Helping To Celebrate A 65 Year Old Magical Spirit!

On Sunday, July 21st, 2013, I had the great honour of performing a special magic show at Honest Ed’s 65th Birthday Party!  And what a Party it was.

David Mirvish (Ed’s son and now the Mirvish impresario) welcomed the crowd which included police chief Bill Blair, local politicians and dignitaries, and hundreds of customers; all of who were treated to free hot dogs, cake, live entertainment, theatre tickets (courtesy of the Mirvish theatre empire) and other giveaways, and bargains, bargains, and more bargains.

For those of you not it the know, Honest Ed’s is a landmark, “truly one-of-a-kind”, discount store located in midtown Toronto that sells everything from twine to wine in a most unusual way. It is named for its creator and proprietor, Ed Mirvish, who opened the store in 1948 and oversaw its operations until his death in 2007.

Prominently located on the corner of Bloor and Bathurst Streets Honest Ed’s runs the whole length of the block and looks more like an old time theatre than a store. The exterior is covered with huge red and yellow signs advertising the name of the store, lit up like a theatre marquee with over 23,000 light bulbs used.   But the “electricity” does not stop there.

The interior is over 160,000 square feet of thousands of bargain priced items ranging from house wares to clothes to grocery items, and a whole lot of fun!

You see amidst the regular merchandise are the store’s unique decor consisting of posters and photos from old films, stage productions (many from Mirvish’s theatre productions – Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Disney’s The Lion King, Mamma Mia, etc) as well as of actors and musicians who performed in them.

Plus the walls are crammed with autographed pictures of show business personalities such as Frank Sinatra, Liberace, Lauren Bacall, Jimmy Durante, Celine Dion and countless others (many personally dedicated to Ed Mirvish himself).

For lovers of unusual memorabilia and collectible antiques there are also many unique historical items, which once were part of Ed’s former World Famous Restaurant and Market Museum, that are for viewing and for sale.

And every piece of store signage, inside and out, is hand-painted with puns and slogans such as “How cheap can a guy get? Come in and find out.”, “Only the floors are crooked”, and “Welcome, don’t faint at our low prices, there’s no place to lie down!”

Bottom line – Honest Ed’s is an extremely magical store that is not only a unique selling environment, but a “one-of-a-kind”, live, entertainment experience.  And here lies the real magic!  This is the magic of Ed Mirvish.

The magic started in 1948 for Ed after years of smaller, unsuccessful, entrepreneurial ventures and then working his way up in the grocery business.  With the help of cashing in his wife’s $212 insurance policy, his unique business sense of what the customer really wanted, creativity and imagination, and his “never give up” attitude, Honest Ed’s was born.

Originally stocked with all kinds of odd merchandise purchased at bankruptcy and fire sales and displayed on orange crates, this unique no-credit, no-service, no-frills business was an immediate success. Honest Ed’s (billing itself as the world’s biggest discount department store) gradually expanded to fill an entire city block and it was soon bringing in millions of dollars a year!

The business kept expanding and the rest, as they say is history – an artist’s village, restaurants, theatres, and a magical legacy of giving the customer what they want AND always giving back to the community.

Now I could go on to write an entire book on Mr. Mirvish’s ideas, deeds and accomplishment, but no need to, as Ed has written a couple of great ones himself (http://honesteds.sites.toronto.com/index.html).

But what I would like to say is that Ed Mirvish, and Honest Ed’s is a great reminder that if you really pay attention to what the customer wants and needs, give it to them in a fun and honest way, and really strive to make your customer into a valued member of your family, you will succeed.

You will have changed someone’s life in a positive way and created a life long memory.   You will have made magic happen!

Happy Birthday Honest Ed’s!

PS:  Honest Ed’s Company Motto – “The nicest people in the world pass through our doors: our customers.”

PPS:   Honest Ed’s and the Mirvish Empire are not overnight sensations or the result of simply throwing money at something to make it happen.  It is careful planning, observation and constant action (and a whole lot of elbow grease).  Remember Ed only started with $212 and a dream.  What can you do?

The Secret Of Immortality In Life And In Business.

The other day we were moving some boxes and came across one of our daughter’s creative writing notebooks.  A particular story of hers (written when she was 9 year old) really grabbed my attention. It’s called·

My Dog Houdini by Jacqueline Rossini

“Houdini is 10 years old. He is always 1 or 2 years older than me. He is a Lhaso Apso. His birthday is June 14th. He was born in 1995. He is a guard dog. He hates the fire alarm. He is very protective. He was named after the world famous magician Harry Houdini. He loves to sing the alphabet song with us. He loves cheese, pizza crust, chicken, tissues, Chocolate’s (our rabbit) pellets and many other things. I love my dog. When he dies I want another dog just like him.”

I think we can all relate to a story like this. We all have special memories of loved ones, family, friends and special occasions.

And depending on the impact of the person, pet or event on our lives, the emotion can create a magical memory within. We can remember “things” and even re-experience “senses” in such detail, it is almost as if it were real again.

Yes I think we can all agree, a memory can be a very magical thing. So I have one question to ask.

How would you like others to remember you?

I like Stephen Covey’s analogy in his book “The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People”. Imagine that it is a funeral ” your funeral ” what would you like the Eulogy to remind others about you and your life? What kind of memories would you like others to have of what you did?

Have you given some thought to this, and if you have are you taking consistent actions to make this memory a reality?

If you are anything like me, and many others, life can become very, very busy with day-to-day events. As a result the really important things we would like to do, and the impressions that we would like to create, can take a backseat. And this does not just apply to our personal life.

It also applies to our work. What do we want our customers, clients or those we are to influence remember about us? What kind of memory do we want them to take away and are we succeeding in creating that memory?

If you are not as successful in establishing the type of memory you want to create, there is only one answer.

Awareness. Yes it’s that simple. And it’s that difficult.

To succeed in establishing your memory you have to be “aware” of what you want that memory to be, and then your have to be “aware” of taking actions to create that impression.

It’s like creating a magic trick. You have to first be aware of what you want the audience to see, and then you have to work backwards in putting the necessary effort, time and practice into turning the illusion into a reality.

Take a look at your life and what you want to be remembered for. Take a look at your career and your business; do others see it for what you would like it to be? If not why give some thought as to what you can do to make your memory into a reality. Ad then do it. Make your own real magic happen.

Real Magic is nothing more than coming up with simple, effective solutions to complicated problems, and then doing something about it! But Real Magic can happen only when people believe in themselves and are passionate about making a difference in their own life and the lives of others! Have focus! Be passionate about what you do! Create your own real magic!

PS: Why not take 5 minutes right now and give some thought to what you want your memory to be?

The Real Magic Of Applied Vision And Emotion

Let’s be honest for a second – did you do it?

Did you let everyone know you did it or did you do it in private, when no one was looking?

When asked did you admit doing it or did you just brush it off?

Maybe you really didn’t do it. At least not this time. But I bet that you have at least done it once before. I know I have.

What is it?

It’s that little thing that pops up every New Year. It’s the New Years resolution. That little promise we make to ourselves to either start doing something we know we should be doing (more exercise, eating healthier, improving our marketing) or something we would like to give up (smoking, some extra pounds, too much TV). YAWN…

If you are anything like me, while the initial intention and dedication level might be good, the end result can be the same. Lets give it another shot for next year. However this need not be the case. Not if you use the magic of VISIMOTION!

VISIMOTION is a little word I created that simply stands for “the magic of applied vision and emotion”! And while simple in concept, VISIMOTION’s power can be truly magical and can quite literally change lives!

The problem with the typical New Year’s resolution is that we focus on a “to do” or a “not to do”, and as we all know with “to do lists”, they can get very tired very fast. Unless of course you can create a real vision of what you want to achieve AND support that vision with real emotion. And herein lies the magic.

The trick is to not focus on the action, but on the vision you want to create and the way it will make you feel. The vision then fuels our emotions and our emotions fuel our actions and results. And the more detailed and emotional you can make your vision, the more passionate (and empowered) you will become in transforming your vision into a reality. It’s the magic that transforms a task into a sacred magical quest!

This VISIMOTION is exactly the same technique a magician uses in creating an illusion for the stage. You start with a beautiful picture in your mind of what you want to achieve and what you want the audience to see in every detail – the action, lighting, sound, music, etc, and then work backwards. This vision then creates an emotional need that can only be satisfied once the vision becomes a reality. But there is one further trick here that our magician knows.

The secret is to make the vision as completely detailed as possible. The more detailed in what you see, hear and feel, the easier it is to work backwards and put into action the correct elements you need in the proper order. This can drastically reduce your learning curve and time spent. So how can you use this?

Use this technique to achieve your own magic in the upcoming year in your business and your life. Create a detailed vision of what you want to achieve and make it as emotional and real as possible. Then focus on what needs to be done and do it. And like our magician, make it fun, powerful and exciting! Enjoy the process.

Right now take a moment and start creating the visions of all that you want to achieve this year and get started making your own real magic happen!

Remember Real Magic can happen only when people believe in themselves and are passionate about making a difference in their own life and the lives of others! Have focus! Be passionate about what you do! Create your own real magic!!

PS: Anything you can imagine can be achieved. You can dream big or dream small. Dream BIG!!