RE-INVENTING YOURSELF IS NO EASY TRICK!
Brett Barry: Performer, Mind-reader, Entrepreneur
“My cash flow went to zero!”
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT IS OVER
Brett Barry was at the top of his game as a mind-reading performer at national conventions. In January of this year he had a string of lucrative bookings for the upcoming year. By the end of February, he says: “Thanks to Covid, I started getting uncomfortable shaking hands with strangers. Two weeks later, my bookings came to a halt. My cash flow went to zero.” Brett Barry performs mind-reading entertainment for conventions, cruise ships and private parties, mostly in Phoenix but around the country and abroad. Today he’s on unemployment!
Brett says that even though he’s not psychic, he’s sure things won’t get back to normal in his industry for at least over a year. And he's darn angry about it.
His mind-reading act brings him face to face, and hand to elbow, with his audience as he mingles through cocktails and invites people to join him on stage. He gets paid well because he gives his audience an opportunity to warm up to each other, share their stories, and have fun in a big crowd. Until people feel safe in being social in large crowds, his industry may be among the last to get back on its feet.
SECONDARY INCOME NOT ADEQUATE
He’s got a secondary business privately creating magic tricks and equipment for other performers. (Some of them are the biggest names in Las Vegas.) These income sources help, but they aren’t sufficient. The real money for him comes from his gigs as a performer. In fact, some of his biggest corporate clients have demanded their ‘non-refundable’ deposits be returned and, while it puts him unfairly in the hole, Brett has decided not to challenge them on it. He doesn’t want to jeopardize relationships with these big clients. Today, Brett tells me he’s getting unemployment checks and preparing to move on to a job in sales.
NOT BRETT’S FIRST (ECON-DISASTER) RODEO
Like the canary in the coal mine, this is the SECOND economic disaster that has sidelined Brett’s ambitions.
Going into the housing bubble of 2008, Brett was one of the top real estate brokers in one of the country’s top markets. A full year before the market went bust, Brett noticed cracks in the foundations of the real estate industry and tried to help his clients get out of the market while there still was time. “One guy would come to me wanting to sell their house for $325,000 and I told him he’s not going to get more than $200,000. The guy walked out of my real estate office, listed with another agent at $300,000 and the house didn’t sell. Once the bubble had burst, the best he got was $125,000.”
Nobody was listening when Brett saw the upcoming collapse. He got out of the business just as the banks began repossessing foreclosed houses. That’s when he turned to a childhood hobby performing magic tricks and reading minds. It was his adult skills as a salesman than helped him turn it into a profitable career.
HOW TO RE-INVENT YOURSELF
Follow Your Passions:
Brett had always loved performing magic tricks and doing mind-reading stunts. Magic wasn’t his professional interest, but he loved it enough to entertain his children and their friends.
2. Smart Luck:
Brett was approached by another parent at his kid’s school who saw him entertaining the children. They mistakenly thought he was a pro and asked what he would charge to perform at a corporate event. He had no idea what to charge and wasn’t even sure if he wanted to do it. He said he didn’t want to talk about it in front of the children and would call back that evening. He decided he’d give it a try, researched the rates people charge and called up to make his first booking!
3. Use Old Skills to Build New Business:
As a (real estate) salesman, Brett knew how to find ‘prospects.’ He went to all the big resorts in the Phoenix area and asked to speak to the hotel banquet managers. He wanted them to hire him to perform at the conventions booked into their hotels. That’s when he discovered he was talking to the wrong people. The banquet managers don’t book people like him at their hotels. There’s a whole industry called Destination Management, which works with large corporate clients to book retreats and conventions at hotels all over the world. These destination managers are the ones who make deals with the hotels, the airlines and manage all the details, including hiring entertainers like Brett. It took some time to develop rapport with these companies, but once he did Brett’s bookings took off.
STAY TUNED FOR WHAT’S NEXT
Now that the virus has crippled his part of the entertainment industry, Brett has to decide what to do next. Since he expects no bookings for the next year or two, he’s looking to move in new directions. He thinks he’ll end up in some form of sales, and right now he’s trying to figure where to go.