This week Jonah connects with Kevin Li. Kevin is a two-time contestant on Fool Us, and a prolific social media magician who expanded his business into virtual performances. Throughout this conversation he offers up tips on how to build your brand, your identity, and your magic from influences outside of the magical realm. 

A Walking Marketer

Kevin Li was lucky enough to get his start learning about magic from the Magic Castle itself but it wasn’t until College that he started to see magic as the legitimate and viable path for a career that it was. His parents took some convincing, of course, but there was no doubt in his mind that performing magic was the way forward for him.

Because of that Kevin has learned early on that he needed to be a walking marketer. When you’re performing there’s never a guarantee of the next gig or the next contract so you’re always having to put yourself out there and telling everyone what you do because you never know when that next show is going to be. 

Being Original Among Trends

Kevin is a prolific social media magician with a successful following on both TikTok and Instagram. But that didn’t happen because he followed the trends and in his conversation with Jonah he emphasizes how important it was to be original and not to copy the other trends happening on social media, especially in the realm of magic. 

In order to be the original performer he wanted to be, Kevin spends a lot of time consuming lots of non-magic media. He’s convinced that if you’re going to set out to produce a lot of content you need to be able to consume a lot of content and he offers tips and suggestions on how you can reach out and find your inspiration from other mediums and genres as well as advice on how to make trending videos of your own. 

Wrap-Up

Endless Chain

I’m gonna recommend my good friend and consultant Micky Wong. Micky is an incredible magician based in Hong Kong and he’s done a lot of consulting work, tv work, and he’s helped me with both my magic and script writing. He’s just well rounded in everything magic wise.  

What do you like about modern magic? What do you not like?

One thing I do like about modern magic is you’re able to experiment more. It’s not going to be too daunting to try out new things. I feel like the creativity there, people are more accepting of all kinds of ideas. Like, people are actually looking for new ideas all the time. They don’t wanna see the same stuff over and over again. That should make you more confident about trying new things.

One thing I don’t like is carbon copies of social media magicians. It’s not just a TikTok trend that everyone gets to copy. In magic it’s not the same, don’t be a carbon copy of one another. Please be original.      

Take home point

Be original but don’t forget to have fun. Sometimes when you’re so hooked on a specific idea or method and you visit it too long you can start hating it. 

Plugs

Instagram – @KevinLiMagic YouTube – Kevin Li Magic TikTok – @magickevinli

And for all things Supper Club visit the Rosalynn Magic Club

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