167 – Eight year old magician rocks the LA Times: Tom interviews Judy Carter

Episode 167 – Judy Carter
[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, it's Tom here with episode 167 of Screw the Commute podcast, we got Judy Carter. The famous Judy Carter is here with us. And in case you didn't know it, she is the author of The Bible. I'll tell you about that in a moment and hope you did miss Episode 166. That was on leasing commercial space. This is something you got a lot of details. This is not something to play and just go off of my podcast and go rent a warehouse. I mean, this is something you got to get a lawyer involved. But the more, you know, ahead of time, the better deals you can make and you'll have a lot better time. So make sure you listen 166. If you if you are going not to screw the commute and you're going to lease some space, you better know what you're doing. Also, please tell your friends about this podcast. You know, there's probably somebody in your life that's either in a business and struggling or or wanting to start a business. So this is the place to be. And they can also get a podcast app. And so could you at the iTunes store if you go to screwthecommute.com/app. We've got the complete instructions. You can download it and take us with you on the road. Now, I also have a big thank you for everybody listening to this podcast is my twenty seven dollar e-book, How to Automate Your Business. And just one of the tips in this e-book has saved me over seven and a half million keystrokes and there's tons of automation techniques. I've got to hundred and fifty thousand subscribers and 40000 customers, just one part time temp person. All right. And she didn't even handle customers. Right. So these are very, very powerful yet inexpensive tools. And you'll learn all about them. And also, if you go over there, I've got a special little extra for you it's a white paper on what I learned after doing 130 quality podcasts, and now we're almost up to 170. But that will really help you if you're doing podcasts with all the equipment I use pictures and the strategies and all that stuff. So make sure you check that out at screwthecommute.com/automatefree. Now I'm looking for affiliates. I'm looking for people to have influence out there for different groups and that they believe in me. Maybe you've listened to a lot of these podcasts because they've got a very active affiliate program and commissions can be in excess of 5000 dollars. So in all ranges we have everything from ten or twelve dollars up to, like I said, in excess of 5000. So. So if you are interested that e-mail me at orders@antion.com and tell me how you think you might promote it. We'll get together on the phone and kick it around and hopefully I'll be sending you some big checks.

[00:03:15] All right. Let's get to the main event. Judy Carter was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey after writing her first book, Stand Up Comedy, The Book. And Judy went from playing Vegas as a headlining standup comic to becoming an in demand corporate speaker. And she speaks on the power of purpose to overcome stress and navigate change. And she was featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNN, as well as being a frequent contributor to NPR's All Things Considered. And she really doesn't like to brag. So I'm going to tell you about this. But she did write the Bible. She's the author of The Comedy Bible by Simon and Schuster, as well as The Message of You by St. Martin's Press, and she currently runs online classes at themessageofyou.com. We'll, of course, have that in the show notes for you. And a little later, she's going to have a great freebie for you. At The Message of You participants get instructed on how to turn their story into a money making speaking career. Judy, are you ready to screw. The commute.

[00:04:25] Not without dinner and a movie.

[00:04:29] I'll email that to you. I'll tell you what, it's been a long time since I talked to you and I missed you. Tell everybody what you're doing right right now. And then we're going to take you back all the way to bring you up the show, how you became such a fantastic entrepreneur.

[00:04:54] Well, I have to tell you, you've really helped me. You know, when I first started being entrepreneur. Well, that was when I was eight. You didn't help me back then. I don't think we met. But when I turned to speaking, you really have some great tips. So people in the audience, Tom, really, you know, I remember I was gonna be hiring all these people to help me go do it yourself by hire a kid. Judy, what are you talking about? Do it yourself. So what I do now is, you know, you go to a meeting at a corporation and they have blah, blah, blah, blah. The CFO speaks. It's just.

[00:05:31] So you want to shoot yourself.

[00:05:33] Oh, yeah. You want to poke your eyes out with a pencil. And so I'm a former stand up comic and I discover that companies will pay a lot of money if you have a message and they don't pay that much money if you're a comic. But if you have a message, they are looking for people that can really liven up and give a lot of energy and motivation to their employees. And apparently that's worth a lot of money. And even first class travel. So, yes, it was nice going from comedy clubs where it's like, yeah, you get a hamburger and had to do two orange roughy. First class, sir. And that's the way. Well, I like a lot of people who really want to do TED talks and they want it. They want to put themselves out there as an expert. And so I help them do it.

[00:06:35] Yeah. And that's the way I exactly the way I came up because I came out of professional comedy. I wrote a professional comic for six years. And then very quickly, I learned that, you know, coming in as a humorist was not the best idea. It's best to come in as an expert who's entertaining and your fee is way higher. And then there's another little, little thing on the side here, Judy. I don't know if you're aware of. But but if you're just straight entertainment, you're only half tax deductible to the company. Did you know that? Meals and entertainment, you know, just look at your own taxes. They're 50 percent tax deductible. Not fully.

[00:07:24] Well, that's that's fascinating. Yes. Find that if you have a message that can help them earn more money, then you become more valuable and they're willing to pay you what I think is kind of insane amounts of money.

[00:07:42] t is. But take the check. Take the check.

[00:07:46] Yes. You know, ice against super nervous before I perform. And now I realize if I do really like bad, I nothing happens and I get a check. And if I really killer, nothing happens and I get a check. So that's helped reduce my fear.

[00:08:05] Well, it's another thing, too, that if you're an entertaining speaker, the bar isn't as high as that is that you're a comic if you're supposed to be the comic to make everybody laugh. I mean, you've got a high bar, but if you're making points and getting the information across and it's entertaining, it's kind of a surprise to many of them rather than the expectations. So the laughter comes easier.

[00:08:29] 100 percent if you're a comic. Your laugh per minute needs to be six laughs a minute. Right. Means every 10 seconds. Now, when you're a speaker, you can use stories, right? And I've also found that people love drama. Like when I. I now have a story that really touches people's hearts. It's such a beautiful connection and I've learned that sometimes that's even more powerful than having a room full of laughter. So I help people, you know, find those stories and then the message within them to to find their message, because I do believe everybody has a central message. And that's why I wrote the book, The Message of You to help people find it.

[00:09:23] Yeah. And when you have that ability that Judy can teach you of being able to go to those extremes of emotion on one hand and then laughter on the other, which is another type of emotion. I mean, you could write your ticket. I mean, because you'll be able to touch everybody in the audience, you know, instead of just one faction. If you're really good at emotion and you got a bunch of people that are, you know, kind of stoic, then you hit them with laughter. Now you've got everybody.

[00:09:51] And you're not only if. I mean, we're talking about speaking now, but everybody listening now on this program, if you're an entrepreneur, you need to have three essential stories. You need to have the story of your business. And the most stories about businesses are you might notice that Apple and Microsoft have the same exact story like Microsoft is, you know, we started in a garage. We didn't even have an office. Now look at us. We sell Office. But, you know, so it's this mess to success of one's business. And that's an important thing to have on your Web site. And then there's the the story of your customer. You know, my customers start with they don't know. And maybe it's mess to success like your what your need, you take your your customers on and a store can be a sentence or can be an hour or so. It can be anything. But, you know, that story of testimonials. Every time I have a client give a testimonial and I videotape them, I go, tell me when where you started, because they'll go like, oh, Judy, help me knowing I have a book deal. Now I'm doing TED talks. I go no, no, no. Talk about the confusion. You didn't know what you would. Talk to me about your starting point. And then your end point. So you create these testimonial stories and then the last story is that you have is what is your personal heart story? Matter of fact, people stay to the end of this. I'm going to tell them, give them and credibly free learning experience about how they can find their heart's story. But you start with your own mess. Because like, let's just say I'm a speaker and I'm speaking for eighty five hundred and I'm speaking with, you know, Bill Clinton whenever. OK. It's impressive, but it's more impressive when you learn that I was a kid with a speech impediment.

[00:12:02] I didn't know that.

[00:12:05] It was so bad I couldn't say the word impediment, which is a kind of mean word. They should say of speech because then I could say. So we want to start with your own mess. And because that's probably why you started your business, because you something in your childhood that was not right. That you wanted to fix. And that's how we find that in our essential story, our heart story. So those three stories are whether you're going to speak or not speak. It's very important to know those and put on your Web site, put it everywhere.

[00:12:46] You know, it's almost the kind of reminds me of the the weight loss before and after pictures. No matter how easy they are, they totally catch you. If you're worried about losing weight. Right.

[00:12:58] Right. You see a skinny person. Ah, who cares, right? Any person. But then when you see that they once weighed 300 pounds, it's like, oh, my God, that's phenomenal. Sign me up. How do I do this. And it's the same thing with your you know, with your business or whatever it is that you are doing. You want to show your customers what a mess they were before they met you.

[00:13:23] Yeah, for sure. And then I know you did mention briefly about like a story could be 1 minute or longer. But I teach people have three different lengths of the story because if you have plenty of time, which is always not which is not usually, but you can extend that if you have a shorter time, you can. You don't sweat it out and messing it up. You have a medium length and then you have a really short length for publicity and radio and TV interviews. So that's that's a good help. Speaking of going back to your childhood, let's go back to yours. I didn't know about the speech impediment. So were you entrepreneurial when you grew up or what kind of kid were you?

[00:14:02] Oh, I had such a huge business when I was eight Tom. Huge. It really was if you equate for inflation. I'm making about the same. Well, what happened was I that I when I saw Magic show, my life changed. I just wanted to to be a magician. And my father, you know, girls aren't magicians. Oh, he was so mean. You be the assistant. And I go. I don't want to be assistant. I mean, I knew who was, you know, cleaning up the and folding like this guy. I wanted to do the magic. That's what I wanted it. Like I said, I I I was from a very troubled family. I had a sister who was severely disabled. And so I wanted I wanted that kind of power. And I went to the library and I found books on magic. And so I had a terrible speech impediment that the books had something called patter. And so it told you, it was like a complete way to have an act. This is what you do. And this is what you say. So is able to practice. And then next thing you know, I got together with my neighbor, PG. She was nine. I was eight. And we printed up business cards. And then you actually we had a toy printing press. And and and we started a birthday party business. And I and I developed like the birthday party trick. And after I did this fabulous trick with the birthday girl or boy, I said, now what didn't you want Magica the magician to come to your birthday party?

[00:15:48] That was your name, Magica?

[00:15:50] Yeah, magica. And I said, put this card in your shoe. Now let's practice what you're going to say to your parents. I want Magica the Magician. That's all. I'll say that to our parents. So I had enormous entrepreneurial skill. And then and then and I still have my recipe box, which every every gig I get, I have a card. So as my and my first CRM program. And then then each year I'd call like a couple months ago. Hello, Mrs. Johnson. Jimmy was seven. Now he's going to be. Hold. Look at card. He's going to be eight. We've added the accordion now. And and and and I had enormous amount of repeat business. So by the time I was nine, I learned about sales calls, keeping in touch with your clients, keeping track of everybody and everything I ever needed to know. I really learned when I was eight.

[00:16:59] Now, what was your friend? How was your friend involved.

[00:17:02] Well, PG. See, because I couldn't talk well, she had right things out for me and so then she goes, I think we need more publicity. Let's do a backyard benefit. Take voluntary contributions and and let's call the newspaper. So we called up The L.A. Times, which is a kids pick up. Hi. I'm a girl magician and I have a good deed up my sleeve. Anyway, L.A. Times came by, took a huge spread. You know, pictures. We donated to Cedar Sinai Hospital. And that's when I learned about publicity.

[00:17:44] How old were you at this time?

[00:17:48] I was 10.

[00:17:48] Oh, wow. You're a seasoned seasoned by then.

[00:17:52] Well, I was I was seasoned entrepreneur. And and the truth is, my life hasn't really changed that much. And what I learned back then, I still use and, you know, sometimes I look at myself in a mirror and I go, wow, this pantsuit cost me like three jokes. My house cost me a million jokes. And I've been able to, except for a brief period, make a living. Not having a job.

[00:18:29] Really beautiful. You screwed the commute since you're a kid. Did you pay PG as a 1099 contractor?

[00:18:38] Well let's see the fee for the magic shows. Two dollars. Seventy five cents. I kept one Twenty five. When we were 15. She decided to split it and she would pay for the inventory for the magic tricks. But by 15 it didn't work out by 15 and a half I bought her out.

[00:18:59] Yeah. Yeah. You know, acquired her shares. All right. So but take us up through there, because you were working in Vegas, right? I mean, that was you. Were you always a comic or a comic magician?

[00:19:18] Well, you know, I was I was a magician. I was traveling with huge escape from a garbage can, were tied up with twist ties. And I was traveling Tom with like huge luggage, like garbage cans.

[00:19:34] Yeah, almost like Carrot Top or something.

[00:19:37] It was crazy. But then one day as my tricks didn't come and it was Chicago is kind of a mafia place that you got to go on. And I don't have my tricks. We don't care, little lady. You don't have tricks. You're going on. And and that's when I just got up and started telling jokes and realized I've been hiding behind these tricks. I can be funny. And then I did that. And then that turned into to feel lonely life sometimes forty six weeks of the year on the road.

[00:20:16] And this why this was at a time where female comedy comedians were embraced, right?

[00:20:22] Oh, like they are now. So much.

[00:20:25] Well, I mean, comparatively.

[00:20:28] No, it was it's still bad. It's hasn't changed very much. No, it's never been easy. At the time, I think Elayne Boosler and myself were the only women on the road. Of course he was like Lily Tomlin and Totie Fields before her. And, you know, but but it it it wasn't it wasn't easy. And I quit because I wasn't enjoying my life. And I wanted to do something different. And that's when I started to write a book and my book was rejected from fifty nine agents. So that's all you have something you want to do and you get rejected. Keep on going. Because number 60 might be at. Number 60 was it.

[00:21:16] Well kinda good you didn't keep looking after you got accepted.

[00:21:23] That was it. And then Oprah Winfrey had me on her show.

[00:21:26] Yeah. How did that come about? She she found the book in her book club.

[00:21:31] This was she was doing her show. She had a regular TV show then. And this is a book that everybody said nobody's interested in learning how to do comedy. You know, it was such at the time when my first book came out, I think it was actually eighty nine, nineteen ninety one, something like that. But it was a long time ago. You know, not everybody wanted to be in the spotlight. So my book changed all of that. And Oprah, Random House published my book and then we got a call from Oprah who said, I'm very interested in female comedians and I want to do a show about housewives who do comedy. And I want to feature you and your book as the expert on the show. And and that's actually when I discovered speaking, because, you know, Oprah held my book next to her, next to herself in it. You know, anyone anything she holds next to her chest becomes very. Whether it's a book or Obama or anything. And. And next thing you know, I got a call from corporations going, can you help us lighten up? Can you come speak? And and then my. And then the comedy boom happened. And nobody knew how to do comedy. They just all they knew is that they wanted to do it. And my book later, the comedy Bible was a rewrite of it became the go to book. If you wanted to write a sitcom or if you wanted to do standup or whatever you want to do, it became the go to book. So that's how that all happened.

[00:23:15] That's crazy. So you never actually had a job then? Right.

[00:23:19] So I was a teacher, but apparently being the class clown is not appropriate for the teacher. I got fired. And that was the only job I ever had.

[00:23:34] How long did that last.

[00:23:35] Two years.

[00:23:36] So I guess it was that you planned on your exit?

[00:23:40] No, no. But I had always been performing, you know. And then I became the first woman to work the Magic Castle.

[00:23:50] Well, tell everybody what that is if they don't know.

[00:23:53] The Magic Castle's where I live in Los Angeles and it's in Hollywood. And it's a place for magicians and everybody dresses up very fancy. It's a beautiful place. And basically they drink a lot and watch magic shows. And it's a real castle. And you go in and out of rooms. It's a private club for magicians. Invite only.

[00:24:14] I've been there a couple times. You go through this sliding like bookcases, hidden bookcase to get in the place.

[00:24:22] Yeah. You know, open sesame and you get in and very cool place. So when I first performed there, one of the magicians actually carried me out. He went like, yeah. Women don't belong here. Yes, a lot of that. So nonsense. So there you go.

[00:24:44] So. So you have a freebie for everybody, right?

[00:24:49] Yes, I do. Because a lot of people look at my life and go, wow. You don't have a job and you're making money. How do I do that? I think, oh, can I take you out to lunch?

[00:25:04] All right. You want to get everything I know and just give me a piece of salmon. I mean, I do like salmon, but I think you thought I went. You know, I can't stand this anymore. So I created a complete online site on how people can either turn their promises into punchlines, be funny, but find their message and find a commercial message. What on a what I call a workable topic, find their stories and turn it into a paid speaking career. And so many of the people on the site are off like working like crazy. It's just wonderful to see because we also gather twice a month. And we see what people are doing. And everybody gets feedback. So it's really a phenomenal thing. And I want to give the people listening here a free look at it.

[00:26:06] You gather online or what? So anybody anywhere can do this. They don't have to live in Los Angeles.

[00:26:15] No because we all do it online and we all meet and they're actually people from all over the world. So if they if you email me, if you're listening to this and you are interested in finding your message and you feel you might have something, your life means something that can be used to inspire others. Email me. I'll give you the email address. free@judycarter.com. So if you email me, I'll give you an instant link that you then can go out and start making a living as a speaker, even if you don't want to make a living. It's so important to know your message because every entrepreneur I have so many of the members of the message of you, they're like accountants. They want to help people with retirement. Some people don't have, like really, you know, a sensational show busy lives, but they use speaking as a way to get new clients and customers. And so some people speak for free. And when you know how to speak in a certain way that inspires people rather than puts them to sleep, it's amazing how many people you can enroll.

[00:27:46] I mean, every day I get one of these things where, you know, it's a free steak. Ruth Chris's if you come down for a financial planning thing or I've got one from plumbers, you know, show you how to remodel your bathroom. And they know once they show you how to do it, you'll say, the hell with this. You do it. So, yeah. So that's great. So it's free@judycarter.com. We'll have that in the show notes for everybody. And we got to take a brief sponsor break and when we come back we'll ask Judy what's a typical day look like for her if she's not screwing the commute. And if you're if you're going to screw the commute, where she lives is the perfect place to screw the commute. Let me tell you, because I visit there once in a while and I just sit there, look at the scenery, all the cars around me, because the traffic is crazy. So that's not a place you want to commute.

[00:28:36] Anyway, folks, I turned the Internet training world on its head around the year 2000. I like to say the turn of the century because people at my level were charging 50 or 100 grand up front to teach people Internet marketing techniques. And I said, yeah, that's too much money to to charge people. And you're putting them in financial risk. And half the people doing it were rip offs. Anyway, once they got their money, they got your money, they ran. So I kind of turned it upside down by giving a relatively small entry fee and then taking a percentage of profits that's capped. So for me to get my big money, you got to make really big money. So seventeen hundred students later and 20 years later, it's still going strong because people love that model. They know I'm not going to disappear on him. And it's the most successful and most unique program in the Internet marketing field ever. Part of the uniqueness as you spend an immersion weekend here, right where I'm sitting in the great Internet Marketing Retreat Center. You actually live in the house with a small group for an immersion weekend. You also get a scholarship to my Internet marketing school, which is the only licensed, dedicated Internet marketing school in the country. The scholarship is worth nineteen thousand one hundred dollars. It's it's extremely unique and it's one on one with myself and my entire staff. We just don't lump you together and just throw stuff at you. We want results from you because guess what? I won't get my money unless you make money. I could I could just lump in with a bunch of other people. So that's the nature of the program. You want all the details? Check it out at greatinternetmarketingtraining.com and we'll have it in the show notes along with Judy's stuff at episode 167. So screwthecommute.com/167 and you'll be able to get that address for Judy's freebie and check out the Internet training program.

[00:30:36] All right. Let's get back to the main event. Judy Carter's here with us. And Judy, what's a typical day look like for you now?

[00:30:43] Well, a typical day right now is up and 530 a.m. And writing, because I'm writing the comedy Bible, the New Testament. And that's right. The new company. But I don't know if it's going to be the new comedy Bible, the New Testament, too much new in it anyway. So because as I get you know, I'm in. Entrepreneurs are French word, and I think it means I work in my underwear. I'm working and I can only write early in the morning because no one's up. Nobody's bugging me. And I can get like three hours in. And then the rest of the day is really spent taking care of all the projects marketing. You know, writing maybe a speech like I just did a speech out in Chautauqua New York, and that had to be written. And so is always things that have to be done.

[00:31:50] Do you have a staff?

[00:31:52] Yes. So one person and my dog.

[00:31:58] Which one works better?

[00:32:00] I think the dog, although the dog the dog was listens to my act over and over again and doesn't complain.

[00:32:08] That's good. So you got one person helping you. You got three hours of writing in. And so you're starting to take care of people and marketing and how does the rest of the day go.

[00:32:19] I found some really good things. My email has been very frustrating for me. And then I found G mail and then I found a program called Yanado and it's a plug in for G mail. And you can just turn your emails into tasks and then put a date where you're going to work on them so they get out of your inbox was actually clean my inbox out. And then I go look and I can search through tasks and that email comes up with it. So that's been a really good thing. That's been a really good app. I find some apps are extremely helpful. We also have a podcast called themessageofyou.com and we record like a month's worth all in one sitting. And that's for to give people motivation on how to sustain their business because, you know, a lot of people get an idea for a business and then they procrastinate and what have you. And so to keep on purpose, you know, this is a weekly broadcast to inspire people and and remind them of why they do what they do. It's called the Power of Purpose Podcast with Judy Carter available wherever you have podcasts. And then a lot of people come on the show. I have a lot of successful people come on the show who are writers, producers. And the podcast is mostly for comic speakers and writers to keep on going, to keep to keep being inspired.

[00:34:08] It sounds sounds great. So what do you like best about working for yourself? What's the worst part?

[00:34:14] Well, the the worst part is, you know, the writing and to keep doing it and and and it seems endless now. What you have to do to be an entrepreneur. Sometimes I have a fantasy. And the fantasy is that I'm working in a factory and I have to put a nut on a screw. And I go home and I don't think about did I do it OK? Did I do it wrong. What do people think about the 24th screw that I put on the nut and I don't fret about it. So I think there's a pleasure sometimes in doing physical things in the world that you don't fret about. And I think what we do as entrepreneurs is we wear so many different hats. We can't do all of them perfectly. And there's a lot of fretting about it because, you know, if you succeed, it's just you. And if you fail, it's just you. And I think that sometimes, you know, we all can use some help. And sometimes getting that help is almost like opening your front door and just throwing money out because it's not the right help. And I think that's very difficult to really find quality people who are affordable that will help you get the results that you want.

[00:35:48] Yes. You know, it's more like the toilet because you throw it out the front door, you could walk out and pick it up.

[00:35:55] I was thinking about a windy day, Tom.

[00:35:58] Well, that's good. Yeah. That's for sure. Find incredible help with that. I actually have a document to help people do that if they want to e-mail me at orders@antion.com. How to pick the right help without getting in trouble or getting ripped off. So anyway, thanks so much for visiting with us. Judy, it's been a blast to catch up with you. I didn't know a lot that early. I knew was going to be fun talking. I didn't know that you were. You dominated your neighborhood at eight years ago.

[00:36:28] Thank you, Tom. And it's great being in your top 200, I guess.

[00:36:34] Well, I've been trying to get a hold of yourself since we started a year and a half ago, which you just you know, it's hard to get a hold of superstars that have been on Oprah.

[00:36:41] You know, it's it's a pleasure. You have a really, really good no nonsense, no B.S., nuts and bolts to bring back another reference, ways of really helping people. And I appreciate what you do.

[00:36:55] There was the beautiful callback. And we'll tell them what that is when they read your book. Everybody, thanks so much. Make sure you get to the show notes and get that freebie from Judy, because that is that's gold right there.

[00:37:08] free@JudyCarter.com. All you have to do is e mail it, you know, and that's that.

[00:37:15] There you go. Will it come back automatically anytime or you actually get it and respond to it?

[00:37:22] Well, I respond to every email I get.

[00:37:25] No, but I mean, is it automated where it just kicks back instantly? Okay, great. Okay. Free@JudyCarter.com. So you can as soon as you hear this go over and get it. And also check the show notes if you if you forget.

[00:37:39] Yeah. And I'm also going to include in something to listen to your car how to break through procrastination and get stuff done.

[00:37:49] So they can always get that later. Oh, don't do it. Do it. How folks do it out. So, all right. Everybody will catch y'all the next episode.

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