:28]  Michael offers some advice to artists who are also struggling with managing the details of their own booking business.

[40:15]  One of his biggest pieces of advice to artists is to not look for gigs but nurture your relationships with your buyers. This is one of the huge benefits a Contact Relation Management platform can offer.

[47:15]  He often speaks to audiences about Influence and Persuasion. He sites that the # 1 principle of influence is Reciprocity. When you invest in those relationships, the relationships, pay dividends.

[50:46]  Your marching orders for this episode is to sit down and figure out your booking process, how you do what you do and how you would like to do it better, more efficiently. What do you need to help make that happen?

[52:00]  Bring in a consultant to help you figure out your business process, then work through that process to implement it by selecting the appropriate tools or people.

[55:50]  Michael suggests you schedule a 30 minute session with Mago:Talent staff to determine how to best use the tool for YOUR business before trying to figure it out on your own. You’ll move through the set up far more efficiently.

Check out this episode with Michael Carducci and hear how determination can inspire solutions to whatever challenges you may be experiencing.