Post 5: Transitions
Posted By: Paul Nielsen
Posted: 11/4/2009
It's a sad day here in Clawson. After what seems like only a week as a guest blogger for Metromode, I'm being let go. I'd really like to thank both of you for reading these blogs, but they've only allowed me one phone call.
Hello, I'm Paul Nielsen from Wunderground Magic, Inc., and today we're going to be talking about moving on. Transitions in our lives are the moments we remember. They are the most difficult to accomplish, but potentially the most rewarding too. It is easy to go with what you already know, keep performing the same tasks, and hope that one day you can retire with a good pension. That's not going to work in today's economy.
There's a little town in southwestern Michigan called Colon, which bills itself as "The Magic Capital of the World." In a town hidden by cornfields, that's less than one mile square, there are three magic shops. In August of every year magicians from all over the world descend on Colon in an extravagant Get-Together where there is magic in the streets, at the restaurants, and in the schools. Famous celebrities rub elbows with aspiring stars scaling cards across the street to try to land them on top of the tallest building in town, which towers over Main Street at three stories. Colon was the summer home of Blackstone as he prepared his magical show of wonders to travel across the country.
Now, Colon is in danger of losing its title as the Magic Capital of the World. There is no reigning king of magicians who calls it a summer home. The theater where magicians would rehearse burned to the ground and was not replaced. The large magic companies that sold equipment through catalogs rivaling anything Sears ever published are being overtaken by dealers with flashier websites. Each year the attendance at the Get-Together grows smaller and smaller. The industry is moving out of state and overseas. Like metro Detroit, the town is in crisis, and in that crisis opportunities lie.
If you wanted to launch yourself as a magic performer, what better place to start than in Colon? Use the existing prestige of "From the World's Magic Capital" as publicity to help your career grow. Gain access to the insights of the greatest minds in the industry. Discover long forgotten libraries filled with the wisdom of generations. Build a better web site to replace the catalog sales. Invest in cheap real estate and build a theater. Create a tourist destination with quaint shops, museums, chicken dinners, and maybe a magic show. People come to see a show, and they leave disappointed. They need a place to go.
The opportunities in Colon could make you millions. The opportunities in metro Detroit could make you billions. We have the greatest labor force in the world, the best engineers, outstanding manufacturing facilities, shipping lanes, raw materials, fresh water, great universities, and bargain real estate. What we lack is an individual with the vision to create the magic to transform this nexus of opportunity into a financial beacon of the world. Business consultants like Fulcrum Edge can take your vision and create the plan you need to make it a reality. Who will be the next Henry Ford? Is it you?