My buddy Dean Jackson pointed out an interesting example to
me the other day that really got me thinking. There’s a big
lesson here so keep your eyes peeled…

It’s about 2 very successful shows running in Vegas.

Both of them were blockbusters and entertaining sold-out
audiences each and every night. Both were family-friendly
and both had sterling reputations. And both even had
specialized theaters built for them, named after their
shows…

But that’s where the similarities end.

You see, one show got shuttered after a tragic accident on
stage and the revenue drops to pretty much zilch. The other
show is flourishing worldwide and is now a multi-million
dollar company.

So which shows am I talking about?

Well, the first one is Siegfried and Roy. They created this
amazing long running show of magic and illusion featuring
their famous white tigers.  They had a lifetime gig doing
their show at The Mirage in Las Vegas, until that fateful
day in October of 2003, when Roy was mauled by one of his
tigers.  They had made no other contingencies. Now the show
closed down and their business was gone…!POOF!

And that second show?

It’s the Blue Man Group. Maybe you’ve heard of them or
remember the Intel ads that featured them. It’s a group of 3
guys painted electric blue from head to toe, who splash
paint, make sounds and splat stuff out of their mouths. It
might sound a bit juvenile but audiences love them! And from
a business or entrepreneurial case-study point – there are a
lot of things to learn here.

The little light bulb moment came for them when Jillete Penn
(part of the duo Penn & Teller) saw their show in NYC during
the first month. He told them, “Oh, my God! You guys can do
what Teller and I can never do! You can clone yourselves!”

They didn’t get it at first because they thought they had to
be the talent.

But finally they idea dawned on them that they really could
leverage what they were doing by painting other actors (who
were trained by them) blue and doing another show.
Currently, their live stage shows can be seen in New York,
Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Orlando, Berlin, and Tokyo plus
frequent tours.

But get this – right now the original 3 members of Blue Man
group do not even perform – they’re busy growing their
brand.  They’ve ventured into all sorts of other venues
including film, music, TV, education and even children’s
toys. The toy development is a license to create toys based
on their musical instruments. (Smart!)

Frankly, the biggest lesson here is leverage…

Siegfried and Roy never figured out a way to get paid beyond
their performance. (Yes, they got paid lavishly but they had
golden handcuffs because they could never stop performing
day-in and day-out.) But Blue Man group leveraged themselves
by duplicating their performances and now by starting to
license their creations. That means they have revenue coming
in from lots of “open doors”.