Phil Jay and Chris Dugdale have created a course called close -up success http://www.closeupsuccess.com/# it looks good. Anybody signed up?

I like PDFs so this is a cosnideration for me.

You may find it hard to receive the info. Prof magician Phil Jay http://www.philjaymagic.com has lost his laptop. This is not good news if you booked him for magic.

Phil Jay and Chris Dugdale are both very good friends of mine. I have been very fortunate to have had the chance of working with Phil and Chris all over the country. In my opinion they are no doubt the two hardest working close up magicians in the UK, and these guys know their stuff. Watching these guys work, quickly makes you realise how much these guys know about ENTERTAINING a table and the BUSINESS side of Magic.

The stuff they are releasing from today is the Gold Dust they have been giving me in drips and draps over the last year or so. I have had the privilege of sitting down with Phil at his house on many occasions till early hours of the morning discussing the 'Real Techniques' of the business. OH boy, this stuff works!!! Since being with these guys and listening to every word I have now become VAT registered. Not bad since I have only been in business for just over a year.

Re:

If you read the advert on the site correctly it does actually say 'Stolen'. Unfortunately for Mr. Jay he was in a meeting in London where his laptop was stolen right from his side. Thankfully after a couple of weeks of hard labour he has reclaimed the majority of the lost jobs back. Things like this can happen to anyone.

NB
The lost laptop will not affect people who have purchased 'Close up Success' because the laptop was stolen way before CUS went live on the Web. To also clarify, Phil is not the course administrator. Although he co-wrote CUS with Chris Dugdale, Phil is not the one who is handling the payments and distribution of the PDF's and DVD's.

All the best

Richard Stone

I read the advert on the web site and its a bit lacking of the types of magic it will teach ( other than cards). It seems like a great idea. It sounds like great information will be included in this course. But the claim to get some PDFs totally up to 300 pages and some DVDs does not make me want to shell out $600 USD. For $600 you should be getting the equivalent of the original tarbell course( over 1000 pages) already printed out for you! I just re-read and it said props and effects are included buttttttt what are those effects ? In this day and age a table of contents would help answer a ton of questions . I understand Mr stone you have benefited from direct contact with Mr Jay but we will not be so lucky. I think until an independant review comes out I will hold off .

I have subscribed, and after the first volume, I am already pleased with the content. Im not going to go into detail, but the first pdf containted 54 pages, with philosephies, and a number of great effects and subtleties. I don't think the value should be questioned...like they say, you'd only need a half decent corporate gig to pay for it...and with this course, I have no doubt that I will get at least one half decent gig.

I have to agree with Flec.

I've received the first volume and it's worth every penny. The course is £37.50 a month or £375.00 up front. I only work part time as a magician but I paid up front and am already pleased, I can see it's goint to be excellent value for money if you're serious about getting into the corporate market or just want to make your magic more entertaining. £375 is ONE GIG! What do you guys want? Knowledge is valuable and these guys deserve to get well paid for tipping their hat so cheaply, they should have made it more expensive to keep it a little more exclusive.

I had a problem with the hard disk on my laptop, this corrupted the file so I couldn't open it anymore. I e-mailed Chris and received a reply same day saying he could sort it out no problem. Next day I received the file again to replace the damaged one. WOW! The problem was nothing to do with Chris but he sorted it, NO QUIBBLE!

I met Chris at a Corporate Trade Show Day organised in London and the ideas he shared there that I've used have worked for me. I can see already from this first issue that this course is going to be more of those gems.

Just my thoughts.

Al.

I have a question! How does this compare to Paul Daniels Course which if I remember right is excellent also, but about $200.00 less than this one. It sounds great, but seems to be very expensive considering there are many very good Magic Books out there. I am disabled, and presently have not worked for many years so my income though I am also retired United States Air Force would hurt lots if I ordered this. Not to say I will not try it in the future. I love Magic, but am as in Golf more of a Duffer than a Magician. I love to read, and practice, but am always afraid of actually performing in front of people. Thanks for listening to my rambling.

Chris Dugdale & phil jay are 2 of the top close up workers in the uk, but is the course worth its price? I would be very interested in reviews form anyone who has seen it. not many reports on the forum as yet

This course seems to have come and gone quite quickly?

Anyone else dish out the dough for this course that can review?

Chris Dugdale and Mike Jay have produced some of the most expensive PDFs out there. This is to be applauded. I heard that C. Dugdale has implemented futuristic technology in the PDFs that automatically calls his copywright attorney in NYC if one of the course subscribers goes bad and makes the files available via P2P DL.

Is it worth the money (Yes)Do I want you to buy it (no)

It is sounding more and more like some of these real estate/investment "seminars". "We priced it high to keep the non-dedicated people from learing the secrets" or "It will be a limited distribution. to maintain its exclusivity". And Wow they throw in gimmicks valued up to $40 , sarcasm alert. Like I said I would expect they print it out for you considering the price you are paying. Its too bad they are taking this marketing strategy, It probably is a average to good product but they are turning a lot of people off . They are probably of the mind set of we would rather sell 50 $600 courses instead of 600 $50 courses . THis is my opinion based upon what I have gleaned.

The site says " Complimentary Exclusive DVD “The Classic Force”, learn from Phil Jay - the best practitioner of this in the World ".

That's a bold statement considering Paul Green's work on the classic force.

First of all, I don't think anyone who is not on the course should be allowed to comment about it. Paymerich, how can you say "It probably is a average to good product". You have never read it!!
I was one of the first subscribers and I can tell you that Close-up Success is worth every penny. I have just sold my highest paid close-up gig thanks to the advice contained in Close-up Success. Phil Jay and Chris Dugdale are probably two of the most successfull close-up magicians. They are literally giving away (yes even for that price) what made them so successfull. They know what they are talking about (not like you Paymerich).

I am so happy with Close-up Success that I recently sent the following feedback to Chris Dugdale:

"Hi Chris,
I just thought I’d drop you a line. I’ve been talking to Phil about Close-up Success and I gave him my very positive feedback but not to you directly.
All I can say is: thank you! Close-up Success is absolutely brilliant. After reading all the information so far (volume 5), I don’t think that anyone has reflected so much on the business of close-up magic than you two.
When I got close-up success, initially I was more interested in your business tips as I know that both of you are amongst the top earners in our trade. But your thoughts on the interaction with the audience are also very interesting, and the magic material is excellent. You obviously have done a lot research on negotiation skills, personal development and psychology and you are literally giving it all away. I really wish I had been privy to such information before. The information in close-up success is pure gold dust! Really…. I think for those who see the potential, it will definitely boost their career as close-up magician. I have started to implement a lot of your techniques and I am changing the way I am doing things. And I can see the results straight away. The course has by far paid for itself already.
What I find positive about close-up success is that it makes me take a step back and reflect on my profession which is not an easy exercise. It is a great tool for self-development. Without it, it is difficult to know where to start.
Thanks again and I just can’t wait to receive the next volumes."

In other words, I highly recommend it!

I think this course was designed for full time pros and people who are considering becoming professionnal. It certainly isn't aimed at magic geeks who just want to impress their mates. The course is about the business of close-up magic and how to be more successfull in that business. I have been making a living doing close-up magic for 10 years now but still, knowing how well Phil and Chris are doing from this business, I thought I could do with getting business advice from them. That's the truth. I think a lot of magician do have an ego problem and struggle when it comes to self-improvement. Most magicians think they are already doing the right thing.

I can tell you that following the advice and selling techniques described in close-up success, I have just sold a 3 hour close-up gig for 30 people for £925 + vat, including travel (2 hours from home) and I am being supplied a room in the 5 star hotel where the gig is taking place.

Congrats on the booking fredericsharp. 3 hours for 30 people??? That seems like a lot of time for that many people.
Patrick

"Congrats on the booking fredericsharp. 3 hours for 30 people??? That seems like a lot of time for that many people. Patrick "

Unless of course you know how to work an environment like that. I have seen Frederic work and he knows what he is doing.

I really can't BELIEVE people are slagging off the course when they haven't even read it. It is so mundane... To be honest I rather the magic geeks leave this course alone and let the serious workers grab hold of this GOLD DUST. For full-time magicians or magicians thinking about going pro and want to increase their income and bookings this is the course for you. This course will really teach you the in and outs of this business. The section about how to approach a table properly is worth the course alone.

If you just want to self pleasure yourself (we know what we call people who do that!) with fancy cuts etc in your bedroom, don't bother buying this course, instead; go and keep buying the latest tricks on the market.

Richard,
I wasn't doubting frederic's abilities....I don't even know him. I was just asking a question.
Also, I suppose people here have some reservations when people with 2 posts come on praising a new product. Both you and frederic show having 2 posts and coincidently are backing the same product.....makes people wonder.
I have no reason to doubt the advantages of this course, I haven't seen it.
I know enough tricks... I am looking for information on how to get hired in better paying places. Maybe this course is the answer, but I'd rather hear some feedback from (nothing personal) some unbiased people. Unfortunatley, I'm not willing to put out $600 to be the "crash-test dummy".
patrick

Well if he just learned from the course I DOUBT HIS ABILITIES.

Here is the thing with ANY course. Are they worth the money? Who knows? If you get it home and it works for you, then I guess the answer is yes. Heck some people were happy with the Yugo.

Now to rag on people who see an inconsistancy in the ad copy, well that is not fair either. These guys always make claims that when dicected, make no sense.

It is possible, that there has been a payment incentive of some sort to the people who are using the course. I would call that good marketing.

BUT I will caution any Americans considering this. The UK is a different animal when it comes to close up work. It is far different. Lots of cultural differences come into play. For much of the same reason that some American things don't translate to the UK, the reverse is quite true.

I also have the same 2 post reservation, with no other information other than "oh it is well worth the money". Seems suspicious as we have seen this many times here.

And I am sorry to say from the copy, it is NOT geared to professionals working. It may claim that but come on. The just starting out, the wanna work, the I need more work crowd, but not the busy pro.

I am a bit annoyed at the lifting of the Mastercard "priceless". For a thread so worried about legal things like liable, it seems a bit odd to use something so directly related to another. If nothing else it shows a complete lack of creativity.

"Finest exponant of the classic force"? According to who?

I get nervous any time someone from across the pond tries to tell me how to reach untapped markets in the US. The US is so geographically different and culturally different within itself, there is NO way to make the claim.

So lets not have the silly arguement that we can't tell things from the ad copy ok?

As I said earlier, if you want to get it and it helps you book shows or learn tricks, then it is well worth the money. If not then obviously it is not. I would be nervous of anyone from another culture telling me how to market in mine, but that is just me. And the 2 posters with praise, well speak for themselvs. Seems as if every time we have one of these courses discussed they pop up, and then "poof vanish" when the marketing is done. HMMMMM.