My story is a unique one and thanks to my blog site I’m excited to share it with you.

My amazing journey began back in 2000 when I made a career change. Though it has led me on this wonderful path allowing me to “follow my dreams”  and pursue my passions, it was and continues to be anything but a smooth and easy path.

At age 40 with a wife, three children, a mortgage to pay and college looming, people thought I was crazy and foolish for doing what I did. How could I even consider the absurd notion of leaving my chosen profession as a doctor of chiropractic to pursue a career as an unknown songwriter and magician?

Why would somebody give up 8 years of undergraduate and chiropractic college, plus an additional 15 years of private practice on a whim? To say goodbye to 23 years of hard work and dreams was definitely the hardest thing I have ever decided to do in my life.

Looking back, I can honestly say that after ten years of ups and downs and highs and lows, I have no regrets about what I did and deep down I know it was not only the right thing to do but something I had to do.

So who am I and what do I do?

Well… it’s complicated and difficult to answer in one sentence. In a nutshell, here is my story.

Can you make my wife disappear?

As a professional magician and motivational performer, without a doubt, the most common question I am asked goes something like this… “You’re a magician, can you make my ____ disappear?” Fill in the blank with the word “wife” “husband” “kids” “mortgage payments” “bills” “restaurant check” etc and … well you get the point.

Once we get that obligatory question out of the way, the next most common set of questions I am asked go something like this… “How did you get started in this line of work?” ”You do this full time?”  and “What did you do before you did this?”  When I tell them that I used to be a chiropractor, people’s reactions range from mildly surprised to puzzled to absolute shock. I could easily see why people would have a tough time understanding how or why someone would give up a successful chiropractic career to perform assembly programs for kids.

But that’s not exactly how it happened.  In fact, when I sold my practice in 1999 after 15 years of private practice I really had no idea what my new career would be. At the time, it must have seemed obvious to others that the broken wrist that I suffered while playing basketball one evening was the main reason for me closing up shop. But if I’m being completely honest it was only part of the reason. However, figuring out what to do next wasn’t quite that simple.

Too Much Time on my Hands

With a confining cast on my arm and plenty of time on my hands I now had the opportunity to reflect on my situation. At first, I felt sorry for myself asking questions like “Why me?”  and “Why now?” However, I soon realized that these questions were not providing any positive outcomes. After much thought and soul searching I asked myself a series of questions that would change my life forever.  ”Where do my true talents lie?” “What is my true burning passion?”  ”What do I see myself doing for the rest of my life?”

The more I thought about it the more I realized that I had lost my passion and desire to practice chiropractic. I enjoyed treating the patients but in a nutshell, when “managed care” came along I could no longer deal with the misconceptions that both the insurance industry and the general public had regarding the chiropractic profession. It got to the point where there were too many hurdles and obstacles for both myself and the patient to overcome in order for the patient to receive the type of chiropractic care that they wanted and I felt they needed.

I began to look at my situation as a blessing in disguise. It was an opportunity wrapped up in a tragedy that would finally allow me to pursue my true passions and follow my dreams. But it’s one thing to make a decision to follow my dreams and a completely different thing to make a living at it.

One day, I remember closing my eyes and allowing myself to imagine what life would be like if I was a professional magician…  a songwriter…  a performer.  I didn’t think about how it would happen or if it could happen. I just imagined it happening.  I just acted as if it was real and that there was no plan “B”.

Just for the fun of it, I called a few local elementary schools. I found out that schools of all grade levels have budgets for educational and motivational assembly programs containing original music and /or magic as long as they contain positive messages. Immediately, the proverbial light bulb went off and a whole new world opened up to me. I got a pad of paper and a pen and I escaped into a zone of pure consciousness and awareness as if time had stood still and some outside force had taken hold of me. Immediately like never before, ideas for children’s songs along with lyrics, verses and choruses magically poured out of me and appeared on the paper as if someone else was holding the pen and writing for me. With an obtrusive cast on my hand I was somehow still able to form rudimentary chords as I picked up my guitar and started to play. But something was different. The absolute ease with which the music was created to fit the words was something I had never experienced before. It usually takes me a week or so to write a song but in less an hour I had two motivational kids songs completely written which I still perform ten years later. Within months I had created full blown themed assembly programs.

A Blessing in Disguise

The only way to explain what had happened was to acknowledge that something extraordinary was at work here. Although I did not realize it at the time, ironically, my wrist hitting the pavement with a thud on the basketball court ingeniously provided me with exactly what I needed, the perfect exit strategy of my chiropractic career and the perfect transition strategy into my new career.

It began with an informal performance at my daughter’s kindergarten class and soon progressed to birthday parties, pre-schools and summer camps. Then I received a call from an elementary school and haven’t looked back ever since. After a few years, I was earning about the same income that I had earned as a chiropractor performing K-12 school assembly programs and workshops regularly all over the Northeast.

Looking back I have no regrets.

Thanks for reading and please post comments.

Jeff Blum

Thanks for visiting my blog and feel free to contact me for any reason.

Jeff Blum

Contact Info:

Phone 732-580-8629

Email Jeffpblum@gmail.com

23 Longstreet Rd.

Manalapan, NJ 07726