Welcome to the “Making of a DM.” It's time to throw in the towel, the bloody truth about owning a business. This show might not be something you want to hear, but it's something you have to hear. With that said, let's get started.
Mark: What's up, everybody? I know you guys think I sit at home and smoke cigars all day. I promise you, I don't. Not only that, we've got a lot to talk about today. Hey, I just want to do a quick take before I get into this today because today's going to be a topic that is really going to probably ruffle some feathers in a positive way I hope. It's not meant to hurt your feelings, but it's really to help you guys get going. [01:05.9]
Thank you guys again for all the support on MagicianVsMule.com. We have a lot of people getting the book, sharing it, talking about it, posting about it, buying a lot of copies. We've had people buy up to 100 copies at a time to give it to their people. I know Andre bought 30. Tiffany bought I think 20 or 30 as well recently. But I just want to say thank you guys for not just the support, but it means a lot to me. It really does.
I know sometimes you might think I’m yelling at you, but I’m really talking to you. I’m trying to talk the truth that I’m talking to myself. When I’m talking to you guys about the pain, the struggles, the excitement, the good, the bad, the ugly, everything between, these are conversations I have with myself every single day through the journey, and I just want you guys to know I really appreciate you guys supporting me.
In Magician vs. Mule, it's really exciting to see the movement that's happening there. Not only that, all the great reviews, five-star reviews across the board. If you guys got the book and the book made an impact in your life, you could take a minute, review it over on Amazon.com, Magician vs. Mule. It would mean a lot to me. It does help a lot of other people, so it's kind of cool. [02:10.0]
Again, we've sold thousands of these copies and you only have a handful of people leave reviews. I get it. I do the same thing. I’m bad with that as well myself, but I’m asking you. If it did make an impact, if you take two minutes of your life, it could make a big impact on someone else's. So, thank you for that.
Also, the podcast show is booming, Making A DM. We’ve really got a lot of cool stuff going on here. It's really neat to see. I’ve got a lot of people from all walks of life, all over the world actually. That's why you'll see people here from Australia, all over the world, Canada, everywhere, but it's neat to see. Again, just very grateful today for all of you guys for being here because today's topic is going to be a big one and it's going to be meaningful. It's very meaningful like all of them are, but I think today will help free up a lot of people from moving in an unhappy direction.
Today's is “It's time to throw in the towel: the bloody truth about owning a business.” [03:05.3]
Now, I want to be very crystal clear here today. If there's children around, I might drop an F-bomb here or there. I’m trying to get better at that. I’m trying not to do that as much. When I get in a zone, if you've ever seen Old School and you’ve got Will Ferrell up on the stage and he's like, Burr, and it’s like, What just happened?
Oftentimes, when I do these shows, that is what happens. I literally go onto a trance. You'll see me staring right at you through this camera, which is pretty wild, and I’m just trying to make an impact. That’s all I care about. I’m not trying to be cool. I’m not trying to say the right thing. I’m not trying to say the wrong thing. I’m not trying to be eloquent with my words or whatever. I’m just trying to genuinely help the people that want to help themselves.
With that said, I’m asking for permission. If you guys are cool with it, I’m asking for permission to really share a real truth with you as I always do, but today is a little different. There's going to be a lot of people watching this, a lot of people sharing this, because it's going to talk directly to you. It's going to be intense maybe because it's going to hit your nervous system probably. More than likely, I’m guessing it's going to happen. [04:11.0]
But what I want you guys to do is I want you to quit. I genuinely want you to quit and throw in the towel. I know you might be like, Dude, what are you talking about? It's true. Every single person listening to my voice should just quit. It's easier. It's easier. All of you should be a number two or three or four. What gives you the right? Why do you think you want to be a business owner? It's not easy, dude.
Let me share a story with you. I’ve shared this in the past about we're not all business owners. Everyone wants to be a business owner. I’m giving you permission to stop the madness. I’m giving you permission to enjoy life. I’m giving you permission, it's okay to work nine to five. I’m giving you permission, it's okay to find someone that will give you benefits. It's okay for someone to say, It's okay, you get two weeks of vacation and it's paid. It's okay if that's what you want. [05:07.5]
It's okay. Tap out. You're not quitting. You're moving on. You're growing. You're going to get back your life, say, Shit, I didn't sign up for this stuff. I didn't sign up to be an entrepreneur, a real entrepreneur. I didn't sign up for all the shit you’ve got to deal with. You know the stuff I dealt with yesterday? Most of you wouldn't even be able to handle the pressure, and I’m not saying that to be cocky or dicky. It's the fucking truth. It's the truth. The pressure is mounting, lawsuits. This person just wasted 15 grand. This person just wasted $1,000. This person just wasted 20 grand. This just happened. This person is quitting. This person is still in. This person is fucking it or the other person is screwing up. It doesn't end. It doesn't end.
It never will end, by the way, as an entrepreneur. It will never end. I barely went to sleep last night because my nerves were like, Burr, zooming, and then at 4:00 AM I’m looking at the clock. I’m like, Dude, really? Just give me 44 more minutes. 4:44, baby. I only need 44 more minutes. [06:11.2]
I got the fuck up and I went downstairs, and I worked. I was scared. I was stressed. I was overwhelmed. I was frustrated. I was excited and my anxiety was out the roof. You'll see that today. I’m telling you, it's not for you. Tap out.
In my real estate business, I used to sell thousands of turnkey single family houses all across the world, people. I had buyers all across the world. Everyone wants to be what they think is cool. I want to be a passive investor on turnkey assets. Cool. I “am” that. I’ve done it for 24 years. I know what it is to be a real fucking investor. So, we sell all these assets, thousands of them, thousands. What I realize is just because I’m a good investor, a real investor, doesn't mean because you bought one, you are. Just because you say you're a big business owner and you bought a business doesn't mean you're a business owner. Don't get it twisted. [07:08.7]
It's easy to buy. It's easy to do that action. Everything else that comes along with it, you probably didn't want to sign up for. What I realized is that most people are mostly talking about what they want to do as opposed to actually doing it, and more importantly, making the decisions. You don't have the mental fortitude or you haven't built that muscle up yet, which is fine, but the truth is I stopped doing turnkey about two years ago. I couldn't do it anymore. The shit you're dealing with people because of their shenanigans.
I’m a passive investor. I’m a big investor. Hot water tank went out two years later and you’ve got to replace it. Oh my God, you sold me a house and the hot water tank broke? I can't do that. You owe me $1,400. It's like, What? That’s called allocations. It's in the allocation factor. It's called this. Again, don't get it twisted. Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should do it. Just because you want to do it doesn't mean you should do it. [08:06.4]
What I realized is yesterday's show about “Losers quit. Winners don’t,” in that sense, I got blown up. On social media, people are pinging me in private message like, Yo, man, you don't understand, man. I’ve been at this game for a long time. My first question and I want to be very crystal clear, my first question is I meet a lot of people in the game, if you will. They make the same amount of money. It's usually under $100,000. They don't have any marketing budget. They don't even know what a fucking P&L is. They don't even know how to do [projections]. They don't even know what projections are. They don't know what ROAS is, return on advertising spend, because they don't have a marketing budget to even do that. They don't even know what a KPI means? What does KPI mean? Dude, key performance indicators, you don't know what that is as a business owner? Again, my first question is what's your marketing budget per month? Well, I get leads for free. I do word of mouth. I do that. You don't have a business, dude. You have a hobby disguised as a business. [09:04.9]
You don't have to like this conversation I’m having with you. I’m giving you permission to go be a number two. It's okay, and I hope I’m getting you pissed off. That's a good thing because now you're actually going to finally do something. But what I want you to understand is number twos are needed. I need more number twos. I’m taking applications daily for amazing number twos and threes and fours, etc.
Why? Because I am a real fucking entrepreneur. I’m involved in lots and lots of businesses. I’m not a good day-to-day operator, but I’m an amazing business owner that hires great drivers, i.e. number twos. This is not a bad thing. This is a good thing. For some reason, us as crazy real entrepreneurs think everyone is like us. They're not. The truth is most people aren't. Most people say they are, but most people aren't. [09:58.3]
I had a really bad partnership breakup back in the…that was a long time ago, early 2000s. The guy told me he's a real estate investor, that he was an amazing business owner, blah, blah, blah. He was because I was. The fucker was on my nipple, sucking out my cash out of the back door, while I was out making all the money. Keep in mind, I was young and I was very naïve, and I believed people for what they said, not what they did, big difference, and trust, but verify.
As he was stealing money from me, I went over to his house and he had this $80,000 deck. I’m like, This is a nice deck, man. I know what we're making. How the hell do you afford this out of the gate? This is five months into the relationship, partnership. He was like, Oh, man, yeah, whatever he said, some other bullshit lie he told me and I believed it, so it's my fault. It's not his fault, by the way. It's my fault because I’m a responsible adult.
A real fucking business owner knows that everything happens, good and bad and in between, is their fault no matter what, and if you don't take responsibility for your life, again, you're not a real business owner, period. No questions. You can't argue with the fact. It is what it is, because you have top down. That's the way it works. [11:07.4]
He made up this B.S. excuse and whatever conversation. I believed him and we went on our day, probably went to Chipotle or something, who knows. Then I started looking at the books. See, my number two, which he was, the entrepreneur, but he was supposed to be the operator as well was handling the books, go figure. Then I’m like, Yo, man, I’ve got to get someone in here to hire. He went ballistic. What do you mean? I’ve got this under control. I’ve got you, man. You're my boy, blah, blah, blah. He clearly didn't. He had me all right by the balls because he was stealing my money, but once I found out I addressed it.
See, most of you guys don't want to have real conversations. Most of you want to pussyfoot around and tell people what, Oh, it's okay, you're doing a great job, and then secretly you're like, Dude, I want to stab this person in the eyeball. They're sucking the wind out of me. They're playing their business scared. If you're scared in your business, you have no business. [0:11:57.4]
It's okay to be scared, but if you're playing business scared, you can't. You have no business. You're handcuffed to a problem and, literally, it's going to wreck you. You're living in fear 24/7. Everything you do literally is going to suck the life out of you.
This is why you see a 40-year-old person that you meet that's been a business owner that really isn't that's working 18, 20 hours a day they say, and most of the time they're on social media dicking around but they say they're working, and then, all of a sudden, they look like they're 90. It’s because they're worn out because they know they're living a lie.
I’m telling you, guys and gals, most of you are not a business owner. Most of you're not a real entrepreneur. It's not a knock on you. Throw in the fucking towel and enjoy life. It's so much easier. I’m telling, you don't want this shit. I know you see the cool houses, the cool cars, the cool vacations and all that, which brings me to another topic on this. If you're sitting at home trying to plan your fucking vacation and you want more family time and you want health benefits, and you want dental benefits and all this shit, you're not an entrepreneur. [13:11.1]
I didn't have any of that shit for the first 10 years as an entrepreneur. I just prayed that I didn't get hurt. Actually, I couldn't get sick or couldn't get hurt because I was too fucking busy working. I couldn't get sick. I couldn't get hurt because I was working. Most of you guys are sick all the time because you have too much time on your hands. Most of your hurt all the time because you’ve got too much time on your hands. But if you're out there seeking insurance and vacation time, and this and all this other bullshit, you're not an entrepreneur. You're an amazing probably number two, probably an amazing number two.
That's okay, by the way. Again, this is not a bad thing. This is probably an awakening for you that finally someone's telling you the truth. I’m not trying to be your buddy. I’m not trying to sell you anything. I’m trying to help you have a better life because, let's be honest, that's why you're here. You want a better life. You might think it's real estate or business building, but the ultimate thing is really you just want a better life. [14:10.7]
You don't care how you get it. You just want to be able to wake up, do what you want to do and do the work. If you're trying to figure out, I want to do what I love to do, Mark? I’m an entrepreneur. Fuck, 98% of my day is stuff I don't want to do. Literally two days ago, I’m on with my fiduciary, my financial advisor, my fucking CPA, all these people telling me I owe all this money, how to do this next year, this year, blah, blah, blah. Do you have the stomach for what it really takes? It sucks. Guys, listen. You're going to get punched in the face. You're getting kicked in the balls.
Dude, I had someone yesterday, someone in the company, I’m not joking, literally sent someone too much money. How? What happens when that happens to you? It's a cost of doing business for me and you’ve got to conversate. You’ve got to address it immediately. [15:01.0]
Most of you guys address something seven months down the road because you keep sweeping shit under the rug, because that's how he saw Mom and Dad deal with stuff. You sweep shit on the rug, sweep it under the run, sweep it under the rug. No confrontation. I don't know how to say it. I don't want to come off mean. Fuck them. They fucked up. Let's talk about it. What are you afraid of? They're going to get mad? Wow. Get over it. You're a fucking adult. Deal with it. You don't like me? Get the fuck out. I’ll hire someone else that likes me. By the way, I don't care if they like me. Just do your job.
See, the thing is, as people around are playing the game, Oh, I’m playing business now. That I’m a business owner. Really? How? Last quarter? How are you in business making $80,000 a quarter? Listen, I’m not knocking the hustle. If you're playing small, that's a starting point. We all start small. So, I’m not knocking the hustle. What I’m knocking is people that are talking as an entrepreneur that says they're this big dog. Their marketing budget is non-existent. They don't do the work. They're always a family today. How the fuck do you do that? I can't even do that and I can do it. I’m building a business. [16:05.0]
You understand every fucking decision I make and you make, a free flex on your team. If I go become reckless, my team gets screwed. If I make a decision to hire someone, the team gets affected. If I fire someone, the team gets affected. What are you thinking? Clearly, most of you aren't. What you're doing is mimicking people that you see online and you have no clue what they're doing.
Just because they say they're doing something, I’m telling you right now, most are not doing what they say they're doing, and when I say most, over 90%. I know. I have the private conversations. People are watching me. They'll come to me.
Mark, I want to hire you for 25 grand for the day. I’m scared. I’m a fraud. I’m faking it and I’m afraid to get found out.
You've been on vacation for six weeks and you just said you made $7 million.
Yeah, I know what I said. It’s not true. [17:02.9]
What? You have over six figures people listening to you on social.
I know, I feel bad. I’m scared.
Well, you can't hire me because I’m not helping a fraud person. It scares me that people are watching these guys.
Listen, let's be straight up honest. All of us as entrepreneurs are delusional. Real entrepreneurs are delusional. If I say I make 100 grand, that's not what I make. I might have made 50 grand net. We call it guru math. It’s kind of 100 grand, because making 100 grand and netting 100 grand or two, way different conversations. Again, I did make 100 grand, so it's all perception is reality. It's marketing. I get it. But if you're trying to build something, which all you say you are, I don't know if you all are on it, are you taking this? You need to up your daily consulting fee, absolutely. Are you taking this information and doing something with it? [18:02.5]
The problem I, if you're following someone that's not doing it, they're giving you bad advice. They're just selling you regurgitated information that they took and sold you. Real entrepreneurs that you're going down a very dark path. And I know there's light at the end of the tunnel, Mark, and the train track and the tunnel. That's another train coming right at you, by the way. It's not the sun. It's the light. It doesn't say sunlight at the end of the tunnel. It's a fucking light that's going to crush you, kill you, done, because you’ve got it twisted. You're following the wrong person. You're listening to the wrong people.
Now, listen, there's a lot of great people out there as well, so I’m not knocking that either. I’m just saying the majority of them are full of shit, and until you understand this, you're going down the wrong path and you feel good all the time. You need to do mentor. That mentor is trying to be in your pockets. That mentor is trying. They need to be stretching you, pushing you, calling you out on your bullshit, addressing real facts. Talking about real shit. [19:02.0]
Not just about business either. This is about life. It's about real stuff. Yo, if you're out fucking cheating on your spouse and you're at my meeting, you're going to get called out on it. If you're out doing, getting boozed up, which has happened to me sometimes, call me out on it. I get it. We're crazy sometimes and we're very delusional sometimes. We think we can handle everything. That's what real entrepreneurs think. We can handle it all. We've got it all on our back. I’ve got this. Sometimes we don't, right?
So, that's why we need amazing number twos and amazing number threes on our team, to help lift us up. That's why we need great spouses to give us great support to drive us forward, to support us on our vision, to give us. They don't have to understand it. They’ve just got to support it.
Real entrepreneurs struggle with real shit every day. I know guys come to me. I’ve got 33 guys in the DM family. We all have anxiety issues. We all have stressful issues. We all are dealing with hiring and firing. We all have people issues. We're trying to be better human beings. We're trying to give back more. We're trying to do more, all in the same minute. [20:04.2]
That's real entrepreneurship. Not like, oh, sit on the beach. Hey, man, remember that time in high school? Yeah. Dude, you threw for 12 yards that year. That was amazing. You’re sitting there getting fucked up, stoned, talking about stuff you don't even care about, but you have nothing else to talk about. Yeah, I’m an entrepreneur, man. Seriously?
I was an entrepreneur before it was cool in the ’90s. When I told my dad I was going to be an entrepreneur-business owner, he was like, That's awesome. When I tell my friends that, they're like, Dude, you're lazy. Entrepreneur meant lazy. You're trying to get out of work. You're not trying to do the work. I’m like, What are you talking about? I’m trying to work smarter. I’m trying to make more money. I’m trying to be bigger. I’m trying to do better. I truly believe it. [20:56.4]
I was talking with Gino and he wrote the Traction books, Gino Wickman. He genuinely thinks entrepreneurs are born, not made. It's interesting. He's smarter than me intellectually, for sure. I don't know if it's true or not. I do know I’ve had this trait my whole life. I have something in me that wants to be better. I have something in me that doesn't want to deal with the shit, but I have to deal with it because that's what I have. It's something I’m telling you, a lot of people are trying to force entrepreneurship because they think that's what it looks like.
Entrepreneurship is not glitz and glamour like we perceive it to be. If you're not willing to make big financial [decisions], I’m talking catastrophic financial decisions, yes, you could lose everything in one decision. If you're not willing to hire people, if you're not willing to address people immediately when a situation occurs, if you're not willing to step into the fire of lawsuits, if you're not willing to step in the hiring lawyers at $500 an hour, if you're not willing to help you, if you're not willing to hire people to help you because you think you could do everything yourself, you're not a business owner. You're a small business operator. [22:03.3]
It's okay. You're not a real entrepreneur, I get it. I’m not knocking it. I’m trying to take the anxiety and the stress away from your life by saying, listen, dude, I want to make 200 grand a year and that's it, simple. Go do that. Don't try to be the millionaire, a hundred millionaire, billionaire, whatever. These are different things that you have to accept. If you're trying to be that, you have to drastically change from a hundred-thousand-aire to a millionaire, to a multimillionaire, to a billionaire. I’m not at the billionaire status yet.
The truth is, my boy sends me this, Fuck it, I want a trillion. A trillion dollars when my kids get old enough will be like a billion dollars. I believe that with what's going on with the U.S. money, but at the end of the day, I’m not trying to even be a billionaire, honestly, because it's a different set of sacrificing skills. With that said, though, I am plotting, I am pursuing how to generate more money than I’ve ever generated in my life without me necessarily doing the work. I have a different set of skills now. I have 24 years of experience. [23:08.2]
So, when you guys see me and what I’m accomplishing, know that this happened in 24 years, not two minutes, not 24 minutes, not two and a half years, 24 years. Do you know how many people have screamed at me, yelled at me? Do you know how many millions, tens of millions of dollars I’ve lost? Tens of millions, from stupid accounting, stupid deals, terrible team members, people ripping up, bad partnership. It's endless. It will continue to happen, too. It's part of the game, and until you accept it, either, one, get out of the game or, two, accept it.
Hold on a second. Yes?
[Son]: Show how to make cotton candy?
Mark: You’ve got to tell the people what's up. Are you an entrepreneur or business owner?
[Son]: An Entre-pre-neur [24:01.1]
Mark: What do entrepreneurs do?
[Son]: Make money.
Mark: Make money. Do you have to work hard to make money though?
[Son]: No.
Mark: No?
[Son]: Yeah.
Mark: Yeah? Does daddy work hard or not hard?
[Son]: Yeah.
Mark: I work hard? What does daddy do all day?
[Son]: Make money.
Mark: Make money. Does daddy ever scream out loud sometimes?
[Son]: Yes.
Mark: But at you or just other people?
[Son]: Just Dria.
Mark: Just Dria, your sister. Yeah, but I’m yelling at you guys because I’m like, I love you guys. All right, so I’ll be down to help you guys make some cotton candy soon, okay? All right, get down there. Let's make some…
[Son]: Hey, Dad.
Mark: What?
[Son]: I showed her how to make it pretend and we could sell it.
Mark: You're going to sell it?
[Son]: Yeah.
Mark: One bag for three, two bags for five, right?
[Son]: But how about for six?
Mark: I’ve got you. I’ve got to get back to work.
[Son]: Okay.
Mark: All right. Sorry about that. Priorities. He's way more important than you, not to sound like a dick. It's the truth. But I
care about you guys, too. [25:01.5]
See, I think the thing is this is something I wish I’d have realized a long time ago. On the journey of success, know where you stand with your priorities, because it is easy to get pulled in many different directions. I want to help everybody. Real entrepreneurs, from my experience, want to help everybody. It is very hard. We genuinely want to help people.
That's how we see the world by [being] solution-driven, not problematic. Solution-driven. That's why we have anxiety, because we see something and they're like, How the fuck is there no logic to this? Why is this person doing that? This doesn't even make sense. Here's the solution. That's how we tick. We see the problem. We see the solution and we create the opportunity. That's how we get paid as entrepreneurs.
And it could be anything. It doesn't have to be big houses or anything. It could be simple products. I mean, shit, look at the guy that did the toothpaste thing. Remember that thing you stick on the end of toothpaste and you push up? I mean, he probably had these shit for 10 years. People are like, No one is going to buy a piece of plastic for $10 to get an extra two squeezes out of toothpaste. I wonder how many people… I mean, the guys had to sell a shit ton of that. It used to be an infomercial, right? [26:12.4]
But this entrepreneur stuff to me is so powerful. So powerful. And it's frustrating. It's not easy. You guys don't know how many nights I’ve cried. Literally, cried. Do you know how many days I’ve stayed up that I’d feel like I’m in a fog? Everyone's having fun. My friends that have jobs are having fun. They're talking about their vacations they're going on. This happened for 12 fucking years of my life. I saw it. The truth is most of the time I never even went because I was working. I was hustling behind the scenes, grinding it out, literally trying to figure it out. But, again, knowing what I know now, I never have priorities in place. I just say, Let's go. Let's go help people. So, it gets caught in the cycle. In the real entrepreneur world, you guys are going to see this as you develop into a real entrepreneur and, hopefully, maybe you're there, but it starts because we say yes to everything. That's who we are. [27:08.9]
See, if you don't say yes to everything, I don't believe you're a real entrepreneur in the beginning phase, because that's what gets you to become a great success as an entrepreneur. If you're not saying yes to all things, Yes, I’ll do the deal. Yes, I’ll do the deal. Yes, I’ll make that happen. Yes, I’ll hire that person. Yeah. Instead, most of you are like, Well…does it have any benefits? What's the salary? Like, health insurance? Yeah. What's my copay? Okay.
Straight facts. I’ve never done a résumé in my entire life. Even in high school, I didn't do a résumé again. Again, this is a true story, 17 years old, high school economics. They're like, Today we're going to do resumes to get a job. Yes, Mark.
I’m not working for anybody.
Well, Mark, you have to.
Show me the button. Who says that? Show me in this book who says I have to work for someone? [28:05.6]
Well, that's the way it works, Mark. You graduate high school. You go to college. You go get a job.
Show me who says that? Why? Why do they say that? Show me.
This is a true story. I got sent to the principal's office for being a clown, class clown or whatever. I wasn’t being a class clown. I was being serious and, sure enough, I’ve got in trouble.
So, for me, very powerful to realize I was an entrepreneur from day one. Again, thanks to my mom and dad, my dad, his entrepreneur sperm clearly for me anyways. But my sisters aren't entrepreneurs, My cousins aren't entrepreneurs. Other people that I care about that I’ve brought into business, thinking that this is normal life and I make big decisions, so it's normal that they should do the same thing. But the truth is they're amazing human beings doing what they do. [29:02.3]
Now, I’m not saying they don't strive for more. I’m not saying they don't want a lot. It's just everyone's different. But us crazy entrepreneurs think everyone's the same. And the truth is today's show, if you’ve got fucking pissed off and fired up at me, you probably are an entrepreneur. You’ve got mad. You're like, Evans, fuck you, dude. I’ve got this. That's a good thing. That's on purpose.
I know when I get mad, if I watch a show like this, I’m mad, that means I’m the one. I can do this. That's what entrepreneurs do. They get mad and do something about it. They don't talk about it. They don't pussyfoot around about it. They execute. They know they're going to fail. They know they're going to win. They know they're going to wake up and repeat process. But one thing they're not going do is ever fucking quit until they die and that's the facts.
You as an entrepreneur, real entrepreneur, a real entrepreneur, you know what I’m talking about. Everything I just said today, 100% are facts. There's nothing I said at all today that is not the truth. Not one thing. [30:10.5]
Most of you should not be an entrepreneur. That's a fact. And if you get pissed when I say that, you might be an entrepreneur, that's a fact. It's tough. You know what I’m talking about. Anxiety. You know what I’m talking about when your spouse says, Hey, let's buy this, and you're like, Oh my God, and now I’ve got to deal with this but I’m trying to deal with this. You're juggling. If you don't feel like that, you're not entrepreneuring it up. You're not a real entrepreneur.
It's okay. Go be a number two. Support guys like me. Support gals, people that are great entrepreneurs. Support great entrepreneurs. You're needed. You're needed. You have a place in the world. You don't have to be the hustler. You don't have to be the front line. Probably you think you want it. I’m telling you, most don't want it.
Guys, I’m telling you us, us as real entrepreneurs, we don't want the shit we have to deal with. We want what we get once we get it. Who doesn't want the money? Who doesn't want the cool lifestyle? But you only see that one piece of it. [31:12.3]
You think Elon Musk is hanging out all day, playing around? This guy is under scrutiny 24/7. He can't even smoke a joint with Joe Rogan without getting blasted. His stock is soaring. It's at 1,400+ probably right now today. Then he'll make a decision. He's selling. He’s supporting. He's doing it. Every time that flinches, his life changes. You guys understand? That's what it takes. That's what happens as real entrepreneurs. It's not always easy. It's very often never easy. Right?
So, for me, we have to step it up. One for three, two for five. Sounds like… Last night, I was talking to him for an hour about how pricing structures work. Again, this is just sales 101. We'll talk about this one down a show, but when Mark comes to me and I’m teaching him sales, I’m like the hardest thing in business is acquiring a customer. The funny thing about it is, once you acquire a customer, most people never resell that customer, which is silly because that's the easiest person to sell, especially if you delivered a great product and you performed on what you said you were going to do. [32:14.4]
When I’m like, Yo, Mark, sell it for three. Make a great product. Sell for three a big bag of cotton candy. Go door to door, sell it or put it on the front yard. But when you sell it, say, Hey, actually, if you buy two bags, it's only $5. You've already got them in the door there. Acquiring a customer might be $2, but now you get in the door and you discount a dollar. You just need an extra dollar, not just $1, but a hundred percent increase in profits.
Again, this is a little bit more advanced, but that's the shit. I’m telling you, it doesn't stop. If you see me on Instagram, I’m talking about directional marketing to my kid while I’m correcting him for making his place a better place. When you talk to my wife, I go into the restaurant, I go into a store, it never ends. It's always like I can't stop thinking about it. I can't stop talking about it, right? I’m not offended when people say no., I’m not offended when people say, Get out of my face. I’m not offended when they say yes. It's just an action set. This is the stuff we're talking about. [33:09.2]
We have to realize most are not entrepreneurs. I’m giving you a way out. I’m being serious. I’m giving you permission to tap, to move. When I say tap out, that's not negative. Tap out. Someone's choking you so hard. It's called your wannabe entrepreneur. It’s choking. You can't even breathe. Just tap out. That means you get to stand up and breathe again, and enjoy your life. Get with the winner in the ring. Talk to them and become the right hand person. Let them know you'll support them. Understand what they go through. The struggle is real. I have amazing people.
I was talking with Roseanne. She's been with me for 14 years. I have amazing people in my life that make what I do look easy at this point in my career. I have a lot of great people. I’m a team-made person, not self-made. I’m a team-made person. Roseanne. Kim, my assistant, if you guys have ever met Kim, she's an amazing person. I have Peter. I have Colleen. I’ve Kathy. I have Patrick. [34:05.1]
I have so many people that I have known for so long. Not just people that I work with and drive our companies, but also people I do business with like Doug. It's endless. Gary. So many great people that I have forged relationships for 19 years, 18 years, 22 years. I have people still investing with me 22 years later. That says something.
Pay attention to track records, so when you see the car, you're seeing the future advance of where you could be. Use it as motivation, but don't think that's where you should be today, and that's where real people get stuck. That's why people aren't getting the success they want, because they're trying to accelerate opportunity too fast. Therefore, you miss out on any opportunity because you can't do it. If I could do it quicker, I would, but I’m just trying to be me. Remember the thing, I’m just trying to be 1% better every day, 1% better at marketing, 1% better in sales, 1% better in leadership, things. That’s the shit that keeps me up. That's the stuff I didn't sign up for but I have to do it. Because it's me. It's okay. It's okay. [35:09.5]
I want you guys to know I’m here to tell you this not to hurt your feelings. Honestly, I thought about this a lot. Not only that, I have a lot of notes on it, about the real . I show up to the show to speak the truth. Everything I do from my Instagram profile, when I’m talking live stories and you see what I’m doing, that's my life. That's why I think everyone should be following because I’m talking real shit. There's a handful of people out there that do talk real shit, but most people don't want to listen to it because it's scary, you know what I mean? It is scary because you have to address it.
But probably the biggest telltale sign when I’m talking to someone as they're being an entrepreneur and if they should throw in the towel or not, first thing I was ask is, How long have you been in business? $1,000. How? Why? There's no business that's going to be successful spending 1,000 a month. It's impossible. Seriously, it's impossible. $1,000 a month of marketing budget. It's impossible. We spend $20,000+ per day minimum, per day, in marketing. [36:15.4]
I didn't start there and I’m not saying you need to start there, but you’ve got to start growing it. If you spend $1,000 this month, try to spend 1,100 next month, then 1,200, 5,000. I’m pissed off we're not spending a million a month in ads. Why? Because when you spend more money, you make more money.
See, right now we have some massive accelerated growth going on, so now it's not just spend more money. We could spend more money, but it's going to get wasted. Why? We don't have the team to support the spend. Clients would get pissed. That's okay. Clients get pissed no matter what, but the goal is not to do that. The goal is, How do I sustain it again? Again, I’m not trying to get it right. I’m just trying to get it going. If your marketing, budget's not growing, if you're not expanding your team, if you're not dealing with new challenges… [37:05.5]
I think I’ve told you guys this story before I used to go to all these real estate events when I was trying to be a big real estate investor, and I’d go to these events and I’d meet. I knew where I was at in the business. Maybe I was two years deep in it, so I had a certain set of problems, right? I need funding. I need this. I need that. Whatever. And then, where do you find deals? I need a wholesale, whatever.
Then, I’d meet someone 10 years in the game. They’d have the same problems as me. Then I’d meet someone 20+ years in the game and they’d still have the same problems as I did two years in the game. I would think, Is it me or is it them? What am I missing? If I’m 20 years deep in the game and I have the same problems, is this even a problem? It wouldn't even be a problem in that case, right? It's just a part of the business. Therefore, what's the real problem? I do not have a license. There's no need for me. But why do people keep having the same problems, expecting different results? [38:00.0]
You need an IRS problem. You need a tax problem. These are problems. That means you're making more money. That means you're growing your bottom line. That means you're expanding your revenues. That means people are paying attention because you're actually growing. You need a lawsuit or two, or five or 10 or more. I’m not saying go out and try to get lawsuits, but when you were getting bigger, stupid people try to do stupid things.
I’m dealing with one dickhead right now and, again, it's so dumb because I’m doing the right thing. This is what's amazing about humans, greedy bitches out there, lots of them. This guy, literally, I told him I’d give him money, blah, blah, blah, and he's on a thing that happened. I was like, Dude, I’ll just do the right thing. Here's the money. I agreed upon it. This was last Tuesday. I agreed upon it.
He sends my assistant an email and he's like, Nope, I talked to my lawyer. Everyone talks to their lawyer. It's funny, people have no money, but they always have lawyers. I don't know how that's possible, but they all have fucking lawyers. He’s like, I talked to my lawyer and he's demanding 200% more than I said I would pay, and the percentage, the amount I was going to give him is ultra, ultra over the top already. [39:13.3]
So, what happens? Well, stay tuned. I know what happens. The guy is going to get zero, but it's amazing to me that people do this. Greed is a bad thing. His lawyer, whoever this guy is or gal, has messed it up. These are straight truths. By the way, this is entrepreneurship at its real level. Yeah, LegalZoom, exactly. If people don't say they're not dealing with this shit on a daily basis, weekly basis, monthly basis, they don't have a business. They don't have a business.
You're dealing with shit 20. I’m telling you, you're dealing with lawyers. You're dealing with accountants. You're doing financial advisors. You're dealing with staff. You're dealing with bookkeepers. You're dealing with assistants. You're dealing with so many things. This is why my wife and I’s biggest fight is, Mark, what do you want for dinner? Whatever. I don't care. I’m done decision-making today. If you put down dog shit and put paprika on it and put hot sauce on it, I’d probably eat it and wouldn't know the difference because I’m just done. I just don't want to make the decision. [40:16.3]
That's our biggest fight, true story. What do you want for [dinner]? I don't care. I’ll go anywhere. You tell me. I’ve been making decisions all day. You tell me, right? These are entrepreneurial problems for real. It's not that I’m trying to be short. It's not that I don't want to…
Again, don't get me wrong. We still do date night and stuff like that. That's different. That's me getting ready. When we came to Ohio, I had flowers in the house thanks to Kim, my assistant, and all this stuff. I’m thoughtful, but, again, these are decisions I make to do that. I just want people to make decisions around me for me with me as well. Not with me, for me mostly, on stuff like that. I want to be called into the big decisions. I want to be called in the strategic decision making. I want to be called in to the next level stuff. Entrepreneurs, we're getting beat up at all levels. [41:01.7]
Again, today the goal is to have some of you throw in the towel. I really mean it and I’m being dead serious. If you're an amazing operator and you want stable income, I pay amazingly well. I’ll pay you more than you're worth, I’m sure, and I pay a lot of people way more than they're worth, but I’m cool with that. I actually like supporting great people. I like people. One, it's great for everybody, right? Talk about job security. Talk about great people getting in a great culture. I have a lot of cool companies.
If you're big in the supplement business, I need help there. If you're good at acquiring businesses, I need help there on the merger and acquisition side, and we're buying companies often. If you're doing stuff on the lawyer side and you're a great lawyer, but you want to actually expand and roll with some people, I might be the guy for you because I have a lot of different irons in the fire and I spend a lot of money on lawyers every month for acquiring contracts, all that stuff.
If you're great at data mining and data management, I have a pretty big data business that my team runs and they're amazing. We've got guys in California, multiple people in California, shit, I don't even know how many VAs across the world, lots. [42:08.7]
Then I’ve got my guy, Peter, in Florida that runs ads. If you're looking for that kind of stuff, if you're big in the email media space and you understand email marketing, I’m hiring salespeople. Our salespeople can make 30 to 50 grand a month. If that's something that you want to do, it gets paid well and it helps everybody. We all win.
These are the things I’m talking about. I mean, I have endless amounts of opportunities for people who will want to work and that’s what the problem is. Most people want to be an entrepreneur, so they don't want to work. You're missing out on a great opportunity.
A lot of times people might look at me when I’m talking to you guys and say what I’m saying and thinking this is a front. I promise you, this has been my cadence from 1996, ’97, ’98. Obviously, my confidence changes because I have real data. I have real failures. I have real successes. I have real everything in between. I understand. I kind of know where things are going or react to certain things. [43:04.9]
My job as a leader is to know these things, to know how people drive forward. Do I help you by dangling the carrot or do I tell you to quit being a pussy and go do the work? There's two different [paths].
Again, not everyone is taught this way. Not everyone learns this way. Not everyone moves this way. But the guys I’m rolling with and the gals, they want real talk. They're sick and tired of being sick and tired. They're done with the guru bullshit selling you fluff and air and getting you excited, but no backing on it. My stuff is not pretty. It's not sexy. It's real, raw and authentic. I’m telling you as real entrepreneurs, if you think it is any different way, you're not a real entrepreneur. You've never been in an entrepreneur room ever. It's bloody. It's ugly. It's nasty.
Now, don't get me wrong. When we're hanging out at the club afterwards and we're laughing about like, Dude, this deal, it's just another deal. We've moved on. You make it personal. It's just another transaction. We've moved on. [44:02.7]
I’m going straight to the back of the stage and I’m writing down what I would have done better, how I could have addressed it quicker. What answers didn't I answer? I feel like a piece of shit because I didn't deliver what I thought I could deliver. That's the stuff. Real entrepreneurs don't think they have anything figured out. I have a couple of things, but most, the majority, I don't have dick figured out.
That's why I need great number twos. I need your help. If you're a great leader as a number two, giving great direction on a daily consistent basis, that's how I show. I can help you. You can help me. That's what it's about. So, toss in the towel. You will gain a whole other life. But, Mark, people are like, Dude, why aren't your sales guys leaving you? Why would they leave me? They’ve got to do it.
Dude, Peter has been with me 12, 14, I don't even know how many years now. He runs certain things for me that I don't even understand and he deals with stuff every day. It's not that he's up there. No, I’m the one getting punched in the face. I’m the one taking the risk. I’m the one putting the pieces together. I’m the one in the front lines. You don't see Peter on here every day. You don't see Peter ever. That's not a bad thing. These are good things. My assistant, Kim, you don't see her on the thing here, talking about what she does all day for me, writing notes, sending money, executing contracts, all these things. [45:15.2]
We as real entrepreneurs, if we have a million things going on in front of us and 12 million people are in line waiting to talk to us, we're thinking, Damn, I don't have anything really going on right now. Again, I’m thinking, If I could do 12 million in line, how do I get 24 million in line? It never fucking stops, ever. It will drive you crazy. It's kind of fun now because you acknowledge it. You know it's a real thing.
Again, this is not something I see people wanting to truly sign up for. It's crazy. Crazy. If I wasn't in it, if I didn't feel like I was to be here, I wouldn't want this shit. I want the two weeks paid vacation. I want the nine to five where I get on and I get off, and I’m good. Cool. Go do it. It's never been in my fibers. It never will and I hope it's not in my kids. [46:03.0]
My son, my children wouldn't even know the difference. Again, we're pushing. We can do better. Mark, this is what we're trying to do. That don't you think these things carry over in life at all levels. There's a lot of opportunity for all of us and I hate to see amazing people because I’m watching you. I watch everyone.
Anybody that comments on my stuff, I’m watching you, I promise. I’m very conscious of who's here on purpose because it means a lot to me for you guys being here. Again, the entrepreneur wanting to help. When I see you, I comment. When you respond to me, I try to comment back. It might not be as quick as I need to, but, yeah, definitely enjoy this. The assistant is definitely up the game. I've had an assistant my entire life. For me, what I’m saying is please throw in the towel. Let the world know, I’m not an [entrepreneur]. It's okay not to be it. Help me. Help entrepreneurs grow. Help shine the light. [47:05.1]
You understand that they've worked so hard on the vision. You actually can be bigger with their vision. It could be easier, bigger, more enjoyable, more profitable, and way more fun if you truly are not the real entrepreneur. And if you are, we've got to level up. You’ve got to get in good groups. You’ve got to get in a real mastermind. You’ve got to let people know that you're investing in yourself. If you're spending $1,000 today in marketing, next month that had better be more. Next year. That's called growing. That's called pushing.
If you're not doing that, you're hanging out with the wrong people, that's not pushing you. If your profits aren't growing, Mark, I only would make 200 grand. Why not 400? Well, I don't know, just 200. Okay, why didn't you pick 100 then? See, there's both sides of this coin. Going from 200 to 2 million is going to be a little bit different infrastructure. It’s going to require a little bit different actions. It's going to require a little bit different pushing the throttles here, pulling the nozzle over there, whatever. All these things change. We evolve. [48:11.3]
Get in a room. Get with great people. Hire people. Invest. Go pay 10, 20, 30 grand for a day to sit down with a real entrepreneur if they'll even take you. Invest your money in yourself. Sit down with them. One breakthrough, one breakthrough, one breakthrough could make you millions of dollars that you could pay someone 50 grand for to teach you. One. Because when people hire me, they're hiring 24 years of my life. You’d say, Oh my God, 25 grand is a lot of money. Dude, it’s nothing. Who's asking you questions? Hey, where are we going for dinner tonight? Or, Yo, man, how do you make a million dollars in the next 30 days? That's right, J, cost versus value. People have got it twisted. [49:04.5]
Would you invest 25 grand to create a million? You understand when someone wires me 25 grand for a one-day consult, it's kind of about me at that moment, but it's really, really about them. I’ve had this happen. This is the true story. I’ve had people, once they made the decision to send me 25 grand, they send the wire three days later, 10 days or whatever. They're like, You understand when I sent you the wire, I made more money before I even showed up? Why do you think that happens? Your confidence spikes. You understand your worth to yourself. No outside person has to tell me what I’m worth. I know what I’m worth.
By the way, people could tell me, I’m worth all kinds of stuff. Until they transfer money, it means nothing to me. It's [sound dropped 49:50.9] until you’ve got to write the check. Everyone, what did I say? Everyone wants to be the boss until they’ve got to cut the check, and I’m telling you, it's a separator. I see it every day. People are like, Dude, I want to pick your brain. Okay, what do you want to pick my brain about? I don’t have a brain to pick. Yo, man, I’ve got this idea. I don't need any fucking ideas. No, you don't understand, it's different. Never heard that before. Anyways, I’m good, thank you. [50:13.8]
So, dude, here's how you approach people like me and other entrepreneurs. Yo, man, I’ve got five gees, 10 gees, 25 gees, 100 gees, whatever. I need a day of your time, an hour of your time, 10 minutes of your time. Pay for it. Invest in yourself. Be respectful to yourself.
Anyways, that's what entrepreneurs do. Throw in the towel. It's your time to take back your life. Get on board. If you guys want to be a great number two, great number three or four, please hit me up. Private message me. Send me your information. I’ll get you to the right person on my team and get you on the team if it makes sense, and I’m being dead serious.
I’m here for you guys. I’m rooting for you. Your number one fan. Make sure to check me out. If this show hit home, and it's real and helped you, make sure to share it on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. Share the podcast. Whatever you need to do, that's the best way. [51:05.7]
That's how you could pay me today, by simply sharing, by telling your friends, by telling people you care about, and probably hand this to your spouse and say, Hey, I told you, honey, I’m not the only psycho entrepreneur out there. I’m with you brother. I’m with you guys. Let's make the most of it while we're on planet earth together. We’ve got this. If we don't, who else does?
Thinking about you guys. Have an amazing day. Keep me posted with your results. See you tomorrow.
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