As the corporate side of my business continues to grow alongside the development of my YouTube/Instagram presence, I often think back to the online collaborations that served as building blocks for what I have now managed to turn into a fairly significant social media following (377K+ subscribers!). Without a doubt, the opportunities provided to me by my early online partners gave me the ability to make my name known across a number of internet platforms….

Ever since I was a kid, I knew that my goal was to one day become a professional magician and performer; practicing with magic kits and putting on shows for the neighborhood was my favorite thing to do growing up, and my intention to turn magic into a career was consistent all the way through college until I set out to start my own business. Still, the entertainment industry is a difficult one to make…

How I Have Achieved Near-Perfect Reviews As the old adage states, “word of mouth is the best advertisement” – no matter your industry or field, if you can manage to leave such a lasting impact on your customers that they will recommend you to their friends, you are tapping into the most credible form of publicity available. With the internet becoming an increasingly important source of information for consumers looking for high quality services, however,…

The beginning of 2019 has been busy for my team and I, both through our main entertainment business Rick Smith Jr., Inc. and also via our charitable organization Magic Gives Back. With different reward tiers corresponding to various amounts of ticket sales (autographs, backstage passes, pizza parties, etc.), we are getting students involved in the process of fundraising. In fact, the idea behind MGB is to make giving back fun; by encouraging students to sell tickets to a…

It’s no secret that the entertainment industry is quite competitive, and performers of all kinds must work tirelessly to become and remain the best as a result. Not only does this mean that I have to continue to perfect the tricks that I already have, but also that staying at the top requires constant improvements to my arsenal of tricks and illusions. Still, this doesn’t mean that I don’t love every second of my job…

As most seasoned professionals in the entertainment business know, the travel associated with performing can quickly become tiresome and lonely; especially for those hoping not to empty their wallets while working in order to fill them, navigating a life on the road often requires a certain degree of wisdom and long-term relationship building. Having spent many years traveling around Ohio and the United States as a whole while building and maintaining my magic business, I…

Towards the beginning of my career as a magician and entertainer, I was about as social-media averse as they come; not only was the internet a very different place in the early 2000s, but it was not yet advanced enough that it was giving rise to these simultaneous online platforms for advertising and places to post cat videos! Around the time of the explosion of Facebook, however, it became clear to me (and most other…

During my career, I have luckily experienced many more outstanding positive moments than negative ones; due to a combination of hard work, preparation, and a little luck, things have gone my way more often than not as I continue to expand and build my magic and card throwing performance brand. Still, it would have been impossible to completely avoid all setbacks throughout my career, and I have had my share of roadblocks over the past…

The next morning, we woke up and instantly started tackling all of the paperwork, preparation, and practice that needed to be taken care of before show time. When all of this was finished and we walked over to the studio, we were placed in a pre-screening room where we would wait before going on. When the time had come, I was loaded into my metamorphosis box and it was set on the main stage. What…