Recently I was talking to my friend who works as a door-to-door saleswoman in Washington state. 

 

One of the questions I couldn’t help but ask was this: 

 

“What’s the funniest story from all your time knocking doors?” 

 

Well, it started with a Russian guy telling her he was “a bad man” and it ended with a lesson about magic I’ll never forget.

 

See, my friend actually went over to Washington because she speaks Russian. 

 

(or at least she’s learned enough to be helpful.) 

 

And the main people they target in Washington (believe it or not) are Russian-speaking individuals. 

 

One of the tactics they have is simply going from door to door and asking people if they speak Russian. 

 

As soon as they hear that someone does, they’ll rush to that house and immediately start their pitch. 

 

Now here are a few details that are important for this story to have any real lessons in it.

 

1. At the time my friend had JUST started properly learning Russian.
2. She was also being trained by someone else. 

 

So here they are, on the advice of someone else, talking to a grizzled Russian man as he does work on his car.

 

At first, they approached him in English but quickly switched to Russian when the man seemed to have terrible comprehension of anything they were saying. 

 

The one thing he did say in English however, was this: 

 

“I’m a very bad man, you don’t want to be speaking to me.” 

 

And then in Russian, he said this to my friend’s trainer: 

 

“Your Russian is terrible, I can barely understand a word.” 

 

Her trainer deflated, my friend was forced to ‘take the helm.’ 

 

Only 6 weeks into this new job, she spoke Russian the best she could. 

 

The man stopped in his tracks and said: “That was the best Russian I have ever heard, you speak with a perfect accent.” 

 

My friend laughed and proceeded to close the deal.

 

So what happened?

Well first of all, as bad as the man said he was, nothing happened to the two of them, so thank goodness for that. 

 

But second, thinking back on the story my friend said: 

 

“I think I just knew some phrases so perfectly, he took me for a native!” 

 

So how does this apply to magic? 

 

Well for a while now I’ve been obsessed with something Jamy Ian Swiss told me in a private conversation. 

 

“I only taught my students 6 sleights, and it’s all they need for the rest of their lives…” 

 

Could this really be true? 

 

But the more I think about it, the more I realize, with just a few perfectly mastered moves and routines, you can look as good as any magician in the world.

 

So here’s my advice, as much to myself as to you! 

 

Focus on what matters, work hard on it, and before long you’ll be told you’re “a native” too.

 

Thanks for reading! 

 

Jacob.