560 – Add a little magic: Tom interviews Joe Libby

Episode 560 - Joe Libby
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody, we're here with episode five hundred and sixty of Screw the Commute. I'm Tom Antion. I'll be your host, as always for all these five hundred and sixty episodes, so we're here with Joe Libby. Joe is a comic magician and business person, and going to we're actually going to do a trick on the podcast today. You don't have to see anything but, but just be ready for it. It's going to be a lot of fun. Now, I hope you didn't miss episode 559. That was Lorrie Morgan, the red hot copy girl. And I've she attributes in this kind of true that I kind of got her started in internet marketing many, many years ago. When she was, she saw me at an event and and just took off. From there, she helps write copy. She helps people, she coaches, people to write, copy and with a more feminine flair to it. Sometimes if that's what it calls for. So, check that out. Episode 559 and any time you want to get to a back episode, you go screwthecommute.com, slash, and then the episode number that was 559. Now think about this.

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[00:03:35] Ok, let's get to the main event. Joe Libby is an award winning entertainer and motivational speaker. He's performed in locations like family backyards. I was in a barn once doing a show, so I can go along with that. From hotel banquet rooms to the old Soviet Union. He spoke at the Total Success Summit recently in Sydney, Australia, where he shared the stage, or I'm going to turn this around. Arnold Schwarzenegger shared the stage with Joe Libby. I like that that better. So Joe, are you ready to screw? The commute?

[00:04:17] Absolutely always Tom always. Yeah, how are you doing, man? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on.

[00:04:25] Yeah. You've been under the weather a little bit with crazy place you live. Dropping 50 degrees isn't like one day.

[00:04:31] I'm telling you if you if you want to see crazy weather, you know, move to San Antonio, that'll that'll do it.

[00:04:37] Yeah. Well, we thought northern people think of Texas. Oh, it's like burning hot all the time.

[00:04:43] That'll that'll be that'll be in a few weeks when spring comes.

[00:04:48] Yeah, well, at least you had your windmill and solar power to to take care of you.

[00:04:53] Oh, sure.

[00:04:55] So tell everybody what you're doing. You know, magic is so much fun. It's a lot of practice. I used to do it in my speeches, but it's, you know, to really be good at it and not do just the same old crappy trip. Every everybody does, you've got to really practice, so tell them, tell them about that.

[00:05:12] Well, you know it, it's something that I've been working on really nearly my entire life, I guess. I guess I I started when I was about seven or eight years old, and I what I can't remember is whether I got a magic set first or if I got some. Some of some of your listeners will remember TV magic cards that Marshall Brodin used to use to plug on on TV, and I might have gotten the TV magic cards first, so. So I was just fascinated with magic, and eventually I did turn it into a into a business for a while. I did specialize as a as a family entertainer doing shows for, you know, birthday parties, which in this area in the San Antonio area are a or a or a big business, but also working in other venues for corporate events and fairs and festivals and things like that.

[00:06:16] So tell us about the business of this. So so do you do you I guess you charge by the show? Is that how it works? And depending on?

[00:06:26] Yeah, typically, you know, you're charged by the show and and really one of the things that that I learned was that it it's best to kind of offer packages. I think probably you do some of this thing, some of the same thing with your business where you'll offer something and then offer an upsell on it. Mm hmm. So it's the same thing. Like for for a birthday party, you can you can offer a, you know, a basic show for X amount of dollars and then you say, but you know, if you want to include like a magic kit for the birthday child and if you want to include a an extra magic trick for all the kids who who are there, well, then then that package would be, you know, x amount of dollars plus plus this.

[00:07:15] So what? What if what if they wanted you to make the kid disappear like permanently?

[00:07:22] I hadn't. I hadn't gotten that request yet.

[00:07:25] So, yeah, so so. But how about corporate functions? Is it flat fee or I mean, and there's different types of corporate functions. There's entire shows, right? Or it could. Could you do strolling magic at luncheons? What's what's the options at?

[00:07:43] Say it's the same thing. So do a scrolling for at at banquets. I kind of I kind of focused on on corporate corporate banquets like, you know, award dinners or Christmas parties, things like that. And so you could offer you could offer a show and then and then like, say, upsell it with an offering offering strolling entertainment beforehand. So that kind of thing, and

[00:08:07] That's that's easy, right? Because they're all drunk at the cocktail party. So you could say here, watch this disappear and then just stick it in your pocket.

[00:08:17] Oh, they're they're hard, actually. And actually, I thought one of the things that that I that I found was a big hit with with everybody would be to would be to give them a, you know, a simple magic trick that they could do right out of the out of the box. And I don't know, are you familiar with fortune telling fish Tom? No, no. It's a fortune. Telling fish is is is great. It's a little it's a little cutout of a fish. And when you put it in the palm of somebody's hand, it, you know, it'll start to wiggle. It may flip over, you know, things like that. And and and you've got on the envelope. It says, Well, if the fish, if the fish is head wiggles, that means you know you're in love. If the tail wiggles, that means it, that that you're that you're good at business, things like that, you know, so. So you've got suggestions for it. It's a it's it's a cool item that plays with kids, with adults and with everybody.

[00:09:20] So wow, that's cool. Yeah. And you know, I had an entertainment company, but we just never booked magicians. We booked all kinds of crazy stuff. But we we had a a nose reader, which

[00:09:33] I o nose reading.

[00:09:34] Yeah, she would. She was technically a holistic nose reader, and she had written a book on it. But for parties, she would just people would line up and she'd read their nose instead of their pops.

[00:09:44] How cool.

[00:09:47] I did magic for a while, but like I said it just the amount of practice to really be good as it was too much for me. So. So I really applaud you for doing it, since you're seven or eight.

[00:09:58] I, you know, I admire the guy, some of them who are good friends, who might who are like, really good at at sleight of hand and doing. Really intricate things with. I was never I was never that good, so I always leaned more toward comedy and just trying to trying to find the funny side of a of tricks. And that's, you know, that's what played well for me.

[00:10:20] So, so so I understand. Arnold Schwarzenegger opened for you. Is that is that what it was?

[00:10:26] Well, that that was the that was the total success summit and that was at the Star Casino in Sydney, Australia. I was I was very fortunate to be able to to go to that, a fellow that, you know, who is a good friend of mine named Dean Hankey. Yeah. You know, Dean was was able he he he was the one who facilitated that. And in fact, an interesting story was that he he he was supposed to be one of the speakers at this event, too. And then literally the day that we were both supposed to leave to go to Australia, to go to Australia, I was leaving from San Antonio. He was leaving from Reno, Nevada. He said something came up and he couldn't go. And so I said, Well, I'll I'll hold down the, you know, I'll hold down the American side. There were actually a couple of other American speakers there as well, but I I said well, went on, went on ahead and had had a great time in the keynote speaker for the for the event. The big draw was was Arnold Schwarzenegger. So that that was very exciting. And and and I will tell you, he you know, he's he's he's a good speaker. He's very good on stage. And so it was it was it was interesting to see that that aspect of his personality.

[00:11:47] Well, I'm still going to go with he opened for you.

[00:11:52] That's fine. You can. You can do that because actually because actually he did. I was on it was like a three day event and and and he was on the second day and I was on the third day. So I guess technically technically, he did open for me. Yeah.

[00:12:08] So Nadine, is that his real last name? I never ask him that because you know, you magicians use handkerchiefs all the time. I was wondering if that

[00:12:16] Was his real name. I believe that is his real last name. Yeah, yeah,

[00:12:22] I do recall over the years some magicians giving tricks or teaching tricks to like salespeople for ice breakers and things like that. Do you do any of that stuff?

[00:12:35] I have. I have done a little bit of that. Yeah, and in. I apologize, I muted myself for a moment. I apologize for that.

[00:12:44] But I has appeared, you're just doing that trick for us.

[00:12:47] That was, yeah. There you go. I've done a little bit of that and the I have published a couple of e-books which

[00:12:55] Tell us about the books because they do teach tricks to

[00:13:00] Normal

[00:13:00] Mortals right

[00:13:01] There for normal mortals. And but I think they are. They're also good for, for instance, for people who are doing doing Zoom meetings or for or for doing speaking. They're good for icebreakers. So I have one that that that is just out called Presto easy magic for beginners. And that's exactly what it is. It's just easy, easy magic for for beginners of all kinds. And then I've done another one, which was themed a little differently that I call hot magic. And this is all tricks and ice breakers that are based around candles, matches and a little bit of fire.

[00:13:47] Wow. I like fire. Yeah. You need it out there to keep warm.

[00:13:52] That's right. That's right. Well, fire always excites people. That's right. As long as you don't set things on fire.

[00:13:58] So, all right, so we'll we'll tell them where to get the books later. But you said you had a trick that you were going to do on this podcast.

[00:14:07] Yes, yes, I did. Are you ready to do it?

[00:14:10] I'm ready. Didn't you tell me I needed a calculator?

[00:14:13] Should have be have be like just open the calculator app on your phone and so you're going to be basically the ears of the of the audience while we're doing this. People who are listening to the podcast can can follow along if they if they wish to and if they don't have their app with them, they can just do it on a on a pencil and paper.

[00:14:33] So they should definitely do this while they're driving, right? Isn't that the.

[00:14:39] Depends on how many hands they have?

[00:14:41] Yes. All right. Don't do it while you're driving, folks.

[00:14:43] Don't do it while you're driving. That's right. Absolutely. But but you have the calculator app on your on your phone. Open Tom. Good. Ok, great. So here's here's what I'd like for you to do. You don't need to tell me anything, but I just like for you to think of your shoe size. Ok, and let's go with whole sizes. Ok. So for instance, if if your shoe size is an 11 and a half, you just put in 11.

[00:15:08] God, you go to the lower, the lower number,

[00:15:11] Lower or higher. I'll let you decide. It's just just a whole number, right? Ok. So you have that number entered now, Tom. You have two feet, so multiply that number by two and hit equals.

[00:15:27] Oh, on this on this phone here.

[00:15:28] Ok, so on the phone, yeah, multiply by two and hit equals. Got it. Okay, so now you have a new total, right?

[00:15:36] That's close to my I.Q.. Yeah.

[00:15:39] Oh, there you go. You now Tom next step is you have five toes on one foot, so add five to that total and hit equals.

[00:15:48] Ok, so that's plus

[00:15:49] Five plus five. Got it. Hit equals. So you have a new total now. You also have five toes on your other foot. So this time, multiply that new total by five. Multiply this time by five and hit equals. Ok. Hey, now you have a new total and of course, you have ten toes on both on both feet, so this time multiply that total by 10 and hit equals. Ok. Hey. Now to that new total ad, your age in years. So, for instance, I'm 58 years old, so I would add 58 to that total and hit equal. So whatever your age is and years hitting ad, that hit equals good. Good. So now you have a new total now, this time subtract three hundred and sixty five because there are 365 days in a year and hit equals. Ok. Ok. And then one last step this time to that total ad, one hundred and fifteen and hit equals. Got it. Good now, Tom, do you have a three or four digit number? Or four digits, so the first two digits are your shoe size and the second two digits are your age in years.

[00:17:22] Yep. Yeah.

[00:17:25] And so the thing is that the people who are listening, just what if they want to rewind it and listen to it a couple of times? Oh, listen.

[00:17:31] They can do it 10 more times.

[00:17:32] Do it 10 more times. But then but then also, that's something they can do for their family and friends. But not only that, this is something that they could do. I've done this to to open, to open a meeting just with everybody doing it, you know, so it could be it could be done, potentially during a speech. If everybody has their their calculator with them, just have them follow along. So it has a lot of uses that way. It's an ice breaker.

[00:18:04] The only problem is is if if they were an amputee. Well, yes, they messed it up

[00:18:12] Now that would do it.

[00:18:13] Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they they have more problems than that. But but if they were and they're listening, come to my school. I'll get you a scholarship. There you go. So there you go. All right. So that's that's cool. So what that is that the mentalism or math, what is what kind of trick would that be?

[00:18:31] I would. I think you call that kind of a you might call that a math magic trick.

[00:18:40] Yeah. Yeah, that's cool.

[00:18:44] It's it's an old trick. I will tell you that it's an old trick. It's out of one of the old books. It's one of those things that's so old. That's new. So.

[00:18:55] And all the shows you've done. Mm hmm. Anything in particular stand out that was either went super great or super bad.

[00:19:05] I will tell you this wasn't this wasn't a super bad thing, but it was a it was something a really kind of touched me. There was one, a family birthday party I did a couple of years ago and the birthday girl was she was actually quite ill. And but but she, you know, so she really couldn't participate in the meal or just, yeah. Yeah, OK. I don't remember exactly. I think she I think she did have leukemia or something. And but but but you know, she she she clearly enjoyed the show and the family had a great time. And I found out a couple of weeks later the grandmother contacted me and and said that the that her granddaughter had had passed away, but that they were really they were really happy that they were able to give her such a such a happy event for her for her last birthday. So that was very touching. You know, yeah, for sure. That kind of that kind of transcends, you know, just doing the tricks and making people laugh.

[00:20:09] I got it. Yeah, that's. Oh, yeah, so when I had my entertainment company, I would always if I was anywhere near a hospital, I would stop in and I'd I'd say, Hey, is there anybody here doesn't have anybody to visit them or any of the kids? You know, and then I would just stop in and and play with them or talk to them. I mean, some people were there and had no family. And so you just sit and talk to them. I mean, just in the most ridiculous outfits. But I mean, it just meant so much, much to them, that's for sure. Right. So we got to take a responsive break. When we come back, we'll get an idea of how Joe markets the shows and and more of the business end of being in the magic business. Right. The folks about twenty four, twenty five years ago, I kind of turned the internet marketing guru world on its head and that people at my level were charging 50 or 100 grand up front to help you and teach you internet and digital stuff. Well, I knew a lot of these people and you know they would disappear on you just like magic if you gave them 50 grand up front. So, so I said, I'm going to turn this, turn this around and I I charge this a much smaller entry fee and then tied my success to your success. So for me to get my fifty thousand, you had the net two hundred thousand, well, people really love this and seventeen hundred students later, it's still going strong.

[00:21:35] It's the longest running, most successful, most unique internet marketing mentor program ever. You have a immersion trip, of course, when all this pandemic stuff's behind us to the retreat center here in Virginia Beach, you have a separate trip to shoot videos and our TV studio. You got a scholarship to our school and I think Joe is a graduate. I can't remember. Did you graduate our school, Joe? I did. Yeah, that's what I thought. So yeah, so it's the real deal, folks. And and also this is where we're giving the scholarships to help the persons with disabilities that we'd love to have your help on. But anyway, if you like high level training and high level touch, this is the place to come. Check out great internet marketing training, great internet marketing training gives you all the details and I'm very accessible. Joe, I'll tell you that, you know, so so if you have any questions, just get in touch with me and we'll knock them out.

[00:22:37] Let's get back to the main event. We got Joe Libby here. He's a comic magician and an entertainer and motivational speaker, and he's been all over the world, you know, plying his trade. So, so tell us more about the business of this, you know, because yeah, it's a lot of fun, but still, it is a business.

[00:22:56] It is a business. And when I first when I first started doing this as a business, I was trying to think if I even had a computer right at the beginning, much less the internet. So of course, at that time, you know, you did, you did your advertising and in magazines and in the yellow pages of the, of course, the internet changed all of that. And, you know, it's a matter of. Of advertising correctly, you know, having a having a website that that motivates people to want to contact you and and then of course, delivering or even over delivering on the promises you make.

[00:23:44] Now, do they they pay a deposit, you know, to secure the date?

[00:23:48] Typically, yeah, most of the time they'll pay. Sometimes I'll I'll I'll offer them a small discount if if if they can pay in full and sometimes they can do that otherwise. Yeah, I'll I'll accept half down and then half when I arrived for the show.

[00:24:06] Ok. Ok, good. And now did you get paid in rubles when you went to the Soviet Union to to help that? That's not to make people disappear.

[00:24:17] I this was this was this was before this was before Putin. I was I was actually there with a theater group of just about a year before the Soviet Union fell. So we were there in 1990. And and I was able to I was in the in the shows that we were doing. But I also performed performed a little magic when I could and and also a little bit of ventriloquism. And the funny thing is is that is that even though a lot of the people spoke no English at all, they really responded to the visuals. Mm hmm.

[00:24:58] Mm hmm. Yeah. Now, did you do any ballet while you were there?

[00:25:03] I did. And I don't think you'd want to see me do that so.

[00:25:09] Oh, boy, so so now where do they find your your books and stuff and and also before we have even tell them that if somebody was listening to this and say, you know, that sounds like a blast, I love the idea of magic and magic shows where does somebody start? I mean, if they didn't start when they were seven, can they still get skills nowadays?

[00:25:33] Oh, of course, absolutely. I'll tell you one. One thing that that people can do is that if if they want to start, you know, learning a little bit of magic, whether whether they want to build their own show or whether they just want to have a couple of things to show during meetings or just icebreakers for friends. One thing that they can do is that they can visit my website and we can put this in the show, notes Tom. If they want to download a free magic trick, something that looks really cool. It's kind of an optical illusion, but is very easy to do. They can go to JoeLibbyseminars.com/freemagictrick.

[00:26:31] Free magic trick. Right, right. Right. All right. Is that now, where can they find the books,

[00:26:40] They can find the books on my website, on Joe Libby seminars, if they are voracious Kindle readers, they can. They can also find the books Hot Magic and Presto on Amazon.

[00:26:54] All right. And yeah. Great, this is fun, a lot of fun, you know, you can make make money doing stuff that makes everybody happy and fun. You know, it's like, you know, when I got out of the bar business, you know, people trying to kill me basically try to kill me. So I got into the entertainment business and not one person hit me with a beer bottle the whole time.

[00:27:18] Nobody, nobody wants. Nobody wants to kill you if you're making them laugh.

[00:27:21] Exactly right.

[00:27:22] Yeah.

[00:27:24] So, so wonderful. Glad you could come on, Joe.

[00:27:29] Thanks for having me, Tom. I appreciate it.

[00:27:31] Yeah, everybody. So check out Joe. That's joelibbyseminars.com/FreeMagicTrick and then check out on the home page. You can lead you to the hot magic. Book the Presto book or if you like to get off Amazon Kindle there over there too. So. Absolutely. Sounds good. All right, we'll catch everybody in the next episode. Guess what? Joe and I are disappearing.