Struggling entrepreneurs are often faced with rejection time and time again. How do you handle those obstacles and challenges of entrepreneurship? Do you face them head on or do you sulk and sink into a dark place?
Luna Shimada has been performing in top venues across the world from Europe to Japan to America, and the showrooms of Las Vegas. Luna is a philosopher and a teacher of magic and her many talents encompass writing, dance, and performance art spoken word.
Luna began her one stage career early at the age of 12 and has spent the last 30 years honing her craft and is now recognized in the world of magic as one of the best female magicians of our time. Luna has paved the way for many women to follow in a profession that has primarily been a male dominated field. Luna has created her own distinctive style of performance magic that is unique, dramatic, sensual and thought provoking. She is the quintessential renaissance woman of our day.
Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:
- Michelle introduces Luna Shimada.
- Most people join an entertainment career later in life, but Luna was literally born into the world of magic.
- At the age of 8, her father told her she didn’t have what it takes to be successful like him. It started her down a path of doubting herself and standing in the shadows.
- She married a fellow magician and became his assistant, but when the time came for her to step out of the shadows and perform, he suppressed that.
- Luna decided that it was time to chase her dreams and her passion, and that meant that she had to walk away from that marriage.
- “I don’t think that there is a cookie cutter mold that everyone can fit into, especially when you’re promoting something like yourself. And you’re selling yourself as a product. It’s about cultivating a relationship with your audience.” ~ Luna Shimada
- “I think that you can’t overcome anything unless you first really take the time to take some personal inventory and learn who you are and what it is that you want. If you don’t know what you want then you don’t know what your direction is.” ~ Luna Shimada
- When setting off on her own, Luna quickly realized that she didn’t want to be like regular magicians, using tricks and illusions to entertain. She wanted to evoke good feelings in her audience.
- Instead of finding what she had in common with others, Luna focused on what made her unique.
- “Everyone, I believe, comes into this world with a particular superpower, a talent, a gift that only they excel in better than anyone else.” ~ Luna Shimada
- Luna found herself in a place where she had to reinvent herself. After her divorce, she lost the business she had spent 15 years developing and had to find something new.
- Everyday, Luna faces rejection. As a woman in a male-dominated world, she has to constantly keep pushing against stereotypes.
- “Be true to yourself. First of all believe in your vision. Don’t get derailed or influenced into becoming something that you’re not. Don’t compromise your integrity. Because there’s a lot of temptation for that. A lot. And I have always stuck to my guns. I have always been true to my vision; true to myself.” ~ Luna Shimada
- When it comes to facing rejection, Luna has sage advice: “Don’t waste any time or energy being angry with the people that oppress you or suppress you because that’s a waste of energy. It isn’t about that. In the end the biggest obstacle that lies before us is ourselves.”
- Luna shares what she would tell her younger self.
Connect with Luna Shimada:
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