{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The 7 Hats","title":"The Longest Game: Steve Cohen on 7,000 Magic Shows, Positioning Over Paychecks, and Building a Career from a Deck of Cards","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":4330,"description":"🎙️ What if the most powerful business strategy you ever learned came from a deck of cards and a $25 birthday party?Steve Cohen didn't stumble into magic. He chased it. From age six, obsessed. From age ten, paid. From a living room in Yorktown Heights to Carnegie Hall, from rowdy four-year-olds to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Steve built something most performers never do: a one-man show with a 25-year run, 7,000 performances, and a client list that reads like a Forbes fantasy.But this isn't a story about tricks. It's about positioning. About patience. About playing a 20-year game when everyone else is chasing the weekend. About giving up the $2,000 gig so you can land the $20,000 one. And about what happens when a kid from Westchester County bets everything on a craft most people consider a hobby.If you've ever wondered whether mastery alone can build a business, Steve Cohen is your answer. And if you've ever been told your dream is too niche, too weird, or too risky, this episode is your permission slip.🎩 SummarySteve takes us from his childhood in Yorktown Heights, where his parents chauffeured him to Cub Scout halls and church basements, to performing in the penthouse suite of the Waldorf Astoria for 17 and a half years. Along the way, he shares how a classified ad in the Penny Saver launched his first real pipeline, how a psychology degree from Cornell became a magician's secret weapon, and how five years in Tokyo taught him patience but starved him of the stage.We go deep into the moments that made the career. The apartment living room shows that got shut down by a spouse. The wood-cutting of a 19th-century Viennese magician that became his business blueprint. The Daily Candy email blast that sold out his show for a year. And the CBS Sunday Morning segment that moved over a million dollars in tickets in a single week.But Steve's story isn't just about lucky breaks. It's about preparation meeting moment. About investing every dollar back into the craft....","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/faFBEKbYXJ6SlEo0khsI9QXVcTPBDJpOwWKgVDXM02U/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9iYTBh/OTYxYTMzZDg1ZDJk/NmY2NGEyYTBhZDg2/YjA2ZC5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}