He can give you a succssful small business
In October 2009, David Blaine gave a TED talk entitled ‘How I held my breath for seventeen minutes’. During this talk he changed professions. Prior to the talk, he was an illusionist, a magician, a millionaire attention seeker. But then he gave the talk. During the talk he became someone who can tell us all a thing or two about how to grow a successful small business.
The Greatest Story Ever Told…
The best business professionals tell stories. This he does with aplomb. You may already know something about him, but here he tells his story as if it were the most incredible tale the world had ever heard. He talks about his love for Houdini, and how the great escape artist inspired him to become what he is today.
He goes through the challenges. Like having a tube (literally a thick plastic tube) shoved down his throat to see whether he could use it in his record attempt. There is footage of this. You might want to turn away.
He tells jokes. His life is unique. Funny things have happened to him. He’s got a sense of humour (check out the ‘before and after’ weight loss photos), and this draws the audience in.
He Gets Naked…
Being real about yourself makes connections with people easier. So back to the tube video again. This is something you wouldn’t naturally want to be on show to millions. But he does it. It reduces him to a human being. He looks vulnerable, a little stupid. We like him for it.
He cries at the end. Blaine has come under flak for his stage craft, but this is real. He cries and the tears come because he manages to finish the talk, and encapsulate his reason for being, all at the same time.
You get a sense of his drive, too. The man is tough. He has suffered for his art, his passion. This is genuine stuff, and it touches you.
He Completes Us…
Like any great business presentation, the talk has an incredibly compelling moment in it. An anchor, if you will.
For me it wasn’t the tube, or the crying, or the weight loss photos. It wasn’t even the humour.
It was a phrase he said, almost casually, around halfway through the talk.
He said ‘I think if something is done by one person it can be done by others.’
It is about two and a half minutes in, and he says it like he’s reading from a phone book. But it meant something to me.
That was my moment of connection. Right there.
David Blaine doesn’t know me, and he certainly doesn’t know the many thousands of people who will watch this video over time.
But he knows his story, he knows his business, and he knows why he does what he does.
Most importantly, he knows what the guy in the street is looking for when it comes to his product.
Magic, illusion, whatever you want to call it, is about shock and awe. And like business, it’s about connecting with people. He delivers all of this in his story, in the tube, the crying.
And for me, he delivered it in that one, fifteen word phrase.
I don’t even know what the video did to me, maybe you will have a different response, I don’t know.
But when you need to run a successful home business, every now and then you need simple, compelling inspiration to fire you up.
This is twenty minutes of simple, compelling inspiration.
Tell me if it touches you too.
Enjoy.
