Speed and Swagger: Ten-Minute Trainer Guest Spot

Several weeks ago, I recorded a guest appearance on “The Speed and Swagger Ten-Minute Trainer,” a weekly podcast produced by Speed Marriott and Derron Steenbergen (aka Swagger). Their focus is primarily on issues relating to media sales, but with general applicability for sales and marketing. (I met Speed when we both spoke at the Mississippi Association […]

Interview in CanvasRebel

CanvasRebel is a web-based magazine that does spotlight articles on a variety of creatives and business professionals. They approached me for an interview several weeks ago and this is the result. CanvasRebel: Meet Joe M. Turner       Note: I appeared in a partner publication interview a couple of years ago. That interview can […]

Art, Commerce, and Mistaken Premises

In his thought provoking and inspiring page-a-day book Secret Agenda (Hermetic Press, 2010) the great magical artist-teacher Roberto Giobbi addresses the subject of “Commerce Versus Art” with an entry for April 16 that begins with these words: Commerce is about taking. You take more money, more market shares, more work, more customers, more frequent turnover, […]

7 Things About Magic That You Should Have Learned In Business School – #2

#2 – Mystery is valuable. It’s one of the primary rules of magic: don’t reveal the secret of the illusion. If you tell the audience your secrets, then the wonderful moment you created for them only seconds ago will lose a lot of its impact. Mystery, in the context of magic, is not about lying […]

Branding, Acting, and the Given Circumstances

Branding, Acting, and the Given Circumstances Sometimes we talk about the art of acting as if it were somehow dishonorable, and about nothing but lying and ego. But the reality is that great acting is about the truth, and understanding that can affect the way you make decisions about your brand and your real life […]

Pride Goes Before the Fall – So Stay Proud!

Pride Goes Before the Fall – So Stay Proud! I’m sure you’ve heard the idiom “Pride goes before the fall” sometime in your life. You may recognize it as coming from the Bible – Proverbs 16:18, to be exact. In the original context, it is a traditional two-part warning: “Pride goes before destruction, and a […]

Miley, Justin, and Personal Branding

Miley, Justin, and Personal Branding I didn’t watch the MTV Video Music Awards last night. I spent the evening listening to old ragtime music on YouTube. But like a man sheltered safely underground while the tornado passes over, eventually one has to come out and walk through the wreckage. So this morning, like many Americans, […]

Atlanta Magician on USA TODAY “Best in Cruise Entertainment” Team

Atlanta Magician and Speaker Joe M. Turner on Performance Team Named by USA TODAY as “Best in Cruise Entertainment” Remember that cruise I performed on in June as a member of the “Magic Castle at Sea” program on Crystal Cruises? If you’ve followed my Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ pages, you saw some photos from my […]

Five Kinds of Amazing, Part 1: Talent

Five Kinds of Amazing, Part 1: Talent Last time, we discussed the “Five Kinds of Amazing” model for increasing brand engagement. This week, we examine the first category in more detail. Further, we will begin to tie those experiences to business competencies. Within the genre of theatrical magic, there exists a branch of performance related […]