An evening with an honest liar! OMG IT'S JAMES RANDI!

One of my greatest hero's since I was a kid! 

Let me give you a little background info on James Randi, he is an amazing stage magician who retired from this when he was 60 years old and since then has devoted his life to challenging  paranormal claims and pseudoscience.

As a young magician I’ve always looked up to this man here, I remember when I used to read his books and look at his pictures and wonder where in the world this man lives! He looked like a character that was out of a fiction book, he actually encapsulates the image of a magician quite perfectly. I honestly never thought there would come a day where I would be able to spend an evening with Randi. I can’t even begin to explain how I felt that night, it’s just absolutely marvellous when you are able to meet with one of your heroes. It does something to you, a dose of inspiration, motivation, drive, ambition, I could literally name all the positive emotions a human being could experience and it still wouldn’t be enough to explain how I felt.

I feel like there are times in our lives we are so quick to rule out things like this, I hear my friends say all the time that they wish they could meet this person or that person but they never try. The moment we label something as being impossible we literally seize to try which means that we’ll never achieve that goal. The benefits of being able to meet and engage with one of our heroes does wonders for our minds, I really feel like he unlocked something in me that evening and I feel this new strong sense of purpose as a speaker and magician.

My message in this post is simple, I know we have a hero that we would love to meet. Believe it’s possible and do what ever it takes to cross paths with that person, when we get to spend time with great minds it changes us, it change the path of our lives. Keep dreaming like our lives depended on it!

If for some super strange and unfortunate reason you do not know anything about this man (which I highly doubt could be possible), you need to watch his TED video!! 

My Ted talk was featured on TED.com!

Vinh on the TED stage

This year in 2014 I was invited to speak at Ted x Macquarie University in Sydney. I recall watching so many Ted speakers in the past 6 – 7 years and they have all been amazing. One in particular that really inspired me was a talk by Simon Sinek – Start with why. If you haven’t seen that yet you need to go to youtube and search that right now! Do it, right now!

Ever since watching these videos, I began to think about how I would be able to get onto the stages of Ted one day. It’s been a long journey but I finally made it. It was just such a surreal day, I had my friends and family come and support me in Sydney! It was just so exciting. I arrived the evening before and asked if I could jump on the stage to rehearse, you know just to get comfortable with the layout. I normally don’t get that nervous anymore before going on stage but wow when I walked onto the platform I felt so nervous! It reminded me of the first time I ever got up on a stage to speak. I was scared stiff! I think it had something to do with the fact that this talk could open up many doors for me.

The morning of the talk came faster than I thought. I didn’t sleep much that night, I was in the hotel rehearsing and rehearsing till about 3am in the morning. Once it was 8am I felt like I had only slept for like 1 hour! So much adrenalin was pumping through my body, I felt great! Long story short it was my turn to go on stage and the rest is just a blur. I remember walking off stage and asking my family and friends “What happened??! was it good?!?!”. I got into some kind of zone like state when I was one stage and the performer in me just took over and before I knew it, it was over.

3 weeks later the video was released and within a week of being released my Tedx video was picked up by the editors at ted.com as being one of their weekly favourites!!! This was amazing, I can’t believe the editors at ted.com picked my video! I took a screen shot of it to remind me of this little milestone. Thanks for putting up with my extremely boastful post. 

This immediately opened up doors for me in the US, it’s amazing what happens when you start to put yourself out there in the world. In life it’s all about taking risks, people get so caught up in “What happens if this goes wrong?” or “What happens if that goes wrong?”. We get so consumed in these thoughts that we end up doing nothing, this is why I love the entrepreneurial world so much, I love taking risks it really makes me feel alive. As they say the greatest risk of all to me is to risk nothing at all!

“If you are not willing to risk the unusual you will have to settle for the ordinary.”

Sharing the stage with Guy Kawasaki?!?!

Look how close my picture is to his! 

…. I feel a little lost for words… Who am I kidding I’m never lost for words ha! I’m a speaker!

For as long as I can remember I have been a huge fan of Guy Kawasaki, I’ve seen every single one of his keynotes on youtube that you can find. This man is one of the two people responsible for inspiring me to pursue a career in speaking! I was told just weeks ago that I will be sharing the stage with this man in Sydney in November…. Still hard to believe that things like this in life can actually happen. This man is my hero!

http://www.wiredforwonder.com/speakers/

If you check that link out you will see that Guy Kawasaki is the top speaker and I am right under him!! You will probably think I am crazy but this is huge for me, to have my name placed so close to his really is something that is just huge for me. I remember a good friend asking me..

“Let me tell you about the tomb stone test.. When you die, what do you want written on your tombstone?”

At the time when he asked me I really didn’t know, as life unfolds I feel like I am starting to get some clarity as to what I would like written.

“Vinh Giang.. The man who proved that anything is possible.”

Haha! When you read this you are most likely thinking, I have lost my mind… I say it a lot and you know what every time  I say “Anything is possible” I still believe it 100% with all my heart. I post these posts not to gloat and make others  jealous but I want to be that beacon of light that is flashing for those who are going through hard times, I want to remind those who are about to give up… I want to remind you..

“It’s possible.”

It’s so easy to get caught up in life and it’s dramas that sometimes we let negativity consume us. I often think about my family, as you an probably tell! Imagine my family didn’t believe that escaping Vietnam was possible.. I would not be living the life I am today if my family didn’t have faith that it was possible. My parents both instilling this quality in me has been the best thing to ever happen.. Imagine just for a moment… What life are you giving up? What life could you be living?

At the risk of repeating my self...

“Anything is possible.”

If a stranger knocked on your door and asked to stay with you, what would you say?

I’m the kid on the left with the HUGE smile, mum and dad are right behind me

Many years ago I recall a beautiful conversation with my dad. My dad asked me a question out of no where, he asked me..

“Son, if a stranger came to our home tonight and asked you if they could stay with our family what would you say?”

I remember I didn’t even think and I immediately said..

“NO WAY!! They could be a murderer or a bad person!”

My dad without hesitation whacks me across the head because I totally ruined the point of his story that he was about to tell me ha ha! It was quite funny but dad was actually quite angry with me….
My father then began telling me a beautiful story. Below is the story told in pretty much my dads words.

“Son, don’t be too quick to judge people, always give people the benefit of the doubt. People are all born good and even when people do bad things it’s because of bad situations that force people to do bad things. You know.. 30 years ago our family came to Australia and as strangers we knocked on the door of Australia and asked the Australian people if they would let us live with them and you know what they said? They said yes! They didn’t know us, we could have very well been murderers or bad people but they gave us the benefit of the doubt. The Australian people took us in, gave us a new home and gave you a bright future. We lost our home and everything we owned because of war and we are so lucky to have a new home here in Australia, remember this as you live life always  give back to our family here in Australia, our family as in the Australian people. Without them we wouldn’t be here. No matter what you do, just always keep this lesson close to heart and always appreciate this place you call home, to me son it’s Heaven on earth.

When you eat the fruits of success in life, always remember those who helped you plant the tree. This is where you will find happiness son.”

I share this story with you because this was the very story that really motivated me to become a speaker. You see, before this my dream was to become a magician and a really successful entrepreneur but after having this amazing conversation with my father I was so inspired to give back. Becoming a speaker was one of the best ways I found that I could give back.  I am so grateful for the kindness of the Australian people, thank you for accepting my family and thank you for allowing me to  call Australia home! I’ve traveled the world and there just no place like home.. Australia truly is Heaven on earth.

I also learnt from this conversation with my dad what life is all about, it’s about helping others. We live in a world now where it’s all about me, me, me, me, me and me. Everything we see on the bookshelves and TV is “10 steps on how you can lose weight”, “6 steps on how you can become successful”, “the 3 key secrets that will make you a millionaire overnight” etc. Imagine if instead we had things like “How to help the person next to you lose weight”, or “6 ways to help your friends and community become successful”. My point here is simple, after being able to speak and share knowledge with others it has changed my life. I feel so fulfilled and happy, it’s really hard to describe how I actually feel each and every day I wake up. If you are unhappy or feel down, do something nice for someone, anything! It can be simple as a smile, or buying a friend lunch. These acts of kindness towards others brings about the most amazing feelings in the world.. I really hope this midnight blog post makes sense, I just felt the need to share this with the world.

Top 38 Business speakers in Australia?

Vinh Giang made the top 38 Business speakers list!

Just yesterday morning I received an email from one of my best friends Matthew Michalewicz and he shared this link:

http://www.saxton.com.au/saxton-news/the-38-most-popular-business-speakers-of-2013-14/

I was listed as one of the top 38 most popular business speakers of 2013-14!!!!! After my keynotes and magic shows I noticed that people would walk out and be in absolute awe of what I have been able to do on stage, people have this perception that I am super amazing. The truth is, I am just the same as you. There is nothing I have that you don’t! My mother always told me that the moment I was born and she saw me for the first time, she knew that I would be successful in life. I remember asking my mother how? Like how could anyone possibly know that their kids will be successful just by looking at them! What she said next stuck with me all my life, she said

“Son when I saw that my boy was born with two eyes, two hands, two legs and everything intact I knew you had everything you need to conquer your dreams.”

I believe that everyone needs to hear this, if you haven’t now you have!

As a speaker and magician I’ve gotten to the point where performing has become some what a subconscious thing and because of this when I stand on stage there are these wonderful moments where I am watching you in the audience as intensely as you are watching me and  I’ve discovered something truly beautiful. Magic is just one of those art forms which can really bring out the inner child in 99.9% of people! Once you see a piece of magic that is well performed no matter who you are,  for a moment you become a kid again! When this happens I see hundreds sometimes thousands of people suspend all disbelief and everyone is sitting there with the mindset that anything is possible (I cant describe to you how beautiful this actually is in words!!). Without even being conscious of it you want the magician on stage to be able to perform magic, you want the magic to be real! Without this innate desire for the magic to be real and the suspension of disbeliefs the magician on stage can never perform ‘real magic’. The beautiful thing here is that this PROVES you have the ability to suspend negative beliefs!! The moment you suspend all disbelief the magician is able to perform some of the most amazing feats of magic you’ve ever seen in your life! The moment you suspend all negative beliefs in your life you’ll be able to achieve your wildest dreams. You have what it takes to make your dreams a reality!!! I really hope this doesn’t come across cheesy because I’ve never discovered something that is so true. If I could reach through this screen and shake you profusely I would! If I look back just 5 years ago, if someone told me I would have my name listed next to people like Mark Bouris and Matthew Michalewicz I would not have believed you for a second. The day I suspended my negative beliefs aside and dared to be bold and dared to dream.. That was the day I truly started to live truly live.

Sky News

A few weeks ago I had the honour of being invited to join Peter Switzer on his TV show Sky news! It was so fun, the best part of it was because I had to opportunity to do the two things I love most in life; business and magic! It was such a thrilling experience, I never thought that one day I would be asked to go on a show like this to share with everyone my ideas and thoughts on life and business. It was only just 5 years ago when it felt like I had a team of dedicated “negative Nancy’s” (this is what I call them ha ha), these people would always put me down for having dreams and tell me not to “go to far” is exactly what they used to say. I feel very lucky that I have the most amazing family, I remember coming home to my dad and consulting him about what these people had said, “Dad, do you think they are right? Should I stop trying to go “too far” with my ideas?”.  I remember my dads words so clearly on that evening, he said to me the PERFECT quote at the perfect time in my life.

“Son, if you never go too far in life than how are you supposed to know how far you can actually go?” 

Just like that I was totally and completely inspired! My father shared a wonderful piece of our family history with me that evening. He told me about all the wonderful things we had when we was young in Vietnam, our family was quite wealthy back in the 1960’s we had large noodle factories and many properties etc but after the Vietnam war broke out we lost everything. It was in the moment that my grandfather made the decision that we had to leave everything behind and I mean 4 generations of sweat blood and tears, they were about to leave it all in search for a new home. The craziest thing about this is that my grandfather made this decision because of his grandchildren and what’s even more crazy is that we weren’t even born yet and the thought of us… When my grandfather made this decision to leave, everyone in the community called my grandfather crazy, they said he was going to die and that he would never survive the journey. Regardless of what others said my grandfather assembled his 7 sons, got them to carry a bag each and the 2 year journey began. Long story short my family have faced hardship time and time again even once we got to Australia and my father and his brothers wanted to build businesses. Again people would say it’s too dangerous, what if you fail? etc. But time and time again my family would push through and achieve success. Today my father and his brothers own multiple businesses together. Looking at my father and his life, going from working on a farm in a remote village in a war torn country to being the owner of many multimillion dollar businesses is a miracle.. It proves two things to me:

“Our past does not dictate our future.” 

&

“Anything is possible.”

My family have been my inspiration, my motivation and my success is purely a product of their love. I just wanted to write this post to remind myself and others that no matter where we go in life and what we achieve alwaysremember and appreciate your roots, where you come from, all those who have made sacrifices for you to be where you are today and family.

To my grandfather Luong Giang,

I know you are resting in peace now in Heaven, I just wanted to share with people a glimpse of your life. You have given me everything that I have in my life today, without you the rest of the family would simply not exist. I promise to be a good person in my life and help as many people as I can, you’ve always said that Australia is Heaven on earth and the people here are like Angels. I remember the analogy you told me when I asked you why the Australian people allowed us to come to their country. You told me to imagine a stranger walked up to my home right now and knocked on the door and asked to stay with me forever, what would I say? I remember saying “No! They might be a bad person”. You told me that when our family arrived in this country it was the same situation, we arrived at the front door of someones home and asked if we could stay and the Australian people said Yes… It takes a very special kind of person to do such thing in life and you have to always remember and appreciate our new home and always give back.

Grandpa you are no longer here with us but you will live on forever in my heart and mind. You’re lessons will be passed onto the next generations of the Giang family. If there’s a God up there I know he’d say to you “Well done”.

Being one of the speakers for AIME was AMAZING!

Just under a month ago I had the wonderful opportunity to be a part of a speaker spotlight at AIME 2014. I really have to thank both Nanette and Winston who are the owners of Saxton Speakers Bureau for this amazing opportunity. Just last year in 2013 Nanette invited me to the event as an audience member, I was sitting right at the back watching the speakers in absolute awe and I remember thinking to myself “I wonder what it would feel like to be up there with thousands of people watching”. Who would have thought that in just 1 year I was able to share that stage with some of the best speakers in Australia. It really is amazing how things sometimes turn out in life, for the past 12 months I’ve been working on my craft and continually strived to improve and perfect what I do. Times like these I remember that if I never give up then how can I ever lose? I wanted to write this post to remind myself (and hopefully you too!) that when things get hard again in the future.. NEVER GIVE UP!

I remember looking at my goals at the end of last year and it all looked quite daunting to be honest. I remember reading a quote from one of the many books that I’ve read:

“You don’t need to see the entire stair case to take the first step.”

This really inspired me to just take the first step, one step lead to another and now I find myself at the top and preparing to climb an entire new stair case! I realise now that if there’s a really big goal you want to achieve right now in your life, you need to stop putting it off and just take the first step. If it’s a book you want to write, just write down the first chapter heading and the first paragraph! I don’t think many people read these posts that I post but I just want to share a quote with  those of you who are chasing a dream or a passion:

“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle and take the first step today.”

There’s nothing special about me as an individual, I am just like you! I have two hands, two legs, a brain, eyes etc. I really do believe that you can achieve anything you set your mind to, just don’t give up! No matter how hard things get, never give in on what you love in life. My father has always said, “Why make money you don’t need, to buy things you don’t desire, to impress people you don’t care about?”.

However you stumble across this post is irrelevant, if you’ve read the words above, take the first step towards something you’ve been putting off forever 

Our Magic show rehearsal was a success!

Last year I was able to achieve one of my biggest dreams in life – to have my own magic show. It was a huge success last year at the Adelaide Fringe where we had 14 sell out shows. This year the Adelaide Fringe has put their faith in us and gave us a full run of 29 shows which means just over $200,000 worth of tickets to sell. For this reason since last year September I have been starting to prepare for the magic show this year, we have decided to call the show Deception. The show is about the journey of a magician, why does someone get into magic? What road blocks do they hit? What lessons do they learn? This is something that I’ve always felt is very beautiful but because of the secretive nature of magic this journey is never shown to the general public. This is the one show where as a magician I will be very honest about how dishonest I will be.

Last year our very first show was a disaster because we didn’t rehearse properly and didn’t have a stage manager etc. This year looking back and learning from all of our lessons we decided to put on a TEST show where we invited 200 people that we knew to the Urban Myth Theatre and we essentially did a full run of our show. The audience LOVED the show!! I am feeling very confident this year and feel like we are about to take our magic to the next level. The art of magic is about continually improving, as a magician we always strive to enhance the experience we are able to bring to our audiences. Not only is this very important in magic I feel it’s very important in business, in my online business we focus a lot on the customer experience which has been a big reason why we’ve been successful. I love the synergies between the world of magic and business it’s really uncanny.

Mentors are vital to ones success

Vinh Giang and Matthew Michalwicz

People say pictures say a thousand words and that statement could not be more true. In this picture is an amazing entrepreneur named Matthew Michalewicz, I’ve been lucky enough to call this man a mentor and friend for the last few months. Matthew made me realise how important being healthy is, since I became a speaker I lost a lot of my balance in life. I feel a little embarrassed to say this but why not! When I started my speaking career I was a healthy 80kg after one and a half years I am now 86kg…. All that eating at odd hours and flying etc really threw me off. I got to the point where I couldn’t deny that I was gaining weight as my pants were starting to get really uncomfortable tight!

Matthew was kind enough to take me on board and started training me, I am really proud to say that it’s been 4 weeks since we’ve started training and I’ve lost 6kgs! I really feel like I am ready to kick some goals and finish the end of the year on a high! Thanks Matthew for your support and encouragement!

Young Entrepreneur of the Year!

Young Entrepreneur of the Year!

It’s almost been 3 years since I started Encyclopedia of Magic with my best friends in life Jeff and Lenny. Tonight as a team we won the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in South Australia, it really goes to show that anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it. I look back to 2011 and remember when we first started this business, everyone in our community told us it wasn’t possible and that the idea was silly and stupid. I am so glad we ignored them and pushed on! I often think to my self, imagine we actually listened to those negative people. Where would be be today? So it really got me pondering! What journeys are we simply not pursuing because we “listen to the naysayers?”. Imagine the life we are not living because we allow others to determine what we are capable of! It just doesn’t make sense to me, remember my friends

“It is I who determines my limitations and my past does not dictate my future.” – My father and his brothers always say this.

A quick message to my budding Entrepreneurs. Where ever you are in life, I hope you look at this as a beacon of light from an Entrepreneur to let you know that there is light at the end of this tunnel and it’s totally worth it! Keep pushing my friends, growth and success does not live within the realms of comfort. See you all at the top!

Also, big thanks to Michael from National Accounts for his assistance with my online business and professional speaking, he’s not only a great accountant but an amazing businessman.