Chasing Wonder with Taylor Hughes
Welcome, Taylor Hughes! Taylor is obsessed with helping people chase wonder. He fell in love with magic at 7 years old and has been passionate about it ever since. A couple of years ago, Taylor's wife challenged him to tell better stories, to do deeper than simply doing comedy in his shows. He switched from focusing on what trick to add to his shows to now looking for what stories he wants to tell in his shows, and then he works from that story backwards into the magical tricks he uses to highlight his point.
HOW DO YOU FUSE YOUR FAITH WITH YOUR BUSINESS?
Taylor spent 13 years on Church staff as a kids and student pastor. He always knew deep down that his calling was really to entertain, and so he took the leap, leaving his Church role so he could encourage people every single day. He's received tons of feedback from his audience about how his shows have made them think and take action to improve something, to fix something and generally take intentional steps to move closer to their purpose.
From a business perspective, he experiences the same roller coaster of emotions and feelings that every other entrepreneur feels, simply wrapped around a creative endeavor that's a whole lot of fun.
As he was figuring out his purpose, he wanted to test whether he really should be pursuing his dream so he sold all his Magic gear, gave up 6 months of future business to other magician friends, changed his phone number and completely cut himself off from the magical lifestyle.
He didn't perform for an entire year which confirmed to him that in fact, Magic and storytelling was the future path he needed to chase. So he did.
Treat people well. Your customers, clients and partners / agents. Be kind to them, show them respect and you'll benefit
As he's pursued his passion, he's also learned that traveling the country while making no money was a smart move by some of his peers, to build an audience and protect his future, opening up a way to be less dependent on others for business, and more in control of future opportunities.
It's not just profit but also purpose, why are you doing what you're doing?
COVID
In 2019 he did 127 events in person spending 110 nights away from home .In 2020 he did 3.Recognizing the need to change drastically as the world changed, Taylor innovated, faster than his peers, to adapt and evolve into someone that could embrace the changes 2020 brought with it. As a result of pivoting quickly and embracing technology to deliver amazing, remote events, he was able to improve revenue in 2020 compared to 2019.
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE REMEMBERED FOR?
Taylor's been working on being present more, focusing less on the destination and more on the now. His hope is that others would remember that he was always present in their interactions, in their conversations and in their lives.
WHAT ONE PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU LEAVE TO THE WORLD?
Stop waiting to do the things you want to do. Stop making excuses and go do the things you want to do. You don't need other people's permission, so go do it and find joy.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Taylor's hitting the road in September with his friend Bob Goff (coming up on next week's episode!), for a road trip around Texas and the south east, telling stories, doing magic and being love.
KEY QUOTES
Take what you do seriously, but don't ever take yourself seriously.
The world is amazing and we're flying through space.
If you're ever given a microphone you should use it to build people up.
That magic kit that my parents bought me when I was 7 years old has bought everything I have in my life today.
A magician is just an actor playing the part of a magician.
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