5 Ways to Combat Perspiration
Funny Things
about Age
Bouncy Castle Public
Liability Insurance
Gaining Experience
Adverting methods
How to Work Better
I
Am Thankful For...
Donald
Trump's 10 Secrets of Entrepreneurial Success
Many entertainers, including myself, get incredibly hot while performing. When performing for children I no longer where a jacket. I just have a short sleeved shirt, waistcoat and colourful tie. However, on a hot day this still doesn't stop me sweating! Below is something I found in a magazine which may help other sweaty performers!
- Wash regularly to stop sweat reacting with bacteria on the skin
- Wear open-toed sandals whenever possible to let your feet get plenty of air
- Use a dusting powder to keep skin creases dry
- Choose natural fabrics that 'breathe' instead of man-made fibres
- Use an aluminium chloride hexahydrate antiperspirant such as Driclor Solution
GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:
1) No matter how
hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
2) When your Mum is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the
second person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.
GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:
1) Raising
teenagers is like nailing Jelly to a tree.
2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fibre, not the toy.
GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD
1) Growing old is
mandatory; growing up is optional.
2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down
there.
4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking
chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody
bothers to ask you the questions.
6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.
THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE:
1) You believe in
Santa Claus.
2) You don't believe in Santa Claus.
3) You are Santa Claus.
4) You look like Santa Claus.
SUCCESS:
At age 4 success
is . . .. not peeing in your pants.
At age 12 success is . . . having friends.
At age 17 success is . . . having a drivers licence.
At age 20 success is . . . going all the way.
At age 35 success is . . . having money.
At age 50 success is . . . having money.
At age 60 success is .. . going all the way.
At age 70 success is . . . having a drivers licence.
At age 75 success is . . . having friends.
At age 80
success is . . . not peeing in your pants.
Bouncy Castle Public Liability Insurance
This article
originally appeared in the Times newspaper.
Bouncy castles draw together a diverse mix of people all bent on releasing their inhibitions and freeing the inner child whatever their age. But, whatever you think of them, bouncy castles are tricky things to insure.
I carried out my research on the Internet. Google rendered a plethora of websites and links to topics concerning this great British pastime. One particularly helpful one was www.villagefetes.co.uk As well as offering advice on business start-ups and equipment sales/hire, it outlined the types of insurance available and the terminology. There are two types of cover. Wet hire for “operators who attend events, shows or functions where the inflatable amusements are always manned or supervised by the owner or trained staff member” and dry hire for “hirers who hire out inflatable amusements, where the customer or hirer is left to manage and operate the amusement themselves”.
It goes on to say that “dry hire cover has become increasingly harder to obtain over the past few years, with fewer and fewer companies offering this type of cover due to the high risk associated with it.” Dry cover appears to be the Holy Grail of this perilous insurance domain. I followed a link to David Kirby of Primo. He explained that he deals with leisureinsure, which is a wholesale broker that buys policies in bulk from QBE. In his opinion there is little alternative.
It would appear that few contenders could offer the long-term security of a QBE policy. In fact QBE has set the minimum premium benchmark of £262.50 for the first castle. He said there are two rating sets: one for children under 15 and one for adults over 15. I asked whether children and adults would be allowed on an inflatable at the same time. He was doubtful but agreed to investigate. He said that the trailer should be covered by my existing motor policy with a possible amendment. But what of the Holy Grail itself? I introduced the term ‘dry cover’ but Kirby seemed to think I was referring to weather conditions. When I explained that I intended to leave all responsibility in the hands of the hirer, he gasped and confessed that cover for such practice was virtually impossible to find.
In the meantime, further searches yielded the website of broker B Portwood & Co. It was clear that I had stumbled upon another disciple of leisureinsure. The conditions and rates for cover were well detailed. Public liability cover begins at £1m with an excess of £500. Damage to equipment is calculated at 3.2 % of the total value, which I gave as £2,000. The basic premium of £262.50 only applies to children’s castles. There was no mention of adults and the words ‘no dry cover’ warned that the Grail had eluded them too. My heart sank momentarily.
I plucked up my courage and dialled Portwood’s number. I was greeted by Margaret Calderbank who assured me that anything was possible. The Grail was within my reach and a quote would be with me imminently (Royal Mail permitting). Before she departed she mentioned Essex-based FSL, which boasts of a swift and peril-free route to the Grail. I rang and was answered by Tom Frisby who described a policy not unlike leisureinsure’s, also underwritten by an offshore company. The name Albion seemed reassuring enough.
I gave Frisby the details and value of my enterprise and explained that I was seeking dry cover. Frisby was already a step ahead. Subject to me issuing a hire agreement to waiver my responsibility for accidental injury to persons using the equipment when in the care of the hirer, he would email me a quote for public liability and all risks for physical loss or damage. Twenty minutes later he sent me a statement of fact, proposal form, quotation and a guide to public best practice. The terms differed only slightly from those of leisureinsure.
The excess for both types of cover would be £250. Children were defined as persons of 16 and under and adults as 17 and over. The premium was £656.26 inclusive of IPT. Poisoned chalice. The potential sting in the tail came at the end of the proposal. It turns out that Albion is based in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It’s not part of any compensation scheme or subject to the Financial Services And Markets Act [2000]. Is this the elusive Holy Grail or merely a poisoned chalice?
Two days later there was still no word from Kirby of Primo. But I did receive a nice fat package from B Portwood. It included a proposal form, prospectus with key features document and a copy of their terms and conditions. It quoted me a premium of £367.50 for public liability but no quote for damage to equipment. I decided to revisit Margaret Calderbank. She apologised. She didn’t realise I was looking for damage cover. Not surprisingly, she conjured up the magic figure £262.50 which added to the first gave me a total of £630. Desperate to know what had become of Kirby’s quote, I rang Primo. It transpired that Kirby had taken down my house number back to front. He apologised and promised to re-send the quote. The next day it arrived. The package consisted of pretty much the same bumf as Portwood’s. Interestingly, it quoted £315 for public liability. It also stated that I had requested products liability yet it failed to quote for it. I felt a sense of déjà vu and picked up the phone once more.
Again the magic figure £262.50 reared its head. I asked Kirby up to what value that figure would protect me. He did some calculations and said that £5,000 would see me comfortably within the window. To summarise, it would seem that it is a conflict between QBE and Albion. Though I received slightly different quotes from Primo and Portwood, it would appear that leisureinsure offers a reassuring and somewhat cheaper cover through QBE than the more expensive FSL/Albion quote.
This short but powerful article was written by Brian Lehr and originally appeared in The Magic Cafe.
Shipmate to Captain: "Sir,
how do you know which way to turn the ship in order to avoid all the
submerged rocks?"
Captain: "Experience, son, experience."
Shipmate: "And how did you get this experience?"
Captain: "Simple. I've hit all the rocks!"
Only two kinds of ways to get experience: learning from your own
mistakes, and learning from the mistakes of others. It's better to learn
from the mistakes of others (less personal shipwrecks), but in magic,
it's through personal experience that we will be enabled to develop an
highly-polished, exciting show for the kids.
This article was written by a bouncy castle hirer, but I think the information would be similar for all children's entertainers.
Different types of advertising and their usefulness:
Yellow pages. Very expensive but works well.
Yell.com. Very basic simple web package but does not really work. Also expensive.
Yell 118. Directory service. Expensive and its not accessible to every one. If you are Cable for example you cannot use 118 247 or indeed many other 118 systems.
Local directories. This works but is also expensive. Just choose the most popular ones.
Local Rags. Can work well but gets expensive if you go in them all. Stick to the ones that cover a small area (they are cheaper) as you wont want the distance ones anyway! Keep with the ones you choose long term, as people do not keep adverts. They just look when they require a service. You have got to be there 100% of the time.
Leaflet drops. Works sometimes - but is very labour intensive. Most leaflets are simply thrown away. They say 1 in 20 are read to any degree. 1 in every 100 will show any true interest.
Local shop windows. This can work sometimes. Put them in for 6 months at a time and then replace with a new one. Sun faded adverts look bad and reflects on your company.
By word and mouth. Recommendation is by far the best way to get bookings. It won't cost a cent and you have got your customers working for you. Make your number accessible to the parents of the kids attending a party.
My personal experience is that the best way to advertise is in the Yellow Pages. I have advertised in other local newspapers and magazines and they don't generate enough interest or simply don't work at all.
How to Work Better (from the Tate Modern)
- Do one thing at a time
- Know the problem
- Learn to listen
- Learn to ask questions
- Distinguish sense from nonsense
- Accept change as inevitable
- Admit mistakes
- Say it simply
- Be calm
- Smile
I Am Thankful For...
The partner who hogs the covers at night, because it means I have a
loving companion safe at home.
The child who is watching TV instead of cleaning his room, because it
means he is at home and not on the streets.
For the taxes that I pay, because it means I am employed.
For the mess to clean after a party, because it means friends have
surrounded me.
For the clothes that fit a little too snugly, because it means I have
enough to eat.
For my shadow that watches me work, because it means I am in the
sunshine.
For a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters
that need fixing, because it means I have a home.
For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot, because
it means I am capable of walking and that I have transportation.
For my huge heating/cooling bill, because it means I am warm/refreshed.
For the lady behind me in church who sings off-key, because it means
I can hear.
For the pile of laundry and ironing, because it means I have clothes
to wear.
For aching muscles at the end of the day, because it means I have been
capable of working hard.
For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours, because it means
I am alive.
And finally, for too much email, because it means I have friends who are
thinking of me.
Donald Trump's 10 Secrets of Entrepreneurial Success
1. Realize that
being an entrepreneur is not a group
effort. You're in charge. Everything starts with you.
2. Whatever happens, you're responsible. If it doesn't
happen, you're responsible.
3. Think of yourself as a one-man army. You're not
only the Commander in Chief, you're the soldier as
well. You must plan and execute your plan alone.
4. Don't expect anyone to be on your side.
5. Use your imagination. Use your intelligence to
execute what your imagination presents to you.
6. Put everything you've got into what you're doing.
Nothing should be haphazard.
7. Ask yourself: What is it I can provide that does
not yet exist?
8. See yourself as victorious. This will focus you in
the right direction.
9. See other people saying: "I wish I'd had that
idea."
10. Never give up. Be tough. Apply your skills and
talent, but above all, be tenacious