Magic of Believing: Inside an Atypical Learning Journey for Parents | Episode 47

Step into the world of magic, personal growth, and the transformative power of education with this inspiring episode of the Falling for Learning Podcast! 🎩✨ Join T.D. Flenaugh as she interviews Sukuma Avery, a magician whose incredible journey from childhood struggles with reading to a successful career in magic and motivational speaking will captivate and empower you. 🌟

Reach out to Sukuma at https://getcrowds.com.

In this episode, Sukuma shares how his passion for magic ignited his love for learning and helped him overcome educational challenges. Discover how he created "The Magic of Believing in Yourself," a program that spread like wildfire in schools, motivating students to believe in their potential and pursue their dreams.

Through Sukuma's story, we explore the importance of asking for help, continuous learning, and the power of entrepreneurial spirit. His journey from performing magic at kids' birthday parties to captivating audiences at corporate events showcases the limitless possibilities when you believe in yourself and your abilities.

Tune in to Falling for Learning for more stories of personal growth and empowerment! We drop new episodes every Saturday at 5:00 p.m. 

Let Sukuma Avery's journey inspire you and your children to navigate the path of education and personal development with confidence and determination. 🌟✨ #MagicOfBelieving #PersonalGrowthAndEmpowerment #EducationalNarratives #FallingForLearning

#LearningPodcast #CareerInMagic #MagicWorkshops #BelieveInYourself #MagicShows

#MotivationalSpeaking #FallInLoveWithLearning #TradeShows #EducationPodcast #StudentSuccess

CHAPTERS:
0:00 - Intro
1:13 - What hooked you into learning
4:34 - What was your education journey
8:01 - What did you do to develop your business
11:23 - Shameless Plug
13:05 - How to get started
18:06 - How to grow your business
21:17 - Advice for parents
23:50 - How to support your kids
25:29 - Final words
27:41 - Outro

Transcript

Sukuma Avery: 0:00

Can you come to my school? Do you have a motivational program that you do magic in? And so I told the lady Yes, I do. And so I put together a program called the Magic of Believing in Yourself. And it was all about motivating kids to believe in their self education, lies, and whatever else they want it to be and pursue moving forward. And so I put together this program, did it at the school and next thing you know, it just spread like wildfire. And other schools started asking me Hey, can you do this at my school, and that's how I ended up getting into the school more than doing the kind of like motivational speaking for junior high schools and a few high schools sprinkled in there as well.

TD Flenaugh: 0:48

Hi, thank you so much for joining the falling for learning podcast. I am TD Flenaugh. We have this podcast to help parents and caregivers with having the resources strategies and tools needed to make sure that their children are on track for learning and to stay on track for success. Okay, thank you so much for joining us on the falling for learning podcast today. We have shikumen Avery should Kuma is a magician by trade, and he's going to tell you all about his wonderful career. And at the falling for learning podcasts. Of course, we talk about different careers your child might be into. And so he's gonna tell you a little bit about himself. Yeah, hey,

Sukuma Avery: 1:39

my name is Sukuma Avery, who want to move on from Fairbanks, Alaska grow with Taiesha here. I happen to be in town for work, and we had to jump on his podcast. So this is awesome. I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me. So my career started at a very young age pretty much always had a fantasy for the magical arts, magic and mentalism and things like that. And it's something I just had a hobby with all my life pretty much. And later on down the road in my adulthood, it turned into a career. And that's what I do today is represent a bunch of different companies, fortune 100, 500 companies on the trade show floor at trade shows and conferences and corporate events, and produce entertainment and finance entertaining events for them. Cool.

TD Flenaugh: 2:27

All right. So as you asked, you just heard we grew up together in Alaska. So Sukuma and I grew up in the same church in Alaska. And you know, he knows me as Taiesha. But of course, I'm known as TD Flenaugh, as the host of the podcast. But we always start with the beginning with our guest is what has hooked you into learning as a kid? You kind of talked about a little bit how you love magic and all of that. But was there something else before that? Or was that the thing that hooked you in?

Sukuma Avery: 3:02

So really? Yeah, this, this is deep, because so as you know, I had trouble reading as a kid. And you know, that whole story how that starts. And then Magic is something that I really loved. And so that allowed me to also become a better learner and a better reader by going to the public library and getting magic books and reading those. In fact, I was so enthralled in thrived in it, that I will keep the books longer than I suppose to have kept 'em. And so but that's really what started my learning in helping me to learn to read better along with you know what, you know, the tutoring, after church and stuff that also played a major role in me becoming a better reader. But that's really what what caused me to start reading more was the art of magic.

TD Flenaugh: 4:01

Yeah, so Sukuma, definitely when he was a kid, he would be doing this magic, he would come and just stop us and be like, let me show you my magic trick. Let me show you. That he would be he's been doing that since he was a little kid. And you know, you heard it here. It was something that he was really interested in. And he got books about it and just kept those books and reading them, trying them out. So this may be something that can hook your child into learning. If you haven't found that hook for them yet. It could be something for them. So you told us about like what has you into learning? What can you tell us about like your education journey? You know, you said you had a problem reading when we were younger. Can you tell us a little bit about what caused that because you know, the audience

Sukuma Avery: 4:47

Really is just like not really been a big deal in my household, right? Not having my parents really around to help with that side of things with education, so it wasn't really a big deal. It was more of a big deal. Of course, when I was at school, and was having trouble reading, and of course, other people stepped in to help assist with that. So I can become a better reader. But that's, that's how it all starts in the house. So you know, so it's very important that parents get involved with their kids education, that's very important, or they will have problems as they move forward. If you don't, you know, take care of that at the beginning. Yeah,

TD Flenaugh: 5:37

so it made a difference. So tell us about like, you know, high school, you know, what, what clicked for you once you start reading better. And you know, your education after high school,

Sukuma Avery: 5:53

excuse me. So in high school, obviously, I got better at reading. But one of my one of the keys for me in high school was always ask questions, I was never afraid to ask for help. And so with the teachers, they knew I was that type of student where, like, if I didn't get anything, I will ask for help. And that's what made my journey in high school, much smoother, was actually asking for help. You know what I mean, whether it was studying for a test, or if I didn't understand something, or a subject or something I didn't understand. I was silly, just asked teachers for help, and then also had friends that were smart, that could help me too. And I have friends in school, that wouldn't just tell me the answer. They was like, No, here's how to research it. Here's how to go about doing it. You need to learn for yourself. But that's how it was for me. I just always asked for help. And that's what made me a better student. And at the end of the day, a better learner.

TD Flenaugh: 6:59

Okay. Yeah. So go through high school, what happened? What What was your what happened after high education. So after

Sukuma Avery: 7:07

high school, I end up getting a scholarship for basketball. And I went on to school at JC and Montana. And I played a season there for one year. Once I tore my meniscus, I never went back to school. But that never ended my journey in learning. I tell you something, my coach in high school in college, I mean, he told me something very interesting. He said, listen with the talent that you have, you necessarily don't need college. And so I just took that what he said, I wasn't even mad that he said that. Because it made me think. And he and I was like, yeah, he was right. So I took that advice. And I just started working towards my entertainment career.

TD Flenaugh: 7:52

Is that the talent he was talking about? Or he wasn't talking about basketball? He was talking about

Sukuma Avery: 7:57

the magic. Okay, okay. Yep. So, all right.

TD Flenaugh: 8:01

So you that that ended your career, your education career as far as in college. But then what happened so that, obviously, you had to learn a lot of skills for you to be a magician in the way you are today. So tell us about that learning short.

Sukuma Avery: 8:21

So once I got out of high school, I ended up moving to Seattle, I have family there moved there. And I just started and I have friends that were in the industry already. And so I would get advice from them how to go out and market myself and get work. Some of them had books may lead me to learn about marketing myself. So I would dive in there read and read and do and do and just see what stuck and whatever stuck I just kept doing. But again, my learning process never stop. I can't read it. I kept learning. I was investing in myself if I could mean that I was going out to the libraries to like Barnes and Nobles at the time, by marketing books, self development books, and learning how to market myself and just become better at who it is I am and how I put myself out there in the marketplace.

TD Flenaugh: 9:14

Okay, so tell us about some things that you you did and you tried as you were helping your business. Right.

Sukuma Avery: 9:21

So one of the things one of the first books I get on the marketing was called guerilla marketing. And this was all about really, if you didn't have a lot of money to spin, it was all about like getting fliers printed up and putting them on people's cars, and letting them know about what it is you do. It was all about the poor tabs, putting your phone number on there, and people would take those. And so I would do things like that. And next thing you know, I was getting not a lot, but I realized some of the stuff I was doing was worth and so I kept doing it. And next thing you know, I started getting more and more business, and I kept doing the thing ones that were working, and I kept learning about other things that later on will eventually work as well.

TD Flenaugh: 10:07

Okay, so what? So what was the pool tab? Like? What was that offer with like, when you first started? What would you get paid to do?

Unknown: 10:17

Yeah, so one of the first thing I started doing, I read, I read and actually a marketing book for magicians and entertainers. One of the easiest markets to get into was kids birthday parties doing magic at kids birthday parties. So that's what I want to advertise first, hey, I could do a birthday party for your kids ages five to seven years old, hey, I pull a rabbit out of the hat. Okay, he'll pull the rabbit out of the hat, things like that. And that will pique parents interest, and then they will they will call me and say, Hey, are you available for this thing to do my kid's birthday party? And so that's how I will get word.

TD Flenaugh: 10:54

Cool. All right. No problem. So from from the birthday parties, how did you expand your business from there.

Sukuma Avery: 11:10

So when I was doing birthday parties, I ended up getting in some restaurants while I was doing what they call a table hopping.

TD Flenaugh: 11:20

Hello, parents, all across the United States, we have students who don't know how to read well, and who don't know how to write well. Now, I'm not here to shame you. But I am here to blame you. If your child is behind, it is partially your responsibility, and your fault. That next generation needs to be the one that's telling your story, not other people, not other families, not other races or ethnicities. Your family needs to be able to tell your story. And if your child can't write well, who's going to tell your story, I have written two books to help address these issues. It is the rewrite method. The parent and educator guide for getting middle schoolers to fall in love with writing, and the rewrite method workbook, the parent and educator action plan for getting middle schoolers to fall in love with writing. This book gives you step by step and easy to use and implement activities to make sure that your child not only gets better at writing, but loves to write. Join us for well educated Wednesdays every Wednesday on Instagram Live at falling for learning. It is a free parent question and answer session where parents can ask questions, learn about resources, strategies and tips to make sure their children are on track for learning and stay on track for success. That's every Wednesday on Instagram Live at falling for learning, we look forward to seeing you and helping the next generation thrive.

Sukuma Avery: 13:06

And that means a restaurant would hire you to sometimes if it's a long wait for tables, they'll hire a magician to kind of ease up on that wait time and entertain the people waiting in line. So I will do that. And then once people are seated at their tables waiting on their food, I will go Table to Table and do magic for the families. And one thing about that market was interested is you start getting spin off work, meaning you never know who's going to be in that restaurant. Okay, so we need to be corporate people when they're going to be, you know, educators in there, hey, can you do this at my school for school assembly? Can you do this at my corporate event for my group? And so I will get different type of work from the restaurant. Okay,

TD Flenaugh: 13:52

so tell us more about someone asked you to do this at their school. Right. So how did that work?

Sukuma Avery: 13:58

So one day, the first school I really did when I put together a motivational magic type program was for junior high school, and this happened from the restaurant, right? I happen to be doing magic in a restaurant and I happen to be talking to an educator. And she said, Hey, you're really good at this. Can you come to my school? Do you have a motivational program that you do magic in? And so I told the lady Yes, I do. And so I put together a program called the magic of believing in yourself. And it was all about motivating kids to believe in their self education lines, and whatever else they want it to be and pursue moving forward. So I put together this program, did it at the school and next thing you know, it just spread like wildfire. And other schools started asking me Hey, can you do this at my school? And that's how I ended up getting into the school more than doing the kind of like motivational speaking for junior high schools in a few High school was sprinkled in there as well. Wow. Yeah.

TD Flenaugh: 15:04

Okay, so let's talk a little bit about numbers like how much did you charge the school?

Unknown: 15:11

So at the time, this was early 2000s, I believe I charged the school was $750. And at the time, this was still early in my career building my business. That was a lot of money for me, then

TD Flenaugh: 15:26

how much? How long would you be there for 750?

Sukuma Avery: 15:29

So I would do about a 45 minute show, that will be my program of 45. And that was the perfect time for those tears. For there, yeah.

TD Flenaugh: 15:39

So people don't get paid 145 minutes. $750. Right. Yes, that's what we talk about on filing for learning. You know, entrepreneurship is also a path to a successful career. And of course, the learning doesn't stop, you know, he didn't do like a, you know, a bachelor's degree or whatever. But the learning didn't stop a lot of trial and error. Right. How, you know, how long do you think it took you to get? You know, more steady income? Do you feel like that take you from your like, beginning going into Seattle to?

Unknown: 16:20

Yeah, really? Yeah, once I started doing stuff, like, when I started doing more the schools and then branching off into the corporate world, it begin to get more steady and steady and steady and steady. So

TD Flenaugh: 16:35

how many years do you think like two years? No, it?

Unknown: 16:39

Yeah, probably about maybe three, four years until it really like when I really started understanding the marketing side of things, and really seeing how you to keep cash flow coming in. And then what I want to point out, one thing I learned too, along the way, is I started getting 50% deposits. Right? So then I learned about cash flow, keeping cash, so I could have five or six gigs booked in a month. But have all those deposits come in pretty much at one time. So now that I have cash flowing in after the show, obviously, I get the remaining 50% of the check. Okay,

TD Flenaugh: 17:15

yeah. So how did your you know you don't do schools anymore? No. So how did you move from schools into another?

Sukuma Avery: 17:28

market? Market? Yeah, yeah. So pretty much the same way is because when I was doing the schools, I was also getting corporate events as well. And then I realized as I got older, as a human, and then as I get older in my career, I've really decided, okay, this is the market that I really want to focus on. Because you are just saying you can be a, you know, a master, you know, what they call it, a jack, jack of all trades, master of none, right? So I really wanted to niche down to really one market, and that was the corporate sector, you know what I mean? Wow.

TD Flenaugh: 18:07

So we were talking earlier, and you want and you told me about how you were growing your business outside of the school, you were you had like a thing that you did when you gave them certificate,

Sukuma Avery: 18:19

yeah, so also to him. So I used to do magic classes for kids. And in these classes will be about eight weeks long. So what I wanted to do is get spin off work from the magic class itself. So what I would do is I will just have my house or my home printer, I will go to Office Depot and get these certificates you can print up on and I will give all the kids and my classes certificates, saying hey, you completed this magic course and the kids love this stuff, like they completed something. And so I will make all these envelopes form and put them in the envelopes. But I also will put like a little coupon in the envelope for the parents, because the parents are going to see these envelopes to kids going to show my sin. And then the kids will give the coupon to their parent saying, hey, book me for their birthday party. And so I will get spit off work from the magic classes from the coupons. I put in the little envelope for the kids. So it was really it was again, it was something I read about and just implemented it for my market. And so

TD Flenaugh: 19:28

he's really implementing the things that you're learning in those books, you know, so you really went out and used it, I think, you know, a lot of marketing majors, you know, can resonate with some of the things that you're doing. And then maybe they even didn't, you know, execute on something to actually execute it on. So the corporate jobs were they coming from the spin off from the restaurant?

Sukuma Avery: 19:52

Yes, some of them was yeah, a lot of them was a lot of the corporate spin off stuff was coming on. And then so one thing about the corporate market sometimes is different sectors in the court mark. So you got like, You got hospitality suites, like a cocktail party, that trade shows and conferences. And then you just got regular corporate banquets and stuff. And so I've noticed over the years, like if I got hired for a corporate banquet the following year, most likely, I wouldn't always get booked because they were going to do something else. But I found out later on that the corporate trade shows any given company will do multiple trade shows a year. So not only will you get booked for that one trade show, they may book you for three of their trade shows. And so that's where that's why I found out like, Okay, this is where the market is this one I really need to focus my attention on.

TD Flenaugh: 20:44

Okay, I want to ask you, you could say, you don't have to tell us, like, what's the average pay for like the trade shows?

Sukuma Avery: 20:51

So anybody with the app, like, let me just say, annually, you can make six figures in the business, if you do it correctly, if you have a good client base, and in this industry, you don't have to have a lot of clients. You just have to have the clients that book, you book you multiple times a year. So you can make six figures. Okay, yeah. All

TD Flenaugh: 21:16

right. Cool. Um, what tips? Because I know that you also are a father and a husband? What tips or strategies can you say for parents who they may not have their kids maybe not sure what they want to do? Or they're trying to see how they can make sure they're interested in school? Or what ideas do you have?

Sukuma Avery: 21:41

Yeah, just you know, after a while, at a certain age, your kids will be passionate about something. And I kind of learned as so I have a 15 year old right now and a 12 year old. So my 15 year old, she's really into animation, right? So she's kind of looking later on maybe to go to some kind of graphic school. We don't know yet. But that's kind of what she's passionate about NAMM. So one of the keys, I think, is to let them kind of dive into that passion down. And when time come, you could see if that's something they really want to do, and find out early enough about it, you know what I mean? And then the other thing is just be as involved as you can with your kids to find out again, what they're involved in what they like, you know, because I believe sometimes, you don't always go the direction that like the what you have a passion for your kid, they may not always go that direction, they can end up having a passion for something else later on. Right. But you got to let them roam through that. But you would have to support them and guide them the best way you can. So that's the advice I would have.

TD Flenaugh: 22:57

All right, cool. So, you know, what do you think as far as what's your advice for like, parents who are a little bit worried about their kids going into this entrepreneurial route? Or, you know, not finishing their education? Like, what advice or do you have for them? Oh, maybe what's happening? Yeah, to

Sukuma Avery: 23:24

be absolutely honest, I absolutely love it. Because I think we live in the world today, the world we live in today, I think entrepreneur, you have to have it. Or you have to have some, some open AI about it. Because I think entrepreneur, when you are entrepreneur, really there's no limit on what you could do. Right? If, if your kid is passionate about something, let's say they go to college, and then they end up wanting to get out of it. Because they're passionate about something else. You may have to support that and see, but also you have to make sure they're actually passionate about that and want to do like you explained your daughter. Like she was really passionate about the beauty industry. But she really dove into it really, like she wasn't messing around about it. So I think that's the key. If your kid tells you, hey, I really want to do this, then you have to let them explore that and support them as best as you can. But the key I think is to really make sure that's what they're really gonna do you know what I mean? So that's my advice on that.

TD Flenaugh: 24:39

Make sure that they're being serious about right, right. Okay. Yeah. And like I said, I want to highlight what you said, like make sure you are involved. You have an idea what what your kid likes or what they don't like, if you're not really involved, you're not sure to guide them or to even like, point out to them like you see To be really good at art, are you saving, you know, because they may, kids don't just automatically come out all the time and say, you know, I really think I want to, you know, they don't necessarily say it, but you could help us to point out like you always do this or you seem to be really interested in this. But if you're involved, you'll know that but if you're not as involved, then you may not even know what your kid likes, and you may try to steer them towards something that you like, that may not be something that they like, at all right? Yeah. Okay, so any, like, final words or advice you want to give? So for parents whose, you know, kids may be struggling or they're not sure you know, how to support their kids the best they can know,

Sukuma Avery: 25:43

just so I wish I had this on my phone is a quote. In is so great is when I don't have it with me. But is I forgot the name of it. But it was something of this lies. Like, don't yell at your kids before bedtime. Don't yell at them in the morning. Okay, give them good energy before At those times, yes, despite how they feel, right. And then one thing I try to tell myself as a parent ish, try to understand your kids, right? Because, you know, it is like, kids will give you attitude for no particular reason, right? It is like, like, I'm really even today. I'm trying to understand that, right. And as a parent, I'm trying to understand him on the positive side of like, not lashing back out. You know what I'm saying? So he's like, okay, cool. You know what I mean? But Dan asked, like, like, what's up with that? You know what I mean? So really, man, just trying to be like, I know it's tough as parents but just try to be understand and like we always the age. Before we all did that had that attitude too. But just try to understand, and Trump man, just try to rock with your friends, but rock with your kids. I mean, but don't be their friends. Be their parent. Don't ever beat a friend, beat a parent. You know what I'm saying? That's the real advice I want to give. Don't beat your kids, friends beat a parents and don't sugarcoat Nothing.

TD Flenaugh: 27:24

Tell them the truth. Right. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining us on a pleasure. All right, everyone. Thanks again. Have a great week. Thanks again for supporting the Falling for Learning Podcast. New episodes go live every Saturday at 5pm. You can watch us on youtube.com at falling for learning or listen on all major podcast platforms, such as Apple, Google, Audible, Spotify, and much more. For more resources visit falling in love with learning.com We really appreciate you have a wonderful week.