Thursday 15th, March 2012

My first class at Wizard Academy was Magical Worlds, back in August 2002.  Only three weeks earlier, I’d been cruising through a Barnes and Noble bookstore (on my way to the gardening section) when I discovered one of Roy’s books on the business shelf.

Accidental magic, set in motion to change my life.

Maybe you remember those first classes in the small room in Buda (were you in the legendary conga line?).  Perhaps you stood next to me at the Wizard Academy reunion in the fall of 2004, mud up to your knees and only the frame of Tuscan Hall to give us both dreams of hope.  You were probably present at the grand opening of the Wizard’s Tower, where learning and friendship happen at a higher level than ever.

Whenever you joined us, I’m glad you’re here.

As the new Vice Chancellor for curriculum and communications at Wizard Academy, I know that the ride is just beginning.  I’m proud to be part of the next era for the academy.  In the next few weeks, you’ll be seeing a new website, and you’ll be hearing from me on a regular basis about new special events, courses, and opportunities for you to teach, participate, and get involved.

Would you like to teach at Wizard Academy?  Have a success story you’d like to share with academy alumni? A favorite memory of your time here?  I’m only an email away, and would love hearing from you.

I look forward to seeing you on campus.  Stay tuned for new adventures.  Aroo!

Michele Miller
michelemiller@wizardacademy.org

UPCOMING EVENTS:

First Friday at Wizard Academy
April 6th
FREE
If you’re new to Wizard Academy, this is the event you need to attend.
The first Friday of each month, Wizard Academy hosts a FREE half-day
event from 1 p.m to 5 p.m.  This will give you the opportunity to indulge your curiosity and discover Wizard Academy.
Presenters: Devin Wright and Jacob Harrison
Guest Speaker: Peter Nevland

Pendulum
April 17th and 18th
$2000 (Grad Rate: $1000)
Pendulum theory explains where we’ve been as a society, how we got here, and where we’re headed. If you would benefit from a peek into the future, you would do well to attend this class. Come. You’ll leave Austin knowing exactly why current events are happening.
And what will happen next.

Public Speaking 101
May 9th and 10th
$2000 (Grad Rate: $1000)
Public Speaking 101 continues the Wizard Academy tradition of celebrating
the power of words with two days dedicated to the art of oral presentation.  Learn how to connect with audiences by improving your use of language. Learn how to build immediate rapport in any speaking situation. Learn how to gain trust in your presentation and work on the skills necessary to become an effective presenter.

Magical Worlds Communication Workshop
May 15th, 16th, and 17th
This is the Big One, taught by the wizard himself, the course that triggered the New York Times bestsellers that are quoted around the world.
$3500 (Grad Rate: $1750)

Advanced Wordsmithing
July 13th and 14th
$1500 (Grad Rate: $750)
Advanced Wordsmithing is a surprising series of short writing assignments designed to teach you how to write clearly, simply and directly.
You’ll learn that beautiful writing is less about the beauty of the words themselves. You’ll learn that beautiful writing is the clear communication of your ideas,  images and ideas.
Learn how to say the damned thing!

Ad Writing 101
Always Online
$600 (Grad Rate: $300)

Thursday 1st, March 2012

Did JCPenney just shoot themselves in the foot?

Circling the drain, around and around, waiting for the final gulp to swallow them down.

JCPenney has been targeting the Transactional Customer its entire existence.

The more they shouted, the more people came. They kept shouting trying to be the loudest, pulling in more people looking for a deal, and leaving them disappointed.

Slowly people stopped listening.  Chicken Little anyone?

Unless you’ve been in a hole you heard about JCPenney changing how they’re doing business. Is this a fresh idea that the new CEO came up with or is this business topology?

What is Business Topology?

Step 1: Find a parallel but unrelated business which has a problem with similar defining characteristics to the problem for which you would like to solve.

Step 2: How did that business overcome their problem?

Step 3: Adapt their proven solution to your own business.

JCPenney decided to go a different direction than its competition by stopping the sales. Will it work for them?

It’s working for CarMax.

When you’re building an ongoing relationship with your customer, you’ve got to be the expert they trust to fix their problem. The customer must feel like they’re walking away with exactly what they want and need.

It takes time to build a relationship. Stand out in the crowd and learn to build a long-term relationship with your customer.

Sean Taylor
Sean@WizardAcademy.org

P.S. On occasion I like to look through my old work. I found a 22 minute video that we recorded of Keith Miller, five or so years ago, that was never released. It’s Keith answering some good questions. Great stuff for writers.

Upcoming events:
First Friday at Wizard Academy
March 2nd
FREE
If you’re new to Wizard Academy this is the event you need to attend. The first friday of each month Wizard Academy will host a FREE half-day event, from 1pm to 5pm. This will give you the opportunity to indulge your curiosity and discover Wizard Academy.
Presenters: Ray Seggern
Guest Speaker: Juan Tornoe

Da Vinci and the 40 Answers
*Engelbrecht House is Full*
March 27th and 28th
$2000 (Grad Rate: $1000)
You’ll return home from this class with 40 Universal Answers, a series of specific techniques and perspectives that will give you the ability to ‘think outside the box’ at the snap of your fingers. In short, you’ll be handed the keys to innovation. These are powerful tools you’ll use for the rest of your life. You’ll become widely known as the person who can always find a solution. There’s no end to what you can do with this knowledge.

Pendulum
April 17th and 18th
$2000 (Grad Rate: $1000)
Pendulum theory explains where we’ve been as a society, how we got here, and where we’re headed. If you would benefit from a peek into the future, you would do well to attend this class. Come. You’ll leave Austin knowing exactly why current events are happening.
And what will happen next.

Public Speaking 101
May 9th and 10th
$2000 (Grad Rate: $1000)
Public Speaking 101 continues the Wizard Academy tradition of celebrating
the power of words with two days dedicated to the art of oral presentation.  Learn how to connect with audiences by improving your use of language. Learn how to build immediate rapport in any speaking situation. Learn how to gain trust in your presentation and work on the skills necessary to become an effective presenter.

Magical Worlds Communication Workshop
May 15th, 16th, and 17th
$3500 (Grad Rate: $1750)

Ad Writing 101
Always Online
$600 (Grad Rate: $300)

Philip C Wrzesinski of Toy House, Inc.
Ashley Williams of DDS
Carolyn Thornlow of Concinnity Services
Milada Tanovic of Spence Diamonds
Jeffrey & Trisha Sylvestre
Tim Storm of Musterion, LLC
Kathleen Braatz of Musterion, LLC
Dr. Dan Sindelar
Andrea Reindl of Promote a Book
Kathryn Redman
Michael Redman of Half a Bubble Out
Kirsten Nelson of Promote a Book
Sally Johnstone of Reach Advisors
Cinde Johnston of Promote a Book
Arvid Huth of Penny Mustard Furnishings
William Hackett-Jones of Eclectic Translations
William Dunlap of CEIVA Logic, Inc
Anthony Dina of Dell
Paul Deloughery
Dennis Birtles
William Beyer of Savoy Tea

I walk alone into an elevator and the door closes behind me. I wait and wait, but nothing happens. After a couple of minutes, I realize, “Elevators don’t read minds. I have to push a button.”

You and I have so much to remember that we often forget what we’re doing. We are the unfortunate victims of overchoice: too much to do, too little time. The problem is nationwide.

I tell you this to remind you of something that most advertisers forget: the customer is seldom paying attention. She simply has too many other things to think about. When exposed to your ad, she knows it’s there, the same way I know the elevator button is there. The problem is that she’s not thinking about it.

Every beginner’s solution is to put an “attention getter” into the ad. Bright colors, loud noises, exclamation marks, and crazy stunts are the sad little attention getters most often used. The effect on your beautiful customer is much the same as sneaking up behind her and shouting,

“WATCH OUT!”

Is this any way to start a romance?

I vote for seduction.

I’m not talking about using sex appeal in your ads. I’m talking about enticing the customer with a thought more interesting than the thought she’s thinking. The skillful use of words is the most impressive of human powers.

The mind of the customer is a glorious thing. Every waking moment it is scanning, scanning, scanning the horizon for things of interest. The common, the mundane, the average, the predictable are ignored; the unusual, the intriguing, the fascinating are immediately spied and examined.

If your goal is to cause the customer to willingly give you her attention, isn’t the solution obvious? You must offer her a thought more interesting than the thought that currently occupies her mind.

This does not require shouting. It requires art.

-Roy H. Williams

Article first published as Book Review Discovery of the Grand Unified Theory: The Greatest Discovery of 21st by Arkay Nair on Blogcritics

In his new book, “Discovery of the Grand Unified Theory,” chemist and devotee of the pursuit of the Grand Unified Theory, Arkay Nair proclaims that he has discovered the definitive model of the Grand Unified Theory. He further asserts that “All the great scientists of the last century (most notably Albert Einstein) missed out on it because they were traveling on the wrong path searching for it.”

This book is only twenty-nine pages long. The author intends that it serve as a preface for an expanded model on his theory and its potential impact on the world. Take note that this reviewer is admittedly a layman physicist. Grand Unified Theory (GUT) models are very complex. Even the definition of GUT in the Yahoo! Kids Dictionary is complicated, stating that it is “A theory of elementary forces that unites the weak, strong, electromagnetic, and gravitational interactions into one field theory and views the known interactions as low-energy manifestations of a single unified interaction.” No “GUTs for Dummies” has been published!

The book is actually a paper that presents the author’s theory in five discourses, each composed of a short Abstract, expanded Discourse, and reinforcing Summary. The first two discourses challenge current scientific thinking. The third and fourth discourses elaborate on these contrarian ideas, and the fifth introduces Nair’s model and invites readers to react. The author strongly urges reader to read the book straight through, uninterrupted and in the order in which the content is presented. He is equally emphatic about the importance of reading the twenty-nine pages again before noting questions. If the reader still has questions after the second reading, Nair invites them to send their questions to him.

Nair’s hope is that everyone, young and old, reads his book, gains a greater understanding of how his version of the Grand Unified Theory can help solve problems like global warming and energy shortages, and contemplate and incorporate their own version of his theory into their personal philosophy. To his credit, he has effectively dealt with the complexity of this subject in an approachable and straightforward style which seemingly should make this subject more accessible to more readers. Given the numerous new terminology related to his model proposed by the author, a glossary would have been helpful for quick reference.

One issue of some importance to me related to the book is that information about the author was incomplete. For example, his bio indicated that “I worked as a chemist for a few years before emigrating to the United States…I received an MBA from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire in 1985 and spent the next twenty-five years in business.” No specific business sector or industry is mentioned. In the Epilogue, it is stated that the author submitted his paper to the American Physical Society (the second largest professional society for physicists in the world), that refused to publish the paper. No further elaboration is offered.

Overall, I found the book to be engaging and interesting. Arkay Nair’s passion for the pursuit of the true Grand Unified Theory model permeates the twenty-nine pages of his “Discovery of the Grand Unified Theory.” He has the spirit of an explorer. To be sure, this complicated scientific matter will simply be too daunting for some readers to engage. But this citizen scientist enjoyed this introductory exploration.

Buy This Book at Amazon.com

Wednesday 1st, February 2012

“You show me a real beagle-tracker with some serious sense, and I’ll show you someone who’s gone through a bunch of pain and kept her eyes open.” -O.B.T.

When I first started tracking the beagle, I was amazed that her eyes were upside down. Everything they’d told me to go for because they were good (power and money, strange sex, and controlling people), she warned, could ultimately be bad (leading to misery, loneliness and guilt). And the things they told me to avoid like turpentined rattlesnakes (pain, failure and desertion), the beagle said could lead to understanding what life is all about and the ability to love and accept almost anybody.

I learned one night about 35 years ago, as I was training a small group of beagle trackers who wanted to go after The Big Beagle. I didn’t know what I was doing, but the beagle nudged me to it. We were struggling to get to know each other, as this was before the time when everybody got together in small groups with magnifying glasses and showed their navels, etc.

Instead, we were going around the room, each telling the rest some things about his or her childhood. One older lady had a good many disappointments and seemed pretty bitter about her past. Then it was Alice’s turn. At first she said, “I think I’ll pass.” But then she shook her head and decided to take her turn. Alice spoke very carefully. “When I was a little girl, I was put in an orphanage. I was not pretty at all, and no one wanted me. But I recall, as far back as I can remember, aching inside all day. And at night I cried quietly in my bed, longing to be adopted and loved by a family. But everything I did seemed to go wrong. I tried too hard to please everybody who came to look me over, and all I did was drive people away. Then one day the head of the orphanage told me a family was going to come and take me home with them. I was so excited that I jumped up and down and cried. The matron reminded me that I was on a trial basis, that it might not be a permanent arrangement. But I knew it would be. So I went with this family and started to school in their little west Texas town. And I was a very happy little girl. Life began to open for me like a spring flower bed.

Then one day a few months later, I skipped home from school and ran in the front door of the big old house we lived in. I called out, “Anybody home?” No one was, but there, in the middle of the front hall, was my battered cardboard suitcase with my little coat thrown over it. As I stood there and looked at that suitcase, it slowly dawned on me what it meant… they didn’t want me. And I hadn’t even suspected.”

Alice stopped speaking for a moment, but the rest of us didn’t notice. We were each standing in that front hall with the high ceiling, looking at the battered suitcase and trying not to cry. Then Alice cleared her throat and said almost matter-of-factly, “That happened to me seven times before I was thirteen years old.”

I looked at this tall, gray-haired, forty year old woman sitting across the room, and I wept. I had just met Alice, but I found myself loving her and feeling a great compassion for her. She looked up, surprised and touched at what had happened to us as we responded to her story. She held up her hand and shook her head slightly in a gesture to stop us from feeling sorry for her. “Don’t,” she said with a genuine smile. “I needed my past. You see, it brought me to God.”

J. Keith Miller passed away Sunday, January 22nd at the age of 84. Keith was one of the greatest people I’ve had the pleasure to know and work with. Keith and I work together in 2001 republishing/rewiting one of his books into the title What to do With the Rest of Your Life. We gave this book away at the second Wizard Academy Reunion.  This was one of the first books I published and the one I’m most proud of. It was then picked up by another publisher, reworked, and re-released. Keith first attend Wizard Academy in 2001.

His funeral will be held Saturday February 4th, 10am at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas.

Keith, you will be missed.

Sean Taylor
Sean@WizardAcademy.org

Upcoming events:
First Friday at Wizard Academy
February 3rd
FREE
If you’re new to Wizard Academy this is the event you need to attend. The first friday of each month Wizard Academy will host a FREE half-day event, from 1pm to 5pm. This will give you the opportunity to indulge your curiosity and discover Wizard Academy.
Presenters: Devin Wright and Jacob Harrison
Guest Speaker: Vi Wickam

Magical Worlds and Advanced Thought Particles, 5 days
**Engelbrecht House is Full**
February 20th to the 24th
$6000 (Grad Rate: $3000)
These are the Big Two, taught by the wizard himself, Magical Worlds is the course that triggered the New York Times bestsellers that are quoted around the world. Advanced Thought Particles is the sequel course that makes the Magical Worlds epiphanies more practical and productive.

Advanced Wordsmithing
February 29th and March 1st
$1500 (Grad Rate: $750)
Advanced Wordsmithing is a surprising series of short writing assignments designed to teach you how to write clearly, simply and directly.
You’ll learn that beautiful writing is less about the beauty of the words themselves. You’ll learn that beautiful writing is the clear communication of your ideas,  images and ideas.
Learn how to say the damned thing!

How to Make Awesome Sauce
March 13th to the 15th
$2500 (Grad Rate: $1250)
Ready, Fire, Aim. We’re going to build some businesses in three days. Do you want to help? Sometimes you just need to get out of your own way.  It is easy to overcomplicate things when launching a business idea.  New tools exist today that did not exist 12 months ago that make it possible to accelerate a business startup.  The idea behind this class is to leverage the talent of Wizard Academy faculty and alumni to develop 3-5 new businesses in a 3-day period.

Da Vinci and the 40 Answers
March 27th and 28th
$2000 (Grad Rate: $1000)
You’ll return home from this class with 40 Universal Answers, a series of specific techniques and perspectives that will give you the ability to ‘think outside the box’ at the snap of your fingers. In short, you’ll be handed the keys to innovation. nThese are powerful tools you’ll use for the rest of your life. You’ll become widely known as the person who can always find a solution. There’s no end to what you can do with this knowledge.

Pendulum
April 17th and 18th
$2000 (Grad Rate: $1000)

Ad Writing 101
Always Online
$600 (Grad Rate: $300)

Angel. Broken.

In fantasy, wings appear on faeries, sprites and pixies.

In religion, wings appear on angels, spirits and demons.

In mythology, winged creatures are messengers of the gods.

In dreams, wings represent a release of creative forces.

A character having one wing is said to be lost in dreams.

Sleeper, Lost in Dreams
by James Christensen,
the gift of Anne Farnsworth
and her academy class,
Up Where the Air Is Thin

This image, in a handmade, beaten copper frame,
resides in the kitchen of Engelbrecht House,
Wizard Academy’s amazing student mansion.

When Sleeper, Lost in Dreams was released in 2003, it sold out instantly at just a few hundred dollars a copy. Today these prints sell for many thousands of dollars.

Thanks again to Anne Farnsworth and her class Up Where the Air is Thin for buying this rare painting by James Christensen for the academy. Below is a pair of small plaques that will be displayed in a glass cabinet nearby: