May 15, 2017

Meet Jonas Cain

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonas Cain.

Jonas, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve been performing magic since I was a young boy. Most every child dabbles in magic at some point in their life, but they usually stop around their teenage years. But I never stopped. It was my first part-time job in high school and it’s been a full-time career for most of my adult life. I took some time off over the past number of years as I pursued opportunities for personal growth, but even during the time off I was still performing ad teaching magic when called upon.

When I first started performing in 1994 my style leaned heavily into comedy magic, however in 2008 I began incorporating a more serious message into my work. I still used comedy in my work, but the point was no longer to simply amaze people with magic tricks and make people laugh at my jokes. Instead, the emphasis was on the “why?” The “why are we all doing this?” It was that year that I wrote and produced a theatrical magical play called “It Just Happened the Other Day: A True Story,” incorporating magic, comedy, storytelling, music, poetry, and even dance and sculpture. It was an ambitious project that told a poignant true story of love, loss, and inspired hope to find your light in the dark. A couple years later I turned that production into a memoir under the same title.

Over the years I continued to create new material that has been used in other magic shows and books, and personal and professional development workshops as well. In 2010 I developed and facilitated my first workshop which was entitled “Journey of Discovery: Awaken Your Inner Power,” and I incorporated stories from my own life as well as examples from prominent figures throughout history to deliver concise principles for helping participants discover their purpose, foster balance, and overcome adversity to achieve success.

The first time I presented “Journey of Discovery: Awaken Your Inner Power” was at Boys’ State, a youth leadership camp sponsored by the American Legion. I only had five students sign-up to take the course, but despite the small group they seemed to enjoy the content. The following year I was invited to offer the workshop again, so this time I decided to change the description of the course to try and get more students enrolled. That first year I didn’t incorporate magic in the lesson plans, but for the second year I came up with a magic trick for each of the four main points taught in the material that would help illustrate and drive them home. So in the description of the course I mentioned that during each class there would be a magic show. In this way the magic would serve not only as a teaching tool but as a marketing ploy as well. And it worked. The second year of teaching the workshop I had so many students sign-up that there was standing room only! We had to hold class outdoors because there were no classrooms big enough to hold us!

I have since taught this workshop a number of times, and I am always overwhelmed by the response that I get. Inevitably every year I have at least one student come up to me during the week and they tell me what the material means to them, what they’re currently going through in their life, and how things have changed for them because of the class. The positive response from the students encouraged me to continue in that direction, and the results have been incredibly rewarding.

In 2016 I joined the John Maxwell Team and became certified to teach from his lessons. Mr. Maxwell is widely considered to be the number one leadership expert alive today with millions of copies of his books sold worldwide. He speaks annually to Fortune 500 companies, international government leaders, and organizations as diverse as the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the National Football League. I am especially honored to be on his team because of the positive influence his teachings have had on my over the years. I first discovered his work in 2010, when I stumbled upon one of his speeches on a CD that I friend let me borrow. He was one of a number of speakers on this CD, but he was the only one that caught my attention. I must have listened to that speech a hundred times that summer. “It’s not lonely at the top.”

Today I use my unique motivational magic teaching style to offer a range of services from interactive keynote presentations, hand-on personal and professional development workshops, to leadership assessment.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It’s been a long long winding road. Managing a business can be difficult when managing personal life challenges are even more difficult. Between 2007 and 2009 I experienced an especially difficult time, and when things weren’t improving I decided to take drastic action to change the direction my life had taken. I gave away my possessions, sold my car, gave up my apartment, and headed for California on a bicycle. I only made it as far as Connecticut before I realized I wanted to go home. I hadn’t been on a bicycle in years, I was in terrible shape, and it was November! None of those things added up to making it a good decision to go on a cross-country bicycle ride then. But it truly wasn’t about the bicycle ride. It was about removing the distractions of everyday life so that I could focus on my personal wellbeing, and that’s exactly what I got from that time in my life. For six months I spent my time couch surfing and doing a lot of reading and writing and reflecting. I came out of that experience stronger than I ever was and it has drastically altered the direction on my life.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Jonas Cain – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I offer interactive keynote presentations, hand-on personal and professional development workshops, and leadership assessment to corporations, non-profits, colleges and universities, and other similar organizations. I like to think of myself as a connector, bridging the gap between where a team is now to where they want to be. I do this by assessing the reality of their unique circumstances and then providing appropriate education and training that fulfills their needs. My approach to communicating these success principles is what both sets me apart from my competitors and makes my work so effective: I present my material with magic. I’m a professional comedy magician with over twenty years of experience, and this highly specialized skill enables me to illustrate my points dynamically — in a way that’s informative and entertaining — and also allows me to engage the people I work with in a way that traditional speakers just can’t.

My interactive keynotes and workshops are at once engaging and entertaining. This makes the people who hire me happy with my results, because their teams actively learn and engage in the material instead of tuning out during their training. What’s more, the individuals I work with are happy with my results because I don’t just spew information at them, but instead they literally participate in a magic show! They have no choice but to pay attention because they’re fully engaged physically, intellectually, and emotionally. My motto is “Magic that entertains, with a message that resonates,” and this approach proves, time and time again, to be the magic formula needed to provide people with effective training.

As for me, I’m happy with my results because as a magician I have always been in search of the “best magic trick.” And what I discovered in my experience not just as a magician, but also in my time as an educator having worked in public schools and as a leadership counselor for nearly twenty years, is that being a positive influence for the personal and professional growth of others, giving them usable tools and resources that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives — that to me is real magic, and is what makes my days so incredibly valuable.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I recently partnered with Hashtag Positivity where I currently serve as a spokesperson, so one of my goals is to help build this company into a well-known brand. I also have two new books that I’m currently developing and hope to have both of them done and released by 2018. Beyond that, I’m beginning to consider the possibilities of seeking representation by an agency. I’ve been working solo in and on my business for so long that I’m starting to reach a point that it’s time to let someone else handle the business side of things, so that I can focus exclusively on the creative side which is where my strengths are.

Contact Info: