Back when was heavily into magic, I learned something that made a big difference to my knowledge and skill as a performer.

It was something simple but profound I read from sleight-of-hand artist Michael Vincent.

He said, “Make it a policy that before you buy a new magic book, you master the one you're currently reading”.

These were in the days when we learnt things from books, of course :)

But the point was well made.

Magic hobbyists have a habit of buying book after book, video after video, trick after trick hoping that the latest shiny object will turn them into a miracle worker in the eyes of their audiences.

But in magic, real miracles come from mastering a few tricks and being able to perform them flawlessly.

Same goes for business, of course.

We all jump on board the latest marketing technique hoping it'll be the one that brings us a flood of clients without needing to lift much of a finger.

But in truth, clients come from mastering just a handful or core marketing principles. Principles that by and large we already know.

We just haven't put enough time into mastering the techniques we've already learnt.

So to paraphrase Michael Vincent, make it a policy that before you try to learn a new marketing technique or buy a new course, master the one you're already working on.